Читать книгу History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8) - J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - Страница 68

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LECOQ had been caught in the snares of the world; Caturce had perished in the flames; some elect souls appeared to be falling into a third danger—a sort of christianity, partly mystical, partly worldly, partly Romanist. But there was a young man among the evangelicals who was beginning to occasion some uneasiness in the lukewarm. Calvin—for it is of him we speak—was successively attacked on these three sides, and yet he remained firm. He did more than this, for every day he enlarged the circle of his christian activity. An advocate, a young frondeur, a pious tradesman, a catholic student, a professor of the university, and the Queen of Navarre—all received from him at this time certain impulses which carried them forward in the path of truth.

=DANIEL'S VIEWS FOR CALVIN.=

The advocate Daniel loved him dearly, and desired to keep him in the Romish communion. His large understanding, his energetic character, his indefatigable activity seemed to promise the Church a St. Augustin or a St. Bernard; he must be raised to some important post where he would have a prospect of making himself useful. The advocate, who thought Calvin far less advanced in the ways of liberty than he really was, had an idea of obtaining for him an ecclesiastical charge which, he imagined, would perfectly suit his young friend: it was that of official or vicar-general, empowered to exercise episcopal jurisdiction. Would Daniel succeed? Would he rob the Reformation of this young and brilliant genius? Influential men were ready to aid him in establishing Calvin in the ranks of the Romish hierarchy. Accordingly the first temptation to which he was exposed proceeded from clerical ambition.

An ecclesiastic of high birth, John, Count of Longueville and Archbishop of Toulouse, had been appointed Bishop of Orleans in 1521, with permission to retain his archbishopric.215 In 1532 a new bishop was expected at Orleans, either because Longueville was dead, or because, on account of his illness, a coadjutor had become necessary. The pluralist prelate was a fellow-countryman of Calvin's.216 Daniel, thinking that he ought to seize this opportunity of procuring the post of official for the young scholar, made the first overtures to Calvin on the 6th of January, 1532. 'I never will abandon,' he said, 'the old and mutual friendship that unites us.' And then, having by this means sought to conciliate his favourable attention, he skilfully insinuated his wishes. 'We are expecting the bishop's arrival every day; I should be pleased if, by the care of your friends, you were so recommended to him that he conferred on you the charge of official or some other post.'217 There was much in this to flatter the self-love of a young man of twenty-three. If Calvin had been made vicar-general at so early an age, he would not have stopped there; that office often led to the highest dignities, and his brilliant genius, his great and strong character, would have made him a bishop, cardinal, who can say? ... perhaps pope. Instead of freeing the Church he would have enslaved it; and instead of being plain John Calvin he might perhaps have been the Hildebrand of his age.

What will Calvin do? Although settled as regards doctrine, he was still undecided with regard to the Church: it was a period of transition with him. 'On the one hand,' he said, 'I feel the call of God which holds me fast to the Church, and on the other I fear to take upon myself a burden which I cannot bear.... What perplexity!'218 Erelong the temptation presented itself. 'Consider!' whispered an insidious voice; 'an easy, studious, honoured, useful life!'—'Alas!' he said, 'as soon as anything appears which pleases us, instantly the desires of the flesh rush impetuously after it, like wild beasts.' We cannot tell whether these 'wild beasts' were roused in his ardent soul, but at least, if there was any covetousness within, 'which tempted the heart,' he forced it to be still. Strong decision distinguishes the christian character of Calvin. The new man within him rejected with horror all that the old man had loved. Far from entering into new ties, he was thinking of breaking those which still bound him to the Roman hierarchy. He therefore did not entertain Daniel's proposal. Of the two roads that lay before him, he chose the rougher one, and gave himself to God alone.

=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?'219 He 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!"220 may 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.221 To 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,'224 he 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.225 I 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.226 In 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.'227 Calvin 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;228 but 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.229 Farewell! 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.230 He 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.

=CALVIN RECEIVES HIM KINDLY.=

The young man, soured and disappointed, drew a sad picture of Strasburg. 'There was not a single person in the whole city from whom I could obtain a penny,' he said. 'My enemy left not a stone unturned; scattering the sparks of his wrath on every side, he kindled a great fire.... My sojourn there was a real tragedy, which had the ruin of an innocent man for its catastrophe.' Calvin questioned him on baptism, and the severe examination was entirely to the advantage of the young refugee. 'Really,' said the commentator on Clemency, 'I have never met with any one who professed the truth on this point with so much frankness.' Calvin did not lose a moment, but sat down (4th of September) to write to Bucer, whom he styled the bishop of Strasburg. 'Alas!' he said, 'how much stronger calumny is than truth! They have ruined this man's reputation, perhaps without intention, but certainly without reason. If my prayers, if my tears have any value in your eyes, dear Master Bucer, have pity on the wretchedness of this unfortunate man!231 You are the protector of the poor, the help of the orphan; do not suffer this unhappy man to be reduced to the last extremity.'

Shortly after writing this touching appeal, Calvin returned to Paris. As for the young man, we know not what became of him. He was not, however, the only one who first attacked and then called for pity.

The literary movement of the capital manifested itself more and more every day in a biblical direction. Guidacerio of Venice, devoting himself to scriptural studies, published a commentary on the Song of Solomon, and an explanation of the Sermon on the Mount,232 to the great annoyance of the doctors of the Sorbonne, who were angry at seeing laymen break through their monopoly of interpreting Scripture. Priests in their sermons, students in their essays, put forward propositions contrary to the Romish doctrine; and Beda, who was beside himself, filled Paris with his furious declamations. He soon met with a cutting reply. Some young friends of learning gave a public representation of a burlesque comedy entitled: 'The university of Paris is founded on a monster.'233 Beda could not contain himself: 'They mean me,' he exclaimed, and called together the Faculties. They laid the matter before the inquisitors of the faith, who had the good sense to let it drop.234

=THE MERCHANT DE LA FORGE.=

When Calvin returned to Paris, he did not join this literary world, which was jeering at the attacks of the priests: he preferred the narrow and the thorny way. Every day he attended the meetings which were held secretly in different parts of the capital. He associated with pious families, sat at the hearths of the friends of the Gospel, and discoursed with them on the truth and on the difficulties which the Reformation would have to encounter in France. A pious and open-hearted merchant, a native of Tournay, Stephen de la Forge by name, particularly attracted him at this time. When he entered his friend's warehouse, he was often struck by the number of purchasers and by the bustle around him. 'I am thankful,' said La Forge, 'for all the blessings that God has given me; and I will not be sparing of my wealth, either to succour the poor or to propagate the Gospel.' In fact, the merchant printed the Holy Scriptures at his own expense, and distributed copies along with the numerous alms he was in the habit of giving. Noble, kind-hearted, ready to share all that he possessed with the poor, he had also a mind capable of discerning error. He was good, but he was not weak. Certain doctors, infidel and immoral philosophers, were beginning at that time to appear in Paris, and to visit at La Forge's, where Calvin met them. The latter asked his friend who these strange-looking people were: 'They pretend to have been banished from their country,' said La Forge; 'perhaps.... But if so, believe me it was for their misdeeds and not for the Word of God.'235 They were the chiefs of the sectarians afterwards known by the name of Libertines, who had just come from Flanders. La Forge not only gave his money, but was able somewhat later to give himself, and to die confessing Jesus Christ. When Calvin remembered at Geneva the sweet conversations they had enjoyed together, he exclaimed with a sentiment of respect: 'O holy martyr of Jesus Christ! thy memory will always be sacred among believers.'236

Besides La Forge, Calvin had another intimate friend at Paris, whose personal character possessed a great attraction for him, although the tendency of his mind was quite different from that of his own. Louis du Tillet was one of those gentle moderate christians, who fear the cross and are paralysed by the opinion of the world. The frondeur and he were two extremes: Calvin was a mean between them. Du Tillet wished to maintain the Catholic Church, even when reforming it, for he respected its unity. The reformer had been struck with his charity, his humility, and his love of truth; while Louis, on the other hand, admiring 'the great gifts and graces which the Lord had bestowed on his friend,' was never tired of listening to him. He belonged to a noble family of Angoulême; his father was vice-president of the Chamber of Accounts; his eldest brother was the king's valet-de-chambre; and his other brother was second chief-registrar to the parliament. He was continually fluctuating between Calvin and his own relatives, between Scripture and tradition, between God and the world. He would often leave Calvin to go and hear mass; but erelong, attracted by a charm for which he could not account, he returned to his friend, whose clear ideas threw some little light into his mind. Du Tillet exclaimed: 'Yes, I feel that there is much ignorance and darkness within me.' But the idea of forsaking the Church alarmed him, and he had hardly uttered such words as these when he hurried off again to confess.

Calvin, thanks to the numerous friends who saw him closely, began to be appreciated even by those who calumniated his faith. 'This man at least leads an austere life,' they said: 'he is not a slave to his belly; from his youth he has abhorred the pleasures of the flesh;237 he indulges neither in eating nor drinking.238 ... Look at him ... his mind is vigorous; his soul unites wisdom with daring.... But his body is thin and spare; one clearly sees that his days and nights are devoted to abstinence and study.'—'Do not suppose that I fast on account of your superstitions,' said Calvin. 'No! it is only because abstinence keeps away the pains that disturb me in my task.'

=CALVIN AND COP.=

Professor Nicholas Cop, son of that William Cop, the king's physician, the honour of whose birth (says Erasmus) both France and Germany disputed,239 had recognised an inward life in Calvin, and a vigorous faith which captivated him, and he never met him in the neighbourhood of the university without speaking to him. They were often seen walking up and down absorbed in talk, while the priests looked on distrustfully. These conversations disturbed them: 'Cop will be spoilt,' they said, and they endeavoured to prejudice him against his friend; but their intimacy only became stricter.

Calvin's reputation, which was beginning to extend, reached the ears of the Queen of Navarre, and that princess, who admired men of genius and delighted in agreeable conversation, wished to see the young literary christian. Thus there was an early intercourse between them. The christian and learned scholar undertook the defence of the sister of Francis I. in a letter written to Daniel in 1533, and this princess afterwards made known to him the projected marriage of her daughter Jeanne d'Albret—circumstances which indicate an intimate connection between them. During the time when the piety of the Queen of Navarre was the purest, a mutual respect and affection united these two noble characters. 'I conjure you,' said Margaret to Calvin, 'do not spare me in anything wherein you think I can be of service to you. Rest assured that I shall act with my whole heart, according to the power that God has given me.'240

=MARGARET AND CALVIN.=

'A man cannot enter the ministry of God,' says Calvin, 'without having been proved by temptation.' The queen's wit, the court of St. Germain, intercourse with men of genius and of rank, the prospect of exercising an influence that might turn to the glory of God—all these things might tempt him. Would he become Margaret's chaplain, like Roussel? Would he quit the narrow way in which he was treading, to enter upon that where christians tried to walk with the world on their right hand and Rome on their left? The queen's love for the Saviour affected Calvin, and he asked himself whether that was not a door opened by God through which the Gospel would enter the kingdom of France.... He was at that moment on the brink of the abyss. What likelihood was there that a young man, just at the beginning of his career, would not gladly seize the opportunity that presented itself of serving a princess so full of piety and genius—the king's sister? Margaret, who made Roussel a bishop, would also have a diocese for Calvin. 'I should be pleased to have a servant like you,' she told him one day. But the rather mystical piety of the princess, and the vanities with which she was surrounded, were offensive to that simple and upright heart. 'Madame,' he replied, 'I am not fitted to do you any great service; the capacity is wanting, and also you have enough without me.... Those who know me are aware that I never desired to frequent the courts of princes; and I thank the Lord that I have never been tempted, for I have every reason to be satisfied with the good Master who has accepted me and retains me in his household.'241 Calvin had no more longing for the semi-catholic dignities of the queen than for the Roman dignities of the popes. Yet he knew how to take advantage of the opportunity offered him, and nobly conjured Margaret to speak out more frankly in favour of the Gospel. Carried away by an eloquence which, though simple, had great power, she declared herself ready to move forward.

An opportunity soon presented itself of realising the plan she had conceived of renewing the universal Church without destroying its unity; but the means to be employed were not such as Calvin approved of. They were about to have recourse to carnal weapons. 'Now the only foundation of the kingdom of Christ,' he said, 'is the humiliation of man. I know how proud carnal minds are of their vain shows; but the arms of the Lord, with which we fight, will be stronger, and will throw down all their strongholds, by means of which they think themselves invincible.'242

Luther now appears again on the scene; and on this important point Luther and Calvin are one.

215 'Cum facultate retinendi simul archiepiscopatum tolosanum.'—Gallia Christiana.

216 'Scis nos episcopum nationis tuæ habere.'—Daniel Calvino, Berne MSS.

217 'Ut officialis dignitate aut aliqua alia te ornaret.'—Daniel Calvino, Berne MSS.

218 Calvin, Lettres Françaises.

219 'Unus de plebe, homuncio mediocri seu potius modica eruditione præditus.'—Calvinus, Præf. de Clementia.

220 'Peccavimus omnes ... et usque ad extremum ævi delinquemus.'—De Clementia, lib. i.

221 'Ferarum vero, nec generosarum quidem, præmordere et urgere projectos.'—De Clementia, cap. v.

222 'Si leones ursique regnarent.'—Ibid. cap. xxvi.

223 'Plus pecuniæ exhauserunt.'—Calvinus Danieli, Geneva MSS.

224 'Tandem jacta est alea.'—Ibid.

225 'Quo favore vel frigore excepti fuerint.'—Ibid.

226 'Ut Landrinum inducas in protectionem.'—Calvinus Danieli, Geneva MSS.

227 'De Bibliis exhausi mandatum tuum.'—Ibid.

228 'Ita se gessit, ut gratiosus esset apud ordinis nostri homines.'—Calvinus Bucero, Strasburg MSS.

229 'Cum non posset submittere diutius cervicem isti voluntariæ servituti.'—Calvinus Bucero, Strasburg MSS.

230 'Cassait toutes les vitres.'

231 'Si quid preces meæ, si quid lacrimæ valent, hujus miseriæ succurras.'—Calvinus Bucero, Berne MSS.

232 Versio et Commentarii, published at Paris in 1531.

233 'Academiam parisiensem super monstrum esse fundatam.'—Morrhius Erasmo, March 30, 1532.

234 'Res delata est ad inquisitores fidei.'—Ibid.

235 'Quod ex Stephano a Fabrica (De la Forge) intellexi, istos potius ob maleficia ... egressos esse.'—Adv. Libertinos.

236 Ibid.

237 'Calvinus strictiorem vivendi disciplinam secutus est.'—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie, ii. p. 247.

238 'Cibi ac potus abstinentissimus.'—Ibid.

239 'Illum incomparabilem, quem certatim sibi vindicant, hinc Gallia, hinc Germania.'—Erasmi Epp. p. 15.

240 Calvin's Letters, i. p. 342. Philadelphia, ed. J. Bonnet.

241 Lettres Françaises de Calvin. A la Reine de Navarre, i. p. 114, ed. J. Bonnet.

242 Calvin, in 2ᵃᵐ Epist. ad Corinth. ch. x.