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

=CALVIN'S COMMENTARY ON SENECA.=

Having turned his back on bishops and cardinals, Calvin looked with love upon the martyrs and their burning piles. The death of the pious Berquin and of other confessors had distressed him, and he feared lest he should see other believers sinking under the same violence. He would have desired to speak in behalf of the dumb and innocent victims. 'But, alas!' he exclaimed, 'how can a man so mean, so low-born, so poor in learning as I, expect to be heard?' 219He had finished his commentary upon Seneca's treatise of Clemency . Being a great admirer of that philosopher, he was annoyed that the world had not given him the place he deserved, and spoke of him to all his friends. If one of them entered his little room and expressed surprise at seeing him take such pains to make the writings of a pagan philosopher better known, Calvin, who thought he had discovered a vein of Gospel gold in Seneca's iron ore, would answer: 'Did he not write against superstition? Has he not said of the Jews, that the conquered give laws to their conquerors? When he exclaims: "We have all sinned, we shall all sin unto the end!" 220may we not imagine that we hear Paul speaking?'

Another motive, however, as some think, influenced Calvin to select the treatise on Clemency . There was a similarity (and Calvin had noticed it) between the epochs of the author and of the commentator. Seneca, who lived at the time of the first persecutions against the christians, had dedicated his treatise on Clemency to a persecutor. Calvin determined to publish it with a commentary, in the hope (it has been said) that the king, who was fond of books, would read this legacy of antiquity. Without absolutely rejecting this hypothesis, we may say that he was anxious to compose some literary work, and that he displayed solid learning set off by an elegant and pleasing style which at once gave him rank among the literati of his day.

These are the words of Seneca, which, thanks to Calvin, were now heard in the capital of the kings of France: 'Clemency becomes no one so much as it does a king.—You spare yourself, when you seem to be sparing another. We must do evil to nobody, not even to the wicked; men do not harm their own diseased limbs. It is the nature of the most cowardly wild beasts to rend those who are lying on the ground, but elephants and lions pass by the man they have thrown down. 221To take delight in the rattling of chains, to cut off the heads of citizens, to spill much blood, to spread terror wherever he shows himself—is that the work of a king? If it were so, far better would it be for lions, bears, or even serpents to reign over us!' 222

=THE YOUNG AUTHOR'S DIFFICULTIES.=

As soon as the work was finished, Calvin thought of publishing it; but the booksellers turned their backs on him, for an author's first work rarely tempts them. The young commentator was not rich, but he came to a bold resolution. He felt, as it would appear, that authorship would be his vocation, that God himself called him, and he was determined to take the first step in spite of all obstacles. He said: 'I will publish the book on Clemency at my own expense;' but when the printing was finished, he became uneasy. 'Upon my word,' he said, 'it has cost me more money than I had imagined.' 223

The young author wrote his name in Latin on the title-page of the first work he published, Calvinus , whence the word Calvin was derived, which was substituted for the family name of Cauvin . He dedicated his book to the abbot of St. Eloy (4th April, 1532), and then gave it to the world. It was a great affair for him, and he was full of anxiety at its chances and dangers. 'At length the die is cast,' 224he wrote to Daniel on the 23rd of May; 'my Commentary on Clemency has appeared.'

Two thoughts engrossed him wholly at this time: the first concerned the good that his book might do. 'Write to me as soon as possible,' said he to his friend, 'and tell me whether my book is favourably or coldly received. 225I hope that it will contribute to the public good.' But he was also very anxious about the sale: all his money was gone. 'I am drained dry,' he said; 'and I must tax my wits to get back from every quarter the money I have expended.'

Calvin showed great activity in the publication of his first work; we can already trace in him the captain drawing out his plan of battle. He called upon several professors in the capital, and begged them to use his book in their public lectures. He sent five copies to his friends at Bourges, and asked Sucquey to deliver a course of lectures on his publication. He made the same request to Landrin with regard to the university of Orleans. 226In short, he lost no opportunity of making his book known.

Daniel had asked him for some Bibles. Probably Calvin's refusal to accept office in the Church had not surprised the advocate, and this pious man desired to circulate the book which had inspired his young friend with such courage and self-denial. But it was not easy to execute the commission. There was Lefèvre's Bible, printed in French at Antwerp in 1530; and the Latin Bible of Robert Stephens, which appeared at Paris in 1532. The latter was so eagerly bought up, that the doctors of the Sorbonne tried to prohibit the sale. It was probably this edition which Calvin tried to procure. He went from shop to shop, but the booksellers looked at him with suspicion, and said they had not the volume. Calvin renewed his inquiries in the Latin quarter, where at last he found what he sought at a bookseller's who was more independent of the Sorbonne and its proclamations than the others. 'I have executed your commission about the Bible,' he wrote to Daniel; 'and it cost me more trouble than money.' 227Calvin profited by the opportunity to entreat his friend to deliver a course of lectures on the Clemency . 'If you make up your mind to do so,' he wrote, 'I will send you a hundred copies.' These copies were, no doubt, to be sold to Daniel's hearers. Such were the anxieties of the great writer of the sixteenth century at the beginning of his career. Calvin's first work (it deserves to be noted) was on Clemency . Did the king read the treatise?... We cannot say; at any rate, Calvin was not more fortunate with Francis I. than Seneca had been with Nero.

=AN UNHAPPY FRONDEUR.=

Another case of a very different nature occupied his attention erelong. Calvin had a great horror of falsehood: calumny aroused his anger, whether it was manifested by gross accusations, or insinuated by equivocal compliments. Among his friends at the university there was a young man whom he called his excellent brother, whose name has not been preserved. All his fellow-students loved him; all the professors esteemed him; 228but occasionally he showed himself a little rough. This unknown student, having received the good news of the Gospel with all his soul, felt impelled to speak about it out of the abundance of his heart, and rebelled at the obligation he was under of concealing his convictions. There was still in him some remnant of the 'old man,' and feeling indignant at the weakness of those around him, and being of a carping temper, he called them cowards. He could not breathe in the atmosphere of despotism and servility in which he lived. He loved France, but he loved liberty more. One day this proud young man said to his friends: 'I cannot bend my neck beneath the yoke to which you so willingly submit. 229Farewell! I am going to Strasburg, and renounce all intention of returning to France.'

Strasburg did not satisfy him. The eminent men who resided there sometimes, and no doubt with good intentions, placed peace above truth. The caustic opinions of the young Frenchman displeased Bucer and his friends. He was a grumbler by nature, and spoke out bluntly on all occasions. 230He had a sharp encounter with a Strasburger, whose name Calvin does not give, and who was perhaps just as susceptible as the Parisian was hasty. The young Frenchman was declaiming against baptismal regeneration, when on a sudden his adversary, whom Calvin judges with great moderation, began to accuse the poor refugee of being an anabaptist. This was a dreadful reproach at that time. Wherever he went the Strasburger scattered his accusations and invectives. Every heart was shut against the poor fellow; he was not even permitted to make the least explanation. He was soon brought to want, and claimed the assistance of friends whom he had formerly helped. It was all of no use. Reduced to extreme necessity, having neither the means of procuring food nor of travelling, he managed however to return to France in a state of the greatest destitution. He found Calvin at Noyon, where the latter chanced to be at the beginning of September 1532.