History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin. Vol. 2 (of 8)Merle d'Aubigné, J. H. (Jean Henri)
History
History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin. Vol. 2 (of 8)
Merle d'Aubigné, J. H. (Jean Henri)
Reformation
People at Orleans soon found out that there was something new and
strange in this young man. It was in this city, in the year 1022, that
the revival of modern times, if we may so speak, had begun among the
heads of a school of theology at that time very celebrated. Priests and
canons had told the people who listened to them, both in Orleans and in
the neighbouring towns, 'that they ought to be filled with the gift of
the Holy Spirit; that this Spirit would reveal to them all the depths
and all the dignity of the Scriptures;[33] that they would be fed with
heavenly food and refreshed by an inward fulness.'[34] These
_heretics_ had been put to death at Orleans. Would they be seen
rising again, after more than five centuries, in the city and even in
the university? Many doctors and students opposed Calvin: 'You are a
schismatic,' they said; 'you are separating from the Church!' Calvin,
alarmed at these accusations, was a prey to fresh anguish.
[Sidenote: CALVIN'S ANGUISH AND HUMILITY.]
Then, as he informs us, he began to meditate on the Psalms, and in the
struggles of David he found an image of his own: 'Ah!' he exclaimed,
'the Holy Spirit has here painted to the life all the pains, sorrows,
fears, doubts, hopes, anxieties, perplexities, and even the confused
emotions with which my mind is wont to be agitated.... This book is an
anatomy of all the parts of the soul.... There is no affection in man
which is not here represented as in a glass.'[35] This man, whom the
Romish and other legends describe as vain, proud, and insensible,
desired to see himself as he was, without screening any of his faults.
'Of the many infirmities to which we are subject,' he said, 'and of the
many vices of which we are full, not one ought to be hidden. Ah! truly
it is an excellent and singular gain, when all the hiding-places are
laid open, and the heart is brought into the light and thoroughly
cleansed of all hypocrisy and foul infection.'[36]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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