CCCXXVIII.—To a Captive Lady.[452]

He consoles her under her trials, and exhorts her to use every means to secure her retreat to Geneva.

From Geneva, this 13th September 1553.

Mademoiselle and very dear Sister,—I am much grieved by your affliction, not only because the children of God ought to bear each other's burdens, but because I feel the cause for which you suffer to be a common one; for, as I am told, they afflict and detain you captive for having wished to follow Jesus Christ. You have, however, whereof to rejoice in the good testimony which your conscience renders you in the sight of God, that you do not suffer on account of evil doing, but because Satan cannot endure that you should break loose from the bonds of the servitude in which you have hitherto pined. Notwithstanding, you must call upon God, beseeching him to have compassion upon you, and committing yourself entirely into his hand, to hope for such deliverance as he shall please to send you. Nevertheless, if there were any right and lawful means of escaping out of the hands of him who detains you, you should ask counsel from God, so that by his Spirit he might teach you to take advantage of it. As I am not thoroughly acquainted with the facts, nay, as I do not even know your person nor your rank, I shall write upon the report of the gentlemen who are the bearers of the present letter. They have told me that as you were preparing to come hither, nay, actually on your way, the thing being discovered, some priest who is related to you, seized upon you, and now detains you as in a prison, from whence you have no means of getting free, unless you pretend to be willing for a while to live in that neighbourhood. Now, they promise to harbour you in their house, where you will be free to serve God purely, without mixing yourself up with the idolatries which prevail throughout the country. Before giving you any advice as to this, I protest that on no account would I induce you to flinch, or to seek out any by-way which might turn you out of the strait path which God points out to you in his word. Although I have heard that God has endowed you with admirable constancy, for which I bless and magnify his name, I would yet rather strive to increase you still more in such courage than in any degree lessen it. For when we are brought to such an extremity as to have no way of deliverance from the tyranny of the enemies of the truth, save by subterfuges which draw back and estrange us from the right path, there is no doubt but that God calls us to seal with our blood the confession of faith which we owe to him. For which reason if it were a question as to declining either on one side or the other, it were better to die. And in order that you may not be shaken by threatenings or by anything whatsoever, look to the Son of God, who did not spare his own life for the sake of our salvation, in order that we might not reckon our life too precious when needed to further his glory. Look to that heavenly crown which is prepared for those who have fought courageously. And above all, beware of drawing back, rather than which, we ought to use our utmost endeavours to press forward to the mark which God sets before us. But if the means be offered you of withdrawing with your brethren, who desire with you to worship God with one accord, I do not think that you ought to refuse. In conclusion, you have to pray God, as I shall also do, that he would bestow on you a spirit of counsel and prudence, to decide what is right and fit for you to do; a spirit of discretion, that you may not be deceived and take evil for good; a spirit of steadfastness to be constant in wholly conforming yourself to his will.

[Copy.—Library of Geneva. Vol. 107.]