[177] The scene of tumult and sedition described in this letter left so lively an impression on the mind of Calvin, that he recalled it seventeen years afterwards, on his deathbed, in his farewell to the ministers of Geneva, subjoining these memorable words:—"Although I am nothing, yet I know that I prevented three thousand disturbances from taking place in Geneva; but take courage, you will become strong, for God will make use of that city, and will maintain it; and I assure you he will keep it."—Collection de M. Tronchin, à Genève. Adieux de Calvin, recueillis par Pinaut.
The Registers of Council are silent on this scene, the date of which has been given, by a frequently repeated mistake, as the 17th September; but the circumstances tally with the 13th December 1547.
[178] Disarmed for a moment by the heroic attitude of Calvin in the rising of the 13th December, the parties that divided Geneva were not slow to renew their lamentable strife. The voice of the Reformer was disregarded, and he wrote with deep sadness on the 23d December,—"Our affairs are in no better condition. I do not cease to press upon them, but I cause them to make little or no advancement. I am now returning from the Senate; I said a great deal, but it is like telling a story to the deaf. May the Lord restore them to their right mind."—Calvin to Viret, MSS. of Geneva, Vol. 106.
[179] Calvin had just published his celebrated treatise of the Antidote, (Acta Synodi Tridentinæ cum Antidoto, 1547,) which he translated into French the year following, with changes fitted to bring it within the comprehension of the people.—Opuscules, p. 881. In this work the Reformer passes in review the decrees of the Council of Trent, and refutes them with a merciless logic and a marvellous eloquence. The Catholic theologian Cochlæus replied to him by personal attacks, which Des Gallars and Beza undertook to refute.
[180] See Letter, p. 148.
[181] In testimony of regard for Calvin, the Council adopted the following decree: "Resolved to present to Calvin all the furniture that is in his house belonging to the city, 29th December 1547." The preceding year he had been offered ten crowns as a present, but he refused them, praying the Council to distribute them among the other ministers who were poor compared with him, "and even to diminish his stipend in order to benefit them."
[182] This family had not yet quitted France. See the letters, pp. 90, 119. They received this new letter of Calvin, on the occasion of the death of one of its members, perhaps Mathieu de Budé, who had corresponded with the Reformer in 1546, and of whom, subsequent to this period, all trace is lost. There exists (MSS. of the Library of Geneva, vol. 109) a letter of Mathieu de Budé to Calvin, relative to the assassination of John Diaz at Neubourg. We remark the following passage:—"I have received your letter ... which was most welcome to me, as well because I recognize in it your disposition of goodwill and love, as on account of the ordinary consolation which I have received from it...."—26th April 1546. The author of that letter is not mentioned by M. Galiffe.—Notices Généalogiques, tom. iii. p. 83. He had died, no doubt, before the establishment of his family at Geneva.
[183] Dated, on the back of the letter, in a foreign hand.
[184] Doubtless these were John de Budé, Sieur de Vérace, and Louis, Sieur de la Motte, his brother.
[185] He refers to the promise of a visit to M. de Falais. Calvin went in fact to Bâle the 2d of February following. We read under that date, in the Council Registers of the state of Geneva:—"Calvin went to Bâle. The Council offers him things requisite for the voyage. 26th February,—Calvin on his return from Bâle."