[225] A peculiar interest attaches to this and the following letter,
written under a load of great domestic affliction. Early in April
1549, Calvin lost the worthy partner of his life, Idelette de Bure,
whose frail and delicate health gave way under the pressure of a
protracted illness, and whose last hours are known to us by the
touching picture given of them by the Reformer. The consolations
of friendship, and the consideration of the important duties he
had to discharge, supported Calvin in this affliction, and the
self-control which he manifested during the first days of his
bereavement, excited the admiration of his friends. Viret wrote him
on this occasion as follows: "Wonderfully and incredibly have I been
refreshed, not by empty rumours alone, but especially by numerous
messengers who have informed me how you, with a heart so broken
and lacerated, have attended to all your duties even better than
hitherto ... and that, above all, at a time when grief so fresh,
and on that account all the more severe, might have prostrated your
mind. Go on then as you have begun ... and I pray God most earnestly
that you may be enabled to do so, and that you may receive daily
greater comfort and be strengthened more and more."--Letter of 10th
April 1549. _Calv. Opera_, tom. ix. p. 53.
Death of Idelette de Bure, the wife of Calvin.
_April 7, 1549._
Although the death of my wife has been exceedingly painful to me,
yet I subdue my grief as well as I can. Friends, also, are earnest
in their duty to me. It might be wished, indeed, that they could
profit me and themselves more; yet one can scarcely say how much
I am supported by their attentions. But you know well enough how
tender, or rather soft, my mind is. Had not a powerful self-control,
therefore, been vouchsafed to me, I could not have borne up so long.
And truly mine is no common source of grief. I have been bereaved of
the best companion of my life, of one who, had it been so ordered,
would not only have been the willing sharer of my indigence, but
even of my death. During her life she was the faithful helper of
my ministry. From her I never experienced the slightest hindrance.
She was never troublesome to me throughout the entire course of
her illness; she was more anxious about her children than about
herself.[226] As I feared these private cares might annoy her to
no purpose, I took occasion, on the third day before her death,
to mention that I would not fail in discharging my duty to her
children. Taking up the matter immediately, she said, "I have
already committed them to God." When I said that that was not to
prevent me from caring for them, she replied, "I know you will not
neglect what you know has been committed to God." Lately, also, when
a certain woman insisted that she should talk with me regarding
these matters, I, for the first time, heard her give the following
brief answer: "Assuredly the principal thing is that they live a
pious and holy life. My husband is not to be urged to instruct them
in religious knowledge and in the fear of God. If they be pious, I
am sure he will gladly be a father to them; but if not, they do not
deserve that I should ask for aught in their behalf." This nobleness
of mind will weigh more with me than a hundred recommendations. Many
thanks for your friendly consolation. Adieu, most excellent and
honest brother. May the Lord Jesus watch over and direct yourself
and your wife.[227] Present my best wishes to her and to the
brethren.--Yours,