CHAPTER VIII.-GENEVA, CALVIN'S MODEL

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CITY.

EXT to Zurich, Geneva is the most beautiful city of Switzerland, and is also next

to it in size. It contains about 125,000 inhabitants and is beautifully located at the southern end of the lake bearing its name. Through it, dividing it, into two parts, flows the rapid deepblue river Rhone, with its small Rosseau's island in the centre of the stream. The city east of the Rhone rises to an elevation on which stands the Reformed cathedral of St. Peter; while from the Quay Mt. Blanc, on the west side of the river, a fine view can be had in pleasant weather of Mt. Just below the city, the

Blanc many miles away. clear blue waters of the Rhone meet the muddy waters of the Arve river and they flow side by side for some time without mingling. It is a city famous for its manufacture of watches and musicboxes, the former industry having been brought here by the refugees, who fled from France on account of persecution for their Protestantism. In the days of the reformation it became the centre of the Reformed, as Wittenberg had been the cen

tre of the Lutherans. Its rigid Reformed doctrines and laws made it, as even a Lutheran visitor of that day granted, the "model city" of its age. This was the city, though much smaller than at present (about 12,000), that Farel had his eye upon for the Gospel of Christ.

It happened that just at that time, there was a movement in the city for civil liberty. The city had been under the control of the Duke of Savoy, and Bonnivard, who was the leader for freedom, had been sent a prisoner in the castle of Chillon, at the upper end of Lake Geneva. There his footprints in the hard stone, as he walked around the column to which he was chained, are still shown to the traveller. Byron has immortalized this in his Childe Harold:

"Chillon, thy prison is a holy place,

And thy sad floor an altar,-for 'twas trod
By Bonnivard, may none those marks efface."

Farel first visited the city on his return from a visit to the Waldensees. But he was brought before the court and expelled. On his departure a gun was levelled at him but failed to go off, whereat he courageously replied, "I am not to be shaken by

a pop-gun. Your toy does not alarm me." As he dared not himself go back to Geneva, he decided to try the plan he had so successfully tried at Aigle, to send a school-teacher to Geneva. So he sent Froment, who opened a school, but in it taught the Protestant doctrines. He also began holding meetings in a private house. But one day on New Year, 1533, in spite of the fact that the council had forbidden him to preach, the Huguenots came in such numbers that they forced him to preach in the open square, east of the Rhone, called the Molard. And three months later at sunrise, the few believers celebrated the Lord's Supper in a garden near the city gate, after the simple manner of the Protestants. But Farel had back of him the influence of the canton of Berne and its officials took Farel to a conference in Geneva, so that he was permitted to preach in the Franciscan Church and on Whitsuntide (1534) to administer the communion to a large number. The work grew on his hands so greatly that he prayed God to send him a helper. God answered his prayer.

One day in 1536 a young man arrived at Geneva named John Calvin. He was a Frenchman, born at Noyon in Picardy, July 10, 1509. He studied

at Paris, Bourges and Orleans, and then while in Paris (1532) he fully united himself with the Reformed. Driven out of Paris, he wandered for several years in France as at Angouleme with Du Tillet, at Poictiers, where he celebrated the Lord's Supper in a cave. He then fled from France through Strasburg to Basle, where he published his epochal book, his "Institutes of the Christian Religion." After visiting northern Italy and returning to France for a brief season, he was about going to Germany to study when he stopped at Geneva over night, in the latter part of July, 1536. Farel, when he heard that the author of the Institutes of Theology was in town, decided that Calvin was the man he had been praying for. He called on Calvin and then occurred one of the most dramatic scenes in all Protestant Church history, certainly in Reformed Church history.

Farel urged Calvin to stay and preach the Gospel at Geneva. Calvin replied to him with astonishment, "I can not stop here more than a night." Farel pointed out to him how the reformation had been miraculously established at Geneva,—that if he did not take up the work, it would probably perish and Calvin's refusal would be the cause of the

ruin of the Church. But Calvin did not want to bind himself to any particular church. He wanted to travel and to study. "Study, leisure," said Farel, "what, must we never practice, I am sinking under my task. Pray help me!" Calvin then pled another excuse that the frail condition of his health required rest. "Rest," answered the fiery Farel, "death alone permits the soldiers of Christ to rest from their labors." But still Calvin held back. He felt he was too weak to undertake the responsibilities of reforming so large a city. At this Farel could no longer restrain his feelings. “Ought a servant of Christ to be so delicate," he said "as to be frightened at warfare." This sentence somewhat touched Calvin. The thought of preferring ease to the service of Christ frightened him. His conscience now became troubled. He became greatly agitated. Farel was evidently making an impression on him. But still his retiring disposition and lack of confidence in himself held him back. “I beg of you," he said to Farel, "to have pity on me." Farel, seeing that Calvin began to weaken, now advanced to threatening. He reminded Calvin how the Lord had dealt with Jonah, a case similar to his own. "Jonah also," he said,