CCCXXIX.—To the Believers in the Isles.[453]

Religious counsels, and announcement of the sending of a minister.

This 12th of October 1553.

Very dear Brethren,—We have to praise God that in the captivity wherein you are, he vouchsafes you the strength you ask, to worship him in purity, fearing more the being deprived of his grace, than exposing yourself to the dangers which may perhaps be about to occur to you, owing to the malice of the adversaries; for the brother who is bearer of the present letter,[454] has declared to us that you have requested him to return to you whenever he could; and that you desire to be by all means exhorted to what is right, and confirmed in the faith of the Gospel; and, indeed, now-a-days, there is greater need of this than ever. It remains that this holy zeal of yours be firm, so that you may continue to advance in the path of salvation. As for the man, you know him; and on our part, seeing he has here approved himself a God-fearing man, has had his conversation among us holy and without reproach, and has also always followed good and wholesome teaching, we doubt not that he will comport himself faithfully among you, and labour for your edification. As to the advice which he has asked of us in your name, this is the order which it appears to us you have to maintain, both as to prayer to God in beginning, and as to being taught by him and others that God shall give you, and to whom he has bestowed grace to minister to you. Thereupon, see that you take courage to separate yourselves from idolatries, from all superstitions, which are contrary to the service of God, and to the acknowledgment and confession which all Christians owe to him, for to that are we called. When, in course of time, God has so prospered you, that you are, as it were, an ecclesiastical body maintaining the order already mentioned, and that there are some resolved to withdraw themselves from prevailing pollutions, then you may have the use of the sacraments. But we are nowise of opinion that you should begin by them, or even that you should be in a hurry to partake of the holy Supper, until you have some order established among you. And indeed it is much better for you to abstain from it, so that thus you may be led to seek the means which will render you capable of receiving it. That is, as we have already said, that you may be accustomed to meet together in God's name, being as it were one body; and that you may be separated from the idolatries which it is not lawful to mix up with things holy. Nay, it would not be lawful for a man to administer the sacraments to you, unless he recognized you as a flock of Jesus Christ, and found among you the form of a church. Meanwhile, take courage and devote yourselves wholly to God, who has purchased us so dearly by his own Son, and yield him the homage of body and soul, showing that you account his glory more precious than all besides; and that you set a higher value upon the eternal salvation which is prepared for you in heaven, than you do on this transitory life.

Wherefore, very dear brethren, making an end for the present, we shall pray this merciful God to complete what he has begun in you, to increase you in all spiritual blessings, and to have you in his holy protection.

Charles D'espeville,
As well in his own name, as in that of his brethren.

[Fr. copy.—Arch. of the Company of Geneva. Vol. A.]