[373] Alluding to the unfortunate controversies raised by Osiander in Germany on the doctrine of Justification.
[374] See the eloquent appeal addressed to Bullinger, ante, pp. 329, 341. The latter had written to Calvin, giving him an account of the fruitless efforts of the Cantons with Henry II., and of the haughty response of that monarch: "He lives who delivered his people from Egypt; he lives who brought back the captivity from Babylon; he lives who defended his Church against Cæsars, kings, and profligate princes. Verily we must needs pass through many afflictions into the kingdom of God. But woe to those who touch the apple of God's eye."—Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 68.
[375] See the following Letter.
[376] In the month of April 1552, five young Frenchmen, instructed at the school of theology of Lausanne, and devoted to the functions of the ministry, made arrangements for returning to their own country. These were Martial Alba of Montauban, Peter Ecrivain of Gascony, Charles Favre of Blanzac in Angoumois, Peter Navihères of Limousin, and Bernard Seguin of La Reole. After having spent some days at Geneva, they set out for Lyons, and met on the way at the Bourg de Colognes, nigh to L'Ecluse, a stranger, who offered himself as their fellow-traveller. They consented without harbouring any suspicion. Arrived at Lyons, they parted with their travelling companion, who pressed them to visit him at his dwelling of Ainay. They went thither without any distrust, were arrested and led away to the prisons of that jurisdiction. Such was the origin of a long and doleful process, which held the Churches of France and Switzerland for a long time in suspense, and during which, the blood-thirsty cruelty of the judges was only equalled by the constancy of the victims. On the first rumour of the arrest of the five students, the Church of Geneva took the matter up, and lavished upon the captives, by the voice of Calvin, the most lively testimonies of their sympathy.
[377] Calvin wrote this letter to King Edward VI., when dedicating to him the following little work: Four Sermons of Master John Calvin, treating of matters very profitable for our time, with a Brief Exposition of Psalm lxxxvii. Geneva, 1552, in 8vo, inserted in the Recueil des Opuscules, p. 824. These four sermons have been translated at different times into English. In the first, Calvin exhorts the faithful to flee from idolatry; in the second, he encourages them to suffer everything for Jesus Christ; in the third, he shews how highly believers ought to prize the privilege of being in the Church of God, where they are at liberty to worship him purely; in the last, he shews that this liberty cannot be purchased at too high a price.
[378] An error in the original; we must read 87th.
[379] For a facsimile of the original of this passage, see Vol. I.
[380] This letter bears no date, but it refers to the subject set forth in a preceding letter of Calvin's to Cranmer, p. 345, and we have no hesitation in assigning it a place in the course of the same year,—perhaps in July 1552.
[381] A letter without address, but evidently, as the date and the contents prove, relating to the trial of the five students of Lausanne.—(See the letter of the 10th of June, and the note at p. 355.) The personage to whom Calvin writes, is doubtless John Liner, a rich merchant of Saint Gall, settled at Lyons, who often visited the scholars in their dungeon, undertook several journeys on their behalf, and was unsparing, during the whole course of the suit, in tokens of most lively affection.—(Histoire des Martyrs, liv. iv. pp. 230, 231.) John Liner afterwards retired to his own country, where he lived to a very advanced age, and corresponded with Charles de Jonvillers, the secretary of Calvin, a correspondence which has been preserved to our days in the library of Saint Gall. Note, p. 363.
[382] To the brethren of ..., without any further indication. The name of the Polish nobleman, John A Lasco, moderator of the Congregation of Foreign Protestants at London, informs us to what Church this letter was addressed.