SHOULD any one suppose that I have engaged in writing this Life of John Calvin from

any other motive than zeal to maintain the truth, the present state of human

affairs will, I hope, easily vindicate me from the calumny. For there is scarcely

any shorter road to all kinds of disaster than to praise virtue; and it were

extreme folly voluntarily to bring down on one’s self evils which mere silence may

avert. But if the wicked allow no kind of virtue to be proclaimed with impunity,

what must those expect, whose object it is to proclaim piety, which is of a higher

order than virtue, and is not only opposed by the wicked, but is also very often

assailed even by persons who are most desirous to appear, and sometimes also to be,

honest? For piety has no enemies more inveterate than those who have sincerely

embraced a false religion, thinking it true, But these things, however formidable

in appearance, have not at all deterred me. For it were shameful if, from fear of

the wicked, the good were not to be spoken of, and if the voice of religion were to

be suppressed by the clamors of the superstitious.
But should any one object, that to write the Life of Calvin is a very different

thing from defending the truth, I will at once admit that man and truth are very

different things; this, however, I will not hesitate to say, that He who is truth

itself did not speak rashly when he said,
“As the Father hath sent me, so send I you,” (<432021>John 20:21,)
and
“who so heareth you heareth me,” (<421016>Luke 10:16.)
Let men, therefore, (both those who believe through ignorance, and those who so

speak from malice,) cry out, that Luther, Zuinglius, and Calvin, are regarded by us

as gods, though we are continually charging the worshippers of saints with

idolatry; let them, I say, cry out as much and as long as they please, — we are

prepared with our answer, viz., that to commemorate the labors which holy men have

undertaken in behalf of religion, together with their words and actions, (through

the knowledge of which the good become better, while the wicked are reproved, our

only aim in this kind of composition,) is a very different thing from doing as they

do, when they either bring disgrace on the lives of men who were truly pious, by

narratives not less impious than childish, (as an obscure individual called Abdias

did with the history of the Apostles,) or compose fabulous histories filled with

the vilest falsehoods, (they, in their barbarous jargon, call them Golden Legends,

I call them abominable trash,) and endeavor, moreover, to bring back the idols of

the ancient Gods, the only difference being a change of name.
We are as far from these worshippers of the dead as light is from darkness. Against

conduct such as theirs, the Lord denounces the severest threatenings, ours, on the

contrary, he commends, when he bids us keep both our bodily and mental eye intent

upon his works. Nobody, I presume, will deny, that of all the works of God, men

best deserve to be known and observed, and of men, those of them who have been

distinguished at once for learning and piety. It is not without cause Daniel

(<271203>Daniel 12:3) compares holy men of God to stars, since they by their

brightness show the way of happiness to others. Those who allow that brightness to

be entirely extinguished by death, deserve to be themselves plunged in thicker

darkness than before. I have no intention, however, to imitate those who, in their

eagerness for declamation and panegyric, have not so much adorned the truth as

brought it into suspicion. Trying not how elegantly, but how truly I could write, I

have preferred the style of simple narrative.
JOHN CALVIN was born at Noyons, a celebrated town in Picardy, or at least on the

confines of Picardy, on the 27th July, in the year of our Lord 1509. His father’s

name was Gerard Calvin, his mother’s Joan France,
both of them persons of good repute, and in easy circumstances. Gerard being a

person of no small judgment and prudence, was highly esteemed by most of the

nobility of the district, and this was the reason why young Calvin was from a boy

very liberally educated, though at his father’s expense, in the family of the

Mommors, one of the most distinguished in that quarter. Having afterwards

accompanied them to Paris in the prosecution of his studies, he had for his master

in the College of La Marche, Maturinus Corderius, a man of great worth and

erudition, and in the highest repute in almost all the schools of France as a

teacher of youth. He attained the age of 85, and died (the same year as Calvin) at

Geneva, while a professor in the Academy of that city. Calvin afterwards removed to

the College of Mont Aigu, and there had for his master a Spaniard, a man of

considerable attainments. Under him Calvin, who was a most diligent student, made

such progress, that he left his fellow-students behind in the Grammar course, and

was promoted to the study of Dialectics, and what is termed Arts.
His father had at first intended him for the study of Theology, to which he

inferred that he was naturally inclined; because, even at that youthful age, he was

remarkably religious, and was also a strict censor of every thing vicious in his

companions. This I remember to have heard from some Catholics, unexceptionable

witnesses, many years after he had risen to celebrity.
Being thus, as it were, destined to the sacred office, his father procured a

benefice for him from the Bishop of Noyons, in what is called the Cathedral church,

and thereafter the cure of a parish connected with a suburban village called Pont —

Eveque, the birth-place of his father, who continued to live in it till his removal

to the town. It is certain that Calvin, though not in priest’s orders, preached

several sermons in this place before he quitted France f1. The design of making him

a priest was interrupted by a change in the views both of father and son — in the

former, because he saw that the Law was a surer road to wealth and honor f2 and in

the latter, because, having been made acquainted with the reformed faith, by a

relation named Peter Robert Olivet (the person to whom the churches of France owe

that translation of the Old Testament, from the Hebrew, which was printed at

Neufchatel,) he had begun to devote himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures,

and from an abhorrence at all kinds of
superstition, to discontinue his attendance on the public services of the Church.*
Calvin went therefore to Orleans for the purpose of prosecuting his studies in

civil law, which was taught by Peter de l’Etoile, the most distinguished of all the

French civilians; and his progress in a short time was so surprising that, as he

frequently supplied the chairs of the professors themselves, he was esteemed a

teacher rather than a scholar. The degree of Doctor, free of expense, was offered

him when on the point of leaving, with the unanimous and most flattering testimony

of all the professors to his merits, and his claims upon the University. In the

midst of his other labors, he made so great a progress in the study of the

Scriptures, which he at the same time diligently prosecuted, that all those who

were zealous to be instructed in the reformed religion, frequently applied to him

for information, and were struck with deep admiration of the extent of his

erudition, and of the ardor of his pursuits. Some of his surviving associates and

fellow-students assert, that he was accustomed at this period of his life, after

taking a very frugal supper, to pursue his lucubrations till midnight, and employ

his morning hours in bed, reviewing, and as it were, digesting the studies of the

preceding night; nor did he easily allow any interruption to this train of

meditation. These long-continued watchings assisted him indeed in attaining solid

erudition, and improving an excellent memory, but there is every reason for

thinking that in return he contracted a weakness of the digestive organs,

productive of various diseases, and finally even of an untimely death.
Calvin determined to attend the lectures of Andrew Alciat, the first civilian

without doubt of the age, who in consequence of accepting an invitation from Italy

to the University of Bourges, settled there, and much increased its celebrity by

his talents. During his residence at this city, Calvin formed an intimate

friendship, on account of his religion and learning, with Melchior Wolmar, a native

of Rothweil in Germany, and at that time public professor of Greek in Bourges. It

affords me very great pleasure to speak of this distinguished scholar, because he

was my sole preceptor from childhood to mature age; nor can I ever sufficiently

praise his learning, piety, and other virtues, but especially his admirable skill

in the instruction of youth. By his advice and assistance, Calvin attained an

acquaintance with Greek literature, and was desirous to acknowledge the
remembrance of his obligation to all future ages, by dedicating to Wolmar his

Commentaries on the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians. While Calvin pursued his

professional studies he never neglected the Holy Scriptures, and occasionally

preached at Ligniers, a small town in the Province of Berri, in the presence, and

with the approbation of the head of that department. (III.)
The intelligence of the sudden death of his father recalled Calvin from Bourges to

his native country. Not long after he removed from Noyon to Paris, and in his

twenty-fourth year published his excellent Commentary on Seneca’s Epistle

concerning Clemency. f3 Calvin was certainly very much delighted with this very

serious author, whose sentiments evidently harmonized with his own moral character.

(IV.)
Calvin, during the few months he was at Paris, became acquainted with all the

zealous supporters of the reformed religion; and we have frequently heard him

afterwards praise, among the rest, Steven de la Forge, a distinguished merchant,

subsequently burned for the name of Christ, on account of his remarkable piety. He

has also eulogized this martyr in his treatise against the libertines. Calvin, from

that time, abandoning all other studies, devoted himself to the service of God, to

the very great satisfaction of all those pious characters, who then held their

meetings privately in Paris.
Not long after this an opportunity presented itself for the display of his

strenuous efforts in the cause of the reformed religion. Nicholas Cop, son of

William Cop, physician to the king, and a citizen of Basle, was at that time

appointed in the usual manner, rector of the University of Paris. Calvin prepared

for him an oration to be delivered according to custom, on the 1st of November,

when the Roman Catholics celebrated the feast of All Saints; and in this he

discussed the subject of religion with greater purity and more boldness, than the

hierarchy had before experienced. This excited the displeasure, of the Sorbonne,

and the parliament was so much offended as to cite the rector to appear. At first

the rector prepared, with his officers, to attend the summons, but being admonished

by friends, as he was on his way, to avoid his adversaries, he returned home, left

the kingdom, and retired to Basle. A party proceeded to Calvin’s lodgings in the

College de Forfret, but happily not finding him at home, they seized
among his papers a considerable number of letters from his friends, and the lives

of several of them were thus exposed to very imminent danger. f4 Such was the

severity of the judges against the church of Christ at that period, and the

violence of John Morin was peculiarly striking, whose name is yet distinguished for

uncommon cruelty. The queen of Navarre, only sister of Francis 1st, a princess of

extraordinary talents, afforded the reformer, on this occasion, marked protection,

and the Lord dispelled the storm by her intercession. She invited Calvin to her

court, received him with great honor, and gave him an audience. (V.)
Calvin left Paris, went to Saintonge, and assisted one of his friends, at whose

request he composed some short Christian exhortations, which were presented to

certain parishes to be read as homilies, that the people might gradually be enticed

to a zeal in the investigation of the truth. f5 About this time he came to Nerac in

Gascony, on a visit to James le Fevre, of Estaples, now far advanced in years, who

had been defended by the same queen of Navarre, when in danger of his life from the

vain and foolish doctors of the Sorbonne, for his having introduced great

improvements in mathematics and other branches of philosophy in the University of

Paris, after a long and very violent opposition, and for his assisting to rout out

the scholastic theology. She had also provided for him in Nerac a town within her

jurisdiction. The good old man received and saw young Calvin with great kindness,

and predicted that he would become a distinguished instrument in restoring the

kingdom of heaven in France. (VI.) Not long after Calvin returned to Paris, as if

called there by the hand of God himself; for the impious Servetus was even then

disseminating his heretical poison against the sacred Trinity in that city. He

professed to desire nothing more earnestly than to have an opportunity for entering

into discussion with Calvin, who waited long for Servetus, the place and time for

an interview having been appointed, with great danger to his own life, since he was

at that time under the necessity of being concealed on account of the incensed rage

of his adversaries. Calvin was disappointed in his expectations of meeting

Servetus, who wanted courage to endure even the sight of his opponent.
The year 1534 was distinguished by many horrid cruelties inflicted upon the

reformers. Gerard de Rousel, Doctor of the Sorbonne, affording at that time great

assistance to the study of religion, and Couraut, of the order of
St. Augustin, who, having been for two years under the patronage of the queen of

Navarre, promoted very much the cause of the gospel in Paris, were not only dragged

out of their pulpits, but thrown into prison. The indignation of the infatuated

Francis 1st, was so much enraged on account of certain papers against the mass

dispersed through the city, and affixed to his chamber door, that having appointed

a public procession, he walked uncovered before it, bearing a lighted torch, as if

in expiation of the crime, accompanied by his three sons. He ordered eight martyrs

to be burned alive in four principal quarters of the city, and declared with a

solemn oath that he would not spare his own children, if by any chance infected

with these, as he called them, most execrable heresies. (VII.)
Calvin, beholding with grief such a spectacle of woe, determined to leave France,

after he had first published at Orleans an excellent little work, entitled

“Psychopannychia,” against an error which commenced in the earliest ages of the

church, and was again revived by those who taught that the soul sleeps when in a

state of separation from the body.
With an intention of leaving France, he went by way of Lorraine towards Basle, with

the young gentleman at whose house, as already stated, he resided at Saintonge.

Near Metz he was plundered by a servant, who saddled one of the strongest horses,

and fled with so much speed that he could not be apprehended, after he had

perfidiously robbed his masters of all things necessary for their journey, and

reduced them to great difficulties. The other servant, however, lent them ten

crowns, which enabled them to proceed with considerable inconvenience to

Strasburgh, and thence to Basle. He formed an intimate friendship in this city with

Simon Grinee, and Wolfgang Capito, men of the greatest celebrity, and devoted

himself to the study of the Hebrew language. Though very desirous to do his utmost

that he might remain in obscurity, as appears from one of Bucer’s letters to Calvin

the following year, he was under the necessity of publishing what he called the

Institutes of the Christian Religion, and the rudiment of much the largest of his

works. For when the German princes, who had supported the gospel, and whose

friendship he then courted, were indignant at Francis 1st, for the murder of his

Protestant subjects, the only wise remedy proposed by Bellay-Lange, which he

resolved to adopt, was his declaration that he had merely punished the Anabaptists,

who boast only in their own spirit as the divine
word, and despise all magistrates. Calvin, feeling indignant at the calumny with

which the new religion was branded, seized this opportunity for publishing what I

consider an incomparable work. f6 He prefixed also an admirable preface to the king

himself, and if he could from any circumstance have been induced to read it, I am

either very much mistaken or a great wound would, even at that period, have been

inflicted on the whore of Babylon. For the king differed in many respects from his

successors; he was a very acute judge of the situation of affairs, possessed an

excellent talent in detecting the truth, was a patron of learned men, and his

inclination did not lead him to hate persons of the reformed religion. But neither

his own sins, nor the sins of his people, which were even then menaced with the

speedy arrival of God’s indignation, allowed him to hear, much less to read, this

work.
After completing his Institutes, and faithfully performing the duties he owed his

native country, he felt a desire to pay, as if at a distance, his respects to

Italy, and to visit Renee, the Duchess of Ferrara, and daughter of Louis 12th king

of France, whose piety was at that time very much praised. He therefore, waited

upon her, and at the same time so confirmed her in a sincere zeal for religion, to

the utmost of his abilities according to the existing state of affairs, that she

continued ever after to entertain a sincere affection for him during his life; and

now also, as his survivor, exhibits striking marks of her gratitude after his

death. (VIII.)
From Italy, whose territories he entered, to use his own language, only that he

might leave them, Calvin returned to France, where he settled all his affairs, and

brought along with him Anthony Calvin, his only surviving brother. His intention

was to return to Basle or Strasburgh, but the wars compelled him to make his route

through Dauphiny and Savoy, all other countries having been completely closed

against his passage. This was the cause of his coining without his own intention to

Geneva, where, as future events proved, he was conducted by a divine hand. For the

gospel had a short time before been wonderfully introduced into that city by the

joint exertions of two very distinguished characters, William Farel, a gentleman of

Dauphiny, educated, not in a monastery, as was reported by some, but in the academy

of James Fabre, of Estaples, and Peter Viret, of Orb, in the Territory of Berne,

and Friburgh, whose labors were afterwards most abundantly blessed of the Lord.

Calvin, passing through Geneva, visited
these good men as a matter of course, on which occasion Farel, with his usual

heroic spirit, after urging him at some length to continue, and share their labors

at Geneva without going farther, thus addressed Calvin, when he manifested no

disposition to comply with the proposal: “I denounce unto you, in the name of

Almighty God, that if, under the pretext of prosecuting your studies, you refuse to

labor with us in this work of the Lord, the Lord will curse you, as seeking

yourself rather than Christ.” Calvin, terrified by this dreadful denunciation,

surrendered himself to the disposal of the Presbytery f7 and magistrates, by whose

votes, and the consent of the people, he was chosen not only preacher, which at

first he had refused, but also appointed professor of divinity, which office he

accepted in the month of August, 1536. f8
This year is also distinguished by a closer alliance between Geneva and Berne, and

by the accession of Lausanne to Christ, where a free disputation was held against

the Catholics, which Calvin also attended. Calvin then published a certain

formulary of doctrine suited to the state of the church of Geneva, which was only

just emerging from the corruptions of popery. He added also a catechism, not, as it

is now, distinguished into questions and answers, but much shorter, comprising the

chief articles of religion. Afterwards he endeavored in conjunction with Farel and

Couraut, to settle the state of the church in Geneva, the greater part of his

colleagues, from timidity, avoiding all disturbance, while some even secretly

opposed the work of the Lord, which Calvin beheld with deep concern. He induced the

citizens to convene an assembly of the whole people, for the purpose of openly

abjuring popery, and of swearing to the Christian doctrine and discipline included

in a few articles.
Many refused to do this in a city not yet completely liberated from the artifices

of the Duke of Savoy, and from the yoke of Antichrist, and where various factions

still continued to rage. On the 20th July, however, in the year 1537, the Lord

granted that the senate and people of Geneva, openly preceded by a public scribe,

should swear to the articles reign among various persons in a city, which had been

for so many years under the power of monks, and of a profligate clergy; and ancient

quarrels, which commenced during the wars with the Duke of Savoy, were still

fostered among some of the principal families. He first endeavored, without

effecting any thing, to remove these disorders by gentle admonition,
afterwards by severely reproving the stubborn and refractory. The evil increased so

much that the city was divided by the seditious conduct of private individuals into

various factions, and a considerable number altogether refused to join that body of

the people who had abjured popery. At last affairs came to such a height, that

Farel, Calvin, and Couraut, (who, as we have already stated, after boldly defending

the truth at Paris, was brought by Calvin first to Basle, and afterwards to Geneva,

when he himself was settled there,) openly testified that they could not properly

administer the Lord’s Supper to citizens who lived in such a state of discord, and

were so utterly averse to all church discipline. To this also was added another

evil, the disagreement of the church of Geneva with that of Berne in certain rites.

The churches of Geneva not only used common bread, but had removed all baptismal

fonts, as they are called, considering them unnecessary for performing the office

of baptism, and had abolished all festivals except Sunday. The synod of Lausanne,

compelled by the people of Berne, had decided that Geneva should be requested to

restore the use of unleavened bread, the baptismal fonts, and the festivals. The

college of the ministers of Geneva considered it right that an audience should be

afforded, and on this account another synod was convened at Zurich. Those who had

been elected syndics at that time, for this highest office in Geneva is appointed

annually, embracing this as a favorable opportunity, became the leaders of the

seditious and factious part of the city, and assembled the people. They bought

affairs to such a state, that while Calvin and the rest of his colleagues, who held

the same views, offered in vain to assign a reason for their conduct, these three

faithful servants of God, in consequence of the more virtuous party being outvoted,

were ordered to leave the city within two days for refusing to administer the

Lord’s Supper. When Calvin was informed of the decree of banishment, he said,

“Certainly, had I been in the service of men, this would have been a bad reward;

but it is well that I have served Him, who never fails to repay his servants

whatever he has once promised.” f9
Who would not have thought that such measures were calculated to bring certain

destruction to the church at Geneva? The event, however, on the other hand, showed

that it was done by Divine Providence, partly with a view to qualify Calvin, by the

various experience he acquired as a faithful servant in other scenes of usefulness,

for engaging in still nobler labors, and
partly to purge the church of Geneva from much of its corruption, while the leaders

in the sedition were overthrown by their own violence. So wonderful does the Lord

manifest himself in all his works, but especially in the government of his Church.

The truth of these remarks was proved by the final result of this transaction. But

these three servants of Christ, obeying at that time the edict, while all good men

mourned on account of their banishment, proceeded first to Zurich, where a synod

being convened of some of the Swiss churches, means were used according to its

decree, by the intercession of the government of Berne, to try to influence the

minds of the governors and people of Geneva. This attempt was of no avail, and

Calvin went first to Basle, and next to Strasburg, where with the sanction of the

senate of that city he was appointed professor of divinity, with a liberal stipend,

by Bucer, Capito, Hedio, Niger, and the rest of their colleagues, men of the

highest eminence, who then illuminated, as so many shining gems, the established

church of that place. He not only taught divinity there with the greatest applause

of all good men, but with the consent of the senate planted also a French church,

and introduced such discipline as he approved. Satan, thus disappointed in his

expectation, beheld Calvin welcomed by another city, on his expulsion from the

church of Geneva, where in a short time a new church was formed. In the mean while

Satan, using every exertion to subvert entirely the church erected at Geneva, which

had been shaken to its very foundation, found in a short time some idle characters,

who, for the purpose of concealing the great iniquity of the decree under the

pretext of religion, determined that unleavened bread should be substituted for

common, formerly used at the Lord’s table, with a view to afford an opportunity for

fomenting new dissensions. And the great enemy of the Church would have succeeded

in this plan, had not Calvin seriously admonished some good men, so displeased with

the change as to consider it their duty to refrain from taking the Lord’s Supper,

not to contend about a subject in itself indifferent. The use of unleavened bread

commenced in the manner now stated, nor did Calvin on his future restoration think

it worth while to make any opposition to the practice, though he did not attempt to

conceal his approval of the use of common bread.

Another still more dangerous evil commenced in the year 1539, and was at the same

time extinguished by Calvin’s diligence. James Sadolet, Bishop of
Carpentras, a man of great eloquence, which he chiefly abused to suppress the light

of the truth, and who had been presented with a cardinal’s hat, with a view to

enable a character, whose moral conduct was in other respects regular, to decorate

a false religion in the best possible colors. He, observing the opportunity then

offered, and thinking he would easily lead away a flock deprived of such

distinguished pastors, adducing also as an excuse his vicinity to Geneva, for

Carpentras is a city in Dauphiny, which joins on Savoy, sent letters addressed to

his dearly beloved brethren, as he termed them, the magistracy, council, and people

of Geneva, in which he omitted nothing that might be useful in recalling them to

the bosom of Rome, that great harlot. There was no person at Geneva able to answer

this work, and it would in all probability, if not written in a foreign language,

have been productive of great mischief to that city in its present circumstances.

But when Calvin read this letter at Strasburg, he forgot all the injuries he had

received, and immediately answered it with so much truth and eloquence, that

Sadolet forthwith gave up the whole business as desperate. But Calvin did not

permit so long a period to elapse before he manifested the due affection which he

felt as a pastor for his flock at Geneva, who were at that time suffering among

their fellow citizens in a very severe manner for the common cause of religion. The

excellent letters which he wrote at Strasburg, both in the year of his expulsion

and the following, exhibit striking marks of his affection, in which his whole

object is, in an especial manner, to exhort them to repentance before God, to

forbearance towards the wicked, to concord and peace with their pastors, and prayer

and supplication to the Head of the Church. He thus prepares them for the renewed

expectation of the splendid shining forth of that much desired pleasant light from

the midst of the most horrible darkness, and the event wonderfully proved the truth

of his prediction. He then published, in a much more enlarged form, his “Christian

Institutions,” his “Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans,” dedicated to his

most affectionate friend Simon Grinee, as also a golden Treatise “on the Lord’s

Supper,” for the use of his French congregation at Strasburg, translated afterwards

into Latin by Galar. He handled the subject of the Lord’s Supper with so much skill

and erudition, that it may in a very great measure be considered the means of

affording, by the divine blessing, decisive answers to a great variety of most

unhappy controversies, in
which men of the highest attainments in learning and virtue justly acquiesced.
He had great success in reclaiming many Anabaptists; their principal leaders were

Paul Volse, to whom Erasmus had dedicated his “Manual of the Christian Soldier,”

afterwards a pastor in the church of Strasburg, and John Storder, of Liege, who

subsequently fell a victim to the plague; and Calvin married, by the advice of

Bucer, his widow, Idolette de Bure, distinguished for virtue and gravity. f10
Such were the studies and employments of Calvin at Strasburg till the year 1541,

when conferences, appointed by Charles the 5th, were held first at Worms, and

afterwards at Ratisbon, for effecting a pacification between the Catholics and

Protestants. (See note A.) Calvin was present, by the appointment of the ministers

of Strasburg, and was of no small use to the churches in general, particularly to

those in his own country. Philip Melancthon and Gaspar Cruciger, of happy memory,

were in a peculiar manner delighted with him; the former often honored Calvin with

the distinctive appellation of “the divine,” and the latter, after holding a

private conference with him on the subject of the Lord’s Supper, expressly approved

of his views.
The time had now arrived when the Lord determined to have pity on his church at

Geneva. One of the four syndics, by whose means the decree for banishing the

faithful ministers had been passed, being accused of sedition in conducting the

affairs of the state, was precipitated, in consequence of his corpulency, when he

was endeavoring to escape through a window, and his body was so bruised that he

died of his wounds a few days after the accident. Another was beheaded for murder.

The other two, accused of having betrayed the interests of the city in an embassy,

fled from their country, and were condemned to perpetual exile.
On the expulsion of such offscum from the city, Geneva began to demand its own

Farel and Calvin. And when no hopes of recovering Farel from Neuchatel remained,

the citizens directed their attention in the most earnest manner to Calvin, and

sent a deputation, uniting also the intercession of Zurich, to Strasburg, that they

might obtain the consent of its citizens for his removal. The people of Strasburg

were very reluctant to part with Calvin, and though his own attachment to the

people of Geneva
had not been changed, in consequence of the insults offered him by men of the

basest characters, yet he disliked all disturbance, and plainly refused to return,

because he saw the Lord had blessed his ministry in the church at Strasburg. Bucer

and his colleagues testified their very great unwillingness to part with him. The

people of Geneva persisting to demand Calvin, f11 Bucer at last thought it right to

grant their requests for a limited time; he could not, however, persuade Calvin to

yield, until he denounced the severe judgment of Heaven against him, and pressed

upon him the consideration of the example of Jonah. But since these things occurred

at the time when Calvin and Bucer were engaged by a decree to go to the conferences

at Ratisbon, his departure was deferred, and the Genevese only obtained leave from

the inhabitants of Berne to allow Peter Viret to go from Lausanne to Geneva. Calvin

returned to the city with more readiness when he found Viret appointed his

colleague, whose assistance and counsel would be of great use to him in restoring

the church. Thus, after the lapse of a few months, Calvin returned to Geneva on the

13th of September, 1541; all the people, and particularly the senate highly

congratulating themselves on the occasion, and acknowledging, in an impressive

manner, the signal kindness and favor of God to their city. Nor did Geneva rest

until the temporary grant of his services, made by Strasburg, was changed into a

permanent surrender. Strasburg conceded their request, but insisted on his

retaining the privileges of a citizen, and the annual stipend of what they

denominate the pretend. Calvin gladly accepted the former mark of respect, but

could never be induced to receive the latter, since the care of riches occupied his

mind the least of any thing. f12 Calvin on being restored to the church at their

earnest request, failed not, on his instauration, in consequence of observing the

city to require such restraints, to testify how impossible if was for him duly to

discharge his ministerial functions, unless together with Christian doctrine, the

Presbyterian plan of church government was established by the state, as well as a

regular ecclesiastical discipline. f13
On this occasion, therefore, as we shall detail more at length in another part of

our narrative, laws were passed consistent with the word of God, and acceptable to

the citizens, for the choice of elders, and for establishing the whole plan of

Presbyterian discipline which Satan afterwards endeavored without effect, by

wonderful contrivances, to disannul. Calvin
also wrote a catechism in French and Latin, differing very little from his first,

but much more copious, and divided into questions and answers. We may justly term

this all admirable work which has received the approbation of very many foreign

nations, and been translated in a very elegant style into the modern languages of

Germany, England, Scotland, Holland, and Spain, into Hebrew by Immanuel Tremellius,

a converted Jew, and into Greek by Henry Stephens.
The following statement of facts will enable us to form a judgment of his ordinary

labors. In every fortnight he preached one whole week; thrice every week he

delivered lectures; on the Thursdays he presided in the meetings of the Presbytery;

on the Fridays he collated and expounded the Holy Scriptures to what we term the

congregation. He was engaged in illustrating many of the sacred books by

commentaries of very uncommon learning; on some occasions he was employed in

answering the adversaries of religion, and at other times wrote to correspondents

from every part of Europe concerning subjects of great importance. Every attentive

reader of his numerous productions will be astonished to find one weak little man

able to accomplish so many and such great labors. f14
He experienced much advantage from the assistance of Farel and Viret, who in return

received greater from him. And the close intercourse and friendship of these two

men, which excited as much envy in the wicked as it gave pleasure to all pious

minds, afforded him wonderful delight. It was a most pleasant sight to behold and

hear these three distinguished persons in the church cooperating with so much zeal

in the work of the Lord, and flourishing in such a variety of gifts. Farel excelled

in boldness and grandeur of mind. The thunders of his preaching none could hear

without trembling, nor feel his most ardent prayers without the soul being elevated

almost to heaven itself. Viret so excelled in a sweet persuasive eloquence, that

his hearers were compelled to hang upon his lips. Calvin filled the minds of his

hearers with as many most weighty sentiments as he uttered words. Hence I have

often thought that a preacher would in some measure appear perfect, who was formed

by the united excellencies of all three.
To return to Calvin, he was exercised not only with these public, but with domestic

and many other foreign cares. For the Lord so blessed his ministry that he had

visitors from every quarter to solicit his counsel in
matters of religion, as all oracle of the Christian world; and so numerous were his

hearers, that we have seen an Italian, English, and even Spanish church at Geneva,

which seemed not sufficiently large to contain so many strangers.
Although his friendship was much cultivated in Geneva by the good, while he was

regarded with terror by the wicked, and affairs were in the best state of

arrangement, yet many opponents were still raised up to keep him actively employed.

We will unfold his contests separately, that posterity may be presented with a

singular example of fortitude, which is calculated to excite their most strenuous

imitation.
To resume his history, — on his return to the city, keeping in mind that sentence

of our Savior,
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all other things will be added unto you.”

(<400633>Matthew 6:33,)
he considered nothing so important as to prescribe laws of ecclesiastical polity

consistent with the word of God, and sanctioned by the consent of the senate, from

which neither citizens nor ministers would be allowed afterwards to depart. And

this, which had been so much approved before, gradually excited the dislike of some

of the common people, and of the chief citizens, who had indeed put off the pope,

and put on Christ, but only in name. Some also of those ministers, who had remained

on the expulsion of their pious brethren, (the most influential however, after

being accused of profligate conduct, deserted their station in disgrace,) although

convicted by the testimony of their conscience, they wanted courage to make an open

resistance, still continued to pursue a system of secret opposition, and did not

easily permit them, as to be forced to adopt the established discipline. Nor did

they want a pretext for this their wicked conduct, namely, the example of other

churches, which had not adopted excommunication. Some also cried out, that the

tyranny of popery was thus recalled. But these difficulties were overcome by the

constancy and remarkable moderation of Calvin, who proved that we ought to seek for

the reason of ecclesiastical discipline, as well as of doctrine, from the

Scriptures, and adduced in his support the opinions of the most learned men of that

age, Aecolampadius, Zwinglius, Zuichius, Melancthon, Bucer, Capito, and Myconius,

to whose writings he
appealed. Nor did he assert that those churches ought to be therefore condemned as

unchristian, which had not proceeded to the same extent, nor those shepherds to be

opposed to their Lord, who considered the same curb and restraint not to be wanted

by their own flocks.
Finally, he proved the difference between popish tyranny and the yoke of the

Savior, and thus easily succeeded in inducing the people to receive, with unanimous

consent, the same laws of ecclesiastical polity yet used by the church of Geneva,

and which were written, read, and approved by the suffrages of the people on the

20th of November.
Although Calvin had thus made a successful commencement, yet he knew that such

plans could not in reality he carried into effect without difficulty; and, on this

account, was very desirous to have Viret, whom the people of Berne had allowed only

for a certain period, and Farel, who had been received on his expulsion from Geneva

at Neuchatel, to be appointed his perpetual colleagues. In this attempt he was

unsuccessful, for Viret returned soon after to Lausanne, and Farel remained at

Neuchatel, so that he enjoyed almost the whole praise of restoring the church by

his own unassisted efforts.
Many things occupied Calvin the ensuing year; for to omit various domestic affairs

which pressed upon his attention, the inflamed fury of the foreign enemies of the

gospel banished numbers from France and Italy to Geneva, a neighboring and now

distinguished city. Calvin’s zeal in comforting and refreshing those refugees by

every kind of dutiful solicitude is very surprising. I omit mentioning the

consolation, which he afforded to those who were indeed in the yawning jaws of the

lion, by the various letters which he wrote them under their trials.
Another very great and two-fold evil occurred this year; namely, dearness of

provision, and famine, its general attendant. It was even then a custom at Geneva

to have a separate hospital out of the city for such as suffered from the plague.

Since the attendance of a constant and active pastor was required, most of them

dreaded the danger of contagion, and three only offered themselves — Calvin,

Sebastian Castellio, f15 (of whom we shall mention more circumstances in the

following part of this narrative,) and Peter Blanchet. The lot, for this was the

method of their appointment, fell on Castellio, who changed his mind, and

impudently refused to undertake
the burden. The senate would not allow the lots to be taken a second time, contrary

to Calvin’s inclination, and Blanchet himself, therefore, undertook the whole

charge. Other weighty affairs also occurred at that time: for the controversy

concerning the Lord’s Supper engaged the attention of Peter Tossanus, pastor of

Montbelliard; and some at Basle, Myconius opposing without effect, were desirous to

overturn the foundations of church discipline, which had scarcely yet been firmly

laid, and held two conferences with Calvin. Farel had been invited to preach at

Metz, with great success, but very much hindrance was given to the work of the

Lord, partly by the apostate P. Caroli already mentioned. The various labors in

which Calvin was thus involved by writing, admonishing, and exhorting, and by other

methods of affording assistance, are clearly proved by the great number of his

published letters, and the testimony of many survivors.
But the Sorbonne, increasing in boldness, supported by P. Liser, first president of

the parliament of Paris, whose memory is universally detested, had the courage to

attempt a measure, which, to the astonishment of every one, was endured by the

bishops, and even by the pope. These last, being constantly employed, like robbers,

in dividing the wealth of the church among themselves, voluntarily resigned their

own proper duties of distributing the word of life to such of their brethren as

they denominated good doctors, provided those last suffered themselves to be

treated like dogs, which gnaw the bones that their masters, after repeated

nibbling, have left. The Sorbonne had the audacity, unsupported either by human or

divine authority, to prescribe such articles of Christian faith, as both by their

falsehood, and their very trifling character, so commonly to be met with among this

body of divines, deservedly lessened their authority in the opinion of all those,

who were not wholly devoid of judgment. Some had subscribed these articles through

fear, and others from ignorance, on which account Calvin answered them in such a

manner as to refute, with great learning and by solid reasoning, the errors they

contained, and he exposed their folly by a beautiful vein of irony, to the amusing

derision of all men of common discernment.
The following year experienced equally destructive ravages from the dearness of

provisions, and from the plague which infested Savoy. Calvin was constantly

employed in strengthening his own flock at Geneva, and in
boldly repressing the enemies of the church abroad, particularly by publishing four

books on free will, dedicated to Melancthon, in answer to Albert Pighius, a

Dutchman, and the most skilled sophist of the age, who had selected Calvin as an

adversary, expecting that he would obtain a cardinal’s hat as the reward of the

distinguished victory lie hoped to gain. He was, however, disappointed in his

expectations, and reaped, what the enemies of the truth justly deserve, the

contempt of all learned and sensible men, while he was deceived by Satan himself.

f16 Melancthon testified by his letters the esteem in which he held these works of

Calvin, and we considered it right to publish their correspondence, that posterity

may have a certain and clear testimony against the calumniators of such

distinguished men. A letter written this same year to the church of Montbelliard

affords a sufficient answer to such as complain of his too great severity in the

exercise of ecclesiastical discipline.
Calvin in the following year, 1544, stated his opinion concerning the plan which

the church of Neuchatel should adopt in their ecclesiastical censures. Sebastian

Castellio, in Geneva, whose fickleness we have already noticed, concealing under an

apparent modesty a foolish kind of ambition, and evidently belonging to that class

of men, which the Greeks call self-opinionative, became irritated with Calvin

because he disapproved of his conceits in a French version of the New Testament;

who carried his indignation to such a height, that not satisfied with maintaining

some erroneous opinions, he even ordered, in a public manner, the Song of Solomon

to be erased from the canon, as an impure and obscene song, and reviled with very

violent reproaches the ministers of Geneva by whom he was opposed. They justly

thought that it was not their duty patiently to endure such conduct, and summoned

him before the senate, where, after a very patient hearing, on the last day of May,

and a calm examination of the charges brought against him, he was condemned for

calumny, and ordered to leave the city. He afterwards settled in Basle, and his

conduct there will be considered in another part of our narrative.
Charles 5th, in the year 1543, advancing with all his strength against Francis 1st,

had taken care to secure for the two great religious parties in Germany the

enjoyment of equal rights, until the meeting of a council which he promised to

convene. Pope Paul III, feeling very indignant at such a proceeding, published a

very grave admonition to Charles for his
having thus placed the heretics on a level with the Catholics, and for putting his

scythe into a crop which belonged to another. Charles returned what he considered a

fair answer. Calvin repressed the audacity of the pontiff for the severity with

which he had attacked in these letters the truth of the gospel, and the moral

conduct of the reformers.
Calvin embraced the opportunity offered him by the diet assembled at Spiers, for

publishing a book on the necessity of reforming the church, which in my opinion, is

one of the most nervous, powerful treatises published in our age on that subject.

Calvin, the same year, so refuted, in two books, both the anabaptists and

libertines, who had revived the most monstrous heresies of antiquity, that I think

no attentive reader, unless designedly and knowingly, could have been deceived, or,

if he had formerly been in an error, would not voluntarily have returned to the

right way. The book published against the libertines very much displeased the Queen

of Navarre, because, which is almost incredible, she had been so infatuated by the

two principal leaders of this horrible sect, Quintin and Pocquet, whom Calvin had

expressly attacked, as to consider them, though she did not adopt their mysterious

views, good men, on which account she thought herself in some measure deeply

wounded through their sides. Calvin, on learning this, answered her with uncommon

moderation, mindful of her dignity, and of the several kindness which this queen

had conferred upon the church of Christ; he blamed her too great imprudence in an

ingenuous and discreet manner with great address, becoming a courageous servant of

God, for harkening to such men, while he asserted at the same time the authority of

his own ministry. His writings produced the effect of confining the followers of

this horrid sect of the Libertines, which had begun to spread in France, within the

boundaries of Holland, and of the adjacent countries.
After he had terminated so many labors in 1544, he was again involved, in the

following year, in new disputes of a still more serious kind. For as if a

pestilence inflicted by God himself was not sufficient to waste the city and the

whole neighborhood, some of the very lowest classes, whose assistance was required

by the rich in cleansing their houses and healing the sick, were induced by avarice

to form a shocking conspiracy, for the purpose of infecting the posts and

thresholds of their doors, and of every thing in their road, with an ointment that

conveyed the disease and
communicated this dreadful scourge. They also, by a terrible oath, mutually taken

in the most solemn manner, bound themselves as slaves to Satan should they ever be

found to betray their accomplices, though the rack itself were used to extort

confession. A considerable number of them were detected both in the city and

adjoining country, and received a punishment merited by their enormous crimes. The

reproach is incredible which Satan, by this artifice, raised against Calvin and the

city of Geneva, as if the prince of darkness plainly reigned in that city where he

was most violently opposed.
This year was disgraced by a massacre of unparalleled cruelty, occasioned by an

edict which the parliament of Aix issued against the Waldenses of Merindol and

Cabrier, and the whole of that tract of country; it was not confined to one or two

sufferers, but extended to the whole people without distinction of age or sex, and

the villages were consumed in one common conflagration. These evils pressed more

heavily on Calvin, who afforded solace and succor to the few refugees that fled to

Geneva, because he had on a former occasion used means, by sending letters and

supplying pastors, to have them purely instructed in the gospel, and by his

intercession with the German princes and the Swiss states, had preserved them from

impending danger.
The unhappy controversy respecting the Supper of our Lord was at this time again

renewed. Osiander, a proud man and of a strange disposition, stirred up the flame

of discord, which seemed to be extinguished, and Calvin used every exertion in his

power to terminate it, as appears by his letters written to Melancthon, and

published under my inspection. But Osiander’s want of moderation prevented him from

listening to the sound advice of these two great men, by whom he is denominated

Pericles.
In the mean time many excellent characters fell victims to the plague which raged

in the city. But Calvin thundered with all his power from the pulpit against the

vices of some, and particularly against fornication, which the scourge of the

plague could not terminate. The good supported him, but the efforts of the pious

were weakened by a few demagogues, until, as will be stated in its proper place,

they voluntarily plunged themselves in irretrievable ruin. These evils were

increased by the unseasonable disputes concerning the right of the city; nor could

faithful pastors in other parts of
Europe endure to see church property, taken from the Roman hierarchy, improperly

managed in many places. Clamors and complaints were at that time very frequent on

this subject, and much labor devoted to it both in writing and speaking, but

generally without effect. Calvin, indeed, openly professed that he was by no means

a friend to so many sacrilegious proceedings, which he knew must finally meet with

a most severe divine scourge, but acknowledged the just judgment of the Lord God

because he would not allow revenues, acquired formerly by priests in so base a

manner, to be brought into the treasuries of the church.
Calvin felt deep concern this year, both from a domestic and foreign cause. A

Genevese of the name of Troillet, young, indeed, but artful, after having

counterfeited for some time the hermit in France, had returned to Geneva. Calvin,

distinguished above most men for his sagacious penetration into character,

developed this person, who concealed himself in the commencement under the

appearance of piety. Calvin first admonished him mildly, but afterwards rebuked him

more freely, when his conduct in the congregation was distinguished by insolence

and ambition. He did not bear such reproof properly, and endeavored to secure the

aid and zealous favor of such as were generally condemned by Calvin on account of

their vices. On the death of one of the pastors, Troillet openly endeavored, with

the assistance of his friends, to canvass for the office of a minister of the

gospel, when the appointment of a successor was under consideration. In short, the

senate interposed its authority, and ordered him to be preferred. Calvin and his

colleagues opposed the measure, proving how much such a system of canvassing was

contrary to the word of God, and obtained, with the approbation of the senate, the

enforcement of the written laws of the church.
There were also at that time in France certain persons, who, having renounced the

protestant religion at the commencement, through fear of persecution, had begun

afterwards so far to flatter themselves as to deny there was any sin in being

present with their bodies only at the celebration of the mass, provided they

embraced the true religion in their hearts. Calvin, whom they blamed for the excess

of his severity, plainly refuted, by his clear and elegant writings, this very

pernicious error, which the fathers had long ago condemned. He annexed also the

opinions of the most learned reformers, Philip Melancthon, Peter Martyr, f17 Bucer,

and the
church of Zurich, and so far restrained the progress of this error, that the

Nicodemites, which name they had acquired by adducing the example of this most holy

person as a pretext for their false sentiments, he fell into bad repute in the

church.
The year 1546 was not less stormy than the past. For it was necessary to fortify

the minds of the people against the frequent accounts circulated concerning the

designs of Charles 5th in opposition to religion, and against the fraudulent

schemes of the pope, who was reported to employ a number of emissaries as

incendiaries. The state of the city itself also particularly excited his

commisseration, for the petulance of the wicked, so far from suffering itself to be

subdued by so many scourges, became still more insolent, and at last broke through

all restraints. For Ami Perrin, a very audacious and ambitious character,

denominated on this account by Calvin, in his letters, the mock Caesar, had

succeeded, by the suffrages of the people, in obtaining the nomination of captain-

general, and some time before had become leader of the opposers of order. This man

imagining, as was the fact, that neither he nor his accomplices could succeed,

while the laws were maintained with rigor, and Calvin in particular continued to

thunder against their wanton and disorderly conduct, began openly to discover this

year what he and his associates had long projected. He continued silent for a

while, when he had been punished and crushed by the authority of the senate, merely

with a view to disclose afterwards his wickedness in a more open manner. For, a

short period having elapsed, one of the senators, secretly instigated, as is

supposed, by two ministers addicted to wine, who had good reason, as well as

others, to dread the severity of the laws, accused Calvin of false doctrine before

a considerably large assembly. Calvin continued unmoved by such attacks. This

senator was tried, condemned, branded with infamy by his own body, the two false

pastors were conjointly suspended from their office, and the taverns deprived of

their license. Such was the result of the machinations of the wicked, who were

completely disappointed.
The general conflagration which had been smothered this year, burst forth in 1547,

which was the most calamitous period during that age. The churches in Germany were

reduced to the greatest extremity, her princes and cities either surrendered to the

emperor, or were taken by force, and a work, which had been raised by the unwearied

labors of so many years,
seemed to be overthrown in one moment. Many considered those happy, who had been

rescued by a timely death from such dreadful tumults. Who, then, can picture the

anguish that wrung the pious breast of Calvin in those public calamities by which

so many churches were overwhelmed? When the churches enjoyed the most profound

peace, our reformer felt as ardent an affection for the most distant, as if the

weight of them all rested on his own shoulders. What pungency of grief must he at

that time have felt, when he beheld those illustrious characters, Melancthon,

Bucer, Martyr, his dearest friends, exposed to such imminent danger, as to be

placed on the very brink of death! His writings, however, testify, and the fact

itself proved, that Calvin overcame these storms with the greatest fortitude.

Though persecuted in a very severe manner by the wicked at Geneva, he did not move

a step from the high station of constancy and integrity which he had taken.
To return to Calvin’s domestic disputes, — when his whole time was employed in

proving that the gospel he preached was not a mere speculative doctrine, but

consisted in a pious Christian life, he necessarily incurred the enmity of those,

who had proclaimed war not only against all piety and virtue, but even against

their very country. Perrin, as already stated, still continued their leader, for

his own condition and the state of his associates were so bad, that it was evident

they must make the most desperate efforts; and the abandoned openly declared it was

necessary for the cognizance of all questions under discussion, that they should be

removed from the presbytery to the senate. The presbytery, on the other hand,

insisted that the laws established concerning church discipline were agreeable to

the word of God, and they implored the aid of the senate to prevent the church from

receiving any injury. The senate determined it necessary to ratify the laws of the

church, and confirmed them accordingly. After Perrin had exposed himself to very

great danger by his own audacious conduct, the whole affair was settled by

expelling him from the senate, depriving him of his captaincy, and reducing him to

a mere private station. Though all these transactions were carried on before the

magistrates, yet it is impossible to state how much trouble they occasioned Calvin.

On one occasion there was great danger of blood being shed in the court itself,

where the council of two hundred was assembled, by the swords of the contending

parties. Calvin coming up with his
colleagues, at the risk of his own life, since the faction of the wicked was

chiefly aimed against him, quelled the riot. He still persisted to hold up to

detestation, in the most solemn manner, their criminal conduct, and to rebuke them

in the strongest terms according to their deserts.f18 Nor was his denunciation of

God’s judgment vain, since a certain person was then apprehended for writing a

libel, and fixing it to the pulpit, in which he produced many base charges against

the ministers, and declared, in a written document, that Calvin himself ought to be

cast into the Rhone. He was summoned to trial, convicted in an unexpected manner of

a great variety of other blasphemous proceedings, and beheaded. After his death a

paper was found professedly written with his own hand against Moses, and

consequently Christ, and his impious conduct left no doubt of his having also

infected some others.
Calvin wrote, this year, in the midst of all these contentions, his “Antidote

against the seven Sessions of the Council of Trent.” He also sent an epistle to the

church of Rouen, fortifying them against the artifices of a certain Franciscan

preacher, who was disseminating the poison of the errors of Carpocrates, that were

renewed by the libertines.
The following year, 1548, the disorders of the factious again broke forth in Geneva

by the device of Satan, who made Farel and Viret instrumental to this result; a

fact scarcely credible, because they were most desirous to cure all the evils.

These ministers came to Geneva in the beginning of the year, and addressed the

senate in a very solemn manner on the necessity of healing their contentions, since

Calvin only demanded reformation of manners. Perrin, with his associates, that he

might recover his former situation, pretended to agree to whatever was proposed.

Every thing now appeared to be amicably arranged, but the result afterwards showed

that he had only imposed upon the pious. On Perrin’s restoration, the wickedness of

the abandoned citizens went to such a height, that they openly used certain

breastplates, cut in the form of a cross, as a mark for distinguishing each other;

some called their dogs Calvin, others transformed Calvin into Cain; a considerable

number declared they refrained, in consequence of their hatred of Calvin, from the

Lord’s Supper. Our reformer and his colleagues rebuked all this conduct with much

boldness, summoned them to the senate, and the innocence of the pious was easily

victorious. An amnesty was finally again ratified on the
18th of December by a solemn oath. The event proved that Perrin had been

dissembling in the whole of his late conduct, and the only object he had in view

was to rise to the syndicate, for the purpose of more completely opening to himself

and his associates a still more certain access to these offices, which might enable

them to involve all in one common ruin.
Calvin was not diverted from his labors by these disputes, but he illustrated six

epistles of St. Paul, by very learned commentaries, as if he had enjoyed the utmost

leisure, he refuted what was termed the “Interim,” that was published with a view

to ruin the German churches, by a work written with great force, which pointed out

the true method for restoring the church. He exposed, in a very elegant paper, the

falsehood and vanity of judicial astrology, of which many at that time entertained

a high opinion. Having received an obliging letter from Brentius, banished to

Basle, he consoled him with much tenderness and friendship, and I wish Brentius had

not broken the bonds of this union. He then also candidly exhorted Bucer, when

banished to England, to speak and write his opinion more openly concerning the

Lord‘s Supper, and comforted him in a friendly manner. At the same time he took

great pains to give advice, by letter, to the Duke of Somerset, protector of

England, who afterwards very unjustly suffered an ignominious death; and had

Calvin’s plans been followed, the church of England would in all probability have

escaped many storms. (IX.)
The church of Geneva wonderfully increased in the midst of these disputes, and this

grieved Satan and bad men to a very great degree. Calvin’s zeal on the other hand

was very much increased, by entertaining, in the kindest manner, those who were

banished from their country on account of religion. The faction of the seditious,

though not entirely extinguished, was much subdued the following year, and afforded

him more leisure for attending to the distresses of the suffering Protestants, he

required, indeed, a cessation from such disputes, for he now sustained a very

severe domestic affliction in the loss of his wife, who was distinguished by a most

excellent and choice character. f19 He endured his trial on this occasion with such

constancy as to leave a singular example of fortitude to the whole church in a

similar dispensation of Providence. (X.)
The churches of Saxony not being agreed respecting the nature and use of

indifferent things, Calvin was this year consulted and gave his opinion frankly on

the subject; he also admonished Melancthon of his duty, who was unjustly accused by

some of too much gentleness in his views on this question, as Calvin afterwards

more fully discovered.
It was not then known what spirit actuated the evil-genius of Flaccius, and the

whole tribe of his followers, by which they afterwards caused such disturbances,

and to this day so subvert the work of the Lord, that they could not have done it

more audaciously and furiously had they been hired to it by the gold of the Roman

pontiff. But the Lord, while this wound was inflicted upon the German churches,

granted a contrary blessing to the Swiss; for Farel and Calvin made a visit to

Zurich, that, as certain persons considered the latter in some measure to favor

consubstantiation, all Protestants might be entirely satisfied concerning the

unanimous agreement of all the Helvetic churches in this important article. It was

not difficult to unite good men devoted to the truth. An harmony was drawn up with

the unanimous approbation of all the Swiss and Grison churches, which had the

effect of still more closely uniting Bullinger with Calvin, and the church of

Zurich with that of Geneva, to which we still adhere, and hope by the blessing of

God to do so to the end. The conclusion of this year was productive of happiness to

the church, when it is contrasted with the preceding; and I state this with greater

pleasure, because I was now first introduced into the sacred office on the call of

the church of Lausanne, and at Calvin’s instigation.
About this time Calvin wrote two letters, abounding with profound erudition to

Lelius Socinus, of Sienna, who died at Zurich after a long-continued residence.
These letters evidently prove the skepticism of Socinus, which was not fully known

until many years had elapsed, and death itself had closed his labors. He visited

the various churches, and deceived even the most learned, and among the rest

particularly Melancthon, Calvin, and Camerarius, who bears in his life of

Melancthon a very honorable testimony to his character, which he does not deserve.

It is ascertained beyond doubt, that he was afterwards in a great measure the

author of the confused Bellian controversy, and a favorer of the wild opinions of
Servetus, Castellio, and Ochinus, an account of which we shall give in its proper

place. His commentary also upon the celebrated first chapter of John is yet extant,

in which he has much surpassed the impiety of all the heretics, who ever corrupted

that very divine passage.
The year 1550 was remarkable for its tranquillity with respect to the church. The

consistory resolved that the ministers should not confine their instructions to

public preaching, which was neglected by some, and heard with very little advantage

by others, but at stated seasons should visit every family from house to house,

attended by an elder, and a decurion of each ward, to explain the Christian

doctrines to the common people, and require from every one a brief account of their

faith. These private visits were of great use to the church, and it is scarcely

credible how much fruit was produced by this plan of instruction.
The consistory gave directions that the celebration of the birth of Christ should

be deferred to the following day, and that no festival should be observed as holy,

excepting the seventh, which is called the Lord’s day. This proceeding gave offense

to many, and for the purpose of reproaching Calvin, there were some who circulated

an unfounded report of his abrogating the Sabbath itself: though this subject was

discussed before the people, and the decree passed without the request or even the

knowledge of the ministers, yet Calvin did not think it worth his while to excite

any dispute. In consequence of many being offended with such changes, Calvin

embraced this opportunity for writing a “Treatise on Scandal,” dedicated to his old

and very faithful friend, Laurence of Normandy. (See note B.)
The disputes in 1551 fully compensated for the tranquillity of the two preceding

years. The death of Bucer, much beloved by Calvin, and of James Vadian, consul of

St. Gal, a person of singular piety and erudition, deeply afflicted the whole

church, and especially our reformer. f20 The wickedness of the factious burst forth

with greater violence, in proportion to the length of time it had been smothered:

they openly asserted that the right of citizenship ought not to be granted to

strangers, who took refuge in Geneva; and not content with this, they mocked and

jostled Calvin on his return from preaching beyond the Rhone.
Raymond, his colleague, passing over the bridge across the Rhone by night, nearly

fell headlong into it, in consequence of the factious secretly
removing one of the piles. They excited a considerable tumult at the church of St.

Gervais, assigning as a pretext, that the minister had refused to give the name

Balthazar, which had been expressly prohibited by laws made on sufficient grounds,

to a child whom they had brought for baptism. Calvin, not being able to remedy

these evils, bore them with Christian resignation, fortitude, and invincible

patience. But another new evil attacked the church of Geneva at this time. Jerome

Bolsec, late a Carmelite monk at Paris, was the occasion of this confusion; who,

having laid aside the habit a few years before, retained the spirit and character

of a monk. He fled from Paris, and was banished from the court of the Duchess de

Ferrara, who had been deceived by him, and having been made physician in the space

of three days, paid a visit to Geneva. Being held in no repute among learned

physicians, he aimed to establish his credit as a divine, by beginning to prate

something privately concerning the falsehood and absurdity of predestination, and

afterwards in the church. Calvin at first was content with refuting him, and used

mild remonstrance, but afterwards, by private conversation, our reformer endeavored

to correct his errors. But Bolsec, whether excited by monastic ambition, or goaded

on by the seditious, who had been seeking for some one to attack Calvin, on the

16th of October, when the preacher was explaining in the church the following

passage:
“He that is of God heareth God’s words; ye therefore hear them not because ye are

not of God,” (<430847>John 8:47,)
openly dared to support free will, and the foreknowledge of works, for the purpose

of subverting the decree of eternal predestination, which is superior in order to

all causes. He attacked the true doctrine with contumelious language, and a purely

seditious arrogance; and he is thought to have done this with greater boldness,

because he considered Calvin to be absent, as Bolsec did not happen to behold him

in his usual place. He was indeed absent at the commencement of the sermon, but as

he came in after the preacher had proceeded with his subject, he had remained

behind some of the rest of the congregation. When the discourse of the monk was

finished, Calvin suddenly appeared, and though he evidently spoke without

premeditation, displayed on this occasion, as much as on any other, his great

talents in controversy. Calvin indeed confuted his opponent with so much force,

adduced so many passages from Scripture, so many quotations in particular from St.

Augustin, and, finally, so many,
and such weighty arguments, that all, except the monk himself, with his shameless

front, blushed exceedingly for the daring assailant. He was seized by a magistrate

in the congregation, who was empowered for that purpose, dismissed the assembly,

and committed to prison as a seditious offender. In short, the cause was discussed

in various disputations; the senate requested the judgment of the Swiss churches,

expelled him from the city, after being publicly condemned for sedition and

downright Pelagianism, and threatened to inflict corporal punishment, if they

should again apprehend him either in the city or its territory. Bolsec retired into

a neighboring city, where he caused many and great disturbances; and having been

twice driven from the Canton of Berne, he went first to Paris, and then to Orleans,

canvassing for the charge of the ministry among the French churches, which he

expected would continue tranquil, affecting, by strange arts, repentance for his

conduct, and expressing, of his own accord, a desire to be reconciled with the

church of Geneva. When he appeared as if really prepared thus to act, the

persecution of the Protestant churches, contrary to his expectations, alarmed him,

and, resuming the study of medicine, he openly forsook the Protestants, and

returned to the popish profession, having abandoned also his wife to the canons of

Autun, and became a gross railer against the truth, which practice he still

continues in that city. But the College of Ministers at Geneva, in a public

meeting, asserted the true doctrine of predestination, and approved the statement

afterwards given of it by Calvin in a treatise published on that subject. Satan, by

these disputes, was the occasion of so much light being thrown upon this article of

our faith, involved before in very great obscurity, that it has been made clear and

evident to all but the friends of contention.
In the following year it appeared more certain what such a flame the impure Bolsec

had raised, although condemned by the common judgment of so many churches. For the

difficulty of a question, which had not yet been sufficiently explained by the

greater part of the ancients, and the discussion of which had not always ended in

the same conclusion, excited in a peculiar manner inquisitive minds to investigate

this important point. The factious also considered this to be an excellent

opportunity for effecting the complete subversion of all order, if Calvin could

only be expelled. It is impossible to state the various disputes which followed,

not only in the city, but in every quarter, as if the trumpet was sounded by
Satan himself. For though the ministers of the principal churches beautifully

harmonized, there were, however, some of the neighboring churches of Berne, which

threatened to enter into controversy with Calvin, as if he made God the author of

sin, evidently forgetting that Calvin had long ago professedly refuted this very

destructive opinion, in his treatise against the libertines. At Basle also the good

and simple man, Castellio, the greatest part of whose conduct was marked by

secrecy, supported Pelagianism with considerable openness. Even Melancthon himself

had commenced writing on these subjects in such a manner, that notwithstanding he

had expressly before this period subscribed to Calvin’s book against Pighius, yet

some thought he pointed to the ministers of Geneva, as if they were introducing a

stoical fate. I wholly omit mentioning the Catholics, who now again repeated the

same calumnies, which had been a thousand times refuted. These circumstances

necessarily distressed Calvin’s mind with much greater keenness, because,

occasionally during that period, the power of error had been so great, that in some

parts public authority seemed to interpose for preventing the ministers to declare

the truth.
Nor was this a controversy finished in a few years: but, first of all, the good

hermit, Troillet, already mentioned, came forth this very year to enter the field

of controversy with Calvin, who some time before, after being rejected as an

unsuccessful candidate for the ministry, had become a lawyer, and the patron of the

factious. This cause was discussed on both sides before the senate with

considerable warmth. Calvin defended his doctrine by the sole authority of truth,

while his opponent conducted the discussion, supported by the impudence and the

favor of the abandoned. The truth was victorious; and the writings of Calvin, which

is a striking fact, were even recognized as orthodox and pious by the suffrages of

his opponents.
We must not conceal the repentance of this Troillet some few years after, who, on

his death-bed, sent for Calvin, with great earnestness, as a witness, to inform him

that he could not die with peace of conscience, unless he was reconciled to him

before he departed. He confessed in what an unworthy manner he had carried on his

attack against Calvin, who not only paid him every attention, but with the greatest

kindness raised and comforted his drooping spirit, and confirmed his faith until

his dying hour.
But the year 1553, the wickedness of the seditious hastening to a close, was so

very turbulent, that both church and state were brought into extreme danger. They

made so great a progress by threats and clamor, the virtuous part of the society

enjoying no liberty in consequence of the great number of the seditious, as to

disannul the ancient edicts for electing and appointing senators, which, by the

kind favor of God, afforded all argument for the virtuous, to adopt afterwards such

an improvement in their councils, as secured more completely their own rights. They

expelled some from the senate, deprived all foreign refugees of their arms, under

the pretense of fear, and allowed them only the use of swords when they went into

the country. Every thing seemed to be in a state of preparation for accomplishing

the plans of the seditious, since all was subject to their power.
Satan then presented another occasion for exciting disturbance. For that real enemy

of the sacred Trinity, or rather of all true deity, and therefore a monster formed

from all kinds of the most absurd and impious heresies which had formally taken

possession of the human mind, Michael Servetus, after wandering as a physician for

some years in various parts of Europe, under the feigned name of Villanovanus,

disseminated his blasphemies at Vienne, in a thick volume. Arnollet, of Lyons, was

printer, and William Gueret, corrector, as it is termed, of the press, who was long

ago devoted to the seditious at Geneva, and a few months before left that city for

Lyons, to avoid the punishment to which he was exposed, on account of fornication

and other crimes. Servetus, after publishing this work, abounding with blasphemies,

on account of which he had been imprisoned at Vienne, whence, by contrivances, with

which I am wholly unacquainted, he afterwards escaped, now came, under unfavorable

auspices, to Geneva, with an intention of going to some more distant place, if the

providence of God had not so arranged that he was cast into prison by one of the

magistrates; who was informed of his being in that city by Calvin, who recognized

him soon after his arrival, having been well acquainted with Servetus long before.

A book was published, where a very full account may be met with of the

controversies then discussed, and of the importance of the subjects examined. The

result of the whole was, that this ruined character, in whose ear it was thought

one of the seditious, being assessor with the praetor, whispered advice calculated

to harden the
mind of the prisoner in his sins, was betrayed by his own vain confidence, and

condemned for impiety and an infinite number of blasphemies, according to the

sentence even of all the Swiss churches. This unhappy person was burned alive,

without manifesting the least mark of repentance, on the 27th of October. [See note

C.]
Farel was so broken down with disease this year, that he was left by Calvin, who

had come to visit him at Neuchatel, apparently in dying circumstances. He was,

however, afterwards restored, contrary to all expectations, and continued to

comfort and refresh the church. This year was hitherto evidently spent by us in an

alternation of hope and fear, but the grief we experienced was followed by the

feelings of joy.
For while the proceedings were going on in the case of Servetus, Bertelier, one of

the factious, a man of the most abandoned impudence, who had been forbidden the

Lord’s table by the presbytery on account of his many crimes, entered the senate,

and petitioned them to authorize the abrogation of his sentence, had this request

been granted, all the bonds of church discipline would undoubtedly have been

broken, and all church order immediately dissolved. Calvin, therefore, with great

earnestness and boldness, in the name of the presbytery, opposed it, and proved

that the magistrate ought to be the avenger, not destroyer of the sacred laws, and

he neglected nothing which so momentous a dispute required. The false clamors of

those, who asserted that the presbytery, in some cases, usurped the power of the

magistrates, triumphed; and a resolution was passed, on the question being brought

before the grand council of two hundred, that the final decision, on all cases of

excommunication, should be vested in the senate, with a power to absolve such as

they thought fit. Agreeable to this decision, Bertelier secretly obtained letters

abrogating his sentence, and confirmed by the seal of the state, from the senate,

which did not at that time direct its attention to the careful investigation of

this subject. Perrin, and his faction, expected that Calvin would either disobey

the orders of the senate, and thus sink under popular tumult, or, if he obeyed

them, all the authority of the presbytery, and with it all the powerful restraints

upon the wicked, would, without difficulty, be afterwards broken for ever. But

Calvin, having received notice of this revolution only two days before the

administration of the supper, as usual, in September, uttered, during the sermon,

with uplifted hands, and
in a solemn tone, many severe denunciations against the profaners of mysteries,

whose sacred character he described; and “for my own part,” said he, (after the

example of Chrysostom,) “I will rather suffer myself to be slain, than allow this

hand to stretch forth the sacred things of the Lord to those who are lawfully

condemned as despisers of God.” This voice, wonderful to state, produced such an

effect, even upon his unbridled enemies, that Perrin immediately gave secret orders

to Bertelier, not to present himself at the table, and the sacred mysteries were

celebrated with a surprisingly profound silence, and under a solemn awe, as if the

Deity himself had been visible among them. But, after dinner, in the Course of his

explaining that remarkable passage in the Acts of the Apostles, where Paul bids

farewell to the church of Ephesus, Calvin protested that he was not the man who

either himself knew any thing about resisting magistrates, or taught others to do

so, and exhorted, at considerable length, the people to persevere in the doctrine

which they had heard. And in conclusion, as if it was the last sermon he would

preach at Geneva, he said, “Since affairs are in such a state, permit me also,

brethren, to apply to you the language of the apostle, I commend you to God and to

the word of his grace.” These words struck his abandoned enemies dumb, in a

surprising manner, and the good were more seriously confirmed and admonished of

their duty. Calvin, the next day, accompanied by his colleagues and the presbytery,

deliberately demanded of the senate, and the council of two hundred, that their

case should be determined by the people themselves, since the law, whose abrogation

was then under consideration, had been made by the people.
The opinions of these two ruling bodies were changed after such observations, and

it was resolved that the decree of the two hundred should be suspended, the four

reformed states of Switzerland consulted, and no alteration in the mean time should

take place in the existing laws. Thus the storm being broken rather than quelled,

the leaders of the faction endeavored, from the occurrence of particular

circumstances to make it fall upon the head of Farel, which, contrary to all

expectation, had been averted from that of Calvin. For Farel, who had suffered so

severely from a violent disease in the month of March, visited Geneva as soon as

the restoration of his health allowed. In his sermon, relying on the justice of the

cause, on his age, and former influence, he reproved with great
keenness, the supporters of faction. They complained loudly that Farel had done

them a serious injury, and on his return to Neuchatel they procured letters from

the senate to the government of that state, for the purpose of allowing Farel to be

summoned to Geneva, and to answer for himself on the day appointed. Farel came, and

was exposed to considerable danger from the factious who cried out, that he ought

to be thrown into the Rhone for his conduct. A prudent, discreet, courageous young

man, in the first place, frequently warned Perrin to use every exertion that the

common father, as i