Calvin’s Moderation.
However decided Calvin was with respect to the errors of Rome, he was, nevertheless, far from being a narrow-minded and passionate man; and he did not hesitate to acknowledge whatever good there was in his opponents. We have already seen that he looked upon the archbishops of Cologne, of Mentz, and of Treves as friends of liberty, of peace, and even of a reform. At Ratisbon he also bore favorable testimony to Charles V. ‘It is no fault of the emperor,’ said he, ‘that some good beginning of agreement was not arrived at, without waiting for the pope, or the cardinals, or any of their following.’[[75]] His estimate of the electors was still more favorable. ‘The electors,’ says he, ‘at least most of them, were of opinion that in order to bring about a union of the churches, the articles which had been passed should be received; and this would have been a very good beginning of provision for the Church. The world would have learnt that it ought not to trust in its strength and its free-will; and that it is through the free grace of our Lord that we are enabled to act well. The righteousness which we receive as a free gift from Christ would have been set forth, in order to overthrow our pernicious confidence in our own works. It would have been better known that the Church cannot be separated from the word of God. The shameful and dishonest traffic in masses would have been suppressed; the tyranny of the ministers of the Church would have been restrained, and superstitions would have been corrected.’[[76]] These were, in fact, the great points conceded by the legate of Rome, Contarini; and Calvin, undoubtedly, was no stranger to that conquest.
He complained most of all of the princes of the second order, ‘who had for their captains,’ he adds, ‘two dukes of Bavaria, who were reported to be pensioners of the pope to maintain the relics of holy Mother Church in Germany, and thus to bring about the ruin of the country. For to leave things as they are, what is it but to abandon Germany as in desperate case? They want the pope to be the physician, to put things in order; and thus they thrust the lamb into the wolf’s jaws that he may take care of it.’ Every thing was, in fact, referred to a general council. ‘It seems like a dream,’ says Calvin, ‘that the emperor and so many princes, ambassadors, and counsellors should have spent five whole months in consulting, considering, parleying, giving opinions, debating and resolving to do at last just nothing at all.’
Calvin, however, did not lose courage. ‘At present,’ he adds, ‘seeing that this diet of Ratisbon has all ended in smoke, many persons are disconcerted, fret themselves and despair of the Gospel ever being received by public authority. But more good has resulted from this assembly than appears. The servants of God have borne faithful testimony to the truth, and there are always a few who are open to conviction. It is no slight matter that all the princes, nay, even some of the bishops, are convinced in their hearts that the doctrine preached under the Pope must be amended.
‘But our chief consolation is that this is the cause of God and that he will take it in hand to bring it to a happy issue. Even though all the princes of the earth were to unite for the maintenance of our Gospel, still we must not make that the foundation of our hope. So, likewise, whatever resistance we see to-day offered by almost all the world to the progress of the truth, we must not doubt that our Lord will come at last to break through all the undertakings of men and make a passage for his word. Let us hope boldly, then, more than we can understand; he will still surpass our opinion and our hope.’[[77]]
Such was the faith that animated Luther and Calvin, and this was the cause of their triumph.
Calvin’s Departure From Ratisbon.
As soon as Calvin saw that there was nothing more for him to do at Ratisbon, he ardently desired to leave the town, and with much earnestness begged permission to depart. Bucer and Melanchthon stoutly opposed it; but they yielded at last. He extorted his discharge, he says, rather than obtained it. On the arrival of deputies from Austria and Hungary, to demand aid against the Turks, the emperor commanded the adjournment of the religious debates, for the purpose of considering the means of resisting Solyman, who had already entered Hungary. ‘I would not let slip the opportunity,’ says Calvin, ‘and so I got off.’[[78]]
CHAPTER XXI.
CALVIN’S RETURN TO GENEVA.
(July to Sept. 1541.)
Having turned his back on the diet, Calvin thought of nothing but Geneva. ‘The diet ended as I had predicted,’ he had written; ‘the whole scheme of pacification went out in smoke. As soon as Bucer returns we shall betake ourselves with all speed to Geneva, or, indeed, I shall set out alone without further delay.’ Bucer, in fact, was to accompany Calvin and to assist him with his counsel to see whether it would be right for him to remain in that town. But when he returned to Strasburg he was detained there and also detained his friend. ‘I have regretted a thousand times,’ says the latter, ‘that I did not set out for Basel immediately after my return from Ratisbon.’[[79]] In that Swiss town he was to obtain more particular information about the state of affairs on the shores of the Leman, and especially about the suit between Berne and Geneva, concerning the ‘Articulants’; a suit in which Basel had been appointed arbitrator. At Strasburg it was thought that Calvin ought not to settle in that disturbed town so long as this cause of trouble continued to exist.