CALVIN’S FEELINGS TOWARDS LUTHER.
Writing to the divines of Zurich, when Luther was uttering bitter things against him, Calvin thus speaks—“I can hardly counsel you to hold your peace, but I wish you all to remember how great a man Luther is; what great endowments he possesses; what fortitude and firmness, skill and learning he has employed in routing the powers of Antichrist and propagating the true doctrine of salvation. I have often said that though he should call me a devil, I would still honour him as an illustrious servant of God to whom we are all deeply indebted. Consider, too, that all you will gain by involving yourselves in the controversy will be to afford matter of triumph to the ungodly. For when we become mutual accusers of each other, they will be only too ready not to believe us both. Dwell upon these considerations rather than on what his intemperance of speech may have deserved at your hands.”
LUTHER’S TWO MIRACLES.
On the 5th August, 1530, an awful crisis for the Reformation, when the firmest seemed to swerve and the boldest to tremble, Luther thus wrote to Chancellor Bruch:—”I have recently witnessed two miracles. This is the first—As I was at my window I saw the stars and the sky, and that vast and magnificent firmament in which the Lord has placed them. I could nowhere discover the columns on which the Master has supported this immense vault, and yet the heavens did not fall. And here is the second—I beheld thick clouds hanging above us like a vast sea. I could neither perceive ground on which they reposed, nor cords by which they were suspended; and yet they did not fall upon us, but saluted us rapidly and fled away.” These miracles, as Luther called them, filled him with unconquerable trust and joy in God. Well they might. So may they us. We see them wrought before us every night and every day.