CORRESPONDENCE OF CRANMER AND CALVIN.

(Vol. vii., p. 501.)

The question put by C. D., respecting the existence of letters said to have passed between Archbishop Cranmer and Calvin, and to exist in print at Geneva, upon the seeming sanction given by our liturgy to the belief that baptism confers regeneration, is a revival of an inquiry made by several persons about ten years ago. It then induced M. Merle d'Aubigné to make the search of which C. D. has heard; and the result of that search was given in a communication from the Protestant historian to the editor of the Record, bearing date April 22, 1843.

I have that communication before me, as a cutting from the Record; but have not preserved the date of the number in which it appeared[[2]], though likely to be soon after its receipt by the editor. Merle d'Aubigné says, in his letter, that both the printed and manuscript correspondence of Calvin, in the public library of Geneva, had been examined in vain by himself, and by Professor Diodati the librarian, for any such topic; but he declares himself disposed to believe that the assertion, respecting which C. D. inquires, arose from the following passage in a letter from Calvin to the English primate:

"Sic correctæ sunt externæ superstitiones, ut residui maneant innumeri surculi, qui assidue pullulent. Imo ex corruptelis papatus audio relictum esse congeriem, quæ non obscuret modo, sed propemodum obruat purum et genuinum Dei cultum."

Part of this letter, but with important omissions, had been published by Dean Jenkyns in 1833. (Cranmer's Remains, vol. i. p. 347.) M. d'Aubigné's communication gave the whole of it; and it ought to have appeared in the Parker Society volume of original letters relative to the English Reformation. That volume contains one of Calvin's letters to the Protector Somerset; but omits another, of which Merle d'Aubigné's communication supplied a portion, containing this important sentence:

"Quod ad formulam precum et rituum ecclesiasticorum, valde probo ut certa illa extet, a qua pastoribus discedere in functione sua non liceat, tam ut consulatur quorumdam simplicitati et imperitiæ, quam ut certius ita constet omnium inter se ecclesiarum consensus."

Another portion of a letter from Calvin, communicated by D'Aubigné, is headed in the Record "Cnoxo et gregalibus, S. D.;" but seems to be the one cited in the Parker Society, vol. ii. of Letters, pp. 755-6, notes 941, as a letter to Richard Cox and others; so that Cnoxo should have been Coxo.

The same valuable communication farther contained the letter of Cranmer inviting Calvin to unite with Melancthon and Bullinger in forming arrangements for holding a Protestant synod in some safe place; meaning in England, as he states more expressly to Melancthon. This letter, however, had been printed entire by Dean Jenkyns, vol. i. p. 346.; and it is given, with an English translation, in the Parker Society edition of Cranmer's Works as Letter ccxcvii., p. 431. It is important, as proving that Heylyn stated what was untrue, Eccles. Restaur., p. 65.; where he has said, "Calvin had offered his assistance to Archbishop Cranmer. But the archbishop knew the man, and refused his offer." Instead of such an offer, Calvin replied courteously and affectionately to Cranmer's invitation; but says, "Tenuitatem meam facturam spero, ut mihi parcatur ... Mihi utinam par studii ardori suppeteret facultas." This reply, the longest letter in their correspondence, is printed in the note attached to Cranmer's letter (Park. Soc., as above, p. 432.; and a translation of it in Park. Soc. Original Letters, vol. ii. p. 711.: and there are extracts from it in Jenkyns, p. 346., n.p.). D'Aubigné gave it entire; but has placed both Calvin's letters to the archbishop before the latter's epistle to him, to which they both refer.

Henry Walter.