Lord’s Day, Vol. 7 No. 43
John Calvin of Geneva – Swiss Reformation
By the middle of the 16 century John Calvin was the dominant figure of the Protestant Reformation. After Luther’s death in 1546 all who had become convinced of the errors of the Roman Catholic Church looked to Calvin for guidance and instruction. The geographical position of Geneva, and the growth of the reformed movement in most parts of Europe caused the city and its leader to be regarded as a rallying point. This was especially the case with those who fled from persecution. Geneva became a haven of refuge to Protestants whose lives were endangered; its gates were ever open to provide fugitives with security. One such person was John Knox of Scotland. Young men often went to Geneva to be prepared for the work of the ministry of the gospel in central and western Europe.
It was in Geneva that several of the English and Scottish refugees set about the task of preparing a new translation into English. The first edition was printed in 1560 and it soon became the favourite version of Protestants in England and Scotland. Of course,
Calvin was not directly involved in its production, but as he had very great influence upon those responsible for it, in an indirect way he and his teachings were related to it, and especially perhaps to the marginal notes which belonged to it. It was a a potent influence in promoting the growth of Puritanism in England. Even when the famed Authorized version of the Bible appeared in 1611, another 30 years passed before the Geneva Bible ceased to be printed.
Never had a European city before Calvin’s time been organized so thoroughly for religious purposes as Geneva. The aim was the regulation by the church of the lives of its members, and of the whole life of the community. With great regularity ‘almost the whole city came together to hear the Word of God’. Geneva was divided into three parishes; five ministers and three assistant ministers were appointed to conduct services at daybreak, noon, and in the afternoon on Sundays; and there were services on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in addition. Seventeen sermons a week in a city of 13,000 people! Calvin himself, as we have mentioned previously, preached regularly in the cathedral. Communion was held quarterly. Attendance at worship was enforced by fines for avoidable absence, and men were appointed to deal with delinquents.
As for the education of youth, all was carefully planned. The very young were taught the catechism and provided with lessons in the church. Then came the school where not only ‘the three Rs’ (reading, writing, arithmetic) were taught, but also the Latin and Greek classics, together with logic and even rhetoric. All who are capable of it, were taught Greek New Testament. Naturally, much attention was paid to the doctrine of Christianity. There was regular instruction in Scripture, much psalm-singing, and diligent attendance at sermons and various lectures.
Beyond the school was the academy or university, the crown of the education system. 27 lectures were given each week. At its head was the rector who was actually in church of the entire education system. There were professors of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, the arts and theology. Prizes were awarded, and diligence and efficiency met with praise.
There is no doubt that, in Calvin’s time and for many years afterwards, Geneva produced scores, if not hundreds of highly educated men.
As for the mass of the citizens, a wide range of laws regulated their eating and drinking, their buying and their selling, their dress and their morals; but it must be remembered that all such laws were freely made by the governing body of the city, and the greater part of the citizens not only accepted them but welcomed them. Their lives were regulated at every point. Naturally, there were discordant elements also. Not all the city’s inhabitants wished to ‘deny ungodliness and worldly lusts’ and to ‘live soberly, righteously, and godly’ as Scripture and the laws required, and from time to time Calvin was troubled. But he never relaxed his efforts to lead men in the ways of the Lord, and on the whole, he met with remarkable success. His character and influence were known to all, and felt by all.
One matter calls for special comment, for Calvin’s enemies never forgot to charge a certain matter against him, namely, the death of the heretic Servetus which occurred while Calvin was substantially in control of Geneva, though not a member of its actual governing body, his power and influence being moral and spiritual rather than official. Servetus denied the doctrine of the Trinity and the Roman Inquisition had already condemned him to death by burning. But he escaped from the hands of the Romanists, and unwisely entered Geneva, where he was identified and put on trial for heresy. He became defiant as he tried to defend himself, and even accused Calvin of being a heretic and demanded his death. But the whole of Protestant Switzerland was firmly on the side of Calvin and the Genevan Council. The latter ordered that Servetus be burned alive. Calvin asked for a milder form of death for the heretic, but did not gain his point.
Calvin was certainly at fault, not of course in opposing the heresy of Servetus – he exposed it thoroughly – but accepted the widely-held belief of the age that heretics should be put to death. In the 16thcentury, unhappily, it is common practice to sentence men to death for heresy, and that by burning. It has been rightly remarked that ‘although in the 16thcentury thousands of Protestants suffered the same fate at the hands of Roman Catholic persecutors Calvin has been constantly vilified for his part in this single execution.’ Perhaps God allows blemished in his own children, while on earth, in order that men should not idolize them and put them, as it were, on pedestals.
Calvin possessed a very weak and sickly physical frame. His body was also weakened by fasting and study, for he passed days without food and nights without sleep. It would have been a laborious task for a robust man to accomplish what Calvin did; much more was it so for one of frail physique and constant illnesses. But the reformer never shrank from the multitude of his tasks. If he was not preaching he was writing commentaries; if not writing commentaries he was penning letters, for he carried on a vast correspondence; and at every turn he was counselling others, or in ways promoting the cause of the Kingdom of God.
[Extracted and edited from Sketches from Church History by S.M. Houghton]
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee