[278] Crespin, _Martyrol._ fol. 114. [279] Crespin, _Martyrol._ fol. 113 verso et fol. 114. [280] _Chronique du Roi François I._ p. 129. [281] Mezeray, _Hist. de France_, ad ann. 1535. [282] 'Gallorum ardorem erga catholicam religionem in glaciem abiturum fuisse.'—Flor. Rémond, _Hist. Hérés._ ii. p. 230. [283] 'In turbulentissimis maximeque periculosis tempestatibus.'—_Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 855. [284] The meaning of the Latin is not very clear: 'Et tragicis exclamationibus.' [285] 'Cuilibet simul et testi et accusatori in hac causa esse licet.'—_Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 856. [286] 'Serpunt quotidie latius pericula.'—Ibid. [287] 'Qui aliquando libere quod cogitant audebunt dicere.'—_Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 857. [288] 'Per gloriam et ignominiam ... per diabolos et angelos.'—Lutheri _Epp._ iv. p. 603. [289] Rex Galliæ ad principes protestantium. We have only the German translation of this letter. _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 834. CHAPTER XIII. CALVIN AT STRASBURG, WITH ERASMUS, AND AT BASLE. (SUMMER AND AUTUMN, 1534.) While evangelical light seemed on the point of extinction in France, one of her sons was going to kindle a torch on the banks of the Rhine, and afterwards on those of the Rhone, which would spread its bright rays far and wide. Calvin had arrived at Strasburg. [Sidenote: CALVIN'S MISSION.] He who was to be the true doctor of the Reformation, its great captain, was then in search of knowledge and of arms in order to teach and to fight: this, as we have said, was the principal motive that induced him to leave France. Like all noble characters who have played an important part in history, Calvin felt his vocation. He wished to labour at the renewal of the Church; and in order to do this, he must interpret Holy Scripture, and explain the body of Christian doctrine. Hitherto he had preached the Gospel like an ordinary believer; he had sown the Word in a few insulated fields—at Orleans, Bourges, Angoulême, Noyon, and Paris; now (without his being conscious of it) a wider sphere was opening before him; and he was going to learn the truth of Christ's declaration: _the field is the world_. There was a void space in Christendom, and God called him to fill it. He was to create the new, the living theology of modern times. France, where scholasticism was the only theological science, did not suffice him; he was going towards Germany and Switzerland, where the love and study of holy learning had arisen with power. He saw from afar the lights that sparkled on the banks of the Rhine, and on the plains of Saxony; and, like a traveller who catches sight of a beacon in the midst of the darkness, he hurried towards the places whence those distant rays reached his eye. A child of light, he was seeking the light. [Sidenote: THE COLLEGE AND MATTHEW ZELL.]