History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 7 (of 8)

1. — The History of the Reformation in the SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 5 Vols. $6.00

2. — The History of the Reformation in the TIME OF CALVIN. 7 Vols. $14.00

[From a Review by Prof. F. Godet of Neuchâtel.]

What a difference there is between the perusal of a work of this kind and that of one of the religious novels with which our public is now satiated. In these latter, notwithstanding all the good-will of the authors, there is always, or nearly always, something unwholesome. Imagination, that admirable gift of God, is employed to transport us into the chiaro-oscuro of fictitious scenes, which communicate a kind of fascination from which it is difficult to emerge, to return to the humdrum of every-day life, and to confine ourselves to the narrow limits of our every-day duties. Here on the contrary we find the full light of historic truth, imagination restored to its true object — that of giving life to real facts. The faith of this martyr, it really struggled, really triumphed — this blood, it really flowed — this pile, its flames lighted up the surrounding country, but in doing so they really consumed their victim. When we read these true histories our hearts do not swell with vain ambition or aspire to an inaccessible ideal. We do not say: “If I were this one, or that one.” We are obliged to commune with ourselves, to examine our consciences, to humble ourselves with the question: What would become of me if I were called to profess my faith through similar sufferings? Each one of us is thus called to less self-complacency, to greater humility, but at the same time to greater contentment with his lot, to greater anxiety to serve his God with greater faithfulness and greater activity.

We warmly recommend this work to those who are glad to find wholesome nutriment for the strengthening of their faith, to those who by contact with a vivifying stream wish to give renewed vigor to their spiritual life. They will find in its narrations all the energy and brightness which a living faith communicated to the author, whose mind retained all its youthful freshness, and at the same time that wisdom which Christian experience had brought to full maturity.

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS.

A whole year has elapsed since the publication of the sixth volume of the History of the Reformation. But this delay is owing to the fact that the editor has been unable to devote to this undertaking more than the scanty leisure hours of an active ministry; and not, as some have supposed, to the necessity of compiling the History from notes more or less imperfect left by the author. The following narrative, like that which has preceded it, is wholly written by M. Merle d’Aubigné himself.

The editor repeats the statement made on the publication of the last volume — that his task has consisted solely in verifying the numerous quotations occurring in the text or as foot-notes, and in curtailing, in two or three places, some general reflections which interfered with the rapid flow of the narrative, and which the author would certainly have either suppressed or condensed if it had been permitted him to put the finishing touches to his work.

We can only express our gratitude to the public for the reception given to the posthumous volume which we have already presented to them. Criticism, of course, has everywhere accompanied praise. The estimates formed by the author of this or that character have not been accepted by all readers; and the journals have been the organs of the public sentiment.

One important English review has censured the author for placing himself too much at the evangelical point of view. It is unquestionable that this is indeed the point of view at which M. Merle d’Aubigné stood. This was not optional with him; he could not do otherwise. By conviction, by feeling, by nature, by his whole being, he was evangelical. But was this the point of view best adapted to afford him a real comprehension of the epoch, the history of which he intended to relate? This is the true question, and the answer seems obvious. If we consider the fact that the theologians of the revival at Geneva have been especially accused of having been too much in bondage to the theology of the sixteenth century, we shall acknowledge that this evangelical point of view was the most favorable to an accurate understanding of the movement of the Reformation, and to a just expression of its ideas and tendencies. No one could better render to us the aspect of the sixteenth century than one of those men who, if we may so speak, have restored it in the nineteenth.

The criticism most commonly applied to M. Merle d’Aubigné is that he has displayed a bias in favor of the men of the Reformation, and especially in favor of Calvin. That the author of the History of the Reformation feels for Calvin a certain tenderness, and that he is inclined to excuse, to a certain extent, his errors and even his faults, may be admitted. But it is no less indisputable that this tendency has never led him to palliate or to conceal those errors or faults. He pronounces a judgment: and this is sometimes a justification or an excuse. But he has in the first place narrated; and this narration has been perfectly accurate. The kindly feeling, or, as some say, the partiality of the writer, may have deprived his estimate of the severity which others would have thought needful; but it has not falsified his view. His glance has remained keen and clear, and historical truth comes forth from the author’s narratives with complete impartiality. These narratives themselves furnish the reader with the means of arriving at a different conclusion from that which the author has himself drawn.

May we not add that M. Merle d’Aubigné’s love for his hero, admitting the indisputable sincerity of the historian, far from being a ground of suspicion, imparts a special value to his judgments? For nearly sixty years M. Merle lived in close intimacy with Calvin. He carefully investigated his least writings, seized upon and assimilated all his thoughts, and entered, as it were, into personal intercourse with the great reformer. Calvin committed some faults. Who disputes this? But he did not commit these faults with deliberate intention. He must have yielded to motives which he thought good, and, were it only in the blindness of passion, must have justified his actions to his own conscience. In the main, it is this self-justification on Calvin’s part which M. Merle d’Aubigné has succeeded better than any one else in making known to us. He has depicted for us a living Calvin; he has revealed to us his inmost thought; and when, in the work which I am editing, I meet with an approving judgment in which I can not join without some reservation, I imagine nevertheless that if Calvin, rising from the tomb, could himself give me his reasons, he would give me no others than those which I find set forth in these pages. If this view is correct, and it seems to me difficult to doubt it, has not the author solved one of the hardest problems of history — to present the true physiognomy of characters, and to show them as they were; under the outward aspect of facts to discover and depict the minds of men?

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