Note 358 — CCXC.—To Bullinger.[358]

The magistrates of Geneva, after having received the advice of the leading Swiss Churches,—which were unanimous alike in their recognition of the doctrine of election, and in soliciting indulgence for Bolsec,—proceeded with the trial of the prisoner, who, having refused to retract his opinions, was solemnly banished on the 23d December 1551, for having persisted in an obstinate despisal of the judgment of the Churches to which he had promised submission.—(Registers of the Council, Dec. 1551. Spon and Picot, Histoire de Genève.) Calvin did not wish the sentence to be more severe, although he counted on the Swiss Churches taking a more energetic course, and in the ardour of his zeal for what he regarded as sound doctrine, looked upon all hesitation and all weakness as a cowardly abandonment of the truth.