=CALVIN AND LEFÈVRE.=
Nérac, as we have said, sheltered another teacher—an old man whom age might have made weaker than Roussel, but who under his white hair and decrepid appearance concealed a living force, to be suddenly revived by contact with the great faith of the young scholar. Calvin asked for Lefèvre's house: everybody knew him: 'He is a little bit of a man, old as Herod, but lively as gunpowder,' they told him.[64] As we have seen, Lefèvre had professed the great doctrine of justification by faith, even before Luther; but after so many years, the aged doctor still indulged in the vain hope of seeing Catholicism reform itself. 'There ought to be only one Church,' he would frequently repeat, and this idea prevented his separation from Rome. Nevertheless, his spiritualist views permitted him to preserve the unity of charity with all who loved Christ.
When Calvin was admitted into his presence, he discerned the great man under his puny stature, and was caught by the charm which he exercised over all who came near him. What mildness, what depth, what knowledge, modesty, candour, loftiness, piety, moral grandeur, and holiness, had been said of him![65] It seemed as if all these virtues illuminated the old man with heavenly brightness just as the night of the grave was about to cover him with its darkness. On his side, the young man pleased Lefèvre, who began to tell him how the opposition of the Sorbonne had compelled him to take refuge in the south, 'in order,' as he said, 'to escape the bloody hands of those doctors.'[66]
Calvin endeavoured to remove the old man's illusions. He showed him that we must receive everything from the Word and from the grace of God. He spoke with clearness, with decision, and with energy. Lefèvre was moved—he reflected a little and weeping exclaimed: 'Alas! I know the truth, but I keep myself apart from those who profess it.' Recovering, however, from his trouble, he wiped his eyes, and seeing his young fellow-countryman 'rejecting all the fetters of this world and preparing to fight under the banner of Jesus,' he examined him more attentively, and asked himself if he had not before him that future reformer whom he had once foretold:[67] 'Young man,' he said, 'you will be one day a powerful instrument in the Lord's hand.[68]... The world will obstinately resist Jesus Christ, and everything will seem to conspire against the Son of God; but stand firm on that rock, and many will be broken against it. God will make use of you to restore the kingdom of heaven in France.'[69] In 1509 Luther, being of the same age as Calvin in 1534, heard a similar prophecy from the mouth of a venerable doctor.
Yet, if we may believe a catholic historian, the old man did not stop there. His eyes, resting with kindness on the young man, expressed a certain fear. He fancied he saw a young horse which, however admirable its spirit, might dash beyond all restraint. 'Be on your guard,' he added, 'against the extreme ardour of your mind.[70] Take Melanchthon as your pattern, and let your strength be always tempered with charity.' The old man pressed the young man's hand, and they parted never to see each other again.
Did Calvin see the Queen of Navarre also? It does not appear that Margaret was living at Nérac at that time; but he had some relations with her. It has been said that she felt an interest in his exile;[71] and it is possible that she had some share in the resolution he soon formed of quitting the south. She may have assured him that he had nothing to fear in Paris, if he committed no imprudence. But we have found nothing certain on these points.
=CALVIN REBUKES THE UNEQUALLY YOKED.=
For the present, Calvin returned to Du Tillet's. The visits made to Roussel and Lefèvre had taught him a lesson. He comprehended that it was not only souls blindly submissive to Rome that incurred imminent danger; he conceived the liveliest alarm for those minds which floated between the pope and the Word of God, either through weakness or want of light. He saw that as the limit between the two churches was not yet clearly traced, some of those who belonged to Rome were lingering beneath the fresh and verdant shades of the Gospel, while others who ought to belong to the Reformation still wandered beneath the gothic arches of Romish cathedrals and prostrated themselves at the foot of Romish altars. This state of things—possibly approved of by many—Calvin thought dangerous, and his principles going farther, he undertook 'to rebuke freely (as he says) those who yoked with unbelievers, keeping them company in outward idolatry.'[72]
[53] Brantôme, Capitaines illustres, p. 235.
[54] Olhagaray, Hist. de Foix, &c. p. 505.