(From the Christian Magazine, Vol. IX., October, 1805,
by Dr. THOMAS McCRIE, D.D.)
The family of Rivet, originally from Orthes, settled in St. Maixant, a city of the Province of Poitou in France, towards the end of the fifteenth century. William, the grandfather of our divine, had three sons, James, Andrew and John. These, together with their father, embraced the reformed doctrine when it began to spread in France, and persevered in their adherence to it, notwithstanding all the severities to which this exposed them; a laudable example, which was long followed by their posterity. The descendants of the two oldest sons continued to occupy respectable and even honourable stations in their native country. The youngest John, married, in 1566, Catherine Cardel, daughter of James Cardel, Lord of Morinieres, a person respectable for his rank and talents, and who, though he never separated from the Church of Rome, was favourable to the cause of the Reformed. The young lady had, before her marriage, openly espoused the doctrines of the Reformation, and was a woman of a superior mind, adorned with many virtues, and eminently pious. She bore her husband three sons, Andrew (the subject of this memoir), John and William. Their second son, John, a youth of great hopes, died prematurely, while he was successfully prosecuting his philosophical studies in Scotland. The youngest, William, after he had studied in France, Scotland, and at the University of Leyden, was ordained pastor at Tailleburgh, in the province of Saintonge. He enjoyed the esteem of the reformed churches in general, and of those of his own province in a high degree, and lived to an advanced age, having survived, for a considerable time, his eldest brother, of whom we now proceed to speak more particularly.
ANDREW RIVET was born at St. Maixant on the 22nd of June, 1572.
By a dangerous fall which he received in his infancy, through the carelessness of a servant, his life was for some time despaired of. Struck with the danger, his pious mother devoted him to God, promising, in concurrence with her husband, that, if his life was spared, he should be educated for the ministry; and, with a view to this, both of them often poured out the most fervent prayers and tears for the divine blessing upon him. Many are now become so enlightened as to despise all such exercise as this, and condemn parents for setting apart in their intentions, or training their children to the ministry; yet it is undeniable, that many who have been eminently useful in the public service of the Church, have been thus early devoted; and it rather appears, that parents do therein act a dutiful part, while their resolutions and promises are formed and prosecuted with submission to the arrangements of Providence, and with a view to those gifts which the Head of the Church may be pleased to bestow.
After being taught the first principles of the Latin tongue in his native city, young Rivet was put under the care of Monsieur Blacher, minister of St. Celais, with whom he not only made great proficiency in Latin and Greek, but also acquired some knowledge of Hebrew. Being deprived of this teacher by the persecution which then raged, he returned to St. Maixant, and was taught by Adam Newton, a Scotsman, who, returning to his native country, was made tutor to Prince Henry, eldest son of King James. After his removal, being discontinued by the master on account of his religion, Rivet went to Rochelle, where he studied under the following masters:—Philip Birgam, Professor of Hebrew; Peter Martin, Professor of Philosophy; and Peter Rose, Professor of Eloquence. Having a strong desire to visit foreign universities, he meant to have gone to St. Andrews, in Scotland, which at that time flourished under the care of the celebrated Andrew Melville; but the fame of the University of Orthes, in Bearn, which the King of Navarre had recently founded, attracted him. So successfully did young Rivet prosecute his studies, that in 1589 he was admitted, Bachelor of Arts; and in the following year he attained, not without applause from a numerous audience, the highest degree in philosophy.
Having gone through this course of preparation in secular learning, he entered upon the particular study of divinity, to which, like another Samuel, he had been early devoted, and with a view to which all his studies had been conducted.
The church of Touars, being now destitute of a pastor, earnestly pressed his license. In consequence of their solicitations, he appeared before the Synod of Niort. So youthful was his appearance, that some of the ministers entertained scruples about proceeding; but such was the uncommon satisfaction which he gave on his trials, that with the utmost unanimity he was judged worthy of the ministry by the whole of that large and respectable body. He was accordingly ordained, at Touars, on the 24th of March, 1595, in the 23rd year of his age; Mons. St. Joyeuse, minister of Nerac, presiding on the occasion.
Having obtained a settlement in the Church, Rivet did not relax in the prosecution of his studies. “He did not act like many theologians,” says Monsieur Dauber, in a funeral oration pronounced after his death, “who fix this as the goal of their exertions, and having attained it, become solicitous about an advantageous marriage, and then give themselves up to indolence, without being concerned about adorning the spouse of Christ, or rendering themselves more fit for preaching the Gospel of Christ.” Nor was he even satisfied with what many good men make the summit of their ambition, the promoting of the good of their own church; although this is no small or illaudable object. The views of Rivet were still more enlarged. The charge upon which he had entered was indeed onerous, and difficult for a young man of twenty-three. In a numerous congregation, in a city which was the capital of the dukedom of Touars, where he had for auditors the Duke de la Tremouille and his court, he preached thrice every Lord’s day, besides the performance of other parts of ministerial duty. But his desire was not merely to discharge these duties with diligence and approbation, but to advance the general interests of the Church at large. For this end he laboured to qualify himself to become an able champion of the truth. Nor did he want means for accomplishing this. The Duke de la Tremouille, his generous patron, directed Monsieur L’Oyseau to order a Parisian bookseller to purchase the best authors among the Greek and Latin fathers, and made a present of them to Rivet. Encouraged by this aid, he made a judicious division of his time between his pastoral functions and other studies, which he prosecuted with renewed ardour. He examined with accuracy all the controversies of the age, extracted the opinions of adversaries in their own words, and rendered himself so familiar with the writings of the chief fathers of the Church, that he could produce them when necessary for silencing those who boasted of their authority. In all his controversies with the Papists, his superiority in this point is conspicuous. He did not confine his reading to theological writings; but, by an acquaintance with the most approved authors on different subjects, he increased his stock of knowledge, drew from them what was adapted to his subject, and was enabled to display a varied erudition in all his works. He applied himself principally to the study of the sacred writings, and neglected nothing which was necessary for ascertaining and illustrating their meaning.
The uncommon diligence of our divine, joined with great piety, acuteness, and solidity of judgment, excited in all who knew him high expectations of his future usefulness. The province of Poitou were the first to recognise this; and when he was yet in his 28th year, they selected him, with others, to answer the writings of the adversaries. To this appointment we owe several of those publications with which he afterwards favoured the public. In the Provincial Synod he was often employed as secretary and president. He was deputed to the National Synod of France, anno 1601. Of this venerable assembly he was five times a member, thrice he was chosen secretary, and once president. In the Acts of the National Synod which met at Tonneins, anno 1614, we find the following resolution:—”This Assembly approving the labours of Mr. Andrew Rivet, pastor of the church of Touars, and particularly those learned works of his published against the adversaries of the truth, gave him their thanks for them; and, as a testimony of that love and honour they bear him, do give him the sum of six hundred livres out of the common stock of all the churches.”
Such was the opinion which they entertained of Rivet’s sagacity and integrity, that the Duke de la Tremouille, and the celebrated Philip Morney, Lord du Plessis, the Governor of Saumur, consulted him on the most important affairs respecting the political security of the Protestants in France. In the year 1610, he accompanied the delegates who were sent from the Protestants to the Court upon the succession of Louis XIII., and was appointed to deliver an oration in their name to the Queen-mother, Mary of Medicis, in which he spoke with a mingled freedom and caution, which commanded the praises of the Duke D’Espernon and other courtiers, although it was not very pleasing to the Cardinals who were present. He was present at a General Council of all ranks of the Reformed in France, which met at Saumur in 1611; and a Convention in the province of Poitou, which met in 1616, of which he was elected vice-president. In such assemblies the public good is not so much hurt by the adoption of wrong measures through inadvertence and mistake, which may be corrected by experience and future opportunities, as by the entrance of party-spirit, and a regard to private interest. On these occasions, Mr. Rivet exerted himself to prevail upon all to study the common advantage of the body, and discouraged and steadily refused to join with those who wished to form parties, with the view of promoting their own interests. His remonstrances at the Convention of Saumur against this evil were remembered afterwards, when a remedy could not be so easily applied.
The fame of Rivet had now spread into foreign countries; and the States of Holland determined, if possible, to obtain him for the University of Leyden, which they had resolved to fill with the most learned teachers that they could procure. Upon application to the Provincial Synod of Poitou, seconded by the influence of Maurice, Prince of Orange, with the Duke of Tremouille, the States, not without difficulty, obtained a grant, with the consent of the church of Touars, that Mr. Rivet should go to Leyden for a limited time. After the labours of twenty-five years among them with singular acceptance, he was dismissed, with many tears, by his own flock and his brethren in the ministry. His Excellency the Prince of Orange, and the curators of the university, wrote to the National Synod, which met at Alez 1620, for a prolongation of the term of his continuance, which the Synod granted, out of the high respect which they had for that illustrious prince, and their desire for an entire union with the churches of the Netherlands. The application was renewed at the Synod of Charenton, 1623, when he was allowed to continue some time longer. It was not until 1631 that they yielded to his permanent establishment in Holland; such was the estimation in which he was held by the church of Touars, the province of Poitou, and the whole Synod. During this time various attempts were made to settle him in the Universities of Saumur or Montauban.
The qualifications requisite for filling the pulpit and the academical chair are different, and many who have occupied the former with usefulness and high acceptance, have been found unfit for the latter. The active part of Dr. Rivet’s life was almost equally divided between the two, and it is hard to say for which of them he was best qualified.
If, during his pastoral incumbency, he had a regular opportunity of addressing a multitude immediately upon the concerns of their precious souls, and of assisting the ecclesiastical councils in his native country; on the other hand, in his academical station he was serviceable to all the churches, by training up for the ministry the youth who flocked from the different parts of Europe to Leyden; while the learned leisure which he enjoyed enabled him to plan, compose, and publish those works, by which he, being dead, yet speaketh. It was his happiness to be associated at Leyden with colleagues distinguished for piety, learning, and zeal for the truth, with whom he lived in habits of the closest friendship and unity, so that he was accustomed to say with particular satisfaction in his old age, that there never had been any strife or contention, or the slightest jar among them.
About the time of his removal to Holland, Dr. Rivet was visited with severe domestic affliction. He lost his father, a venerable old man of eighty-one years of age; a few weeks afterwards, he was deprived of his beloved wife, whom he was forced to leave behind him at Touars, until she should recruit her strength, greatly reduced by frequent attacks of colic. This double loss affected him deeply; he felt himself reduced to a state of solitude in a strange country, burdened with the care of four male children, and distracted with domestic affairs, at the commencement of his professorship, the labours of which required the whole man. But his piety, and particularly his sense of the important duties of his station, overcame his feelings. That he might disengage himself from the cares of the family, he, the following year, married Mary Moulin, widow of Anthony des Guyots, a military officer of rank, the daughter of the Rev. Joachim Moulin, pastor of Orleans, and sister of the celebrated Peter du Moulin, pastor and professor at Sedan, a most accomplished and virtuous lady, with whom he lived nearly thirty years with the greatest comfort. It is mentioned, as an instance of his strict attention to his academical duties, that on this occasion he did not go beyond sea until the commencement of the anniversary vacation, and returned with his spouse before the time of renewing the lectures.
Being appointed by Frederic Henry, Prince of Orange, to oversee the education of his son and heir, William, Dr. Rivet removed from Leyden to the Hague in the year 1631. Though this necessarily caused an intermission of his academical exercises, he was continued honorary professor, and by his writings and attention to the welfare of the university, he was careful that this should not be a nominal title. Under the tuition of such a master, the prince, who was a youth of genius and amiable dispositions, made such proficiency, and exhibited such early proofs of wisdom, as excited the hopes, not only of Holland, but of the reformed world in general.
(To be continued.)