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

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CHAPTER 15.
THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES.
§ 118. CALVIN AS A CONTROVERSIALIST.
Calvin was involved in several controversies, chiefly on account of his
doctrine of predestination. He displayed a decided superiority over all his
opponents, as a scholar and a reasoner. He was never at a loss for an
argument. He had also the dangerous gift of wit, irony, and sarcasm, but
not the more desirable gift of harmless humor, which sweetens the
bitterness of controversy, and lightens the burden of daily toil. Like David,
in the imprecatory Psalms, he looked upon the enemies of his doctrine as
enemies of God. “Even a dog barks,” he wrote to the queen of Navarre,
“when his master is attacked; how could I be silent when the honor of my
Lord is assailed?” f872 He treated his opponents—Pighius, Bolsec, Castellio,
and Servetus—with sovereign contempt, and called them “nebulones, f873
nugatores, canes, porci, bestiae. Such epithets are like weeds in the garden
of his chaste and elegant style. But they were freely used by the ancient
fathers, with the exception of Chrysostom and Augustin, in dealing with
heretics, and occur even in the Scriptures, but impersonally. f874 His age
saw nothing improper in them. Beza says that “no expression unworthy of
a good man ever fell from the lips of Calvin.” The taste of the sixteenth
century differed widely from that of the nineteenth. The polemical writings
of Protestants and Romanists alike abound in the most violent personalities
and coarse abuse. Luther wielded the club of Hercules against Tetzel, Eck,
Emser, Cochlaeus, Henry VIII., Duke Henry of Brunswick, and the
Sacramentarians. Yet there were honorable exceptions even then, as
Melanchthon and Bullinger. A fiery temper is a propelling force in history;
nothing great can be done without enthusiasm; moral indignation against
wrong is inseparable from devotion to what is right; hatred is the negative
side of love. But temper must be controlled by reason, and truth should be
spoken in love, “with malice to none, with charity for all.” Opprobrious
and abusive terms always hurt a good cause; self-restraint and moderation
strengthen it. Understatement commands assent; overstatement provokes
opposition.