Inflexible in the exercise of the duties of his ministry, Farel had publicly censured, in one of his discourses, a lady of rank, whose conduct had been a matter of scandal in the Church of Neuchatel. Irritated by that censure, the relatives of that lady roused a party of the towns-people against that courageous minister, and obtained a sentence of deposition against him, which was not annulled but upon the interference of the Seigneury of Berne and of the principal Swiss Churches.—Ruchat, Hist. de la Réf., tom. v. p. 164, and following pages.
[300] The mission of Viret, and his endeavours to pacify the Church of Neuchatel, had been without the desired result. A violent party, opposed to the Reformation, and impatient of all order as of all authority in the Church, demanded the expulsion of Farel. In these circumstances, Calvin had recourse to the credit and trust reposed in Bucer, and the intervention of the Church of Strasbourg to appease these unhappy differences.
[301] Calvin had left at Strasbourg his wife, Idelette de Bure, who rejoined him some time afterwards at Geneva. In the Council Registers we have the following entry, 13th September 1541:—"Resolved, ... to bring hither the wife of Calvin and his household furniture."
[302] See the preceding Letter and Memorial.
[303] The Church of Strasbourg acted in conjunction with the Churches of Constance, of Zurich, and of Basle, to decide the inhabitants of Neuchatel to retain Farel.
[304] The ecclesiastical ordinances, drawn up by Calvin and approved by the magistrates, were solemnly accepted by the citizens of Geneva, met in general assembly in St. Peter's Church, the 20th November 1541.—See Gaberel, Histoire de l'Eglise de Genève, vol. i. p. 269.
[305] He endeavoured to procure from the Seigneury of Berne a prolongation of leave for the minister Viret, which they had already granted for the period of six months to the Church of Geneva. On the representation of Calvin, the magistrates of Strasbourg wrote on two occasions to those of Berne to ask that favour. In the second of these letters they render most honourable testimony to Calvin. "M. Calvin," they say, "has comported himself among us with so much uprightness and constancy, and has become so acceptable by his skill and ability, that not only we would have retained him among us with pleasure, but more especially, for the sake of our Church, we would not easily have yielded him up, if we had not believed that he would be more useful at Geneva.... On that account we perceive with grief that he cannot complete the work which he has commenced, and with which he had burdened himself beyond his strength, &c...."—MS. of the Archives of Berne, cited by Ruchat, Hist. de la Réf., tom. v. p. 162.
[306] The magistrates of Strasbourg, desirous of testifying to Calvin their satisfaction on account of his services, and at the same time their esteem for his character, before his departure for Geneva bestowed on him the honorary distinction of citizenship by making him a burgess. They offered also a year's pension; but the latter present he refused.
[307] The plague continued its ravages at Strasbourg, where it carried away this year the children of the first two Reformers of Switzerland, William, the son of Zuingli, and Euzèbe, the son of Œcolampadius. It soon spread to Basle and to Zurich, where it found many victims. It broke out towards the end of the following year at Geneva.
[308] The Church of Basle had lost Simon Grynéc, and the pious burgomaster, Jacob Meyer, who had so powerfully contributed to the reformation of the town.