[236] _On the back_: It is thought that this letter has been written
to Madame de la Roche-Posay, Abbess of Thouars. A Seigneur of that
name played an important part in the religious wars of Poitou, but
he figured in the ranks of the Roman Catholic army.--Bèze, _Hist.
Eccl._, tom. ii. p. 588. There is a letter from the Reformed Church
of de la Roche-Posay of the 27th May 1561, addressed to Calvin.
(Library of Geneva, Vol. 107.)
He exhorts her and her companions to live in conformity with the
law of God.
_This 10th of June 1549._
MADAME AND WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--As we ought to be glad when the
kingdom of the Son of God our Saviour is multiplied, and the good
seed of his doctrine is everywhere spread abroad, I have been
greatly rejoiced in perceiving from your letter that his grace
and bounty has reached to you, to draw you on in the knowledge of
his truth, wherein lies our salvation and every blessing. Indeed,
it is a kind of miracle when he is pleased to make his glorious
light shine in the place of such deep darkness; and this I say,
that you and your associates may be the more induced to value the
inestimable benefit which he has conferred on you. For if the lies
of Satan wherewith he has blinded and bewitched the wretched world
reign everywhere at present, they have their chief seat in those
unhappy prisons which he has reared up, that he may keep souls in a
twofold captivity. Acknowledge then that our good Lord has reached
out a hand to you, even to the depths of the abyss, and that in so
doing he has expressed an infinite compassion toward you. Wherefore
it is your duty, as St. Peter has told us, to employ yourself in
magnifying his holy name. For in calling us to himself, he sets us
apart in order that our whole life may be to his honour, which it
cannot be without our withdrawing ourselves from the pollutions of
this world. And indeed there ought to be a difference between those
who are enlightened by Christ Jesus, and the poor blinded ones
who know not whither they are going. Therefore take heed that the
knowledge which he has bestowed upon you be not unimproved, that
you may not be reproached at the great day for having made void
his grace. But because I am confident that you do so as much as
lieth in you, I shall not dwell at greater length on that subject.
It is quite certain that we cannot be too earnestly importuned on
this very point. Besides, I believe that you will receive this
exhortation as you ought, not thinking it superfluous, inasmuch as
it may be of service to you against many assaults which Satan never
ceases to make upon all the children of God. Now, while he has many
ways in this world for seducing us out of the straight path, we on
our parts are so pitiably frail, that we are immediately overcome.
Wherefore we have much need to arm ourselves completely at every
point. Moreover, being sensible of our infirmity, which makes us so
often come short, we should supplement the exhortations which are
made to us in the name of God, with prayer and supplication, that
it would please our heavenly Father to strengthen us by his might,
and to supply whatsoever is lacking. However it may be, let us never
seek out excuses to flatter ourselves in our vices as the most part
do, but let us be thoroughly convinced that God's honour deserves
to be preferred to everything else, yea verily to life itself. And
let us not think it strange, if for his name's sake we be chased
from one place to another, and that we must forsake the place of our
birth, to transport ourselves to some unknown place, for we must
even be ready to depart from this world whensoever he shall call
us away. I understand quite well, that in such bondage as you now
are, you can not serve God purely without the rage and cruelty of
the wicked rising up immediately against you, and without the fire
perhaps being lighted. Such being the case, were it even necessary
that you should compass sea and land, never grow weary in seeking
the liberty to regulate yourself entirely according to the will of
your kind heavenly Father. Howbeit, you must remember, that wherever
we may go, the cross of Jesus Christ will follow us, even in the
place where you may enjoy your ease and comforts. Lay your account
with it, that even in the country where you have liberty, as well
to honour God as to be confirmed by his word, that you will have to
endure many annoyances. For this is the very way whereby God would
make trial of our faith, and know whether, in seeking after him, we
have been renouncing self. It is right that you be informed of this
beforehand, so that it may not be new to you when the experience
of it comes, though I doubt not that you and your associates are
already prepared for it. But the chief thing is to pray God that
he would lead you, as well to guide you as to uphold by his strong
arm, in order that as he has begun a good work in you, he would
continue it until he has brought you on to that perfection, after
which we must aspire until we are gone forth out of this world. And
to confirm you in this respect, recall to mind continually what an
unhappiness it is to be in perpetual disquietude and trouble of
conscience. In this condition of mind, you will naturally abhor
the wretched state in which you are, and count but dung all those
delights and all those comforts which you must purchase at so sad
a price as that of daily offending God. When you consider that our
life is accursed, and, of course, worse than any kind of death, if
our state be not approved of God, no bands of any earthly comforts
will be so strong that you will not easily rend them asunder, so
as entirely to escape from a kind of life which God condemns,
especially to live in a place where not only you may be free to
follow a holy and Christian calling, but where you will likewise
have the means of exercising yourself daily in sound doctrine,
of which we are so clearly enjoined to avail ourselves. Such a
recompense of reward may well stifle all regret of the flesh-pots
and pleasures of Egypt, and encourage us rather to follow God in the
wilderness than to befool ourselves in the practice of those lusts
which our flesh desires and longs for.
Meanwhile, Madame and good sister, having affectionately commended
me to your kind favour, and that of your companions, I pray our
good Lord more and more to increase his spiritual blessings upon
you, to keep you wholly in his obedience, and to have you under his
protection and defence against all the ambushes of Satan and those
who belong to him.
Your humble servant and brother,