Merle d'Aubigné Quotes on God in History, the Word and Grace
Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné (1794–1872) was a Swiss pastor and professor who spent most of his life writing the story of the Reformation. His books were read all over the English-speaking world in the 1800s, and they still are. He wrote history the way a preacher tells a Bible story: vivid, full of real people, and sure that God was at work in every scene.
Every quotation below is copied exactly from his histories in TheWay Library, with the volume and chapter it comes from. Most are d'Aubigné's own words. A last group gathers words of other believers as he records them, and each is labeled with who said it. For his life story, see who was Merle d'Aubigné. For a guide to his ten volumes here, see Merle d'Aubigné books.
On God in history
D'Aubigné's whole method rested on one conviction, which he put on the title page of his first history: God in history. He believed the historian's task was to show the hand of God behind the events. These lines come from the preface to Volume 1 of his History of the Reformation.
God must be acknowledged — God proclaimed — in history.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
The history of the world should purport to be annals of the government of the Supreme King.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
There is a birth of God in the history of the world, and shall God not be in history?
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
Jesus Christ is the true God in the history of men.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
To do great things by imperceptible means is the law of God.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
He said the same thing again, decades later, when he began his history of the Reformation in Calvin's time:
There is a soul in history as well as in the body, and it is this which generates, vivifies, and links the facts together
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 1, The Reformation and Modern Liberty
The living God must not be excluded from the world which He created.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 6, Preparation of Reform
On what the Reformation was
For d'Aubigné the Reformation wasn't a political revolt. It was a return to the faith of the apostles, a revival sent by God.
The love of truth, of holiness, and eternity, was the simple, yet powerful, spring by which our Reformation was effected.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
It was the triumph of the greatest of doctrines, that which animates those who embrace it with the purest and strongest enthusiasm — the doctrine of faith, the doctrine of grace.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
Christianity and the Reformation are the same revolution, effected at different times, and under different circumstances.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
The history of the Reformation is different from the history of Protestantism.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
"Give me," said Archimedes, "a point outside the world, and I will lift it from its poles." True Christianity is this point outside the world.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Preface
On the Word of God
Again and again in his story, the turning point is the open Bible. D'Aubigné saw the Reformation as the Word of God taking back its place.
To present Holy Scripture as the supreme rule instead of the pope, was a bold act that decided the evangelical reformation.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5, Light from Both Sides
Rome had set up, beside the Bible and even above it, the word and the traditions of men.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5, Triumph of the Word of God, Both Written and Spoken
The word of God perpetually separates light from darkness in the spiritual world, as it did at the time of the creation of heaven and earth.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 3, Calvin at Poitiers
The Word of God has resumed its rights, and deposes him who had gone the length of usurping God's place.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 2, Chap. X
On conscience and liberty
D'Aubigné lived in Geneva, a city whose freedom was won in the same years it embraced the gospel. He believed real liberty grows only where God's Word is honored.
Liberty has never been firmly established except among a people where the Word of God reigns.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 1, Berthelier and the Youth of Geneva
Man's conscience belongs to God alone, and every human power that encroaches on this kingdom and presumes to command within it is guilty of rebellion against its lawful sovereign.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 3, Calvin, the Fugitive, in His Retreat at Angoulême
Let no man thrust himself between God and the soul! The spot on which they meet is holy ground.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 3, Calvin, the Fugitive, in His Retreat at Angoulême
An entire people is not converted to God in a body.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5, The People of Geneva Desire to Live According to the Gospel
As constraint was not applied outwardly, truth acted all the more inwardly.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5, The People of Geneva Desire to Live According to the Gospel
It was not possible to purify the faith without purifying the life.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 6, Chapter IV
On the people of the Reformation
D'Aubigné's portraits are why people love his books. A sentence or two, and you can see the person.
On William Farel, the fiery preacher who first brought the gospel to Geneva:
Farel was one of those men whom God raises up for great and salutary revolutions: opposition only served to inflame his courage.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5, Triumph of the Word of God, Both Written and Spoken
On the London merchant John Tewkesbury, burned in 1531:
Christ alone, he said habitually: these two words were all his theology.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 4, The Martyrs
On Claudine Levet, one of the first converts in Geneva:
Hers was one of those deep natures that speak little with man but much with God.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 3, The Schoolmaster and Claudine Levet
And on the persecuted churches of Bohemia and Poland:
This persecution, however, did not extinguish faith in men's hearts; it purified them.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 7, Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland
Words of other believers, as d'Aubigné records them
He quoted the letters and sermons of other believers at length. These are their words, not his, but they're some of the best-loved lines in his books.
Johann von Staupitz, counseling a troubled young monk:
No repentance … is true, save that which begins with the love of God and of righteousness.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1, Chap. IV
Louis de Berquin, the French nobleman, in prison before his martyrdom:
We must fear neither man nor torture, but render all obedience to God.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 2, Berquin, the Most Learned of the Nobility, a Martyr for the Gospel
William Tyndale, in prison at Vilvoorde before his death:
He must believe in the perfect work of Christ which reconciles him completely with God; then he has peace, and Christ imparts to him, by his Spirit, a holy regeneration.
History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5, The Death of the Great Reformer of England
Where to read more
The best way to meet d'Aubigné is to read one of his stories from start to finish. Begin with Volume 1 of the Time of Calvin and read on in order, or go straight to Volume 5 for Tyndale's death and Geneva's turn to the gospel. All ten volumes are on the Merle d'Aubigné author page.