Calvin retired within himself to meditate on the work to which God called him; he turned a deep glance into those depths of Scripture which he had so often sounded. Holding the torch of the Spirit, he summoned before him the great Persons of the Christian economy, not to make them figure, as the schoolmen had done, in a learned fencing-match, but to elicit from them the fundamental truths of faith, and plant the golden columns of the temple of light and life.
=THE INSTITUTES.=
The Institutes of the Christian Religion is Calvin's great achievement; it is Calvin himself, and we must therefore describe it. History, indeed, generally narrates the actions performed by the arm of the soldier or the negociations of the diplomatist; but the work that Calvin then accomplished, by spiritual force, far exceeds in the importance of its consequences all that has ever been done by the pens of the ablest statesmen or the swords of the bravest warriors. Let us describe, therefore, this 'action' of a nature apart. 'Curious minds,' as Calvin calls them, will perhaps pass over these pages: we regret it, but we must write them all the same.
'The whole sum of wisdom,' said the great doctor of modern times at the beginning of his work, 'is that by knowing God, each of us knows himself also; and these two facts are bound to each other by so many ties, that it is not easy to discern which goes before and produces the other.'
In fact, Calvin, when addressing man, shows him first of all God himself—wonder of wonders!—in man. 'God,' says he to man, 'has stamped in you a knowledge of himself, and he continually refreshes this memory in you, as if he poured it out drop by drop. We have a consciousness of divinity graven so deeply on our minds, that we cannot erase it. The rebellion even of the wicked bears testimony of this, for while combating madly to throw off the fear of God, that fear remains inevitably clinging to them, as if it were in the marrow of their bones.' But after ascribing to man the exquisite privilege of bearing the name of God within him, Calvin immediately brings a severe charge against the human race. 'Alas! we shall hardly find one in a hundred that cherishes this divine seed in his heart. Some through curiosity fly away in vain speculations; others vanish in foolish superstitions; others, finally, deprive God of his office as judge and governor, shut him up idle in heaven, and thus remain without God in the world.... What is to be done? Shall we toss and tumble continually, carried hither and thither by many erroneous levities?'[347]
Calvin then takes man by the hand, and wishing him to know the eternal mysteries, places him before a vast spiritual mirror, the Holy Scriptures, where all invisible things appear in their living reality. Thus distinguishing himself from all the doctors of catholicism who had spoken for ten centuries, he puts in the fore-front, in an absolute manner, the full sufficiency and sovereign authority of the Word of God.
'God,' said he, 'has opened his sacred mouth, to make known that he is the God whom we should adore. When a handsome book in well-formed characters is set before those who have weak eyes, or before decrepit old men, they can hardly read two words consecutively; but if they take a magnifying glass, forthwith they read everything distinctly. If we wish to see clearly, let us take Holy Scripture: without it we have but a confused and partial knowledge of God in our minds; but that drives away all obscurity in us, and shows us clearly God's heart.'
Already in the time of Calvin there were certain doctors who would strip the Bible of its inspiration and christianity of its supernaturalism. 'There are, I know full well,' he said, 'despisers, and cavillers, and mockers, who attack the Word, and if I had to fight out this quarrel with them, it would not be difficult for me to silence their cackling. But in addition to all the proof that reason brings, there is one above all others. It is necessary that the same Spirit which has spoken by the mouth of the prophets should enter our hearts, that he should touch them to the quick, and convince them that the prophets have faithfully declared what had been enjoined them from on high.'[348] The testimony of the Holy Ghost—that is the proof of proofs.
Calvin then turns to man, the self-worshipper, who puts himself in the place of God, and reveals to him the sin that is in him. 'Come down now,' he says, 'come down and consider thyself. Learn to know this sin, derived from Adam and dwelling in us, like a glowing furnace, perpetually throwing out flames and sparks, and the fire of which not only burns the senses, but pollutes all that is most noble in our souls.' There is no means by which man can escape of himself from this wretchedness of his nature. 'If thou pretendest to rise by thy own strength, thou standest on the end of a reed ... that snaps immediately.'[349]
Then Calvin shows man where his salvation is to be found, and describes with grandeur the work of expiation. 'While our condemnation holds us surprised, trembling, and startled before the judgment seat of God, the penalty to which we were subject has been laid on the innocent. All that can be imputed to us in the sight of God is transferred upon Jesus Christ. The divine founder of the Kingdom has suffered in the place of the children of the Kingdom.... Our peace can be found only in the terrors and agony of Christ our Redeemer.'[350]