Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. So far. It is Thy goodness and mercy, Lord, that we may be gathered here together, that Thou hast given us health and strength sufficient that we can be here. We pray if Thou wilt enlighten our minds as we wish to study some aspects of one of Thy servants and of his work. We pray, Lord, wilt Thou guide and lead us into the truths of Thy Word, that also this servant expounded so clearly and so zealously. May we also become ardent students of thy word, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Yes, it says here that the Lord chasteneth every son, and especially if we look at a man like John Calvin, then surely there was much chastening and discouraging in his life. And we may believe that he is also among that great cloud of witnesses. He was, during his life, a bright, shining light. During his life he labored so hard that Wolfgang Musculus said he was a bow always strung. He was a man who was devoured by this theme that I may be consumed as long as I may be profitable. and we all know that life word, you can say, that characterized his life, that he offered the broken heart unto God. Well, surely that's something we will hope to consider in a few lectures this week. It's a privilege we can be here. I appreciate also the opportunity to share some time with you and I'm grateful we can all be here. I was asked to teach on John Calvin. Now, in my own way, I have tried throughout the years to read much of John Calvin, but I in no way claim to be any Calvin scholar. Maybe there are in Grand Rapids, and I'm sure there are here men who are very ably trained, who you could refer to as a Calvin scholar. So, although I'm not a scholar, yet we'll hope to delve a bit into the depths of what John Calvin has to offer to us. Now, before I want to go on, does someone have just a blank piece of paper for me? Thanks anyway, that's good. But look, what I've done now is that there are two ways of doing it. I could just teach you all kinds of notes and you could be tapping away on your laptops and in the meantime getting all cramped hands after four hours. Or what we could do is that if you allowed me to get all the cramped fingers and just copy it all and give it to you. then we have it all neatly in front of us and still there will be opportunity for you to make additional notes and comments. But what I've actually done is I've made some various copies of notes that I've made. Now let's first hand these out. Good, so if it's correct what you've now received is Getting a bit organized, we hope. What you have in front of you should be six individual papers. The first paper is then the overview of John Calvin's important life overview of important developments during his life. Now, in order to understand the theology of John Calvin somewhat, it is, I think, very important to have some understanding of his life, what happened during his life. Now, I will trust that you've read biographies of John Calvin, but even if you have done so, it's still not altogether clear, and it could be quite confusing. You can easily, in his well in his very active life, with many struggles and strains he went through, and various types of education he had, you could easily become confused. So I tried to yet comprise it all in a few pages, and still to be trying to be detailed in many matters. You will find here an overview of the important developments during John Calvin's life, what you all went through, and also at the end we will see some matters concerning the institutes the development on page yeah on page eighteen there we find Calvin's commentary on Seneca's De Clemencia, I would like to say something about that because that also does give Cass some light upon the whole method of how John Calvin interpreted scripture then something on his commentaries on page twenty one how to view and then the 24 the development of the institutes and with an overview of the institutes and there at the end you find various books which are very well suitable if you just go through those books on page 27 before i explain the other papers to you on page 27 a very good Baker Bookhouse has two excellent resources, Calvin's Selected Works, the seven volumes, they are now out of print, I understand. Is this being taped or not? Good, okay. Well, the Selected Works of John Calvin, the seven volumes, gives a beautiful outline of his tracts, of his letters, and that's uh... very worthwhile the twenty-two volumes i presume you will have then of course the institute's translation of battles put out by westminster then uh... francois wendell i asked uh... reverend beek if you could all receive a copy of that and uh... they are there let's hand that out and then i also asked t h l parker from john calvin What I find so important in this biography of detailed accounts of also of his testament, the words he spoke to the elders and the fellow pastors in Calvin, and they are very useful to... I've even called to them at times during a meeting of Synod. So worthwhile is the advice that Calvin there gave. Now if I looked at other I looked in Bietsa's overview of John Calvin's life. He does not give this, provide this in full length. Parker did. I also have it in a Dutch translation from Schippers. Those who read Dutch, R. Schippers, Johannes Calvain, St. Leven and St. Berk. That's also very concise, very easy to read, but it gives a very nice overview of of John Calvin's life. Then we have Dankbaar, Calvin's Weg en Werk is also a very useful book. I have it here with me. Then here's Calvin's commentary on Seneca's De Clemencia. Now that's not something to read because it really deals with the classic author of Seneca concerning De Clemencia on meekness but it's interesting to read in the introductions Battles explains the way how Calvin did theology the way how he went through commentaries and this is something like his model for which his philological, semantic way of dealing with text, and he would use that for this classic book, but later on he would use that also for commentaries. Well, François Wendel is a very excellent book. It gives what you all have. It gives first an outline of his life, but then later on it goes in full detail through his whole theology. If you read through this book of Wendel, and if you digest it, you have a grasp of the whole theology of John Calvin. Here and there there is a question mark to be put behind certain comments of François Wendel, but by and large it's a very useful book. Parker, T.H.L. Parker, is a Barthian and also wrote this biography because Barth had shed more light, he claims, upon the life of Calvin. Now, then you have Mr. Torrance in Edinburgh, R. Torrance, I think, T.R. Torrance, right, and he is also a Barthian. so we should then be somewhat alert when we are dealing with Barthian theologians but I trust that Reverend Bilkus a few weeks ago explained to you something about that in Contemporary Theology so okay then further if you look on page 27 there we see Calvin's commentary we just went through that the theological treatises that's some of those you'll find back in the first book, The Selected Works, the seven volumes. Then there's a book on the French Huguenots, put out by Baker, very interesting, but that's maybe not a good word, a very dramatic book, a very moving book, The French Huguenots by by this lady, Janet Gray. Now, I copied the first chapter of that for you, because this also deals with Calvin, gives some interesting background on how Geneva operated in the 16th century. explained something on how Calvin had dealings with the local municipality, with the city council, the magistrate. There were certain dealings of Calvin that he did not let on what he was doing to the magistrate, so that when the magistrate would be rebuked by Francis I or by other French rulers, that they could in truth say they did not know what was happening. because Calvin was also involved heavily in underground movement in smuggling young men out of France changing them into ministers and smuggling them back into France and that's still not exactly known how that all took place but she explained something of that and also some other interesting methods we will briefly go through that Okay, then you may have the book Harold Grin, The Reformation Era, that also gives interesting light on the whole Reformation history, very scholarly, good work. Well, this is then one paper, John Calvin, Overview of Important Development During His Life. I would like to go through that, we can do that quite quickly. It does deal with his life, not so much his theology. But then, what you then have is a compendium of his theology. a compendium of his theology. Now this deals with the whole theology of John Calvin in a nutshell. I'll try to summarize that in 13. The notes are a bit short here and there. It deals with first the knowledge of God and the word of God. And so we go through various topics, various loci, if you so wish, of John Calvin's theology. and in a nutshell you will find therein, I hope, useful material. Okay, then after we've had the total overview of his theology, then we have a third paper. and that is then a quest for a possible central theme in Calvin's theology this may be somewhat less interesting there are many quotes therein I would consider this paper to be the least interesting paper because it gives so many quotes I gave quotes from various theologians just trying to shed light on how people view Calvin and what is now the main thrust of his theology does he have a central theme in Calvin's theology People have looked at various possible themes, and at the end of this paper, I kind of lead up to maybe not a central theme, but as a matter which is of fundamental underlying importance for the whole of John Calvin's theology, and that's his views on the union with Christ. that's how he starts off in book three chapter one, paragraph one that unless we are personally united to the Lord Jesus Christ, then all what he has done will remain outside of us, otiosus outside of us it will remain useless Christ remains without work without activity in us and then he explains further then how this is of vital importance. Good, and then we have then a final paper, and that's then the communion with Christ according to John Calvin. So, and then we're going to delve in a kind of a minute topic of John Calvin's theology. Now, that's what we're going to try to look at, how he views communion with Christ, and we're going to then try to focus somewhat upon that, and hopefully see that it is indeed a very important aspect of his theology. Now then, I also gave you a copy of the title page of Calvin's Dei Sinensia, his commentary thereon, that may be useful later on. Good. Any questions so far? forgive me if I'm being somewhat uncommon in the way I present the papers to you. I understand you're used to making your own outlines, and maybe others will be standing, but I'll just remain seated. I think we can all see each other, right? Good. Now then. The students may be interested. Thank you very much. That's something we just have to talk about. I've understood that this is an elective course, so it's something that you just squeeze in between. So you have a full load of courses, maybe something on top of that. 20 credits, I think 19 is a normal course load. 15. That's what you have, 19, okay. So maybe you have maybe in the 20s, I don't know, or begin 20s, and then you have this stuck in between. Now, what I would like you to do is just study this material and study Francois Wendell exhaustively. But I'm not in any position to say that is what you should do because I don't know how busy your schedule is and what all is needed. I'm not going to ask you to write any paper for me. I think you're writing much as it is. What could be useful is to write an exam and that I give you maybe two, three questions or four questions and you can choose maybe two of them to explain Calvin's view on something and then you, but that would mean for you, you would have to know that one book and that means you have to go through it a few times you could use my notes, my compendium that's also derived also from Wendell but that's what you should then do it will help you to understand Calvin I found it very helpful for myself some years ago when I had to go through the book for Van Spijker in Apeldoorn. But again, I think I'll have to just consult with you, Jerry, and with Joe about what can be done. And if that can be done, then yeah, I don't know. Yeah? That is good. I think we should consult. But why don't the students work towards that goal? today is to read the material that's being handed out and to read as much as you can in Lindell and then we'll figure out how exactly to get a grade and some type of exam, take home or something that would be good. But we'll finalize the details for you by tomorrow, but work towards that goal. Okay, so you'll get answered on that still then. OK, well, Jerry, thanks for being here. That's fine, whenever you want, you can just come in. Good. Good. All right, let's start off with the first paper and we'll just see how it all will work out then. John Calvin. overview of important developments during his life. Now, it may be good if we just take some turns in reading a few passages, then we could have some discussion on it. Yes, John, could you start reading the first part, Family Background? Family Background. His name was actually... Jehan Coven. Jehan Coven. He soon adopted the Latin version of this name Johannes Calvinus. This became Calvin, born on July 10th, 1509 at Noyon in Picardy, 60 miles northeast of Paris. His father, Gerard Calvin, was 50 years his senior. Gerard had deserted manual labor so as to concentrate on law and administration. He owned a number of important offices in the town. He improved his status by marrying Jeanne Lefranc, the five-daughter of a wealthy innkeeper from Combray. The marriage bore four sons and two daughters, Charles, Jean, Antoine, François, Marie, and the last name is unknown. The mother died early. François died at an early age. Girard sent his three sons, Charles, John, and Antoine, to study at the college at Noyon. John excelled as student. Charles became a priest and died excommunicated as a priest in 1537. Antoine and Marie followed their brother to Geneva later on, where and Tony helped his brother in his literary work. Yes, so his actual name was Jehan Corvin, that's how he also writes, there are photocopies of his signature where he writes Jehan Corvin, and that according to the custom of those days, if you would have gained some degree in theology, would be called it would be Calvinus, you know, so Bill Keyes or something, that's how it would go, we all change it as a name, that's how it would go in those days, right? So that's how we get our Calvin from, but really his name was a French name, Corvin, born in Noyon, Picardy, and okay, then initially his three sons, Charles, Jean and Antoine, went to study at the Collège de Capet in Noyon, and John excelled as student. Antoine and Marie, they went along with their brother to Geneva. Later on, Antoine helped John Calvin also compile his institutes. It was not Antoine's work, but he gave much help doing so. And there are It's known of Antoine that later on he had some marriage problems and that his wife was found in... He committed adultery with the servant of John Calvin. That was a bit of an awkward spot for John Calvin. He had to rebuke his own manservant for committing adultery with the wife of Antoine. and then she was therefore banished from the city. Good, but let's move on to the next part, education. In 1521, when John was only 12 years of age, he was already preparing for the priesthood and through connections with the local bishop and the chapter, the chapter, that is a regular meeting of the canons, and the canons, those are the clergymen of the cathedral. these clergymen, these canons, they would meet in what we call a chapter. Now, Gerard was able to obtain for John a chaplaincy to the altar of La Guessine in Noyon Cathedral. Now what was the purpose of a chaplaincy, although the boy was 12 years old, is that he would be official, you know how that went in the Middle Ages, he would then be officially appointed as a clergyman, connected to this cathedral, and would receive a stipend, would receive monthly income from it, but the man wouldn't do the work himself, he would let others do the work for him. So they would then hire some other priest, This involves, as we read further, a stipend enough to study and to pay some priest who would do the actual work of the chaplaincy. That's how many bishops would have many bishop positions, various bishop positions, or various positions in church. Well, he received a second benefits in 1527. and John becomes friends with a Hungest family. Father Hungest was the local ruler of Noyon. In 1523, at the age of 14, Calvin was sent off together with three sons of the Hungest family to Paris to study. He went to Paris to live first with his uncle, Richard Corvin, and he then entered with his young friends the Collège de la Marche. It was there that he was instructed by Maturin Cordier, one of the outstanding Latinists of his day. And it was there that Calvin learned to write Latin so well that he would also be one of the most outstanding Latin scholars of the 16th century. Cordier taught the principles of humanism and Erasmian ideas. He enjoyed studying there, but the joy did not last. That was then at this Collège de la Marche. There was a free spirit there, was a very humanistic spirit there, and that's where Calvin had his first exposure to independent thinking, to thinking according to the ideas of the humanists and also Erasmus. But after a year, Calvin transferred to the Collège de Montague, and that was exactly the opposite. Collège de Montague was a very strict medieval school where they would also excel in seeking out heretics and writing even blind defenses for the papal authority there was a very strict school, the Collège de Montaigu that was where Rabelais and Erasmus had studied Rabelais, you know, was the famous French poet and philosopher and Erasmus, you know, very well and Ignatius de Loyola came there about the time that Calvin left Ignatius de Loyola, that's known, who he was? founder of the Jesuits. The Collège de Montague was very conservative, strict Roman Catholic. They promoted heresy trials. The reasons why Calvin changed are not clear. It's thought that the Church of Noyon, who paid for the expenses, may have wanted to have this young man studying for priest, not to attend a modern liberal humanistic college, like the Collège de la Marche, but the more strict monastery school. At this Collège de Montague, a medieval spirit was present. The school was very harsh. The students received little food, but many beatings. But Calvin learned much there, the principles of logic, philosophy, medieval theology, and actually perhaps he even learned here his utmost self-regulation in confining himself to little food, little sleep, and to much labor. could very well be that he learned this here at this Collège de Montague. He became acquainted with the writings of the Church Fathers, and especially Augustine. His strong memory was trained there. They had to learn to argue and to dispute according to the rules of logic. For instance, they would dispute on matters such as, who holds on to the pig as it is brought to the market, the man or the rope? that was a matter they had to discuss, just to train them in logical thinking so that Calvin later on was outstanding in his logical thinking through of matters it has something to do with the training he received at Montague ok, acquaintance with the Reformation, David could you read that? It was during the years 1523 to 1528 that Calvin studied in Paris at the Collège de la Marche and at the Collège Montague. It must have been during this time that he heard about the Reformation. His professor's systematic theology at the Collège de Montague was an ardent opponent of Wycliffe, Haas, and Luther. But Calvin also became acquainted with the Reformation in a friendlier manner. because in Paris he became friends with Nicolas Cope, one of the sons of the first physician of the French king, William Cope. Another son of William, Michel, became later a pastor in Geneva. At the home of this Cope family, Calvin met all kinds of people who would discuss the modern new ideas of Renaissance and humanism. They discussed the new understanding of scripture, as taught by the early reformers. It was in this home that the famous Hellenistic scholar, William Bude, was often present. Letters were received there from men like Erasmus, and one may fully suppose that the names of Luther, Lefebvre, Détable, Berquin, Melanchthon were mentioned. This home of the Kopp family was in great contrast with the Collège de Montague. The later was strict, sober, scholastic, while the former was warm, open, mild, and portrayed wisdom. Calvin seemed to adjust well in both atmospheres. Maybe the reading of the Bible assisted Calvin already in these days, because it was during these days that John associated himself with a fellow townsman and older cousin Pierre Robert, nicknamed Olivetan, because he burned midnight oil while studying. It was this Olivetan who would later prepare a full French Bible translation. At this time already he encouraged Calvin to read and study the Bible systematically Soon after this, Olivetan left Paris for Orléans, and later settled in Strasbourg. Yes. Well, here we see the first acquaintance that John Calvin had with the Reformation. That was at the home of one of his friends, Nicolas Copp, the sons, one of the sons of the first physician of the French king. it was here that they mentioned names of Luther, Lefebvre, de Tople, Burquin they were French humanists promoting freedom of thought and going back to the original writers and Melanchthon Okay, further studies. Eric, could you read that please? John finished his studies at the Collège de Montague and obtained the degree Magister in the Liberal Arts. Then he studied further at the Sorbonne, the citadel of religious orthodoxy. He followed the usual theological curriculum following Peter Lombard's sentences. Calvin's studies in Paris were interrupted by his father's decision that he should give up studying theology and change over to the study of law. His father knew that John would make more money being a lawyer. 1528, Calvin left Paris to go to Orleans, which had a much better faculty of law than Paris. It was here in Orleans that Calvin studied at the best law scholar of his day in the Hall of French, Pierre Tyson d'Etoile. Calvin admired him, and Calvin's first publication was a defense of the special qualities of this jurist, 1531. In Orleans, Calvin worked as hard as he did in Paris. At night, he did not eat much. He studied till midnight. Early in the morning, he woke up and rehearsed in bed what he had studied the evening before. He made many friends here. Several letters from Calvin are still preserved from this period. Most of them are addressed to Francois Daniel. Later, in Geneva, when one of Francois Daniel's sons comes to Geneva to study Reformed Theology, and his father is upset with this, Calvin again wrote Francois Daniel, his old study friend, a letter. a moving Philemon's letter in which he pleaded for this son. And while Calvin still pleaded his own love and friendship to Francois, he also called him to task that he was still in the gulf of the Roman Catholic faith. Selected Works, Volume 7. But if you are cold and tardy in emerging from the gulf in which you are plunged, at least bear no grudge against your children if God delivers them from it. very pinpointedly how Calvin could write that so he wrote this to Francois Daniel because one of his sons later on would join Calvin in Geneva and then Calvin writes a letter to his old study friend taking it up for this son of Francois Daniel yes Eric? in 1529 Calvin moved to Bourget For there, the Italian humanist Andrea Alciati taught. Alciati was a great representative of the Italian Renaissance. He taught Roman law and classics. He taught Calvin to admire Roman law, and he opened up the world of the ancient Greeks to Calvin. This led Calvin to desire to study Greek. And in Bourget, he became friends with a German-Greek scholar, Melchior Womar, a man with Lutheran leanings, whom he had already met in Orleans. Calvin now took Greek lessons from Womar. It was not to be able to read the Greek New Testament, but to be more able to participate in the world of Greek scholars. At Womar's home, Calvin met a young boy of 10 years of age, Theodore de Beza, whose parents had placed him under the care of this renowned teacher. It was this young boy who would one day become Calvin's close friend, biographer, and successor at Geneva. Calvin obtained his Licentiate in Law at Bourget. He desired, however, to focus more upon the study of the ancient languages, and especially Hellenism. In March 1531, Calvin returns to Paris to consult with printers regarding the publication of his doctoral thesis, Commentary on Senecas de Clementia. In April, Calvin travels on to Noyon, where his father is seriously ill and finally dies on May 26. Because of his father's death, Calvin is relieved of the obligation to continue the study of law, and consequently he turns his attention to the study of humanism. To study the classic writers, Calvin has to be in Paris. It was there that Boudet had advised King Francis I some years before to establish a new college, College Royale, which was to be the opposite of the strict Sorbonne. At this new college, science, and especially the ancient classic writings, should be studied without any hindrance. It was here that humanism could be fully brought to fruition. The holy scriptures were studied in the original languages in spite of angry protests of the Sorbonne. In June, Calvin hurries back to Bourget, gathers up his things, and goes to Paris, where he settles at last to finish his doctoral thesis, his commentary, and to attend the lectures in Greek of Pierre Daines at the College Royal. Now Calvin has matured much. He had deep friendship ties to the young professor of philosophy, Nicholas Kopp, and Calvin becomes more acquainted with Protestant circles in Paris. In September and October of 1531, lectures were suspended at the College Royal because of the plague in Paris. The whole faculty and student body leaves the city and Calvin resides in a village called Chalons. In February 1532, the manuscript of his commentary is finished and it appears on the market in April 1532. Despite many appeals from Calvin to various scholars to promote the book, the book does not sell well. The publication is undertaken at Calvin's own expense by a Flemish publisher in Rue de Saint-Jacques-Ouest. The Commentary on Seneca's Treatise on Clemency is a commentary written on the moral treatise of Seneca called De Clementia. on forbearance or concerning meekness. The commentary deals with ethical matters, but has no evidence of Protestant leanings in it. It is a typical product of Erasmian humanism. Calvin's quotations are nearly all drawn from Greek and Latin sources. He quotes the scriptures three times. Calvin's aim was to establish himself as a humanist scholar. In May of 1532, Calvin goes back to Orleans for a few months to finish off his law degree, but then returns. Go back for a moment. Go back to the further studies on page 2 where Eric started to read. Jean finished the studies at Collège de Montaigu, obtained the degree Magister in the Liberal Arts, then he continued on at the Sorbonne. And what was customary there was that they would study Peter Lombard's sentences, the standard medieval dogmatics. That's what they would study there. and then he had to change from theology to become a lawyer therefore he went to Orleans and there was the best law scholar of the whole of France in those days and that's where he studied then, go on to page 3 After that, on the second paragraph, he moved to Burgess, where the Italian humanist taught. It was there that he started to teach Roman law. It was there that he... Hello? I think we still have a copy for you. You can give... Tom, welcome. We're on page three of the developments in John Calvin's life. Page three. Okay, second paragraph there. Well, it was in Burgess that Calvin started to study Roman law. and that opened up to him the whole world of ancient Greeks that led Calvin to desire to learn Greek so that's where he actually started to learn Greek and also it's thought in those days he started to learn Hebrew as well well in March 1531 Calvin returns to Paris to consult with printers regarding the publication of his doctoral thesis commentary on Seneca's De Clemencia and well okay then he went back to Paris to study there we move on and then Good. So in the meantime, what we see now is Calvin has studied theology, law, Greek, Hebrew. He has become a great admirer of Roman law because of the whole view of logic portrayed therein. And he wants to establish himself as a humanist scholar. Therefore, he put much effort into his commentary on Seneca's De Clemencia. Later I will come back to that at the end of this paper. Then we have the conversion. Lawrence, could you read 1533? 1533 is a crucial year for Kelvin. It is this year that has been stated as his conversion or at least a personal public testimony that he'd adhere to the new reform doctrine. Kelvin did not have a striking conversion experience. He wrote seldom about it. There are two places in his writings in which he writes about his conversion. Answered to Cardinal Sadoleto's letter to the citizens of Geneva and his preface to the commentary on the Book of Psalms. Calvin writes that he was especially held back from reform ideas because of his great reverence for the Church. In his preface to the Psalms commentary he writes, and at first while I remained thus so obstinately addicted to the superstitions of the papacy that it would have been hard indeed to have pulled me out of a so deepest a quagmire by a sudden conversion. God subdued and made teachable a heart which for my age was far too hardened in such matters. Right. So, yeah, he writes in two places in his writings about his conversion. In first in Cardinal Sadolato's letter in his answer to Cardinal Sartolato's letter to the citizens of Geneva and in his preface to the comment of the Book of Psalms. Very striking for Calvin is that he says that he was held back from Reformation ideas because of his great reverence for the Church, something Luther also had. How could he, a monk, stand up against a thousand years of Church history? Imagine the courage these men indeed had, driven by God's Spirit. John Calvin had had the same great reverence for his church, for the church as he knew it. But then in his commentary to the Psalms, he says that God, by a sudden conversion, made me teachable. It's very striking in conversion that Calvin emphasizes that, that a heart is made teachable. Yes, in August 1533, Calvin is still negotiating with the chapter of Noaillon about a procession that is to be held. So this deals with when was Calvin converted? Now we're going to try to pinpoint when exactly this conversion takes place. In August 1533, Calvin is still negotiating with the chapter of Noaillon about a procession that was to be held. and he asked them to have various prayers read because of a pest, a plague epidemic. At this time he is still Roman Catholic, at least in his public appearance. It was in this year, 1533, that Calvin became intimately associated with Gerard Roussel, whom King Francis I had permitted to preach his evangelical views to large crowds at the Louvre. Encouraged by the King's friendly attitude towards humanist reformers, they decided to make their views concerning religion and their hostility against the scholastic professors of the Sorbonne known more publicly. Nicolas Copp had been made rector of the University of Paris, that was then his old study friend, who had in the meantime become a professor in philosophy. He had now been promoted to be Rector of the University of Paris, and was scheduled to offer his inaugural speech on November 1, All Saints Day, 1533. And on November the 1st, he held his speech. Cobb spoke on blessed are the poor in spirit, and therein he emphasized the distinction between law and gospel, the importance of God's grace in obtaining salvation. He minimized the role of good works and attacked the intolerance of the Sorbonne theologians. really, if a present-day Roman Catholic would look and look at that, there would be nothing in there much that would give him to raise his eyebrows in a great manner. But for those days, it was a great shock, and especially he criticized the way how they did theology, how they stuck to the scholastic, medieval way of doing theology, and he really co-promoted the humanistic way of doing theology, and thereby criticized the professors at the Sorbonne. What's the difference between scholasticism and humanism? You can tell me that. scholasticism that was the medieval way of doing theology whereby one reasoned with yes and no, sick at none that's how the medieval philosophers would reason and whereby they would just they would in a very casuistic manner they would reason they would reason about the without looking at the original texts and the original writings they would reason in a very strict matter, and they would read all kinds of interpretations into those old texts, and then reason about those interpretations. It was a very philosophical way, and a very tiresome way. they would not look at scripture so much, they would not look at the original interpretation or meaning of those authors, but they would ascribe their own authors. For instance, also how they viewed scripture. You know, the medieval scholasticity stated there were various ways how you could look at scripture. Every text has a specific has various meanings. It has an ethical meaning, it has an allegorical meaning, it has a dogmatic meaning, it has a meaning whereby you can uphold the way we have church. And scholasticism would especially then study the opinions of all these post-classist theologians. So I mean thereby not the classic writers, not the church fathers, but their interpretations thereof. That's what they would study. Something like the rabbis. You know that it was said of old, the Lord Jesus says that to the people. The Lord Jesus does not mean to say that he criticized what Moses said, but he criticizes the interpretation of rabbis. And all those rabbi schools were fighting against each other. That's a very scholastic approach. That's scholasticism. School, the schoolmen they are called. They had their own schools, their own way of interpreting. And they were fighting each other. That's scholasticism. While humanism said away with all that reasoning of yes, but it can also be no. Of who leads the pig? Is it the man, the farm, or is it the rope? That's a scholastic reasoning. while humanism looked back at what did the classic authors originally mean in their time setting. So we have to study the whole Hellenistic life pattern in which they lived. and we have to study the various scholars in those various schools philosophical schools and their criticism to each other so that you study ad fontes back to the sources that's a typical humanistic approach that's why Erasmus put out the Greek commentary on the Greek New Testament which was a major breakthrough also for the Reformation you know that's humanism going back to the sources understanding what the sources meant and from there coming with a new interpretation that's why the whole doctrine was also called the new doctrine the reformation was called the new doctrine because it was based also on humanism. Now, humanism of the Middle Ages is not to be compared with what we now call humanism. Humanism is now very man-centered. Everything is reasoned from man. Humanism, as we now know it, has no understanding for a higher being or God. while the humanists of the 16th century were very religious people but their only striving was to get at the original interpretation of the truth a quest for truth you could call it now that's humanism, scholasticism, humanism De La Marche was very humanistic, Montague was very scholastic and then those Sorbonne theologians connected with Montague they were very scholastic and they were fond of heresy trials and so on now Copp spoke here the distinction between law and gospel the importance of God's grace in obtaining salvation He minimized the role of good works. He didn't negate the role of good works, but minimized them, and attacked the intolerance of the Sorbonne theologians. To a present-day Roman Catholic, that would not be a bombshell. But in those days it was, because, especially of the whole scholastic mindset, they very much heavily emphasized good works. And a present-day Roman Catholic will also speak about grace in obtaining salvation. Oh, grace? Of course, they have a completely different understanding of grace. What understanding, John, does a Roman Catholic have of grace? What's their view of grace and our view of grace? According to justification, you mean? it's justification by an infused righteousness rather than that we are justified by faith in Christ's righteousness so grace is indeed something grace is a material infused into you that's grace so the fact that he emphasized grace would not so much be disturbing to a Roman Catholic it just depends how you interpret it all well anyway If we continue on then, God's word alone can be the basis for peace in the church. Now, that was also something that was considered to be heresy in those days. We are accepted by God only because of the promise of Christ. Well, much of the speech was drawn from an All Saints' Day sermon of Luther, as well as from Erasmus' preface to the third edition of the Greek New Testament. Well, immediately those Sorbonne theologians, they were up in arms, and they just sent out the soldiers to arrest them. And then Cobb fled, escaped to Basel. Officers went to arrest Calvin, because they thought he was behind it too, and he also chose to flee. And so, what's important now is conversion. If you go back, just go back to page 4, August 53, he is still at the chapter of Noyon, outwardly professing Roman Catholicism. And on November 1, 1533, Nicholas Copp held a speech, which Calvin wrote. So somewhere between that September, October 1533, if we want to pinpoint that, we call that Calvin's conversion. Good. Calvin Flees. Calvin escaped Paris, came to Angoulême under the pseudonym of Charles d'Esperville. He was disguised as a grape farmer. He remained there for the half of 1534 as a guest of his influential friend Louis de Dutilette. Louis Dutillet was going to be a companion of Calvin, later on he would flee with Calvin out of France, but later on Dutillet would recant and relapse and fall back into Roman Catholicism. But now at least he was still Calvin's friend and companion, he could he had access to the large personal library of his friend's father. And it's here in 1534 that it's supposed that he wrote the first draft of the Institutes which were going to be put out first in 1536. May 4, 1534, the official breaking with the Roman Catholic Church takes place. Calvin goes back to Noyon to resign his ecclesiastical benefices for having reached the age of 25. He would have had to take orders in the church in order to maintain his benefices. He declines his quasi-offices. quasi officers, because he never really functioned as a bishop or a priest or whatever, but others performed his tasks for him, but he received money for it. He resigns his benefices and began his wanderings, together with his friend Dutille. Calvin now has no income. He went briefly to Paris and then he roams the country, disguised as this grape farmer. He went to Angoulême, Orleans, Poitiers. Calvin found in these places evangelical-minded people to whom he preached and for whom he administered the Lord's Supper in a simple Protestant form. He preaches in caves and cellars and secret hiding places between the rocks. Calvin was very much aware that the Anabaptists were gaining influence in France, and one of their doctrines was that at death the soul went to sleep until awakened by the final resurrection of the dead. To confute this, Calvin wrote in Orleans his treatise, Dei Psychopanigia, on the sleep of the souls. But the hiding in France comes to an end when the affair of the placards takes place. Placards That is, big posters were posted throughout France, public announcements, posted in many of the chief towns of France, including Paris, violently attacking the mass as a great, horrible, and unendurable abuse in direct contradiction to the Holy Supper of the Lord. And this event caused an uproar. It's too bad that that took place. where you see often when the Reformation tried to reform in a violent manner that it all backfired and then much damage was done because God's kingdom is never brought about by our power, by our might, by our zeal but it's brought about by God's Spirit through the means of His Word they could have better on continued preaching But they, with this placard, they violently attacked the Mass as a contradiction of the Holy Supper of the Lord. This event caused an uproar. Government responded immediately. 200 arrests were made by the middle of November. 20 people were executed. In January 1535, a royal edict was announced against Lutherans. It's too bad that this all happened. Because at this time, Francis I was still quite lenient towards Protestants. he allowed preachers in Paris to preach the Reformed and Lutheran doctrine but because of this revolutionary spirit the government became afraid. Don't forget what happened in 1531 in 1531 in Germany that then the Anabaptist radicals they had gotten hold of Münster and they had tormented the population they had with violence ousted the ruler of Münster and the whole of Europe was in alarm because of that that had done much damage and immediately any government when some riot would take place would think of what happened in Münster and they would crush it with violence and that explains also these many arrests In 1535, Calvin's friend, Etienne de La Forge, a merchant with whom Calvin had lodged in Paris, was burned. Calvin and Dutilleux decided to flee the country. Later on, Dutilleux would return to Roman Catholicism. They fled to Germany. Well, they nearly couldn't flee because one of their servants took off with the horses and the money. But there was one servant who remained with them who still had some money of his own. And with that money they could still flee the country. Via Metz they came to Strasbourg and arrived in January 1535 in Basel. There he completed the first edition of the Institutes and this work was published in March 1536. Okay, how about we just stop now. Let's move on then. and good now let's have a look now we have this evening this afternoon and then we have two mornings right Tuesday and Thursday morning that's what we have then Tuesday and right Tuesday 8 o'clock okay and we still have three hours but we'll have another break of course so and we have page five page twenty five all right let's move on we'll have to get uh... Calvin flees. We've read that already, Calvin comes to Geneva. Okay, in April 1536, Calvin, what happened was exactly, to get the thing straight, we know a bit about of course how it all happened, how he didn't want to go to Geneva, he just happened to pass through, but what happened exactly was that Calvin from Basel goes to northern Italy Ferrara to the Duchess supports work of the Reformation has Humanists at her royal court she supports work of the Reformation and then back in Basel Calvin Calvin returned to Basel back there he made a visit into France to take care of some family matters and Apparently there was a temporary lull in the persecution of the Protestants, that's why he could return. In June of 1536 Calvin was on his way out of France again, taking with him his younger brother Antoine and his sister Marie. Calvin was headed for Strasbourg. But people in those days could not travel as they pleased, due to the fact that King Francis I and Emperor Charles V were at war. Again, he could not travel straight from France into Germany. It was, by the way, by divine providence that those two Roman Catholic kings were so often warring with each other. It was because of their wars that, humanly speaking, the Protestantism in Germany survived. but anyway they were at war again therefore he could not travel France into Germany because the armies were gathered and they were at the point of fighting each other He had to take the roundabout way of traveling from France into Switzerland, and from Switzerland he would then go north into Germany was the idea. And therefore it was in July 1536 that John Calvin arrived in Geneva with the idea of staying there overnight and to travel on the next morning. At that time, Guillaume Farel and Pierre Virret had achieved that the papacy was expelled from Geneva. a desire in Geneva to be independent from Rome for monetary reasons, and therefore there was room for reformed preaching. Guillaume Farel and Pierre Virret had achieved that, but there was still much confusion in the city. Farel needed help. and then Calvin later on writes in his commentary on the Psalms, upon this Pharrell, burning as he was, a marvelous zeal, with a marvelous zeal to promote the gospel, instantly put forth all his efforts to detain me. And after having heard that I had several particular studies for which I wished to keep myself free, when he saw that he was gaining nothing by entreaties, He went so far as an imprecation that it might please God to curse the rest and quietness I was seeking, if in so great a necessity I withdrew and refused aid and succor, which would, so horrified and shook me that I desisted, from the journey I had undertaken, in such a way, however, that feeling my shame and timidity, I did not want to commit myself to discharge any particular duty." So really what he, Calvin was forced really to stay in Geneva, which he did. So insistent was Pharrell that Calvin begin his new task immediately, that he gave him only a few days for the purpose of straightening out his affairs in Basel. So it was in August 1536, Calvin was back in Geneva, given the position of reader in Holy Scripture to the Church of Geneva. He began lecturing on St. Paul's epistle to the Romans. He at that time was an unknown person to many. It still took various months until he until he would be appointed. Until he was not appointed, he would be appointed as a regular preacher. And still it's unknown if John Calvin was ever officially ordained a pastor. That has never historically been verified, if John Calvin was ever ordained as a minister of the gospel. Although he preached numerously, it's questionable if he ever was ordained. probably not, and he was really so unknown to the town, to the people, the town secretary in the official proceedings recorded that he was referred to as that Frenchman. He worked there but received no income until February of the following year. He was drawn back, timid, virtually unknown until in October 1536 two months later in Lausanne there was a theological disputation various Roman Catholic representatives as well as Pharrell, Viret and Calvin and the whole discussion took place upon the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper for quite a few days they were arguing together those scholastics against those humanists and Calvin didn't say anything until on the fifth day Calvin stood up and extemper-quoted numerous church fathers concerning the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, and thereby refuted the Roman Catholics in such a manner that all the hearers were deeply impressed. And then Calvin gained more reputation at a synod in the Swiss city of Bern, held in October, to consider if the churches could adopt the Wittenberg formula of concord established in 1536 between Bucer, Luther, Capito and Melanchthon. also in regards to the Lord's Supper. Calvin became well known because of his input at this synod. The Swiss did not accept this formula. That was precisely because of Calvin's defense of the reformed view of the Lord's Supper. The result was that everyone seemed to talk about Calvin. That is interesting, though, because there you see that immediately a change must have taken place in Calvin's thought concerning the Lord's Supper. Because as I'm reading this to you, in the 1536 edition of the Lord's Supper, he is very much heavily leaning upon Luther, and doesn't really state much about deviating from Luther concerning the Lord's Supper. but in broad terms he deals with it but here but don't forget it was written in 1534 and finished in 1535 published in early 1536 and in late 1536 Calvin was present at the Synod in Bern apparently he had changed his mind during 1536 during his studies in which it became clear to him that there was a real presence of body and blood in the Lord's Supper, but not by some ubiquity theory of Luther. We'll come back to that later on. That may not be altogether clear, but it was because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. They did not accept that formula of Concord. All right. Articles concerning the Reformation of the Church So Calvin then started off Calvin then immediately as he was appointed a minister started off organizing the church. The church must be reorganized and he drafted these articles concerning the government of the church They were adopted by the Little Council and later on the Council of 200, two governing bodies of Geneva, accepted as law in 1537, January 16. These articles propose a systematic discipline among all citizens. a confession of faith to be made by the members because only members in good standing had to partake of the Lord's Supper or were considered to partake of the Lord's Supper so there you see already that Calvin as a minister is at work organizing, reforming the church with confession of faith to be taken That was something which was not known up to that time. There had to be a proper instruction in the fundamentals of Christian faith which had to serve as a preparation for doing public confession of faith. He drafted up a proper liturgical order. had to consist of preaching, reading of scripture, prayer, the singing of psalms. Regulations were made concerning marriage solonizations. Discipline had to be maintained. Wherefore, Geneva was divided into 26 districts. Men were appointed to have oversight of the districts, and misconduct had to be reported to the ministers, who in turn had the right to excommunicate disobedient members of the church. So it had to be proper instruction, proper discipline, proper administration of the Lord's Supper, only to members in good standing. Members in good standing had to be those who had first done confession of faith, not Lord's Supper open to everyone, as the Roman Mass had been, but there had to be a proper administration of that. In this way, Calvin hoped to secure a distinction between those who wish to belong to the Reformed Church and those who still wish to belong to the Roman Catholic Church. If needed, the Church could request the civil government to deal with those who mock the gospel or the ordinance of Christ. Calvin was very much in favor of distinction, church, and state. He was very emphatic upon that the state may not overstep its boundaries and look into the affairs of the church. The church, on the other side, is considered to be a servant of Christ, and the state is considered to be a servant of Christ, and the church may then request the state to punish people who were disobedient to Christ, and that is also something in the setting of the days in which Calvin lived. It's something we now could not and maybe even would not want to have anymore. But that's what Calvin did state. The impact of these regulations were very severe. Ecclesiastical discipline secured the independence of the church over against the government in agreement with the original situation in apostolic days. Calvin firmly believed that pastors should not only preach, but should also watch over the lives of their flocks, a two-pronged approach. There's a church discipline, and there is the preaching of God's Word, that the Word has impact upon our heart, but also upon our lives, upon our daily walk. that the church must be kept holy. Later on we'll hope to see that tomorrow morning, how Calvin viewed the church. Very important. Well, this all promoted quite some resistance, opposition against Calvin and then Farel. However, the Articles were not enforced because Calvin and Farel were forced to defend themselves against serious opposition. The first opposition came from Pierre Caroli, a French minister in the north of France who functioned as a pastor in Bern and accused Calvin and Farel of denying the doctrine of Trinity. A disputation took place in which Calvin referred to his recently published catechism and confession of faith Caroli retorted that these writings did not confirm the Nicene and Athanasian creeds to which Calvin responded that Pharrell and he believed in God and not in Athanasius. Immediately the government in Bern adjourned the whole meeting. A general synod had to be convened. Calvin defended his position with so much skill that Caroli was dismissed. Calvin and Pharrell were exonerated. Caroli left for France. He there returned to Roman Catholicism. After some time he came back into Germany. Calvin was going to meet him again in Strasbourg. There again he claims to be reformed, but then later on he will recant completely and he will completely return to Roman Catholicism. In spite of the fact that Calvin and Pharrell had been vindicated, the Council of Bern reproved them sharply, and German and Swiss reform ministers looked with suspicion upon Calvin and Pharrell. And besides this, Calvin had to defend his position against Anabaptists who had come from the Netherlands to try to spread their beliefs in Geneva. The danger was refuted. Calvin asked the council to suppress those Genevans adhering to Anabaptism. Well, because of all these attacks upon Calvin, that he would not believe the Trinity and these attacks on the Anabaptists and having to defend himself before the Swiss government, therefore he could not carry out and follow through his articles of reformation in Geneva. Yes, David? Why did they look upon him with suspicion? They did so because there was still blame put upon him because it's still you know you can be put in a position in church life in which you defend yourself and which you are, when people still consider that you are, admit, and have to admit that you are still sound in doctrine, but that still a blame is placed upon you. That can be a tool of the Prince of Darkness too, that he can lead his servants into a dispute that they never sought, which they are innocent upon, but that still they leave that dispute Their truth is vindicated, but still people look upon them with suspicions. That's possible. That happened to them too. Something can happen in church life. Wasn't there also a constant tension between the government of Geneva and Selwyn? Yes, that's coming now. Exactly, you're correct, that came. Yeah, and that's what we find now. A more dangerous threat came from citizens of Geneva. Many did not want to reside under the authority of these ministers. These ministers, looking how we live. We can't dance anymore, and we can't have our own merry, happy life. All Genevan families, who for political reasons, we can also say for monetary reasons, had joined the Reformation Party, now formed a powerful opposition party. They resisted ecclesiastical authority of taking profession of faith. They just consider themselves members in good standing, we are reformed, that's it. Further, the church has nothing to say about us. We just lead our own life and that's it. Why is it necessary to do public confession of faith? I am a member of the church by virtue of baptism. Calvin and Farrell went to the council. requested to put the malcontents under church discipline. The council did not want to go that far. February 1538, various of these opposition leaders were chosen in the City Council of 200. And then the crisis came when the Council of 200 decided to adopt the recommendations from the government of Buren to implement certain ceremonies. imagine how the government was so heavily involved in church, that they said, from now on we're going to use the font in baptism, we're going to use unleavened bread in the Lord's Supper, observance of Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. Calvin and Farel had as such no strong objections against these ceremonies. And after these matters were formally adopted at the Synod in Bern so as to promote liturgical uniformity within the Swiss Reformed churches, a further German-speaking Synod at Zurich would again consider these matters. At this time the Council of Geneva asked Calvin and Farrell if they would adhere to these ceremonies. Calvin and Farrell requested permission to withhold their decision pending the outcome of the Synod at Zurich. and because communion was to be held the following Sunday, Easter Day. Saturday evening, the Council sent a messenger to ask Calvin and Pharrell if they would adhere to these ceremonies and use unleavened bread the next day. Pharrell was not located, and Calvin gave no answer. Consequently, they were both forbidden to preach. So, the Swiss Reformed churches wanted to have uniformity in liturgical matters. And what Byrne had adopted, they wanted to have Geneva adopt too. The city council said, yes, let's do that. Said Calvin and Farrell, this is how we're going to do it. Unleavened bread. We're going to use a baptismal font. We're going to have these feast days. Well, Calvin had no, as such, no problem with this all. But the issue was, he did not want to be told off by the government. The government does not have the right to tell me what to do. A church has authority, not the government over the church. And since Calvin gave no answer, he didn't want to give the idea that he would listen to the regulations imposed upon him by the government. He fought for the independence of the church. That was behind it all. The church is independent from the government. On Easter Day morning, April 21, Calvin preached at St. Pierre and Pharrell at St. Gervais Church. They both refused to administer the sacrament, not because they were against using unleavened bread, but because under the given circumstances, the celebration of the Lord's Supper would tend to be desecrated. Imagine the tension those men had to work under. standing there and said, I'm not going to celebrate the Lord's Supper. The courage, the tension, the mental vitality and spiritual vitality those men had. They could easily save their name, easily give themselves an easy way out, stay friends, everyone would be smiling. But they said, no, the church may not be, for the sake of Christ, may not be under the jurisdiction of the government. And on Easter then the swords were drawn. A great commotion followed, all in church. Ministers barely escaped with their lives. The next day the Council of 200 convened. They gave Calvin and Pharrell three days to leave Geneva. They both left immediately for Bern. Explained there to the Council of Bern they had never opposed the ceremonies of Bern and had been harshly treated by the Council of Geneva. Calvin and Pharrell appeared before the Synod of Zurich, where they were told to be patient in carrying out reform in the city of Geneva. The end result was the Council of Geneva did not want the two reformers back in the city, and in June 1538 they journeyed to Basel, and there the two men separated. That was to be for good. Calvin went to Strasbourg to assist Martin Bützer, who had repeatedly urged him to come to help him. Initially Calvin had hoped to have a quiet life of studying, delivered as he was from the burden of Geneva, but this was not to be. He was to be minister in Strasbourg. Pharrell left for Neuchâtel, where he had previously preached, and he would remain there for the rest of his life. Well, then Calvin came to Strasbourg. At that time, Strasbourg was an exceptionally tolerant city located on the Rhine between Germany and France. The Reformation had been introduced there already in 1523, so six years after Luther had hammered his Ninety-Five Theses. But they were very tolerant for those days, tolerant to those of other beliefs. Roman Catholic services continued. Anabaptists were welcome within the city walls. Also, other refugees were present within the city. The leaders of the Reformation were Martin Butzer, Matthias Zell, Wolfgang Capito, Kaspar Hedio. Butzer arranged that Calvin became the minister of the French refugee congregation in Strasbourg, consisting of 400 members. And during the three years in Strasbourg, Calvin experienced the most happy period of his ministry. Inspired by the fact that his salary was very low, He wrote it was too much to die and too little really to live. But so what did he do? He tried to supplement his income by lodging students in theology in his home in Strasbourg, many of which became ardent French Reformed preachers. Here he could labor unrestricted by influence of a magistrate. because he was completely free. The magistrate had no involvement whatsoever. So what did he do? Here he had all the time and opportunity to organize the French Church, the Reformed Church, as he saw and was convinced it had to be. He developed and introduced a liturgy for worship services, especially the singing of psalms. And what happened there in Strasbourg was what never had happened before for ages, that people would walk outside those medieval churches, huge cathedrals, and the whole church would be singing. People had not heard that for centuries. There was a choir would sing, but Martin Bucer introduced that, Calvin took it over, and the large churches were singing again. For us it's so normal, but for them it was so new. The whole church was singing. And Calvin introduced, therefore, we have to have psalm singing. Assisted by Clément Marot, Calvin composed psalms. Many tunes were taken from the Strasbourg organist Matthias Greiter, that we still have in our Psalter. Calvin considered the organ to detract from the simplicity of the worship service and the importance of the sermon, and therefore opposed its use. Zwingli did introduce the organ in his worship services and later on the reformed churches in the Netherlands and in other places in Europe except for the Scottish people they reintroduced the organ and happy we may be they did so I had two weeks ago a meeting with a small group of Scottish associate Presbyterian members in Toronto, and they admitted that church singing is so lousy when they were with minimal members, ten, twelve members still present, that now they are contemplating on reading the Psalms instead of singing them. There were some talks that our church in Toronto could merge with their church, but the end result was they wanted to stay on their own, so that didn't materialize. We thought maybe we could create a little place there for a student in the future, but anyway, that's where that was not to be. But I think we can be grateful for having an organ in a worship service. But anyway, Calvin initially didn't want to have it, It opposed the simplicity of the worship service. It was from the German Strasbourg churches Calvin adopted a liturgy for worship service and the most general liturgical forms. A few of the liturgical forms we now have, they come from Peter Dathanus, who had them from Calvin, and we still use them now. Here we are at the roots, at the birth chamber of our denominations, what happened in Strasbourg under John Calvin. Is the Strasbourg in France? This is Strasbourg, that is, I don't think, to be honest, I think it's now in France, but I'm guessing. It's on the other side of the river, on the French side. It's now in France and it used to be in Germany. It's now in France? Now in France. Yeah, because it's just across the border. Yeah, yeah, it used to be, yeah, in those days it was German. It's always struggled. Yeah, maybe after World War II it became French again. Yeah, became French again. Oh, okay. Yeah, I still recall Franz Spiker saying during his lectures that he went there and he knocked on the church where Calvin preached. And then he knocked on that medieval church and there was a woman, the custodian lady, sticking her head out of the window. And then Franz Spiker said, Is this the church where Calvin preached? And then the lady said, Oh, I'm only a custodian for five years, I don't know. That's so much for the influence of John Calvin now anymore in Strasbourg. Yeah, and a few years ago I could go to the Saint Pierre in Geneva with a few of my children and that was, you could go inside the church, it was quite nice but outside of the church it was crammed, packed with motorbikes and It had nothing anymore of that medieval atmosphere that Calvin must have known. But still, it's nice that you can be there at times. I was in Salzburg two years ago. I see. Interesting. Did you see his church? No, because we were on our way home from Switzerland, so we were just passing through. It's too bad. We're often in a hurry when you're there. Calvin had a free hand, the second paragraph there on page nine. Calvin had a free hand in organizing the church because it was a refugee congregation. He put into practice his views on church discipline and overview over those who partake of the Lord's Supper. The way Calvin organized the French refugee church in Strasbourg was to be the model for all French Reformed churches in the future. And here Calvin could implement himself how he understood that churches should function. You see that in Calvin's life, all his study, his background comes together. He had studied Roman law. He had insight in a proper regulation of matters, of organizing matters. He had feeling for that. He had feeling for theology, feeling for a logical reasoning through of matters. He had gone back to the original writings of Augustine. He had gone back to the New and the Old Testament. This all worked together, his insights in how a church had to be organized, how the preaching had to be, how the doctrine had to be. You see how all his background worked together to what we find here in Strasbourg. Well, it was during these years in Strasbourg that Calvin received the advice from Butzer to get married, and he was looking for someone who was modest, decent, plain, thrifty, patient, and able to take care of my health. So, gentlemen, here you have a recipe for a good wife. In August 1540 he married Idelet of Buren from Gelderland, the widow of an Anabaptist from Liege, Luik, from whom Calvin had been the means to change him to adhere to the Reformed faith. The marriage was a happy one, But there was only one child from this marriage, a son, Isaac, who was born prematurely and lived only a few days. Later on in Geneva, in March 1549, Idelet would die, much to Calvin's sorrow and grief. He was overwhelmed with grief, he would write then in letters. The years in Strasbourg were peaceful for Calvin, true except for one event when Pierre Caroli, the man who had opposed him in Switzerland because of his so-called views against the Trinity, when Calvin had said we don't believe in Athanasius but in God, then he came back from France into Switzerland, returned to Protestantism. He had been welcomed with open arms by Pharrell in Neuchâtel, and now Caroli came to Strasbourg. Butzer desired to reconcile Calvin and Caroli, summoned them to appear before a conference of Strasbourg teachers and preachers, and when Caroli brought up the refusal of Calvin and Pharrell to sign the ancient creeds in 1537, Calvin flew into a rage. This shows that Calvin at times could also give sway to anger and wrath. He at times was very relentless in anger in spite of his ironic spirit. History proved that Calvin was right in his judgment of Corolli. The latter turned out to be unable to work together with the ministers in Strasbourg and neither with the ministers in Metz. He eventually went back to Roman Catholicism in France for good. Calvin lectured at the famous gymnasium of Strasbourg. Gymnasium, you understand, is the medieval European name for an academic training school. It has nothing to do with our gym. An academic school of theology. Lectured on the Gospel of John, Paul's epistles to the Corinthians. He wrote various small treatises. But his famous reply was his reply to Cardinal Sadolato. What happened during Calvin's absence? Calvin's absence was felt almost from the beginning after his departure from Geneva. The Council of 200 wanted a reformed church under their supervision, but they simply lacked the ability to organize the church in such a way. Politically, the city was in disarray. The Council adopted a political treaty with Bern, which ensured greater control of Bern over Geneva. When this had become known, the citizens of Geneva were in uproar. The leaders who had ousted Calvin were deposed. There were four leaders who had initially expelled Calvin. Three were condemned to death and executed, and one fell off the prison wall while he was trying to escape, and he died. The Reformed Church in Geneva did not accept the ministers who were now laboring in Calvin's place. Calvin intervened by a letter to avoid a schism in the Church of Geneva, by writing that as long as his successors were men who preached and administered the sacraments in agreement with Scripture, there was no need to secede seeing that the church of Geneva was a true church of Christ, so he was writing that existing church in Geneva to adhere to the ministers that had now taken Calvin's place. There you see the meek attitude and how church-minded Calvin was, not personally minded, but church-minded, not his honor, but the church. That was what he lived for. In this disarray, Rome thought to gain influence in Geneva, and a Roman Catholic convention was gained. The ousted bishop of Geneva thought he could gain control again of Geneva, and so they needed to write a very charming letter. This was not to be done by the bishop, ousted, which had been formally ousted by the Genevans, but by a very ironic, humanistic-oriented archbishop from France, and a man who aimed at reconciliation with the Protestant churches, Jacobus Sadoulatus. And in 1539 he wrote a letter to the citizens of Geneva to return to the fold of Rome. The letter was so well written Nobody in Geneva could answer it. Calvin read the letter in Strasbourg and immediately responded with one of the most beautiful apologetic writings of the Reformation. And in it he showed that Rome did not stand upon the principle of God's Word, and that both Rome and the Anabaptists stood at the grave of the Word of God. So, Lawrence, could you read, please? This quote here? Yeah, you either labour... You either labour under a delusion as to the term church or, at least knowingly and willingly, give it a gloss. I will meanly show the latter to be the case, though it may also be that you are somewhat in error. First, in defining the term you omit, what would have helped you, in no small degree, to the right understanding of it? We describe it as that which in all parts, as well as at the present time, in every region of the earth, being united and consenting in Christ, has been always and everywhere directed by the one Spirit of Christ, what comes of the word of the Lord, that clearest of all marks in which the Lord himself, in pointing out the Church, so often recommends to us. Foreseeing how dangerous it would be to boast of the Spirit without the word, he declared that the Church is indeed governed by the Holy Spirit, but in order that that government might not be vague and unstable, he annexed it to the Word. For this reason, Christ exclaims that those who are of God hear the Word of God, that his sheep are those which recognize his voice as that of their shepherd, and any other voice as that of a stranger. For this reason, the Spirit, by the mouth of Paul, declares, Ephesians 2.20, that the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Also that the church is made holy to the Lord by the washing of water and the word of life. The same thing is declared still more clearly by the mouth of Peter when he teaches that people are regenerated to God by that incorruptible seed. In short, why is the preaching of the gospel so often styled the kingdom of God, but because it is the scepter by which the heavenly king rules his people? Nor will you find this in the apostolic writings only, but whenever the prophets foretell the renewal of the Church or its extension over the whole globe, they always assign the first place to the Word. Okay, so what we see here so far is that you are under a delusion to the term Church. He says, the Church always rests upon the Word of the Lord. He explains herein that the Church without the Word is nothing. The Word is led through the Word is above the Church, and that goes contrary to the whole Roman Catholic view of relationship, Church and Word. and that through the Holy Spirit the Lord applies the word and leads his church and guides his church so that the church is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets. Now that's one principle reformed element of relationship of church and word that Calvin relates to here. Yes, please Lawrence, it's scarcely. It is scarcely possible that the minds of the common people should not be greatly alienated from you by the many examples of cruelty avarice, intemperance, arrogance, insolence, lust, and all sorts of wickedness, which are openly manifested by men of your order, but none of those things would have driven us to the attempt which we made under a much stronger necessity. That necessity was that the light of divine truth had been extinguished, the word of God buried, the virtue of Christ left in profound oblivion, and the pastoral office subverted. Meanwhile, in piety so stocked abroad, that almost no doctrine of religion was pure from admixture, no ceremony free from error, no part, however minute, of divine worship untarnished by superstition. Do those who contend against such evil declare war against the Church, and not rather assist her in her extreme distress? And yet you would take credit for your obedience and humility in refraining, through veneration for the Church, from applying your hand to the removal of these abominations. What has a Christian man to do with that prevaricating obedience which, while the word of God is licentiously contemned, yields its homage to human vanity? Again, all the ordinances in the Roman Catholic Church were kept out of reverence for the Church. The Church is the big thing under Rome. And Calvin says all those superstitions that buried the word of God and had extinguished the light of divine truth has to be overthrown. And so it goes on. This is just to give you a little taste of how Calvin reasons here in this answer to the letter that Cardinal Salilato wrote to the Genevans. Well, Calvin's reply to Sadolept helped pave the way for his return to Geneva. Because of political changes and disarray in the church, the people and Council of Geneva desired to have Calvin back. On October 20, 1540, an official embassy left Geneva to go to Strasbourg and to personally request Calvin to return to Geneva. Calvin refused. Butzer wrote to Geneva that the churches in Strasbourg needed to keep Calvin. Pharrell, who was not asked to return, and who would have taken offense in this, also urged Calvin to return. You see, they didn't ask Pharrell to come back, they only asked Calvin to come back. But Pharrell was not offended by that, he also wrote to Calvin, you must go. And the Genevans wrote, and they sent an envoy to him in person. Calvin refused. Butzer wrote back, no, we need him here. There's a whole correspondence going on. And the whole government was involved even. And then Pharrell even traveled in person to Strasbourg to try to persuade Calvin to return. Pharrell even threatened to break off his friendship with Calvin if he refused to follow the divine will of returning to Geneva. And then in a letter to Pharrell, Calvin writes, I have already waited so long for your letter that I may well doubt whether I ought to wait any longer. My anxious wish to hear from you kept alive my expectation and shall even yet sustain my hope for some few days. But if at length my hope shall give way, you will see how indignantly I have borne this disappointment. and your neglect is all the less to be tolerated, because Geneva at this present time affords you such abundant material for correspondence. Do tell, Lee, however, has written to me, and yet I do not clearly understand from his expressions what has been the catastrophe of this drama. Michael, also the printer, has communicated to me at Blacheret that my return thitherward might be brought about, but rather Would I submit to death a hundred times than to that cross on which one had to perish daily a thousand times over? So you would rather die a hundred times than go back to Geneva, which is such a cross that daily I would perish a thousand times. This piece of information I've wished, incidentally, to communicate to you, that to the utmost of your power you may set yourself to oppose the measures of those who shall endeavor to draw me back thither. In a letter to Verrett, Calvin writes, I read that passage of your letter, certainly not without a smile, where you show me so much concern about my health and recommend Geneva on that ground, why could you not have said at the cross? For it would have been far preferable to perish once for all than to be tormented again in that place of torture. Therefore, my dear Viret, if you wish well to me, make no mention of such a proposal. On September the 13th, 1541, Calvin, at the age of 32, entered the city for what he thought would be a number of months, but which was to be the rest of his life. He left his wife back in Strasbourg and his belongings, because really he thought they would only be for a little while. But this entrance into Geneva was much more different than Calvin's first entrance in 1536. After some time a special wagon was available that picked him up from Strasbourg, but also a wagon to pick, carriage to pick up all his belongings, his wife and everything. The council provided a handsome home and garden overlooking the lake, and voting him a salary of five hundred florins, plus benefits of twelve strikes of corn and two casks of wine. His years of poverty were over. I looked in Webster what a strike of corn was, but It does say it has something to do with harvesting, but I can't tell you how much a strike of corn is. Maybe some of you know, but anyway, that's what was in the official analysis recorded. But he received two casks of wine. Yes. Luther received partial payment in beer. Calvin received partial payment in wine. You see the distinction? Calvin, immediately upon his return, drafted the Ecclesiastical Ordinances. He was done in three weeks, so again you see, when he was a minister made in November 1536, he started already then with his ecclesiastical reforms, couldn't be put through. Now he is seasoned, coming back from Strasbourg, and in 1541, in three weeks' time, he was done with the ecclesiastical ordinances. The magistrate passed these regulations. They had now become rather meek, after all that had transpired, and in November 20, it was put in law. This did not grant everything Calvin desired, but permitted the Church of Geneva a greater degree of freedom than had been obtained by the other Reformers. The basic principles were those of the Articles of 1537 that Calvin had drafted, modified by Calvin's experience in Strasbourg, discipline placed in the hands of the Church, was in turn supported by the State, To carry out these ordinances Calvin was compelled to struggle the city government the rest of his life. Calvin thereby forced himself to fight against the city government. Discipline was in the hands of the church. had to be carried out by the church and if needs be the church could ask the government to support the church that was Calvin's principle and that brought him in continual battle with the magistrate but because of his own principles there was a blueprint set for his lifelong struggle. John, what you also referred to, his struggles against the magistrates and governments, that was indeed his lifelong struggle. Okay, now we're going to look at how did Calvin see the Church? What was it all about? Recognition of four office-bearers, pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons. In 1541 there were five pastors together with three assistants who together formed the Venerable Compagnie des Pasteurs, or however you pronounce that. They were charged with the preaching of the gospel, administering the sacraments, admonishing the members. They met every Friday to study the Bible and to discuss theology. Four times a year they discussed their own qualifications as ministers. new ministers were to be elected by the venerable company after approval of candidates by the government. So again, these are the pastors, three assistants. These were not the elders, but the pastors, the ministers. Eight of them, they were charged with preaching the gospel, administering the sacraments, admonishing the members, so they had to go on house visitation preaching and ministering the sacraments they met every Friday to study the Bible and to discuss theology so there's eight ministers every Friday would come together to discuss theology to train themselves and to study the Bible together and to pray together what a blessed gathering there must have been Four times a year they discussed their own qualifications as ministers, so they would scrutinize themselves. That's the beginning of censura morum that we now have in the consistory. It's originally not just a question, does anyone have objections against our celebrating the Lord's Supper? Is there anything in between us as brothers why we could not celebrate the Lord's Supper? but the heart of it was how do you function as elder? how do I function as elder or as minister? in the days of the secession the ministers would also gather together and they would also then scrutinize each other's sermons they would preach for each other and then criticize their sermons it would be blessed if we would have such an ability to do so again if there would be such a spirit of humility and love for the church and love for the Lord Jesus that this could be reinstated that shows a high level of spirituality and we could in earnest discuss each other's sermons and sharpen one another. But that's how they did it in Geneva. New menaces were elected by the venerable company, but the candidates had to be approved by the government, and that's something Calvin, of course, hated, and he must have fought against, but that was within these regulations. He didn't get everything he wanted. The city was divided into three parishes. On Lord's Day sermons were preached in two churches at daybreak, in all three churches at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Catechism classes were held at noon. Preaching would be conducted in all churches on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but by 1560 on every day of the week. Calvin desired to have the Lord's Supper celebrated at least once a month, but had to be content with four times a year, because the magistrate wanted to have four times a year. He didn't want to have it every month. But is there a reason for having it four times? Well, our reason for having it quarterly is because we have then, we have preparatory and post-communion, so we have a whole cycle. I'm not exactly sure what the reason was in those days why they did not want to have it every month. Well, what reason do we have it today? Oh, because we have the whole cycle of Yeah. Well, there are various reasons. Originally in the 16th century, the idea was that the elders would pay house visitation throughout the whole congregation before every celebration of the Lord's Supper. In Calvin, how Calvin did it was, we'll come across that too, is that he would examine the members when they would come to him. He would have them all come to him. Yeah, and what exactly transpired there, that would also be able to be traced, how that all went. I have a very interesting book at home on that, but that's something which will still have to be left for another time maybe. But he... I'm not exactly sure why it was changed from once a month to once a quarter. Why we have it is because it interferes too much, I think, with the schedule in church life, the daily routine. Yes? What I've seen outside of our circles is this progression from the quarterly cycle, to the monthly cycle, to the weekly cycle, and what happens is that the sacraments, in the end, supersede the Word. And, you know, even though we would like to have it more often, yet there's this healthy desire to keep it where it is. Yeah. Yeah, I've heard several opinions on it, and someone asked me again yesterday about it, and I gave my own idea. I just wanted to know whether you knew anything more about it. Was it always been quarterly? Was there a time when it was monthly or a time when it was more frequent or less frequent? As far as I know, it was always quarterly in the Reformed churches. If you look in the Old Church, you'll still find it from the 16th century. Was it more frequent during times of persecution? No, it would be less frequent in the persecution because of the lack of pastors. They would be in hiding and it would be difficult. I find it also very worthwhile the view that the sacraments are not to supersede God's word. is that it's not held too frequently so that it's not becoming almost formal and not too far apart so that it becomes something so strange in the church. I've heard that explanation given too, but I'm just... The church order allows for six times celebration a year, which I would not entertain, I would not advise. Why not? Because at the sacrament the emphasis is more upon the sacrament than upon the word. And it's beautiful in a congregation to have a frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper, four times a year, I think would be enough. Why? So that you could have ample time in between to preach series and to expound on God's Word. That would be, you could have... If there would be a high spiritual level In a congregation, you can have a more frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper. Let's put it this way. It would be better to have a more frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper if the people would be on a higher spiritual plane, that there would be so much love for the Word. Now I'm speaking about an awakening. When there will be so much love for the Word of God, so much love for personal communion, indeed, to be at the Lord's Supper, there could be such a longing and a drive in the lives of God's children that we could have it more frequent. But that would then mean longer worship services, when there would be all emphasis upon the Word, upon the preaching of the Word. But the preaching of God's Word must have the preeminence. I was just thinking with John's comment here, it's during times of persecution, then many times it's a time of growth for the church, spiritually. Because, you know what I mean, the people are living, because they need the Lord, desperately, in times of persecution. So I would say there would be a time maybe that it could be more frequent. But don't forget that persecutions is also a time of weeding out of the church. Yeah, right. Large churches, they decimate in times of persecution. Which would make the Lord's Supper even more necessary. You also have scattering then too, don't you? You have scattering. You don't have the gathering of the congregation. You have scattering. What would you say to the argument that having the Lord's Table would in fact raise the spiritual level of the congregation? Because there is, of course, the aspect of the sacrament is used to strengthen faith. No, then there has to be faith. But what you're referring to is increasing the level of faith, that you're putting, for the expression, the horse behind the wagon. No. The preaching of God's Word and they're blessed by God's Spirit, that will elevate them. The emphasis should be upon the preaching of God's Word. We are a Word church, and the Word will only, the preaching of the Word will only elevate a congregation or grant spiritual maturity, or not the salvation of the Lord's Son. That will be of comfort and of support and of strengthening for God's children. But, yeah, it would be the Word itself which would be... Anyway, let's move on. The teachers were to instruct the youth in the doctrine of God's Word. The elders were responsible for discipline. The deacons assisted in relief of the poor. The consistory consisted of the ministers and the elders. Initially there were five ministers and twelve elders. Now, if we look back then, at page 12, there were four office bearers, pastors, teachers, elders and deacons. Pastors for the preaching and also for admonishing the members. teachers were to instruct the youth. We somehow think our fourth office that we have in the back of our Psalter is that of doctors in theology to instruct theological students, and we say that comes from Calvin. Well, that does, but originally the doctors or the teachers, they were to instruct the youth. and then also then students. And then we have the elders responsible for discipline, which also included then visitation of the members, and then the deacons to relief of the poor. The total literary oeuvre of John Calvin, as far as has been preserved through the centuries, now comprises 59 volumes in Latin and French and would sell at around 1500 US at second-hand book auctions. The work Calvin did is inestimable. Calculations have been made that shows that per year Calvin preached 200 times and lectured 200 times per year. Preached 200 times That's a full Lord's Day and twice in the week and he lectured 200 times. His writing was very extensive. He wrote commentaries on nearly every book of the Bible beside many tracks and continually worked on upgrading the institutes. Often he would preach in the morning, come back, lie on his bed. As he was on his bed he would dictate. Calvin had had assistants who worked for him. That's why he could work so much. It wasn't that he wrote it all himself with his goose feather, but others did it for him. Okay, now then. Calvin's correspondence. Now we're going to go a bit more into his theology and then into some more meat Good.