J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8)

But he was destined to find something better on the banks of the Loire: the work begun at Paris was to be strengthened and developed at Orleans. Calvin, always beloved by those who knew him, made numerous friends, especially among certain men attacked by the priests, and whose faith was full of christian meekness. Every day he had a serious conversation with Duchemin. 20In order to lessen his expenses, he had shared his room with a pious German, formerly a grey friar, who having learnt, as Luther said, that it is not the cowl of St. Francis which saves, but the blood of Jesus Christ, had thrown off his filthy frock 21and come to France. The Picard student talked with him of Germany and of the Reformation; and some persons have thought that this was what first 'perverted Calvin from the true faith.' 22

=DUCHEMIN, DANIEL, WOLMAR.=

Next to the house of Duchemin where the wind of the new doctrine was blowing; next to the library, whose curator, Philip Laurent, became his friend: Calvin loved particularly to visit the family of an advocate where three amiable, educated, and pious ladies afforded him the charms of agreeable conversation. It was that of Francis Daniel, 'a person,' says Beza, 'who, like Duchemin, had a knowledge of the truth.' He was a grave and influential man, possessing inward christianity, and (perhaps his profession of lawyer had something to do with it) of a very conservative mind, holding both to the forms and ordinances of the Church. Calvin, on leaving the schools, the library, and his study, used to seek relaxation in this house. The company of educated and pious women may have exercised a happy influence over his mind, which he would have sought in vain in the society of the learned. And accordingly, whenever he was away, he did not fail to remember his friend's mother, wife, and sister Frances. 23

In the company of these ladies he sometimes met a young man for whom he felt but little sympathy: he was a student from Paris, Coiffard by name, lively, active, intelligent, but selfish. 24How much he preferred Daniel, in whom he found a mind so firm, a soul so elevated, and with whom he held such profitable conversations! The two friends were agreed on one point—the necessity of a Reformation of the Church; but they soon came to another point which at a later day occasioned a wide divergence between them. 'The reformation,' said the advocate, 'must be accomplished in the Church; we must not separate from the Church.' The intercourse between Calvin and Duchemin gradually became less frequent; the latter, being naturally rather negligent, did not reply to his friend's letters. 25But Calvin's attachment for Daniel grew stronger so long as the reformer remained in France, and to him almost all the letters are addressed which he wrote between 1529 and 1536.

But all these friendships did not satisfy Calvin; at Daniel's, at Duchemin's, at the library, and wherever he went, he heard talk of a man whom he soon burned to know, and who exercised over him more influence than all the rest. A poor young German of Rotweil, named Melchior Wolmar, had come to Paris, and, being forced to work for a living, had served for some time as corrector for the press. 26Greedy of knowledge, the youthful reader quitted his proofs from time to time, and slipped among the students who crowded round the illustrious John Lascaris, Budæus, and Lefèvre. In the school of the latter he became a sincere christian; in the school of the former, a great hellenist. When he took his degree of M.A. along with a hundred others, he occupied the first place. Having one day (when in Germany) to make a speech in his mother-tongue, Wolmar asked permission to speak in Greek, because, he said, that language was more familiar to him. He had been invited to Orleans to teach Greek; and being poor, notwithstanding his learning, he took into his house a small number of young children of good family. 'He was my faithful instructor,' says one of them, Theodore Beza; 'with what marvellous skill he gave his lessons, not only in the liberal arts, but also in piety!' 27His pupils did not call him Melchior , but Melior (better).

=STUDY OF GREEK.=

Calvin, whose exalted soul was attracted by all that is beautiful, became attached to this distinguished professor. His father had sent him to study civil law; but Wolmar 'solicited him to devote himself to a knowledge of the Greek classics.' At first Calvin hesitated, but yielded at last. 'I will study Greek,' he said, 'but as it is you that urge me, you also must assist me.' Melchior answered that he was ready to devote to him abundantly, not only his instruction, but his person, his life, himself. 28From that time Calvin made the most rapid progress in Greek literature. The professor loved him above all his pupils. 29In this way he was placed in a condition to become the most illustrious commentator of Scripture. 'His knowledge of Greek,' adds Beza, 'was of great service to all the Church of God.' What Cordier had been to him for Latin, Wolmar was for Greek.

1'Jurisconsultorum Gallorum princeps.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

2'Jam dedisti nomen inter rei litterariæ professores.'—Calvinus Chemino, Berne MSS. This letter will be found in the Letters of John Calvin , published in English at Philadelphia, by the learned Dr. Jules Bonnet, to whom I am indebted for the communication of the Latin manuscripts.

3'In ea natus es dexteritate, quæ nihil imprudenter præjudicare soleat.'—Calvinus Chemino.

4'Mi Chemine! amice mi! mea vita charior!'—Calvinus Chemino.

5'Vide ne desidem te faciat tuus pudor!'—Ibid.

6Le Maire, Antiquités d'Orléans , i. p. 388.— Theod. Beza von Baum, i. p. 27.

7'Ille quasi stella matutina in medio nebulæ et quasi sol refulgens emicuit.'—Bimbenet, Histoire de l'Université des Lois d'Orléans , p. 357.

8Ibid. pp. 354-357.

9'Hæretici divina primum vindicta, post etiam ... ultione plectendi.'— Justiniani Codicis lib. i. tit. i.: De summa Trinitate, et ut nemo de ea publice contradicere audeat .

10'Publicum crimen, quia quod in religionem divinam committitur in omnium fertur injuriam.'—Ibid. tit. v.: De Hæreticis .

11The Justinian code dates from 529 A.D., just a thousand years before the time of Calvin's studies; but the greater part of the laws contained in it were of older date.

12Bimbenet, Hist. de l'Univ. des Lois d'Orléans , p. 30.

13Bimbenet, Hist. de l'Univ. d'Orléans , p. 358. The prefecture now occupies the site of Bonne Nouvelle.

14Ibid. pp. 40, 41, 51, 52, 358.

15This maille was probably the gold florin of Florence. The giglio fiorentino is the badge of this city, and John the Baptist its patron.

'La lega suggellata del Batista,'

says Dante in the Inferno , xxx. 74.

16M. Bimbenet, chief greffier to the Imperial Court of Orleans, gives this tradition in his Hist. de l'Univ. d'Orléans , pp. 161, 162, 179-358.

17 Hist. de l'Univ. d'Orléans , pp. 173, 176, 179.

18'Ut patris voluntati obsequerer, fidelem operam impendere conatus sum.'—Calv. in Psalm .

19'Singularem ingenii alacritatem,' &c.—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie , liv. vii. ch. ix.

20'Longa consuetudine diuturnoque usu.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

21'Läusige Kappe.'

22 Remarques sur la Vie de Calvin, Hérésiarque , by J. Desmay, vicar-general, p. 43.

23'Saluta matrem, uxorem, sororem Franciscam.'—Calvinus Danieli, Berne MSS.

24'De Coiffartio quid aliud dicam, nisi hominem esse sibi natum?'—Calvinus Danieli, Geneva MSS.

25 Calvin's Letters , Philadelphia, i. p. 32.

26Wolmar, Commentaire sur l'Iliade .

27Beza, Vie de Calvin et Histoire des Eglises Réformées , i. p. 67.