Further than this, Calvin makes use of these doctors; he does not fear them, on the contrary, he appeals to them. He calls them all up to make them defile before the king and bear testimony against the doctrines of Rome.
'It was a Father, Epiphanius, who said that it was a horrible abomination to see an image of Christ or of any saint in a christian temple.
'It was a Father, Pope Gelasius, who said that the substance of the bread and wine dwells in the sacrament of the Holy Supper, as the human nature dwells in our Lord Jesus Christ, united to his divine essence.
'It was a Father, Augustine, who called it a rash theory to assert any doctrine without the clear testimony of Scripture.
'It was a Father, Paphnutius, who maintained that the ministers of the Church ought not to be forbidden to marry, and that chastity consisted in having a lawful wife.
'It was a Father, Augustine, who contended that the Church ought not to be preferred to Christ, because whilst ecclesiastical judges, being men, may be mistaken, Christ always judges righteously.... Ah! if I wished to reckon up all the points in which the Roman doctors reject the yoke of the Fathers, whose obedient children they call themselves, months and years would pass away in reading the long roll.... And then they reprove us for going beyond the ancient boundaries!'
Calvin did not forget that he was speaking to a prince. Struck with the condition of the world at this important moment, when old superstition and new doubts, old disorders and new immoralities, ambitions, war, and desolations, were all conflicting together, he called loudly for a remedy; and being convinced that the Reformation alone could save society, he exclaimed: 'Oceans of evil are deluging the land. New plagues are ravaging the world. Everything is falling into ruins. We must despair of human affairs, or put them to rights, even if it be by violent remedies. And yet men reject the remedy.... Ah! God's everlasting truth alone ought to be listened to in God's kingdom. Against it neither proscription, nor lapse of years, nor ancient customs, nor any compact whatever, avails anything.'
'But the Church,' say his adversaries. 'If we are not the Church, where was it before you?' 'Alas!' answered Calvin, 'how often has not the Church suffered eclipse, been deformed and oppressed by wars, seditions, and heresies.... Does not St. Hilary reprimand those who, blinded by an unreasoning respect, did not observe what sores were sometimes hidden under a fair outside. You seek the Church of God in the beauty of its buildings. But know you not that there it is that Antichrist will set up his throne? Mountains, woods, and lakes, prisons, wildernesses, and caves—these are to me safer and more trustworthy; for there prophesied the prophets, who had withdrawn to them. God, seeing that men were unwilling to obey the truth, permitted them to be buried in deep darkness, and the form of a true Church to be lost, while still preserving those who belonged to it, hidden and scattered here and there. If you are willing, Sire, to give up a part of your leisure, and to read my writings ... you will see clearly that what our adversaries call a Church is a cruel gehenna, a slaughter-house of souls, a torch, a ruin.'
Finally, the young doctor, knowing that the cardinals were continually repeating to Francis I., 'See what contentions, troubles, and disturbances the preaching of this doctrine has brought with it,' gave an answer to that vulgar accusation which is rather striking and original: 'The Word of God,' he says, 'never comes forward without Satan's rousing himself and fighting. A few years ago, when everything was buried in darkness, this lord of the world played with men as he list, and like a Sardanapalus, took his pastime in peace. What could he do but sport and jest, seeing that he was then in tranquil possession of his kingdom? But since the light shining from on high has chased away the darkness, the prince of this world has suddenly thrown off his lethargy and taken up arms. First, he resorted to force in order to oppress truth; then, to stratagem to obscure and extinguish it. Oh! what perversity to accuse the Word of God of the seditions stirred up against it by fools and madmen!
'Ah! Sire, it is not us who stir up troubles, it is those who resist the goodness of God. Is it likely that we, whose mouths have never uttered a seditious word; whose lives, while we lived under your sceptre, were always simple and peaceful, should plot the overthrowing of kingdoms?... Now, even that we are expelled, we cease not to pray to God for the prosperity of your reign.