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

=THE PREACHERS IN BERRY.=

Calvin accordingly entered into relations with students and townspeople, nobles and lawyers, priests and professors. The family of the Colladons held at that time a considerable station in Berry. Two brothers, Leo and Germain, and two sisters, Mary and Anne, were the first to embrace the Gospel in Berry. Leo and Germain were advocates, and one of their cousins, styled Germain II. in the genealogies, now eighteen years old, afterwards became Calvin's intimate friend at Geneva. These ties of friendship had probably begun at Bourges. 83

The evangelist soon extended his christian activity beyond the walls of the city. Many natives of Berry, who had heard him at Bourges, had been charmed with his addresses. 'Come and preach these beautiful words to us,' they said. Calvin gradually laid aside his natural timidity, and being cheerful and fond of walking, he visited the castles and villages. 84He introduced himself affectionately into all the houses at which he stopped. 'A graceful salutation,' he said in after years, 'serves as an introduction to converse with people.' 85He delivered several sermons in these hamlets and country-seats.

On the banks of the Arnon, ten leagues from Bourges, there stands a little town named Lignières, at that time the seat of a considerable lordship. 86Every year certain monks came to preach in the parish church, and were bountifully received at the château, where they complained of their wretchedness in the most pitiable tone. This offended the lord of Lignières, who was not of a superstitious character. 'If I am not mistaken,' he said, 'it is with a view to their own gain that these monks pretend to be such drudges.' 87Disgusted with their hypocrisy, M. de Lignières begged Calvin to come and preach in their stead. The law-student spoke to an immense crowd with such clearness, freedom, depth, and vitality, that every one was moved. 88'Upon my word,' said the lord to his wife, 'Master John Calvin seems to me to preach better than the monks, and he goes heartily to work too.' 89

=RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT AT BOURGES.=

When the priests saw the young evangelist so well received, they cried out and intrigued against him, and did all in their power to get him put into prison. 90It was at Bourges that Calvin began to see that 'everything among men is full of vexation.' He said: 'By the assaults made against them, Christ sounds the trumpet to his followers, in order that they may prepare themselves more cheerfully for battle.' 91

In this way Calvin laboured in the town, in the villages, and in the châteaux, conversing tenderly with children, preaching to adults, and training heroes and martyrs. But the same circumstance which had taken him away from Orleans, suddenly occurred at Bourges. One day he received a letter from Noyon, written probably by his brother Anthony. Alas! his father was dead! and he was far from him, unable to lavish upon him the attentions of his filial piety. 'While he was at Bourges his father died,' says Theodore Beza, 'and he was obliged to return to Noyon.' 92The death was very sudden. 93Calvin did not hesitate; he bade farewell to Berry, to those pious families which he had edified, to his studies, and to his friends. 'You held out your hand to me,' he said to Wolmar, 'and were ready to support me from one end to the other of my course; but my father's death takes me away from our conversations and our lessons.' 94

Bourges did not fall back into darkness after Calvin's departure. A venerable doctor, named Michel Simon, perhaps that Michel whom we have already mentioned, displayed a holy boldness notwithstanding his age. One day a Pelagian cordelier (as all the doctors of that order are) had effrontery enough to maintain that man can be saved by his natural strength alone. Simon confronted him, and succeeded in getting it laid down that in the public disputations every proposition must be established by the text of Scripture. This gave a new impulse to theological studies.

The priests came to an understanding with one another, and made their preparations without saying a word. On the following Sunday, Michel Simon, having entered the pulpit, was about to begin his sermon, when the curé, with his vicars and choristers, entered the choir, and began to chant the office for the dead. It was impossible either to preach or to hear. The exasperated students rushed into the choir, threw the books about, upset the lecterns, and drove out the priests, who ran off 'in great disorder.' Simon, who remained master of the field, delivered his sermon, and, to the surprise of his hearers, ended by repeating the Lord's prayer in French , without adding the Ave Maria ! Whereupon a man, sitting in one of the upper stalls (he was the king's proctor), stood up, and with a sonorous voice began: Ave Maria, gratia .... He could not complete the sentence. A universal shout interrupted him; the women, who are easily excited, caught up their little stools, crowded round the proctor, and shook them over his head. These people were catholics, disgusted with the priests, not with the disciples of the Saviour.

While the student of Noyon was devoting himself to the preaching of the Gospel, extreme danger threatened him who had been his forerunner in this work.

57'Quod tibi promiseram discedens me brevi adfuturum.'—Calvinus Chemino, May 14, 1528, Berne MS.

58'Ea me expectatio diutius suspensum habuit.'—Calvinus Chemino.

59'Nam dum reditum ad vos meditor.'—Ibid.

60Calvini Opera .

61'Sed cum medici spem facerent posse redire in prosperam valetudinem.'—Calvinus Chemino.

62'Nihil aliud visum est quam tui desiderium.'—Ibid.

63'Interim dies de die trahitur.'—Ibid.

64'Certum mortis periculum.'—Calvinus Chemino.

65'In litteris missitandis plus satis officiosum, ne dicam importunum.'—Ibid.

66'Utcunque res ceciderit, ad vos revisam.'—Ibid.

67'Factum est ut ad te pervenirem anno Domini 1528, nonis Decembris.'—Letter of Theodore Beza to Wolmar, Preface to the Confessio Fidei Christianæ .

68'Anno Domini 1519 die 24 junii, placuit Deo O. M. ut mundi lucem aspicerem.'—Letter of Theodore Beza to Wolmar, Preface to the Confessio Fidei Christianæ .

69'Ut me quamvis adhuc a nutricis uberibus pendentem.'—Ibid.

70'Aureliæ primum, deinde Biturigibus, quum in eam urbem regina Navarræ te evocasset.'—Ibid.

71'Eique discedenti doctoratus insignia absque ullo pretio offeruntur.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

72 Conrad Gessner von Hanhait, p. 22. Theodor. Beza von Baum, p. 12.

73'Vir fuit corpulentus, proceræ staturæ. Auri avidus habitus est et cibi avidior.'—Panzivole, De claris Legum Interpret. lib. ii.

74Théod. de Bèze, Hist. des Eglises Réformées , p. 6.

75Ibid.

76'Of Rome in its decline the greatest dread.'—Bezæ Icones .

77'Libros quos e Germania acceperat, mittebat.'—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie , ii. liv. vii.

78'Die quodam cum discipulo magister, animi gratia, deambulans.'—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie .

79'Ut posito Justiniani codice ad Theologiæ omnium scientiarum reginæ studium, animum applicaret.'—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie , liv. vii. ch. ix. Florimond Rémond was so hostile to the Reformation which he had abjured, that he cannot be trusted when his prejudices are concerned; but he ought to be believed when his predilections do not mislead him. I cannot see what object he could have had in inventing this conversation. 'The Calvinists, in order to be avenged of this writer,' says Moreri, 'have endeavoured to traduce his memory.' The most sensible course is to hold a just mean between the Romish apologists and the protestant detractors.

80'Non omnes esse Verbi ministerio idoneos . . . requiritur specialis vocatio.'—Calv. Opera .