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."
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Luke 7:15 (KJV)