as well as exemplary character By him Calvin was taught Greek, and introduced to the study of the New Testament in its original language, a service which he gratefully acknowledges in one of his printed works.[1] The conversa tion of Volmar also seems to have been of use to him in deepening his religious convictions, and confirming him in his attachment to the doctrines of the Reformation. These were now beginning to be widely diffused through France. Twelve years had elapsed since Luther had published his theses against indulgences, twelve years of intense excite ment and anxious discussion, not in Germany only, but in almost all the adjacent kingdoms In France there had not been as yet any overt revolt against the Church of Rome, but multitudes were lending a friendly ear to the Reformed doctrines, and a few were in secret rejoicing in having heartily embraced them To such Calvin united himself whilst at Orleans, and after his removal to Bourges he became a teacher, both in private conference with inquirers and by discourses in more public assemblies. " Before a year had elapsed," says he, speaking of his con version, " all who were desirous of a purer doctrine were in the habit of coming to me, though a novice and a tyro, for the purpose of learning."[2] And Beza tells us that he not only fortified the few believers who were in the town, but preached often in some of the neighbouring mansions and hamlets, whereby he wonderfully advanced the kingdom of God in many families, among which he specifies that of the lord of Lignicres, who with his lady heard with approval the new doctrines.[3] In engaging in such efforts, Calvin appears to have yielded to a constraining sense of duty rather than to have followed the bias of his own inclina tions. " By nature," says he, " somewhat clownish (sub- rust tens), I always preferred the shade and ease, and would have sought some hiding-place ; , but this was not permitted, for all my retreats became like public schools."[4] Nor did he infuse any of the enthusiasm which usually marks the young reformer into his addresses. " He taught the truth," says Beza, " not with affected eloquence, but with such depth of knowledge and so much solid gravity of style, that there was not a man who could hear him without being
ravished with admiration. "[5]His residence at Bourges was cut short by the sudden death of his father, which occasioned his return to his native place. Immediately after his father s decease, he seems to have paid a hasty visit to Paris, and then to have returned to Noyon, where he resided for a couple of years or so. At the close of this period he appears to have returned to Paris, where he apparently resided from 1529 to 1532, as letters written by him are dated from Paris in these years. While there he lodged with a tradesman, Etienne de la Forge, who early fell a victim to his zeal for the Reformation, and " whose memory," Calvin says, " should be blessed among believers as a holy martyr for Christ."[6] In his house the friends of evangelical truth were wont to meet, and Calvin not only associated with them, but frequently preached in their assemblies. To the great joy of all such, he at length entirely relinquished his legal pursuits and devoted himself afresh to theology, giving himself up wholly to the work, preaching with great energy, and using all the means in his power to win converts to the truth, as well as to confirm those by whom it had been already embraced. By this time the Reformation had attracted so many adherents in France, that the upholders of the established system became infuriated, and attempted to stay its further progress by the most cruel persecutions. It was whilst these were raging that Calvin issued his first publication, an edition of Seneca s tract De dementia, with an elaborate commentary. This book he published at his own cost, and dedicated to Claude Hangest, abbot of St Eloi, a member of the De Montmor family, with whom Calvin had been brought up. The commentary, which is written in that pure and terse Latinity which characterizes all Calvin s works composed in the language of ancient Rome, displays extensive acquaint ance with ancient literature, though the author has fallen into the extraordinary mistake of running the two Senecas, father and son, into one, and making the philosopher die 115 years old. It has been suggested that Calvin published this work with a view to influence the king to put a stop to the persecution of the Protestants, but there is nothing in the treatise itself or in the commentary to favour this opinion.
This work was published in April 1532, and seems to have brought Calvin more of honour than of profit. It appears, indeed, that he had some difficulty in paying the cost of its publication ; and it is probable that it was partly in order to meet this that he sold at this time the slender patrimony which his father had left him. He at this time also relinquished the ecclesiastical preferments which he had hitherto continued to hold, an act which, though demanded by the change that had taken place in his religious views, was entirely voluntary on his part, and, when viewed in connection with his then straitened circum stances, must be put to the credit of his integrity and disinterestedness. He was now in his twenty-fourth year, and was already recognized as at the head of the Reforma tion movement in France. An occasion soon occurred which brought him into open collision with the dominant party. Nicholas Cop, the newly-elected regent of the Sorbonne, had to deliver an oration according to custom in the Church of the Maturins, on the feast of All Saints. Being intimate with Calvin, he pronounced an oration which the latter had prepared for him, " of a totally different sort," says Beza, " from what was customary."[7] It was, in fact, a defence of the Reformed opinions, especially of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. This was more than the Sorbonnists could bear, and Cop, being summoned to appear before the parliament, found it necessary to make his escape from Paris to Basel. An attempt was at the same time made to seize Calvin, but being forewarned of the design by his friends, he also made his escape. His lodgings, however, were searched, and his books and papers seized, to the imminent peril of some of his friends, whose letters were found in his repositories. He himself retired first to the castle of Lord de Hazeville near Mantes, and after that to Saintonge, where he was the guest of Louis du Tillet, a canon of Angoule me, and where at the request of his host he prepared some short discourses, which were circulated in the surrounding parishes, and read in public to the people. He subsequently removed to Nerac, the residence of the queen of Navarre, the only sister of Francis I., who then favoured the Reformers, and through whose intercession the storm that had broken out against them was for the time abated. Here he became acquainted with the venerable Jacques Lefevre d Estaples, a scholar and man of science, whom the queen had rescued from the fury of the Sorbonnists, and engaged as tutor to her children. By him Calvin was warmly received, and his future eminence as a reformer of the church predicted.
Saintonge that Calvin prepared the first sketch of his Instil utio Christiana Religionis ; but this has not been
proved. His residence in that retirement continued only
