[157] Th. de Bèze, Dict. Eccles. p. 11. France protestante, art. Amyot.
[158] Crespin, Martyrol. fol. 113.
CHAPTER VIII.
CALVIN'S FIRST RELATIONS WITH THE LIBERTINES AND SERVETUS.
(Summer 1534.)
DE LA FORGE willingly received all pious strangers visiting Paris. One day Calvin saw at his friend's table certain individuals who, he fancied, had something singular about them. His eyes were fixed on them and he tried to make them out. One of them, named Coppin, from Lille, a man of the people and of no education, but with boldness greater than his ignorance, raised his voice, affected a sententious style, and spoke like an oracle. 'Verily,' said Calvin, 'a fool never has any doubts.' A little farther on sat Quintin from Hainault, who seemed to have more education, and certainly more cunning. He assumed airs of superiority, an imposing tone of voice, and expressing himself ambiguously, gave himself the air of a prophet. 'The latter seems to me a big rogue,' said Calvin of him.[159] Quintin was usually accompanied by a few disciples, ignorant and fanatical persons who repeated all he said; they were Bertrand des Moulins, Claude Perceval, and others. These bold and adventurous sectarians having nothing and never working, looked out wherever they went for some good-natured person who would keep them in their idleness by supplying them with victuals and drink. They crept into the house by meek enticing ways, making no display at first of their particular doctrines, reserving these for the initiated only. They strove to win over all who listened to them, and to that end spoke continually of the Holy Ghost, and tried to make men believe that they were His apostles. Simple souls allowed themselves to be caught. They would have believed they had committed the unpardonable sin, if they had not looked upon these people as saints.
=THE SPIRITUALS OR LIBERTINES.=
One day when there was a large party at De la Forge's, Quintin began to publish his doctrines. Whatever was the subject of conversation, the spirit immediately appeared. Calvin lost all patience: 'You are like those country priests,' he said, 'who, having but one image in their church, make it serve for five or six saints. He is either St. James, or St. Francis, or St. Basil, and the priest receives as many offerings as there are saints.'[160] Sometimes, however, these 'spirituals,' as they were called, betrayed themselves, and let their fanatical opinions slip out. 'There are not many spirits,' said Quintin, 'there is only one spirit of God, who is and lives in all creatures. It is this sole spirit which does everything;[161] man has no will, no more than if he were a stone.'[162]
Such language surprised Calvin. He examined the strange prophets, and discovered several capital errors in them. 'The Holy Spirit is our reason,' said some, 'and that Spirit teaches us that there is neither condemnation nor hell.'—'The soul,' said others, 'is material and mortal.'—'God is everything,' said Quintin, 'and everything is God.' Immoral doctrines were combined with this system. Calvin's conscience was terrified: he had risen up for the purpose of destroying a worm-eaten framework that men had built round the temple of God, and now rash hands were presuming to destroy the temple itself. He wished to destroy the superstitious traditions of so many ages, only to set the Divine truths of the apostolic times in their place; and all of a sudden he found himself face to face with men who desired no other God but nature, and would change the world into a vast wilderness. Calvin did not separate from Rome in order to be less christian, but to be more so. He resolved, therefore, to attack those who under the cloak of Protestantism suppress the mysteries of faith; to combat with the same severity both pope and sectarians, and if he undertook to destroy the fables of men, he would try still more to preserve the revelations of God. Had not Luther cried out when speaking of these would-be spirituals: 'It is the devil who seeks to turn you aside from the truth.... Turn your backs upon the drivellers!'[163] Various circumstances which were then taking place under Calvin's eyes, made him understand more clearly the necessity of opposing these threatening doctrines with the utmost energy.
=A MURDER AND A THEFT.=