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

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D’Aubigné’s History of the Reformation, in the Sixteenth Century. 5 vols. 6.00

D’Aubigné’s History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin. 8 vols. 16.00

‘D’Aubigné’s History of the Reformation is in all respects one of the grandest literary and historical works of this or any age. The author’s brilliant genius imparted to its pages all the fascination of a romance, while his research, study, and sound judgment have invested it with an authority that has stood the test, in its most important parts, of more than a quarter of a century’s criticism.’ — N. Y. Observer.

‘Thirty years have now passed since we read in our student days the first three volumes which the Carters had just brought in an American dress. The name of D’Aubigné was soon on every tongue. The same clear, forcible style characterizes this latest volume, albeit maturer and richer, the same love for the Gospel, and the same grasp of the truth of history. The new generation, in whose presence Rome is demanding, that the world shall move backward three hundred and fifty years, may do well to study the volumes of this author.’ — North Christian Advocate.

‘D’Aubigné is a clear, incisive writer, and all of his assertions are supported with copious notes that make the work invaluable for controversial purposes. As a simple, historical narrative it is unequalled.’ — Chronicle.

‘Many of our readers will remember the real pleasure and profit with which they read the History of the Reformation as it first appeared from the pen of Dr. D’Aubigné. He had a new style, making every scene and character so lifelike and striking as to impress the great points upon the mind, and impress the reader for life.’ — Christian Instructor.

‘There is a fascination about D’Aubigné’s style that has given to his work an uncommon popularity. While he is master of the art of expression, he has entered so fully into the spirit of the great struggle he records, and has so completely identified himself with the efforts and aims of its heroic leaders, as to add to the narrative of the historian, the enthusiasm of a chief actor in the scene.’ — Episcopal Methodist.

‘Dr. Merle d’Aubigné has earned the first place among the French historians of the Reformation.’ — Prof. Bonifas.

Robert Carter and Brothers

New York.

By the

REV. J. H. MERLE D’AUBIGNÉ, D.D.

Translated by

William L. R. Cates

JOINT AUTHOR OF WOODWARD AND CATES’S ‘ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF CHRONOLOGY,’ EDITOR OF ‘THE DICTIONARY OF GENERAL BIOGRAPHY,’ ETC.

‘Les choses de petite durée ont coutume de devenir fanées, quand elles ont passé leur temps.

‘Au règne de Christ, il n’y a que le nouvel homme qui soit florissant, qui ait de la vigueur, et dont il faille faire cas.’

Calvin.

VOL. VIII.

HUNGARY, POLAND, BOHEMIA. NETHERLANDS.
GENEVA. DENMARK, SWEDEN, NORWAY.

New York

Robert Carter and Brothers

530 Broadway.

1879.

CAMBRIDGE:
PRESS OF
JOHN WILSON AND SON.

ST. JOHNLAND
STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
SUFFOLK CO., N. Y.

With this volume we complete the publication of the work of M. Merle d’Aubigné on the history of the Reformation. The ten volumes published by the author himself and the three posthumous volumes are the fruit of his long labors, begun in 1817, and continued almost uninterruptedly until 1872.

It was in 1817, immediately after his ordination to the ministry, and in the course of a visit to Germany undertaken to perfect his theological studies, that M. Merle d’Aubigné conceived the project of writing this history. Germany was at that time celebrating at Eisenach the third centenary of the Reformation. The people were in a state of great excitement. Humiliated by long-continued oppression and irritated by severe suffering, Germany, which had so long been the theatre and the victim of the sanguinary wars of the Empire, had at length risen with an impetuous energy and a fervor of feeling which were irresistible, and had powerfully contributed to the overthrow of the imperial warrior who had appeared to be invincible. Rescued thus from foreign rule, she had fallen again under the equally heavy yoke of her former masters; and she was now turning her eyes towards Luther, the spiritual liberator of modern times. The reformer’s name was on every tongue; and Merle d’Aubigné encountered on his way the crowds of young German students who were journeying to the Wartburg. On the eve of the celebration he felt an overpowering desire to take part in it. He therefore followed the throng, and after travelling all night came at daybreak within sight of the castle famous as the scene of Luther’s confinement. A novel spectacle here presented itself. The squares and streets of Eisenach were filled with a motley crowd, chiefly composed of young men. Their long hair falling upon their shoulders, their thick, untrimmed beards, their velvet cloaks reaching to the knees, their caps adorned with feathers or foliage, their broad embroidered collars, their banner proudly borne aloft, surrounded by its defenders who, with outstretched arms and drawn swords, formed its bodyguard, the name of Luther the while resounding in all directions — this spectacle, the antique costumes, the usages of a by-gone age, all contributed to transport the traveller in imagination into the midst of the scenes of three centuries ago.

The young Genevese, however, soon withdrew from these noisy scenes, from the political and social harangues, the excitement and the tumult. Longing for quiet, he traversed with a guide the deserted rooms of the castle.

‘This then,’ he murmured, ‘this is the place where, after the stormy scenes of the Diet of Worms, Luther was able to say, “At last I am at rest.” Here was passed the captivity of the knight George. This is the table at which he used to sit; that the window from which he looked out upon the landscape around. Here it was that he gave himself up to profound meditation, mingled with regret that he had consented to withdraw from the battle-field, and with a distressing fear lest the Pope should take advantage of his absence to crush the infant Church. In this room he used to read the Bible in Hebrew and in Greek; here he translated the Psalms and the New Testament, and here his fervent prayers rose to heaven.’ The great movement of the sixteenth century thus presented itself to the young man’s imagination in its intimate details, which are far more thrilling than its external aspects. He formed the resolution to write its history; and a few weeks later (November 23, 1817) he sketched in the following terms the plan which he proposed to follow: —

‘I should like to write a history of the Reformation. I should wish this history to be a work of learning, and to set forth facts at present unknown. It should be profound, and should distinctly assign the causes and the results of this great movement; it should be interesting, and should make known the authors of the transformation by means of their letters, their works, and their words; and it should introduce the reader into the bosom of their families and into their closets. Finally I should wish that this history should be thoroughly Christian, and calculated to give an impulse to true religion. I would show by the evidence of facts that the aim of the Reformation was not so much to destroy as to build up — not so much to overthrow that which was in excess, superstition, as to impart that which had ceased to exist, the new life, and holiness, the essence of Christianity, and to revive or rather to create faith. I shall begin to collect materials, and I will dedicate my history to the Protestant churches of France.’

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