tibrary of Che theological Seminary PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY From the Library of Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield \^> I o> ( on L Sec ££// THE LIFE AID TIMES OF JOHN CALVIN, THE GEEAT REFORMER. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OP PAUL HENRY, D.D., MINISTER AND SEMINARY-INSPECTOR IN BERLIN. BY HENKY STEBBING, D.D., F.K.S. >irtGOR OF " HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND REFORMATION" IN LARDNEtt's CYCLOP-fiPIA HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST FROM THE DIE! OF AUGSBURG ; LIVES OF THE ITALIAN POETS, ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER A BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY. 1853. TO DOCTOR NEANDEK, THE FAITHFUL, PROFOUND, AND ENLIGHTENED HISTORIAN OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, THE TRANSLATOR, FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF THE DISTINGUISHED AUTHOR OF Tins WORK, DEDICATES IT, IN ITS ENGLISH FORM, WITH THE MOST EARNEST SENTIMENTS OF RESPECT AND ADMIRATION. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The Author has fully explained in his preface the ob- ject which he proposed to himself in undertaking a life of Calvin. It will be sufficient, therefore, for the Translator to state the reasons which induce him to hope that the work may be acceptable to English readers. In the in- quiries which he was led to make, some few years ago, into the history of the Reformation, he felt "both surprise and regret that so little exact information existed respect- ing Calvin. Independent of his fame as a theologian, Calvin is one of the great historical characters of the six- teenth century. We can form, indeed, no adequate idea of that period if we leave out of our consideration the labors and actions of a man, who so materially aided the development of the all-important principles then in progress of formation. The present work affords ample details on the main points connected with Calvin's history, and with that of his age. They have been derived from sources now, in great part, for the first time made public. The Trans- lator, therefore, hopes that he has not been unprofitably employed in giving this biography to the English reader. Dr. Henry's admiration of Calvin is almost unbounded. But devoted as is his veneration for the great reformer, he has been too candid to conceal either his faults or his errors. Though generally taking the part of an apol- ogist, he never omits facts or documents ; never garbles VI TRANSLATORS PREFACE. a letter, or weakens, by an imperfect abstract, a hostile argument. Twenty years, we understand, intervened between the commencement and the completion of this work. No slight variety of style has been the consequence. The Author generally writes with much vigor, and is often eloquent; but his style is occasionally painfully harsh, abrupt, and perplexed. Hence the Translator has had to choose between the attempt to soften the original, at the hazard of somewhat modifying the meaning of the Author, or following the current of his stylo, rough as it may be, and thus leaving the matter to be settled between the reader and the original writer. But anxious as he has been honestly to preserve the sharpest features of the original, the Translator may be permitted, he trusts, to guard himself against the chance of misrepresentation as to his own views or opinions. He begs then that it may be understood, that it is chiefly on account of its historical value that he has desired to make this work known to English readers. He has a most sincere respect for the piety and eminent talents of the author ; but neither his regard for Dr. Henry, nor his profound admiration of Calvin, in the general features of his char- acter and sublime zeal, has altered his views on the sub- ject to which he has here more especial cause to refer. Dr. Henry has defended Calvin, in the case of Servetus, with admirable ability ; but the Translator believes still, as he has ever believed, that when men enjoy so large a meas- ure of light and wisdom as Calvin possessed, they cannot be justified, if guilty of persecution, because they lived in times when wicked and vulgar minds warred against the rights of human conscience. If Calvin had prayed to be set free from the bondage which made him a persecutor, translator's preface. vii his otherwise spotless reputation would have been un- stained by the one blot which disfigures it. Persecution is opposed to the essential principles of Christianity. Nothing can justify it, under any form or pretence whatsoever, as long as the Gospel is acknowledged to be divine. With regard again to matters connected with church governmer t and discipline, the Translator desires to state, that, while reporting the sentiments of many parties on these subjects, he has learnt to love, more and more, the church to which it is his happiness and privilege to belong. Much as he desires to see some improvements in the prac- tical working of its system, and truly as he deplores the abuses which prevail in ecclesiastical patronage, he is fully persuaded that no church has ever more closely approached the apostolic model, or been more generally adapted to imbue a nation with the knowledge and the principles of the Gospel, than the Church of England. London. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. It is especially useful, for the period at which we are arrived, to hold communion with the great men of former times — with those noble characters whose fortitude may teach us to think more profoundly and to act more firmly ; to examine with keener observation the plan of divine prov- idence, and thus render our times preparative of a better future. While Luther's history is more adapted to awaken Christian sentiments among the people at large, that of Calvin is eminently calculated to exercise a powerful in- fluence on the minds of the thoughtful and educated. Not so suited as the former to arouse religious feeling, it is much better fitted to sharpen the spirit, to excite a love of great undertakings in modern times, and to ground them firmly on the rock of faith, that is, Jesus Christ. After three centuries, there are many, at the present day, in whom the memory of the old times, and the desire of church-reform, is powerfully awakened. From the northern provinces of the German race to the banks of the Rhine and the Seine ; from the Wartburg to the lake of Geneva and the Alpine valleys, where Zwingli was born ; nay, throughout England to the Highlands of Scotland, and even to the most distant parts of the world, has a fresh enthusiasm been aroused for that which was noble in the past, and for a still nobler future. And this enthusiasm x author's preface. will doubtless at length triumph over the disbelief and the vain spirit of political rancor, which can never give either contentment to the world, or peace to the human heart. It has been rightly observed, that we are arrived at the point of time when a new epoch is about to commence ; and in such epochs of the life of the church will the voices of the great spirits, which God raised up in early times, call to us from afar, and awaken us from our slumbers. When the Spirit of God moves and the heart feels his ap- proach, then will the spirits of men again understand their calling, and Calvin will speak, and find the way to our hearts. Two churches lie before us in their ruins ; but a new life is seen amid those ruins ; and it is our business to consider carefully how the spirit of that life can be supported. The twofold manifestation of the church of Christ must be proved in the balance of Christian principle ; and, in this respect, it is useful to examine strictly the proceedings of such combatants as Calvin, that we may determine what was well and what was ill done in their course. Calvin's life exhibits the errors of the Eoman Catholic church in the clearest light. We there also see Protestant antago- nism, with its attendant defects ; but, at the same time, the pure Christian faith in all its genuine strength ; that faith which must, sooner or later, overcome all the opposition and errors of the age, and raise the Evangelical church from its ruins, to assume a new and purer form. Calvin's experiment to found an apostolic edifice affords excellent materials in aid of this object. The value of an acquaintance with this great man id especially apparent at a period, when so many efforts have been made to prove that the Protestant church cannot last ; that it bears within itself the elements of decay ; and when author's prepack. XI we are unceasingly told, that no other choice remains for us but that between anarchy or an unchristian rationalism, and a blind subjection to the power of the Catholic church. But Evangelical Christendom knows a middle way between these hostile extremes, one which is according to the type of the primitive apostolic church. It is this which Calvin exhibited in his doctrine, and in his admirable plans of discipline and synodal government; so that, freed from the individual peculiarities with which, in his own times, his system could not fail to be marked, it will now afford to an inquiring age a safe pathway through its difficulties. He proved, from first to last, that the principle of Protes- tantism does not consist in a free, lawless inquiry of the understanding, which necessarily leads to anarchy and ruin ; but in a devout employment of the mind and conscience, as enlightened and governed by the Holy Spirit. Hence, amid all the varieties of individual feeling, a great and eternal harmony exists in the main doctrines of the Evan- gelical church, and this harmony is the bond of union among its members. The value of a close acquaintance with Calvin appears also in another respect. The church of Geneva celebrated in 1835 a three-days' festival in honor of its first refor- mation-epoch. In this festival even the Roman Catholic clergy, who were disposed to cherish evangelical feelings, took a part. They acknowledged the benefit which their own church gained through the Reformation. Viewing its errors on the one side, and the old evangelical truth of the apostolic church on the other^ they saw how it might be purified from the corruptions which were mingled with the Catholic faith, and they were not unwilling to extend to us the hand of brotherhood. But while this was the case even with Catholics, how strongly were the members of th§ xii author's prkface. Reformed and Lutheran churches admonished of their duty to form a closer union ; to confess the pure apostolic faith in the Son of God ; and to abolish the distinction of names, the same Spirit of the Gospel being common to both, and the churches of Northern Germany having already set the example in this Christian course ! A nearer ac- quaintance with Calvin, far from being an obstacle to such a union, must tend greatly to promote it. He deeply lamented every appearance of schism, and he strove with the most sincere desire to unite the opposite parties in the Evangelical church into one body. Thus he amply sup- plies us with weapons, not only against the attacks of the Catholic party, but against the distractions of a fierce and unchristian Protestantism. The genius and solid merits of this reformer have rarely been estimated according to their value. It is only of late years that attention has been drawn to his talent as a commentator. We may also mention it as a singular fact, that while the world is so ready to censure the ignorance of former times, it should still have so generally retained its prejudice against Calvin. While this is shown by par- ticular criticisms directed against him, it is equally evident from the circumstance that not a single complete biography of this remarkable man has appeared, many as have been the memoirs written of the other less important actors in the time of the Reformation. The life of Calvin by the Genevese, Senebier, and translated into German by Ziegen- bein, and that by Tischer, are simple biographical notices, and contain even less than that by Beza, which is itself but a mere outline. Bretschneider's excellent and solid, though short memoir, in the " Reformations- Almanach," on the genius and character of Calvin, combines a knowl- edge of the man with that of his history. The earlier AUTHORS PREFACE. Xlll works written about him are either filled with abuse, or are mere panegyrics. It was impossible, perhaps, that Calvin should have been regarded at a former period in a historical point of view. As a polemic, he could only be treated with a one-sided prejudice. Assailed with passionate vio- lence by his opponents, a sort of church-patriotism taught his friends to represent him as infallible and immaculate. Thus he shared the fate of many other great men, namely, to be fanatically hated, or loved extravagantly. But during the reign of apostasy and indifference he was forgotten or despised. Now, however, when it has ceased to be the fashion to magnify, in a spirit of controversy, the failings of the great teachers of the church, or to lessen and con- ceal them ; and when it is seen that evangelical churches rest upon a very different foundation to that laid by the mere virtues of the reformers, it becomes possible to form an unprejudiced opinion of this man, and to expect it from all religious parties, even from evangelically-minded Roman Catholics. We may now also look for justice to be done to the greatness of his genius. The old prejudice against him has even prevailed in re- formed France, and such has been the indifference respect- ing him, that till now, amid all the variety of books, good and bad, proceeding from the press, no one has thought of writing the history of this great theologian. It has been no better in Switzerland. In England only has some love for the forgotten Calvin been displayed. It is the hope, therefore, of the author of this work, that it may serve to awaken attention, not only to the genius of Calvin, but to the man himself, whom the world has so long misrepresented, and that it may be regarded as ex- hibiting him in his proper character, without any attempt to adorn it, but with the same conscientious regard to truth xiv author's preface. ^ which he himself would have displayed had he written his own life. Germany is familiar with the " Institutes," and a great part of his "Commentaries" may be found in every one's hands. But the present work will make him, we trust, more generally known. He has hitherto been inac- cessible to the ordinary class of readers; no extracts or selections from his numerous writings have been published, as in the case of Luther. I have, therefore, selected several interesting passages from his theological works, and have given his letters, partly in a literal translation and partly in extracts. In these there lies hidden, in its elements, the power of faith and of a profound intellectuality. They are impressed with the most amiable features of his char- acter, hitherto almost entirely overlooked. But there is a moral benefit to be expected from an in- creasing acquaintance with Calvin : his practical life cannot fail to be useful, as an effectual argument against those who adopt and laud the doctrine of election, because it serves them as a cloak for their sins. And further, the contem- plation of a clear and well-defined Christian character like his must needs be profitable at a time when egotism and sensuality so universally prevails. That stern and especially resolute spirit, which, without a trace of selfishness, had so readily sacrificed all ; that severe purity and morality, form a singular contrast to the corrupt spirit of the time*. May the world then, perverted as it has been by French example, listen to the fact, that at no remote period there existed in France a moral tribunal ; that a sublime experi- ment was made there to preserve the Christian church, by •a moral power and strength, pure from the contagion of a miserable heathenism; that the unworthy were excommu- nicated ; whilst the church offered up its supplications for those who were thus separated from its communion ; — all AUTHOR'S PREFACE. XV which may sound as a wonder in the ears of the present sensual age. Here too we might speak of the martyrs of that country, who afforded examples of fortitude not ex- celled in the primitive church. France will never, we be- lieve, arrive at a proper knowledge of herself till she learn to know and to love the great reformer sent her by God. He was given to her as a bitter medicine, but she must take it. The stone which the builders rejected is become a corner-stone. He may be one of stumbling to many, but he will be also for the rising of many. Iu a word, Calvin is as a source of living faith, hitherto despised, but to which we now direct attention : he is also as an armory, whence weapons may be drawn for every Christian in his good fight against all the powers of Antichrist. May the churches in Germany and France look to such champions, now that a new life is awakening among them ! It is right that at such a period the heroes of our faith should be brought before us. Saint Bernard portrayed by jSTeander ; Wessel by Ullinan ; Luther in the History of the Reformation by Marheineke ; Beza and Martyr by Schlosser ; Zwingli by Hess ; Spener by Hossbach ; Bengel by Burck ; and many others, in whom the Spirit of God dwelt, were impelled to seek and to plan what was great not by flesh and blood ; and if they erred, they erred nobly. May Germany, mindful of its high calling, again attempt something great for the world ! May France awake from its vain dreams, and behold its martyrs, so unknown to the world, but so great before God, and who now look down with sorrow upon the desolate scenes amid which they so bravely fought and conquered ! Both these countries, so altogether different from each other in modes of thinking, in manners and literature, may become united as Christian churches, and render this union superior to all other relations. Germany may help France, XVI AUTHORS PREFACE. because by a long and earnest theological culture it pos- sesses a Christian vitality ; and France may help Germany by the history of its church, in which the blood of the saints was poured out as in no other church. Thus Calvin has a right to be heard in Germany. Much will be found re- lated of him in this work, but it is mainly intended to in- duce the reader to study Calvin himself, and to desire the strong food which he offers. We are not likely how- ever to yield ourselves to the influence of this great man, unless we be first made acquainted with the task imposed upon him by God, and with the force by which he over- came its difficulties. We must live and pray with him, and see how his strength armed itself more and more for the conflict, and how the Holy Spirit led, supported and com- forted him throughout his life. The only thing to be ad- vanced against him is, that he was not in every respect supe- rior to his age ; and that, like all other men, he had to strive with human infirmities. And if Providence should grant the church another such teacher, how would he in the present day, and after an experience of three hundred years, speak to us in the new circumstances of the world ? What judg- ment would he pass upon our creed, upon our systems of doctrine, and dogmatics ? How would he assail the infidel ? How would he endeavor to reimpart holiness to the church of Christ ? What methods would he employ to secure the church in its rightful position against Catholic despotism and Protestant anarchy? To establish its proper relation to the State ? To restore and preserve its unity ? These are questions which every attentive reader of the life of Calvin must endeavor to answer ; they correspond to those which he himself strove with untiring zeal and with the whole energy of his spirit to solve, and which he an- swered according to the gifts afforded him. And now may the Lord bless this work ! I have finished AUTHORS PREFACE. XV11 it with a deep feeling of my own insufficience for the task, and amid numerous professional occupations ; nor would it have ever seen the light had I not felt an inward call, which made the undertaking a matter of duty. Dr. Henry gives a detailed account of the sources of his information. The substance of this statement will be found in the notes and references. No author perhaps could ever lay claim to greater industry or honesty in the examination of original authorities than Dr. Henry. Proceeding in the next place to describe the plan of his work, he says : — I could not conceal from myself, that the execution of a work like the life of Calvin must be attended with many difficulties. The first point to be determined was, in what spirit it should be treated, and in how far that spirit must differ in its working from that of the present day. Another difficulty belonging to the undertaking arose from the great abundance of the materials. Whatever Calvin did, formed a link in the chain of the events to be related, and the biog- rapher was obliged to follow him through a course of la- bors greatly varied in its direction. Every word which he uttered had its importance, and none of his works could properly be passed over without notice. It was also ne- cessary to make some mention of the circumstances of the times. Neither the greatness nor the failings of Calvin could be understood, if viewed apart. The events of the period when he lived influenced the man, as he influenced them. The history of the French reformation moreover is much Jess known than that of the German. Our volatile, but still rightly-disposed age, loves what is piquant and individual in biography ; requires completeness, but at the same time a careful sifting of materials, and abhors a pon- derous superfluity. VOL. I. — B iviii author's preface. A methodical plan, according to which the first part should have been confined to a record of events, or to the life and letters of Calvin, the second to an account of his doc- trine, and the third to that of his government of the church, might indeed have reduced the abundance of the materials to order; but I have been obliged to reject the idea of such a plan, because by such a separation of the matter, what the work would have gained in form, it would have lost in its fitness to represent the character of the man, and in its influence on the reader. The life itself would have had a cold and skeleton-like appearance, altogether wanting in force ; while the other two parts would have failed in in- terest when separated from what excites our sympathy with the person. A right feeling teaches us, that a biography should be thoroughly impressed with an individual charac- ter from beginning to end, and the greatest of the phenom- ena which it may present, whether they appear in works, systems, opinions or actions, must be connected with the minutest circumstances in the life of the man. Next to this individual character, as essential to the biography, we must endeavor to exhibit prominently the principle, — the fundamental idea, — which animal -t s the nar- rative ; which gives a unity to its several parts, and thus serves to exhibit the man in his true image. If the life of an individual be written either in the whole or in part dif- ferently, the biographer constitutes himself his judge; while on the other hand lie may properly use what is coble and worthy in the character described, to influence the tem- per of his age. Where this principle fails, the work can only prove a dull and heavy chronicle, and the reader will soon be wearied with the details of facts, the internal connection of which is not perceptible. The narrative of mere out- ward eventscan never give the wished-fof harmony to bio- author's preface. xix graphical materials. Were this not the case, the present biography might have been divided into two distinct parts or fragments. Thus in the first we might have shown Calvin engaged in the founding of his church, and strug- gling with the papacy ; and in the second, the progress of his conflict with the Catholic church, and his resistance to the Protestant false teachers, whose errors disturbed him in the early part of his career, but to a much less degree. This is the division adopted by Planck in his ' Geschichte des Protestantischen Lehrbegriffs.' But such a plan, in the present instance, would have exhibited neither the individ- uality of the man, nor the power of the spirit by which he was animated. I have adopted therefore another division, as more cor- rect and impressive, and as more intimately harmonizing with the course of the reformer's life. Three main acts are clearly discernible in his career; three fundamental ideas, or conflicts, which the Spirit of God made it his duty to pursue ; and which were so closely connected, that the one could not but follow as a consequence of the other. 1. In the first part of his life he won the victory for his faith, which ever remained the same, but is seen at its highest culminating point in the second edition of the ' Institutes.' 2. This firm faith taught him to endeavor to frame such a government and form of discipline for the church, as might secure its life, its holy evangelical life, and plant it permanently in the community. Hence his Presbyterian form of church rule, and the system of discipline which reached its height in the institution of a moral tribunal, and in the practice of excommunication. 3. But to secure perpetuity for its faith and discipline, the unity of the church itself, and the objects of the Ref- ormation, must be protected. Hence the severe conflict xx author's preface. which Calvin carried on against such false teachers as Cas- tellio, Westphal, and others. This conflict reached its height in the proceedings against Servetus. The funda- mental idea of the unity of the church wrought upon him to the last moment of his life, and he commended it to his brethren with his dying breath. Tims there were three several objects for which Calvin severally strove in the three diiferent ])eriods of his life. They all indeed engaged his attention, more or less, from first to last ; he was anxious, for example, at the very begin- ning of his course, for the unity of the church. But the three propositions whieh he solved, or the three conflicts in which lie was mainly concerned, may be regarded as so man)' centres around which all the various circumstances of his life may be conveniently grouped. In the preface to the second volume of his work, Dr. Henry expresses his satisfaction that the prejudice against Calvin is evidently declining. The venerable Dr. M'Crie was engaged at the time of his death on a Life of the reformer ; and Mignet, the author of the History of the French Revolution, has written a work on Calvin and the Reformation. It is gratifying to behold even the darker side of his character, and to study him, as he Mould Luther, not in the ideal, but as he actually was. It is cause for rejoicing indeed that the Lutheran church itself, which formerly entertained such enmity to Calvin, now honors him as a brother and ally, and at the late great Reformation-festival in Denmark, expressed itself as freely acknowledging a unit) of -pi lit in both Confessions. Convinced of this unit), I have treated Calvin as a necessary central point in the development of the Reformation. Juring this work to a conclusion. This will account for its wanting that symmetry of parts, which I would fain have given it, but found it impossible, as fresh materials flowed in upon me. CONTENTS. PAET I. CHAPTER I. Pajre, State of the Church at Calvin's first appearance. — Progress of Re- ligious Opinion in England. — Italy. — Germany, .... 1 CHAPTER II. Calvin's childhood. — Studies. — Early conversion. — First labors, . 21 CHAPTER III. , The Work on the Soul's Sleep, entitled * Psychopannychia.' — The Anabaptists, .......... 41 CHAPTER IV. Calvin endeavors to convert Francis I. — Persecution in France. — Calvin's ' Institutes,' ......... 48 CHAPTER V. The First Edition of Calvin's « Institutes,' C9 CHAPTER VI. Reformation in Switzerland, particularly in Geneva, . . .8*7 CHAPTER VII. Calvin in Italy. — His introduction to the Duchess of Ferrara. — His residence at her Court, 99 XXIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Page Calvin's arrival in Geneva. — Calvin, Farel, and Viret. — Their rela- tion to each other, 104 CHAPTER IX. Calvin's first struggle in Geneva. — The year 1537. — Address of the Genevese Consistory to the Preachers of Zurich. — The Genevese Preachers to those of Bern. — Calvin to Bullinger and others, . . . . . . . . . . .111 CHAPTER X. Calvin in Strasburg, . . . . . . . . .134 CHAPTER XI. Sadolet, 147 CHAPTER XII. Journey to Frankfort. — First interview with Melancthon, . . . 155 CHAPTER XIII. Calvin's Treatise on the Lord's Supper, . . . . . .167 CHAPTER XIV. The Second Edition of the 'Institutes;' and Calvin s matured theo- logical character, 182 CHAPTER XV. Puhlication of Calvin's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. — Exetretical talent of Calvin, 218 CHAPTER XVI. The Scriptures translated into French, 226 CHAPTER XVII. Calvin at the Diet of Worms and Ratishone. — He becomes the friend of Melancthon, ........ 230 CONTENTS. XXV CHAPTER XVIII. Page. Calvin's poetry. — A letter of condolence addressed to a father, . 241 CHAPTER XIX. Calvin's return to Geneva. — Applications made to Strasburg. — Farel's severe language on the subject. — Calvin's personal dread of the change. — Calvin's inner life at this period, . . . 24G CHAPTER XX. Characteristics of Calvin. — His marriage. — Domestic life. — Poverty and moderation. — Peculiarities of his mind and temper, . . 256 CHAPTER XXI. Calvin's love of truth, the fountain of his inner life. — His sense of piety. — Struggles and extraordinary nature of the two Re- formers, ........... 297 PART II. CHAPTER I. Introductory remarks. — Calvin necessary as a central point in the development of the Reformation, ...... 319 CHAPTER II. Calvin's first arrival at Geneva, ...... 329 CHAPTER III. Calvin a Theocrat, 348 CHAPTER IV. Calvin as a Legislator, 354 XXVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. Page. Calvin the Founder of an Ecclesiastical Constitution. — Common principles of reform adopted by him. — His principles of Church discipline, .......... 365 CHAPTER VI. Remarks on the principles adopted by Calvin in the foundation of the Genevese Church, ........ 387 CHAPTER VII. Calvin's Catechism. — His Liturgical Order. — Outward Worship: its relation to the Arts. — Psalm-singing in the Reformed Churches. — Calvin's excess in reform : compared with Vincentius de Paula, ' . .409 CHAPTER VIII. Calvin's pastoral labors. — Characteristic of his practical efforts. — His laborious life. — His epistolary correspondence. — Calvin as a Preacher, . . . 422 CHAPTER IX. ( 'ulvin's general activity. — He attacks the Catholics. — Pope Paul III. — Writes against Pi