30. Chapter 27: The Church Is Reformed in French Switzerland, 1541-1555

CHAPTER 27 The Church Is Reformed in French Switzerland, 1541-1555

1. Calvin’s Early Life and Educa­tion The third Reformer was John Calvin. It was as a result of his work that the Church in French Switzerland was reformed.

He was born July 10, 1509, in Noyon, a little town in northern France, sixty-seven miles northeast of Paris. His father, a man of some means, was secretary to the bishop. His mother, a beautiful and pious woman, died when he was still very young. Calvin was brought up in the house of a noble­man in the neighborhood. Here he received his elementary education, and in his close association with the sons of this nobleman he ab­sorbed the manners of the aris­tocracy. When Calvin was a boy of thirteen his father sent him to Paris to continue his education. There he took up the study of the classical Greek and Roman writers, and theology. Later he studied law in Orleans and Bourges, and then returned to Paris. The convulsions of the Church in Germany caused by Luther were soon felt also by the Church in France. Many people in France followed Luther’s career and read his writings with the deepest in­terest. Calvin, like Luther, was born and brought up in the Roman Catholic Church. For several years after he became acquainted with the reformatory movement in Ger­many, he continued to cling to the movement in France.

It was not long before the Lu­therans in France were being fiercely persecuted. Some were even put to death. Calvin fled to Basel in Switzerland. There, in the spring of 1536, he published his In­stitutes of the Christian Religion. This work is the greatest exposi­tion of evangelical truth produced by the Reformation. Calvin was only twenty-six years of age when he wrote this famous book. It has remained to the present time one of the great works in Reformed doc­trine.

After some time Calvin decided to go to Strassburg in southwest­ern Germany, there to pursue the quiet life of a scholar. Because of the alarms of war he took a round­about route. It was a frail young Frenchman, with pallid face but lustrous eyes and a refined and scholarly air, who, toward evening on a warm day in August, 1536, walked through the gates of Ge­neva. Little did he dream of the important task to which God was about to call him.

2. Farel Brings the Reformation to Geneva

Geneva is located on the western tip of beautiful Lake Geneva in the French speaking part of Switzer­land. The Alpine scenery is sub­lime at this place. Within full view of the city rises lofty snow-capped Mont Blanc. Near by, through a pass in the Alps, runs an important trade route connecting Italy, Ger­many, and France. To this city of Geneva the French evangelical preacher Guil­laume Farel had first come in Oc­tober, 1532. Farel was a zealous and influential promoter of the Reformation. As a result of his visit to a synod of the Waldenses in one of the high valleys of the Alps, many of those people ac­cepted the principles of the Ref­ormation (ch. 22, sec. 4 and 5). Before that he had helped to bring about the Reformation in Bern and Neuchatel, and in some of the smaller towns and surrounding dis­tricts. On the occasion of his first visit to Geneva, Farel had failed to get a foothold there. But he was not one to give up. He had returned to Geneva in December, 1533, and this time he was more successful. When Farel came to Geneva the Catholics were still in the majority. But during the following months the fiery preaching of Farel turned the tide in favor of the Reforma­tion. In the summer of 1535 Farel seized the Church of La Madeleine and the Cathedral of St. Peter. Then an iconoclastic (image de­stroying) riot swept the city. In all the churches the images were demolished, the mass was abol­ished, and the monks and nuns were driven out. On May 21, 1536, the General Assembly of the citi­zens voted in favor of the Ref­ormation, and made Protestantism the official religion of Geneva.

JOHN CALVIN
Credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: cph 3b19375)

All through this time Geneva was in revolt against its bishop, and against its lord, the Duke of Savoy. The waves of political and religious turmoil were running high. Farel was of a fiery temper, and gifted with eloquence and a powerful voice. But he was getting very old, and did not feel himself equal to the task of bringing peace and order to the distracted city. Then he heard that Calvin had come to Geneva. It came to Farel as a revelation that this young Frenchman of twenty-seven was just the man for the place. Farel hurried to the inn where Calvin was stopping for the night. When Calvin entered Geneva he did not think anyone in that city knew of him. He himself was a total stranger there, and of the situation in Geneva he knew little or nothing. He was therefore greatly surprised when Farel came to see him. He had not expected callers. But the fame of his Insti­tutes had preceded him. The first edition of that work was only a small book, but in the few months that had passed since its publica­tion it had made him, young as he was, a man of European renown.

Farel told the stranger what was on his mind. Calvin shook his head as he moved uneasily in his chair. But he asked Farel to give him a complete picture of the situation in Geneva, and to tell him in detail just exactly what he wanted him to do. The longer Calvin listened to Farel, the less inclined he felt to fall in with his plans. He real­ized that if he should yield to Farel’s entreaties, it would mean that he would become involved in a critical situation full of the great­est difficulties. His timid nature shrank from the hurly-burly of fierce and prolonged struggles.

GUILLAUME FAREL
The Print Collector/Heritage-Images

What attracted Calvin was not public life with its unavoidable con­flicts and all the grief connected therewith, but the quiet life of the scholar. He had his mind set on going to Strassburg. There in that haven of safety he would in peace­ful seclusion devote all his time to studying and writing. He did not need a job. His father left him money enough to supply his mod­est wants. When he entered Ge­neva that evening he had no idea of staying. It was accident that had brought him. All he wanted there was sleep. Then betimes next morning he would be off again on his way to Strassburg.

Little did he dream when he was writing his Institutes, itself the product of quiet and secluded study, that thereby he was making the secluded life of a scholar im­possible for himself.

Farel insisted that Calvin stay in Geneva. He needed his help in establishing the work of the Refor­mation more firmly in that city.

Calvin went on resisting the old preacher’s passionate pleadings.

Here, in this Geneva inn that summer night of the year 1536, high drama was being enacted. Here was a clashing of two de­termined wills. Upon the outcome of the tense conflict between these two wills would turn much of the future history of the world. The outcome of this contest would have its influence on the world’s history down to the end of time. The out­come has most verily shaped the history of our Calvinistic churches, and the life of each one of us. At last Calvin pleaded as his reason for declining Farel’s re­quest, his youth, his inexperience in practical affairs, his general un­fitness for the work, and his need of more study. He told Farel that this was his last word, and that he considered the discussion closed.

Then the old man rose from his chair, and, straightening himself out to his full height as his long beard swept his chest, he directed his piercing look full at the young man before him and thundered: "May God curse your studies if now in her time of need you re­fuse to lend your aid to His Church."

Hearing these words, Calvin was struck with terror, as he himself said later. He was visibly shaken. His whole body trembled. In Farel’s voice of thunder he heard the voice of God. Then and there he ceased struggling and yielded to Farel’s pleadings. Calvin con­sented to stay in Geneva.

FAREL ENTREATS CALVIN TO STAY IN GENEVA
Religious News Service This is another instance of a man of ordinary ability enlisting a man of genius in the service of the Master. As Barnabas brought Paul (ch. 2, sec. 5), so Farel brought Calvin into the service of the Church.

3. At This Time Almost All Protes­tants Are Lutherans As Wittenberg was the city of Luther, and Zurich of Zwingli, so Geneva became the city of Calvin. When Calvin began his work in Geneva in 1536 almost all the people of northern Europe were either Catholic or Lutherans.

Nineteen years had passed since Luther posted his ninety-five theses in Wittenberg. Luther was now past the height of his great career and was to live just ten years longer. The Reformation in Ger­many after this time did not gain much more ground. Roughly speak­ing southern Germany remained Catholic, although there were many Protestants there; and northern Germany became Protes­tant, although many of its people remained Catholic. After the death of Zwingli many of his followers, especially in southern Germany, went over to the teachings of Luther, and practically the entire population of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark embraced Lutheran­ism. In the other countries, too, Protestants during the early years of the Reformation were called Lutherans.

One important exception must be noted. Soon after the Reformation began, a group of people known as Anabaptists spread their teachings in various countries of Europe.

4. Calvin Works with Farel in Geneva

Calvin’s life from the time that he came to Geneva to the time of his death falls into three parts: his first stay in Geneva from Au­gust, 1536, to April, 1538; his stay in Strassburg from May, 1538, to September, 1541; and his second stay in Geneva from September, 1541, until his death in May, 1564.

Calvin began his work in Geneva in a very modest way as assistant to Farel. The next year he was ap­pointed one of the preachers.

Then Calvin and Farel laid be­fore the city council three pro­posals which had been formulated by Calvin: (1) the Lord’s Supper should be administered monthly, and every person not leading a good Christian life should be disci­plined — if necessary, to the point of excommunication; (2) a Cate­chism which had been composed by Calvin should be adopted; and (3) every citizen should subscribe to a recommended creed, which had probably been drawn up by Farel. The first proposal was Calvin’s first attempt to make of Geneva a model community, a "city of God," and to secure the freedom of the Church from the State. The proposals soon aroused bitter opposition. Then Calvin’s op­ponents won the city election, and they decided to bring matters to a head. The form of worship in the neighboring city of Bern differed somewhat from that in use in Ge­neva. For some time past Bern had wished to have it adopted in Geneva. Now the city council in­sisted on introducing this form of worship. Calvin and Farel did not think that the differences were very important. But they refused to introduce the liturgy of Bern, because it was being imposed upon the Geneva church by the civil government without consultation with the church officers. This they regarded as an improper curtail­ment of the independence and lib­erty of the Church from the State. When they would not give in they were banished from the city. Their banishment took place on the twenty-third of April, 1538.

It seemed as if Calvin’s work in Geneva, so reluctantly begun less than two years before, had come to a sudden end in complete failure before it had gotten well under way.

5. Calvin Enjoys Three Years of Peace in Strassburg

Farel went to Neuchatel, where a few years before he had helped to introduce the Reformation. From this time until his death he served the church in that city as pastor.

CALVIN CONFERS WITH THE GENEVA COUNCIL
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Martin Bucer, who had been won for the Reformation by Luther during the great Leipzig Debate (ch. 24, sec. 6), invited Calvin to Strassburg. Calvin gladly accepted this invitation. It brought him to the city where he had been so eager to go in the first place.

After the eighteen months of struggle and conflict in Geneva, Calvin enjoyed three years of peace in Strassburg. Here he married Idelette van Buren, a woman from the southern Netherlands. In this city, too, Calvin had the opportun­ity to become acquainted at first hand with the followers of both Luther and Zwingli, who had pre­ceded him in the great work of the Reformation. He became pastor of the church of the French refugees, followers of Luther in France who had fled to Strassburg to escape persecution. He also gave lectures in theology. So for three years Cal­vin in large measure realized his ideal, the quiet life of a scholar. At the same time, as pastor of a church he gained practical experi­ence.

These three years in Strassburg were for Calvin very fruitful years. He had a good deal of time for studying and writing, and he grew much in intellectual and theo­logical stature. He prepared a greatly enlarged edition of the In­stitutes. He also wrote a Commen­tary on Romans. This work at once placed him in the front rank of in­terpreters of Scripture. At this time the emperor Charles V in Germany (ch. 24, sec. 13-18) was putting forth efforts to bring the Protestants and the Catholics together in order to restore the unity of the Church. Under his di­rection a number of conferences were held. Strassburg sent Calvin as one of its representatives. Nothing came of these conferences, but they served to make Calvin personally acquainted with many of the leading Lutherans. Calvin and Luther never met, but Calvin and Melanchthon became warm friends.

6. Calvin Returns to Geneva

After the departure of Calvin from Geneva all was confusion and disorder there. Cardinal Sadoleto, a very able man, thought there might be good fishing in troubled waters. In elegant Latin he wrote a clever address in which he tried to persuade the people of Geneva to return to the fold of the old mother Church. To offset this ap­peal of the cardinal, Calvin, setting aside all hard feeling against the Genevans, in no less polished Latin wrote a brilliant Reply to Sadoleto. This Reply held Geneva steady for the Reformation.

However, things were going from bad to worse. The party that had secured the expulsion of Calvin made a treaty in 1539 whereby it surrendered the independence of Geneva to the city of Bern. In the election of the following year this party was defeated, and the men who had negotiated the treaty with Bern were condemned as traitors. The party which was friendly to Calvin was again in power, and Geneva asked Calvin to return.

He had no desire to leave peace­ful Strassburg for stormy Geneva. It was only with the greatest diffi­culty that he was at last prevailed upon to do so. Amid great rejoicing and an enthusiastic ovation Calvin entered Geneva a second time, on September 13, 1541.

Calvin’s first stay in Geneva had seemed at the time to be entirely without results. But if he had gone right on to Strassburg according to his plan, it appears likely that he would never have come to Ge­neva. Without his first stay in Ge­neva there would not have been a second.

We can see the wonderful provi­dence of God in the fact that of all places in the world, Electoral Saxony was the birthplace of Martin Luther, and it was there that he grew up and did his work. There alone, under the friendly elector Frederick the Wise, was to be found the protection so neces­sary to Luther’s work. We can similarly see the wonderful provi­dence of God in bringing John Cal­vin to Geneva. This free and inde­pendent city with its democratic institutions was at that time, of all the places in the world, the most admirably fitted to be the scene of the great reformatory labors of Calvin.

7. His Great Work in Geneva In­fluences All Europe

Like other great men in the his­tory of the Church, John Calvin had to serve a long and difficult period of training for his life’s work. His entire life up to this time was one long preparation for the task which was now awaiting him in Geneva, and which was to be of world-wide significance.

Upon his return to Geneva Cal­vin drew up a Church Order, a set of rules for the governing of the church. This Order was readily adopted. It was based upon the teaching of Scripture that Christ has ordained four offices in the Church: pastors, teachers or pro­fessors, elders, and deacons. The cornerstone of Calvin’s form of church government is the office of elder. Elders are chosen from among the members of the church. Together with the minister or pastor they form the consistory. The elders’ office is to watch over the purity of the minister’s doc­trine and life, over the purity of the doctrine and life of each other, and together with the minister to watch over the purity of doctrine and life of the members of the church. To the consistory Calvin as­signed the right of discipline of the members of the church to the point of excommunication. If a case demanded any further penalty, it was to be turned over to the civil magistrate.

Luther, under the force of cir­cumstances, had allowed the Ger­man territorial princes a great deal of power in the affairs of the Church (ch. 25, sec. 4). Calvin’s ideal, on the other hand, was a Church free and independent from the State. For Calvin the freedom of the Church was concentrated in the Church’s right of excommuni­cation without outside interfer­ence. For that right he fought his hardest battles. In defense of that right he was ready at any time to lay down his life.

SITE OF CALVIN’S HOME IN GENEVA
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John Calvin lived here at what is now No. 11 Rue Jean Calvin until his death in 1564. The original house was destroyed by fire in 1706.

Upon one occasion, certain citi­zens of Geneva whom the consis­tory had excommunicated came into the church armed. Their plan was to force admission to the com­munion table. They threatened Calvin’s life if he should refuse to administer the sacrament to them. Protectingly Calvin stretched out his hands over the bread and wine, and declared that they would be able to take of it only over his dead body. By sheer moral courage and strength he made them desist from their attempt to gain admittance by force to the communion table.

Bitter opposition often arose against the strict discipline of the Church over the moral life of the members. More than once it looked as if Calvin would be expelled a second time from Geneva. What in the end saved the day for Calvin was the influx into Geneva of refu­gees from other countries and the case of Servetus.

Servetus was a learned Spanish physician who had published a book attacking the doctrine of the Trinity. He came to Geneva and was arrested. He was tried, found guilty, condemned as a heretic, and burned to death on October 27, 1553. All the leading Protestant theologians, even the mild and soft­hearted Melanchthon, fell in with the common practice of the Roman Catholic Church of that time, and approved of his death. Calvin’s op­ponents had done all they could to hinder the trial of Servetus. Be­cause they had tried to protect a man whom everybody condemned as a great heretic, they were now thoroughly discredited. Their power of opposition was broken.

Men suffering persecution for the sake of their Protestant re­ligion fled from many countries to Geneva. They were all staunch sup­porters of Calvin. When they were made citizens of Geneva Calvin was able to count on a government heartily loyal to him. From 1555 on Calvin was master of Geneva.

Under his leadership the con­sistory of the church in Geneva passed rules and laws designed to control completely the lives of the citizens of Geneva, and to make of that city a Christian city, a "city of God." The civil government of Geneva could be relied on to put into effect the rules made by the consistory. In 1559 Calvin published the third and final edition of the Insti­tutes. It was five times as large as the first edition of 1536. In the same year he founded a university. From France, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and Scotland men flocked to Geneva to study in this school. By means of the men trained in his university; by means of his pat­tern of church government; through his writings, foremost among which were his Institutes and his Commentaries on the Bible; and by means of his cor­respondence which he carried on with leading men in all European countries, Calvin gained followers everywhere. His influence extended even into Italy, Hungary, Poland, and western Germany.

CATHEDRAL OF ST. PIERRE, GENEVA
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This was one of the main centers of Calvin’s preaching career. The cathedral stands on the site of an ancient Roman temple in the oldest part of the city. Completed in 1034 as a Roman Catholic church, the building was remodeled in the 12th and 13th centuries. At the time of the Reformation it became a Re­formed church. The spire was added long after Calvin’s time — in 1899. It is 223 feet high. This man, who was simply a minister of the Gospel and theo­logical professor, acquired an in­fluence which was and remains in­ternational in extent. Through him the light of the Gospel radiated from the little city of Geneva into every corner of Europe. Calvin was the only international Reformer. That Calvin could do so enor­mous a work is all the more amaz­ing because he was frail of body, and much of the time suffered ex­ceedingly from a complication of painful diseases. But his will tri­umphed over all difficulties and ob­stacles, God working with him.

Worn out with his difficult and extensive labors, Calvin died May 27, 1564. He was not quite fifty-five years old. His coat-of-arms was a hand holding a flaming heart. His motto was: "Cor meum tibi offero Do-mine prompte et sincere." Freely translated this means: "My heart for thy cause I offer thee, Lord, promptly and sincerely."

Calvin’s life was in keeping with his motto.

8. How Calvin and Luther Differed

Luther and Calvin were in agree­ment on the doctrine of predestina­tion, that God has from eternity chosen those who are to inherit eternal life. They both derived this doctrine from Augustine, and through him from Paul.

Calvin differed from Luther in the matter of form of worship. Luther retained as much as pos­sible of the form of worship of the Roman Church. He retained every­thing that is not expressly forbid­den by the Bible. Calvin departed as far as possible from the form of worship of the Roman Church. He permitted only what is expressly commanded by the Bible. Both, however, made the sermon the main thing in the church service. Both provided for congregational singing; but Luther stressed hymns while Calvin emphasized the Psalms.

Calvin differed from Luther in the form of church government. Luther allowed the State a great deal of power over the Church. Calvin denied to the State any power over the Church. He actually gave to the Church power over the State. Calvin laid much more stress on church discipline than did Luther. Both provided for the care of the poor through the deaconate.

Luther and Calvin both believed that everyone has the right and the duty to read and study the Bible for himself. And to make this pos­sible for the people Luther trans­lated the Bible into German; Cal­vin translated it into French. Both were great masters of language, and each by his Bible translation did much to mold his own native language.

Both Luther and Calvin set great store by education. Luther was first of all a professor at Wittenberg University, but he also preached. Calvin was first of all a minister and preacher in the Geneva church, but toward the end of his life he also became a professor in the Uni­versity of Geneva, of which he was the founder. Both were deeply con­vinced that the members of the Church should be thoroughly grounded in doctrine. To provide for this training they both wrote catechisms.

Calvin differed from both Luther and Zwingli in the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. With Zwingli he denied the bodily presence of Christ in the bread and wine as taught by Luther. But to Calvin the Lord’s Supper was much more than a mere memorial ceremony, as taught by Zwingli. Calvin taught that Christ is actually and really present in the bread and wine, and is by faith actually and really partaken of by the communi­cant, not bodily but spiritually.

Both Luther and Calvin believed in predestination and in salvation by faith alone. For Luther the doc­trine of salvation by faith alone was the doctrine with which the Church stands or falls. For Calvin the doctrine of predestination was the heart of the Church.

Luther put all emphasis on the salvation of man; Calvin, on the glory of God.

9. Calvin and Luther Can Be Num­bered among the Heroes of Faith

Paul, Origen, Augustine, Aqui­nas, Luther, and Calvin are among the great men in the history of the Church. Every one of these men had a very strong character. Each one’s personality was altogether different from that of the others. Each one’s life history was differ­ent from that of the others. They lived in countries, times, and cir­cumstances that differed widely.

Yet all these men had certain things in common. They were all giants. There have been many other very great men in the history of the Church, but none of them can begin to compare with these. In the entire spacious landscape of the Church’s history these men are the highest peaks.

All these men had wonderful minds, and they all had a superior education. They had iron wills. They had passionate, deeply emo­tional natures. They were all noble men.

They all had a marvelous com­mand of language. Each one of these men was a king. They all held royal sway in this world by means of their tongue and their pen.

They all led simple, austere lives. Often they lived in want and poverty. None of them had many good times. They had a good time all the time, but they had no time to have what is generally called "a good time." They were all indus­trious students and hard workers.

All these men were deeply re­ligious, God-fearing men. Fearing God, they feared no man. They were all men of strong faith, of un­shakable steadfastness, of sublime courage. They all were heroes of faith.