THE BANISHED MINISTERS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS.
(END OF 1538.)
[Sidenote: THE REFORMERS SET OUT TO BERNE.]
The reformers set out on their journey to Berne. Calvin at length
breathed freely, but not without sadness; for while he felt himself
free, as if standing on an invigorating height, he looked on Geneva
sunk in the flats. It was in fulfilment of a sacred duty that he had
made a last effort. He had not, succeeded. ‘It is evident now from
the experiment that we have just made,’ said he, ‘that it was no
mere groundless fear that influenced us when, although pressed (at
Zurich) by the authority of the Church, we could, nevertheless, only
with great reluctance consent to reënter that labyrinth. Now we have
got clear of it. We have complied with the desire of all pious men,
although with no result, except perhaps to render the evil twofold or
threefold worse than it was before.[713] Satan exulted at Geneva and
in the whole of France on occasion of our first banishment; but this
refusal to receive us has added not a little to his presumption and
to that of his members. It is incredible with what recklessness and
insolence wicked men now give themselves up to all manner of vice;
with what effrontery they insult the servants of Christ; with what
violence they make a mock at the Gospel. This is a calamity which to
us is very painful indeed....’ Afterwards, addressing Bullinger and
all the ministers of Zurich, he said to them, ‘Entreat the Lord with
us, dearly beloved brethren, with earnest prayer, that very soon he
may arise.’[714] It is possible that the reports which reached Calvin
may have been a little exaggerated and that his own phrases may be a
little sharp; but there is no doubt that the condition of Geneva was at
this time extremely critical. ‘_There was nothing but confusion_,’ says
Rozet; ‘the citizens abandoned themselves to licentiousness, dancing,
gaming, and drinking. The finger was pointed at those who mourned over
these things; they were men marked and hated. No preaching could be
fruitful in the midst of such confusion.’[715] The syndic Gautier,
a man who was above all a champion of government, and who censured
Calvin for not acknowledging that the very foundation of every society
is subordination and obedience, duties to the civil magistrate which
are as obligatory on pastors as on other men, after examining whether
Calvin’s complaints were just, pronounced the following sentence:
‘Calvin was right so far as he had reference to the licentious lives of
his adversaries, and to their love for libertinism and independence;
but he was certainly mistaken if he considered them as enemies of God
for wishing to observe the four principal festivals, and to introduce
the use of unleavened bread.’[716] This is likewise our own opinion.
[Sidenote: CALVIN AND FAREL AT BERNE.]
When they reached Berne, Calvin and Farel found their friends in great
astonishment at what had taken place. The latter told them that if they
were not wanted at Geneva, they should stay at Berne. ‘It would be
unpardonable in you,’ they added, ‘to refuse such a call.’[717] To be
at Berne with Kunz would have been to abandon their lives to perpetual
dissension. They were in haste to be gone. However, they were anxious
to express their gratitude to the senate for its conduct towards them,
and for that purpose they requested an audience. They were put off to
the following day. Remembering all the delays of their recent sojourn,
fearing lest they should find themselves beset by claims to which they
could not yield, and believing that they had discharged their duty
to the council by the request which they had made, they departed for
Basel. They did not reach the city without encountering danger on the
way. They had to cross a river, believed to be the Aar, and one of them
was almost carried away by the swift current, which was swollen by the
rain. ‘However,’ wrote Calvin to Viret, ‘the river was more merciful
to us than men. The latter had determined, contrary to all right and
reason, to compel us to undertake this journey, even were it on foot;
but the Lord, in his compassion, preserved us from all evil.’ From the
postscript to the same letter it appears that Farel and Calvin crossed
the river on horseback. It is not known which of the two narrowly
escaped drowning. They arrived at Basel, wet through with the rain, and
half dead with fatigue.
At Basel Calvin found a valued friend, Grynæus. Already during the stay
of the two reformers at Berne he had written to them--‘I hope that
by your Christian meekness and your humility you will overcome all
your adversaries, and take away from the enemies of the Gospel every
occasion of calumniating you. Oh, that the eyes now sparkling with the
fire of Satan may be cast down, and that the passion with which men
are inflamed against your ministry may be quenched![718] Work on, work
on, my well-beloved brethren, hearts most noble and most holy (_optima
ac sanctissima pectora_); be ready for the conflict, arrayed in the
whole armor of Christian warfare, ready and willing, especially at this
time, when iniquity prevails, to lead us on with heroic fidelity. Let
us apply ourselves to the work of the Lord with unconquerable hearts.
The hatred of those who in this proceeding show themselves so worthy
of hatred will not win the day. For our part, we are of those who can
pray for our enemies, much more support and embrace them. Let not the
senseless judgment of the people, let not the foolish and futile dread
of popular opinion, disturb you in the least. Rule and protect this
Church, which threatens to fall, by your courage and your persistency.
How glorious is the function you will discharge! How solid and real the
praise which you will deserve if, completely forgetting yourselves in
this cause, you think of Jesus Christ alone!’
[Sidenote: THEIR RECEPTION.]
We can imagine how affectionately Grynæus and his friends received the
two brethren banished on account of the noble fidelity which they had
displayed. Grynæus had already invited the reformer, while he was still
at Geneva, to go to his house rather than bend under the yoke which his
enemies wished to put on him. ‘We welcome thee joyfully,’ he said to
Calvin afterwards, ‘as our brother in the Lord, and we embrace thee as
a distinguished ornament of our Church.’[719] Calvin therefore abode
with Grynæus at Basel, where the most brotherly hospitality was shown
him. Farel took up his abode in the house of the famous printer, Oporin.
Calvin and Farel bore their great trial with much patience and
meekness, forgiving their enemies and praying for them, and endeavoring
to avoid everything which might become an occasion of grief to their
brethren. Viret was very anxious to see them and to share their
tribulations. ‘Thou knowest well,’ replied Calvin to him, ‘that no
greater happiness could befall us at this moment than to talk with thee
for a short time. But the danger to which the journey would expose thee
checks our desire: thou wouldst reap more hatred from it than we should
joy.’ Thus did Calvin think of his friends before thinking of himself.
It appears, however, that Viret did see him at Basel.[720] This was
doubtless at a later period. Calvin was anxious to avoid everything
which might lead to any useless dispute. ‘I beg of thee, my dear
brother,’ he said to Farel, ‘take pains in these evil times to preserve
whatever can be tolerated. Our brethren must not so obstinately dispute
about mere ceremonies. Let us be free; but let us be the slaves of
concord and of peace.’[721] ‘What I have above all at heart,’ he said
further to him, ‘is that we may not cause new quarrels, nor be the
occasion of any strife.’
At the same time, nevertheless, one of the first things which the
reformers had done after their arrival at Basel was to give an
account of what had befallen them to their brethren of Zurich and
Strasburg. Their enemies did not cease, indeed, to pursue them with
their accusations; and those who had forced them to leave Geneva cried
out that they were schismatics, forgetting that they themselves had
compelled the two reformers to separate from their Church. Such is
party logic. Calvin, Farel, and their friends, therefore, thought
it advisable to hold a meeting at which delegates from the towns of
Zurich, Berne, Basel, Strasburg, and one of that place (_un dudit
lieu_) (probably Geneva), should attend, and at which it should
be ‘declared that they had duly and faithfully administered their
office.’[722] They did not, however, eagerly press for this. They knew
that their judge was in heaven. ‘I can do nothing,’ said Calvin, ‘but
commend the issue to the great physician, who alone can provide for it
and give it shape.’[723]
[Sidenote: CALLS AND HESITATIONS.]
If Calvin committed himself to God as to his past, he did the same as
to his future. ‘I withdraw to Basel,’ he says, in the same letter,
‘awaiting what the Lord will do with me.’ Calls were not wanting.
They wished to retain him at Basel. Toussaint desired that he should
settle at Lausanne, or in the canton of Berne, that he might there be
an example of decision and devotion. Others thought it their duty to
recommend him to the Duke of Würtemburg.[724] But Strasburg appeared
to be the place to choose. Already in November, 1536, Bucer, delighted
with the _Institution_, which had just appeared, had asked for an
interview with Calvin. ‘We will go wherever you wish for the purpose of
conferring with you on the whole doctrine of Christ.’[725] They saw each
other subsequently at Berne and at Zurich. Bucer and Capito, now that
they knew he was at liberty and staying at Basel, did not fail to press
him to come to them. At the beginning of July he went to Strasburg. ‘I
have been so earnestly entreated to come by the two chief ministers of
this town,’ he wrote on the 10th of that month, ‘that to satisfy them I
have made a journey hither.’[726] It did not at that time appear likely
to him that he was to settle there. The terrible conflicts through
which he had passed at Geneva made him view with alarm the proposal to
accept a new ministry. He recurred to his studious projects. ‘I shrink,
above all things,’ said he, ‘from reëntering on the office from which I
am delivered, considering in what perplexities I was involved from the
time when I was first engaged in it.’ He adds, ‘there are other reasons
which I can explain only by word of mouth.’ What were these? Doubtless
the too accommodating theology of the doctors of that town. Basel was
his favorite city. He returned thither, saying, ‘It is not the fault
of the Strasburgers that I am not their guest, but they have burden
enough without me.’ He might, however, have found good reasons for
accepting their invitation, for his poverty was so great that he found
it necessary to sell ‘a part of his books’ for his maintenance.[727]
The entreaties of the Strasburgers, nevertheless, became more urgent.
They wrote to Grynæus to do all he could to induce Calvin to settle at
Strasburg: only they would rather that he should come without Farel,
because they were afraid that, if the two Frenchmen were together, the
Germans would have too great difficulty in bending them to their views.
This was also the opinion of Grynæus. To give up Farel entirely was
too great a sacrifice for Calvin to make. He again declined the offer,
giving as his reason the condition which was imposed on him not to take
Farel with him.[728] ‘I await thy counsel,’ wrote Calvin to his friend;
and impelled by the warmest affection for this man of God, he adds,
‘O that I could now fly to thee! I am only held back by the strongest
motives.’
Farel was not at Basel at that moment, and was not to return thither.
The tidings of the persecutions which had fallen upon him, of his exile
and his sufferings, had grieved the people of Neuchâtel, and revived
in their hearts their old love for the man from whom they had learned
the elements of the faith. The Council of the Sixty, representatives
of the city, after calling upon the Lord, communicated to the class
of ministers the desire which they felt of inviting Farel to become
their pastor.[729] The post was, as we shall see, actually vacant.
Two councillors and two members of the class went to Basel. ‘Come,’
they said to him, ‘and complete the building of which you laid the
foundation.’ Farel, like Calvin, could not make up his mind to accept
a pastoral charge, but preferred to devote himself to study.[730] At
length, encouraged by his friends, entreated in the name of the Lord,
and ‘persuaded to it with great earnestness by the German Churches,’
he consented; but it was on condition that he should introduce in
the Church the order prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. Having once
decided, he set out suddenly for Neuchâtel, about the end of July,
‘with his customary promptitude,’ says Calvin.[731] Thenceforth Farel
and Calvin were separated; but this removal from each other did not in
any degree impair the union of their hearts nor the firmness of their
characters, whatever the moderates of Strasburg might think.
[Sidenote: FAREL CALLED TO NEUCHATEL.]
The latter once more renewed their call. Would not the ministerial
office conferred on Calvin by a Church of such high standing as that
of Strasburg be a brilliant justification which would silence evil
tongues? What good service might he not render there! The empire had
need of able theologians, and perhaps the Strasburgers desired to
have him settled among them by way of counterpoise to the powerful
personality and authority of Luther. Be that as it may, his friends
on the banks of the Rhine could not bear the thought that so powerful
a servant of God ‘should be satisfied to live in retirement without
undertaking any public office;’[732] and as he still refused, they took
steps towards inducing the Genevese to recall the reformer. If he will
not come to Strasburg, let him go to Geneva. This proceeding appears
to have had some effect on Calvin. He would go anywhere rather than
return to the city of his sorrows. The Strasburgers, finding that he
was somewhat giving way, made a fresh advance. ‘That excellent servant
of Christ, Martin Bucer,’ says Calvin, ‘addressing to me a remonstrance
and protest similar to that which Farel had previously made, called me
to another place. Alarmed by the case of Jonah, which he set before me,
I persevered still in the office of teacher.’[733] Calvin therefore
went to Strasburg in September, and began to preach in the choir of the
church of the Dominicans to the French refugees in the town, with whom
were associated other persons, some of whom understood and others did
not understand the tongue, but all of them were desirous of seeing the
face and hearing the voice of the famous exile. These refugees, it is
said, were fifteen hundred in number.
Calvin was no sooner settled at Strasburg than he heard that his
colleague, the blind old Courault, who, ‘after having fought valiantly
at Paris for the truth,’[734] had first retired to Thonon, and then
had been called as pastor to Orbe, had departed this life on October
4, and gone to God. This was a terrible blow for his loving heart. He
wrote to Farel--‘I am so dismayed at the death of Courault, that my
grief overpasses all bounds. Not one of my daily occupations is any
longer able to fix my attention, and I am incessantly returning to the
same thought. To the lamentations and pains of the day succeed the
more terrible torments of the night.’[735] This death, so unexpected,
was attributed to poison. Suspicions of that kind were very common,
and were in those unhappy times too often justified. Calvin rejected
this thought, but in spite of himself it was continually presenting
itself to his imagination.[736] He endeavored, nevertheless, to
console himself and to revive his own courage and that of Farel. ‘All
testify,’ he said to him, ‘by their grief and their regrets how highly
they esteemed his courage and his uprightness, and this is a great
consolation. For us whom the Lord leaves for a time in this world, let
us hold on in the path which he pursued until we have finished our
course. Whatever difficulties we may have to encounter, they will not
prevent us from entering into that rest which is even now his portion.’
‘When we get there,’ said he on another occasion, ‘it will be known
on which side rashness or error was. To that court I appeal from the
sentence of all the wise. There the angels of God will bear witness
which are the schismatics.’[737] He adds, ‘Only let us stand firm on
the height we have reached, which commands the field of battle, until
the kingdom of Christ, at present hidden, shall appear.’
Thus the three pastors expelled from Geneva had each found his place;
and that of the old blind minister was the best.
[Sidenote: NEW PASTORS AT GENEVA.]
It was not long before the Genevese established the institutions
to which the reformers had objected. It was decreed to reërect the
baptismal fonts which had been cast down, and to baptize children in
them, to celebrate the four festivals, and to conform to the ceremonies
agreed upon. On Whit-Sunday, which this year fell at the beginning
of June, there were only two pastors at Geneva, Henri de la Mare and
Jacques Bernard, both Genevese. The Lord’s supper was to be celebrated,
and for that purpose two ministers were needed in each church. The
council deputed two of its members to act instead of them, one at St.
Peter’s, the other at St. Gervais’.
The government exerted itself to find substitutes for the two exiles.
The states of Berne and Neuchâtel gave up to it Jean Morand, pastor
at Cully,[738] on the shores of the lake of Geneva, and Antoine
Marcourt, of Lyons, pastor of Neuchâtel, who were installed about the
end of June. The council determined to give them, considering their
age and their large families, three hundred Genevese florins;[739]
the two Genevese each had two hundred and fifty florins. We became
acquainted with Marcourt at the synod of Lausanne. He had published
several treatises on the Eucharist, on the mass; to him likewise
were attributed the famous placards of 1534, which Florimond Raemond
believes to have been the work of Farel. The governor and councils of
Neuchâtel, in resigning Marcourt to Geneva, declared, June 18, ‘that
they had always found him a man of peace, one who desired, and to the
utmost of his power maintained, peace and public tranquillity.’ This
character seems hardly like that of the author of the _Placards_, one
of the most violent writings of the sixteenth century, which were
pronounced by the Roman Catholics[740] to be filled with ‘execrable
blasphemies and horrible threats against the king,’ and which gave rise
to that bloody persecution by the Valois and the Bourbons of which
the reformed Christians were the victims for more than two centuries.
However, we must confess that pacific men are not always consistent. It
would seem that Marcourt was not so much a man of peace as the people
of Neuchâtel had said; at least if we take literally what Calvin says.
‘How our successors will demean themselves,’ he wrote on August 4 to
Farel, ‘is a point on which we can form an opinion from their first
proceedings. They break off by their irritable temper every promise of
peace, and they seem to suppose that the best thing they have to do is
to tear to pieces both in public and in private the reputation which
we enjoyed, and to make us as hateful as possible.’[741] Calvin is
especially severe, perhaps too much so, with regard to the two Genevese
ministers. There was, however, some truth in the last touch in the
picture which he drew of them for Bullinger: ‘Both of them are very
ignorant, and when they open their mouths, it is to rave. This does not
prevent them from assuming an insolent pride.’[742]
[Sidenote: ACCUSATIONS.]
These words of Calvin are rather sharp. This is doubtless explained
by his recent sorrow. Subsequently he expressed himself with more
moderation. His partisans at Geneva did the same. While the wisest
men still held their peace, the most violent did not spare their
adversaries. The two parties were very ill-disposed towards one
another, and some of those who belonged to them threw off all restraint
both in their deeds and in their words. Licentious men among the
enemies of the reformers ‘triumphed over the banished ministers,
insulted the servants of God, laughed at the Gospel, and abandoned
themselves to impurity, dancing, gaming, and drunkenness. Nothing was
talked of but masquerades, gallantries and excesses, and the services
of the church turned to the disgrace of the Reformation.’ On the other
side, the most vehement partisans of Calvin and Farel had no mercy on
the lay and ecclesiastical chiefs under whose administration these
things took place. They called the new pastors _wolves_, and the
magistrates _the unrighteous_. They murmured as they went out from
sermon, and their ill-humor was not sparing of criticism. ‘The Gospel
which is preached at present,’ said Richard after one of the services,
‘is only _the Gospel for twenty days_.’ He had no doubt that, when that
time had elapsed, the new preachers would be dismissed. For this they
sent him to prison. ‘The syndics of to-day,’ said another, ‘are of no
use but to bring back lascivious men and women into the town.’ For this
saying he was expelled from the town for a year.[743] ‘The mass is sung
in Geneva,’ said many, ‘and the people who love the Gospel are expelled
the town.’ These charges were circulated in Switzerland, and greatly
alarmed the friends of reform.
None felt these reproaches more keenly than the pastors, for they
knew that they all recoiled on themselves. On September 17 they all
appeared, the two Genevese and the two foreigners, before the council.
‘Calumniators,’ they said, ‘are spreading reports in the cantons
which are doing serious injury to the Gospel.’ They requested that
two of their number might have leave of absence to go and refute the
slanders, which inflicted a blow on the honor of the town. The request
was granted. Marcourt and Morand set out for Berne, and presented
themselves before the assembly of the pastors, in which Kunz could not
fail to support them. In fact it was resolved at this meeting ‘that
those who rose against the persons in office at Geneva were worse than
wicked men, traitors, and Jews.’ The Bernese pastors communicated
this declaration to the council, which contented itself with deciding
that if any defamers of Geneva appeared at Berne, information should
be given to the magistrates of that town. The lay authorities were
obviously less under the influence of passion than the ecclesiastics.
It appears even that the council of Berne did not place implicit
confidence in the report of the Genevese ministers, for one of their
own number was immediately after sent to Geneva to see with his own
eyes what was the real state of the Genevese Church.
The complaints made both at Geneva and in other places were well
grounded. This is proved by the proceedings of the magistrates, who,
although they were hostile to the reformers, perceived that their
own honor required them not to authorize licentiousness. It is quite
certain that people ‘went about the streets at night, uttering cries
and singing indecent songs;’ that ‘gaming, lewdness, haunting of
taverns, and drunkenness,’ were common offences; for a decree of July
19 prohibited them under a penalty of sixty sous for the first time;
and, as the evil continued, other decisions of a similar character
were taken on August 20 and October 22. It is certain that, as was
said in Switzerland, some citizens went to mass, for according to the
intolerant customs of the age, they were ordered ‘to leave the town.’
The councils were seen to be as much opposed to religious liberty as
Calvin had been. Perhaps they went even further than he would have
gone; for, on August 20, they ordered the priests who were still on
Genevese soil to go to sermon if they wished to remain there.
[Sidenote: CALVIN’S LETTER TO THE GENEVESE.]
Calvin, at Strasburg, was watching attentively what was passing at
Geneva. He heard that a certain number of Genevese kept faithfully
to the path which they had taken under his direction. Some of his
adherents cried out rather loudly, but the majority led a quiet life,
and the most decided of the latter displayed their opposition in no
other way than by absenting themselves from a form of worship which
they did not consider to be in conformity with the principles of
the Gospel. Calvin had not written to them during the first months
of his exile. He was not willing to lay himself open to the charge
of attempting to draw them over to himself. But he felt keenly that
the trials of his friends at Geneva proceeded from their supineness
in adhering to the Word of God, and that the remedy for them was in
humbling themselves before God and waiting upon Him for the remedy.
‘However the affection which he always cherished for them’ did not
permit him to remain longer silent, and on October 1 he wrote to
them a letter remarkable for the pacific, discreet, charitable, and
elevated spirit which it breathed. He addressed it, not to all the
Genevese, but to those who had received into their hearts the seed of
the divine Word, and who were still deeply affected by the blow which
had struck them in the punishment of their pastor. He named them his
brethren, _the relics of the dispersion of the Genevese church_. He
spoke of the love which he bore them. ‘I cannot refrain from writing to
you,’ said he, ‘to assure you of the affection which I always cherish
for you. Our conscience is fully persuaded before God that it is by
his call that we were at one time associated with you, and it ought
not to be in the power of men to break such a bond.’ He begs them to
forget themselves and their sufferings, to forget even the hostility
of their adversaries. ‘If we lose our time in fighting against men,’
he said, ‘thinking only of taking vengeance and getting indemnified
for the injuries which they have done us, it is doubtful whether we
can overcome them, but it is certain that we shall be overcome by the
devil. If on the contrary we resist the devices of that spiritual
enemy, there is no fear then of our not coming off conquerors. Cast
away every evil affection, be led only by zeal for God, controlled
by his Spirit and the rule of his Word.’ Calvin went further. He
showed himself severe to his friends. ‘It is easy for you to justify
yourselves before men, but your conscience will feel burdened before
God.’ He did himself what he required of others. ‘I doubt not,’ he
said, ‘that God has humbled us in order to make us acquainted with our
ignorance, our imprudence, and our other infirmities, of which I for
my part have been fully conscious, and which I have no hesitation in
confessing before the Church. However,’ he adds, ‘we did faithfully
administer our office. The Lord will cause our innocence to come forth
like the morning-star, and our righteousness to shine like the sun.’
But he endeavors chiefly to console the believers of Geneva. ‘Be not
cast down because it hath pleased the Lord to humble you for a time,
for he lifts up the humble out of the dust and takes the poor from
the dunghill. He gives the manna of joy to those who are in tears; he
gives back light to them that sit in darkness, and he restores to life
them that walk in the shadow of death. Be of good courage then, and
endure with patience the chastening of his hand, until the time that
he reveal his grace to you.’[744] It is impossible not to recognize
the wisdom and the Christian charity which have left their impress on
this letter. It is indeed a pastor that speaks. Calvin was so far from
the excessive strictness imputed to him that he wrote at the same time
to Farel--‘If we find in any Church the ministry of the Word and the
sacraments, it is better not to separate from it. It is not right even
to do so on the ground that some doctrines are not purely taught in it;
for there is hardly a Church in existence which does not retain some
traces of its former ignorance. It is sufficient for us if the doctrine
on which the Church is founded has its place there and keeps it.’[745]
Calvin held that there are some doctrines fundamental and vital,
essential to salvation; but he acknowledged that there are others on
which difference is permissible.
[Sidenote: FAREL’S LETTER TO THE GENEVESE.]
Farel likewise wrote to the Christians of Geneva. He did so even before
Calvin, in June, in August, and again in November. He expressed to
them his deep sadness. He would fain be ‘so far away that he could
hear nothing of the miserable breaking-up and dispersion of the
Church.’ He strives ‘to banish from his heart the pains, the labors
that he undertook for that town; for nothing pierces the heart like
ingratitude; to see evil rendered for good, hate for love, death and
shame in place of the life and the honor which were procured.’ He
contents himself with praying for the town and commending it to all who
are able to give it any assistance. Meanwhile he cannot help seeing
the unhappy condition in which his own friends and all the faithful of
Geneva are, deprived of their pastors, and witnessing the triumph of
their enemies. He shares largely in their troubles; they are his only
trial. ‘I should be too happy,’ he wrote to them, ‘if you were not so
unhappy.’ But at the same time he exhorts them to Christian charity
and gives evidence of it himself. ‘Cherish in your hearts no rancor,’
he said to his former flock, ‘no root of bitterness, no anger. Do not
reproach this man nor that man, but let each one reproach himself: lay
all the blame on yourselves and say nothing but good of others. Let
God’s holy will be your rule, and not _poor man_ (the natural man),
and what is in him.’ He does not hesitate to rebuke his friends. ‘You
have not obeyed God wholly, but have halted and swerved to one side and
the other.’ Then he earnestly exhorts them to repentance. ‘You, great
and small, men and women, cast yourselves humbly before God, with all
earnestness and love, beseeching his grace, and praying him to turn
away his anger from you. Yes, cast yourselves before him with sobs
and tears, with fasting and prayer, like the king of Nineveh and his
people. Cry, weep, lift up your voices; that your cry going forth from
the depths of this terrible calamity may reach the ear of God.’[746]
Thus spoke Farel and Calvin.