The Reformation Museum

If you haven't seen Ruth's post from yesterday please read her post below this one. Ruth's birthday present to me was the admission to the International Museum of the Reformation. I really love reformation history so I was very thankful for the gift. The Museum is located right beside the church where John Calvin preached and since this year marks the 500th birthday of Calvin...there were special displays about him. Here are a couple things that I saw there.



The pulpit that Calvin preached from.

Calvin's mug....

A letter that Calvin wrote to his friend and fellow Genevan reformer Farel.

First edition of one of Calvin's commentaries...

Theodare Beza's (Calvin's student who followed him around, and Calvin's first biographer) copy of Erasmus' newly published Greek New Testament with his notes on the left-hand margin.

A letter from Martin Luther (I think written to Calvin)

Three anecdotes about Calvin that I learned at the museum

1. Calvin was a pastor. He preached on average nine times every two weeks. People back then would take their lunch to the church to come and listen to him during the week. Sunday services were obligatory for everyone in the city, but these weekday services were not and people loved to hear the Bible preached. He preached through the Bible so I imagine you would have to preach a lot to get through it.
2. Calvin loved the people in his flock. The black plague hit Geneva when he was a pastor. Of course, many of his people contracted the plague and were dying. Calvin visited these dying people and everybody knew that this was a big risk. The city coucil took a vote to force Calvin to stop visiting these people because they considered him too important to the reformation through his writings. A young pastor willingly took up the responsibility. Calvin later wrote to a friend talking about the council's decision saying that if the young pastor takes ill then he will ignore the council and start visiting the people anyways. Such is the love of true pastors.
3. Calvin suffered. People who were not Christians hated his stances on certain moral issues; like that husbands should not take a mistress (which was allowed by law at the time). Many times people would yell at him shoot muskets at his house and mobs of people demanding outside his house that he would be given up so that they could toss him in the icy river. He usually worked from bed because he had some sort of horrible intestinal problem that did not allow him to get up from bed, often he dictated his books to a secretary. He married a lady who died after 8 years of marrage, and she had one son with him who died when he was a baby. Calvin suffered a lot and it gave him a love for the glory of God and for the world that is to come.

So this was my trip. I had a blast learning about this great turn in history which was in reality a turn towards the absolute authority of God's word.