FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS
CHAPTER XIII
An Account of the Life of John Calvin
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
wndeavored 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 adultress, 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.
Calvin as a Friend of Civil Liberty
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
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