§ 72. CALVIN'S CONVERSION. 311
of Romanism, and was driven to a deeper sense of sin and guilt. "Only one haven of salvation," he says, "is left open for our souls, and that is the mercy of God in Christ. We are saved by grace — not by our merits, not by our works." Reverence for the Church kept him back for some time till he learned to distinguish the true, invisible, divine essence of the Church from its outward, human form and organization. Then the knowledge of the truth, like a bright light from heaven, burst upon his mind with such force, that there was nothing left for him but to obey the voice from heaven. He consulted not with flesh and blood, and burned the bridge behind him.
The precise time and place and circumstances of this great change are not accurately known. He was very reticent about himself. It probably occurred at Orleans or Paris in the latter part of the year 1532.^ In a letter of October, 1533, to Francis Daniel, he first speaks of the Reformation in Paris, the rage of the Sorbonne, and the satirical comedy against the queen of Navarre.^ In November of the same year he publicly attacked the Sorbonne. In a familiar letter to Bucer in Strassburg, which is dated from Noyon, Sept. 4 (probably in 1534), he recommends a French refugee, falsely accused of holding the opinions of the Anabaptists, and says, " I entreat of you, master Bucer, if my prayers, if my tears are of any avail, that you would compassionate and help him in his wretchedness. The poor are left in a special manner to your care ; you are the helper of the orphan. . . . Most learned Sir, farewell ; thine from my heart." ^
1 So Kampschulte (I. 242), Lefranc (p. 98, "dmis la seconde moiti^ de Vann€e 1532"), and, apparently, also the Strassburg editors, vol. XXI. 191. Beza seems to date the conversion further back (to 1528 or 1527) and traces it to the influence of Olivetan, and so also Henry and Merle d'Aubigne (I. 535). Stahelin (I. 21) puts it forward to the beginning of 1533. Calvin spent the greater part of the year 1532 to 1533 at Orleans. Op. XXI. 191.
2 Ep. 19 in Op. X. Part II. 27. Bonnet, I. 12. Herniinjard, III. 106. Lefranc, 109 sqq.
3 "Tuns ex animo." Op. X. Part II. 24. Bonnet, Letters, I. 9-11. Hermin-
312 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
There never was a change of conviction purer in motive, more radical in character, more fruitful and permanent in result. It bears a striking resemblance to that still greater event near Damascus, which transformed a fanatical Pharisee into an apostle of Jesus Christ. And, indeed, Calvin was not unlike St. Paul in his intellectual and moral constitution ; and the apostle of sovereign grace and evangelical freedom had not a more sympathetic expounder than Luther and Calvin. 1
Without any intention or effort on his part, Calvin became the head of the evangelical party in less than a year after his conversion. Seekers of the truth came to him from all directions. He tried in vain to escape them. Every quiet retreat was turned into a school. He comforted and strengthened the timid brethren in their secret meetings of devotion. He avoided all show of learning, but, as the old Chronicle of the French Reformed Church reports, he showed such depth of knowledge and such earnestness of speech that no one could hear him without being forcibly impressed. He usually began and closed his exhortations with the word of Paul, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" This is the keynote of his theology and piety.
He remained for the present in the Catholic Church. His aim was to reform it from within rather than from without, until circumstances compelled him to leave.
jard, III. 201, locates this letter in 1534, which is more likely than 1532. The letter presupposes a previous acquaintance with Bucer. This miglit be dated back with Kampschulte (I. 231) to the year 1528, if Calvin were that unnamed " Noviodiinensis juvenis " whom Bucer, in a letter to Farel, dated May 1, 1528, mentions as having fled from persecution at Orleans to Strassburg to study Greek and Hebrew ; but Bucer probably referred to Pierre Robert Olivetan, who was likewise from Noyon, and a relative and friend of Calvin, and perhaps brought Calvin into contact with Bucer. Herminjard, II. 132 (note 5), conjectures that the young man was Froment. But Froment was a native of Dauphine, not of Noyon. Comp. Op. X. Part II. 1 ; XXI. 191.
1 Audin, following in the track of Bolsec, traces Calvin's conversion to wounded ambition, and thereby exposes, as Kampschulte justly observes (I. 242), his utter ignorance and misconception of Calvin's character, whose only ambition was to serve God.