A portion of a letter by John Calvin to his friend, Guillaume Farel, about his wife's death. Calvin was happily married to Idelette de Bure, who was a widow with two children when they were joined together in holy matrimony. After suffering from ill health for a number of years, she died in March 1549. With a heavy heart he wrote to his friend about her death. This letter was written April 11, 1549.
About the sixth hour of the day, on which she yielded up her soul to the Lord, our brother Bourgouin addressed some pious words to her, and while he was doing so, she spoke aloud, so that all saw that her heart was raised far above the world. For these were her words: "O glorious resurrection! O God of Abraham, and of all our fathers, in thee have the faithful trusted during so many past ages, and none of them have trusted in vain. I also will hope." These short sentences were rather ejaculated than distinctly spoken. This did not come from the suggestion of others, but from her own reflections, so that she made it obvious in few words what were her own meditations.
The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers, by Michael A. G. Haykin with Victoria J. Haykin, Reformation Trust, 2009, p. 11.
No comments:
Post a Comment