HKB
GENEVA, [17th February 1544.]
I have never yet replied to your letter in which you admonished me of the need there was that those disputes between the Bernese and our people which were then astir[423] might be settled by friendly arbitration, and wherein you also requested that so far as was allowable for me, I would constantly interpose to prevent that useless quarrel on both sides from creeping on any further at so unseasonable a time. Albeit, however, that you only spurred me on when running in that direction of my own accord, it has helped me forward not a little when I was almost exhausted in rolling this stone already, to be goaded forward by this new impulse, that I might not give in before the matter was finished. And besides, that you may be all the better aware of how much service your exhortation and those of others have been to me, I was very nearly ten times over beginning to lose courage and to despond. It was not without great difficulty brought about, that the former judgment which had been passed at Basle was received here, and the second proved yet more troublesome to me, for more than ever had been yielded by it to the Bernese; and our people, because they now considered that they had fully discharged their duty, became all the more difficult to manage. Thereupon, it behoved me all the more to set my whole energies to work, and although my labour was not far from being thrown away to no purpose, when I was beginning almost to despair of a happy settlement, the Lord, altogether unexpectedly, shone forth marvellously upon us. At present, therefore, by the blessing of God, we enjoy not only peace, but also the most perfect agreement which I trust shall be firm. Adieu, most learned sir, and my very dear brother in the Lord. Salute reverently D. Pellican, Theodore, Megander, Gualther, and the rest of the brethren. May the Lord ever direct you all by his own Spirit.--Yours,
JOHN CALVIN.
My colleagues salute you all.
[Lat. orig. autogr.--Library of Geneva. Vol. 106.]
[423] After five years of embroilments and continued struggles between Berne and Geneva on account of the disputed territories then in litigation, peace was at length re-established between the two towns by the definitive sentence of the deputies of Basle, chosen as arbiters, (January 1544.) This decision, accepted equally by both parties, divided between them the jurisdiction of the lands belonging to Saint Victor, and the Charter granted to the Genevese fourteen cures or benefices out of the dependencies of the ancient bishopric, with power to place ministers; discharged the Bernese from the oath which those of Geneva pretended to be due to them on account of the occupation of the bailliages of Gex and of Ternier; and last of all stipulated for the free return of the banished exiles of Geneva, after the troubles of 1540.--See the Chronique de Roset, l. iv. c. 65; and Ruchat, Hist. de la Réf. tom. v. pp. 240, 241.
CXV.--TO VIRET.
Farther details of the arrangements with the Bernese--recall of the refugees--preparation of several works--disagreements with Castalio.
GENEVA, March 1544.