Fox's Book of Martyrs
Chapter XIII
This reformer was
born at Noyon in Picardy, July 10, 1509. He was instructed
in grammar, learning at Paris under Maturinus Corderius, and studied philosophy
in the College of Montaign under a Spanish professor.
His
father, who discovered many marks of his early piety,
particularly in his reprehensions of the vices of his companions, designed him at first for the Church, and got him presented, May 21,
1521, to the chapel of Notre Dame de la Gesine, in the Church of Noyon. In 1527
he was presented to the rectory of Marseville, which
he exchanged in 1529 for the rectory of Point l'Eveque, near Noyon. His father
afterward changed his resolution, and would have him
study law; to which Calvin, who, by reading the Scriptures, had conceived a
dislike to the superstitions of popery, readily consented, and resigned the
chapel of Gesine and the rectory of Pont l'Eveque, in 1534. He made a great progress in that science, and
improved no less in the knowledge of divinity by his
private studies. At Bourges he applied to the Greek tongue, under the direction
of Professor Wolmar.
His
father's death having called him back to Noyon, he stayed there a short time,
and then went to Paris, where a speech of Nicholas Cop, rector of the
University of Paris, of which Calvin furnished the materials, having greatly
displeased the Sorbonne and the parliament, gave rise to a persecution against
the Protestants, and Calvin, who narrowly escaped being taken in the College of
Forteret, was forced to retire to Xaintonge, after having had the honor to be introduced to the queen of Navarre, who had raised this
first storm against the Protestants.
Calvin
returned to Paris in 1534. This year the reformed met with severe treatment,
which determined him to leave France, after publishing a treatise against those
who believed that departed souls are in a kind of sleep. He retired to Basel,
where he studied Hebrew: at this time he published his
Institutions of the Christian Religion; a work well adapted
to spread his fame, though he himself was desirous of living in obscurity. It is dedicated to the French king,
Francis I. Calvin next wrote an apology for the Protestants who were burnt for their religion in France. After the
publication of this work, Calvin went to Italy to pay a visit to the duchess of
Ferrara, a lady of eminent piety, by whom he was very kindly
received.
From
Italy he came back to France, and having settled his private affairs, he
proposed to go to Strassburg or Basel, in company with his sole surviving
brother, Antony Calvin; but as the roads were not safe on account of the war,
except through the duke of Savoy's territories, he chose that road. "This
was a particular direction of Providence," says Bayle; "it was his
destiny that he should settle at Geneva, and when he was wholly intent upon
going farther, he found himself detained by an order from heaven, if I may so speak."
At
Geneva, Calvin therefore was obliged to comply with
the choice which the consistory and magistrates made of him, with the consent
of the people, to be one of their ministers, and professor of divinity. He
wanted to ujndertake only this last office, and not the other; but in the end
he was obliged to take both upon him, in August, 1536. The year following, he made all the people
declare, upon oath, their assent to the confession of faith, which contained a
renunciation of popery. He next intimated that he could not submit to a
regulation which the canton of Berne had lately made.
WShereupon the syndics of Geneva summoned an assembly of the people; and it was ordered that Calvin, Farel, and another minister should
leave the town in a few days, for refusing to
administer the Sacrament.
Calvin
retired to Strassburg, and established a French church in that city, of which
he was the first minister: he was also appointed to be
professor of divinity there. Meanwhile the people of Geneva entreated him so
earnestly to return to them that at last he consented, and arrived September
13, 1541, to the great satisfaction both of the people and the magistrates; and
the first thing he did, after his arrival, was to establish a form of church
discipline, and a consistorial jurisdiction, invested with power of inflicting
censures and canonical punishments, as far as excommunication, inclusively.
It
has long been the delight of both infidels and some
professed Christians, when they wish to bring odium upon the opinions of
Calvin, to refer to his agency in the death of Michael Servetus. This action is used on all occasions by those who have been unable to
overthrow his opinions, as a conclusive argument against his whole
system. "Calvin burnt Servetus!--Calvin burnt Servetus!" is a good proof with a certain class of reasoners, that the
doctrine of the Trinity is not true-that divine sovereignty is Antiscriptural,--and
Christianity a cheat.
We
have no wish to palliate any act of Calvin's which is manifestly wrong. All his
proceedings, in relation to the unhappy affair of Servetus,
we think, cannot be defended. Still it should be remembered that
the true principles of religious toleration were very little
understood in the time of Calvin. All the other reformers then living approved
of Calvin's conduct. Even the gentle and amiable Melancthon expressed himself
in relation to this affair, in the following manner. In a letter addressed to
Bullinger, he says, "I have read your statement respecting the blasphemy
of Servetus, and praise your piety and judgment; and
am persuaded that the Council of Geneva has done right in putting to death this
obstinate man, who would never have ceased his blasphemies. I am astonished
that any one can be found to disapprove of this
proceeding." Farel expressly says, that
"Servetus deserved a capital punishment." Bucer did not hesitate to
declare, that "Servetus deserved something worse than death."
The
truth is, although Calvin had some hand in the arrest
and imprisonment of Servetus, he was unwilling that he should be burnt at all. "I desire," says
he, "that the severity of the punishment should be remitted."
"We endeavored to commute the kind of death, but in vain." "By
wishing to mitigate the severity of the punishment," says Farel to Calvin,
"you discharge the office of a friend towards your greatest enemy."
"That Calvin was the instigator of the magistrates that Servetus might be
burned," says Turritine, "historians neither anywhere affirm, nor
does it appear from any considerations. Nay, it is certain,
that he, with the college of pastors, dissuaded from that kind of
punishment."
It
has been often asserted, that Calvin possessed so much
influence with the magistrates of Geneva that he might have obtained the
release of Servetus, had he not been desirous of his destruction. This however, is not true. So far from it,
that Calvin was himself once banished from Geneva, by these very
magistrates, and often opposed their arbitrary measures in vain. So little
desirous was Calvin of procuring the death of Servetus that he warned him of
his danger, and suffered him to remain several weeks
at Geneva, before he was arrested.
But his language, which was then accounted
blasphemous, was the cause of his imprisonment. When in prison, Calvin visited him, and used every argument to persuade him to retract his
horrible blasphemies, without reference to his peculiar sentiments. This was
the extent of Calvin's agency in this unhappy affair.
It
cannot, however, be denied, that in this instance,
Calvin acted contrary to the benignant spirit of the Gospel. It is better to
drop a tear over the inconsistency of human nature,
and to bewail those infirmities which cannot be justified.
He declared he acted conscientiously, and publicly
justified the act.
It
was the opinion, that erroneous religious principles
are punishable by the civil magistrate, that did the
mischief, whether at Geneva, in Transylvania, or in
Britain; and to this, rather than to Trinitarianism, or Unitarianism, it ought to be imputed.
After
the death of Luther, Calvin exerted great sway over the men of that notable
period. He was influential in France, Italy, Germany, Holland, England, and
Scotland. Two thousand one hundred and fifty reformed congregations were organized, receiving from him their preachers.
Calvin,
triumphant over all his enemies, felt his death drawing near. Yet he continued
to exert himself in every way with youthful energy. When about to lie down in
rest, he drew up his will, saying: "I do testify that I live and purpose
to die in this faith which God has given me through His Gospel, and that I have
no other dependence for salvation than the free choice which is made of me by
Him. With my whole heart I embrace His mercy, through which all my sins are covered, for Christ's sake, and for the sake of His
death and sufferings. According to the measure of grace granted unto me, I have taught this pure, simple Word, by sermons,
by deeds, and by expositions of this Scripture. In all my battles with the
enemies of the truth I have not used sophistry, but
have fought the good fight squarely and directly."
May
27, 1564, was the day of his release and blessed journey home. He was in his
fifty-fifth year.
That
a man who had acquired so great a reputation and such an authority, should have
had but a salary of one hundred crowns, and refuse to accept more; and after
living fifty-five years with the utmost frugality should leave but three
hundred crowns to his heirs, including the value of his library, which sold
very dear, is something so heroical, that one must have lost all feeling not to
admire. When Calvin took his leave of Strassburg, to return to Geneva, they
wanted to continue to him the privileges of a freeman
of their town, and the revenues of a prebend, which had been
assigned to him; the former he accepted, but
absolutely refused the other. He carried one of the brothers with him to
Geneva, but he never took any pains to get him preferred to an honorable post,
as any other possessed of his credit would have done. He took care indeed of
the honor of his brother's family, by getting him freed from an adulteress, and
obtaining leave to him to marry again; but even his enemies relate that he made
him learn the trade of a bookbinder, which he followed all his life after.
The Rev. Dr.
Wisner, in his late discourse at Plymouth, on the anniversary of the landing of
the Pilgrims, made the following assertion: "Much as the name of Calvin
has been scoffed at and loaded with reproach by many sons of freedom, there is
not an historical proposition more susceptible of complete demonstration than
this, that no man has lived to whom the world is under greater obligations for
the freedom it now enjoys, than John Calvin."
Chapter 14 - Persecutions in England Before Bloody
Mary