JOHN CALVIN, the ‘great reformer, was born on the tenth day of July, 1509, and the present year has witnessed celebrations of the four hundredth anniversary of his birth, both in Edinburgh, the city of John Knox, Calvin’s friend and co-worker, and in Geneva, Switzerland, the city of his own personal labours. An unpleasant feature of these celebrations is that many of the men who laud the memory of Calvin with their lips, are very far from following his example in their life—in loyalty to the whole counsel of God as revealed in the Scriptures. They are much better at the work of garnishing the sepulchres of the prophets and reformers than at that of walking in their footsteps. There is unspeakable need that the same Spirit of God who led and taught Calvin, and made him a mighty instrument for good to his fellow-men, would descend upon the Churches, professors of theology, and preachers of the present day, that they might be delivered from the influence of unbelief and infidelity, and endued with light and power from on high. The present Protestant Churches of Geneva, we understand, are very unlike representatives of John Calvin. It may not be inappropriate, therefore, that we should note here the leading dates and facts of the life and work of this great man whom the Lord raised up to do invaluable service to His name and cause in the world.
John Calvin was born at Noyon in Picardy, one of the northern provinces of France. His paternal grandfather followed the humble occupation of a cooper; his father, Gerard Chauvin (to use the French form of the name), was secretary to the bishop of the diocese. Jean or John was the second son of a family of three sons and two daughters. Gerard did all in his power to secure a good education for his promising son, and, through his connection with the bishop, he became acquainted with a family of rank, by whose kindness he attained the desirable object. John received his early education along with a son of this family. It was a common thing in those days for children to be appointed to
offices in the Church, with a view to get the emoluments attaching thereto, and so, when John was only twelve years of age, the bishop, at the request of his father, conferred upon him the chaplaincy of a small church that had become vacant. Two years thereafter a plague broke out in this part of France, and John Calvin was permitted to go where he pleased “without loss of his emoluments.” He proceeded to Paris, and there entered the College of La Marche, which was then famous for a great teacher named Cordier. Three years later, at the age of seventeen, he became a student in the College of Montaigu, an institution designed for the training of candidates for the priesthood. It appears that it was while he attended this college that he was led to study the Reformed Faith, for which Luther was already contending in Germany and some worthy witnesses were laying down their lives in France. At this time he met Robert Olivetan, a cousin of his own, who had embraced the doctrines of the Reformers, and between the two friends there took place many discussions as to the true religion. Calvin was extremely attached to the doctrines and superstitions of Popery, while Olivetan was equally decided in his new-found attachment to the faith of the Gospel. He strongly urged upon Calvin the direct study of the Scriptures for himself, and by the divine blessing, his arguments and entreaties prevailed, with the eventual result that John Calvin’s conscience was deeply wounded and awakened to a sense of sin and misery. He now searched the Scriptures for relief and consolation, and the Spirit of God enabled him to find the needed healing and peace in the words: “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Calvin himself describes the change as “a sudden conversion,” but it may be safely added, that if the conversion was sudden, it was by no means superficial, but, on the contrary, peculiarly deep and thorough. He was completely cut off from the principle of salvation by works, and made to realise, under a deep sense of inward depravity and guilt, that salvation is of the free grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ and in His all-sufficient righteousness. The decided change which he had now experienced, entirely alienated him from the superstitions of the Church, and he began to discontinue attendance on its services. Strange to say, at the same time his father’s views as to the future life-work of his son also changed, but from a different standpoint. Gerard Chauvin came to the conclusion that the legal profession was a “surer road to wealth and honour” than the ecclesiastical, and insisted that his son should follow the law. “To this pursuit,” Calvin writes, “I endeavoured faithfully to apply myself, in obedience to the will of my father; but God, by the secret guidance of His providence, at length gave a different direction to my course.” There can be no doubt that his father’s plans, though of a worldly character, concurring with his own spiritual
aversion to the superstitious rites of the Church, helped to smooth his way out of the course of the priesthood. This transition might have been otherwise attended with great difficulty, if his father, who was a man of strong will, had resolutely set his face against any change of profession. Calvin studied law at Orleans and Bourges, under professors of great repute—a year or thereabout at each place—and became a master of the subject, capable of teaching others.
At Bourges he met Melchior Wolmar, a professor of Greek from Germany, who had come under the power of the Gospel, and who taught not only the Greek of Homer, the famous poet of ancient Greece, but the Greek of the New Testament. “In this Book,” said Wolmar, “is the answer to every problem, the remedy for every abuse, the rest of every heavy-laden soul.” Wolmar’s teaching had the effect of strengthening the work of God in Calvin’s soul, and it was then he began to expound the Scriptures and preach the Gospel. His plan was to go from house to house and explain the truth in a simple direct manner. The people were much taken with the young preacher, and some of them desired him to become their minister. While thus engaged, he received the tidings of the death of his father, and left for Noyon, taking Paris by the way. In this gay capital he was witness to the death of Louis de Berquin, the son of a noble family of France, who had become an eloquent and zealous defender of the Gospel, and whom the doctors of the Sorbonne had imprisoned and sentenced to death. Calvin saw this devoted man led to the scaffold on 22nd April, 1529, and the sight no doubt produced a profound impression upon his sensitive mind and heart.
We hope to resume our narrative in a future issue.
The Churches’ Commission.—Recently an extension of time was granted to the Commissioners to finish their difficult task, and during last month, a question was addressed to the Lord Advocate in the House of Commons, enquiring as to whether it was likely the Commissioners would finish their allotted task within the period granted, as “the repeated extension of time is causing embarrassment and expense to the United Free Church.” The Lord Advocate replied that in all likelihood the Commissioners would accomplish their task in the allotted time. It must be a matter of real grief of heart to those who have conscientious scruples in allowing money collected for one purpose to be applied to another entirely different, to find, by the continued existence of the Commission, that immense sums collected for religious purposes should be devoted to legal expenses. But if such there be, there has as yet been no loud public protest—no letters written to the public press expressive of the deep anxiety that surely must be felt in the breasts of many.