One of Calvin’s noblest letters was written at this time to the prisoners still remaining in the Châtelet, and more particularly to the women, whom he exhorted to imitate the strength and faith of Madame de Lunz: “If men are weak and easily troubled,” he said, “the weakness of your sex is still greater, according to the order of nature. But God, that worketh in weak vessels, will show forth his strength in the infirmity of his people.... He who sets us in the battle supplies us from time to time with the necessary arms, and gives us skill to use them.... Consider how great were the excellences and firmness of the women at the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the apostles had forsaken him, they still remained by him with marvelous constancy, and a woman was his messenger to inform them of his resurrection, which they could neither believe nor understand. If he so honored them at that time and gave them such excellence, do you think he has less power now, or that he has changed his mind?” Calvin showed that his was not a barren sympathy by making every effort to induce the cantons of Berne and Zurich and the German princes to intercede in behalf of the poor prisoners. Their intercession prevailed to save such as remained alive. The doors of the Châtelet were thrown open: the younger prisoners were transferred to monasteries from which they easily escaped; while others obtained a full pardon after making an ambiguous confession of faith before the bishop’s officers. Pope Paul IV. complained bitterly of this moderation, and declared that he was not astonished at the bad state of affairs in France, now that the king trusted more in the support of heretics than in the protection of heaven.[58] Not only did the severe measures we have described fail of their effect, after the first alarm had passed away, but the reformed doctrines made so many new converts that Beza, writing to his friend Bullinger about this time, declared “that the king must either destroy entire cities, or make some concession to the truth.”[59] The severity exercised upon the martyrs of the Rue St. Jacques had overleaped itself. A contemporary historian and a Romanist says, that such mournful sights disturbed many simple souls, who could not forbear thinking that the men and women who could undergo such tortures with calmness and resolution must have truth on their side, and he adds with touching simplicity, “They could not contain their tears, their hearts wept as well as their eyes.”[60]