1560
2nd ed John Calvin Bible & Commentary on Book of Acts Martyrs
Crespin FOLIO
Extremely
Rare Printing DURING Calvin’s Lifetime
An extremely rare,
early printing of John Calvin’s commentary on the Book of Acts.
John Calvin (1509 – 1564) was an influential
French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a
principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later
called Calvinism, aspects of which include the doctrine of predestination and
the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation of the human soul from death and
eternal damnation.
Jean Crespin (c.1520 – 1572) was a French
Protestant lawyer who became a significant printer and martyrologist in Geneva.
We do not find this very rare book for sale
elsewhere.
Main author: Jean
Calvin
Title: Ioannis Calvini commentarii
integri in Acta Apostolorum, ab ipso authore recogniti, & magna accessione
locupletati.
Published:
[Genève] : apud Joan. Crispinum, 1560 [i.e. 1561]
Language:
French
Notes &
contents:
·
2nd Latin edition
o Based
on original 1554 edition
o Title
page reads 1560; however, this edition was printed in 1561.
·
Signatures: *⁶, A-P⁶, Q⁴, R-Z⁶, Aa-Ee⁶, Ff⁸, Gg-Ii⁶
·
Colophon: Excudebat Joannes Crispinus anno a
nativitate Christi millesimo quingentesimo sexagesimo primo.
·
Includes the text of the Book of Acts
·
Printer’s device woodcut on title page
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Publisher: [Genève] : apud Joan.
Crispinum, 1560 [i.e. 1561]
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John Calvin (/ˈkælvɪn/;[1]
French: Jean Calvin, pronounced: [ʒɑ̃ kalvɛ̃]; born Jehan Cauvin: 10 July 1509
– 27 May 1564) was an influential French theologian and pastor during the
Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the
system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, aspects of which include
the doctrine of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation
of the human soul from death and eternal damnation. In these areas Calvin was
influenced by the Augustinian tradition. Various Congregational, Reformed and
Presbyterian churches, which look to Calvin as the chief expositor of their
beliefs, have spread throughout the world.
Calvin was a tireless polemic
and apologetic writer who generated much controversy. He also exchanged cordial
and supportive letters with many reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon and
Heinrich Bullinger. In addition to his seminal work Institutes of the Christian
Religion, he wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible, as well as
theological treatises and confessional documents.
Originally trained as a
humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After
religious tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestantism in France,
Calvin fled to Basel, Switzerland, where he published the first edition of the
Institutes in 1536. In that year, Calvin was recruited by another Frenchman
William Farel to help reform the church in Geneva, where he regularly preached
sermons throughout the week. The city council resisted the implementation of
Calvin's and Farel's ideas, and both men were expelled. At the invitation of
Martin Bucer, Calvin proceeded to Strasbourg, where he became the minister of a
church of French refugees. He continued to support the reform movement in
Geneva, and was eventually invited back to lead its church.
Following his return, Calvin
introduced new forms of church government and liturgy, despite opposition from
several powerful families in the city who tried to curb his authority. During
this period, Michael Servetus, a Spaniard regarded by both Catholics and
Protestants as having heretical views, arrived in Geneva. He was denounced by
Calvin and burned at the stake for heresy by the city council. Following an
influx of supportive refugees and new elections to the city council, Calvin's
opponents were forced out. Calvin spent his final years promoting the
Reformation both in Geneva and throughout Europe.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life (1509–1535)
2 Reform work commences (1536–1538)
3 Minister in Strasbourg (1538–1541)
4 Reform in Geneva (1541–1549)
5 Discipline and opposition (1546–1553)
6 Michael Servetus (1553)
7 Securing the Reformation (1553–1555)
8 Final years (1555–1564)
9 Theology
9.1 Controversies
9.2 Calvin and the Jews
10 Political thought
11 Selected works
12 Legacy
13 See also
14 Notes
15 References
16 Further reading
17 External links
Early life (1509–1535)[edit]
Calvin was originally
interested in the priesthood, but he changed course to study law in Orléans and
Bourges. Painting titled Portrait of Young John Calvin from the collection of
the Library of Geneva.
John Calvin was born as Jehan
Cauvin on 10 July 1509, in the town of Noyon in the Picardy region of
France.[2] He was the first of four sons who survived infancy. His mother,
Jeanne le Franc, was the daughter of an innkeeper from Cambrai. She died in
Calvin's childhood, from an unknown cause, after bearing four more children.
Calvin's father, Gérard Cauvin, had a prosperous career as the cathedral notary
and registrar to the ecclesiastical court. Gérard Cauvin died in 1531, after
suffering two years with testicular cancer. Gérard intended his three
sons—Charles, Jean, and Antoine—for the priesthood.
Jean was particularly
precocious; by age 12, he was employed by the bishop as a clerk and received
the tonsure, cutting his hair to symbolise his dedication to the Church. He
also won the patronage of an influential family, the Montmors.[3] Through their
assistance, Calvin was able to attend the Collège de la Marche, in Paris, where
he learned Latin from one of its greatest teachers, Mathurin Cordier.[4] Once
he completed the course, he entered the Collège de Montaigu as a philosophy
student.[5]
In 1525 or 1526, Gérard
withdrew his son from the Collège de Montaigu and enrolled him in the
University of Orléans to study law. According to contemporary biographers
Theodore Beza and Nicolas Colladon, Gérard believed his son would earn more
money as a lawyer than as a priest.[6] After a few years of quiet study, Calvin
entered the University of Bourges in 1529. He was intrigued by Andreas Alciati,
a humanist lawyer. Humanism was a European intellectual movement which stressed
classical studies. During his 18-month stay in Bourges, Calvin learned Koine
Greek, a necessity for studying the New Testament.[7]
During the autumn of 1533
Calvin experienced a religious conversion. In later life, John Calvin wrote two
accounts of his conversion that differ in significant ways. In the first
account he portrays his conversion as a sudden change of mind, brought about by
God. This account can be found in his Commentary on the Book of Psalms:
"God by a sudden
conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame, which was more
hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at my early
period of life. Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true
godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress
therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, yet I
pursued them with less ardour."[8]
In his second account he
speaks of a long process of inner turmoil, followed by spiritual and
psychological anguish.
"Being exceedingly
alarmed at the misery into which I had fallen, and much more at that which
threatened me in view of eternal death, I, duty bound, made it my first
business to betake myself to your way, condemning my past life, not without
groans and tears. And now, O Lord, what remains to a wretch like me, but
instead of defence, earnestly to supplicate you not to judge that fearful
abandonment of your Word according to its deserts, from which in your wondrous
goodness you have at last delivered me."[9]
Scholars have argued about
the precise interpretation of these accounts, but it is agreed that his
conversion corresponded with his break from the Roman Catholic Church.[10][11]
The Calvin biographer Bruce Gordon has stressed that "the two accounts are
not antithetical, revealing some inconsistency in Calvin's memory, but rather
[are] two different ways of expressing the same reality."[12] At the time
of his conversion (scholars have argued), Calvin also believed himself to have
experienced a prophetic calling to reform the church, which is briefly
reflected in the Psalms commentary account of his conversion and in many of his
sermons and a number of his polemical tracts "[13]
By 1532, Calvin received his
licentiate in law and published his first book, a commentary on Seneca's De
Clementia. After uneventful trips to Orléans and his hometown of Noyon, Calvin
returned to Paris in October 1533. During this time, tensions rose at the
Collège Royal (later to become the Collège de France) between the
humanists/reformers and the conservative senior faculty members. One of the
reformers, Nicolas Cop, was rector of the university. On 1 November 1533 he
devoted his inaugural address to the need for reform and renewal in the
Catholic Church.
The address provoked a strong
reaction from the faculty, who denounced it as heretical, forcing Cop to flee
to Basel. Calvin, a close friend of Cop, was implicated in the offence, and for
the next year he was forced into hiding. He remained on the move, sheltering
with his friend Louis du Tillet in Angoulême and taking refuge in Noyon and
Orléans. He was finally forced to flee France during the Affair of the Placards
in mid-October 1534. In that incident, unknown reformers had posted placards in
various cities attacking the Catholic mass, which provoked a violent backlash
against Protestants. In January 1535, Calvin joined Cop in Basel, a city under
the influence of the reformer Johannes Oecolampadius.[14]
Reform work commences
(1536–1538)[edit]
William Farel was the
reformer who convinced Calvin to stay in Geneva. 16th Century painting. In the
Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Geneva.
In March 1536, Calvin
published the first edition of his Institutio Christianae Religionis or
Institutes of the Christian Religion. The work was an apologia or defense of
his faith and a statement of the doctrinal position of the reformers. He also
intended it to serve as an elementary instruction book for anyone interested in
the Christian religion. The book was the first expression of his theology.
Calvin updated the work and published new editions throughout his life.[15]
Shortly after its publication, he left Basel for Ferrara, Italy, where he
briefly served as secretary to Princess Renée of France. By June he was back in
Paris with his brother Antoine, who was resolving their father's affairs.
Following the Edict of Coucy, which gave a limited six-month period for
heretics to reconcile with the Catholic faith, Calvin decided that there was no
future for him in France. In August he set off for Strasbourg, a free imperial
city of the Holy Roman Empire and a refuge for reformers. Due to military
manoeuvres of imperial and French forces, he was forced to make a detour to the
south, bringing him to Geneva.
Calvin had only intended to
stay a single night, but William Farel, a fellow French reformer residing in
the city, implored a most reluctant Calvin to stay and assist him in his work
of reforming the church there – it was his duty before God, Farel insisted. Yet
Calvin, for his part, desired only peace and privacy. But it was not to be;
Farel's entreaties prevailed, but not before his having had recourse to the
sternest imprecations. Calvin recalls the rather intense encounter:
Then Farel, who was working
with incredible zeal to promote the gospel, bent all his efforts to keep me in
the city. And when he realized that I was determined to study in privacy in
some obscure place, and saw that he gained nothing by entreaty, he descended to
cursing, and said that God would surely curse my peace if I held back from
giving help at a time of such great need.[16] Terrified by his words, and
conscious of my own timidity and cowardice, I gave up my journey and attempted
to apply whatever gift I had in defense of my faith.[17]
Calvin accepted his new role
without any preconditions on his tasks or duties.[18] The office to which he
was initially assigned is unknown. He was eventually given the title of
"reader", which most likely meant that he could give expository
lectures on the Bible. Sometime in 1537 he was selected to be a
"pastor" although he never received any pastoral consecration.[19]
For the first time, the lawyer-theologian took up pastoral duties such as
baptisms, weddings, and church services.[20]
During the fall of 1536, Farel
drafted a confession of faith while Calvin wrote separate articles on
reorganizing the church in Geneva. On 16 January 1537, Farel and Calvin
presented their Articles concernant l'organisation de l'église et du culte à
Genève (Articles on the Organization of the Church and its Worship at Geneva)
to the city council.[21] The document described the manner and frequency of
their celebrations of the Eucharist, the reason for, and the method of,
excommunication, the requirement to subscribe to the confession of faith, the
use of congregational singing in the liturgy, and the revision of marriage
laws. The council accepted the document on the same day.[22]
As the year progressed,
however, Calvin and Farel's reputation with the council began to suffer. The
council was reluctant to enforce the subscription requirement, as only a few
citizens had subscribed to their confession of faith. On 26 November, the two
ministers heatedly debated the council over the issue. Furthermore, France was
taking an interest in forming an alliance with Geneva and as the two ministers
were Frenchmen, councillors began to question their loyalty. Finally, a major
ecclesiastical-political quarrel developed when Bern, Geneva's ally in the
reformation of the Swiss churches, proposed to introduce uniformity in the
church ceremonies. One proposal required the use of unleavened bread for the
Eucharist. The two ministers were unwilling to follow Bern's lead and delayed
the use of such bread until a synod in Zurich could be convened to make the final
decision. The council ordered Calvin and Farel to use unleavened bread for the
Easter Eucharist; in protest, the ministers did not administer communion during
the Easter service. This caused a riot during the service and the next day, the
council told the ministers to leave Geneva.[23]
Farel and Calvin went to Bern
and Zurich to plead their case. The synod in Zurich placed most of the blame on
Calvin for not being sympathetic enough toward the people of Geneva. However,
it asked Bern to mediate with the aim of restoring the ministers. The Geneva
council refused to readmit the two men, who took refuge in Basel. Subsequently,
Farel received an invitation to lead the church in Neuchâtel. Calvin was
invited to lead a church of French refugees in Strasbourg by that city's
leading reformers, Martin Bucer and Wolfgang Capito. Initially, Calvin refused
because Farel was not included in the invitation, but relented when Bucer
appealed to him. By September 1538 Calvin had taken up his new position in
Strasbourg, fully expecting that this time it would be permanent; a few months
later, he applied for and was granted citizenship of the city.[24]
Minister in Strasbourg
(1538–1541)[edit]
Saint-Nicolas Church,
Strasbourg, where Calvin preached in 1538. The building was architecturally
modified in the 19th century.
Martin Bucer invited Calvin
to Strasbourg after he was expelled from Geneva. Illustration by Jean-Jacques
Boissard.
During his time in
Strasbourg, Calvin was not attached to one particular church, but held his
office successively in the Saint-Nicolas Church, the Sainte-Madeleine Church
and the former Dominican Church, renamed the Temple Neuf.[25] (All of these
churches still exist, but none are in the architectural state of Calvin's
days.) Calvin ministered to 400–500 members in his church. He preached or
lectured every day, with two sermons on Sunday. Communion was celebrated
monthly and congregational singing of the psalms was encouraged.[26] He also
worked on the second edition of the Institutes. Although the first edition sold
out within a year, Calvin was dissatisfied with its structure as a catechism, a
primer for young Christians.
For the second edition,
published in 1539, Calvin dropped this format in favour of systematically
presenting the main doctrines from the Bible. In the process, the book was
enlarged from six chapters to seventeen.[27] He concurrently worked on another
book, the Commentary on Romans, which was published in March 1540. The book was
a model for his later commentaries: it included his own Latin translation from
the Greek rather than the Latin Vulgate, an exegesis, and an exposition.[28] In
the dedicatory letter, Calvin praised the work of his predecessors Philipp
Melanchthon, Heinrich Bullinger, and Martin Bucer, but he also took care to
distinguish his own work from theirs and to criticise some of their
shortcomings.[29]
Calvin's friends urged him to
marry. Calvin took a prosaic view, writing to one correspondent:
"I, who have the air of
being so hostile to celibacy, I am still not married and do not know whether I
will ever be. If I take a wife it will be because, being better freed from
numerous worries, I can devote myself to the Lord."[30]
Several candidates were
presented to him including one young woman from a noble family. Reluctantly,
Calvin agreed to the marriage, on the condition that she would learn French.
Although a wedding date was planned for March 1540, he remained reluctant and
the wedding never took place. He later wrote that he would never think of
marrying her, "unless the Lord had entirely bereft me of my
wits".[31] Instead, in August of that year, he married Idelette de Bure, a
widow who had two children from her first marriage.[32]
Geneva reconsidered its
expulsion of Calvin. Church attendance had dwindled and the political climate
had changed; as Bern and Geneva quarrelled over land, their alliance frayed.
When Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto wrote a letter to the city council inviting
Geneva to return to the Catholic faith, the council searched for an
ecclesiastical authority to respond to him. At first Pierre Viret was
consulted, but when he refused, the council asked Calvin. He agreed and his
Responsio ad Sadoletum (Letter to Sadoleto) strongly defended Geneva's position
concerning reforms in the church.[33] On 21 September 1540 the council
commissioned one of its members, Ami Perrin, to find a way to recall Calvin. An
embassy reached Calvin while he was at a colloquy, a conference to settle
religious disputes, in Worms. His reaction to the suggestion was one of horror
in which he wrote, "Rather would I submit to death a hundred times than to
that cross on which I had to perish daily a thousand times over."[34]
Calvin also wrote that he was
prepared to follow the Lord's calling. A plan was drawn up in which Viret would
be appointed to take temporary charge in Geneva for six months while Bucer and
Calvin would visit the city to determine the next steps. However, the city
council pressed for the immediate appointment of Calvin in Geneva. By summer
1541, Strasbourg decided to loan Calvin to Geneva for six months. Calvin
returned on 13 September 1541 with an official escort and a wagon for his
family.[35]
Reform in Geneva
(1541–1549)[edit]
In supporting Calvin's
proposals for reforms, the council of Geneva passed the Ordonnances
ecclésiastiques (Ecclesiastical Ordinances) on 20 November 1541. The ordinances
defined four orders of ministerial function: pastors to preach and to
administer the sacraments; doctors to instruct believers in the faith; elders
to provide discipline; and deacons to care for the poor and needy.[36] They
also called for the creation of the Consistoire (Consistory), an ecclesiastical
court composed of the lay elders and the ministers. The city government
retained the power to summon persons before the court, and the Consistory could
judge only ecclesiastical matters having no civil jurisdiction. Originally, the
court had the power to mete out sentences, with excommunication as its most
severe penalty. However, the government contested this power and on 19 March
1543 the council decided that all sentencing would be carried out by the
government.[37]
Calvin preached at St. Pierre
Cathedral, the main church in Geneva.
In 1542, Calvin adapted a
service book used in Strasbourg, publishing La Forme des Prières et Chants
Ecclésiastiques (The Form of Prayers and Church Hymns). Calvin recognised the
power of music and he intended that it be used to support scripture readings.
The original Strasbourg psalter contained twelve psalms by Clément Marot and
Calvin added several more hymns of his own composition in the Geneva version.
At the end of 1542, Marot became a refugee in Geneva and contributed nineteen
more psalms. Louis Bourgeois, also a refugee, lived and taught music in Geneva
for sixteen years and Calvin took the opportunity to add his hymns, the most
famous being the Old Hundredth.[38]
In the same year of 1542,
Calvin published Catéchisme de l'Eglise de Genève (Catechism of the Church of
Geneva), which was inspired by Bucer's Kurze Schrifftliche Erklärung of 1534.
Calvin had written an earlier catechism during his first stay in Geneva which
was largely based on Martin Luther's Large Catechism. The first version was
arranged pedagogically, describing Law, Faith, and Prayer. The 1542 version was
rearranged for theological reasons, covering Faith first, then Law and
Prayer.[39]
Historians debate the extent
to which Geneva was a theocracy. On the one hand, Calvin's theology clearly
called for separation between church and state. Other historians have stressed
the enormous political power wielded on a daily basis by the clerics.[40][41]
Idelette and Calvin had no
children survive infancy.
During his ministry in
Geneva, Calvin preached over two thousand sermons. Initially he preached twice
on Sunday and three times during the week. This proved to be too heavy a burden
and late in 1542 the council allowed him to preach only once on Sunday.
However, in October 1549, he was again required to preach twice on Sundays and,
in addition, every weekday of alternate weeks. His sermons lasted more than an
hour and he did not use notes. An occasional secretary tried to record his
sermons, but very little of his preaching was preserved before 1549. In that
year, professional scribe Denis Raguenier, who had learned or developed a system
of shorthand, was assigned to record all of Calvin's sermons. An analysis of
his sermons by T. H. L. Parker suggests that Calvin was a consistent preacher
and his style changed very little over the years.[42][43]
Voltaire wrote about Calvin,
Luther and Zwingli, "If they condemned celibacy in the priests, and opened
the gates of the convents, it was only to turn all society into a convent.
Shows and entertainments were expressly forbidden by their religion; and for
more than two hundred years there was not a single musical instrument allowed
in the city of Geneva. They condemned auricular confession, but they enjoined a
public one; and in Switzerland, Scotland, and Geneva it was performed the same
as penance."[44]
Very little is known about
Calvin's personal life in Geneva. His house and furniture were owned by the
council. The house was big enough to accommodate his family as well as
Antoine's family and some servants. On 28 July 1542, Idelette gave birth to a
son, Jacques, but he was born prematurely and survived only briefly. Idelette
fell ill in 1545 and died on 29 March 1549. Calvin never married again. He
expressed his sorrow in a letter to Viret:
I have been bereaved of the
best friend of my life, of one who, if it has been so ordained, would willingly
have shared not only my poverty but also my death. During her life she was the
faithful helper of my ministry. From her I never experienced the slightest
hindrance.[45]
Throughout the rest of his
life in Geneva, he maintained several friendships from his early years
including Montmor, Cordier, Cop, Farel, Melanchthon and Bullinger.[46]
Discipline and opposition
(1546–1553)[edit]
Sixteenth-century portrait of
John Calvin by an unknown artist. From the collection of the Bibliothèque de
Genève (Library of Geneva)
Calvin encountered bitter
opposition to his work in Geneva. Around 1546, the uncoordinated forces
coalesced into an identifiable group whom he referred to as the libertines, but
who preferred to be called either Spirituels or Patriots.[47][48] According to
Calvin, these were people who felt that after being liberated through grace,
they were exempted from both ecclesiastical and civil law. The group consisted
of wealthy, politically powerful, and interrelated families of Geneva.[49] At
the end of January 1546, Pierre Ameaux, a maker of playing cards who had
already been in conflict with the Consistory, attacked Calvin by calling him a
"Picard", an epithet denoting anti-French sentiment, and accused him
of false doctrine. Ameaux was punished by the council and forced to make
expiation by parading through the city and begging God for forgiveness.[50] A
few months later Ami Perrin, the man who had brought Calvin to Geneva, moved
into open opposition. Perrin had married Françoise Favre, daughter of François
Favre, a well-established Genevan merchant. Both Perrin's wife and
father-in-law had previous conflicts with the Consistory. The court noted that
many of Geneva's notables, including Perrin, had breached a law against
dancing. Initially, Perrin ignored the court when he was summoned, but after
receiving a letter from Calvin, he appeared before the Consistory.[51]
By 1547, opposition to Calvin
and other French refugee ministers had grown to constitute the majority of the
syndics, the civil magistrates of Geneva. On 27 June an unsigned threatening
letter in Genevan dialect was found at the pulpit of St. Pierre Cathedral where
Calvin preached. Suspecting a plot against both the church and the state, the
council appointed a commission to investigate. Jacques Gruet, a Genevan member
of Favre's group, was arrested and incriminating evidence was found when his
house was searched. Under torture, he confessed to several crimes including
writing the letter left in the pulpit which threatened the church leaders. A civil
court condemned Gruet to death and he was beheaded on 26 July. Calvin was not
opposed to the civil court's decision.[52]
The libertines continued
organizing opposition, insulting the appointed ministers, and challenging the
authority of the Consistory. The council straddled both sides of the conflict,
alternately admonishing and upholding Calvin. When Perrin was elected first
syndic in February 1552, Calvin's authority appeared to be at its lowest point.
After some losses before the council, Calvin believed he was defeated; on 24
July 1553 he asked the council to allow him to resign. Although the libertines
controlled the council, his request was refused. The opposition realised that
they could curb Calvin's authority, but they did not have enough power to
banish him.