part I

may assist you in making a right use of that knowledge which God has vouchsafed you; to wit, how reasonable it is that his honour be preferred to our life, and also that we endeavour to put away all those subterfuges, which our flesh suggests to us, for turning aside from the path which he points out. That we may do so, we must learn a habit of forgetting ourselves, for the allurements of the world are no less dangerous than open war. The most humble have their share. You, on the other hand, owing to the high condition wherein God has set you, have a larger portion. But you must consider that this is a discipline God sends you, in order that you may all the better manifest the strength and vigour of the savour of our heavenly life, when you shall have surmounted those great obstacles, following out in spite of them your heavenly calling. However, Mademoiselle, when you feel your own infirmity so great, that in the midst of dangers you are unable to give glory to God, do not neglect the remedy, which is to betake yourself to the cross, where you may be joined to the flock, and hear the voice of the Shepherd; whatever may happen, shun to be as a sheep straying in the wilderness. When you are in such a disposition, there is no doubt that God will have compassion upon you, that himself will provide when you shall see no means of doing so; for it is thus that he withdraws his own not only from the mouths of wolves, but from the very depths of hell.

I have received the ten crowns which you have sent for the support of the poor believers who have need of it.[217] I have intrusted them to a discreet hand, to make distribution according to your intention. May the Lord vouchsafe acceptance of this alms at your hands, as a sacrifice of a sweet savour, and cause you one day to rejoice in the spiritual benefits which he has imparted to those you are thus helping in their earthly poverty.

[217] The donations which a pious liberality daily multiplied at Geneva, gave rise to the foundations known by the name of French, German, and Italian _Bourses_. The names of Margaret de Valois, and the Duchess of Ferrara, shine in the first rank upon the list of foreign contributors.--Bolsec, _Life of Calvin_, c. xi.

And now, Mademoiselle, having commended me humbly to your kind favour, with prayer to our good Lord to uphold you in his protection, to govern you always by his Spirit, and to assist you in every way and evermore, I shall conclude for the present. My wife also desires to be humbly commended to your kind favour.

Your servant and humble brother,

CHARLES D'ESPEVILLE.

[_Fr. copy._--_Library of Geneva._ Vol. 108.]

CCXXXIV.--TO THE MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH OF MONTBELIARD.[218]

[218] To the Faithful Servants of Christ, the Ministers of the Church of Montbeliard, dearest Brethren and Fellow-Ministers.

George of Wurtemberg, Count of Montbeliard, having fallen under the disgrace of the Emperor, at the end of the war of Smalkald, in which he had taken part in the ranks of the Protestant princes, was stript of his Principality in 1548, and withdrew to the Canton of Berne.--Ruchat, vol. v. p. 368. At the termination of that revolution, the Churches of the Pays de Montbeliard were dispersed, and their ministers, among whom was to be remarked Pierre Toussain, were banished, and sought an asylum in the different Reformed Cantons of Switzerland, until the period of the restoration, both political and religious, that replaced them some years afterwards in their native country.

Exhortations to discharge to the end their ministerial duties.

[GENEVA, _16th January 1549_.]

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.--Very dear brethren, deserving of my hearty reverence, what we so long feared has at length come to pass, for Satan has, by the aid of his ministers, overturned among you also the order of the Church as established by God. Yet your letter was consolatory--so far as there could be any consolation in so very sad a state of things--for we learned from it that you were all faithful to the last in the discharge of your duty. In denouncing, as you say you did, those seducers who were making themselves busy in defiling the purity of sound doctrine, you acted with a decision worthy of the ministers of Christ. You now give a bright example of the sincerity of your faith, in preferring even exile to perfidious dissimulation. For when he who had hitherto given a hospitable reception within his dominions to the Church of Christ, and had granted you full permission to preach Christ, now deprives you of the office of teachers, there is no use in pushing the matter farther, as we think, especially when there is no hope of making progress, and when the sheep, over which Christ had made you pastors, no longer desire your services. As he is a traitor who voluntarily yields up and deserts his post, so it is our duty, when forced, not to offer resistance, unless perhaps we should be expressly called upon by the Church to undergo the extremity; for it is a hundred times better to die, than for those who were prepared to follow Christ to make vain their vows. But your case is far different; for so long as you were pastors, you were faithful and assiduous in your attention to your flocks. Now when there is no use in desiring to persevere, and when the sheep themselves, to whom your faith was pledged, do not consider it profitable for you to proceed farther, you are certainly free from all further obligation. It remains, therefore, for you to commend to Christ the charges committed to you, that he alone by his Spirit may give guidance when you have no longer any opportunity of carrying on your labours. Henceforward we may imagine what your sorrow must be, seeing that nothing presents itself to you but exile and poverty. But your greatest affliction will be caused by the misery of the Church, for whose interests you have evinced greater regard than for your own. And we indeed are equally affected--as we ought to be--by your public and private misfortunes. Would that we could extend a helping hand to you! For the rest, we exhort you to hold on to the end in this your testimony of Christian sincerity. Your lot, however hard, will be more blessed than if you maintained a name and a place where the Son of God was exiled. Yet we shall soon see him so reigning in heaven, as to make his power appear also on the earth. Meanwhile, it becomes us to be ready for the warfare, since it is not yet the hour of triumph. Adieu, best and most upright brethren. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you, may he comfort and support you in your devoted steadfastness.

Your brethren truly in the Lord, the Ministers of the Church of Geneva.--In the name of all,

JOHN CALVIN.

[_Calvin's Lat. Corresp._--Opera, tom. ix. p. 50.]

CCXXXV.--TO HENRY BULLINGER.[219]

[219] The year 1549 is remarkable for the tendencies to union manifested by many of the Swiss Churches, and for their happy issue! Several persons, says Ruchat, zealous for religion, imagined that the clergy of Zurich and Geneva did not hold the same doctrine on the Supper, on the ground of some slight difference in the expressions they made use of; and this divergence caused them pain. Accordingly, as they held Bullinger and Calvin in great esteem, and desired to be able to profit equally by writings published by theologians of both churches, they deemed it necessary to institute conferences with a view to union; and Calvin, ever full of zeal for the interests of the Church, did not hesitate to subscribe to this petition.--_Hospinien_, tom. ii. p. 367; Ruchat, tom. v. p. 369.

Hope of union with the theologians of Zurich--dedication of several writings.

GENEVA, _21st January 1549_.

I at length received your former letter, which I thought had been destroyed, three days before the latter of the two reached me. For when the person who married the other sister[220] sought Hooper's[221] letter from his companion, observing another small packet, he immediately laid hands on it. His companion, either from modesty, or from some cause I know not what, did not dare to take it from him. I have read your annotations, from which I have discovered what you regard as wanting in my method of treating the subject. I have endeavoured briefly to satisfy you, because the matter itself did not demand a long discourse. I shall know how far I have succeeded in this, when I have received your reply. I may at least on good grounds wish to obtain this of you, viz., that you will not allow yourself to become entangled in baseless suspicions. For I observe that, owing to this cause, you are perplexed in regard to many points which present difficulty, simply because you put upon the majority of my statements a different construction from what you have any ground for doing. A pre-conceived opinion regarding me leads you to imagine and attribute to me what never occurred to my mind. Besides, while you are concerned to maintain your own opinions, whatever they may be, to the very last, you sometimes consider more what is in harmony with them, than what is the truth on the subject. If simplicity pleases you, I certainly take no delight in disguise and circumlocution. If you love a free declaration of the truth, I never had any mind to bend what I wrote, so as to receive its acceptance with men. If there be any who have flattered Luther and others, I am not of that number. Our most excellent Musculus knows, that even when wise men were in fear, I was always free [from apprehensions]. But had it not been for the obstacle of an unprofitable distrust, there would by this time have been no controversy between us, or none to speak of. Although, however, I differ from you in opinion, that does not imply the least severance of affection; just as I cultivate the friendship of Bucer, and yet am free to dissent occasionally from his views. You are accordingly too severe in saying in your letter that the matter can only go well, provided you understand that you are not regarded as our enemies. On what grounds you form that surmise, I know not. This indeed I know, that I both think and speak of you in a friendly spirit. This, moreover, is known to very many who have heard me speak. It may indeed be that I have found fault with you in private letters to my friends, or that I have not concealed my conviction, that what they censured was deserving of reprehension. There was always, however, such an admixture of praise, as qualified any bitterness, and afforded proof of good intentions. Others may form what opinion they choose, but I shall never have to repent of lack of integrity on my part. If Master Blaurer[222] shall undertake Provence, which is offered to him, and Musculus accept the Professorship of Theology, I shall not only congratulate the Church of Berne, but hope that this will prove a bond of closer relationship between us. I beg you will inform me of your affairs, whenever an opportunity occurs. You would have had my Commentaries on the Five Epistles of Paul before this time, had I not thought that they were for sale with you. As messengers rarely go and come between this and your quarter, I was afraid that the carriage would cost more than the purchase of them. I now send you the Commentaries on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and the four [Epistles] immediately following. I have yet published nothing on the Epistle to Titus, and the two Epistles to the Thessalonians. I also send my reply, which is highly approved of by Brentius, whose opinion I do not mention to you in the way of boasting, but that you may therefrom form a conjecture as to how much more moderate he is in his doctrine of the Sacraments than he formerly was. Adieu, most illustrious sir, and dearest brother in the Lord. May the Lord Jesus always guide you and your colleagues, all of whom you will salute respectfully in my name. Ours in turn desire best greetings to you, of whom Des Gallars presents for your acceptance a small treatise he has composed. The best greeting to Master Musculus, and other pious brethren.--Yours,

JOHN CALVIN.

[_Lat. orig. autogr._--_Archives of Zurich._ Gest. VI. 166, p. 19.]

[220] Valeran Poulain, brother-in-law of Hooper, whose sister he espoused at Zurich. He became this same year minister of the congregation cf Foreign Protestants at Glastonbury, near London. We shall find him afterwards minister of the Church of Frankfort.

[221] John Hooper, formerly chaplain to the Duke of Somerset, withdrew to Zurich during the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII. He was at this time disposed to return to England.

[222] Ambroise Blaurer, formerly minister of the Reformed Church of Constance, at this time minister of the Church of Bienne.

CCXXXVI.--TO BUCER.[223]

[223] This undated fragment should, we think, be referred to the month of February 1549; that is, to the period at which Bucer, compelled to leave Strasbourg, by the establishment of the Interim in that town, was making preparations for his departure for England. In one of his letters to Calvin we discover the following passage:--"We are only hindered by the tears and sighs of the pious--of whom there are still a great many here--from leaving this place before we get orders. For, if the Lord will, we wish rather to seal than to break up our ministry. You see how our affairs stand, and how much we need the assistance of your prayers, both in our own behalf and on that of this very unfortunate Church."--_Calv. Opera_, b. ix. p. 233.

Sadly disappointed in the dream of his whole life--the union of the Reformed Churches of Germany and Switzerland--forgotten by parties who could not forgive his moderation in an age of hatred and intolerance, Bucer carried with him into exile the respect and affection of Calvin, who in a letter, of which we have here only a mere fragment, addressed to him the highest consolations of Christian philosophy.

Consolations to be found in the study of divine and everlasting truth.

[_February 1549._]

As truth is most precious, so all men confess it to be so. And yet, since God alone is the source of all good, you must not doubt, that whatever truth you anywhere meet with, proceeds from him, unless you would be doubly ungrateful to him; it is in this way you have received the word descended from heaven. For it is sinful to treat God's gifts with contempt; and to ascribe to man what is peculiarly God's is a still greater impiety. Philosophy is, consequently, the noble gift of God, and those learned men who have striven hard after it in all ages have been incited thereto by God himself, that they might enlighten the world in the knowledge of the truth. But there is a wide difference between the writings of these men and those truths which God, of his own pleasure, delivered to guilty men for their sanctification. In the former, you may fall in with a small particle of truth, of which you can get only a taste, sufficient to make you feel how pleasant and sweet it is; but in the latter, you may obtain in rich abundance that which can refresh the soul to the full. In the one, a shadow and an image is placed before the eyes which can only excite in you a love of the object, without admitting you to familiar intercourse with it; in the other, the solid substance stands before you, with which you may not only become intimately acquainted, but may also, in some measure, handle it. In that, the seed is in a manner choked; in this, you may possess the fruit in its very maturity. There, in short, only a few small sparks break forth, which so point out the path that they fail in the middle of the journey,--or rather, which fail in indicating the path at all,--and can only restrain the traveller from going farther astray; but here, the Spirit of God, like a most brilliant torch, or rather like the sun itself, shines in full splendour, not only to guide the course of your life, even to its final goal, but also to conduct you to a blessed immortality. Draw then from this source, wherever you may wander, and as soon as he finds you a settled abode, you ought to make that your place of rest....

[_Calvin's Lat. Corresp._ Opera, tom. ix. p. 50.]

CCXXXVII.--TO THE PASTORS OF THE CHURCH OF BERNE.[224]

[224] While Calvin was engaged in active negotiations with the ministers of Zurich for the adoption of a common formula regarding the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, he addressed to the ministers of the Church of Berne a statement of what the Church of Geneva held on that important question, in the hope of leading that Church into the proposed union. But the Bernese clergy, placed in a position of absolute dependence on the seigneury, could not adopt any formula without its authority; and the seigneurs, jealous of their influence, regarded with a distrustful eye any communication with the ministers of Geneva. The approaches of Calvin, also, were not well received, and the noble desire of the Reformer for the union of the Helvetian churches, realized at a later period by Bullinger, met with no response.--_Ruchat_, tom. v. pp. 578, 579.

Desire of union between the Churches of Berne and Geneva.

GENEVA, _13th March 1549_.

Seeing that we have, unsolicited, offered you a reading of our views on the sacraments, it seems desirable to furnish you, briefly, with some reason for our resolution in this matter; although, indeed, no lengthened introduction is needed in dealing with us in so just a cause. When your illustrious senate has publicly called upon you to deliberate, among other matters, regarding the peace of the Church, of which the peculiar bond is harmony in purity of doctrine, it is probable there will be some discussion regarding the sacraments, as that subject has for a long time occupied the attention of the Bernese Church. And while we are not required to make any exposition of our doctrine, we have, nevertheless, thought it our duty, even though unasked, to take part with you in bearing testimony on a matter in which we have all been completely unanimous. For since we both preach the same Christ, both profess the same gospel, are both members of the same church, and have both the same ministry, there ought not to be that diversity of authority among us to which we have been subject, either to break up the unity of our faith, or to hinder from flourishing amongst us so many rights of holy fellowship consecrated to the service of Christ. That proximity of residence, also, which is so influential among the children of this world, in drawing them into close friendship, ought not, at least, to be less powerful among us. We are, in reality, so commingled, that even the situation of the two places brings us, as it were, within a bond of mutual union. So far is this the case, that there is a federal union between the two cities. Some of our ministers, moreover, supply the churches of the Bernese district, just as certain of your body, again, have some of the churches of Geneva under their charge. It is, consequently, to a great extent, as much your interest as it is ours to become intimately acquainted with those doctrines to which we conform. At all events, in this way--passing by other considerations--many unfavourable suspicions will be counteracted, and malicious men will be deprived of a source of abuse. We confidently trust that our wishes will be agreeable, not only to yourselves, but also to your most illustrious senate. It only remains that you receive this communication calmly and with forbearance. And if you do so, as there is the highest hope you will, it will not be found to contain anything which you may not easily comprehend. Adieu, dearly beloved and estimable brethren and fellow-ministers; may the Lord Jesus long preserve, by his strength, the Bernese republic in a most prosperous condition. May he uphold the illustrious senate, under whose auspices ye have been assembled. May he direct and bless your assembly, and guide you by a spirit of wise zeal and uprightness to promote the advancement and edification of the Church.

Signed in the name of all your brethren and fellow-ministers of the Church of Geneva,

JOHN CALVIN.

* * * * *

Then follows an exposition of the sacraments, corrected by the hand of Calvin.

[_Lat. Copy._--_Archives of Zurich_, Gest. VI. 105, p. 390.]

CCXXXVIII.--TO VIRET.[225]

[225] A peculiar interest attaches to this and the following letter, written under a load of great domestic affliction. Early in April 1549, Calvin lost the worthy partner of his life, Idelette de Bure, whose frail and delicate health gave way under the pressure of a protracted illness, and whose last hours are known to us by the touching picture given of them by the Reformer. The consolations of friendship, and the consideration of the important duties he had to discharge, supported Calvin in this affliction, and the self-control which he manifested during the first days of his bereavement, excited the admiration of his friends. Viret wrote him on this occasion as follows: "Wonderfully and incredibly have I been refreshed, not by empty rumours alone, but especially by numerous messengers who have informed me how you, with a heart so broken and lacerated, have attended to all your duties even better than hitherto ... and that, above all, at a time when grief so fresh, and on that account all the more severe, might have prostrated your mind. Go on then as you have begun ... and I pray God most earnestly that you may be enabled to do so, and that you may receive daily greater comfort and be strengthened more and more."--Letter of 10th April 1549. _Calv. Opera_, tom. ix. p. 53.

Death of Idelette de Bure, the wife of Calvin.

_April 7, 1549._

Although the death of my wife has been exceedingly painful to me, yet I subdue my grief as well as I can. Friends, also, are earnest in their duty to me. It might be wished, indeed, that they could profit me and themselves more; yet one can scarcely say how much I am supported by their attentions. But you know well enough how tender, or rather soft, my mind is. Had not a powerful self-control, therefore, been vouchsafed to me, I could not have borne up so long. And truly mine is no common source of grief. I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life, of one who, had it been so ordered, would not only have been the willing sharer of my indigence, but even of my death. During her life she was the faithful helper of my ministry. From her I never experienced the slightest hindrance. She was never troublesome to me throughout the entire course of her illness; she was more anxious about her children than about herself.[226] As I feared these private cares might annoy her to no purpose, I took occasion, on the third day before her death, to mention that I would not fail in discharging my duty to her children. Taking up the matter immediately, she said, "I have already committed them to God." When I said that that was not to prevent me from caring for them, she replied, "I know you will not neglect what you know has been committed to God." Lately, also, when a certain woman insisted that she should talk with me regarding these matters, I, for the first time, heard her give the following brief answer: "Assuredly the principal thing is that they live a pious and holy life. My husband is not to be urged to instruct them in religious knowledge and in the fear of God. If they be pious, I am sure he will gladly be a father to them; but if not, they do not deserve that I should ask for aught in their behalf." This nobleness of mind will weigh more with me than a hundred recommendations. Many thanks for your friendly consolation. Adieu, most excellent and honest brother. May the Lord Jesus watch over and direct yourself and your wife.[227] Present my best wishes to her and to the brethren.--Yours,

JOHN CALVIN.

[_Calvin's Lat. Corresp._--Opera, tom. ix. p. 50.]

[226] Idelette de Bure had, by her first marriage with Jean Storder, several children known to us only by the pious solicitude of their mother on her deathbed.

[227] We read in Viret's letter to Calvin already referred to,--"My wife salutes you most courteously; she has been grieved in no ordinary way by the death of her very dear sister, and she and I feel it to be a loss to us all." Idelette de Bure kept up with Viret's wife a pious epistolary correspondence, which has unfortunately not been preserved.

CCXXXIX.--TO FAREL.

Further details regarding the death of Idelette de Bure.

GENEVA, _11th April 1549_.

Intelligence of my wife's death has perhaps reached you before now. I do what I can to keep myself from being overwhelmed with grief. My friends also leave nothing undone that may administer relief to my mental suffering. When your brother left, her life was all but despaired of. When the brethren were assembled on Tuesday, they thought it best that we should join together in prayer. This was done. When Abel, in the name of the rest, exhorted her to faith and patience, she briefly (for she was now greatly worn) stated her frame of mind. I afterwards added an exhortation, which seemed to me appropriate to the occasion. And then, as she had made no allusion to her children, I, fearing that, restrained by modesty, she might be feeling an anxiety concerning them, which would cause her greater suffering than the disease itself, declared in the presence of the brethren, that I should henceforth care for them as if they were my own. She replied, "I have already committed them to the Lord." When I replied, that that was not to hinder me from doing my duty, she immediately answered, "If the Lord shall care for them, I know they will be commended to you." Her magnanimity was so great, that she seemed to have already left the world. About the sixth hour of the day, on which she yielded up her soul to the Lord, our brother Bourgouin[228] addressed some pious words to her, and while he was doing so, she spoke aloud, so that all saw that her heart was raised far above the world. For these were her words: "O glorious resurrection! O God of Abraham, and of all our fathers, in thee have the faithful trusted during so many past ages, and none of them have trusted in vain. I also will hope." These short sentences were rather ejaculated than distinctly spoken. This did not come from the suggestion of others, but from her own reflections, so that she made it obvious in few words what were her own meditations. I had to go out at six o'clock. Having been removed to another apartment after seven, she immediately began to decline. When she felt her voice suddenly failing her, she said: "Let us pray: let us pray. All pray for me." I had now returned. She was unable to speak, and her mind seemed to be troubled. I, having spoken a few words about the love of Christ, the hope of eternal life, concerning our married life, and her departure, engaged in prayer. In full possession of her mind, she both heard the prayer, and attended to it. Before eight she expired, so calmly, that those present could scarcely distinguish between her life and her death. I at present control my sorrow so that my duties may not be interfered with. But in the mean while the Lord has sent other trials upon me. Adieu, brother, and very excellent friend. May the Lord Jesus strengthen you by his Spirit; and may he support me also under this heavy affliction, which would certainly have overcome me, had not he, who raises up the prostrate, strengthens the weak, and refreshes the weary, stretched forth his hand from heaven to me. Salute all the brethren and your whole family.--Yours,

JOHN CALVIN.

[_Calvin's Lat. Corresp._ Opera, tom. ix. p. 50.]

[228] The minister Francis Bourgouin.

CCXL.--TO MADAME DE CANY.[229]

[229] See the letter and the note at p. 201.

Account of the instructive death of Madame Laurent de Normandie.

_This 29th of April 1549._

MADAME,--Although the news which I communicate is sad, and must also sadden the person to whom I beg you to impart it, nevertheless I hope that my letter will not be unwelcome to you. It has pleased my God to withdraw from this world the wife of my kind brother, M. de Normandie.[230] Our consolation is, that he has gathered her unto himself; for he has guided her even to the last sigh, as if visibly he had held out the hand to her. Now, forasmuch as her father must needs be informed,[231] we have thought there was no way more suitable than to request that you would please take the trouble to request him to call on you, that the painful intelligence may be broken to him by your communication of it. What the gentleman has written to us who lately presented our letter to you, has emboldened us to take this step, viz., that you had introduced the good man in question to the right way of salvation, and that you had given him understanding of the pure and sound doctrine which we must maintain. We do not doubt, therefore, that you are willing to continue your good offices, and that even in this present need. For we cannot employ ourselves better, than in carrying this message in the name of God, to comfort him to whom you have already done so much good, that he may not be beyond measure disconsolate. Therefore, Madame, I leave you to set before him the arguments and reasons which you know to be suitable for exhorting to submission. Only I shall shortly relate to you the history, which will furnish you with ample matter for showing him that he has reason to be thankful. And, according to the grace and wisdom that God has given you, you will draw thence for his comfort as opportunity shall require.

[230] Laurent de Normandie, sprung from a noble family of Picardy, fellow-countryman and friend of Calvin, discharged the functions of master of requests and of lieutenant of the King at Noyon, before retiring to Geneva. Received inhabitant of the town, the 2d May 1547, burgess, the 25th April 1555, he lived there in intimacy with Calvin, who dedicated to him in 1550 his _Traité des Scandales_. He had married for his first wife Anne de la Vacquerie, of a noble family, which has merged in that of the Dukes of Saint Simon, and illustrious under the reign of Louis XI., by the first president Jacques de la Vacquerie. A short time after his arrival at Geneva he lost his wife, whose edifying death is the subject of Calvin's letter to Madame de Cany, and he married a second time (14th September 1550) Anne Colladon.--Galiffe, _Notices Généalogiques sur les Familles de Genève_, tom. ii. p. 527.

[231] Eloi de la Vacquerie.

Having heard of the illness of the good woman, we were amazed how she could have been able to bear so well the fatigue of the journey, for she arrived quite fresh, and without showing any sign of weariness. Indeed she acknowledged that God had singularly supported her during that time. Weak as she was, she kept well enough until a little before Christmas. The eager desire which she had to hear the word of God, upheld her until the month of January. She then began to take to bed, not because the complaint was as yet thought to be mortal, but to prevent the danger which might arise. Although expecting a favourable termination, and hoping to recover her health, she nevertheless prepared for death, saying often, that if this was not the finishing blow, it could not be long delayed. As for remedies, all was done that could be. And if her bodily comfort was provided for, that which she prized most highly was nowise wanting, to wit, pious admonitions to confirm her in the fear of God, in the faith of Jesus Christ, in patience, in the hope of salvation. On her part she always gave clear evidence that the labour was not in vain, for in her discourse you could see that she had the whole deeply imprinted upon her heart. In short, throughou