DISCOURSE FORTY-FIFTH. JOHN CALVIN. CALVIN was born at Noyon, in Picardy, the 10th of July, 1509, the same year that Henry VIII. was crowned King of England, and one year after Luther, then twenty-five years of age, was established preacher and professor at Wittenburg. His family name was Cauvin, which he Latinized into Calvinus. When a mere child he used to pray in the open air; and evinced a remarkable sense of the presence of God. He studied at the College de la Marché, at Paris, and at that of Montaign. At twenty years of age he became preacher at Noyon. Subsequently he turned his attention to the law, in which he became proficient. He, however, resumed his studies in theology; and was turned away from the Catholic faith by his own investigations, and the cruel persecutions visited upon those who adopted the views of the Lutheran Reformation. He soon went to Italy, where he preached the new doctrine, but in 1536 was compelled to leave the scene of his labors, when he settled at Geneva and commenced the work of a Reformed Christian minister. Banished thence, he found a shelter from the storm at Strasburg, where he became professor and pastor. In 1541 he returned to Geneva and energetically recommenced the work of the Reformation. Much of the time he preached daily, lectured frequently in theology, presided at meetings, instructed the churches, defended the Protestants by his writings, and by visiting them from place to place, encouraged and confirmed their faith. He wrote, also, many elaborate works, and performed otherwise an amount of labor almost incredible. His health early began to decline, and at the age of fifty-four he rested from his labors, and went up to the reward of grace in heaven. The moral and intellectual endowments of Calvin marked him out for a man called and qualified to guide the opinions, and control the emotions of men in the trying times of the Reformation. And few have done more to shape the theological opinions of men for all time. The cautious Scaliger pronounces him the most exalted character that has appeared since the days of the Apostles, and at the age of twentytwo the most learned man in Europe. His works first appeared in 1578, in twelve folio volumes. Most of them have recently been issued by the Calvin Translation Society of Edinburg, in some fifty vols. 8vo. As a preacher, Calvin is by no means to be ranked with the pulpit orators of the 17th century. He knew nothing of the rhetorical art of which they made themselves masters; nor had the French language yet attained the flexibility and polish which it exhibited a century later. Simplicity is the prominent characteristic of his sermons. His style was like his character-plain, unartificial, transparent, and practical; verify. ing the remark of his biographer, that "the greater genius is always the more simple." Calvin preached extempore; but as his utterance was not rapid, the amanuenses reported him so exactly as to lead him to say of some of his sermons, "they were printed just as they fell from my lips." The sermon here given is an authentic specimen of Calvin's pulpit ministrations. It is one of four which he himself published at Geneva in 1552. It was entitled "On Bearing Persecution," and he put it forth as he says, "to exhort all believers to prize the honor and service of God more than their own life, and to strengthen them against all tempta tions." A few of the less important sentences are omitted for the sake of brevity. With this exception it is as fair a representation of the origi nal discourse, as can be made in the necessary translation. BEARING THE REPROACH OF CHRIST. "Let us go forth out of the tents after Christ, bearing His reproach."-Heb. xiii. 13. As persecution is always harsh and bitter, let us consider How AND BY WHAT MEANS CHRISTIANS MAY BE ABLE TO FORTIFY THEM. SELVES WITH PATIENCE, SO AS UNFLINCHINGLY TO EXPOSE THEIR LIFE FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD. The text which we have read out, when it is properly understood, is sufficient to induce us to do so. The Apostle says, "Let us go forth from the city after the Lord Jesus, bearing His reproach." In the first place, he reminds us, although the sword should not be drawn over us nor the fires kindled to burn us, that we can not be truly united to the Son of God while we are rooted in this world. Wherefore, a Christian, even in repose, must always have one foot lifted to march to battle, and not only so, but he must have his affections withdrawn from the world, although his body is dwelling in it. Grant that this at first sight seems to us hard, still we must be satisfied with the words of St. Paul, "We are called and appointed to suffer." As if he had said such is our condition as Christians; this is the road by which we must go, if we would follow Christ. Meanwhile, to solace our infirmity and mitigate the vexation and ever dreamed of, or fancied, is the treasure over which he watches and its attainment is as much more certain, as its value is more lasting and more glorious: "Seek, and ye shall find," sounds sweetly in his memory, and hope already represents the heaven to which he is approaching; and the love of Christ, and the power of His Spirit, and the conviction that the Lord is on his side, and that "He is able to keep that which is committed to him," will make his cares and his watchings more delightful than the rich man's repose. O ye sinners who have set your hearts upon the world and its vanities, and who say that the Lord is a hard task-master; and who think that the spiritual delights of his service, even upon this miserable earth, are all vain imaginations-if you do not believe that the Lord will fulfill His promise upon earth, do you mean to say that you believe that He will fulfill His promises in heaven? Do you pretend that you trust in Christ for acceptance in another world, when you doubt His good promise in this? Do you mean to say that you believe that He is able and willing to raise your vile body at the last day, and that He is not able and willing to support you under any spiritual sacrifice that you can make for His sake-that He is not able to change and purify your old heart? Do you really believe the one without the other? But the grand difference between the Christian and the man of the world is, that the burden of the one is gathering as he proceeds, while that of the other is becoming lighter and more easy: the man of carnal mind and worldly affections clings more and more to his beloved earth, and new cares thicken around his deathbed; his burden is collecting as he advances, and when he comes to the edge of the grave it bears him down to the bottom like a mill-stone. But the blessed Spirit, by gradually elevating the Christian's tempers and desires, makes obedience become more easy and delightful, until he mounts into the presence of God, where he finds it "a service cf perfect freedom." |