B.A.-“We left off last week with discussing your ‘termination’ from the Genevan church, and your pilgrimage to Strasbourg, the place you originally wanted to reside. What was your life like there?”
J.C.- “These were halcyon years for me. I ministered among exiles from France and was hugely productive in terms of church reform and writing projects: a French Psalter, a highly significant treatise on the Lord’s Supper, and a new edition of the Institutes. In addition I taught on John’s Gospel, 1 Corinthians, and Romans. And I made many close friends of the Reformation while there: Martin Bucer, Philip Melanchthon, and Ulrich Zwingli.”
B.A.-Is this the time that Melanchthon nicknamed you ‘The Theologian’?
J.C.-(blank stern stare)- And beyond all these accomplishments I found a wife.”
B.A.-“Would you tell us about her?”
J.C.-“ Her name was Idelette de Bure. She was the widow of one time Anabaptist who joined my congregation while in Strasburg along with Idelette and their children. In the spring of 1540, Idelette’s husband died of a plague. On August of that year we were married. The marriage proved to be happy one and lasted until March 1549 when she died after nearly 9 years of poor health. I never married again.”
B.A.-“But you went back to Geneva during this time correct?”
J.C.-“Yes, several years after my eviction from Geneva, the city magistrates regretted their decision and invited me back. They contacted me as early as October 1540, but I hesitated. I would have rather died a thousand deaths than go back to that godless city. But in the end I did return a year later in September 1541. I wrote to a friend, ‘I now go to Geneva, the city I fear more than any place under heaven’.”
B.A.-So that I understand it, you were pastor of the same church twice? Or you returned to the fellowship that fired you but regretted it? What was your return like?
J.C.-“I simply resumed with the next passage that followed where I left off nearly three and a half years prior.”
B.A.-“How were you received upon your return?”
J.C.- Upon return, I was given a handsome salary as well as a hospitality allowance for entertaining people in my home. I was given a home along with an expense to move my family to Geneva. A high pulpit of my choosing was installed at St. Peter’s church and provision was made to tailor make me a fur-trimmed black velvet pulpit robe. A two horse carriage was purchased for the comforts of my wife and children. Furthermore, the Geneva authorities affirmed their irrevocable commitment to me by publicly declaring, ‘Be it resolved to keep John Calvin here always’.”
B.A.-“And they got their wish. What about the state of the church?”
J.C.- I immediately began reforms in the church and the city. My work was so busy on the city council that I was relieved of all of my preaching duties except on Sunday. My normal preaching schedule was to preach twice on Sunday, once on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I averaged 250 sermons a year. I preached on New Testament books on Sunday, and Old Testament through the week.”
B.A.-“I think in a moment of providence, one of the greatest decisions in your ministry there was made by your deacons?”
J.C.-(scratching his chin whiskers wondering if I have overreached my question) “I believe you are referring to the deacons hiring of stenographer, Denis Raguenier to take down shorthand every word that I ever spoke in public. Thus over the next dozen years, 2,043 sermons were recorded and printed exactly as I had given them.”
B.A.-Well, I say greatest decision because they remain among the most valuable documents of Reformation preaching in history of Christianity. What about trials with your second stint in Geneva?
J.C.-“Like in every ministry there were forgettable moments. In 1547 an anonymous note was posted on the pulpit in St. Peter’s church that threatened my life. My brother had been ordained a priest, but was later accused of heresy and excommunicated by the church. My other and younger brother Antoine had a wife that was committing adultery against him with my housemaid. My own stepdaughter committed adultery. And one point with all this going on I was ashamed to even leave the house.”
B.A.-“We have so much more to talk about, but one question left, any advice that you would give to believers?”
J.C.-“To know God whom we worship.”
(Editor’s Note: Most of the material was taken from an outstanding book on Calvin called, John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine and Doxology edited by Burk Parsons).
No comments:
Post a Comment