[_Calvin's Lat. Corresp._ Opera, tom. ix. p. 66.]
[401] The same fact is related in a letter of Calvin to Dryander
in the following terms: "After that monk let loose against us from
the service of M. de Falais had been condemned, a plot having
been clandestinely hatched, a noisy fellow was found who, not
only at table in private families, but up and down the taverns,
kept constantly bawling, that we made God the author of sin, and
otherwise traduced our ministry in the most insulting manner
possible. When I saw that these evenomed words were spread about
everywhere, by means of which profligate men were intriguing, by no
means covertly, to overthrow the whole kingdom of Christ in this
city, I mildly admonished the people to be on their guard against
them. I also pointed out to the Senate how dangerous dilatory
measures were in such dissensions. Those who had suborned him to
molest me, by their intrigues so protracted the cause, that I was
kept in suspense upwards of three months. For among the judges
there were several who favoured the adverse party. But among many
injuries, there was nothing I felt more keenly and bitterly than
that this affair forced me into a hateful contest with M. Philip,
with whom, however, I broke in such a manner that I never spoke of
so great a man except in honourable terms."--_Library of Geneva._
Vol. 107, _a_.
[402] We can judge of this from the remarkable memorial of Calvin to
the Seigneurie, entitled _La Cause contre Trolliet_, where we meet
with these words:--"That party, Noble Seigneurs, which is desirous
of bringing Melanchthon and myself into mutual conflict, is doing
great wrong to both of us, and in general to the whole Church of
God. I honour Melanchthon as much for his superior learning as
for his virtues, and above all, for having laboured so faithfully
to uphold the Gospel. If I find fault with him, I do not conceal
it from him, seeing that he gives me liberty to do so. There are
witnesses in abundance on his side, who know how much he loves me.
And I know that he will hold in detestation all those who, under
cover of his name, seek to blacken my doctrine."--6th Oct. 1552.
(Library of Geneva, vol. 145.) Calvin's preface to Melanchthon's
_Common Places_ may also be consulted. Geneva, 1546, 8vo.
Osiander had published many writings against Melanchthon, in which,
by a strange reversing of the orthodox doctrine, he attempted to
derive Justification from God the Father, by forgetting the part
which belonged to Jesus Christ as the Redeemer. See Seckendorf, and
Melch. Adam, p. 229.