RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Calvinr.
These wanderings lasted for two years and a half. As well as they can be made out their course was this: he went first to Angoul6me, where he studied in the excellent library of his friend Louis du Tillet and began his " Institutes "; next to Nerac in Apr., 1534, where Marguerite d'AngouIeme, duchess of Berry and sister of King Francis I. of France, held her court; in May he was at Noyon, where he resigned his benefices, and where he was for some reason imprisoned; in the closing part of the year he was at Paris again, and then it was he met Servetus for the first time. Next he appeared at Orleans, whence he issued his second publication, h.\g,\Psychopannychia, a refutation of the theory that the soul sleeps between death and the Last Judgment^ In Dec, 1534, he was at Angouleme, and thence with Du Tillet he removed to Strasburg to escape threatened persecution. --
In Jan., 1535, he was at Strasburg, and the same month at Basel. There he put the finishing touches on his " Institutes of the Christian Religion," and issued it Mar., 1536. The persecution of the Reformed in France was its immediate occasion. He thus speaks of this famous book in the preface to his commentary on the Psalms: " My objects were, first, to vindicate my brethren whose death was precious in the sight of the Lord; and next that, as the same cruelties might very soon after be exercised against many unhappy individuals, foreign nations might be touched with at least some compassion toward them and 7. Publica- solicitude abojit„them. /WJien it was tion of his then published it was, not the copious "Institutes." and labored work which it is now, but only a small treatise, containing a summary of the principal truths of the Christian religion; and it was published with no other design than that men might know what was the faith held by those whom I saw basely and wickedly defamed by those flagitious and perfidious flatterers;] That my object was not to acquire fame appeared from this, that immediately after I left Basel, and particularly from the fact that nobody there knew that I was the author." It was prefaced by a letter to King Francis I. of France, who was an archpersecutor of Protestants in his kingdom while cultivating friendly relations with them outside, which ranks as one of the masterpieces in apologetic literature.
After publishing it he went to Ferrara to stay
a while in the court of the Duchess Renee, wife of
Ercole II. In May 1536 he was in Aosta and a
little later in Paris once more. There he met his
younger brother Antoine and his half-sister Marie,
and with them left for Strasburg. The war then
pgoing on compelled him to make a detour and so
{he arrived in Geneva in the latter part of July,
1536, intending only to spend the
8. First night there. But Farel (see Farbl,
Residence Guillaume), who was trying with
in Geneva zeal not always directed by discretion
and in to keep the Genevans whom he won
Strasburg. for the Reformation at peace among
themselves, learned of his presence
and seeing in the young scholar, who wanted nothing
so much as to be allowed to pursue his studies in
quiet, a valuable ally, besought him to stay with him, and then, as Calvin himself says in the preface mentioned above, " finding that he gained nothing: by entreaties proceeded to utter an imprecation that God would curse [his] retirement and the tranquillity of the studies which [he] sought if [he], should withdraw and refuse to give assistance when the necessity was so urgent." Calvin felt as if " God had from heaven laid his mighty hand. upon [him] to arrest [him]." Unable to resist,, he laid aside all his plans and stepped to Farel's side. But the city could not brook the drasticreforms which the Reformers would institute, and so on Easter Monday (Apr. 23), 1538, less than two years from his arrival, he and Farel wereordered by the General Assembly to leave the city within three days. Calvin went to Basel, and then to Strasburg where on Sept. 8, 1538, he became minister to the French refugees, in the Church, of St. Nicolas aux OudesJ He married early in Aug., 1540, Idelette de Bure, widow of Jean Stordeur of Li6ge, an Anabaptist whom Calvin had converted to the pedobaptist position. She had had a son and daughter by her first husband, but they had died in infancy. To Calvin she bore a son on July 28, 1542, but he lived only a few days. She herself passed away on Mar. 29, 1549, and Calvin did not marry again.
When Calvin went to Strasburg he thought hehad done with Geneva. He was very poor, andhis position was comparatively obscure, but hi$' abilities soon brought him into prominence and appeals for advice from friends in Geneva kept him in touch with that city. He utilized his position to study and also to put into practise certain reforms he could not_carry out in Geneva. And his fame rapidly spread. \ He was asked toshare in the cathedral lecture course, next he was
sent as delegate of the city to the
9. Rising Colloquies of Worms and Regensburg.
Fame. (When on Mar. 18, 1539, Cardinal.
Recall to Tacopo Sadoleto wrote a letter to the-
Geneva, city of Geneva which was a plea for
it to return to the Roman obedience and it was sent to Bern, it was Calvin who was requested by the Bern government to answer, and he did in his masterly fashion. A change took place in the government in Geneva and the friends of Calvin got the upper hand. Then his virtues and extraordinary powers were remembered, and on Sept. 21, 1540, the Little Council voted to try to induce him to return. More and more the impression spread that he was the man to rule the cityTl There was no intention of going back, to Rome, but the city was torn by faction and contained many unruly elements which needed an iron hand to hold in check. On Oct. 19 and 20' the Two Hundred and the General Assembly formally invited him to return, but the invitation was unwelcome and_he would give no decided answer. But when\ in Feb., 1541, the impetuous- Farel urged him togo, he found him as irresistible as before, and so on Sept. 13, 1541, he entered again the city of Geneva and took up the heavy task of ordering her affairs according to his high standards.^ He came without illusions, knowing that he was'
Calvin