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

It was at Orleans, therefore, that Calvin began his evangelist work and manifested himself to the world as a christian. Calvin's activity in this city is a proof that he was then converted to the Gospel, and that he had been so for some time; for his was not one of those expansive natures which immediately display externally what is within them. This first ministry of the reformer negatives the hypotheses which place Calvin's conversion at Orleans, or at Bourges somewhat later, or, even later still, during his second residence at Paris.

Thus the young doctor, growing in knowledge and acting in love, refuted the objections of the gainsayers, and led to Christ the humble souls who thirsted for salvation. A domestic event suddenly withdrew him from this pious activity.

30Calvin, Préface aux Psaumes .

31('The touch-stone of a standing or of a falling Church.') 'Wolmarus lutheranum virus Calvino instillabat.'—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie , liv. vii. ch. ix.

32Calvin, Institution , liv. iii. ch. ii. 17-19.

33'Sancti Spiritus dono repleberis, qui scripturarum omnium profunditatem ac veram dignitatem te docebit.'—Mansi, Gesta Synodi Aurelianensis , xix. p. 376.

34'Deinde cœlesti cibo pastus, interna satietate recreatus.'—Ibid.

35Calvin, Préface des Commentaires sur les Psaumes .

36Ibid.

37'Quos pronuntiabant apostoli esse habendos pro hostibus, ab iis cur dubitassem me sejungere?'— Opusc. Lat. p. 124; Franç. p. 169.

38 Opuscules.

39'Interea tamen ille sacrarum litterarum studium simul diligenter excolere in quo tantum etiam promoverat.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

40From 70 to 130 A.D.

41Calvin, in Ep. Johan. ; Pauli ad Philip. &c.

42Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie , liv. vii. ch. x.

43'Ad mediam usque noctem lucubrare.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

44'Mane vero, quæ legisset, in lecto veluti concoquere.'—Ibid.

45'Et tandem etiam intempestivam mortem attulit.'—Ibid.

46'Doctor potiusquam auditor haberetur.'—Ibid.

47'Quum sæpissime obiret ipsorum doctorum vices.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

48'Omnes purioris doctrinæ cupidi ad me, discendi causa, ventitabant.'— Præf. in Psalm.

49'Novitium adhuc et tyronem.'—Ibid.

50'Tunc latebras captare.'—Ibid.

51'Ut mihi secessus omnes instar publicæ scholæ essent.'— Præf. in Psalm.

52'Catholicæ fidei mysteria ratione investiganda.'—Abelard, Introd. ad Theol. p. 1059.

53'Ignobile otium colere.'— Præf. in Psalm.

54Chrysostomus, De Sacerdotio , lib. iv.

55Calv. Præf. in Psalm. p. 3.

56Théod. de Bèze, Histoire des Eglises Réformées , p. 6.

Table of Contents

=CALVIN LEAVES ORLEANS.=

ONE day, probably at the beginning of April 1528, about the Easter holidays, Calvin received a letter from Noyon. He opened it: it contained sad news! his father was seriously ill. He went at once to Duchemin in great agitation: 'I must depart,' he said. This friend, and many others, would have wished to keep him in a place where he had become so useful; but he did not hesitate. He must go to his father; he would, however, only stay as long as was necessary; as soon as the sick man was better, he would come back. 'I promise you to return shortly,' he said to Duchemin. 57Calvin, therefore, bade farewell to his cherished studies, to his beloved friends, and those pious families in which he was advancing the kingdom of God, and returned to Picardy.

We have but few particulars of his sojourn at Noyon. Assuredly his filial piety indulged at his father's bedside in what has been termed with reason the sweetest form of gratitude. Yet the weak condition of the episcopal secretary was prolonged, without any appearance of imminent danger. A question began to rise up in the young man's heart: shall he go, or shall he stay? 58Sometimes, when seated by the sick man's pillow during the watches of the night, his thoughts would transport him to Orleans, into the midst of his studies and the society of his friends; he felt himself impelled, as by a vigorous hand, towards the places that were so dear to him, and he made in his mind all the arrangements necessary for his return. 59... Suddenly his father's disease grew worse, and the son did not quit the sufferer's bedside. The old secretary, 'a man of sound understanding and good counsel,' says Beza, was much respected by those around him, and love for the author of his days was profoundly engraven in the young man's soul. 'The title of father belongs to God,' he said; 'when God gives it to a man, he communicates to him some sparks of his own brightness.' 60

=CALVIN'S FIRST LETTER.=

Erelong a crisis appeared to take place; the doctors held out hopes: the patient might recover his health, they said. 61Calvin's thoughts and desires were turned once more towards Orleans; he would have wished to go there instantly, 62but duty was still the strongest, and he resolved to wait until his father's convalescence was complete. Thus one day after another glided away. 63Alas! the doctors were deceived. 'There is no longer any hope of a cure,' they soon told him; 'your father's death cannot be far off.' 64Calvin, therefore, determined (14th of May, 1528) to write to Duchemin, which he had not yet done since his departure. It is the first of the reformer's letters that has been handed down to us. 'You know,' he says, 'that I am very exact in my correspondence, and that I carry it even to importunity. 65You will be astonished, perhaps, that I have been wanting in my extreme punctuality; but when you know the cause, you will restore to me your friendship, should I perchance have forfeited it.' He then tells Duchemin of his father's condition, and adds: 'Happen what may, I will see you again.' 66What did happen is not very clear. Calvin was at Noyon, as we have seen, on the 14th of May, 1528; perhaps he remained all the summer with the sick man. It has been concluded from this letter to Duchemin that Gerard Calvin died shortly after the 14th of May; at that time the approach of death was certain, according to the doctors; but doctors may be mistaken. According to Theodore Beza, he died during his son's residence at Bourges, nine or ten months later, and a passage from Calvin, which we shall quote further on, confirms Beza's testimony, of itself so decisive.

One circumstance, which has some interest, seems to show that Calvin was not at Orleans during the latter part of this year. On the 5th of December, 1528, 67eight months after his sudden departure, a boy eight or nine years old arrived at Melchior Wolmar's house in that city. He had a sickly look, but was a well-made child, playful and well-bred, with a keen glance and lively wit. This boy, who was one day to be Calvin's best friend, belonged to a Burgundian family. His father, Pierre de Beza, was bailli of Vezelay, a very old town, where the child was born on the 24th of June, 1519, 68and received the name of Theodore. One of his uncles, named Nicholas, seignior of Cette and of Chalonne, and councillor of parliament, having paid the bailli a visit a few months after the child's birth, adopted him, being an unmarried man, and took him to Paris, although he had not been weaned. 69Nine years later (1528), at the recommendation of an Orleanese, who was connected with the Bezas and a member of the royal council, the uncle sent his nephew to Wolmar, who was described to him as very learned in Greek and of great experience in education. Nothing in Calvin's biography written by Beza indicates that the latter met Calvin at that time at Orleans. When Margaret of Valois, who was Duchess of Berry, endeavoured about this time to gather together a number of pious and learned men in her university of Bourges, she invited Wolmar there; 70and it was here that young Beza saw Calvin for the first time.