When Calvin was subsequently settled at Geneva, Babinot, Véron, and Vernou paid him a visit. They were delighted to find the Christian professor surrounded with respect, and were never tired of listening to him from whose lips they had heard at Poitiers the first words of life. They did not, however, stay with him. Babinot and Véron returned to the west of France to continue to propagate the Gospel there, which they did until their death. As for Vernou, he was seized while crossing the mountains of Savoy, and was burnt alive at Chambery, confessing Jesus Christ his Saviour.[133] Let us return to Poitiers.
=CALVIN LEAVES POITIERS.=
The prior of Trois-Moutiers, with whom Calvin was staying, was one of those who, though fond of learning and the Gospel, did not wish to break with the Church. The conversations at the Basses-Treilles, the 'manducations' in the caves of St. Benedict, the evangelisation of the city and country ... all made him uneasy. He was alarmed at the thought that the officers might knock at his door some day, and that the heretic would be taken in his house. He therefore advised Calvin to continue his journey. The reformer had ended his task; he was now to turn his steps elsewhere; he bade his friends farewell. As he left them, he could say like his Master: What will I, if the fire be already kindled? Calvin established the date of the Reformation at Poitiers, when, writing at a later period to the Church which assembled in that city, he said: 'Do not go astray from the doctrine which you have received in part from us, since it has pleased God to make use of our labour for your salvation.'[134] Although removed, he still continued to be the director of that Church. 'I know full well that you are spied (guêtés) by the enemy,' he wrote to them; 'but let not the fear of persecution hinder you from seeking the pastures of life.... There is a middle line between temerity and timidity.... Remain tranquilly (coyement) in your hiding-place; but beware, my brethren, that you do not shut the door against those who desire to come to the kingdom of God.'[135]
One thought absorbed him at the time he left Poitiers. It was the month of April 1534; on the 10th of July he would be twenty-five years old. A regulation of the Church, confirmed by the Council of Trent, fixed this as the age at which those who have received the tonsure were promoted to the priesthood. In early youth he had received the tonsure, that symbol of sacerdotal royalty, borrowed (St. Jerome tells us) from the pagan priests of Isis and Serapis;[136] and his age now summoned him to enter holy orders. He did not want for friends who advised him to remain in the Church for its reformation; the chapel of Gesine at Noyon, and the cure of Pont l'Evêque awaited him, and many other doors would open before him. He was invited to come and put himself in due order. But Calvin shrank in alarm from the idea of enrolling himself among the pope's soldiers. 'If I make myself the pope's vassal,' he said, 'how can I conscientiously fight against the papists?... The sovereign majesty of God would be offended!... I would sooner give up not only one benefice, but a hundred, even of the most brilliant.[137] O cursed wealth of the Church! There is not a single penny of it that is not defiled with cheating, sacrilege, and robbery!' There was no ecclesiastical dignity to which a mind so preeminently administrative might not aspire. But Calvin was convinced that to save the Church it was necessary to sacrifice Rome. Two paths lay before him: one broad and easy, the other narrow and difficult: his choice was not doubtful. 'The Gospel,' he said, 'is more than all the riches, honour, and ease of this world.... I am ready to give up everything that withdraws me from it.'
Calvin left Poitiers, accompanied by his faithful Du Tillet, who for two years scarcely ever quitted him. The young canon was one of those honest but weak natures who have absolute need of a support, and who not knowing how to find it in the word of God, seek it in strong men. He therefore attached himself to the young reformer, as the vine to the elm. Alas! the day was to come, when terrified by persecution, and unable to make up his mind to break with the Church, he would cling to the papacy and take that for his support.
=IMPRESSION HE LEFT AT POITIERS.=
A surprising transformation had been effected in Poitiers, and Calvin left behind him many regrets and tears. 'Oh! would to God that we had many Calvins!' wrote Charles de Ste. Marthe, one of the professors of the university. 'I am distressed that you have been taken from us; I envy the country where you are, and my only consolation is that our university is now filled with pious and learned men. Pray to God that, by the Spirit of Christ, we may worthily proclaim the Gospel, in the midst of our enemies and even in the midst of the flames.'[138]
Calvin passed through Orleans, went on to Paris, and then proceeded to Noyon, where he arrived at the beginning of May. He immediately informed his relations and the bishop that he had come to resign his benefices. We may imagine the astonishment of his friends. What! let slip the opportunity of doing so much good in the Church! Renounce important offices to join an obscure sect! It seemed the act of a madman; but nothing could bend his unshakeable resolution.
On Monday, May 4, 1534, in the presence of the grand vicar of Monseigneur the bishop and count of Noyon, of his chancellor, and of the notary of the chapter, Calvin resigned the chapel of Gesine in favour of Master Anthony de la Marlière, and his cure in favour of another ecclesiastic of Noyon. It would even appear that he sold his patrimonial property at the same time.[139]
Having broken the last ties that bound him to the Roman Church, Calvin began to speak with greater freedom to those around him of the Gospel.