412 THE KEFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
virgin of Christ," and, "• seeing her polluted b}^ base seducers, to recall her to conjugal fidelity," after having been defiled by the idolatry of image-worship and numberless superstitions. Peace and unity can only be found in Christ and his truth. He concludes with the wish : —
" May the Lord grant, Sadolet, that you and all your party may at length perceive that the only true bond of Church unity is Christ the Lord, who has reconciled us to God the Father, and will gather us out of our present dispersion into the fellowship of His body, that so, through His one Word and Spirit, we may grow together into one heart and one soul."
Such is a summary of that remarkable Answer — a masterpiece of dignified and gentlemanly theological controversy. There is scarcely a parallel to it in the literature of that age, which teems with uncharitable abuse and coarse invective. Melanchthon might have equalled it in courtesy and good taste, but not in adroitness and force. No wonder that the old lion of Wittenberg was delighted with this triumphant vindication of the evangelical Reformation by a young Frenchman, who was to carry on the conflict which he himself had begun twenty years before by his Theses and his heroic stand at the Diet of Worms. " This answer," said Luther to Cruciger, who had met Cahdn at the Colloquies in Worms and Regensburg, " has hand and foot, and I rejoice that God raises up men who wdll give the last blow to popery, and finish the war asrainst Antichrist which I becan." ^
^ See vol. VI. 659. Kampschulte's impartial judgment on the Answer to Sadolet is worth quoting (I. 354) : "£"« ist in Wahrheit eine der gldnzendsten Streitsckriften, die je aus seiner Fede?- (jeflossen, and audi wer seine Anschauungen nicht theilt, wird ihm in diesem Streite die Palme zuerkennen miissen. . . . Er entwickelt in der Vortheidigung des neuen Glaubenssgstems eine Kraft der Rede, eine Gewandtheit der Beiveisfdhrung und eine F'dUe der Gedanken, welche die rhetorischen, sentimentalen, oft aurh inhaltsarmen Phrasen des Gegners um so mehr in Hirer Schiodche zeigen. Den Glanzpunkt der Schrift Calvin's bildet aber vielleicht seine eigene Vertheidigung. Mil Recht durfte er den versteckten Angriffen des Cardinals gegenUber auf sein vergangenes Leben hinweisen, um den Beweis zu lie/em, dass nicht die Aussicht auf irdischen Gewinn oder aussere Ehren, sondern seine ernste Ueberzeugung seine Schritte geleitet, dass er erst nack schweren Kdmpfen von der katholischen Kirche sich losgesagt. Diese Schrift war es, welche auch Luther's
§ 92. CALVIN'S MARRIAGE AND HOME LIFE. 413
The Answer made a deep and lasting impression. It was widely circulated, with Sadolet's Letter, in manuscript, printed in Latin, first at Sti-assburg, translated into French, and published in both languages by the Council of Geneva at the expense of the city (1540). The prelates who had met at Lyons lost courage f the papal party in Geneva gave up all hope of restoring the mass. Three years afterwards Cardinal Pierre de la Baume died — the last bishop of Geneva.
§ 92. Calvin's Marriage and Home Life.
Calvin's Letters to Farel and Viret quoted below.
Jules Bonnet: Idelette de Bure, femme de Calvin. In the "Bulletin de la
Societe' de I'liistoire du protestantisme fran(,'ais." Quatrieme annee. Paris,
1850. pp. 036-046. — D. Lknoir, /6/V/. 1860. p. 26. (A brief note.) Henry, I. 407 sqq. — Dyer, 99 sqq. — Stahelin, I. 272 sqq. — Merle d'Au-
BiGXE, bk. Xr. ch. XVII. (vol. VI. 601-608). — Stricker, I.e. 42-50.—
(Kampschllte is silent on this topic.)
The most important event in Calvin's private life during his sojourn in Germany was his marriage, which took place early in August, 1540.^ He expresses his views on marriage in his comments on Ephesians 5 : 28-33. " It is a thing against nature," he remarks, " that any one should not love his wife, for God has ordained marriage in order that two may be made one person — a result which, certainly, no other alliance can bring about. When Moses says that a man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, he shows that a man ought to prefer marriage to every other union, as being the holiest of all. It reflects our union with Christ, who infuses his very life unto us ; for we are flesh of his
Her z fur den wdlschen Rivalen erwarmte. Damals konnte Melanchlhon nach Strassburg melden, dass Calvin in Wittenberg ' hoch in Gnaden stehe.' "
1 The precise day is not known. Before Aug. 17 he was a married man, and received congratulations and greetings to his wife from Libertet (Opera, XI. Ep. 2o4, fol. 77). Merle d'Aubigne wrongly puts his marriage at the end of August ; Bonnet and Stahelin, in September.