His Church⤒🔗

Great and devout crowds filled the Church of St Peter’s to hear Calvin preach, even as early as five o’clock on summer mornings and six o’clock in winter. St Peter’s in his day was plain and unadorned, but the numbers thronging it were far greater than at the ornate Roman services held there before the Reformation. In fact the church became too small, and to meet the need the number of services was increased, and there were services on weekdays as well as on Sabbaths. All the magistrates of the city were present every Sabbath. As Calvin preached, a secretary took down his sermons and lectures, and many of them were printed and went forth to nourish fellow-believers in many lands.

In this church there were some stirring scenes. Here on 3 September 1553, Calvin covered the symbols of bread and wine with his hands and offered to die rather than give the elements to the profane Libertines who were pushing boldly forward to receive them. From this pulpit on 5 June 1559, he spoke in the presence of the city magistrates and pastors and 600 scholars, when the famous College and Academy of Geneva were established. Here the voice of mourning rose over the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day in France; here also was heard the voice of thanksgiving for marvellous deliverances and victories of the Protestant cause.

His Salary←⤒🔗

The voice of calumny was raised against Calvin in his own day and has often been raised since. The charge has been brought that he used his unique position in Geneva to ‘feather his own nest’. Actually, his salary of 500 florins (plus twelve hundredweights of flour and two measures of wine) was very moderate, and he refused any increase. True, but his enemies say that he received many gifts. Even supposing this were true, it is also true that he had many expenses as well. He was not a pas­tor of the Genevan Church alone; he was a director of the Reformed Church in Switzerland and in the world. He had the expenses of a vast correspondence, and correspondence then was often many hundreds of times more costly than now. At times he had travelling expenses, and he incurred a heavy cost to care for the poor and refugees. It is perhaps interesting to note that the poor box at the church door – that innova­tion of the Protestant Church – was not introduced in Geneva till 1568, four years after Calvin’s death. There is no doubt that he gave freely to the poor from his own pocket while he lived. He kept open house for all corners. He found this difficult on his moderate income, for he tells Viret in 1549 that he could scarcely make ends meet, on account of ‘the heavy burden of passers-by’.

In January 1546 the Council of Geneva was informed of ‘the sick­ness of M. Calvin who has no resources’. They sent him ten crowns but he refused them. So it was no wonder that later in the month, when he was having a discussion with an Anabaptist before the Council, and the Anabaptist called him avaricious, the whole Council burst out laughing. They knew of his recent refusal and of his returning part of his salary. The presents given him during his long ministry in Geneva were almost all either refused or paid for. He also refused, during his last illness, the quarterly salary which was brought him. He had not earned it, he said, so how could he accept it?

In reply to the lies spread by the Romanists during his life-time he said, ‘My death at all events will show that I have not been a money­making man.’ It was reported that he had bought a property. Actually, he did not own a foot of ground. In 1547 he could write that he had not a house of his own. He said he had not enough to buy an acre except when his quarterly salary came. Theodore Beza testifies that at his death his whole estate, including ‘the proceeds of his library’, did not exceed a few hundred gold pieces. His biographer, Felix Bungener, says that Pope Pius IV, on hearing of his death, said of him: ‘That which made the strength of that heretic was that money was nothing to him.’

For all his literary activity he received no remuneration. He was a great, disinterested man, and though he had the opportunity of becoming rich, especially in his later years when he was so widely honoured and respected, he died in comparative poverty. There are plenty of testimonies to the simplicity of his life and his contempt for the riches of the world. He wished, he said, for no more than his daily needs required. Even this he had not always. For years he contented himself with a single meal in the day.

The Rue des Chanoines (the street of the Canons) where he lived is today Rue Calvin. His house no longer remains, but the courtyard and garden are still to be seen. Though the house has gone, there is a list of the furniture lent him by the City Council. It shows that the house was not sumptuously furnished – it was provided with the bare necessities.

One day a stranger knocked at his door. It was none other than the old enemy of Geneva, whose attack Calvin had answered so devastat­ingly – Cardinal Sadoleto. He was travelling incognito and desired to see Calvin. He was not the only cardinal who wished to see him. Calvin tells Viret in 1553 of a Cardinal du Bellay who was passing through Geneva and proposed to call on him, but he was not at home. ‘I think he did not greatly wish to have conversation with me’, said Calvin. When Sadoleto arrived he thought he would find him in a palace or magnificent man­sion, with numerous attendants. He was therefore greatly surprised when directed to such a small and inconspicuous abode. In answer to his knock Calvin himself, simply attired, opened the door. The Cardinal was utterly astonished and voiced his amazement. No doubt Calvin was rather astonished too when the stranger made himself known!