The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-30

ssriss. edited By Prof. 8. n. jackson. and
In Oouree Of publication BY the Putnams,
eish1 volumes have pUvtousiy been Issued.
allotted respectively 70 Luther, Melanch-
thon, Erasmus. Beza, Zwtngli, Cranmer,
Knox and H0bmaier. The ninth, and with
one exception the most Important, member
Of the series II now published under tho
title OF John Cdiufn. hs Or00Atssr OF Re
formed P~yotest0AtisH. by WnLfBroN WALKKR.
professor OF ec~clesiastical history In Yale
University. A. the author points out In .
preface, there was ample excuse for q now
biography OF Calvin in English. Recent
years have Witnessed in French speaking
and German speaking lands q marked re-
vival Of interest In the person and work OF
the French reformer. The publication OF
q monumental edition OF his writings under
tho supervision Of distinguished Serass-
burg t~heologians has been accompanied
and followed by many researches, culmi-
mating In the comprehensive work OF Dou-
mergue not yet completed. OF these TO
sources, not accessible to earlier biograph-
ers, Prof. Walker has awaited himself 80 far
m this was possible in a volume OF limited
Sixe and scope. Keeping in view the spacs
at his disposal, the writer has chosen to
lay special weight on Calvin's training,
NpiritumI development and constructive work,
rather than on the minutie OF his Oenevan
contests or the detail OF his relations to the
spread Of the Reformation in the countries
TO which his influence extended. Even
concerning the latter topics, however, an
effort, which will be recognized as SUCCESS
full, has been made to outline the nature
and course OF Calvin's principal contro-
versies and to indicate the character and
range Of his association with the Reforma-
ton movement as a whole.
4.
gohn Calvin-to use the AM licized form
of his name-was born on July 10, 1909. in
the city Of Noyon in Picardy. By birth he
belonged to the bourgeoisie. He was the
second son Of Gerard Cauvin, Registrar Of
the City Government, solicitor in the Eccle-
aiastical Court, fiscal agent Of the county
and Attorney Of the Cathedral Chapter.
His wife, Jeanne LIE Franc. was the daugh-
ter Of a we'll to do retired innkeeper, who
had attained the distinction Of membership
In the City Council. OF the events OF John
Calvin's boyhood only scanty memorials
have been preserved. He was baptized in
the Catholic church Of the parish to which
his parents belonged, and when old enough
was sent TO an endowed school, where,
according. to tradition, he manifested 80
eager a spirit and 30 retentive a memory
a. TO give him an easy superiority over his
school fellows.
Quite as influential In the development Of
the boys life as the instruction given In
the schoolroom were the friendships which
he formed with sons OF the noble family Of
Hangest, notably with those Of the Lord Of
Montmor and his brother the Lord Of Genlis.
To Claude, son Of the nobleman last named,
who eventually was to become Abbot OF
Saint-Elio at Noyon, Calvin was to dedicate
his first book. It was these friendships,
apparently, which determined Calvtn's
father to send him to the University Of Paris,
and they certainly gave him an acquaint-
ance with the ways Of polite society u as
few Of the Reformers enjoyed In an age
when the gulf between the manner Of
persons in high station and those OF the
mass Of the people was far wider than 1t 10
now. Following a practice common at the
time. Calvin's father procured for him in
1921 a nominal chaplaincy TO an altar in the
cathedral OF Noyon, to which six years
later was added a curacy. With the income
Of these ecclesiastical offices the boy was
enabled to carry on his studies and make a
start in life. There seems to be no doubt
that he received the tonsure when invested
with an ecclesiastical charge. but this was
the only sign Of membership in a clerical
order which Calvin ever attained In the
Roman Church. He never was ordained a
priest, his connection with the Offices
named having been purely financial.
Il was in 1923, at Il g age OF IL, that the
boy Calvin was sent TO the University OF
Paris, which had once been reputed the
most eminent seat OF learning in Europe
but which had not maintained its ancient
leadership In the world OF thought Al
though the humanists Of the day deepised
its medieval Latinity inc hair splitting
dialectics, Prof. Walker suggests that an
institution which through one OF its instruo-
tors was to develop Calvin's Latin etyle
and In its classrooms was to train him in
the arts OF reasoning and exegesis must
have kept some strength in it's compare
tive decay. In one Of the colleges IN
which the work OF most OF the students
was carried on. the College de Montaigu,
Calvin remained until about the close OF
1877. when he would naturally attain the
rank Of licentiate in arts. That he re-
cefved this degree ia not a matter OF record;
but without it he ooul not have entered
upon the higher sudies hat he then imme-
diately began.
It Is, OF course, impossible to recover
many details OF Calvin's student career,
but there may be some foundation for the
legend that ascribes to him censoriousness
OF Judgment and unsociability OF temper.
According to a story imputed to his one
time friend but Subsequent enemy, Fran
co.'s Baudoin, his fellow students called
him sthe accusative case because Of his
d~enunciatory spirit. Prof. Walker con-
cedes that a degree Of plausibility La given
70 this story by Be7a's declaration that as
n student In Paris Calvin was not merely
very religious but a strict censor Of all
vices among his associates. That he was
mi~santhrOpic, however, or was regarded
bv his associates with aversion there is no
adequate evidence. Rather do the facts
point to an opposite conclusion. He ap-
pears at the completion Of his course. under
the faculty Of arts, in his nineteenth year
a student OF high personal character, great
linguistic and dialeotic promise, able to
make and keep friends whose interest must
have been primarily due to attractive quail
ties Of head and heart. The report Of his
a,crasaas at the university must have