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DYER'S LIFE OF CALVIN.*

AL/moues Calvin was a scholar of considerable learning and a theologian of rigorous logic, his literary merit would hardly have rendered him famous ; for, notwithstanding the extrinsic attraction of his authority, his works are rarely read but by students with a purpose. Neither would his doctrines or church discipline alone have rendered his name a household word; for he did not invent the

doctrine of Predestination, though he doubtless gave, it form, fulness, and completion; and provided he were let alone in his popedom at

Geneva, ,he did not care about forms of church government in other

places : he approved of Episcopacy. in Poland and England, and w-jsely seemed to think that ecclesiastical government must de- pend upon national circumstances. The space he fills in the minds of men arises from the fact that Calvin was a type of many men. .He represents the theological and priestly in opposition to the Christian mind. Wherever there is great personal vanity, .greater spiritual pride, doctrinal self-sufficiency, and sour gloomy views of God and nature, springing probably from a morbid temperament, there is a Calvin in a smaller way. His doctrine of Predestination, pushed to extreme, flattered the intellectual theory of this class of minds, as his scheme of church government adapted itself to their practical conduct. The scheme of a theo- cracy administered by priests (for such it was) appeared in its most palmy days in the Presbyterianism of Scotland during the seventeenth century; it was rampant in -England for a short pe- riod of the same epoch, and was strongly displayed in the Inde- pendent churches of New England. Since that time, it has di- unnielled with the spread of liberal culture and more refined manners; though it is not by any means extinct. Its spirit is still vigorous among many nonconformists, and it is found indivi- dually in all churches. Somebody has loosely said that there are many Iagos who never wore a sword ; it may be said with greater exactness that there are many Cavil's who are not Cal- vinists.

In so wide a field as religious bigotry carried to bloodshed, it is difficult to measure degrees. The opinion may look startling, but we believe due consideration will show that Calvin was in spirit one of the greatest persecutors that ever infested a church or dishonoured Christianity. For large systematic persecutions there may be some extenuation. The Romanists in England under Elizabeth were not persecuted as religionists, but as active conspirators or covert plotters ; during the time of James the First they were under ban as men who refused allegiance ; and the exclu- sive statutes of later days at least professed to apprehend danger to the state from granting political power to Romanists. The very worst of Papal persecutors might plead a similar apology : they found a law and an established religion which were assailed or end by the so-called heretics ; who, according to the opin- ions 'leer: in vogue, were enemies of the state, and rightfully punished. In very many cases politics and worldly interests, which exasperate men's fears and passions, were at stake ; and the greater persecutions were really based upon a state of war. For Calvin's lesser persecutions at Geneva, and his personal attacks upon opponents beyond his reach, these excuses are perhaps avail- able, with the following drawbacks. In the first edition of his Christian Institutes, published in 1535, Calvin repudiated force of any kind in dealing with heretics, though the passages were gra- dually expunged: and it must be remembered that Calvin made the law under which he was enabled to persecute. When he revised or codified the civil law of Geneva, in 1542-43, he delibe- rately retained the laws against heretics, and created (in the mu- nicipal or ecclesiastical law) numerous additional moral and so- cial offences. In the case of Servetus, any excuse drawn from Romanist or state persecutions is unavailable. If we allow burning to be a proper punishment for heretics, the burning of Servetus was not the less a judicial murder: for Geneva as a state had no jurisdiction in the matter ; and the Reformed Church could not ar- rogate to itself the power of Rome in its palmy days, which in spiritual affairs extended throughout Christendom. Servetus was not a citizen of Geneva ; his books had not been published at Geneva; nor was he even domiciled there. He was arrested in disguise, after lie had made his escape from the Inquisition at Vienne, to which Calvin had betrayed him ; and which, by the by, treated him with more kindness than was shown to him by Presbyterians. The only pretence that gave the Genevese any jurisdiction over him was some alleged libelling of Calvin —the head and front of the offending : but even if Servetus were rightfully amenable for libel, (which we doubt,) that could never make him amenable for heresy. A defence founded on the usages of his age is sufficiently answered by the universal indigna- tion the auto da fe excited, (except among a few of the Swiss and German clergy ; who, however, shrank from advising its) and the odium it brought upon the very name of Calvinist. The execution, however, is not the worst part of the business. Many zealous divines might have burned Servetus, with no greater blame than attaches to such kind of executions in generaL There is reason to believe that wounded vanity, and the personal malignity that in certain minds springs from it, was the cause of the execu- tion of Servetus ; and that the " great Reformer" took advantage of his public position to -wreak a private revenge upon a personal foe. Twenty years before this, Servetus had challenged Calvin to • The Life of John Cab in. Compiled from Authentic Sources, and particularly from his Correspondence. By Thomas H. Dyer. With a Portrait. Published by mueray.

a disputation at Paris ; but as he did not keep his own appointment, this probably did not rankle. Some dozen years later, they were

in communication on the Restitutio Christianismi' which Servetus

submitted for Calvin's criticism, and about which and some other theological questions they quarrelled. Calvin alleges that Servetus

sent him libellous letters, and bitter marginal notes on his Insti- tutes : which is not unlikely. It is probable that for these offences rather than for the imputed blasphemy, Calvin had predetermined the death of his antagonist; for at the time of the correspondence he observes, in a letter to his friend Farel—" Servetus wrote to me lately, and accompanied his letter with a long volume of his in- sanities, adding a thrasonical boast that I should see some wonder- ful and as yet unheard-of things. He offers to come hither if I will allow him. But I am unwilling to give any pledge ; for if he does come, and my authority be of any avail, I tail never suffer him to depart alive." That Calvin was conscientious, to the extent of having deluded his conscience into the notion that God spoke through him, may be readily conceded. But for this instinctive perception of his defence by the world at large, his memory would have been execrated.

The life of Calvin was literary, legislative, and pastoral : the events were few, and chiefly belonged to the early and obscurer period. He was born in 1509, at Noyon in Picardy. His family was respectable ; and his father, a notary and secretary to a bishop, was competently rich, if not wealthy. Young Calvin was first taught at the College des Capettes, in his native town ; but in 1523, at the age of fourteen, he was removed to the High School of Paris; where he had for his master Mathurin Cordier, so well known to schoolboys, even of the last generation, as Corderins. From this school Calvin was removed to the College Montaigu ; and he made rapid progress at each place of study. He was origi- nally designed for the Romish Church ; and, by way of beginning, his father procured for him the chaplaincy of La Gesine, in the cathedral church of No on, before he was twelve years old ; to uay which was added, at e. teen, the living of Marteville, though he was not properly q ' qualified to hold it. The extraordinary abilities young Calvin displayed induced his father to make him renounce the study of theology for that of law ; though he still retained his preferments, and, indeed, exchanged the living of Marteville for that of Pont fEveque, where he sometimes preached. At his fa- ther's desire he went to Orleans, to study jurisprudence under Pierre de l'Etoile ; where he not only achieved high academical distinction, but became so celebrated that his opinion was solicited in Henry the Eighth's divorce case ; which he gave in favour of the Xing. He subsequently studied law at the University of Bourges : so that he was well qualified to be the lawgiver of Geneva.

According to his own account, he was in his early years a Ca- tholic of the strictest kind. At Orleans he continued. the study of theology as well as law ; but the perusal of the Scriptures and the acquaintance of some Reformers seem to have inclined him towards their tenets. His conversion was completed at Bonrges ; and the law student soon began openly to preach the Reformed doctrines, not only in the town but in the neighbouring vill . ges : a singular example, when coupled with his acquisition and retention of his benefices, of the laxity of opinion and practice in that age, and of the corruptions of the Romish Church. The death of his father, in 1532, left Calvin his own master; and he at once abandoned the law. He went to Paris to preach and inculcate the Reformed doctrines, and, in Mr. Dyer's opinion, entertained the ambitious hope of flecoming the head of the Re- formed party in France, and even of converting king and people. But he lacked courage for the task, even had it been possible. When there was danger he liked to put somebody else forward, and whenever it threatened himself imminently, he evaded. Having persuaded the Rector of the Sorbonne to preach a sermon on the necessity of justification by faith, and receiving the Gos- pel as the standard of religious truth, Calvin left Paris when his share in the affair got wind, and fled to Noyon. Here he ' sed of his benefices, and passed some time in travelling or wan ering about ; but in the following year, 1533, he again returned to Pans. In 1534, the threatening aspect of affairs induced Calvin and some other eminent Reformers to leave Paris for Basle. This evasion of approaching danger does not speak much for a martyr spirit ; but it may be excused by the fact that the leaders of a reforming move- ment are more obnoxious to the vindictiveness of power than their followers. The weak point of Calvin is, that when he was out of danger himselt he exhorted those who could not follow his example, to set all consequences at defiance, and censured them for not doing so. Like a modern apostle of another stamp,

"He fled full soon on the first of June, But he bade the rest keep fighting."

At Basle, Calvin finished the first edition of his Institutes, and was engaged in some minor literary pursuits. Soon afterwards he made a journey into Italy, the particulars of which are unknown. In 1536 he was compelled to return, by way of Geneva ; and, through the influence of the preacher Farel, was induced to stop there. His time, however, had not yet come. The morals of the Genevese, owing to the neglect and example of the Romish Church, were in a state of the greatest laxity.

"Reckless gaming, drunkenness, adultery, blasphemy, and all sort of vice and wickedness, abounded. Prostitution was sanctioned by the authority of the state, and the public stews were placed under the superintendence of a woman elected by the Council, and called the Reine du Bordel. The regis- ters abound with entries respecting the regulation of these Pandemoniums. If the manners of the laity were corrupt, those of the clergy were as bad or worse. The authentic documents just referred to bear frequent evidence of their profligacy. The Canons of St. Peter's, whose office conferred upon them a share in the spiritual government of the city, were particularly notorious for their misconduct. They paraded their vices with so much effrontery, that in 1530 the Genevese refused to pay them the tithes, which were so un- blushingly applied to the purposes of debauchery and they were obliged to solicit the interference of Friburgh in order to obtain their money. Their ignorance was on a par with their profligacy ; and during the progress of the Reformation, the Genevese clergy publicly admitted before the Council that they were not learned enough either to maintnin or to refute the doctrine of the mass and the authority of human traditions.

" That these vices and disorders demanded a large measure of reform cannot be disputed. It was not, however, in human nature, that long-confirmed habits like these should be extirpated all at once; they required rather to be gradually ameliorated by better education and example. Yet such was the task attempted by the evangelical ministers. Nor did they stop there ; but

in their zeal for reforming what was wrong, they frequently overste the bounds of discretion, and confounded what was really innocent in e same anathema with what was fundamentally vicious. Cards and dancing, plays and masquerades, were absolutely prohibited, as well as the graver vices be- fore enumerated. All holydays except Sunday were abolished, and that was observed with the strictness of the Jewish Sabbath. Marriage was ordered to be solemnized with as little show as possible. Instead of the joy- ous fete it had hitherto been, it was converted into a purely religious cere- mony, and sanctified by a sermon. If the bride or her companions adorned themselves in a fashion contrary to what was evangelized, they were punished with imprisonment. The church-bells were dismantled and cast into cannon ; and thus their cheerful carols converted into the harsh thunder of war. The citizens were strictly enjoined to attend the sermons, and to be at home by nine o'clock in the evening ; and tavern-keepers were ordered to see that their customers observed these regulations.

"It is not surprising that these unwonted severities should have excited many persons against the ministers. By degrees their number increased. Many of those who had sworn to the Confession began to join them, and com- plained that they had been compelled to perjure themselves. They soon be-

an to assume the shape of an organized party, calling themselves 'Brothers m Christ,' and wearing green flowers as a badge. By February 1638, they had increased so much, that at the annual election of Syndics they got four of their cabal elected to that office, three of whom were not even members of the Council."

After some strife, the upshot was the banishment of Farel and Calvin. The latter betook himself to Strasburgh ; where he was appointed Professor of Theology, and also a pastor of the city. During his sojourn there he attended several Diets ; and also extend- ed his reputation by his works. In the mean time, the immorali- ties and disturbances at Geneva increased apace ; anethe graver part of the community became anxious for Calvin's return. After some coquettish negotiations on his part, this took place, in 1639 ; not with expressed but implied power to effect his ecclesiastical reforms, that is, to establish Presbyterianism ; a power which was subsequently extended to the civil law of Geneva, and produced that compound of Moses and the Inquisition which is practical Calvinism.

Henceforth his authority at Geneva was pretty nearly absolute, though acting by means of a Consistory in the church and Coun- cils in the state. His success did not always, indeed, pass unchal- lenged ; for there were social and political factions opposed to him, with whom he had frequent struggles ; but a popular party with different ends and various feelings, and where many retained a respect for the great religious Reformer, was no match for the unity of purpose and strength of will that animated Calvin. He always managed to carry his point, even after the blow his reputa- tion suffered by the execution of Servetus.

He died in 1564, of a complication of disorders. His constitution had never been robust, and he had strained it by incessant labours, and probably by an ascetic diet, which he adopted with a view to improve it. Some years before his death, his health, such as it was, began to fail him. The quartan ague, the colic, sickness, sleepless- ness, loss of appetite, nephritis, and asthma, tormented him in suc- cession or conjunction ; but his energetic will was still indomita- ble. 'When he could not walk to the pulpit, he was carried ; when his failing organs of speech prevented preaching, he was likewise carried to the Consistory and Council ; and he would have been borne from his deathbed to the Council to address them for the last time, but that body with the Syndics requested to be allowed to visit him. He died with a firm faith in his own " election " ; neither Servetus nor any of his lesser harshnesses came near his conscience ; and if he had any misgivings about his works, they ran in the opposite direction. Mr. Dyer's Life is a careful, painstaking, and elaborate book, grounded upon original documents, especially Calvin's epistles, and the various biographies of him that have appeared from the time of Beza to the three contemporary German volumes of Dr. Henry. His frequent digressions as to the state of religion in various countries, and his biographical notices of the different persons who are con- tinually introduced in connexion with Calvin, somewhat impede the narrative, and sometimes encumber it. The views of the state of religion are, however, necessary ; the notices are informing ; and perhaps both are in harmony with the scheme of the book. One proof of Goldsmith's merit, in the opinion of Johnson, was that he always put into a book as much as it would hold : tried by this test, Mr. Dyer will be found wanting, for his 540 close pages might have held a great deal more. So very few writers attain tine felicity of workmanship, that its absence might be passed without remark ; the chief defect of Mr. Dyer's Life is that he does not seem to have fused his materials so as to reproduce them as his own. As this defect is more visible in the dirwt biography of Calvin, it may have arisen from a wish to keep as close as possible to the originals. One effect is to produce a kind of piebald style, which seems to vary with the writer the author borrows from ; another and a more important one is to enfeeble his composition. Mr. Dyer is conscientious in his narratives, but with a leaning (and we think a religious leaning) against Calvin. At the same time, there was so much in the life and eharacter of his hero to disap-

prove of, while it was so utterly impossible for any one save a rank Calvinist to love any part of it, that this appearance is perhaps rather a mode than substance.

The following account of the Calvinistic auto da fe may be taken as en example of Mr. Dyer. It should be premised, that the atheism and blasphemy of Servetus are mere figures of reli- gious speech. His opinions of Christ were very heterodox, and he had some Pantheistic notions, not very reconcikable with Christian ideas at all; but a believer he was, if only in his own interpretation. Had he not been so, he might have gained his freedom by retracting : and probably would have saved his life had he borne himself less haughtily towards Calvin.

" The 27th of October [1553] was appointed for the execution of Servetus; and on the morning of that day he requested to have an interview with Cal- vin. The latter repaired to his dungeon, accompanied by two members of the Council. The scene which followed is taken from Calvin's own narra- tive. On one of the Councillors asking Servetus what he wanted, he replied, that he wished to beg Calvin's mercy. Hereupon the latter protested that he had never pursued any private offence. He reminded him, that sixteen years before he had used all his endeavours, even at the risk of his life, to reclaim him, and reconcile him with the faithful; that he had afterwards exhorted him by letters ; in short, that he had shown him all possible kind- ness, till Servetus, Nang offence at some of his free and holy admonition, had attacked him with rabid fury. Calvin then said, that dropping all that concerned himself personally, he begged him rather to ask mercy of God, whom he had so atrociously blasphemed. ' When I perceived,' continues Calvin, that my advice and exhortations were of no avail, I was not willing to be wiser than my Master allows; and, following the rule of St. Paul, de-

parted from a self-condemned heretic, who bore his mark and reprobation in

his heart? * * •

" Calvin had written to Farel requesting him to come to Geneva and at- tend upon Servetus in his last moments; an office which could not well be undertaken by any of the Genevese clergy, who had condemned him. Farel obeyed this summons, and arrived in Geneva time enough to hear the sen- tence pronounced. He accompanied the unhappy Spaniard to the stake, and has recorded his last momenta in a letter to Ambrose Blaarer.

"A little way from the city of Geneva rises a gentle but extended emi- nence, called Champey or Champel, the plane appointed for the execution of Servetus. Early in the morning of the 27th of October, he was led from prison to undergo his doom. As the procession slowly ascended the hill, the stake appeared in sight, though partly hidden by the oak branches which had been heaped around it, still bearing their autumnal leaves. A crowd had gathered round the spot where he was to undergo his sentence, and to escape from his earthly judges to the presence of a higher and infallible tri- bunal. Arrived at the summit of the hill, he fell on the earth in an atti- tude of prayer; and while he lay absorbed in his devotions, Farel thus addressed the assembled multitude—' See,' said he, ' the power of Satan when he bath once gotten possession of us. This man is particularly learn- ed, and it may be that he thought he was doing sight ; but now the Devil bath him. Beware, lest the same thing happen to yourselves ! ' " Farel, who ha been with Servetua since seven o'clock in the morning, had not ceased exhorting him to acknowledge his errors . but so far was he from doing this, that he persisted in saying that he suffered unjustly, that he was led as a victim to the slaughter; at the same time beseeching dod to have mercy on his accusers. At last Farel said, Do you, who are so great a'sinner, attempt to justify yourself ? I had determined to accompany you till yOUT last breath, and to exhort all to pray for you, in the hope that you would.edify the people ; but if you continue to speak as you do, I will resign you to the judgment of God, and abide with you no longer.' Hereupon, con- tinuea Farel, he was silent, and spoke not again in the same manner. " When Servetus arose from his devotions, Farel exhorted him to address the people but sighs and groans almost choked his utterance, and all that he could utter was, 4Oh God ! oh God !'i When Farel asked him if he had nothing else to say, he replied, Valet can I speak of but of God ? ' Farel now told him, that if he had a wife or a child and wished to make his will, there was a notary present : but to this suggestion Servetus made no answer. At a hint of Fares, he requested the assembled multitude to pray for him ; but to the last moment he could not be induced to address Christ as the eter- nal Son of God.

"About mid-day, Servetus was led to the stake. Before it lay a large block of wood, on which he was to sit. An iron chain encompassed his body, and

held him to the stake; neck was fastened to it by a strong cord, which encircled it several filles. On, his head was placed a crown of plaited straw and leaves strewed with sulphur to assist in suffocating him. At his girdle were suspended both his printed books and the manuscript which he had sent to Calvin,—the causes of his miserable end. Servetus begged the exe- cutioner to put him quickly out of his misery ; but the fellow, either from accident or design, had not been properly instructed in his duty, and had collected a heap of green wood. When the fire was kindled, Servetus uttered such a piercing shriek that the crowd fell back with a shudder : some, more humane than the authorities, ran and threw in faggots ; nevertheless, his sufferings lasted about half an hour. Just before he expired, he cried with a terrible voice, Jesus, thou =Son of the eternal God, have mercy upon me I' thus persisting in his heresy to his latest breath. " It is related in the book which passes under the name of Vatican us, that Bernardm Ochino, the celebrated preacher, on his return from England, arrived in Geneva the day following the execution, and on hearing it related expressed so much horror and indignation as to give rise to the hatred with which Calvin ever afterwards pursued him. The scene had such an effect upon Farel himself that he had not strength to relate it to Calvin, but re- turned at once to Neufchatel without seeing him."