§ 108. Calvin's struggle. 495
ward or inward struggles. But when Satan had made so many efforts to destroy our Church, it came at length to this, that I, unwarlike and timid as I am,i found myself compelled to oppose my own body to the murderous assault, and so to ward it off". Five years long had we to struggle without ceasing for the upholding of discipline ; for these evil-doers were endowed with too great a degree of poAver to be easily overcome ; and a portion of the people, perverted by their means, wished only for an unbridled freedom. To such worthless men, despisers of the holy law, the ruin of the Church was a matter of utter indifference, could they but obtain the liberty to do whatever they desired. Many were induced by necessity and hunger, some by ambition or b}^ a shameful desire of gain, to attempt a general overthrow, and to risk their own ruin as well as ours, rather than be subject to the laws. Scarcely a single thing, I believe, was left unattempted by them during this long period which we might not suppose to have been prepared in the workshop of Satan. Their wretched designs could only be attended Avith a shameful disappointment. A melancholy drama was thus presented to me ; for much as they deserved all possible punishment, I should have been rejoiced to see them passing their lives in peace and respectability : which might have been the case, had they not wholly rejected every kind of prudent admonition."
At one time he almost despaired of success. He wrote to Farel, Dec. 14, 1547 : " Affairs are in such a state of confusion that I despair of being able longer to retain the Church, at least by my own endeavors. May the Lord hear your incessant prayers in our behalf." And to Viret he wrote, on Dec. 17, 1547 : " Wickedness has now reached such a pitch here that I hardly hope that the Church can be upheld much
1 " Qui imbellis sum et meticidosus" ; 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.
496 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
longer, at Idast by means of my ministry. Believe me, my power is broken, unless God stretch forth his hand." ^
The adversaries of Calvin were, with a few exceptions, the same who had driven him away in 1538. They never cordially consented to his recall. They yielded for a time to the pressure of public opinion and political necessity; but Avhen he carried out the scheme of discipline much more rigorously than they had expected, they showed their old hostility, and took advantage of every censurable act of the Consistory or Council. They hated him worse than the pope.2 They abhorred the very word "discipline." They resorted to personal indignities and every device of intimidation ; they nicknamed him " Cain," and gave his name to the dogs of the street ; they insulted him on his way to the lecture-room ; they fired one night fifty shots before his bedchamber ; they threatened him in the pulpit ; they approached the communion table to wrest the sacred elements from his hands, but he refused to profane the sacrament and overawed them. On another occasion he walked into the midst of an excited crowd and offered his breast to their daggers. As late as October 15, 1554, he wrote to an old friend : " Dogs bark at me on all sides. Everywhere I am saluted with the name of 'heretic,' and all the calumnies that can possibly be invented are heaped upon me ; in a word, the enemies among my own flock attack me with greater bitterness than my declared enemies among the papists." ^
And yet in the midst of these troubles he continued to discharge all his duties, and found time to write some of his most important works.
1 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.
2 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 aptid superos esse cum Calvino." Audin, p. 487. 3 Opera, XV. 271.