[465] Farel, while preaching at Geneva, had addressed severe language to the youths of that city; and he said they were "worse than brigands, murderers, thieves, plunderers, atheists." A crowd of young men presenting themselves before the Council, menaced it to its face, and demanded that Farel should be summoned from Neuchatel to give an account of his insolent language. A great tumult followed this proposition. Some made bold to stand up and call to their recollection the services Farel had rendered to the republic, and the shame of an accusation directed against the spiritual father of the city. Meanwhile, Farel arrived, calm as usual. The cry got up of Justice! Justice! and the citizens leaving their shops, hastened to rally round the venerable pastor, and preserve him from all disgrace. He had little difficulty in justifying himself and even Perrin was compelled to proclaim his innocence.—Registers of the Council, Nov. 1553; Roset, tom. v. p. 53; and Hist. de la Suisse, tom. xi. p. 381.
[466] In Calvin's own hand.
[467] This is the book against the errors of Michael Servetus.—Opera, tom. viii.; and Opuscules, p. 230. The Registers of Council contain the following intimation on the subject of this work:—"Calvin has represented to the Council, that at the request of the Swiss Churches, he is about to publish a book, containing an account of the opinions of Servetus: and that he has not been so bold as to commit it to the press without the permission of the Council, assuring it that this book contains nothing not conformable to the word of God, or dishonourable to the city. Agreed to permit Calvin to print it; 11th December 1553." This book, as establishing the right of magistrates to punish heresy by the sword, has given occasion to the most violent controversies.
[468] Calvin had written, what he then suppressed: De Curione et Similibus. The condemnation of Servetus was disapproved of by certain of the professors of the Academy of Bâle, among whom is to be found the celebrated Italian refugee, Celio Secondo Curione, and Sebastian Castalio.
[469] Whilst the number of refugees was increasing at Geneva and the other towns of Switzerland, their wants were provided for by liberal charitable donations. This was the origin of the Bourse Etrangère founded at Geneva, and whose revenues are applied, even in our own day, to the support of poor students, or to the establishing of new schools.
[470] No date. Printed with this designation: D. Agneti Anglæ. But the text of the letter itself proves that it is addressed to an Italian lady named Agnès. We find a person of this name among the members of the Reformed Church of Ferrara. Opera Olympiæ Moratæ. Edit. of 1580, p. 115. Is it not to this lady that is addressed the message of the Reformer, the date of which ought apparently to be placed in 1553, the time of the dispersion of the Evangelical church formed in the capital of the Dukes of Este?
[471] To a Seigneur of the neighbouring Isle of Normandy. Without date: 1553?
The English Isles of Jersey and Guernsey had a share in the religious revolutions of England during the reign of Mary and Elizabeth. Already during the reign of Edward VI. the Isle of Guernsey possessed a French Protestant Church, of which the pastor Denis Le Vair was tortured in 1555 in Rouen: Beza, Hist. Eccl. Vol. 1. p. 95. The Church of Saint Helier in Jersey has been perpetuated to the present time.
Transcriber's note:"
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.