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his woe. Confession, penance, were resorted to in vain; they could not
reconcile the soul with God.
While still engaged in these fruitless struggles, Calvin, chancing
one day to visit one of the public squares, witnessed there the burning
of a heretic. He was filled with wonder at the expression of peace
which rested upon the martyr’s countenance. Amid the tortures of
that dreadful death, and under the more terrible condemnation of the
church, he manifested a faith and courage which the young student
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painfully contrasted with his own despair and darkness, while living
in strictest obedience to the church. Upon the Bible, he knew, the
heretics rested their faith. He determined to study it, and discover, if
he could, the secret of their joy.
In the Bible he found Christ. “O Father,” he cried, “His sacrifice
has appeased Thy wrath; His blood has washed away my impurities;
His cross has borne my curse; His death has atoned for me. We had
devised for ourselves many useless follies, but Thou hast placed Thy
word before me like a torch, and Thou hast touched my heart, in
order that I may hold in abomination all other merits save those of
Jesus.”—Martyn, vol. 3, ch. 13.
Calvin had been educated for the priesthood. When only twelve
years of age he had been appointed to the chaplaincy of a small church,
and his head had been shorn by the bishop in accordance with the
canon of the church. He did not receive consecration, nor did he fulfill
the duties of a priest, but he became a member of the clergy, holding
the title of his office, and receiving an allowance in consideration
thereof.
Now, feeling that he could never become a priest, he turned for
a time to the study of law, but finally abandoned this purpose and
determined to devote his life to the gospel. But he hesitated to become
a public teacher. He was naturally timid, and was burdened with a
sense of the weighty responsibility of the position, and he desired
still to devote himself to study. The earnest entreaties of his friends,
however, at last won his consent. “Wonderful it is,” he said, “that one
of so lowly an origin should be exalted to so great a dignity.”—Wylie,
b. 13, ch. 9.
Quietly did Calvin enter upon his work, and his words were as the
dew falling to refresh the earth. He had left Paris, and was now in a
provincial town under the protection of the princess Margaret, who,