Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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feeble, and unprotected. But they gradually yielded to the moulding force
of his genius and character. Those who call him “the pope of Geneva”
involuntarily pay him the highest compliment. His success was achieved by
moral and spiritual means, and stands almost alone in history.
§ 82. FIRST LABORS AND TRIALS.
Calvin began his labors, Sept. 5, 1536, by a course of expository lectures
on the Epistles of Paul and other books of the New Testament, which he
delivered in the Church of St. Peter in the afternoon. They were heard with
increasing attention. He had a rare gift of teaching, and the people were
hungry for religious instruction.
After a short time he assumed also the office of pastor which he had at first
declined.
The Council was asked by Farel to provide a suitable support for their new
minister, but they were slow to do it, not dreaming that he would become
the most distinguished citizen, and calling him simply “that Frenchman.” f470
He received little or no salary till Feb. 13, 1537, when the Council voted
him six gold crowns. f471
Calvin accompanied Farel in October to the disputation at Lausanne, which
decided the Reformation in the Canton de Vaud, but took little part in it,
speaking only twice. Farel was the senior pastor, twenty years older, and
took the lead. But with rare humility and simplicity he yielded very soon to
the superior genius of his young friend. He was contented to have
conquered the territory for the renewed Gospel, and left it to him to
cultivate the same and to bring order out of the political and ecclesiastical
chaos. He was willing to decrease, that Calvin might increase. Calvin, on
his part, treated him always with affectionate regard and gratitude. There
was not a shadow of envy or jealousy between them.
The third Reformed preacher was Courault, formerly an Augustinian
monk, who, like Calvin, had fled from France to Basel, in 1534, and was
called to Geneva to replace Viret. Though very old and nearly blind, he
showed as much zeal and energy as his younger colleagues. Saunier, the
rector of the school, was an active sympathizer, and soon afterwards
Cordier, Calvin’s beloved teacher, assumed the government of the school
and effectively aided the ministers in their arduous work. Viret came