Note 157 — XXXVII.—To the Church of Geneva.[157]

A letter, written in French, like that of the 1st October 1538,—"To the residue of the dispersion of the Church of Geneva." The French original is lost. It is preserved only in the Latin translation by Theodore Beza. We perceive in it the peculiar circumstances in which the Reformer retired to Strasbourg,—saw it to be his duty a second time to exhort the Church of Geneva. Discord among the members of that Church had never ceased from the time of their being deprived of their first pastors. The authority of the new ministers was constantly treated with contempt, and the town, scarcely reformed, had to struggle with the old disorders, aggravated by the excesses arising from the schism. Observant of these sad divisions, and superior to the resentment of injury personal to himself, Calvin exhorted the members of his old flock, reminded them of the holy sanction of the ministerial charge, and implored them to rally around their lawful pastors.