The History of Christianity - John S. C. Abbott (bookstand for reading .txt) 📗
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Being fond of mechanical pursuits, he employed many hours in carving puppets and children’s playthings, and constructed some articles of furniture. His room was filled with timepieces of every variety of construction. It is said, that, when he found how impossible it was to make any two of them keep precisely the same time, he exclaimed upon his past folly in endeavoring to compel all men to think alike upon the subject of religion.
His bodily sufferings were severe from the gout, by which he was helplessly crippled. Most of the time he spent in extreme dejection. It was evident that his health was rapidly failing, and that, ere long, he must sink into the grave. Under these circumstances, he adopted the extraordinary idea of rehearsing his own funeral. As the story has generally come down to us, all the melancholy arrangements for his burial were made, and the coffin provided. The emperor reclined upon his bed as if dead: he was wrapped in his shroud, and placed in his coffin. The monks and all the inmates of the convent attended in mourning; the bells tolled, requiems were chanted by the choir, the funeral-service was read; and then the emperor, as if dead, was placed in the tomb of the chapel, and the congregation retired.
The monarch, after remaining some time in his coffin to impress himself with what it is to die and be buried, rose from the tomb, kneeled before the altar in the chill church for some time in worship, and then returned to his room to pass the night in meditation and prayer. The shock and chill of these melancholy scenes were too much for the feeble frame and weakened mind of the monarch. He was seized with a fever, and in a few days breathed his last; and his spirit ascended to that tribunal where all must answer for the deeds done in the body.
The reformers of the sixteenth century, in the various countries of Europe, have acquired renown which will never die. We give a group containing the portraits of five, who were among the most illustrious of these men, with the accompanying brief sketch of their lives.
REFORMERS OF THE 16th CENTURY
John Calvin was born at Noyon, in Picardy, one of the northern provinces of France, on the 10th of July, 1509. In his earliest years he developed remarkable intellect; and his father, who was a cooper, dedicated him to the Church. When twelve years of age, he received a benefice in the cathedral of his native city; and, when but eighteen years old, was appointed to a cure. While still pursuing in Paris his theological studies, the great truths of the reformers dawned upon his mind, and so disturbed him, that he renounced his intention of serving in the priesthood, and devoted himself to the study of the law.
When but twenty-two years of age, he published a Latin commentary upon the “De Clementia” of Seneca; and, being suspected of favoring the new doctrine of the reformers, he was compelled to flee from Paris. The Canon of Angoulême gave him refuge; and under his hospitable roof he commenced writing his world-renowned work, “The Institutes of the Christian Religion.” He devoted two years to this treatise, and in the mean time repaired to Navarre. Queen Margaret of Navarre, who was the cordial patron of learned men, received him hospitably. Here Calvin continued to pursue his studies, and made the acquaintance of many of the most eminent men of Europe in all the various branches of learning. After a time, returning to France, he was again compelled to seek safety in flight; and he established himself at Basle.
Here he published, in August, 1535, his “Institutes.” It was a carefully-drawn-up confession of the faith of those who in France were condemned to the most terrible persecution, and even to the stake, for their opinions. The excitement and peril of the times were such, that the work had an immense circulation among the reformers all over Europe, and placed Calvin at the head of the advocates of the new doctrines.
“Scattered far and wide through schools, the castles of the noblesse, the houses of the citizens, even the workshops of the people, ‘The Institutes’ became the most powerful of preachers. Around this book the Protestants gathered as around a standard. They found every thing there,—doctrine, discipline, church organization.”206
The work was dedicated to the king, Francis I. In this dedication Calvin said, “It is your office, sire, not to turn away your ears or your heart from so just a defence, especially since it is a question of great importance to know how the glory of God shall be maintained on the earth. Oh subject worthy of your attention, worthy of your jurisdiction, worthy of your royal throne!”
It is said that the king did not deign even to read this epistle. In 1536 Calvin was appointed pastor of a church, and professor of a theological school, in Geneva. His voluminous writings continued to attract the attention of all Europe, and the French Protestants generally took the name of Calvinists. The amount of labor performed by Calvin seems almost incredible. He preached daily, delivered theological lectures three times a week, and attended all the meetings of the Consistory of the Association of Ministers, and was the leading mind in the councils. He was continually consulted for advice upon questions of law and theology. He issued a vast number of pamphlets in defence of his opinions, commentaries on the Bible, and maintained a very extensive correspondence with distinguished men all over Europe. Besides his numerous printed sermons, he left in the library of Geneva two thousand and twenty-five in manuscript.207
The burning of Michael Servetus at the stake for heresy is often urged as an irreparable blot upon the character of Calvin. Candid men will attribute much of the intolerance of individuals in those days to the spirit of the times. Speaking upon this subject, M. G. de Félice says very judiciously,—
“The execution of Michael Servetus has furnished the subject of a disputation constantly renewed. An able historian of our day, M. Mignet, has just devoted a long and learned dissertation to it. It would lead us entirely beyond our plan to enter into these details. 1. Servetus was not an ordinary heretic. He was a bold pantheist, and outraged the dogma of all Christian communions by saying that God in three persons was a Cerberus,—a monster with three heads. 2. He had already been condemned to death by the Catholic doctors at Vienna, in Dauphiny. 3. The affair was judged, not by Calvin, but by the magistrates of Geneva; and, if it is objected that his advice must have influenced their decision, it is necessary to recollect that the councils of the other reformed cantons of Switzerland approved the sentence with a unanimous voice. 4. It was, in fine, of the highest interest for the Reformation to separate distinctly its cause from that of such an unbeliever as Servetus. The Catholic Church, which in our day accuses Calvin of having participated in his condemnation, much more would have accused him in the sixteenth century with having solicited his acquittal.”208
Naturally, Calvin was impatient and irascible. In one of his letters to Bucer, he writes,—
“I have no harder battles against my sins, which are great and numerous, than those in which I seek to conquer my impatience. I have not yet gained the mastery over this raging beast.”
Calvin died the 27th of May, 1564, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He was of middle stature, pale countenance, brilliant eyes, and was extremely abstemious in his habits of living. For many years, he partook of but one meal a day. In the will which he dictated a short time before his death, he called God to witness the sincerity of his faith, and rendered thanks to him for having employed him in the service of Jesus Christ.
Philip Melancthon was alike distinguished for his native force of character, his intellectual culture, his piety, and his amiability. He was born in the palatinate of the Rhine, on the 16th of February, 1497. In early boyhood, his progress in study, especially in the acquisition of the ancient languages, was very extraordinary. At the age of thirteen, he entered the University at Heidelberg. Here he so distinguished himself by his scholarship, that in one year he took the degree of bachelor of arts, and became tutor to several of the sons of the nobility. In 1512, when fifteen years of age, he repaired to the University of Tübingen, where he devoted himself with great assiduity to the study of theology. At the age of eighteen he received the degree of master of arts, gave lectures on the Greek and Latin authors, and published a Greek grammar. His erudition and eloquence gave him such celebrity, that, when twenty-two years of age, he was invited to Wittenberg as professor of the Greek language and literature. Here he warmly embraced the cause of evangelical truth as advocated by the reformers. His sound judgment, rich classical taste, ardent piety, and fervid imagination, gave a peculiar charm to every thing which proceeded from his pen. Bringing these qualities into alliance with the energy, impetuosity, and enterprise of Luther, he contributed greatly to the spread of the doctrines of the Reformation. His mild spirit in some degree softened the rigor of Luther, and his writings were universally admired by the Protestant world. Associated with Luther, he drew up the celebrated “Confession” of Augsburg in 1530. This, with the “Apology” for it which he subsequently composed, gave him renown through all Europe.
“He was nowhere more amiable than in the bosom of his family. No one who saw him for the first time would have recognized the great reformer in his almost diminutive figure, which always continued meagre from his abstemiousness and industry. But his high, arched, and open forehead, and his bright, handsome eyes, announced the energetic, lively mind which this slight covering enclosed, and which lighted up his countenance when he spoke. In his conversation, pleasantries were intermingled with the most sagacious remarks; and no one left him without having been instructed and pleased. His ready benevolence, which was the fundamental trait of his character, embraced all who approached him. Open and unsuspicious, he always spoke from the heart. Piety, a dignified simplicity of manners, generosity, were to him so natural, that it was difficult for him to ascribe opposite qualities to any man.”209
For nearly half a century, Melancthon was one of the most prominent actors in that tremendous conflict between the Papal Church and Protestant reform which then agitated all Europe. Few men have been so universally and ardently loved. Notwithstanding the vehemence of Luther’s character, and the mildness of Melancthon’s spirit, the friendship between these two remarkable men continued unabated through life. From all parts of Europe students flocked to Wittenberg, lured there by the mental and moral attractions of Melancthon.
It is recorded of this illustrious man, that, in the commencement of his ministry, he fancied that no one could resist the glad tidings of the gospel. With powers of eloquence which fascinated thronging audiences, he depicted the love of God, the joys of heaven, the companionship of angels,—all offered to the repentant sinner without money and without price; but the multitudes who listened with delight to his glowing descriptions and
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