I see that Textor does not hold out much further hope of your wife. You need no more words to admonish you to hold yourself ready to bear with moderation the issue, whatever that may be. Would that I also could fly thither, that I might alleviate your sorrow, or at least bear a part of it![33] But so long a ride would cause me pain. I rather advise, should matters happen otherwise than as we wish, that you come hither for a few days.--Adieu, most sound-hearted brother, along with your wife and family. The Lord comfort and strengthen you all. Amen.--Yours,
[_Lat. orig. autogr._--_Library of Geneva._ Vol. 106.]
[33] We again find marks of the same solicitude in a letter of Calvin to Viret of the preceding month. "Adieu, with your wife, whose health we will commend to the Lord. Be assured that we are not less solicitous about her than if she were the wife or daughter of each of us. The Lord keep you and sustain you with the consolation of his Spirit."--(January 1546,) Vol. 106, from Geneva.
[34] Viret was at that time plunged into the deepest affliction. He had just lost, after a long illness, his wife, Elizabeth Turtaz, of Orbe, with whom he had lived for many years in a godly union. The grief which he felt on that occasion is expressed, in a very touching manner, in a letter written many years afterwards to Calvin:--"I was so completely dispirited and prostrated by that arrow of affliction, that the whole world appeared to me nothing but a burden. There was nothing pleasant, nothing that could mitigate my grief of mind."--_Calv. Epist. et Resp._, p. 53. The friends of Viret, and especially Farel and Calvin, lavished upon him, during that trial, marks of the tenderest and most brotherly affection. The familiar correspondence of Calvin furnishes us with precious revelations in this respect.
Calvin invites his friend to repair to Geneva after the death of his wife.
Come, on this condition, that you disengage your mind not only from grief, but also from every annoyance. Do not fear that I will impose any burden upon you, for through my means you will be allowed to take whatever rest is agreeable to you. If any one prove troublesome to you, I will interpose. The brethren, also, make the same promise to you as I do. I will also be surety that the citizens do not interfere with your wishes.