Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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question, whether he agreed with the Athanasian Creed and the edict of
Theodosius I. respecting the Trinity and the Catholic faith. He asked three
weeks’ time for consideration, but escaped to his villa at Farges, where his
family still resided.
There he was apprehended by the magistrates of Bern at the instance of the
Duke of Würtemberg, in September, 1557. His papers were seized and
found to contain antitrinitarian and other heresies. He was ordered to
renounce his errors by a confession drawn up with his own hand, and
banished from the territory of Bern; but on his promise to keep quiet, he
was allowed to return the following year for the sake of his seven children.
He died of the plague which visited Switzerland in 1564, and swept away
thirty-eight thousand persons in the territory of Bern, besides seven
thousand in Basel, and fourteen hundred at Coire. It was a fatal time for
the Reformed Church, for between 1564 and 1566 several of the leaders
died; as Calvin, Farel, Bibliander, Borrhaus, Blaurer, Fabricius, and
Saluz. f954
2. Giorgio Biandrata (or BLANDRATA), an educated physician of a noble
family of Saluzzo in Piedmont (born about 1515), escaped the inquisition
by flight to Geneva in 1557. He agreed substantially with Gribaldo, but was
more subtle and cautious. He called Calvin his reverend father, and
consulted him on theological questions. He seemed to be satisfied, but
returned again and again with new doubts. Calvin, overburdened with labor
and care, patiently listened and spent whole hours with the sceptic. He also
answered his objections in writing. f955 At last he refused further discussion
as useless. “He tried,” wrote Calvin to Lismann, “to circumvent me like a
serpent, but God gave me strength to withstand his cunning.”
The spirit of doubt spread more and more in the Italian congregation. One
of the principal sympathizers of Biandrata was GIANPAOLO ALCIATI, a
Piedmontese who had served in the army, and was not used to reverent
language.
Martinengo, the worthy Italian pastor, shortly before his death, begged
Calvin to take care of the little flock and to extirpate the dangerous heresy.
Accordingly, a public meeting of the Italian congregation was held May 18,
1558, in the presence of Calvin and two members of the Council. Calvin, in
the name of the Council, invited the malcontents to utter themselves freely,
and assured them that they should not be punished. Biandrata appealed to
certain expressions of Calvin, but was easily convicted of mistake. Alciati