[237] This letter is without a date, but is evidently related to
the early period of Bucer's residence in England. Proceeding from
Strasbourg on the 5th April 1549 with Paul Fagius, he reached London
on the 25th, and met with a very cordial reception at Lambeth, in
the house of Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. At the desire of
his protector, and amid the sorrows inseparable from his exile,
he immediately undertook a new translation of the Bible, which he
was not permitted to finish, owing to repeated illness, brought on
by the change of climate. He was engaged, at the same time, on a
revision of the English Liturgy, from which he removed everything
that appeared to be tainted with Popery, without going as far in
these corrections as he was desired by Calvin, who was pressing him
by letter to remove the accusations of his life, by showing himself
more resolute and firm than hitherto.--See _La France Protestante_
of M. M. Haag. Art. Bucer.
Encouragements and consolations--desire for the conclusion of
peace between France and England--excesses of the ultra-Lutheran
party in Switzerland and Germany--agreement between the Churches
of Geneva and Zurich.
_June 1549._
Although your letter was mixed with joy and sorrow, yet it was
extremely pleasant to me. Would that I were able in some measure to
lighten the sufferings of your heart, and those cares by which I
see you are tortured! We all beseech you, again and again, not to
keep afflicting yourself to no purpose. Yet it is neither proper
in itself, nor is it in keeping with your piety, nor should we
desire to see it, that amid such various and manifold causes for
grief, you should be joyous and cheerful. You should make it your
study, however, to serve the Lord and the Church as far as you
have opportunity. You have indeed run a long race, but you know
not how much may be still before you. It may be that I, who have
just commenced the race, am at present nearer to the goal. But the
direction and the termination of your course are alike in the hand
of the Lord. I am a daily witness to many deaths, in order that I
may be made as active as possible amid the dangers which threaten us
from many quarters. Just as wars keep you busy where you are, so we
here give way to sluggish fears. I trust, however, that the internal
tumults are already calmed; and there is a report of a cessation
of hostilities between you and the French.[238] Would that a plan
of stable peace could be agreed upon: for we see that trainer of
gladiators, who is bringing these two kingdoms into conflict, in
the meantime laughing at his ease, and ready to seize any turn of
fortune, in order that he may attack the victor with fresh forces,
and gather the spoils of the vanquished without sweat and blood, and
thus triumph over and carry off the booty from both.[239] But when
I reflect on the wicked counsels by which France is ruled, I almost
despair of this matter. Indeed, they fear him more than enough;
but, by haughtily despising others, they do not guard themselves
against his craft. And indeed the Lord is by this blindness justly
avenging, as I take it, their atrocious cruelty to his saints, which
is daily increasing. Just as their wickedness is gathering strength,
and is continually becoming worse, so I pray that the English may,
with a contrary emulation, make a stand for the genuine purity
of Christianity, until everything in that country is seen to be
regulated according to the rule which Christ himself has laid down.
As you wished, and as the present state of things urgently demanded,
I have attempted to encourage the Lord Protector; and it will be
your duty to insist by all means, if you get a hearing--and of
that I am persuaded--that those rites which savour of superstition
be entirely removed. I particularly commend this to you, that you
thereby may free yourself of a charge which many, as you know,
falsely bring against you; for they always regard you as either the
author or approver of half measures. I know that this suspicion
is fixed too deeply in the minds of some to be easily rooted out,
even if you do your best. And some have been led to calumniate you
spitefully for no error whatever. This is accordingly damaging to
you, in some measure fatal, as you can with difficulty escape from
it. However, you must be on your guard, lest occasion of suspicion
be afforded the ignorant: the wicked eagerly snatch at any pretext
for abuse. I am exceedingly sorry that N.[240] is annoying you
without cause. Would that he would learn humanity some time! I am
the more ready to pardon him, as he seems to me to be so moved by
malice, as to be driven by a blind impulse. You cannot credit how
bitterly he has wounded us at times; alike the innocent, the absent,
and the friendly. When Viret was well nigh overcome by the very
great injustice of some, and by the perfidiousness of others, he was
as violently attacked by this individual, as if he had been the most
infamous traitor to the Church. He would certainly accustom himself
to mildness if he knew what hurt is done by the intemperateness of
his too fervid zeal and immoderate severity. You must endure with
your accustomed forbearance this and other indignities offered to
you. The people of Zurich, certainly, did not approve of his cause.
I differ from you somewhat in this matter; in that, you think injury
will be done to the opposite party. For while you think that they
would never labour under such gross hallucinations as to imagine
that Christ was diffused everywhere, you do not hold what Brentius,
among others, has written, that when Christ was lying in the manger
he was, even as to his body, full of glory in heaven. And to speak
more plainly, you know that the Popish doctrine is more moderate
and sober than that of Amsdorf,[241] and those resembling him, who
have raved as if they were the priestesses of Apollo. You know
how cruelly Master Philip has been annoyed, because he observed
a certain degree of moderation. In their madness they even drew
idolatry after them. For what else is the adorable sacrament of
Luther but an idol set up in the temple of God? I desired, however,
to see all these things buried. Indeed I have done my utmost among
our neighbours to keep them from railing; yet as it afforded them
satisfaction, I did not hesitate, the names being suppressed, to
condemn all the errors to which I was expressly opposed. You
certainly seem to me to enter with too much subtlety into the
discussion about place. Others are more seriously offended by your
obscurity, which they think you have studied craftily to employ. I
know indeed that in this they are wrong. But I do not see why you
should shrink so much from what we teach; that when Christ is said
to have ascended into heaven, there is affirmed by this expression
a diversity of places. For it is not disputed here whether there is
place in celestial glory, but only whether the body of Christ is
in the world. As the Scriptures have borne clear testimony on that
point, I have no hesitation in embracing it as an article of faith.
And yet, as you will find from our document,[242] this was yielded
to the fretfulness of some, not without a struggle: for I had framed
the words differently. Nothing was comprised in this formula which
we employed, except what I perceived it would be scrupulousness
not to concede to others. You wish piously and wisely, to explain
more clearly and fully the effect of the Sacrament, and what the
Lord bestows through it. Nor indeed was it owing to me that they
were not fuller on some points. Let us bear therefore with a sigh
what we cannot correct. You will find here a copy of the document
which they sent me. The two paragraphs which you feared they would
not admit, were readily adopted. Had the rest imitated the calmness
of Bullinger, I should have obtained all more easily. It is well,
however, that we have agreed about the truth, and that we are at one
in the most important sense. It would be exceedingly appropriate for
you to modify these two theses somewhat, in order to bring out more
clearly that you place Christ apart from us who are in the world, by
a diversity of place; in the second place, that you might discard
the more obviously all those false inventions by which the minds of
men have been led to superstition; and above all, that you might
vindicate the glory of the Holy Spirit and of Christ, lest aught
should be attributed to the ministers or to the elements. At the
commencement of our deliberations, agreement seemed really hopeless.
Light suddenly broke forth. Our forefathers wished to deliberate
with other Churches. We agreed without difficulty. N.'s dissension
must be borne with equanimity. Farel, as you will see, writes you at
great length. Viret dare not, for you cannot believe how unjustly he
is treated. He salutes you as dutifully as he can, and wishes you to
excuse him. All my colleagues, also, salute you respectfully. There
is nothing new here except that Zurich and Berne have cut off all
hopes of an alliance with France.[243] Adieu, very illustrious sir,
and father in the Lord, truly worthy of my regard.