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

792
Calvin’s recall, the history of Geneva is a bloody drama, in which pity,
dread, terror, indignation, and tears, by turns, appear to seize upon the
soul. At each step we encounter chains, thongs, a stake, pincers, melted
pitch, fire, and sulphur. And throughout the whole there is blood. One
imagines himself in Dante’s Hell, where sighs, groans, and lamentations
continually resound.”
ft725 This letter to Perrin is undated, but is probably from April, 1546. See
Opera, XII. 338 sq. and Bonnet, II. 42 sq.
ft726 Opera, vol. XXXI. 27
ft727 “Qui imbellis sum et meticulosus”; in the French ed., “tout foible et
craintif que je suis.” He more than once refers to his natural timidity;
but he risked his life on several occasions.
ft728 Bonnet, II. 133 sq. and 135; Opera, XII. 632 sqq. The date of the
letter to Viret is Dec. 17, not 14, as given by Bonnet.
ft729 To them must be traced the saying: “They would rather be with Beza
in hell than with Calvin in heaven.” But Beza was in full accord with
Calvin in discipline as well as doctrine. The saying is reported by
Papyrius Masso: “Genevenses inter jocos dicebant, malle se apud
inferos cum Beza quam apud superos esse cum Calvino.” Audin, p.
487.
ft730 Opera, XV. 271.
ft731 The Galiffes fairly represent the animosity of these old families to
Calvin, but far surpass their ancestors in literary and moral culture and
respectability, which they owe to the effects of his reformation.
ft732 The synagogue of the Libertines in Jerusalem opposed Stephen, the
forerunner of Paul, Acts 6:9.
ft733 Gieseler connects both sects, vol. III. Part I. 385; Comp. II. Part III.
266. Strype notices the existence of a similar sect in England at a later
period, Annals, vol. II. Part II. 287 sqq. (quoted by Dyer, p. 177)
ft734 They called St. Matthew, the publican, usurier (a usurer); St. Paul,
potcassé (a broken vessel); St. Peter, on account of his denial of Christ,
renonceur de Dieu; St. John, jouvenceau et follet (a childish youth),
etc.
ft735 Bonnet, in a note on Calvin’s letter to the queen (I. 429), says of her:
“In the later years of her life [she died in 1549] her piety gradually
degenerated into a kind of contemplative mysticism, whose chief