[357] See Sleidan, lib. xiv. p. 408. The Institution Chrétienne of Calvin was particularly forbidden by this edict.
[358] Brought to a stand for six months before Perpignan, by the heroic resistance of the Duke of Alva, the French army could not cross the Pyrenees.—Robertson, Hist. of Charles V., book vii.
[359] More fortunate than the Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans began the campaign with success in Luxembourg, but he compromised all his advantages by a precipitate departure for the Rousillon, and the towns of which he had taken possession in the Netherlands fell back under the power of the Imperialists.—Robertson, Hist. of Charles V., book viii.
[360] In allusion to the struggle which the ministers had to sustain in the Councils of the Republic for the appliance of discipline.
[361] The lesser council, as distinguished from that of the two hundred. They have at Geneva four councils. 1st, The common council, or lesser council, formed of the four syndics going out of office, of the four new, and seventeen members nominated by the two hundred. This is the Senatus minor. 2d, The council of the two hundred. 3d, The council of the sixty. Lastly, The council general, a popular assembly, convoked only upon extraordinary occasions.
[362] It is to this sad loss that Calvin alludes in so remarkable a manner in his answer to the Jurisconsult Baudouin:—"Wishing to clear himself from the charge of a want of natural affection brought against him, Balduin twits me with my want of offspring. God had given me a son. God hath taken my little boy. This he reckons up among my misdeeds, that I have no children. I have myriads of sons throughout the Christian world."—Responsio ad Balduini Convitia. Geneva, 1561.
[363] Notwithstanding the constant endeavour of the Seigneury of Berne to maintain peace and union in their churches, serious differences on the subject of the Supper had made their appearance on several occasions among the members of the Bernese clergy. A new formulary, reproducing the terms adopted in the disputation of Berne in 1528, was then drawn up by order of the Seigneury, and submitted for the acceptance of the ministers. The Deans of the different Classes of the Pays Romand, Payerne, Yverdon, Lausanne, Morges, Gex, and Thonon, were assembled together at Berne, with the view of sanctioning, by their approbation, the uniformity of doctrine in the districts subject to the Government of Berne. Alive to every proceeding which might compromise the independence and dignity of the Church in a neighbouring country, Calvin does not spare giving his advice to Viret, and puts him on his guard.
[364] See the note of the preceding Letter. The different Deans of the Classes of the Pays de Vaud having met at Berne, received communication of the new formulary, and declared their adherence to the acts of the Deputy from Lausanne, regarding the question of the Sacraments.
[365] The Seigneury of Berne, jealous of the authority which they claimed the right to exercise in ecclesiastical as well as in civil affairs, and looking on every attempt of the ministers to maintain the dignity of their office as a direct infringement on their power, began to introduce the system of despotism in Church matters, which had met at first but slight resistance in the Pays de Vaud, recently brought under government, but which was destined gradually to excite there an energetic opposition, and to occasion the voluntary retirement of the most distinguished ministers.—Ruchat, Hist. de la Réf. tom. vi. p. 256, et seq.
[366] The minister Beat Gerung or Gering, a declared partisan of the Lutheran dogma of the Supper, and one of the most servile of the Bernese clergy.