=OLIVETAN'S WORK.=
In the midst of these disturbances the most important work of the reformation was progressing at Geneva. The pious Olivetan was labouring night and day at the translation of the Bible. He believed that nothing was more necessary for the Church of his time, and in his great love for it, he determined to do all in his power to supply the want. 'O poor little Church,' he said, 'although thou art desolate, mis-shapen, and rejected, and countest for the most part in thy family the blind, the lame, the maimed, the deaf, the paralytic, orphans and strangers, simple and foolish ... why should we be ashamed to make thee such a royal present? Do we not all need the consolation of Christ? For whom does the Lord destine his Scripture, if not for his little invincible band, to whom, as the real leader of the war, he desires to impart courage and boldness by his presence?'[624]
Nothing disturbed Olivetan so much as the sight of the Church of his day. The more he studied it, the more he was grieved by its misery and convinced of the necessity of a total reformation, accomplished by the Word of God. Never perhaps had its condition caused so profound and keen a sorrow in any one. When he was alone in his room and seated at his table, these bitter recollections would recur to him: 'I love thee,' he exclaimed; 'I have seen thee in the service of thy hard masters; I have seen thee coming and going, worried and plagued; I have seen thee ill-treated, ill-dressed, ill-used, ragged, muddy, torn, dishevelled, chilled, bruised, beaten, and disfigured.... I have seen thee in such piteous case, that men would sooner take thee for a poor slave than the daughter of the universal Ruler, and the beloved of his only Son. Listen,' added he, 'thy friend calls thee; he endeavours to teach thee thy rights and to give thee the watch-word, that thou mayest attain to perfect freedom.... Stupified and bewildered by so many blows, bowed down by so many cares brought upon thee by thy rough masters, wilt thou persevere? wilt thou go thy ways and complete the foul and grievous task with which they have burdened thee?'[625]
=TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.=
But Olivetan soon stopped in the midst of his work and asked himself whether 'the humble translator' (as he calls himself) was capable of performing such a task. He looked upon himself as the meanest of believers, 'as one of the smallest toes on the lowly feet of the body of the Church.'[626] But his very humility induced him to increase in diligence. He procured the best copies of the Scriptures and compared, as he tells us, 'all the translations, ancient and modern, from the Greek down to the Italian and German.' Above all, he made great use of the French translation by Lefèvre of Etaples, but rendered certain passages differently. He studied the various texts, the use of the Masoretic points, marks, consonants, aspirates, and unusual expressions. He deliberated whether he should preserve in French certain Greek terms, such as apostle and bishop, or express them by the corresponding word in French. 'If I preserve the Greek word,' he said, 'the thing which it signifies will remain unknown, just as it has been to the present day.' He therefore translated the Greek word apostle by the French word envoyé (sent); instead of bishop he wrote surveillant (overseer); and ancien (elder) instead of priest. Then he added mischievously: 'And if any one is surprised at not finding certain words in my translation which the common people have continually on their lips, imagining they are in Scripture, such as pope, cardinal, archbishop, archdeacon, abbot, prior, monk, he must know that I did not find them there, and for that reason I have not changed them.'[627]
On the 13th March the printer De Vingle asked permission to print the Bible in French. The council was much divided, for the friends of the clergy opposed his prayer. On the one side they called out Scripture! and on the other Church! The syndics thought it their duty to steer a middle course, and granted permission to reprint Lefèvre's Bible without adding or retrenching a word. They were afraid of Olivetan's translation, and we shall see by and by where he was forced to get it printed.[628]
Another desire absorbed the evangelicals of Geneva about this time. When Guerin, Levet, Chautemps, and others met together in some humble room, they expressed the happiness they should feel at assembling round the Lord's table to commemorate his death. They had long ceased to take part in the communion of the Romish Church, defiled as they thought it by wretched superstitions; and desired earnestly to see the Lord's Supper re-established among them in its apostolic purity. The christians of Geneva asked for the Bible in the first place, and for the Sacrament in the second. That is in the regular course. The Word of God creates the christian: the Lord's Supper strengthens him. Christ first imparts to his disciples the knowledge of the truth, which He does by the ministry of the Word. Then He desires them to understand that he gives not only christian ideas to believers, but that he gives himself, his own life—that he comes (in his own words) to abide in them.[629] This is the second phase of faith, and the Lord's Supper is its sign.
=GUERIN.=
The christians of Geneva, enlightened by Scripture, desired the Holy Communion. But, said they, who will give it us? They had no ministers. Had not Luther declared ten years before that in order to avoid irregularity, the assembly, making use of its right, ought to elect one or more believers to exercise the charge of the Word, in the name of all.[630] They turned their eyes on Guerin. Few of the reformed were so much esteemed as he was. Being an evangelical christian and not a political huguenot, he had 'an ardent love for his brethren' and a zeal full of boldness to profess the Gospel. It required some courage to preside at the Lord's Supper in Geneva in the presence of the Romish mass. 'The flesh is always cowardly,' said a christian of Geneva, 'and pulls backwards, like an aged ass; and accordingly it needs the goad and spur as much as he does.'[631] Guerin possessed, moreover, a cultivated understanding, and was learned in theology.[632]