Calvin in Strasbourg

6 July, 2009. Arrived in incomparable Strasbourg and after getting a bit tangled up with a bicycle, de-coached near the Hotel Gutenberg, then off to the Au Pont St. Martin Restaurant in the quaint neighborhood, Petite France, zig-zagging with canals, bridges, narrow medieval streets, and old-world half-timbered homes. We dined on salad, bread, Tarte Flambe, an Alsacian specialty, sort of a northern French pizza, chocolate mouse, local wines, and coffee, all consumed amidst good conversation, overlooking the canal, the ascending darkness, and the glowing illumination of the monuments that emerge from the dusk as night falls on this charming city.

We gathered at the bronze statue to Johannes Gutenberg in sight of our hotel of the same name, and put in context the central importance to the Reformation of the printing press, first book published on the press in 1450, the Gutenberg Bible, Latin Vulgate. One is reminded of the Sorbonne ordering two presses from Mainz, Gutenberg’s hometown, 28 miles north of Worms on the Rhine, in 1469, thus bringing the essential engine needed to spread the recovered truths of the gospel by Calvin and the reformers.

Calvin wrote several important books while here in Strasbourg, his first commentary, on Romans in 1540, the same year of the founding of the Jesuits by Loyola, a definitive work on the Lord’s Supper, and the reply to the letter of Cardinal Sadoleto, a work that was such a clear definitive statement of Reformed Christianity that it was rapidly taken up, translated into various languages, printed, and distributed throughout Europe. Luther read it and remarked, "Here is writing with hands and feet." Eloquent Sadoleto withdrew without attempting a reply. He had accused Calvin of joining the Reformed party for the money, to which Calvin replied that if he cared about money and personal advancement he would have stayed within the corrupt Catholic church where offices could be bought and sold as readily as spices in Venice. Calvin would write and publish 48 books but, to my knowledge, make no money on their sale.

We walked over to the north side of the cathedral where Martin Bucer preached and, no doubt, Calvin, to where I had found earlier that morning graffiti that read "Dieu est amour," God is love. He is indeed, and Calvin saw predestination as the ultimate love of God as Father for his chosen children, love joined with ultimate authority and the power to accomplish all of our salvation for us, Soli Deo Gloria. From there we talked about Calvin’s banishment from Geneva in 1538, Bucer’s urgings for Calvin to come to Strasbourg and pastor the French refugee congregation there, which he eventually does.

Calvin was very happy in his ministry in Strasbourg and was appreciated by his flock and by the amiable authorities of that city. French speaking Jean Stordeur and his wife Idelette developed a relationship with Calvin as Calvin urged them to embrace the gospel of grace and abandon their Anabaptist tendencies. Jean and his wife were converted and joined Calvin’s congregation. Then the Bubonic Plague hit; Jean Stordeur developed buboes in his armpits and groin, and in a few days was dead, Idelette now desolate without a husband to care for her and her two children. You guest it. Calvin, a the urgings of his sister Marie, Bucer, Melanchthon, and Farel, decides to marry Idelette, “the best companion of my life.”

We discussed what Calvin wrote in his commentary on Genesis about music and its role in Christian worship. Here in the Strasbourg Psalter published 1544, was included “I Greet Thee Who My Sure Redeemer Art,” clearly not a strict Psalm versification (though it has hints of Psalm 67 in it, “shine on us with the light of thy pure day”). Calvin commended Psalm singing, versified poetry from the Psalms himself, commissioned Clement Marot, the work carried on by Beza after him, but nowhere during or after his time in Strasbourg, where German Lutheran hymns were widely sung, did he condemn the writing or singing of hymns of human poetic composition. In the Geneva Psalter published 1551, Calvin included “I greet thee.” Some hymnologists believe Calvin wrote this hymn; it is very Calvin and may have been so; the fact that we don’t know who wrote it is actually a vote in favor of humble, un-self-serving Calvin. Here in Strasbourg the tune “Greiter,” named for Bucer’s cantor/organist, was written by Greiter to accompany the Huguenot Battle Hymn, Psalm 68, “God shall arise and by his might/Put all his enemies to flight.” Simply whistling the tune Greiter became sufficient evidence of ones Huguenot leanings and could get one thrown in jail, and worse. (Yes, Eunice at 86 climbed Notre Dame Strasbourg!)

We dispersed to climb the tower of the grand cathedral (taller than Noah’s ark set on end), to explore the museums, books stalls, Romanian craft, food, and music exhibits, vast medieval alleyways, quaint shops, bakeries, canal boats, restaurants, and cafes. I’m not sure I’ll be able to draw my wife away from this comfortable, charming city. At the moment she’s cooking up a scheme how we might move here! (That's ma belle at right forging ahead along the canal)

It helps to appreciate why Calvin was so loathe to leave Strasbourg and return to the “tearing wolves” of Geneva. The City Council, led by mayor Ami Perron, had now repeatedly come, cap-in-hand, begging Calvin to return. He said he’d rather face death 100 times a day than return to Geneva (doesn’t sound like the power-hungry tyrant we are told he was), but finally he submits to the will of God and returns, September, 1541, perhaps reminding himself of his personal seal,”My heart I offer you, O Lord, promptly and sincerely.” In one of the most remarkable pastoral gestures in the history of the church, Calvin stepped into his pulpit in St. Pierre, opened his Bible, and recommenced his exposition of God’s Word precisely at the verse he had left off three years before. Challenges still awaited Calvin and the cause of Christ in Geneva, but years of triumph and gospel blessing lay ahead.

Calvin in Lausanne, October, 1536

Another marvelous breakfast in Geneva with too many courses even to begin to list, though I’ll attempt it: exotic Swiss cheese dishes, specialty egg dishes, delicious coffee, fruits of many kinds (especially good raspberries and yogurt), muesli (3 varieties; you’ll never enjoy store-bought cereals again), croissants, and other pastries, bacon, sausages, and I’ve left many things out.


Brilliant sunshine and more moderate temperatures, and a gorgeous drive to Lausanne where we met Lionel and Monica, and their darling one-year-old Dania. Climbed the millennium tower on the pilgrimage route overlooking the ancient city, the lake, and the mountains. This is Switzerland at its loveliest!

I love Lausanne, in part because I spent a good deal of time here when in 1982 I lived and worked on a Swiss dairy farm nearby, and studied French in the city. Readers of Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation will remember episodes that I created from these experiences (including the one-legged milking stool).

We had arranged a tour of the city and the cathedral led by one of the pastors of the Reformed church Monsieur Lederry (descended from Huguenots--descended, as in “go down,” sadly absorbing postmodernity like it was the finest Swiss chocolate and there were no scales, mirrors, or tape measures, no hell to pay for the party). To my chagrin he managed to give us an hour and a half tour without mentioning Calvin or the Reformation (at least in a favorable light); I somehow did manage not to be so rude as to interrupt him, ubiquitous synchretism, with a French accent. Then had a nice lunch with the Jauverts. Enroute to Strasbourg on the coach I told about the October 2, 1536 Lausanne debate wherein young Calvin began to show his incomparable skills in theological debate, his photographic memory of vast swathes of the Early Church Fathers, and his uncanny search-engine ability to bring to mind precisely the paragraphs needed to support every nuance of his argument. You might enjoy reading more about it in chapter 32 of The Betrayal. These scenes from the interior of Notre Dame, Lausanne, Calvin would have seen surrounding him as he proclaimed sola Scriptura and solus Christus in this place.

Calvin's pulpit, Sinclair Ferguson preaching

After introducing ma belle, Cheryl and Brittany to Joel Beeke, his wife, his brother and his wife, he said to Cheryl, “What troubles it must be for you being married to someone with so much imagination.” I first met Joel in Cambridge a year and a half ago. He was kind enough to write a perceptive endorsement of The Betrayal. He admitted that he had only had time to skim the book in manuscript before writing his endorsement but that he read it with enjoyment on the flight over to Geneva. Had short chats with Michael Horton, Phil Ryken, David Hall, Steven Lawson, and others.

I had a nice chat with Sinclair Ferguson, and greeted him on behalf of Eric and Irene MacCallum, our good friends in Newmilns, Scotland (where Covenant High School students are graciously hosted on our UK trips), whose children went to St. George’s Tron Church in Glasgow where Sinclair used to pastor and where we had the privilege of hearing him as a family in 2001 (readers of my Crown & Covenant Trilogy have seen his gracious endorsement of that series). He now pastors First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina. His text was Philippians 3:7-15, and he challenged each of us to value our relationship with Christ far above all other things. Of Paul he made the observation that two paths lay before him when confronted with the stalwart Stephen: destroy Christ’s Stephen, or bow before Stephen’s Christ. His application of the text on the surpassing excellence of Christ: Gathered here in Calvin’s church are many dozens of pastors, 6 seminary presidents, 27 seminary professors, 1 archbishop, and authors collectively of over 300 books. Do we consider all these things no better than dung compared with the excellency of being known by and knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.

After the morning service we enjoyed a delightful group lunch at the Les Armures restaurant in the shadow of the cathedral and the Hotel de Ville where Geneva’s City Council has convened for centuries (it is a tourist destination since an American family by the name of Clinton dined here; didn’t know that before we booked some time ago; oh well). Some then toured the Reformation Museum next to the cathedral, others climbed the cathedral tower for glorious views of the city and the lake, others to hear a Canadian choir rehears in the Auditoire, others stopped at a café for a Calvin biere, only to be caught in a violent thunder and lightning storm and get absolutely drenched.

In the 6 PM service, the Rt. Rev. Henry Orombi, Archbishop (Anglican) of Uganda (you have read about him in the news if you have followed any of the American Episcopalian controversies) spoke from Matthew 24:45-51--"Who is the faithful servant whom the Master has set over His household?" Dr. Orombi became a Christian at age 18, and considers himself a spiritual descendant of faithful English missionaries of the late 19th Century, many of whom were martyred there for their faith. He focused on the spiritual decline and darkness of Europe, and the worsening spiritual condition of the American church. It was striking to hear this man of God ask us (pampered Americans that we are), "Where is your boldness for the Gospel?" He challenged the ministers present to feed Christ's sheep by faithfully preaching His Word.

After a reception hosted by the Church of Scotland congregation of Geneva that meets in the Auditoire, there was an evening Psalm singing service, and then Dr. Bryan Chappel, president of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis preached from Ephesians 1:3-6, “In Praise of Predestination.” He emphasized that in his text “in Christ” appears 12 times, that we have been loved forever by a loving heavenly father who chose us not for what was in us but for what is in Christ. I would summarize his emphasis like this: Rather than allowing predestination to become a point of controversy we ought to see it as the ground of doxology. He quoted from an oldie Dan Fogelberg (sic) pop lyric paraphrased as: before the fishes were in the ocean, before the stars were in the sky… I’ve been in love with you. On a far higher plane, so it is with the infinite, electing love of the Father toward his children. Certainly God is absolutely sovereign in predestination, but here we see a loving heavenly father loving unworthy wretches from all eternity, and organizing all human history for out adoption, redemption and sanctification, in Christ. It was one of the most thrilling sermons I have ever heard or read on this foundational doctrine, recovered by Calvin and proclaimed from this very pulpit.

Calvin in Geneva, July 5, 2009

We enjoyed an unforgettably wonderful Sunday in Calvin’s Geneva, and can only imagine what great blessings abounded from this place and pulpit in those 25 years wherein Calvin preached some 4,000 sermons. Several of our number dispersed to stroll about the old town before worship, visiting the Reformation Wall erected on the old fortified wall of the city in 1909, Calvin’s 400th birthday celebration. It is perhaps useful to reflect that not a single adult who participated in that commemoration and the unveiling of that wall is here at the 500th. Ryan Gross commented about the four figures depicted on the wall, “Farel, Calvin, Knox and Beza appear to be well but are considerably taller than I imagined.” Ryan knows of what he speaks; he’s 6’ 7”! Pictured next to Calvin's statue is 14-year-old Johnny Scharer, whom we have used to remind all of us how old Calvin was when he began his studies at the University of Paris in 1523.

Au Revoir, Paris: Calvin tour on to Geneva!

Au revoir, Paris: Bert our Dutch, English speaking coach driver was 17 ½ minutes early! I knew right then I was going to like this fellow, and parked and ready in front of the Hotel Minerve. Paid the bill, loaded the coach and we were off for Geneva.

Stopped in the Medieval village of Beaune in the heart of Burgundy wine country, a charming old-world village. Pastor DeMass summarized the differences between Catholics, other protestants, and Calvin’s view of the Lord’s Supper. A wine tour actualy makes heaps of sense; Calvin was the first to serve the Supper in both elements to the congregation, wine included, likely in the caves of St. Benoit, in Poitier. We hiked across the village market , light rain falling, to the Patriache Pere et Fils wine caves, hundreds of years of wine making and a vast network of subterranean cellars. Fascinating, though I didn’t think any of the wines were that stunning (one pinot noir was fine); the per bottle prices, however, were stunning! Grateful for cell phones (what did they do in Calvin’s day without them?). We misplaced one of our travelers for a stretch, but no harm done and everyone happy again.

Arrived in Geneva about 4:30, the coach driver taking us right to the old town and the Saint-Pierre where Calvin preached over 4,000 sermons, the bell tower chiming continuously as we took it all in. We talked about Farel’s anathema called down on Calvin if he would not stay, and about the humility of a man twice Calvin’s age eager to put the best man in this most strategic city. This is Calvin territory everywhere one turns, and Geneva is not unaware of his 500th. Walked past the Hotel de Ville where the City Council voted to accept Reformation Christianity in May of 1536, and where the various decisions were made that would so shape the progress of reformation in the city and throughout the world. Here the council voted to condemn and burn Michael Servetus (Calvin was not even a citizen of Geneva until 1559).

Then to Edelweiss Restaurant for Swiss everything: fondue, pickled onions, cured meats, Swiss wines, alpen horn (Susan Gross and Andrea Mehmel taking a turn, much to everyone’s delight), yodeling, accordion music, cowbells, all in a very Swiss chalet decorated setting. Taxis for the senior members of the tour, back to the hotel, and a good night sleep before what must prove to be one of the most memorable Lord’s Days for all of us.

Calvin in Paris, day two

Brittany took the Desotos ahead at their pace down to the Seine The rest of us followed the few blocks until we stood below the grand 12th century magnificence of Notre Dame Cathedral. We found a quiet corner near the monument to Charlemagne and considered the juxtaposition of incomparable gothic architecture, art in stone to boggle the mind, and the myriad of medieval abuses that are Roman Catholicism: transubstantiation, indulgences, pilgrimage to the crown of thorns, the stones on which were written the Decalogue, and the furious intolerance of the Inquisition. Calvin would no doubt have witnessed burnings at the square in front of Notre Dame, as well as at Place Maubert and others. I read some of the last words of martyrs, the curses of the executioners. Determined to stamp out the Reformation, here in July of 1542 and again in 1544 piles of Calvin’s Institutes were burned. It was fascinating to hear of 22-year-old Harry Desoto (now 87, at right) in 1945 driving a tank down the square where we stood in front of Notre Dame (I looked at Heath Salzman, now 22-years-old).

Then we embarked down the Seine on the Batobus, steaming along with monuments of antiquity passing by on all sides. We disembarked before the palatial splendor of the Louvre and walked down to Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, the royal chapel near where 14-year-old Calvin (Johnny Scharer is 14) lived with his uncle Richard while he studied at College de la Marche for the first months of his time in Paris. We watched listened to a mass in progress (watch on my youtube site) and we appreciated more of the need for Calvin to take on the entire Medieval world as he did. As we talked in front of the royal chapel, the bell tower suddenly began ringing out 12:00, just so did in chime the morning of August 23, 1572, St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, 3,000 Christians lost their lives in Paris that morning and many more throughout the country. Estimates are that Catherine d’Midici was responsible for 20,000 deaths. The first of which was the saintly Admiral Coligny, to whom there is a well-crafted monument across the Rue Rivoli at the Reformed Church. Another block away up Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau is the Rue de Pelican and a corner hose called the wing of the Pelican, which may be all that remains of Etienne de la Forge’s House of the Pelican, a wealthy converted draper who took in enthusiastic young men agitating for Reform. Calvin frequented Etienne’s home and may have begun his Institutes here (I don’t think, however, that Calvin ate at the sushi bar across the street).

Lunch at a Parisian café with Darbys and Prices. Yum, yum. Later we had another Seine picnic with Brittany and Heath, then evening Batobus voyage down to the Champs Elysees. Cool river barges which made my wife recollect her years growing up on a boat. RER back to Notre Dame just in time for some evening light photography of the grand edifice and more filming of the kids who play with fire. A wonderful last night in Paris.

Calvin Tour: first day in Paris

We left Hotel Minerve on the Rue des Ecoles in the heart of the Latin Quarter for a short walk to the Paridis Latin, today a sizzling Paris nightclub, but in the 1140s it was an abbey founded by Bernard of Clairvaux. In the 15th century it was the College Cardinal Lemoine where Lefevre taught free grace, sovereign electing love, and predestination. It was the place where young William Farel came and first heard the glorious gospel that he could be saved, not by his sacremental attempts at faithfulness, but alone by the blood and imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Next we walked up the Rue Cardinal Lemoine to St. Etienne du Mont where Pascal is buried and where Calvin as a student at College de Montaigu only two doors away would no doubt have gone to mass; he very likely would have taken mass many many times in this very church. While a student at College de Montaigu, from 1523-1528, Calvin would have in all likelihood often attended mass at this 13th century church. It is notable that at the Pantheon just across the street are buried two of the most ardent advocates of rationalist philosophy contradictory to Calvin and Reformation Christianity, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau. I read from the papal indulgence for the 2000 anniversary of the birth of St. Paul—2009, current indulgences in the RC church. Not much has changed. Consider the monstrous irony of selling an indulgence in commemoration of the Apostle of free grace and imputed righteousness! “…having a righteousness, not our own…”

Of particular interest is the College de Fortet one block away on the Rue Valette. Here Calvin lived and studied Greek and Hebrew from 1531-1533, and from here he escaped out the upper window of the tower on the inner courtyard. After Cop’s All Saint’s Address at Couvent de Cordelier, and word got out that Calvin had either crafted the entire biblical exposition, decrying abuses and false doctrine in the Roman church, or contributed significantly to it, Calvin was a hunted man. It is a private courtyard with locked entry, so we were particularly grateful to the Lord for his kind providence in getting our entire tour group of 49 people into the significant Calvin site.

We paused in front of College de Montaigu at the plaque that commemorates Erasmus’s time of study at that college of the University of Paris. It is today the library of St. Genevieve, a vast library with first edition holdings of many great works by the who’s who of Western Civilization. These names are carved in stone on the upper panel of the exterior of the college, including Calvin, Luther, Melanchthon, Margerite de Valois, Clement Marot, even Las Casas. Brittany and I succeeded in getting in Montaigu for all of 2 minutes before we were summarily escorted to the door (not before I managed to make a photograph). Now way for the entire group.

Passing by the vast buildings that make up the Sorbonne, the University of Paris, we made our way to 27, Rue de Conde, the House of the Bronze Horse, gifted by Francis I to his court poet, Cement Marot. Marot became a true Reformation Christian and began versifying Psalms, perhaps right within these walls in the shadow of the Odeon Theatre (Brittany Bond and Gina Biber in front of the House of the Bronze Horse). When word got out, he too was a hunted man and fled first to the court of Renee of Farrar, Christian Duchess, one time betrothed to Henry VIII of England (get in line). Eventually he made his way to Geneva and assisted Calvin and others in versifications of the Psalms for singing in worship, the first edition of which appeared as the Geneva Psalter in 1551.

Making our way over to the Rue des Ecoles Medicine, we entered the gateway into the Couvent de Cordilier, where Nicholas Cop delivered his address; this 1533 address was the Rubicon for Calvin and the other Reformers in Paris. The building is today part of the School of Medicine of the university and frankly in disrepair. There is no plaque commemorating most of these sites, especially none here. Several of us climbed the circular stairway on the southwest tower (see video of this and many other cites on my youtube site), clearly Calvin vintage.

Our morning tour concluded here, and Brittany hailed a taxi to get Harry (87) and Eunice (86) Desoto, our most senior travelers, back to Hotel Minerve, air conditioning, and rest. From there we went on to La Procope Café, which claims to be the oldest coffee shop in the world, established 1685 (the year Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, and resumed persecution of Huguenots… not sure if this makes coffee shops all bad or not; not being a coffee drinker, I’m a bad one to make that call). We went on to the Musee d’Orsay, where ma belle Cheryl dutifully picked out ten paintings or statues she liked best and briefly explained why. After picking up a cake for Paul Darby’s 50th and He and Dawn’s 15th anniversary, we headed back for another fine dinner in the dungeon (see photos) at the Bistrot de la Montaigna.

After dinner the hearty headed off to the Eiffel Tower, a monument to Modernism, lit up, vast crowds picnicking and drinking wine on the lawn, North African immigrants aggressively hawking mini Eiffel Towers to everyone. Back to hotel late, tired and full of Paris. I do wonder how many people have been so charmed by Paris that they’ve happily sold their souls for the lights, the cafes, the wine, the women, the monuments to man’s achievements—it is all so charming and happiness inducing--until one is awakened with cosmic rudeness in hell.