Calvi

“ We pass Calvi, famous in Mediæval and Nelsonian annals, San Fiorenzo, on which we had looked down in our rambles on the chestnut-clad ridges of the Nebbio; and the mountain masses of the Capo-Corso, now loom like dark clouds on the eastern horizon. All beyond is a blank. Again we cross the Tuscan Sea in the depth of the night. We are on deck when rosy morning opens to our view the glories of the Bay of Genoa. At six we are moored in the harbour, and have to wait for the visit of the officer of health. At last we land, breakfast, and take the rail to Turin. ”

“ With this force the detachment of military artificers shared in the various actions and sieges of that island, particularly at San Fiorenzo, Bastia, Ajaccio, and Calvi. In directing the construction of the required works and batteries, more especially at the lengthened siege of Calvi, their services were highly spoken of by their officers and the assistant engineers under whose instructions they for the most part 94acted; and though so few in number, they were considered by the army to be most useful and valuable soldiers. ”

“ After his first year in Rome he took up archaeology, and by dint of hard study acquired a thorough knowledge of the antique.
Father Calvi, my first tutor and at the same time a great judge of Roman antiquities, gave him the final impulse towards investigation of the Eternal City. Some fifteen years ago my father became acquainted and subsequently on terms of friendship with the great Rossi, in whose company he spent whole days in the catacombs. Thanks to his extraordinary gifts he soon acquired such consummate knowledge of Rome as to astonish Rossi himself. ”

“ The Venetian Ambassador at the Court of France, writing in 1561 to the Doge, says, “Your Serenity will hardly believe the influence and the great power which the principal minister of Geneva, by name Calvin, a Frenchman and a native of Picardy, possesses in this kingdom. He is a man of extraordinary authority, who by his mode of life, his doctrines and his writings, rises superior to all the rest” (Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1558-80, p. 323) . ”

“ The government of Geneva under Calvin's regime was a curious theocracy of which Calvin himself was both religious leader and political "boss." The minister of the reformed faith became God's mouthpiece upon earth and inculcated an unbending puritanism in daily life. "No more festivals, no more jovial reunions, no more theaters or society; the rigid monotony of an austere rule weighed upon life. A poet was decapitated because of his verses; Calvin wished adultery to be punished by death like heresy, and he had Michael Servetus [Footnote: A celebrated Spanish reformer.] ”

“ Sir Calvin himself reappeared, white and drawn, but showing no disposition to suffer commiseration in any form, or any relaxation from his iron discipline. The events of the next few days I will pass over at short length. They yielded some pathos, embraced some preparations, included a visit. I may mention here a decision of the General’s which a little, in one direction, embarrassed my designs. Just or unjust to the man, he would not have Cleghorn back. One could not wonder, perhaps, over his determination; yet I could have preferred for the moment not to lose sight of my suspect. ”

“ And Calvin, the great French reformer and the tyrant (both political and spiritual) of Geneva, not only assisted the French authorities when they tried to hang Michael Servetus (the Spanish theologian and physician who had become famous as the assistant of Vesalius, the first great anatomist) , but when Servetus had managed to escape from his French jail and had fled to Geneva, Calvin threw this brilliant man into prison and after a prolonged trial, allowed him to be burned at the stake on account of his heresies, totally indifferent to his fame as a scientist. ”

“ Calvin, who thought him dangerous, both by his doctrines and his talent, declared that if ever he came to Geneva he would never leave it alive. He caused him to be denounced to the Inquisition, and he was imprisoned at Vienne on the Rhone, tried, and condemned to be burnt at a slow fire, on evidence supplied by Calvin in seventeen letters. Servetus escaped, and on his way to Italy stopped at Geneva, under a false name, for he knew who it was that had set the machinery of the Holy Office in motion against him, and who had said that he deserved to be burnt wherever he could be found. ”

“ Laurent de Normandie, sprung from a noble family of Picardy, fellow-countryman and friend of Calvin, discharged the functions of master of requests and of lieutenant of the King at Noyon, before retiring to Geneva. Received inhabitant of the town, the 2d May 1547, burgess, the 25th April 1555, he lived there in intimacy with Calvin, who dedicated to him in 1550 his Traité des Scandales. ”

“ On the representation of Calvin, the magistrates of Strasbourg wrote on two occasions to those of Berne to ask that favour. In the second of these letters they render most honourable testimony to Calvin. "M. Calvin," they say, "has comported himself among us with so much uprightness and constancy, and has become so acceptable by his skill and ability, that not only we would have retained him among us with pleasure, but more especially, for the sake of our Church, we would not easily have yielded him up, if we had not believed that he would be more useful at Geneva.... ”

“ While giving an energetic deliverance against the errors of Servetus, the ministers of Zurich had paid, in their reply to the Seigneurie of Geneva, a very beautiful tribute to Calvin:—"We trust that the faith and zeal—in a word, the distinguished services among the exiles and the pious—of our brother, your pastor, Calvin, is too illustrious to be obscured by such very disgraceful calumnies, whether in the estimation of your honourable Council, or in that of other good men."—Calv. ”

“ The scene of tumult and sedition described in this letter left so lively an impression on the mind of Calvin, that he recalled it seventeen years afterwards, on his deathbed, in his farewell to the ministers of Geneva, subjoining these memorable words:—"Although I am nothing, yet I know that I prevented three thousand disturbances from taking place in Geneva; but take courage, you will become strong, for God will make use of that city, and will maintain it ”

“ In these circumstances, Calvin ventured to quit his retirement; but the hopes which had been entertained were soon miserably disappointed. Bigotry and persecution regained their ascendancy; and Calvin, finding it impossible to exert himself to any useful purpose, left the country in the beginning of 1535, and took up his residence at Basle. Having remained here for some time, a retired and laborious student, he at length published The Christian Institutes. ”

“ The Council of Zurich having received the letter of that of Geneva, and having consulted Bullinger and his colleagues regarding the reply which they would require to make, did not hesitate to give a deliverance in favour of Calvin, and against the demands of the Libertines. They accordingly exhorted the magistrates of Geneva to maintain their ecclesiastical laws, "as good and conformable to the prescriptions of the Divine word, and as particularly necessary in an age in which men are becoming more and more wicked." ”

“ Both his theology and church polity became dominant throughout Switzerland.
The theological academy of Geneva, founded in 1588, supplied the churches of many foreign countries, especially France, trained in the spirit of Calvin. When Calvin died, in 1564, the continuation of his work devolved upon Theodore Beza. Calvin disagreed in many points with Zwingli, whose views gradually lost ground as those of Calvin advanced. ”

“ There exists (Imp. Lib. Recueil Hist., de France, vol. xix.) a piece entitled Lepida Farelli Vocatio. In that letter Calvin vigorously urges his friend to repair to Geneva, by calling to mind the religious violence with which he was himself detained there, by the voice of Farel, at the time of his first entrance into that city in 1536. "Do you expect that I should thunder as you were wont to do, when you wished forcibly to draw me hither?" The urgencies of Calvin were fruitless, and the Church of Neuchatel retained, for twenty years longer, the services and the indefatigable activity of Farel. ”

“ Having devoted himself to an ecclesiastical career, his first leanings inclined him towards the Reformed. With Calvin he became acquainted at the University of Paris, formed a friendship with him, shared his perils, and received him in 1534 at Angoulême in his own house. United thenceforth to the young Reformer by a like faith, he resigned his curacy of Claix to follow him, under the name of Hautmont, to Strasbourg, to Basle, and into Italy. In August 1536 he was at Geneva, when Calvin was there retained by the earnest entreaties of Farel. ”

“ At the session of the 5th September, the Council of Geneva had decided, contrary to the wish of Calvin, upon consulting the Churches of Berne, Basle, Sebaffhausen, and Zurich, respecting the culpability of Servetus, but this decision was realized just a fortnight too late.—Rilliet, Relation du Procès de Servet, p. ”

“ The number of sick was immense. It was almost certain death to visit them. Three ministers offered spontaneously to discharge that duty: Calvin, Sebastian Castalio, and Blanchet. Castalio, who was the first person designated by lot, appears to have declined that perilous honour. Blanchet generously made the sacrifice of his life; and the urgent solicitations of the Seigneury of Geneva, who were afraid to expose the valuable life of the Reformer, could alone determine Calvin to desist from undertaking the charge which he had himself solicited. ”

“ The Church of Geneva, set up as a butt for the attacks and blackening defamation of her maligners who were unwilling to submit to the authority of her discipline, had also to lament the scandales occasioned by the conduct of many of her pastors. Two of Calvin's colleagues, Henry de la Mare and Champereau, were not ashamed to frequent the taverns and cabarets, and so to expose the office of the ministry to the mockeries of insolent raillery, and those who took a pleasure in repeating that the ministers wished to make Canons of them.—Chronique de Roset, lib. ”

“ Calvin, addressing Bullinger and Sulzer alternately, insisted strongly on the alleged culpability of Servetus, and on the necessity of a punishment, which should be, as it appeared to him, a solemn consecration of those truths which had been shaken by the attacks of the audacious Spanish doctor. The messenger charged with the letter to Sulzer was the Treasurer Du Pan, one of the most devoted disciples of the Reformer. ”

“ During the period that the Reformation was for a while overcome in Germany, and that it had to sustain the rudest conflicts in order to its establishment at Geneva, the most alarming reports were spread among the French Protestants, and carried discouragement and dismay into their ranks. Calvin, addressing his brethren from the midst of the struggle in which he was engaged against the party of the Libertins, reassured and comforted them by his letters, and exhorted them to place their entire confidence in God.
[152] Ils font des mauvais chevaulx à mordre et à regimber. ”

“ Calvin before his Genevan Ministry.―John Calvin, son of diocesan procurator Gerhard Cauvin, was born on 10th July, A.D. 1509, at Noyou in Picardy. Intended for the church, he was, from his twelfth year, in possession of a benefice. Meeting with his relation Olivetan, he had his first doubts of the truth of the Catholic system awakened. ”

“ Directed on the back,—To the Magnificent and Honourable Lords Messieurs the Syndics and Council of Geneva.
Two years had scarcely passed away since the banishment of Calvin, and already the victorious party, left to itself, had exhausted itself with its own excess and disorders. Of the four Syndics who pronounced the expulsion of the ministers, two were exiled to Berne; the other two had perished by a violent death.—Spon, Hist. de Genève, liv. i. pp. 280-282. Anarchy produced its ordinary fruit, regret for the absence of authority. ”

“ He is a decent fellow, and one who conducts himself uprightly. Adieu, excellent and most esteemed brother.—Hastily yours,
Calvin.
Our friends salute you and Michael Mullot, who has stolen hither for three days during the holidays of his school, to take counsel along with us. On his return he will intimate that he does not remain there beyond the time agreed on. After having heard your last letter, Grynée requested to be informed as soon as I should have obtained the first opportunity of a messenger, [80] but I was unwilling to interrupt him at this time of the day. ”

“ After the publication of this work, Calvin went to Italy to pay a visit to the duchess of Ferrara, a lady of eminent piety, by whom he was very kindly received.
From Italy he came back to France, and having settled his private affairs, he proposed to go to Strasbourg or Basil, in company with his sole surviving brother, Antony Calvin; but as the roads were not safe on account of the war, except through the duke of Savoy's territories, he chose that road. "This was a particular direction of Providence," says Bayle ”

“ The doctrinal system of Calvin is too well known to require explanation in this place. It is, however, a mistake to suppose that, on those points in which Calvinism is deemed peculiarly to consist, he went a single step farther than Luther himself, and the great majority of the Reformers. He states his views with calmness, clearness, and precision; he reasons on them dispassionately, and never shrinks from any consequences to which he perceives them to lead. ”