The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 222

manifested a faith and courage which the young student painfully
contrasted with his own despair and darkness, while living in strictest
obedience to the church. Upon the Bible, he knew, the heretics rested
their faith. He determined to study it, and discover, if he could, the
secret of their joy.
In the Bible he found Christ. “O Father,” he cried, “His sacrifice
has appeased Thy wrath; His blood has washed away my impurities; His
cross has borne my curse; His death has atoned for me. We had devised
for ourselves many useless follies, but Thou hast placed Thy word before
me like a torch, and Thou hast touched my heart, in order that I may hold
in abomination all other merits save those of Jesus.”—Martyn, vol. 3, ch.
13.
Calvin had been educated for the priesthood. When only twelve
years of age he had been appointed to the chaplaincy of a small church,
and his head had been shorn by the bishop in accordance with the canon
of the church. He did not receive consecration, nor did he fulfill the
duties of a priest, but he became a member of the clergy, holding the
title of his office, and receiving an allowance in consideration thereof.
Now, feeling that he could never become a priest, he turned for a time
to the study of law, but finally abandoned this purpose and determined to
devote his life to the gospel. But he hesitated to become a public teacher.
He was naturally timid, and was burdened with a sense of the weighty
responsibility of the position, and he desired still to devote himself to
study. The earnest entreaties of his friends, however, at last won his
consent. “Wonderful it is,” he said, “that one of so lowly an origin should
be exalted to so great a dignity.”—Wylie, b. 13, ch. 9.
Quietly did Calvin enter upon his work, and his words were as the
dew falling to refresh the earth. He had left Paris, and was now in
a provincial town under the protection of the princess Margaret, who,
loving the gospel, extended her protection to its disciples. Calvin was
still a youth, of

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