ivalent to signing the death-warrant of the Guises; while to
Catharine, the queen mother, it would betoken an equally dreaded
termination of long-cherished hopes. Both Catharine and the Guises,
therefore, gave out that whoever talked of convening the States was a
mortal enemy of the king, and made himself liable to the pains of
treason.[805] Every precaution had been taken to make the boiler tight,
and to render impossible the escape of the scalding waters and the
steam; it only remained to be seen whether the structure was proof
against an explosion.

[Sidenote: Calvin and Beza consulted.]

[Sidenote: They dissuade armed resistance.]

[Sidenote: Calvin foresees civil war.]

[Sidenote: More favorable replies.]

Such a catastrophe, indeed, seemed now to be imminent.[806] Among the
more restless, especially, there was a manifest preparation for some new
enterprise. The correspondence of the reformers reveals the fact that,
as early as in the commencement of September, a knotty question had
been propounded to the Genevese theologians:[807] "Is it lawful to make
an insurrection against those enemies not only of religion, but of the
very state, particularly when, according to law, the king himself
possesses no authority on which they can rest their usurpation?" This
was an interrogatory often put by those who would gladly have followed
the example of a Scaevola, and sacrificed their own lives to purchase
freedom for France. "Hitherto," notes Beza, "we have answered that the
storm must be overcome by prayer and by patience, and that He will not
desert us who lately showed by so wonderful an example (the death of
Henry) not only what He can, but what He will do for His church. Until
now this advice has been followed."[808] As the plan for a forcible
overthrow of the Guises began to develop under the increasing
oppression, and as malcontents from France came to the free city on Lake
Leman in greater numbers, Calvin expressed his convictions with more and
more distinctness, and endeavored to dissuade the refugees from
embarking in so hazardous an undertaking. Its advocates in vain urged
that they had received from a prince of the blood (entitled, by the
immemorial custom of the realm, to the first place in the council, in
the absence of his brother, the King of Navarre) the promise to present
their confession of faith to the young monarch of France, and that
thousands would espouse his defence if he were assailed. The refor