Early American Presbyterians on the French Huguenots

There is a fascinating body of works by 19th century American Presbyterians written in appreciation of the French Huguenots, fellow Calvinists who were so influential in the founding of America. At Log College Press, I have assembled some of those works in one place for readers who may also appreciate the common bond between Presbyterian and Huguenot. There are lots of works to bookmark, download and enjoy!

EEBO Editions in Print

Since late last year, EEBO (Early English Books Online) has partnered with BiblioLife to produce hardcopy (paperback) print editions of its material. At present, at least 3,000 different works are now available through Amazon under the brand name Proquest EEBO Print Editions. Researchers and lovers of 17th-century Puritan works have long known that EEBO was a goldmine for great literature published in England from 1475-1700. Now, in facsimile paperback form, EEBO Editions are becoming widely available at Amazon. Back in December 2010, I published a reading list for Christians. Many of those works were available -- either exclusively, or primarily -- through EEBO in PDF form, but now, in such a short time, so many of them are available in paperback. Some notable examples from my reading list, with a few others included, are:

• Richard Rogers, Seven Treatises;
• Richard Rogers, et al., A Garden of Spiritual Flowers;
  
• Anthony Burgess, Vindiciae Legis: or, A Vindication of the Moral Law and the Covenants, from the Errors of Papists, Arminians, Socinians, and more especially, Antinomians;
• David Dickson, Therapeutica Sacra;
  
• William Gouge, A Guide to Go to God: or, An Explanation of the Perfect Pattern of Prayer;
• Samuel Smith, Davids repentance, or, A plaine and familiar exposition of the 51. Psalme first preached, and now published for the benefit of Gods church;
• William Ames, Conscience With the Power and Cases Thereof;
• Nicholas Byfield, The Rules of a Holy Life;
• William Attersoll, A Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to Philemon;
• Westminster Assembly, The Grand Debate;
• William Perkins, An exposition of the Lords prayer in the vvay of catechising seruing for ignorant people. Hereunto are adioined the praiers of Paule, taken out of his epistles and An exposition of the symbole or creede of the apostles according to the tenour of the scriptures, and the consent of the orthodoxe fathers of the church and Christian oeconomie, or, A short survey of the right manner of erecting and ordering a familie according to the Scriptures;
• Samuel Clarke, Annotations on the New Testament;
• John Dod & Robert Cleaver, A Plain and Familiar Exposition of the Ten Commandments;
• Thomas Doolittle, A Plain Method of Catechizing;
• Thomas Lye, A plain and familiar method of instructing the younger sort According to the lesser catechism of the late reverend Assembly of Divines;
• Thomas Gataker, The Spiritual Watch and Marriage Duties;
• Arthur Jackson, Annotations on Isaiah;
• Theodore Beza, Commentary on Job and Sermons on Song of Songs 1-3;
  
• Thomas Cobbet, A Practical Discourse of Prayer and A just vindication of the covenant and church-estate of children of church-members as also of their right unto bastisme;
• Smectymnuus (Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstowe), Smectymnuus redivivus Being an answer to a book, intituled An humble remonstrance in which the original of liturgy Episcopacy is discussed and queries propounded concerning both; and more.
  

It is also worth noting that some interesting works are presently available at Amazon's Canadian site, but not on the U.S. site, such as:

• Edward Leigh, Annotations on Five Poetical Books of the Old Testament (Viz.) Job, Psalmes, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles.

I encourage interested readers to explore the goldmine that has recently become accessible in print. The works listed here are only the tip of the iceberg. Tolle lege!

Lutheran Resistance to Tyranny

The Reformed owe a debt to their Lutheran brethren for articulating early on a Biblical theory of resistance to tyranny, as found in two particular works which have been shown to have influenced the Huguenot resistance theory of Theodore Beza, for example.

1) Von der Notwehr Unterricht, Nutzlich zu Lesen (Instruction Concerning Self-Defense, Necessary to Read) by Justus Menius (1547, with editing done by Philipp Melanchthon; 1547, 2nd. ed. by Melanchthon). The second edition, which was popular in its day, includes sections titled "Instruction Concerning Self-Defense," by Menius, "How Self-Defense is a God-Pleasing Work," and other sections dealing with both passive disobedience of unlawful commands, and active resistance, up to and including tyrannicide. First published during the 1546-1547 Schmalkaldic War, the violent conflict between forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Protestant Schmalkaldic League, this treatise helped articulate the Lutheran grounds for resistance to the Emperor (the work was not limited to civil and political resistance though; it speaks to resistance to the head of household when he acts tyrannically as well). It built upon the earlier writings of Martin Luther and others who found grounds to resist higher authorities in Luther's Of Temporal Authority: to What Extent it Should be Obeyed (1523), for example. Melanchthon wrote, "In the Warning [to his Dear German People] and in other writings, Dr. Martin Luther declared that defense was just" (quoted by Luther D. Peterson, "Melanchthon on Resisting the Emperor: The Von der Notwehr Unterrichte of 1547," in Jerome Friedman, ed., Regnum, Religio et Ratio: Essays Presented to Robert M. Kingdon, p. 143). Not only did Melanchthon justify constitutional resistance by lesser magistrates to superior tyrants, but in the section on "Who may lead resistance?" he also left the door open to permit individual active resistance to tyranny on basis of natural law providing the right of self-defense to all (giving as noble examples of this Obediah who hid the priests from Queen Jezebel; William Tell; Thrasybulus, who led the resistance against the thirty tyrants of Athens; Pelopidas, who saved Thebes from the Spartans; and even the wife of the cruel tyrant Alexander Pheraeus, who killed her husband), while at the same time condemning "Beruff" (unjustified rebellion) "violence carried out without a calling...and intended to raise oneself up" (ibid, p. 141).

2) Though militarily, the Schmalkaldic War ended in defeat for the Protestant cause, the Reformation would not be crushed by force. The ensuing dissatisfaction with the 1548 Augsburg Interim would lead to the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, embedded the principle of Cuius regio, eius religio ("Whose realm, his religion"), the idea that the religion of the civil magistrate dictated the religion of his jurisdiction. Yet, in 1550, the Magdeburg Bekenntnis Confessio et Apologia Pastorum et Reliquorum Ministorum Ecclesiae Magdeburgensis, more commonly known today as the Magdeburg Confession, articulated the position of Lutheran pastors of Magdeburg, who refused to submit to the Augsburg Interim, which Emperor Charles V attempted to enforce militarily by besieging the city. The Confession was one of many tracts and pamphlets issued in defense of Lutheran freedoms, and the most influential. Although a complete published English translation of this document is lacking, it has been discussed by Robert M. Kingdon, "The First Expression of Theodore Beza's Political Ideas," Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 46 (1955); David Mark Whitford, Tyranny and Resistance: The Magdeburg Confession and the Lutheran Tradition; and John Witte, Jr., The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism. Whitford describes the document:

The Confession begins with a one-page "Short Summary of the Contents of this Book," followed by an 11-page "Introduction." The body of the treatise is divided into three sections. The first section (chapters 1-7) recapitulates the main doctrinal loci of the Augsburg Confession. The second section discusses resistance theory, and the third section provides a warning to those who oppose Magdeburg's actions.

The Confession emphasizes the duty of lesser civil magistrates to interpose, or resist the tyrannical conduct of higher magistrates, in defense of the people under their care.

We will show from Holy Scripture that if a higher magistrate undertakes by force to restore popish idolatry and to suppress of exterminate the pure teaching of the Holy Gospel, as in the present instance, then the lower god-fearing magistrate may defend himself and his subjects against such unjust force in order to preserve the true teaching, the worship of God together with body, life, goods, and honor. The powers that be are ordained of God to protect the good and punish the bad (Romans 13), but if they start to persecute the good, they are no longer ordained of God. There are to be sure degrees of tyranny and if a magistrate makes unjust war upon his subjects contrary to his plighted oath, they may resist, though they are not commanded to do so by God. But if a ruler is so demented as to attack God, then he is the very devil who employs mighty potentates in Church and State. When, for example, a prince or an emperor tampers with marriage against the dictates of natural law, then in the name of natural law and Scripture he may be resisted.

Praise be to God. Because He lives we also shall live and be exalted since now we suffer with Him and for His sake we are killed all the day long (Psalm 44).
...
If the high authority does not refrain from unjustly and forcibly persecuting not only the lives of their subjects but even more their rights under divine and natural law, and if the high authority does not desist from eradicating true doctrine and true worship of God, then the lower magistracy is required by God's divine command to attempt, together with their subjects, to stand up to such superiors as far as possible. The current persecution which we are suffering at the hands of our superiors is primarily persecution by which they attempt to suppress the Christian religion and the true worship of God and to reestablish the Pope's lies and abominable idolatry. Thus the Council and each and every Christian authority is obliged to protect themselves and their people against this.

This Confession was very influential in the thought of Theodore Beza, who wrote in his 1554 treatise Concerning Heretics that a "signal example of [interposition by lesser magistrates against superior tyranny] has been shown in our times by Magdeburg, that city on the Elbe." Later, in 1574, Beza describes his famous treatise on The Rights of Magistrates explicitly as a "'revision' or 'reprint' of that treatise 'published by those of Magdeburg in 1550 and now revised and augmented with several reasons and examples'" (Whitford, Ibid, p. 61). Whitford goes on to sum up the significance of this connection:

The connection between The Magdeburg Confession and Theodore Beza places the Confession at the center of the debate over political resistance in Reformation thought. The Magdeburg Confession is, therefore, one of the most important documents of the Reformation on political theology, and it played a key and positive role in the development of resistance theory.

Heart and Soul of the Huguenot Faith

It has been testified to by many that psalmody was at the heart and soul of the French Huguenot faith. The singing of French psalms was outlawed by the Sorbonne in 1543, but to be a Huguenot was to be a psalm-singer, and vice-versa. They were sung while working around the house, walking through the street, in battle as well as in the sacred assembly, and at all times the words of David were upon the lips of the French faithful. It was a mark, a badge, of identity as a Protestant, and it was a reflection of one's covenant relationship to God and his people. If it is true as Andrew Fletcher said, that "if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation," then the French Huguenot "état dans l'état" ("state within a state"), built as it was upon the foundation of God's Word, was a little Zoar, where l'Eternel (Pierre Robert Olivétan's term for the Tetragrammaton) was praised at all times, whether amidst hard providences or sweet.

Matthew Henry wrote in his Essay on Psalmody that:

And, to come nearer in our own day, that is worthy our notice which Mr. Quick, in the Introduction to his Synodicon, tells us, Vol. I. p. 5. That the singing of Psalms in families, even those of the best rank, not only at their morning and evening worship, but at their meals, conduced very much to the strength and growth of the reformed religion in France, in its first and best days.

John Quick, Synodicon in Gallia Reformata, Vol. 1, p. 5:

Clement Marot a Courtier, and a great Wit, was advised by Mr. Vatablus, Regius Professor of the Hebrew Tongue in the University of Paris, to consecrate his Muse unto God; which Counsel he embraceth, and translateth fifty of David's Psalms into French Meeter. Mr. Beza did the other hundred, and all the Scripture-Songs. Lewis Guadimel, another Asaph, or Jedathun, a most Skillful Master of Musick, set those sweet and melodious Tunes unto which they are sung even unto this day. This holy Ordinance charmed the Ears, Hearts and Affections of Court and City, Town and Country. They were sung in the Louvre, as well as in the Pres des Clerks, by the Ladies, Princes, yea and by Henry the Second himself. This one Ordinance only contributed mightily to the downfall of Popery, and the propagation of the Gospel. It took so much with the genius of the Nation, That all ranks and degrees of Men practiced it in the Temples and in their Families. No Gentleman professing the Reformed Religion, would sit down at his Table without praising God by singing. Yea it was a special part of their Morning and Evening Worship, in their several Houses, to sing God's Praises. The Popish Clergy raged, and to prevent the growth and spreading of the Gospel by it, that mischievous Cardinal of Lorrain, another Elymus the Sorcerer, got the Odes of Horace, and the filthy obscene Poems of Tibullus and Catallus to be turn'd into French, and sung in the Court. Ribaldry was his Piety, and the means used by him to expel and banish the singing of divine Psalms out of the prophane Court of France.

Pierre Viret in the Pipeline

As the 500th birthday of John Calvin is now past, the 500th birthday (in 2011) of the great Swiss Reformer, Pierre Viret, one of the most popular preachers in sixteenth-century France, approaches in 2011. The Pierre Viret Association has several publishing projects in the works which may help to renew interest in this somewhat neglected Reformer within the 21st century English and French-speaking world.

Instruction Chrestienne or Christian Instruction in the Doctrine of the Law of the Gospel (1564) is Viret's magnum opus. It is being republished in French, with the first two volumes already available and volume three is in process. Trivia: It is said that this work is the first to refer to the concept of "Deism." The set is being translated from French into English and the first English volume is anticipated by the end of 2009.

* VOLUME ONE – Brief and diverse Summaries and Catechisms of the Christian doctrine (containing an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed); and Instruction against the objections that men make concerning their own salvation; adjoined is an ample exposition of the Law, containing the decrees and canons of the first and general Council of the Church.

* VOLUME TWO – Exposition of the Law of God, and the doctrine of the Christian Faith, concerning the true knowledge and service of God; and the Trinity of the persons in the unity of the divine essence and in the manifestation of the former in the creation both of the universe and the world, and in His providence over all creatures, and principally over human nature; and touching the fall of the human race, and the birth and growth and ordinary state both of the true and false Church.

* VOLUME THREE – Declaration of the doctrine of divine providence, concerning the blessings and curses which occur ordinarily in the world, and the predestination of men; and the manifestation of God in the work of redemption of the human race, and by the revelation of the Gospel, containing the decrees and canons of the second general Council.

PIERRE VIRET: A FORGOTTEN GIANT OF THE REFORMATION - The Apologetics, Ethics and Economics of the Bible by Jean-Marc Berthoud is a biography which will cover many facets of his life and legacy. It is expected to be released in the Fall of 2009.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

* CHAPTER 1: Brief Life of Pierre Viret
* CHAPTER 2: Pierre Viret's Place in the Reformation
* CHAPTER 3: Viret as Ethicist
* CHAPTER 4: Viret as Apologist
* CHAPTER 5: Viret as Economist
* CONCLUSION: The Spirit of Viret's Thinking
* APPENDIX: Bibliography of the French Works of Pierre Viret

The Catechism of Pierre Viret translated by R.A. Sheats is expected to be published in 2010.

The Catechism of Pierre Viret is a small volume, dedicated solely to the Reformer’s Larger Catechism as contained in Volume One of his Christian Instruction. This catechism, written in the form of a dialogue between two individuals, is an easy-to-read, informal means of studying the basics of the Christian Faith. Viret’s down-to-earth, simplistic style of treating deep theological truths makes this book beneficial to both the newest convert and the deepest theologian.

Theodore Beza wrote the following poem about his friend which has been translated by R.A. Sheats:

PIERRE VIRET

I see his body, beaten, fraught with suffering and age,
Recipient of poison, wounds, and all man’s deadly rage.
I see the virtue of the Lord, His noble mysteries,
And in great silence I submit myself to His decrees.

I read the precious writings, full of wisdom without end,
That you, my dearest Viret, in that dreadful prison penned.
I see the goodness of your judgment, and your conscience clear,
And know that truly God resides within your mansion here.

I know Christ watches o’er His Church with gentle, loving care,
For, seeing it half-dead, engulfed in flame, in great despair,
He lights a fire in men’s souls within that dreadful heat,
Enflaming hearts, enlight’ning minds, to make His Church complete.

If all the folly of the world rejects His sacred way,
Demanding from us some new sign, some miracle today,
Our gentle Viret will provide a witness with each breath;
He spoke to them in life, and he is speaking still in death.

Psalm 124

The setting to Psalm 124 that we know as Old 124th was composed by Louis Bourgeois and appeared in the 1551 Genevan Psalter entitled Pseaumes Octante Trois de David (Eighty-Three Psalms of David). The psalm itself is a song of hope and has been sung on many special occasions celebrating God's providential deliverances.

It sung by the Jews at the Feast of Purim to commemorate their deliverance from the schemes of Haman.

In Scottish church history, it is known as "Durie's Psalm" because it was sung after John Durie (1537-1600), who had been banished from Edinburgh for critical remarks against King James VI of Scotland, was readmitted to the city in 1582. James Melville wrote in his diary:

Within few days after the petition of the nobility, John Durie gat leave to ga haim to his ain flock of Edinburgh; at whase returning there was a great concours of the haill toun, what met him at the Nether Bow; and going up the street, with bare heads and loud voices, sang to the praise of Goed, and testifying of great joy and consolation, the 124th Psalm, "Now Israel may say, and that trewly," till heaven and earth resoundit. This noise, when the Duke (of Lennox), being in the toun, heard, and ludging in the Hiegate looked out and saw, he rave his beard for anger, and hasted him off the toun.

The event known to Genevans as L'Escalade, which occurred in 1602, was a great deliverance in the history of the Protestant Church. The Duke of Savoy launched a surprise attack on the night of December 11-12 and it was repelled by the city's defenders. Theodore Beza led the city in service of praise to God afterwards at which Psalm 124 was sung.

In 1900, as the Boxer Rebellion got underway, persecution against American missionaries intensified and many were killed. But in August, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions received a cable quoting Psalm 124.7: "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we are escaped." The cable reported that twenty-missionaries and eleven children who had been missing for 73 days, and were believed to be dead, were in fact alive and safe.

Spontaneous singing of this psalm occurred in the English Parliament after the end of World War II and after Holland's liberation from the Nazis in May 1945.

Lewis Lupton, A History of the Geneva Bible, Vol. 5, p. 85:

This psalm to Bourgeois' tune is an impressive expression of joy at sudden deliverance and has preserved its vitality through the centuries. When liberation came so dramatically to Holland in 1945 Dutch people flocked into the streets and squares in their thousands singing this psalm (in Dutch of course) to this tune. The English version was sung at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on May 8th, 1945, when the House of Commons attended in state. Sir Winston Churchill and many other Members were much struck by it. For my own part the studies connected with the Geneva Bible have become part of my life, and on more than one occasion this psalm has meant as much to me as it did to oppressed believers in bygone days.

As we sing this psalm in our day, the counsel of John Brown of Haddington holds true:

This psalm is highly applicable to every remarkable deliverance which God works for his church, especially to the great redemption wrought for his people by Christ. In it, (1.) David magnifies the danger they were in, ver. 1-5. (2.) Ascribes the glory of their deliverance to God, ver. 1-2, 6-7. (3.) Improves the deliverance as an encouragement to trust in God, ver. 8.

Let me behold Jehovah as a present help in trouble. Let my waiting eyes be towards him, who, notwithstanding all the combined power and policy of hell and earth, is able and ready to pull my feet out of the net.

1 Now Israel
may say, and that truly,
If that the Lord
had not our cause maintain'd;
2 If that the Lord
had not our right sustain'd,
When cruel men
against us furiously
Rose up in wrath,
to make of us their prey;

3 Then certainly
they had devour'd us all,
And swallow'd quick,
for ought that we could deem;
Such was their rage,
as we might well esteem.
4 And as fierce floods
before them all things drown,
So had they brought
our soul to death quite down.

5 The raging streams,
with their proud swelling waves,
Had then our soul
o'erwhelmed in the deep.
6 But bless'd be God,
who doth us safely keep,
And hath not giv'n
us for a living prey
Unto their teeth,
and bloody cruelty.

7 Ev'n as a bird
out of the fowler's snare
Escapes away,
so is our soul set free:
Broke are their nets,
and thus escaped we.
8 Therefore our help
is in the Lord's great name,
Who heav'n and earth
by his great pow'r did frame.

Reformer and Poet

One day in 1548, soon after Theodore Beza arrived in Geneva, John Calvin entered Beza's room, unbeknownst to his friend, and found lying on a desk a draft versification of Psalm 16 by the young Reformer. He took it, and with the agreement of other ministers to whom he showed the paper, succeeded in persuading young Beza to try his hand at further poetic versifications of the Psalms. This lead to the completion of the Genevan Psalter (1551-1562) following Clement Marot's early death (he died in 1544 having put 30 psalms to metre).

Earlier that year, before his conversion and arrival at Geneva, Beza in fact had published his Poëmata, or Juvenilia, a collection of poems written mostly before he turned 20 (he was 28 or 29 when they were published) dedicated his mentor (and Calvin's), Melchior Wolmar, that were more elegant and more innocent than later critics would assume. Beza would later describe his Latin epigrams as being "in imitation of the ancient poets," naming elsewhere Catullus and Ovid. He would later express regret for writing these particular poems, identifying them with the errors of his youth, though his opponents took occasion to ascribe a corruption to them which was not there. Henry Baird writes: "On that score, nothing more need be said than that not many of the Juvenilia are open to the charge of indelicacy, while many are above reproach" (Theodore Beza, Counsellor of the Reformation 1519-1605, p. 30).

But in his new life after conversion, he embraced the psalmody of Geneva, and tried to redeem his poetic gift. Thus, the Huguenot Psalter was completed and Reformation Psalmody was strengthened.

All his life, Beza retained a love of poetry. He regretted some of his youthful poetic labors and the fact that, rightly or wrongly, they became the basis of certain calumnies leveled against the Reformation. He would mainly write prose thereafter, but the Genevan Psalter is a shining example of how he would redeem his noteworthy poetic gifts. He continued to write poetry from time to time, as well as a play, Abraham Sacrifiant, published in 1550. It was translated into English in 1575 (published in 1577) by Arthur Golding under the title The Tragedy of Abraham's Sacrifice. It is available to read online in modern spelling here (and in the original spelling here).

Beza has been often quoted as saying, "I have never been able to repent of my love of poetry." The context of this statement is worthy of elaboration. It was in the preface to his play that he wrote:

I admit that by nature I have always delighted in poetry, and I cannot yet repent of it; but much do I regret to have employed the slender gifts with which God has endowed me in this regard, upon things of which the mere recollection at present makes me blush. I have therefore given myself to such matters as are more holy, hoping to continue therein hereafter.

There is in this statement some measure of guilt it seems, and there is a sense in which his religious poetic and playwright efforts are an expiation, or an atonement, for youthful misdeeds, real or perceived. Talents wastefully employed by him in younger days were applied to more serious and eternal endeavors. But the gifts themselves were not to be denied, and the poetry in Beza would flow all throughout his life.

He wrote an epigram upon the death of his dear friend, John Calvin, originally in Latin, which reads:

Rome's greatest terror he, whom now being dead
The best of men lament, the wicked dread:
Virtue itself from him might virtue learn; -
And dost thou ask why Calvin did not earn
A place more splendid for his last repose,
Than that small spot which does his bones inclose?
But know, that modesty even from the womb
Had been his guest, - and she has built his tomb.
O happy clod! thy tenant, great was he;
The gorgeous shrines may justly envy thee.

Not long after his wife Claudine died in 1588, he wrote a poem for Jacques Lect, a Councilman in Geneva who likewise lost his wife, in which he honored Claudine and expressed his own grief while consoling his friend.

In 1595, he wrote a poem to his friend Grynaeus, pastor of Basel. Henry Baird writes (ibid, pp. 341-342:

But up to the end of his life the passion for letters continued, and now that the time for sustained labours had clearly passed, it was chiefly in poetry that he continued to divert himself, the epigram which had been the pastime of his youth thus becoming the solace of his old age. The homeliest circumstance of every-day life afforded subject enough for verses — Latin verses, of course—in which the trivial occurrence was turned to spiritual account and made to bear a higher interpretation. In the freedom of familiar correspondence with his old friend, Grynaeus, the pastor of Basel, he jots down, for example, the fact that that very morning of his seventy-sixth birthday, his aged servant had greeted him on awaking with news from the poultry- yard. A hen had been bought a month before and had been lost sight of at once; she just now appears, but not alone; fifteen little chickens, her progeny, follow and crowd about her.

"You see," he writes to Grynaeus, "by this homely incident how unconventionally I treat you. I gave thanks for this increase of wealth to the Author of all good, and I saw in it—shall I tell you ?—without regarding myself in this as being guilty of superstition—the presage of some special favour. I even composed on this subject an epigram, and I send it to you, in order not to leave you a stranger to these light relaxations of my mind." Heppe, 315.

The eight verses enclosed were of faultless Latinity, but need not be transcribed here. The thought was simple but pious. The hen bought but a month ago rewards her purchaser, who expended for her but ten sous, with a whole brood of young. "And I, O Christ full of benignity, what fruits have I returned to Thee in the seventy-six years that I have lived until now?"

In the late 1590's, a curious rumor was spread that Beza was at death's door, and that indeed he had died, having returned to the Roman fold on his death-bed. Beza himself was very much alive and found it amusing (one may well imagine he would appreciate Mark Twain's remark that "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated") but found it necessary to dispel the rumor with a letter and satirical epigram.

There is a story told about a famous visitor who visited him around the year 1600 and found him busily scratching out and re-working poetic verses to which Beza pleasantly responded by saying "This is the way that I beguile my time!"

The last poem he published was a tribute to King Henry IV, who visited him in Geneva in 1599. "It was a poem of six stanzas, Ad inclytum Franciae et Navarrae regem Henricum IV. ("to the renowned King of France and Navarre, Henry IV.") 'It was his last, his swan song.'" (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 8 § 175, quoting Heinrich Heppe, Theodor Beza. Leben und ausgewählte Schriften, p. 310).

Beza's poetry was a pleasant diversion or pastime for him, but a gift to the church, especially in the form of the Huguenot Psalter. He will always be remembered for his prose writings, but he was a poet and a playwright too, and if I may be permitted a brief allusion to a modern composer, Alan Lerner, "Don't let it be forgot / that once there was a spot" where poetry and the Reformation came together in Beza's Geneva.

Old 100th

'Old 100th' or 'Old Hundredth', also known as 'All People That on Earth Do Dwell,' is one of the most famous and beloved Christian Church tunes of all time. Some today recognize it in connection with or association to The Doxology (1674) by Thomas Ken ('Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow'). But the tune has its origins in the Huguenot or Genevan Psalter of 1551, entitled Pseaumes Octante Trois de David (Eighty-Three Psalms of David). However, in that Psalter the tune was associated with Psalm 134 (as translated by Theodore Beza), not Psalm 100. As a musical composition, its authorship has been ascribed to Claude Goudimel (who did compose a polyphonic arrangement), Guillaume (William) Franc (Le Franc) (1520-1570) and Martin Luther, among others. Nineteenth century scholarship pointed to Franc, in particular, as the composer. However, modern scholarship, primarily based on the discovery of a single surviving copy of the 1551 Psalter, which was deposited in the library at Rutgers University (a facsimile copy was made in 1973), indicates that the actual composer is understood to be Louis Bourgeois. Bourgeois got in trouble with the Genevan magistrates for unauthorized compositions associated with that particular Psalter, but his friendship with Calvin, who recognized his talents, enabled him to leave prison and resume his work.

The tune was not associated with Psalm 100 until the publication of the 1561 Anglo-Genevan Psalter (Four Score and Seven Psalms of David). It was employed along with an arrangement of this psalm by William Kethe, although initially ascribed to Sternhold & Hopkins. The tune was also used in the same psalter with a versification of the Lord's Prayer by William Whittingham. It took the name "Old 100th" later to distinguish from the "new" Psalter by Tate and Brady.

One may enjoy listening to the tune and reading the lyrics to 'All People That on Earth Do Dwell' here (note that the last stanza is a doxology and not part of Psalm 100).

Lewis Lupton, A History of the Geneva Bible, Vol. 5 (1973), pp. 87-88:

The most interesting feature of this edition [ie., the 1561 edition of the Anglo-Genevan Psalter] is the inclusion for the first time of the Old Hundredth 'All people that on earth do dwell'. Surprisingly enough it is under the signature of Tho. Ster:

The explanation is that Kethe translated this psalm (which was written to fit a tune composed by Louis Bourgeois for psalm 134 in Beza's Psalter of 1551) after he had left Geneva in 1560 on his way to Britain....In the English black letter edition [a copy of the 1561 Anglo-Genevan Psalter printed in England rather than Geneva] the hundredth psalm is attributed to Kethe (Psalme C. W.Ke.) at the foot of the previous page to that on which the psalm begins which is, of course, the reason the Genevan printers failed to notice the author's name and substituted the most likely one they could think of.
...
As far as the tune of the 'Old Hundredth' is concerned, its introduction into Britain would appear to be due to Whittingham as well as Kethe.

The Continuators Continued (Part 4)

This is the conclusion (for now) of a series on the continuators of certain Puritan works.

Richard Stock's commentary on Malachi was published 15 years after his death and supplemented by Samuel Torshell (1605-1650).

Abraham Hellenbroek's Catechism

Abraham Hellenbroek's (1658-1731) catechism entitled A Specimen of Divine Truths was expanded after his death to include an introduction to students on how to profit from catechism class, a chapter on the counsel of peace, and a compendium of the principal doctrinal errors of those outside the Reformed Faith. The expanded edition is sometimes referred to the "big Hellenbroek." I am uncertain as to the identity of the editor(s) involved.

G.A. Henty's Last Novel

G.A. Henty died while in the midst of writing his last novel, By Conduct and Courage, which was completed by his son Captain C.G. Henty.

Sebastian Benefield's Commentary on Amos

Sebastian Benefield wrote a commentary on Amos 1-3, the last portion of which was published in 1629, before he died in 1630. Thomas Hall supplemented this with a commentary on Amos 4-9.

Martin Chemnitz's Commentary on the Harmony of the Gospels

Martin Chemnitz began a commentary on the harmony of the Gospels which was continued by Polycarp Leyser the Elder (1552-1610), and completed by Johann Gerhard.

The Huguenot Psalter

Metrical versions of 52 Psalms were completed by Clément Marot by the time of his death in 1544. The remaining versified Psalms in the Huguenot Psalter were completed by 1562 largely, if not exclusively, by Theodore Beza.

The Accusative Case

Among the stories told of John Calvin, it is often stated, by his friends and enemies, that in his youth, as a student, he was nicknamed accusativus, or, The Accusative Case, for his severe censoriousness of others' morals. In fact, to set the record straight, it was not a contemporary label for him but one that was first employed a century later by a hostile biographer (see in particular the research of Abel Lefranc, La Jeunesse de Calvin; and Emilé Doumergue, Jean Calvin, Vol. 1, pp. 73-75).

John Thomas McNeill, The History and Character of Calvinism, pp. 98-99:

The College de Montaigu proved, indeed, a suitable nursery for Calvin's mind. It is usual to suggest that he was at this stage an unsocial being, austere and harshly critical and condemnatory of his fellow students. The statement is attributed his opponent, Francois Baudouin, that as an undergraduate Calvin was commonly called 'the accusative case.' Actually Baudouin wrote nothing to this effect. The statement apparently originated with another hostile writer, Lavasseur [Jacques Le Vasseur], more than a century later (1633). It has been gleefully repeated as history many times, even since the facts were exposed by Emile Doumergue. It is an example of how misstatements gain credence. Actually what it probably rests upon is a remark by Baudouin that Calvin's cousin, Olivétan, was nicknamed 'the ablative case' because of his eagerness to 'throw off' his academic gown after lecture. Beza, however, in his Life of Calvin states that as a student Calvin was a censor of the vices of his fellows, and we may well believe this. Perhaps what Gregory the Great said of St. Benedict might truly be said of Calvin also: 'From his younger years he carried always the mind of an old man.' He gave an impression not only of studiousness but of maturity.

But there is no evidence that young Calvin was uncompanionable: much, indeed, to the contrary. He maintained good relations with his former schoolfellows of the de Heangest familes, with three of whom, and their tutor, he had come to Paris. He was closely associated with his scholarly cousin, Pierre Robert Olivier (Olivétan), three years his senior, whom he had known also in Noyon. He became a welcome guest in the homes of two of the greatest men of the university, Guillaume Cop, a medical scholar and the king's physician, and Guillaume Budé, the most learned Hellenist of France and the most effective liberal opponent of Beza. Calvin formed close ties with the sons of both these distinguished men, and later both families were represented among French religious refugees to Geneva. Through his influence a number of the de Hangest family also later became Protestants; but not his best companion among them, Claude. All the facts belie the picture of young Calvin as morose. It would be difficult, indeed, to discover a teen-age student of his time who attracted so many choice friends. The fact that his friends were not of the rank and file, and that they were all older than he, has no doubt some significance. We may suppose that as a student he felt no attraction toward intellectual mediocrity.

Geneva Jiggs & Beza's Ballets

George Wither (1588-1667) was a minor poet and author of what is said to be the "first work in English on literary aspects of the Bible," Preparation to the Psalter (1619), a discussion of the nature of the Psalms and of principles of translation," as well as "a defence of poetry" (David Norton, A History of the Bible as Literature, p. 131). His theological leanings over the course of his colorful life were all over the map from Arminian to Calvinist to Puritan to conforming Anglican to Quaker sympathies. He expressed love for the Psalms and wrote a version of the Psalter (Psalmes of David, 1632), while campaigning against exclusive psalmody and publishing a hymnal (Hymnes and Songs of the Church, 1623). He admitted to having a limited knowledge of Hebrew and the story is told that he took Parliament's side during the English Civil War and, after being captured by Royalist troops who were preparing to execute him, spared him at the request of Sir John Denham who allegedly claimed that they should do so "for the stated reason that at least 'whilest G.W. lived, he [Denham] should not be the worst Poet in England'" (Hannibal Hamlin, Psalm Culture and Early Modern English Literaure, p. 52, citing John Aubrey, Aubrey's Brief Lives, ed. O.L. Dick (Harmondsworth, 1949, rpr. 1982), p. 183).

I cite him here because he takes note -- in the context of his own dissatisfaction with the psalters then in use and expressed desire to improve them -- of a memorable derisive description employed by opponents of the Psalter.

Preparation to the Psalter (1619, 1919), p. 20:

...yet I vnderstand, that fome fectaries and fauourers of the Church of Rome, haue of late yeares difapproouved the tranflation of thefe Pfalmes into the vulgar tongues, & fcoffed at the finging of them in the reformed Churches; in fo much, that they haue in fcorne tearmed them Geneua Iiggs, and Beza's Ballets:

Albert Bailey claims (The Gospel in Hymns, p. 13) that Queen Elizabeth herself scornfully called called them "Geneva jiggs," in part due to their lively melody.

John Cotton defended the melodies used in Puritan Psalters, not claiming perfection, but inviting anyone to compare Psalms sung in Reformed Churches to cathedral chants. In answering the objection that "sinful men, or the man of sin hath an hand in making the melody" used in the Psalter, he writes, Singing of Psalms, A Gospel Ordinance (1647, republished as John Cotton on Psalmody and the Sabbath, 2006, p. 75):

And yet they that had an hand in making the melody of the English Psalms, (whether in Old England or New) were men of a better spirit then Ahab. But I can but marvel, why you should put in the man of sin, as having any hand at all, in making this melody. For neither the man of sin, (by whom I suppose you mean Antichrist) nor any Antichristian Church have had an hand in turning David's Psalms into English songs and tunes, or are wont to make any melody in the singing of them, yea they reject them as Geneva Gigs [Genevah Gigs, in the original]; and they be cathedral priests of an antichristian spirit, that have scoffed at Puritan Ministers, as calling the people to sing one of Hopkins Jigs [Jiggs], and so hop into the pulpit. God keep all anti-Psalmists from the like antichristian spirit. They that have been in antichristian churches can tell you, that Popish Churches are not wont to sing David's Psalms translated into verse in their own country meter, but they only sing the prose of David's Psalms in cathedral notes. Which how far yourself close withal, I leave to yourself to consider.

Tripartite Division of God's Law

The threefold division of God's law -- expressed as the moral, ceremonial and judicial law -- receives confessional status in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. 19.

John Calvin refers to it as a "well-known division" (Institutes 4.20.14):

We must attend to the well-known division which distributes the whole law of God, as promulgated by Moses, into the moral, the ceremonial, and the judicial law, and we must attend to each of these parts, in order to understand how far they do, or do not, pertain to us. Meanwhile, let no one be moved by the thought that the judicial and ceremonial laws relate to morals. For the ancients who adopted this division, though they were not unaware that the two latter classes had to do with morals, did not give them the name of moral, because they might be changed and abrogated without affecting morals. They give this name specially to the first class, without which, true holiness of life and an immutable rule of conduct cannot exist.

Herman Witsius cites Calvin's successor likewise, The Economy of the Covenants, Vol. 2, p. 167:

And this very learned author himself [Theodore Beza] has elsewhere observed, that the words, {Heb.}, law, statutes, and judgments, are often synonymous; but whenever they are thus joined together, they are distinguished from each other by a peculiar signification; and that by {Heb.} is understood the moral law; by {Heb.}, the ceremonial, and by {Heb.} the forensic law.

Witsius goes on (pp. 168-169) to commend and quote John Lightfoot's summary of the tripartite division of the law.

John Lightfoot, Erubhin, or, Miscellanies, Chap. 59, in Works, Vol. 4, p. 79:

The ceremonial law, that concerned only the Jews, was given to Moses in private, in the tabernacle; and fell with the tabernacle, when the veil rent in twain. The moral law concerns the whole world; and it was given in sight of the whole world, on the top of a mountain; and must endure as long, as any mountain standeth. The judicial law (which is more indifferent, and may stand or fall, as seems best for the good of a commonwealth) was given, neither so public as the one, nor so private as the other; but in a mean between both.

Historically, this division of the Mosaic law can be traced back to Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae Ia IIa q. 99, a. 4:

Article 4. Whether, besides the moral and ceremonial precepts, there are also judicial precepts?
...
It is written (Deuteronomy 6:1): "These are the precepts and ceremonies, and judgments": where "precepts" stands for "moral precepts" antonomastically. Therefore there are judicial precepts besides moral and ceremonial precepts.
I answer that, As stated above (2,3), it belongs to the Divine law to direct men to one another and to God. Now each of these belongs in the abstract to the dictates of the natural law, to which dictates the moral precepts are to be referred: yet each of them has to be determined by Divine or human law, because naturally known principles are universal, both in speculative and in practical matters. Accordingly just as the determination of the universal principle about Divine worship is effected by the ceremonial precepts, so the determination of the general precepts of that justice which is to be observed among men is effected by the judicial precepts.
We must therefore distinguish three kinds of precept in the Old Law; viz. "moral" precepts, which are dictated by the natural law; "ceremonial" precepts, which are determinations of the Divine worship; and "judicial" precepts, which are determinations of the justice Apostle to be maintained among men. Wherefore the Apostle (Romans 7:12) after saying that the "Law is holy," adds that "the commandment is just, and holy, and good": "just," in respect of the judicial precepts; "holy," with regard to the ceremonial precepts (since the word "sanctus"--"holy"--is applied to that which is consecrated to God); and "good," i.e. conducive to virtue, as to the moral precepts.

Jonathan F. Bayes, in an article entitled The Threefold Division of the Law, traces the history of this construct of God's law back further to Justin Martyr and Barnabas. His essay is well worth reading.

Exegetically, the Reformed and others have looked to such scriptures which speak of "commandments, statutes and judgments" as Gen. 26.5; Deut. 5.31, 6.1, 11.1; and elsewhere, to rightly divide the law of God.

Matthew Poole, Synopsis Criticorum (Dr. Steven Dilday, trans., 2008 ed.), Vol. 3, pp. 78-79 (Gen. 26.5):

[And he kept my precepts, etc....] My observances...This is the name of a genus, of which three species follow (Ainsworth, Malvenda). [Heb.]/precepts are appointed to have respect to the moral law (Ainsworth, Dutch): {Heb.}/statutes, either the ceremonial law (Dutch, Malvenda), or natural law; for example, thou shalt worship one God (Ibn Ezra in Munster): {Heb.}/laws, either they look toward the doctrine which we are held to believe (Dutch), or unto ceremonies (Ibn Ezra in Munster). To these elsewhere are added {Heb.}/judgments, that is, political laws (Dutch).

Dutch Annotations:

Gen. 26.5 - my Commandments...my precepts, my institutions, (or statutes) and my laws [These four several terms are held to be thus distinguished; the first of all to be the general term, signifying whatsoever God commanded and ordained; and the latter three to respect things particular; as the precepts of the moral law; the institutions or statutes on the Ceremonial law, the laws on the doctrine of what we are obliged to believe, &c. Elsewhere there are added unto these, the rights, whereby are understood the Civil or Political Laws, Deut. 11.1.]

Deut. 5.31 - all the Commandements, and the Statutes, and the Judgments; [Concerning these three words immediately following each other; (according to the opinion of most Interpreters) the first of them signifieth the Moral Law, the second, the Ceremonial Laws, and the third the Judicial or Civil Laws]

Henry Ainsworth, Annotations on the Pentateuch and the Psalms, Vol. 1, p. 136 (Gen. 26.5):

Charge] Heb. keeping, or observation: that is, 'ordinances to be kept.' So in Lev. viii. 35 xxii. 9 Deut. xi. 1. Laws,] For this word, elsewhere the scriptures saith, 'judgments,' Deut. xi. 1 v. 1, 31. vi. 1, 20. vii. 11. viii. 11, &c. and under these three particulars, the whole 'charge' or 'custody' forespoken of, is comprehended; as afterward by Moses God gave the ten 'commandments,' or moral precepts, Exod. xx. 'Judgments,' or judicial laws for punishing transgressors, Exod. xxi, &c. 'and statutes,' or 'rules, ordinances,' and 'decrees,' for the service of God, Lev. iii. 17. vi. 18, 22. Exod. xii. 24. xxvii. 31. xxix. 9. xxx. 31. All which Abraham observed, and is commended of God therefore.

Francis Turretin, finally, provides a cogent explanation for the threefold division of God's law, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 2, pp. 145-146:

Twenty-Fourth Question: The Ceremonial Law
What was the end and the use of the ceremonial law under the Old Testament?

The Mosaic law threefold: moral, ceremonial, forensic.

I. The law given by Moses is usually distinguished into three species: moral (treating of morals or of perpetual duties towards God and our neighbor); ceremonial (of the ceremonies or rites about the sacred things to be observed under the Old Testament); and civil, constituting the civil government of the Israelite people. The first is the foundation upon which rests the obligation of the others and these are its appendices and determinations. Ceremonial has respect to the first table determining its circumstances, especially as to external worship. Civil has respect to the second table in judicial things, although it lays down punishments for crimes committed against the firs table.

Foundation of the distinction.

II. The truth of this distinction appears from the diversity of the names by which it is designated in the Scriptures. The moral law is for the most part expressed by mtsvth ("precepts"), the ceremonial by chqym ("statutes") and the judicial by mshptym ("judgments"), which the Septuagint renders by entolas, dikaiomata and krimata. "I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them" (Dt. 5:31); so also in 6:1, 20; 7:11; and Lev. 26:46. Sometimes however these words are synonymous and used promiscuously (Ezk. 5:6; 20:11, 16, 18). But the distinction appears principally from the nature of the thing and the office of the law (whose it is to settle the order according to which man is joined to God and his neighbor). Now man is joined to God first by a certain internal and external likeness -- in love and justice, holiness and truth, whose rule the moral law delivers. Again by the external signification and testification of those acts of divine worship (marks and symbols being employed) whose use the ceremonial law prescribes. Finally, what duty man owes to man, the civil law (applied more distinctly to the Israelites) explains. The moral law regards the Israelite people as men; the ceremonial as the church of the Old Testament expecting the promised Messiah; the civil regards them as a peculiar people who in the land of Canaan ought to have a republic suiting their genius and disposition.

Difference between the moral law and others.

III. Hence arises a manifold difference between the moral law and others both in origin (because the moral is founded upon natural right and on this account is known by nature; but the others upon positive right and on this account are from free revelation) and in duration. The former is immutable and eternal; the latter mutable and temporary. In regard to object, the one is universal embracing all; the others particular applying only to the Jews (the civil, indeed, inasmuch as it regarded them as a distinct state dedicated to God; the ceremonial, however, referring to their ecclesiastical state and state of minority and infancy). In regard to use, the moral is the end of the others, while the others are subservient to the moral. Thus far we have spoken of the moral; now we must discuss the ceremonial.

Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God (Part 2)

This is a continuation in a study of sources upon which the U.S. Declaration of Independence was drawn from, extracted for consideration as the Fourth of July commemorations draw near.

* 1558 -- Christopher Goodman published How superior Powers ought to be obeyed of their subjects, and wherein they may lawfully be by God's word disobeyed and resisted.

Chapter VIII. The conclusion of these two parts with a further declaration of the same, that it is both lawful and necessary some times to disobey and also to resist ungodly magistrates and wherein.

Wherefore (dear brethren in the Lord) to return to our purpose, you may well understand these things which have been hitherto mentioned, not only the cause of all our misery in England this day, to have been for that we neither taught, knew, nor used true obedience: but also what obedience God requires of all men, and what He condemns for disobedience. Obedience is to hear God rather then man, and to resist man rather then God, as by the answer and doings of the Apostles, and examples of others you have been instructed. Wherein you may see how little the commandments, threatening, power, authority, or punishments of any king, prince or emperor, ought to prevail with us against the commandment of God, where with we are charged.

* 1573 -- François Hotman published Franco-Gallia.

Translator's Preface:

Tis certainly as much a Treason and Rebellion against this Constitution, and the known Laws, in a Prince to endeavour to break thro them, as 'tis in the People to rise against him, whilst he keeps within their Bounds and does his Duty. Our Constitution is a Government of Laws, not of Persons. Allegiance and Protection are Obligations that cannot subsist separately; when one fails, the other falls of Course. The true Etymology of the word Loyalty (which has been so strangely wrested in the late Reigns ) is an entire Obedience to the Prince in all his Commands according to Law; that is, to the Laws themselves, to which we owe both an active and passive Obedience.

By the old and true Maxim, that the King can do no Wrong, no body is so foolish as to conclude, that he has not Strength to murder, to offer Violence to Women, or Power enough to dispossess a Man wrongfully of his Estate, or that whatever he does (how wicked soever) is just: but the Meaning is, he has no lawful Power to do such Things; and our Constitution considers no Power as irresistible, but what is lawful.

Chapter 1

...

Now concerning the Extent of their Power and Jurisdiction, he brings in Ambiorix, King of the Eburones, giving an account of it, lib. 5. cap 8. "The Constitution of our Government is such (says he) that the People have no less Power and Authority over me than I have over the People. Non minus habet in me juris multitudo, quam ipse in multidinem. Which Form of Government, Plato, Aristotle, Polybius and Cicero have for this Reason determined to be the best and most Excellent: "Because (says Plato) shou'd Kingly Government be left without a Bridle, when it has attained to supreme Power, as if it stood upon a slippery Place, it easily falls into Tyranny: And therefore it ought to be restrained as with a Curb, by the Authority of the Nobles; and such chosen Men as the People have empower'd to that End and Purpose.

* 1574 -- Theodore Beza published De jure magistratuum (On the Rights of Magistrates Over Their Subjects).

Chapter 5. Whether Manifest Tyrants Can Lawfully Be Checked By Armed Force.

To give a clearer answer to this question I must first lay down certain principles constituting as it were the foundations of the whole question. Assuredly, (it is clear) that peoples did not in the first instance originate from rulers, but whatever peoples desired to be ruled by a single monarch or by chief men elected by them were anterior to their rulers. Hence it follows that peoples were not created for the sake of rulers, but on the contrary the rulers for the sake of the people, even as the guardian is appointed for the ward, not the ward for the guardian, and the shepherd on account of the flock, not the flock on account of the shepherd. This proposition is not merely obvious in itself but may be corroborated by the history of nearly all nations, So much so that God Himself, although he had elected Saul to substitute him for Samuel in accordance with the desires of the people, yet willed that he should be chosen and accepted as King by the suffrages of the people. Thus David, although he had first been chosen as king by God Himself, yet would not undertake the administration of the Kingdom except he had first been confirmed by the suffrages and unfettered concord of the tribes of Israel.

...

In short, if we would investigate the histories of ancient times recorded by profane writers also, it will be established — as indeed Nature herself seems to proclaim with a loud voice — that rulers by whose authority their inferiors might be guided were elected for this reason that either the whole human race must needs perish or some intermediate class must be instituted so that by it one or more (rulers) might be able to command the others, (and) protect good men but restrain the wicked by means of punishments....Here we are doubtless on dangerous ground; I would therefore once again beseech my readers to bear in mind my remarks immediately preceding lest they draw inadmissible conclusions from what must be said in the sequel. I admit that I most strongly approve of Christian patience as laudable beyond all the other virtues and never sufficiently commended; I admit that men should be zealously exhorted to it because it contributes largely to the attainment of eternal bliss: rebellions and all disorder I detest as awful abominations; in affliction especially I am of opinion that we should depend upon God alone; prayer accompanied by a serious recognition of our error I recognize as the true and necessary remedies for the overthrow of tyranny since this evil is rightly counted among the scourges sent by God for the chastisement of the people. But I deny that all these considerations deprive nations crushed by manifest tyranny of their right to safeguard themselves against it by means of prayers and repentance as well as other just remedies; and this I corroborate whilst I reply on the following powerful arguments.

* 1579 -- Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos (A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants, or, A Vindication Against Tyrants) was published by Stephen Junius Brutus, nom de plume for (most likely) Philippe Duplessis-Mornay (1549-1623) or Hubert Languet (1518-1581), and republished in 1660 (read it online here). John Adams credited this treatise with being widely read and influential on the eve of the American War of Independence.

THE FIRST QUESTION.
Whether subjects are obligated to obey rulers who issue commands contrary to the law of God.

At first, the answer to this question may seem to be obvious, for it seems to question an axiom held by all Christians, confirmed in many places in Holy Scripture, various examples throughout history, and by the deaths of all the holy martyrs. For it may be well asked why Christians have endured so many afflictions if it weren't true they were always persuaded that God must be obeyed simply and absolutely, and kings with this exception, that they command not that which is repugnant to the law of God. Otherwise, why should the apostles have answered that God must rather be obeyed than men? (Acts 5:29) Also, seeing that the will of God is always just, while the will of men may be, and often is, unjust, who can doubt that we must always obey God's commandments without any exception, and men's ever with limitation?

But there are many rulers in these days who call themselves "Christian", who arrogantly assume that their power is limited by no one, not even by God, and they surround themselves with flatterers who adore them as gods upon earth.
...
Everyone knows that if a man disobeys a prince who commands that which is wicked and unlawful, he shall immediately be accused of being a rebel, a traitor, and guilty of high treason. Our Savior Christ, the apostles, and all the Christians of the early church were accused with these false charges.
...
There are no rulers which ought to be considered as firm and stable, except for those in whom the temple of God is built, and which are indeed the temple itself. These we may truly call Kings. For they reign with God, seeing that it is by Him only that kings reign. On the contrary, what beastly foolishness it is to think that the state and kingdom can be maintained if God Almighty is excluded, and His temple demolished. From this view comes so many tyrannous enterprises, unhappy and tragic deaths of kings, and ruinations of people. If these sycophants knew what difference there is between God and Caesar, between the King of Kings and a simple king, between the lord and the vassal, and what tributes this Lord requires of His subjects, and what authority he gives to kings over those his subjects, certainly so many rulers would not strive to trouble the kingdom of God. And we should not see some of them cast down from their thrones by the just instigation of the Almighty, revenging himself of them, in the midst of their greatest strength, and the people should not be sacked and pillaged and trodden down.
...
Accordingly, rulers need to know how far they are permitted to extend their authority over their subjects, and their subjects need to know in what ways they are to obey, lest should the one encroach on that jurisdiction, which no way belongs to them, and the others obey him which commands further than he ought, they be both chastised when they shall give an account of themselves before another Judge. Now the end and scope of this question in which the Holy Scripture shall principally give the resolution, is that which follows. The question is, whether subjects are bound to obey kings, in case they command that which is against the law of God: that is to say, to which of the two (God or king) must we rather obey? When the question is resolved concerning the king, to whom is attributed the fullest power, the question concerning other magistrates will be also determined. First, the Holy Scripture teach that God reigns by His own proper authority, and kings rule by derivation, God from Himself, kings from God. God has a jurisdiction proper and kings are his delegates. It follows then that the jurisdiction of God has no limits, but that of kings is finite, that the power of God is infinite, but that of kings is confined, that the kingdom of God extends itself to all places, but that of kings is restrained within the confines of certain countries. In like manner God has created out of nothing both heaven and earth, therefore, by good right He is lord and master of both. All the inhabitants of the earth have received from Him everything they have, and are, essentially, His tenants and lease-holders. All the rulers and governors of the world are but His hirelings and vassals, and are obligated to take and acknowledge their investitures from Him. God alone is the owner and lord, and all men, whatever their station in life, are His tenants, agents, officers and vassals. All without exception owe fealty to Him, according to that which He has committed to their dispensation. The higher their place is, the greater their responsibility to God must be, and according to the rank where God has raised them, must they make their reckoning before His divine majesty. This is what the Holy Scriptures teach in innumerable places, and all the faithful (and even the wisest heathens) have ever acknowledged: that "the earth is the Lord's, and all it contains" (Psalm 24:1). And to the end that men should not falsely worship their own labor and enterprise, the earth yields no increase without the dew of heaven. This is why God commanded that His people should offer to Him the first of their fruits, and the heathens themselves have consecrated the same to their gods, that is, that God might be acknowledged lord, and they his farmers and field workers. The heaven is the throne of the Lord, and the earth His footstool. And, therefore, since all the kings of the world are under His feet, it is no marvel, if God be called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; all kings he termed His ministers established to judge rightly, and govern justly the world in the quality of lieutenants. By me (says the divine wisdom) kings reign, and the princes judge the earth. If they do it not "He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist" (Job 12:18). As if He should say, it is in my power to establish kings in their thrones, or to thrust them out, and for that reason, the throne of kings is called the throne of God. As the Queen of Sheba said to King Solomon: "Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on his throne to be king for the Lord thy God, to do judgment and justice." (2 Chron. 9:8) In like manner we read in another place, that Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord, or on the throne of the Lord's kingdom.

Gloomy Puritans?

Robert Robinson's notes on Jean Claude, An Essay on the Composition of a Sermon (3rd ed. 1788), Vol. 2, pp. 76-78, address a point that is often raised when moderns speak of the Puritans:

It is fashionable to account the puritans of the last age a gloomy generation: but some people are not ambitious of fashion, and to them we may be allowed to say two things in favour of these gloomy people.

1. Was it fair to persecute and ruin people, and then to reproach them for not being merry? They that wasted us, required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion! Psal. cxxxvii.3. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land! Alas! the Lord's songs would give you no pleasure! The songs of Sion are not composed in your taste! If we must sing, compose our odes yourselves! Come, set the five-mile act to musick! Play away upon our liberties, and properties, and lives. Give us hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and want of all things! smite us from the sole of the foot to the top of the head! Hang our lives in doubt day and night! drive us to despair, make us mad for the sight of our eyes, and then reproach us for not being merry!

2. These people were not gloomy, on the contrary, there is a satirical vein of pointed wit, that runs merrily through all their writings, and electrifies as it runs. I do not say, their wit was as well refined as modern wit: that would be profane indeed! but it was the wit of the age, and they were cheerful in the exercise of it. I could exemplify this by innumerable extracts from their polemical writings, and even by transcribing the titles of some of them: but I will only now mention two things, which afforded these dull men some diversion. 1. The shifts made to establish the liturgy diverted them. When kneeling at the communion was first appointed in the English espiscopal church, the foreign protestants were extremely offended at it, and Beza wrote to archbishop Grindall on the subject. If, says Beza, you have rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, and the practice of adoring the host, why do you symbolize with popery, and seem to hold both by kneeling at the sacrament? kneeling had never been thought of, had it not been for transubstantiation. Grindall replied, that though the sacrament was to be received kneeling, yet a rubrick accompanied the service-book, and informed the people, that no adoration of the elements was intended. O! I understand you, said Beza, "There was a certain great Lord, who repaired his house, and, having finished it, left before his gate a great stone, for which he had no occasion. It seems, this stone caused many people in the dark to stumble and fall. Complaint was made to his lordship, and many a humble petition was presented praying for the removal of the stone: but he remained long obstinate; at length, he condescended to order a lantern to be hung over it. My Lord, said one, if you would be pleased to rid yourself of farther solicitation, and to quiet all parties, order the stone and the candle to be both removed."

Geneva's Triple Light

In an elegaic poem about Jonathan Mitchell (1624 - 1668) written by one Francis Drake (fl. 1650 - 1668), he refers to "Geneva's Triple Light," meaning William Farel, Pierre Viret and John Calvin. They were the Genevan "Triumvirate" (again to use Drake's phrase) of the age.

Unlike Caesar, Pompey and Crassus, however, this triumvirate was an example not of rivalry and jealousy, but of brotherly love. Calvin's dedication to Farel and Viret prefacing his commentary on Titus is a true testimony to this brotherly love:

TO TWO EMINENT SERVANTS OF CHRIST,

WILLIAM FARELL AND PETER VIRET,

HIS DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN AND COLLEAGUES,

JOHN CALVIN

OFFERS HIS SALUTATIONS.

My Commentary-which now goes forth bearing the inscription of your name-is, indeed, a small gift; yet I fully believe that it will be acceptable to you, for this reason, that the subject of the Epistle induced me to make this Dedication. The task of putting the finishing hand to that building which Paul had begun in Crete, but left incomplete was undertaken by Titus. I occupy nearly the same position with regard to you.

When you had made some progress in rearing this church with vast exertions, and at great risk, after some time had elapsed I came, first as your assistant, and afterwards was left as your successor, that I might endeavor to carry forward, to the best of my ability, that work which you had so well and so successfully begun. This work, I and my colleagues are endeavoring to perform, if not with so great progress as might have been desired yet heartily and faithfully, according to our small ability.

To return to you, in consequence of holding the same relation to you which Paul assigned to Titus, I have been led to consider this similarity as a good reason for selecting you above all others, for dedicating to you this labor of mine. Meanwhile, to the present age, and perhaps to posterity, it will, at least, be some evidence of that holy union and friendship which exists between us. I think that there has never been, in ordinary life, a circle of friends so sincerely bound to each other as we have been in our ministry. With both of you I discharged here the office of pastor; and so far was there from being any appearance of envy, that you and I seemed to be one. We were afterwards separated by places; for you, Farell, were invited by the church of Neufchastel, which you had rescued from the tyranny of Popery, and brought into obedience to Christ; and you, Viret, are held in the same relation by the church of Lausanne.

While each of us occupies his own position, our union brings together the children of God into the fold of Christ, and even unites them in his body; while it scatters not only those outward enemies who openly carry on war with us, but those nearer and domestic enemies, by whom we are inwardly assailed. For I reckon this also to be one of the benefits resulting from being closely related, that filthy dogs, whose bites cannot succeed so far as to tear and rend the Church of Christ, do nothing more than bark against it with all their might. And, indeed, we cannot too thoroughly despise their insolence, since we can, with truth, glory before God, and have proved to men by the clearest evidence, that we cultivate no other society or friendship than that which has been consecrated to the name of Christ, which has hitherto been advantageous to his Church, and which has no other aim than that all may be at one with us in Him.

Farewell, my most excellent and most upright brethren. May the Lord Jesus continue to bless your pious labors!

Geneva, 29th November 1549.

Theodore Beza, Johannis Calvini Vita:

Calvin greatly delighted in that intimate friendship which he enjoyed with Farel and Viret, -- a friendship hateful to the evil-minded, but most gratifying to the good. And it was indeed a fair sight to contemplate these three extraordinary men, endowed with such various gifts, labouring in perfect union together to accomplish this heavenly design. Farel was conspicuous through greatness of soul, and a certain heroic nature; no one could remain unmoved by the thunder of his eloquence, or listen to his fervent prayers without feeling raised towards heaven. Viret, on the contrary, spoke with such exquisite sweetness, that his hearers hung irresistably on his lips. But as to Calvin, as many as were the words which he uttered, so many were the deep thoughts which filled the breasts of his hearers: so that it has often entered my mind, that in the union of the gifts enjoyed by these three, we see that which would constitute the highest perfection of an evangelical teacher.