A Terrific Tempest
Geneva, they had to encounter a terrific tempest of
ungovernable rage, which called forth in them that
true heroism, based upon faith in God, which is found in all worthy Reformers.
The real cause of banishment was the Reformers refusing to administer the Lord’s supper to a godless and manifestly wicked multitude. Other charges were brought against them, such as their unwillingness to use unleavened bread at the Lord’s table. One of the most powerful © weapons still in use by the Papists against the true church, is that of raising disputes upon matters of little importance among Protestants in order to divide their ranks and weaken their strength. This Calvin was aware of, and therefore thought it wise to consider leavened or unleavened bread a matter of indifference. But to hand the cup to meu who, according to his certain knowledge, would take it unworthily, he could not.
‘On the morning of Easter, 1538,” says Dr. Wylie, “Farel ascended the pulpit of St. Gervais, Calvin occupied that of St. Peter’s. In the audience before them they could see the Libertines in great force. All was calm on the surface, but a single word might loose the winds and awake the tempest. Nevertheless, they would do their duty. The pastors expounded the nature of the Lord’s supper; they described the dispositions required in those who would worthily partake of it, and concluded by intimating that this day the holy supper would not be dispensed. Hereupon, outcries drowned the voice of the preachers,
Bee Calvin and his colleagues were banished from he Tits LIFE AND TIMES. 93
“The uproar was specially great in St. Gervais; swords were unsheathed, and furious men rushed toward the pulpit, Farel waited with his arms crossed. He had long since learned to look on angry faces without trembling. Calvin in St. Peter’s was equally resolute. Sooner should his blood dye the boards he stood upon than he would be guilty of the profanation demanded of him. ‘ We protest before you all,’ he said, ‘ that we are not obstinate about the question of bread, leavened or unleavened; that is a matter of indifference which is left to the discretion of the church. If we decline to administer the Lord’s supper, it is because we are in a great difficulty, which prompts us tv this course.’
“Farel had borne the brunt of the tempest in the morning; it was to be Calvin’s turn in the evening. On descending to the church of Rive, he found the place already filled with an assembly, many of whom had brought their swords with them. Whatever apprehensions the young Reformer might have felt, he presented to the people which hung upon the edge of the storm, a calm and fearless front. He had not been more than eighteen months in their city, and yet he had inspired them with an awe greater than that which they felt even for Farel.
“‘Qalvin stood apart from, and rose above, all around him—above Farel—even above the council, whose authority was dwarfed before the moral majesty that seemed to clothe this man. He was among them like an incarnate conscience; his utterances were decrees, just and inflexible, like the laws of heaven themselves. While Calvin is
_ preaching, we see a dark frown pass suddenly over the faces of the assembly. Instantly there come shouts and outcries; a moment after, the clatter of weapons being hastily unsheathed salutes our ears; the next, we are dazzled by the gleam of naked swords. The tempest has burst with tropical suddenness and violence. The infuriated men, waving their weapons in the face of the preacher, press forward to the pulpit. One single stroke and Calvin’s career would have been ended.” But by the interposition of some of the more friendly, He, Who calmed the troubled seas of Galilee, hushed the tempest in the church of Rive, and bloodshed was prevented.
On the next day the Council of Two Hundred met, and pronounced sentence of banishment. Great efforts 9t CALVIN?
were made by the authorities of Zurich and Berne to reconcile the difference between the Genevese and the Reformers, and to retain the latter in the city. But the licentious party was irreconcilable. Some in the council wished to hear the defence; others drew their swords and demanded the death of the offenders.. When this decision was communicated to Calvin, he said, ‘‘Certainly had I been the servant of men I had obtained a poor reward; but it is well that I have served Him Who never fails to perform to His servants whatever He has promised.”’
REFLECTION.
Here let both reader and writer reflect upon the character and work of these men, and upon the grace and mercy of the Lord towards them, and also towards us, in raising up and qualifying men to roll back the mighty waves of bondage, superstition, and crime, that were flooding the earth. Look at the men. What were they? Were they the delegates of a gigantic organized system like the Papacy? Had they the prestige of kings, emperors, Pope, and cardinals at their back as a fascinating charm to prompt them in their arduous, self-denying work? No, they stood as solitary individuals, conscious of an inward realization of Divine support and approbation.
They looked for no earthly reward; they sought no earthly honours. Easy would it have been for them, had they been so minded, to have arisen to places of distinction, ease, and luxury, in the church of Rome. But, seeing the people under the spell of an arrogant and superstitious priesthood, their rights as men and Christians entirely ignored, God dishonoured, and the Bible unknown, they faced the world, willing at any time to die, if they could in any measure remove the yoke that bound the nations, and bring life and immortality to light. God be everlastingly praised for the men and their work.
The flood that was driven back in the 16th century is now returning. What are you doing, my reader, to stem this tide? Indifference is sin, selfishness, and shame. Something you ean do. Can you pray? Try it. Can you help any Protestant society or movement? Do it, if it be ever so little. Never help the begging ‘‘Sisters of Mercy,” nor any other Romish movement, or you may help to raise a fund for a massacre in England, similar to the great massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, in 1572. Try to prevent others helping them.
THE SHAFTS OF THE ALMIGHTY AGAINST CALVIN’S ENEMIES.
When King Charles IT. asked John Milton, ‘‘ Do not you think that your blindness is a judgment upon you for having written in defence of my father’s murder?” “Sir,” answered the poet, ‘‘it is true I have lost my eyes; but, if all calamitous providences are to be considered as judgments, your Majesty should remember that your royal father lost his head.”
Calamitous providences cannot always be taken as judgments. The Lord Jesus showed this in the case of the man who was born blind. When the disciples thought this calamity to have arisen from some sfecza/ sz on the part of this man or his parents, Jesus said, ‘‘ Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John ix, 3). Yet it is nevertheless true that ‘‘ God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness” (Prov. xxi. 12). And the shafts of the Almighty were clearly seen smiting those enemies of Calvin who drove him from his work at Geneva.
The Libertines, as the unruly party were designated, banded together and called themselves ‘Brothers in Christ.” By their rude conduct at the annual election of syndics, they obtained seats for four of their party, and to the efforts of these the banishment of the. Reformers was chiefly due. One of them tauntingly told Calvin that toe city gate was wide enough to let him go out. He, however, was, during Calvin’s absence, accused of sedition, and attempted to escape by his window, but falling. headlong broke his neck; another of the four perished on the scaffold, and the other two being accused of similar charges, fled, and so escaped with their lives. Thus the rod of the Lord was seen to rest upon these four wicked men in one month.