TWICE-BORN MEN
REMARKABLE CONVERSIONS OF WELL-KNOWN MEN
IN DIFFERENT AGES AND IN VARIED RANKS OF LIFE
Compiled by HY. PICKERING
John Calvin’s Conversion
DURING the Reformation period, in the sixteenth century, many who held the Bible doctrine of justification by faith alone were burned to death by order of the Roman Catholic Church. Numbers of those sealed their testimony with their life’s blood at the stake in presence of crowds of priests, monks, and citizens.
In the crowd at one of these murders in France was a young man studying for the priesthood named JOHN CALVIN, who afterwards became one of the best known of -the Reformers in Europe. As Calvin observed the peace, courage, and triumph of the martyrs in the midst of their sufferings, he said to himself, “These men have a peace I don’t possess, and they derive it from the Bible.” Securing a copy of the Bible, he read it earnestly and diligently, with the result that he was led to see his guilt and danger, and longed to obtain God’s pardoning mercy. Whilst pondering the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, verse five: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed ;” peace and joy filled his soul. As he read the words, “with His stripes we are healed,” the darkness was dispelled, and he exclaimed, “His Cross has borne my curse; His death has atoned for me, ‘with His stripes I am healed.”
Many will thank God eternally for the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Verses five and six have been wondrously used in the conversion of souls. “But He was wounded for our transgressions.” Christ died to atone for the sins of a guilty world, and what He did is enough. “He was bruised for our iniquities.” The sword of Divine justice found its sheath in His loving heart. “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him”—or, “the chastisement by which our peace is effected was upon Him”—”and with His stripes we are healed.” Take God at His word, and believe on Him Who loved you and gave Himself for you.