John Calvin

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During the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin (born Jehan Cauvin; 10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor, and reformer in Geneva.

Calvin was a leading figure in the later development of Calvinism, including the doctrines of predestination and absolute sovereignty of God in salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation, which Calvin believed was influenced by and elaborated upon the Augustinian and other Christian traditions.

Various Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches, which tend to Calvin as the chief expositor of their faith, have flourished throughout the world. Calvin, a prolific polemic and apologetic writer, sparked a lot of controversy.

He also exchanged cordial and supportive letters with several reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon and Heinrich Bullinger.

Calvin wrote commentaries on the majority of books of the Bible, confessional documents, and various other theological treatises in addition to his seminal Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin was originally trained as a humanist advocate.

About 1530, he deposed the Roman Catholic Church.

Calvin migrated to Basel, Switzerland, where he published the first edition of the Institutes in 1536. Religious tensions erupted in widespread brutal abuse against Protestant Christians in France.

Calvin was recruited by Frenchman William Farel to join the Geneva Reformation, where he preached sermons every week; however, the city's political council refused to implement their ideas, and both men were barred from entering the city.

Calvin went to Strasbourg, where he became the minister of a church of French refugees, on Martin Bucer's invitation.

He continued to promote the Geneva reform movement, and in 1541 he was invited to lead the cathedral of the city. Despite opposition from several influential families in the area who attempted to curtail his authority after his return, Calvin introduced new ways of church governance and liturgy.

Michael Servetus, a Spaniard who was regarded by both Roman Catholics and Protestants as having a heretical interpretation of the Trinity, appeared in Geneva during this period.

Calvin was condemned by Calvin and set ablaze at the city council's stake for heresy.

Calvin's opponents were forced to leave following an influx of welcoming refugees and recent elections to the city council.

Calvin spent his remaining years in Geneva and throughout Europe, promoting the Reformation.

Life

On July 10, 1945, Jehan Cauvin, a town in Picardy, a province of France's Kingdom, was born. He was the second of three sons to live in infancy. Jeanne le Franc, Jeanne le Franc's mother, was the daughter of an innkeeper from Cambrai. After having had four more children, she died of an unknown cause in Calvin's childhood. Gérard Cauvin, Calvin's father, had a lucrative career as the cathedral notary and registrar to the ecclesiastical court. Gérard intended the priesthood for his three sons, Charles, Jean, and Antoine.

Calvin was particularly precocious. He was employed by the bishop as a clerk and was granted the tonsure by age 12, cutting his hair to signify his devotion to the Faith. The Montmors family, a wealthy family, also won the patronage of a wealthy family. Calvin was able to attend the Collège de la Marche, Paris, where he learned Latin from Mathurin Cordier, one of the country's best teachers. He began completing the course and joined the Collège de Montaigu as a philosophy student.

Gérard mitdrew his son from the Collège de Montaigu and enrolled him in the University of Orléans to study law in 1525 or 1526. Calvin will make more money as a lawyer than as a priest, according to contemporary biographers Theodore Beza and Nicolas Colladon. Calvin arrived at the University of Bourges in 1529 after a few years of quiet study. Andreas Alciati, a humanist advocate, intrigued him. Humanism was a European intellectual movement that emphasized classical studies. Calvin learned Koine Greek, a must for studying the New Testament, during his 18-month stay in Bourges.

Alternative dates have been proposed concerning Calvin's religious conversion. Any have dated his conversion around 1533, shortly before he resigned from his chaplaincy. In this sense, his departure is the clear evidence of his conversion to the evangelical faith. However, T. H. L. Parker claims that although this date is a determinant for his conversion, the most possible date is late 1529 or early 1530. In two totally different accounts of his conversion, the main evidence for his conversion is contained. Calvin portrayed his conversion as a sudden change of mind brought about by God in the first, as he was discovered in his Commentary on the Book of Psalms.

Calvin described a lengthy process of internal turmoil in the second account, as well as spiritual and psychological trauma:

Scholars have debated the precise meaning of these accounts, but most agree that his conversion coincided with his expulsion from the Roman Catholic Church. "The two accounts are not antithetical," Calvin's memory, but rather [are] two different ways of expressing the same truth," Calvin's memory, according to Bruce Gordon.

Calvin's delicentiate was granted in law and published his first book, a reflection on Seneca's De Clerico. Calvin returned to Paris in October 1533 after uneventful trips to Orléans and his hometown of Noyon. During this period, tensions between the humanists/reformers and the conservative senior faculty members increased at the Collège de France (later to become the Collège de France). Nicolas Cop, one of the university's reformers, was rector of the university. On November 1, 1533, he devoted his inaugural address to the Roman Catholic Church's need for reform and renewal. The address sparked a strong reaction from the faculty, who condemned it as heretical, prompting Cop to leave Basel. Calvin, a close friend of Cop, was implicated in the murder and was forced to flee the next year. He stayed on the move, sheltering with his buddy Louis du Tillet in Angoulême and seeking refuge in Noyon and Orléans. During the Affair of the Placards in mid-October 1534, he was finally compelled to leave France. Unknown reformers had posted placards in several towns criticizing the Roman Catholic mass, to which Catholic adherents of the Roman Catholic Church reacted with violence against the new-be Reformers and their sympathizers. Calvin joined Cop in Basel, a city that was still under the influence of late reformer Johannes Oecolampadius's.

Calvin's first edition of his Institutio Christianae Religionis or Institutes of the Christian Religion appeared in March 1536. The book was a apologization or defense of his faith as well as a remark on the reformers' doctrinal position. He also intended it to be used as an elementary instruction book for those interested in the Christian faith. The book was the first representation of his theology. Calvin redesigned the project and introduced new editions throughout his life. He left Basel for Ferrara, Italy, where he briefly served as secretary to Princess Renée of France shortly after its publication. He was back in Paris by June with his brother Antoine, who was settling their father's affairs. Calvin decided that there was no hope for him in France following the Edict of Coucy, which gave heretics a limited six-month grace to reconcile with the Catholic faith. He embarked on Strasbourg, a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire and a refuge for reformers in August. He was forced to make a detour to the south due to military manoeuvres of imperial and French forces, bringing him to Geneva. Calvin had intended to stay just one night, but William Farel, a fellow French reformer, who lived in the city, begged him to stay and help him in his efforts to reform the cathedral. Calvin accepted his new position without being given any preconditions regarding his work or duties. It's unclear what the office to which he was first assigned is. He was eventually given the title of "reader," indicating that he would give expository lectures on the Bible. He was selected to be a "pastor" at some time in 1537, but he never received any pastoral consecration. For the first time, the lawyer-theologian took up pastoral roles such as baptisms, weddings, and church services.

Farel wrote separate articles on reorganizing the church in Geneva during late 1536. Farel and Calvin presented their Articles to the city council on January 16, 1537, detailing their concerns regarding l'organisation du culte à Genève. The paper detailed the frequency and frequency of the Eucharist's celebrations, including the motivations and method of excommunication, confession of faith, the use of congregational singing in the liturgy, and reform of marriage laws. On the same day, the council accepted the paper.

Calvin and Farel's name with the council began to tarnish as the year progressed. The council was reluctant to enforce the subscription policy because only a few people had consented to their confession of faith. The two ministers squabbled about the council on November 26th. In addition, France was interested in establishing a cooperation with Geneva, and although the two ministers were Frenchmen, councillors had begun to question their loyalty. And then, a big ecclesiastical-political confrontation erupted when it was suggested that uniformity be introduced in the church ceremonies. According to one, the Eucharist would use unleavened bread. The two ministers were unable to follow Bern's example and delayed the use of such bread until a synod in Zurich could be convened to make the final decision. For the Easter Eucharist, the council directed Calvin and Farel to use unleavened bread. They refused to administer communion at the Easter service in protest. During the service, a riot ensued. Farel and Calvin were advised to leave Geneva the next day by the council.

Farel and Calvin went to Bern and Zurich to plead their case. Calvin's main fault was inability of being sympathetic enough toward the people of Zurich, according to the resulting synod. Bern was asked to mediate with the intention of restoring the two ministers. The Geneva council refused to re-indict the two men, who then migrated to Basel. Farel was given an invitation to lead the church in Neuchâtel later this year. Calvin was invited to lead a congregation of French refugees in Strasbourg by one of the city's most prominent reformers, Martin Bucer and Wolfgang Capito. Calvin initially refused because Farel had declined to attend, but after Bucer appealed to him, they relinquished. Calvin had taken up his new role in Strasbourg by September 1538, fully expecting that this time would be permanent; a few months later, he applied for and was granted citizenship of the city.

Calvin was not attached to one particular church during his time in Strasbourg but instead worked in the Saint-Nicolas Church, the Sainte-Madeleine Church, and the former Dominican Church, which were renamed the Temple Neuf. (All of these churches still exist, but none of them are in the architectural condition of Calvin's days.) Calvin minister Calvin ministered to 400-500 people in his church. With two sermons on Sunday, he preached or lectured every day. The psalms' annual service was celebrated monthly, and congregational singing of the psalms was encouraged. He also worked on the second edition of the Institutes. Calvin was dissatisfied with its original form as a catechism, a primer for young Christians.

Calvin discarded this style for the second edition, which was released in 1539, in favour of systematically presenting the main doctrines from the Bible. The book was increased from six chapters to seventeen in the process. He was also working on another book, the Commentary on Romans, which was published in March 1540. The book served as a model for his later commentators: it included his own Latin translation from the Greek rather than the Latin Vulgate, an exegesis, and an exposition. Calvin lauded his predecessors, Philipp Melanchthon, Heinrich Bullinger, and Martin Bucer, but he also took pain to distinguish his own work from theirs and criticize some of their shortcomings.

Calvin's closest friends encouraged him to marry. Calvin took a more prosaic view while speaking to one reporter:

Several candidates were introduced to him, including one young woman from a wealthy family. Calvin reluctantly accepted the marriage on the understanding that she would learn French. Despite the fact that a wedding date was planned for March 1540, he remained reticent and the wedding never took place. He later wrote that he'd never think about marrying her "unless the Lord completely beft me of my wits." Rather, in August of that year, he married Idelette de Bure, a widow with two children from her first marriage.

Calvin's expulsion from Geneva was reconsidered by Geneva. Church attendance had dwindled and the political climate had changed; as Bern and Geneva fought over land, their alliance frayed. The council began looking for an ecclesiastical authority to respond to Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto when he wrote a letter urging Geneva to reclaim their Catholic faith. At first, Pierre Viret was consulted, but the council asked Calvin if he declined. He agreed and his Responsio ad Sadoletum (Letter to Sadoleto) vehemently defended Geneva's position in the church's reforms. Ami Perrin, one of the council's members, was given permission by the council on September 21st 1540 to recover Calvin. In Worms, an embassy in Calvin was visiting Calvin while attending a colloquy, a conference to resolve religious disputes. "Rather submit to death a hundred times more than to that cross on which I had to perish daily a thousand times over," his reaction to the suggestion was one of terror.

Calvin also stated that he was able to follow the Lord's instructions. Viret will be named to take temporary responsibility in Geneva for six months, according to a roadmap, while Bucer and Calvin will visit the city to determine the next steps. Calvin's immediate appointment was sought by the city council in Geneva. By mid-2015, Strasbourg had decided to loan Calvin to Geneva for six months. Calvin returned on September 13, 1541, with a government escort and a wagon for his family.

The Ordonnances ecclesiastiques (Ecclesiastical Ordinances) was passed by the Geneva council on November 20th, 1541, in favor of Calvin's reforms. The laws established four orders of ministerial responsibility: pastors to preach and manage the sacraments; doctors to guide believers in the faith; elders to provide discipline; and deacons to care for the homeless and needy. They also called for the creation of the Consistory, an ecclesiastical court made up of the elders and ministers. The city government retained the ability to summon people before the court, and the Consistory could only hear ecclesiastical matters that have no civil jurisdiction. Initially, the court had the ability to execute sentences, with excommunication as the most severe punishment. The government contested this power, and the council agreed on 19 March 1543 that all sentencing would be carried out by the government.

Calvin adapted a service book used in Strasbourg in 1542, titled La Forme des Prières et Chants Ecclésiastiques (The Form of Prayers and Church Hymns). Calvin understood the power of music and wanted that it be used to promote scripture readings. In the Geneva version, Clément Marot and Calvin wrote twelve psalms of his own composition. Marot became a migrant in Geneva and gave nineteen more psalms at the end of 1542. Louis Bourgeois, a French immigrant, lived and taught music in Geneva for sixteen years, and Calvin took the opportunity to include his hymns, one of which being the Old Hundredth.

Calvin published Catéchisme de Genève (Catechism of the Church of Geneva), which was inspired by Bucer's Kurze Schrifftliche Erklärung of 1534. During his first stay in Geneva, Calvin had written a catechism based largely on Martin Luther's Large Catechism. The first version was arranged pedagogically, describing Law, Faith, and Prayer. The 1542 version was rearranged for theological reasons, focusing Faith first, then Law and Prayer.

Historians disagree over the extent to which Geneva was a theocracy. Calvin's theology, on the other hand, called for a distinction between church and state. Other historians have argued that the clerics wielded considerable political control on a daily basis.

Calvin preached over two thousand sermons in Geneva during his two thousand sermons. He preached twice on Sunday and three times during the week. This proved to be too heavy a burden, and the council allowed him to preach only once on Sunday. He had to preach twice on Sundays and, in addition, every weekday of alternate weeks, in October 1549. His sermons lasted more than an hour, but he did not use notes. An occasional minister tried to record his sermons, but only a small portion of his preaching was preserved before 1549. Denis Raguenier, a professional scribe who had no experience or created a shorthand device, was given the opportunity to record all of Calvin's sermons in the first year. Calvin was a consistent preacher and his style shifted very little throughout the years, according to T. H. Parker's review of his sermons. In successive sermons, John Calvin was also known for his pedagogical approach to reading the Bible. Calvin preached two hundred sermons on Deuteronomy from March 1555 to July 1556.

"If they condemned celibacy in the priests and opened the convent gates, it was only to convert all humanity into a convent," Voltaire wrote about Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli. Performances and entertainments had been explicitly forbidden by their faith, but there were no musical instruments allowed in Geneva for more than two hundred years. They condemned auricular confession but enjoined a public one, and in Switzerland, Scotland, and Geneva, the same as penance was performed.

Calvin's personal life in Geneva is very little known. The council owned his house and furniture. The house was large enough to hold his family, Antoine's family, and some servants. Jacques Idelette was born prematurely on July 28th, but only for a short time. Idelette was sick in 1545 and died on March 29. Calvin never married again. In a letter to Viret, he expressed his sorrow:

He maintained many friendships from his youth, including Montmor, Cordier, Cop, Farel, Melanchthon, and Bullinger throughout his life in Geneva.

Calvin was resentful of his work in Geneva. Around 1546, the uncoordinated forces coalesced into a cohesive group known as the libertines by Robert Johnson, but who preferred to be identified as Spirituels or Patriots. These were people who felt that after being emancipated by grace, they were exempted from both ecclesiastical and civil law, according to Calvin. The group was made up of wealthy, politically influential, and interrelated families of Geneva. Pierre Ameaux, a maker of playing cards who had already been in conflict with the Consistory, insulted Calvin by calling him a "Picard," an epithet denoting anti-French sentiment and accusing him of false doctrine at the end of January 1546. Ameaux were chastised by the council and coerced to make expiation by zigzing through the neighborhood and asking for pardonation. Ami Perrin, the man who had brought Calvin to Geneva, has stepped into open opposition a few months later. Perrin had married Françoise Favre, the daughter of François Favre, a well-established Genevan merchant, and was destined to marry him. Both Perrin's wife and father-in-law had previous conflicts with the Consistory. Many of Geneva's most popular performers, including Perrin, had broken a ban on dancing, according to the court. Perrin refused the court when he was summoned, but after receiving a letter from Calvin, he appeared before the Consistory.

The majority of the syndicates, or civil magistrates of Geneva, were members of the resistance to Calvin and other French refugees ministers by 1547. On the 27th of June, Calvin preached an unsigned threatening letter in Genevan dialect. The council has appointed a commission to look into allegations of a conspiracy involving both the church and the state. When his house was searched, Jacques Gruet, a Genevan member of Favre's party, was arrested and charged with incriminating evidence. He confessed to several offences, including writing the letter left in the pulpit that threatened the church leaders, who were deposed. Gruet was sentenced to death by a civil court on July 26, and he was hanged. Calvin was not opposed to the civil court's decision.

The libertines gathered resistance, insulting the named ministers and challenging the Consistory's power. Both sides of the conflict were entangled, with occasional admonishing and upholding Calvin. Calvin's clout was at its lowest level when Perrin was elected first syndic in February 1552. Calvin believed he had been defeated after some losses before the council, and he begged the council to refuse him on July 24th. Though the libertines ruled the council, his request was turned down. Calvin's clout was reduced, but they didn't have enough power to banish him.

Michael Servetus, a brilliant Spanish polymath who introduced the Islamic concept of Pulmonary circulation to Europe, and a fugitive from ecclesiastical authorities, was a turning point in Calvin's fortunes on August 1353. After he published "The Restoration of Christianity" (1553), Calvin scholar Bruce Gordon wrote, "Understandably, a denial of original sin and a comprehensible interpretation of the Trinity were among the charges."

He argued with Johannes Oecolampadius in Basel in July 1530, but was eventually dismissed. He went to Strasbourg, France, where he published a pamphlet condemning the Trinity. Servetus was ordered to leave by Bucer, who openly denied it. Servetus published Two Books of Dialogues on the Trinity after returning to Basel, which caused a sensation among Reformers and Catholics alike. An order was released for Servetus' detention after John Calvin warned the Inquisition in Spain of this publication.

Calvin and Servetus were first introduced in 1546 by a common acquaintance, Jean Frellon of Lyon; the pair exchanged letters debating doctrine; Calvin, d' Espeville, and Servetus used the moniker Michel de Villeneuve. Calvin eventually lost patience and refused to respond, and by this time, Servetus had written around thirty letters to Calvin. When Servetus sent Calvin a copy of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, he was outraged, with arguments pointing to mistakes in the book. "Espeville" (Calvin) wrote a letter to Farel on February 13, 1546, noting that if Servetus would appear, he would not guarantee him safe conduct: "For as far as my authority goes, I would not let him go alive."

Servetus published Christianismi Restitutio (English: The Restoration of Christianity) in 1553, in which he denied the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the idea of predestination. Guillaume de Trie, Calvin's representative, sent letters to Servetus alerting the French Inquisition. The appellation of his name is "Spanish-Portuguese," accusing him of his recently discovered Jewish converso origins. "His proper name is Michael Servetus," De Trie wrote down, but he now says Villeneuve, practising medicine, rather than Villeneuve. He lived in Lyon for a few years before returning to Vienne. According to Calvin, he contacted Cardinal François de Tournon, the archbishop of Lyon, as the inquisitor general of France learned that Servetus was hiding in Vienne under an assumed name. Servetus was arrested and detained for questioning. His letters to Calvin were shown as evidence of heresy, but he denied having written them and later said he wasn't sure it was his handwriting. He proclaimed that he was Michel De Villeneuve Doctor in Medicine, a native of Tudela, Mexico's capital, who is under the Emperor's tutelage, before swearing to the holy book. "Instead of Servetus, he mistook him for debating Calvin." He managed to flee from jail, but Catholic authorities sentenced him to death in absentia by slow burning.

Servetus stopped in Geneva to visit "d'Espeville," where he was recognized and arrested on his way to Italy. Nicholas de la Fontaine, Calvin's counsel, assembled a list of charges that were submitted before the court. The prosecutor, Philibert Berthelier, a member of a liberal family and son of a notable Geneva patriot, was involved in the trial, which was led by Perrin's brother-in-law. In an effort to intimidate Calvin, the libertines allowed the trial to proceed. The reason for the difficulty in using Servetus as a weapon against Calvin was that the hiertical reputation of Servetus was renowned, and the bulk of Europe's cities were waiting for the trial's decision. This posed a problem for the libertines, so the council decided to write to other Swiss cities for their opinions on August 21, thus alleviating their own blame for the final decision. The council also asked Servetus if he preferred to be judged in Vienne or Geneva while waiting for the responses. He begged to remain in Geneva. The replies from Zurich, Basel, Bern, and Schaffhausen were published on October 20th, and the council condemned Servetus as a heretic. He was sentenced to burning at the stake the following day, the same sentence as in Vienne. According to some commentators, Calvin and other ministers beheaded rather than flaming, knowing that burning at the stake was the only legal remedy. This plea was refused and Servetus was on the edge of Geneva on October 27th, and on the 27th of October, he was charred alive at the Plateau of Champel.

Calvin was praised as a defender of Christianity after his death, but his triumph over the libertines was still two years away. Despite the council's recent decision to strip it away, he had always maintained that the Consistory keep the power of excommunication. Philibert Berthelier, a minister who had been barred from communion for the previous year, pleaded with the council during Servetus' verdict. Calvin argued that the council did not have the legal power to reverse Berthelier's termination. He suggested in a sermon on September 3rd that if the council would be dismissed by the authorities if they are uncertain of how it would rule. The council voted in favour of Calvin on September 18th, and this was within the Consistory's jurisdiction. In November, Berthelier applied for re-election to a different Genevan administrative body, the Deux Cents (Two Hundred). The council's decision was reversed by this body, who announced that the council's final arbiter in excommunication should be the council. The ministers continued to protest, and as in the case of Servetus, the opinions of the Swiss churches were sought. The whole affair dragged on into 1554. The council finally announced the decision of the Swiss churches on January 22: the original Ordonnances were to be preserved, and the Conscension was to regain its official positions.

With the 2015 elections in February, the libertines' demise began. By then, many of the French refugees had been granted citizenship and had received their assistance, Calvin's partisans overwhelmingly elected the majority of the syndicals and councillors. The libertines took to the streets in a sobriety demonstration on May 16th, attempting to burn down a house that was ostensibly full of Frenchmen. Henri Aulbert, the syndic, attempted to intervene, carrying with him the sack of office that symbolized his authority. Perrin grabbed the pistol and waved it over the crowd, giving the appearance that he was gaining power and initiating a coup d'état. Perrin was ordered to go with him to the town hall shortly after the rebellion was over when another syndic appeared and ordered him to follow him to the town hall. Perrin and other leaders were forced to leave the area by Perrin and other political figures. The other plotters who stayed in the city were discovered and executed with Calvin's permission. The resistance to Calvin's church polity came to an end.

During Calvin's final years, his clout was almost uncontested, and he marketed himself as a reformer distinct from Martin Luther. Luther and Calvin shared a mutual admiration for each other from the start. The eucharist's theology of the Catholic had a doctrinal conflict between Luther and Zurich reformer Huldrych Zwingli. Calvin's stance on the subject prompted Luther to deploy him in Zwingli's camp. Calvin was instrumental in the debates that were fought between the Lutheran and Reformed branches of the Reformation movement. Calvin was also dissatisfied by the reformers' lack of unity. By signing the Consensus Tigurinus, a congres between the Zurich and Geneva churches, he moved closer to rapprochement with Bullinger. When Archbishop Thomas Cranmer called for an ecumenical synod of all the evangelical churches, he came out to England. Calvin lauded the idea but Cranmer was unable to bring it to fruition.

Starting in 1555, Calvin sheltered Marian exiles (those who survived the reign of Catholic Mary Tudor in England). They were able to form their own reformed church under the city's protection under John Knox and William Whittingham, and Calvin's on doctrine and polity were carried to England and Scotland.

Calvin's greatest concern was the establishment of a collège, or an institute for the education of children in Geneva. On March 25, 1558, a school's website was announced, and the school opened the following year on June 1559. Despite being a joint school, the school was divided into two parts: the collège or schola privata, and a modern school called the academie or schola publica. Calvin attempted to recruit Mathurin Cordier, his long friend and Latin scholar who was now based in Lausanne, and Emmanuel Tremellius, the former Regius professor of Hebrew in Cambridge, with Mathurin Cordier, his old friend and Latin scholar who was now based in Lausanne. Neither was available, but he did a good job in obtaining Theodore Beza as rector. There were 1,200 students in the grammar school and 300 in the advanced school in less than five years. The Collège Calvin, one of Geneva's college preparatory schools, was eventually incorporated by the university; the academie was formerly the University of Geneva.

Calvin was deeply committed to rebuilding his homeland, France. The Protestant movement had been vibrant, but the movement was lacking a central organ structure. Calvin converted his ferocious energies toward uplifting the French Protestant cause with financial assistance from the cathedral in Geneva.

As one historian explains:

Calvin was sick with a fever in late 1558. Since he was afraid that he would die before completing the Institute's final revision, he obliged him to work. Calvin referred to the final version as a new creation in the sense that it was greatly extended. The increase from the 21 chapters of the previous edition to 80 was owing to the extended care of existing content rather than the introduction of new topics. He strained his voice while preaching, prompting a bout of coughing shortly after recovering. He burst a blood vessel in his lungs, and his health has slowly slowed. On Sunday, he preached his final sermon in St. Pierre, which occurred on February 6, 1564. He made his will on April 25, giving his family and the collège small sums. The ministers of the church came to visit him a few days later, and he regretted his last farewell, which was chronicled in Discours d'adieu aux ministres. He recalled his life in Geneva, often recalling the agony he suffered through. Calvin died on May 27th, 1564, at the age of 54. His body appeared in state at first, but reformers were worried that if their bodies were seen as supporters of a new saint's cult. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Cimetière des Rois the following day. The exact location of the grave is uncertain; a stone was added in the 19th century to mark a grave that is traditionally thought to be Calvin's.

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