The Piety of John Calvin

A Collection of His Spiritual Prose, Poems, and Hymns

John Calvin

• Publisher: P Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780875520599
• eBook ISBN: 9781629955674
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

An anthology that promotes "a warm personal grasp" of Calvin. Collectively shows the Christian life as Calvin understood it by including his prayers, poetry, prose, and music for his psalms.

1

THE SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE OF CALVIN

It is hard to express in words
What varied and shining riches
This treasure contains:
Whatever I am about to say

5 I know will fall far short
Of the worth of the Book of Psalms.
But because it is better to give a taste,
However slight, to my readers
Than to remain utterly silent,

10 Permit me to touch briefly
On a matter whose importance
Cannot be completely explained.
Not without reason, it is my custom
To call this book

15 An Anatomy of All the Parts of the Soul
Since there is no emotion
Anyone will experience
Whose image is not reflected
In this mirror.

20 Indeed, here the Holy Spirit
Has drawn to the life
All pains, sorrows, fears, doubts,
Hopes, cares, anxieties—
In short—all the turbulent emotions

25 With which men’s minds
Are commonly stirred.
The rest of the Scriptures contains
The commandments that God
Enjoined upon His servants

30 To announce to us.
But here the prophets themselves
Speaking with God
Uncover all their inner feelings
And call, or rather drag,

35 Each one of us
To examine himself.
Thus is left hidden
Not one of the very many infirmities
To which we are subject,

40 Not one of the very many vices
With which we are stuffed.
A rare and singular achievement it is
When, all recesses laid bare,
The heart, purged of hypocrisy

45 (Most baneful infection of all),
Is brought into the light of day.
In short, if calling upon God
Is the greatest bastion of our salvation,
Since in no other place

50 Can one seek
A better and surer rule for it
Than in this book,
It follows that,
As each man best advances

55 In understanding it,
He will attain a good part
Of heavenly doctrine.

True prayer is born
First from our own sense of need,

60 Then from faith in God’s promises.
Here will the readers be best awakened
To sense their ills,
And, as well, to seek
Remedies for them.

65 Whatever can stimulate us
When we are about to pray to God,
This book teaches.
Not only are God’s promises presented to us there,
But often there is shown to us

70 Someone, girding himself for prayer,
Caught between God’s invitation
And the hindrance of the flesh.
Thus are we taught how,
If at any time

75 We are plagued with various doubts,
To fight against them
Until the mind, freed,
Rises to God.
And not that only:

80 But amid hesitations, fears,
Trepidations, we are still
To rely on prayer
Until some solace comes.
Although unfaith may shut the gate

85 To our prayers,
Yet are we not to yield
Whenever our hearts waver
Or are beset with unrest,
Until from these struggles

90 Faith emerges victorious.
In many passages we are shown
God’s servants so wavering
In the midst of prayer
That, almost overwhelmed

95 By alternate despair and hope,
They gain the prize
Only by hard effort.
On the one hand the infirmity of the flesh
Reveals itself,

100 On the other, the force of faith
Is manifested.
If it is not as vigorous
As might be desired,
Yet is it prepared to struggle

105 Until little by little
It acquires perfect strength.
But since the principles
Of proper prayer will be found
Scattered through the whole work,

110 I shall not burden my readers
With needless repetition
Nor hold up their progress.
Only, it was worthwhile in passing
To show that in this book

115 Something no less desirable
Is furnished to us:
Not only does intimate access to God
Lie open to us,
But infirmities that shame forbids us

120 To confess to men,
We are permitted and free to lay open
Before our God.
Here also is precisely prescribed
The proper way to offer

125 “The sacrifice of praise,”
Which God declares
Is most precious and sweet-smelling
To Him.
Nowhere else does one read

130 More shining tidings
Of God’s singular kindness to His Church
And of all His works.
Nowhere else are related so many deliverances,
Or shine so brightly

135 Proofs of His fatherly providence
And care for us.
Nowhere else, to sum up,
Is set forth a fuller reason
To praise God,

140 Or are we more sharply pricked
To perform this duty of piety.

Moreover, although this book is crammed
With all sorts of precepts
Capable of shaping our life

145 Holily, piously, justly,
Still especially does it instruct us
To bear the cross.
Here is the true proof of obedience,
Where, bidding farewell to our own affections,

150 We subject ourselves to God
And allow our lives
To be so governed by His will
That things most bitter and harsh to us—
Because they come from Him—

155 Become sweet to us.
Finally, here not only general praises
Of God’s goodness are recounted
To teach us to rest in Him alone,
So that godly minds may await

160 Some help from Him in all necessity;
But also freely given forgiveness of sins,
Which alone both reconciles us to God
And obtains for us quiet repose with Him,
Is so commended.

165 That utterly nothing is lacking
To our knowledge of eternal salvation.

Calvin’s Identification with David

Moreover, if my readers should happen
To feel some benefit and profit
From the labor I have put

170 Into writing this commentary,
I want them to know
That the experience I have had
Through the struggles in which
The Lord has exercised me,

175 Even though it has not been of the highest degree,
Has nonetheless served me greatly.
I have benefited
Not only in being able to fathom
How one must apply

180 And put into practice
All the teaching one could gather from the Psalms,
But also in opening up more fully
To my understanding
The intention of each of the writers

185 Who composed the Psalms.

And because David is the chief among them,
I was greatly helped to understand more fully
The laments he made concerning the afflictions
The church had to bear within itself,

190 By the fact that I suffered
The same or similar troubles
From the enemies of the church
Within her household.
For although I am far away

195 From following David
And fall far short
Of being his equal—
Or, to put it better,
Although aspiring slowly

200 And with great difficulty
To the many virtues in which he excels—
I still feel so tied to the opposing vices;
Yet, if I have some things
In common with him,

205 I am content to examine these
And make some comparison
Between us.
Thus, therefore, when I read
The evidences of his faith,

210 Patience, ardor, zeal, uprightness,
I am often compelled to groan and sigh
That I am so far
From approaching him.
Yet it is a very useful thing

215 For me to contemplate in him,
As...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• CONTENTS
• FOREWORD
• DAUGHTER'S PREFACE
• PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
• LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
• INTRODUCTION: TRUE PIETY ACCORDING TO CALVIN
• 1. THE SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE OF CALVIN
• 2. THE KERNEL OF CALVIN'S FAITH
• 3. CALVIN ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
• 4. CALVIN ON PRAYER
• 5. PRAYERS OF CALVIN
• 6. METRICAL PSALMS TRANSLATED BY CALVIN
• 7. PROSE-POEMS ADAPTED FROM CALVIN
• EPILOGUE: CALVIN ON CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
• INDEX OF SCRIPTURE