Calvin stopped in front of his friend's house and knocked at the door, it opened, and he went in: we cannot say whether he found the canon there or not, but at all events the latter was filled with joy when he heard of the arrival of the young doctor, whose 'great gifts and grace' he admired so much, and whose intimacy had been so sweet to him. Calvin told him how he had been obliged to flee from the attacks of the parliament, and of the danger to which those who gave him refuge were exposed. But Du Tillet thought himself the happiest of men, if he could but shelter his friend from the search of his enemies. Once more he was about to enjoy those spiritual and edifying conversations which he had so often regretted and could never forget.[17] Even the persecution of which Calvin was a victim made him all the dearer to his friend; and Louis introduced him into the vast gallery, installed him in the midst of the most eminent minds of all ages, whose celebrated works loaded the numerous shelves, and established him, as in a safe retreat, in that beautiful library which seemed prepared for the lofty intelligence and profound studies of the theologian.
Calvin, who needed retirement and repose, felt happy. 'I am never less alone than when alone,' he used to say.[18] At one time, he gave thanks to God; at another, taking the precious volumes from the shelves around him, he opened and read them, assuaging the thirst for knowledge which consumed him. A learned retreat, like that now given him, was the dream of his whole life. Pious reflections crowded into his heart, and if during his flight he had felt a momentary darkness, the light now shone into his soul. 'The causes of what happens to us are often so hidden,' he said in after times, 'that human affairs seem to turn about at random, as on a wheel, and the flesh tempts us to murmur against God, because he sports with men, tossing them here and there like balls, ... but the issue shows us that God is on the watch for the salvation of believers.'[19]
=DOXOPOLIS.=
A new epoch, a new phase, was beginning for Calvin: he was leaving school, he was about to enter upon life, and a pause was necessary. The future reformer, before rushing into the storms of an agitated career, was to be tempered anew in the fire of the divine Word and of prayer. Great struggles awaited him: the Church was waking up from the slumber of death, throwing back the winding-sheet of popery, and rising from the sepulchre. One universal cry was heard among all the nations of the West. At Worms, a monk had demanded the Holy Scriptures of God in presence of the imperial diet; a priest had demanded them at Zurich; students had demanded them at Cambridge; at Spire, an assembly of princes had declared that they would hear nothing but the preaching of that heavenly Word; and its life-bearing doctrines had been solemnly confessed at Augsburg in the presence of Charles V. Germany, Switzerland, England, the Low Countries, Italy—all Europe, in a word, was stirred at the sight of that new faith which had come forth from the tomb of ages.... France herself was moved. How could a young man so modest, so timid, who feared so much all contact with the passions of men—how could Calvin battle for the faith, if he did not receive in the retirement of the wilderness the baptism of the Spirit and of fire?
And this baptism he received. Alone and forced to hide himself, he experienced an inward peace and joy he had never known before. 'By the exercise of the cross,' he said, 'the Son of God receives us into his order, and makes us partakers of his glory.' Accordingly he gave a very extraordinary name to the obscure town of Angoulême: he called it Doxopolis, the city of glory, and thus he dated his letters. How pleasant and glorious this retirement proved to him! He had found his Wartburg, his Patmos, and unable any longer to hide from his friends the happiness he enjoyed, he wrote to Francis Daniel of Orleans: 'Why cannot I have a moment's talk with you?' he said, 'not indeed to trouble you with my disputes and struggles; why should I do so? I think that what interests you more just now is to know that I am well, and that, if you take into account my known indolence, I am making progress in my studies.'[20] Then after speaking of Du Tillet's kindness, of his own responsibility, and of the use he ought to make of his leisure ... the joy which filled his heart ran over, and he exclaimed with thankfulness: 'Oh! how happy I should think myself, if the peace which I now enjoy should continue during the time of my retirement and exile.[21] The Lord, whose providence foresees everything, will provide. Experience has taught me that we cannot see much beforehand what will happen to us. At the very moment when I promised myself repose, the storm burst suddenly upon me. And then, when I thought some horrible den would be my lot, a quiet nest was unexpectedly prepared for me.[22] ... It is the hand of God that hath done this. Only let us trust in him, and he will care for us!' Thus the hunted Calvin found himself at Angoulême, under God's hand, like a young storm-driven bird that has taken refuge in the nest under the wing of its mother.
=CALVIN'S LABOURS.=
The young canon took the liveliest interest in the fate of his guest, and hoped to see the hospitality he showed him bear precious fruits for learning and the Gospel. Calvin, too humble to believe that Du Tillet's cares had any reference to himself, ascribed them solely to his friend's zeal for knowledge and the cause of Christ; it seemed to him that he could never repay such kindness but by constant labour, and that was all he ever had to give. 'My protector's kindness,' he said, 'is sufficient to stimulate the indolence of the laziest of men.[23] Cheer up, then! let me make an effort, let me struggle earnestly. No more carelessness!'[24] Then he shut himself up in Du Tillet's library, gathered round him the books he wanted, and said: 'I must give all my attention to study; this thought is constantly pulling me by the ear.' If he took a moment's leisure, he felt 'his ear pulled,' that is to say, his conscience was troubled; he hurried to his books, and set to work with so much zeal, 'that he passed whole nights without sleeping and days without eating.'[25] This was his indolence!
A great idea was at that time growing in his heart. Parliament accused and even burnt his brethren for pretended heresies. 'Must I be silent,' he said, 'and thus give unbelievers an opportunity of condemning a doctrine they do not know? Why should not the Reformed have a confession to lay before their adversaries?'[26] As he examined Du Tillet's library, he came upon certain books which seemed to him to bear particularly on the existing state of suffering among evangelical christians. He saw that apologies had formerly been presented to the Emperor Adrian by Quadratus and Aristides, to Antoninus by Justin Martyr, and to Marcus Aurelius by Athenagoras. Ought not the friends of the Reformation to present a similar defence to Francis I.? If Calvin's mouth is shut, he will take up the pen. God was then setting him apart for one of the great works of the age. He did not indeed compose his Christian Institutes at this time, even under the elementary form of the first edition, but he meditated it; he searched the Scriptures; he drew out the sketch, and perhaps wrote some passages of that work, the finest produced by the Reformation. And hence one of the enemies of the Reform, casting a severe look on the learned library of the Du Tillets, was led to exclaim: 'This is the forge where the new Vulcan prepared the bolts that he was afterwards to scatter on every side.... That is the factory where he began to make the nets that he afterwards fixed up to catch the simple, and from which a man must be very clever to get out. It was there that he wove the web of his Institutes, which we may call the Koran or the Talmud of heresy.'[27]
=MATERIALISTS.=
While Calvin was writing his first notes, he heard some strange rumours. Men spoke to him of certain materialists in whose opinion the soul died with the body. At first he hesitated as to what he should do. 'How,' he asked, 'can I join battle with adversaries of whose camp and arms and tactics I know nothing, and of whom I have only heard some confused murmur?'[28] Another consideration checked him. Allied to them were Christians who, while rejecting these errors, said that time did not exist for the soul separated from the body, and that the moment of death was followed instantly by the moment of resurrection. 'I should not like these good people to be offended against me,' he said. Calvin refused to fire a shot against his enemies lest he should wound his brethren.