Archive for March 17th, 2008
Calvin’s esteem of Musculus:
LETTER 191 TO WOLFGANG MUSCULUS
ANXIETY REGARDING THE CHURCHES OF
GERMANY —
ADVICE TO MUSCULUS. GENEVA,
21st April 1547.
…Adieu, most upright brother, and one dear to me from the bottom of my heart, as also your fellow-ministers, all of whom you will very affectionately salute in my name. May the Lord Jesus be present with you, guide you by his Spirit, and bless your holy labors. You will also convey to your family my best greeting. — Yours, John Calvin
LETTER 255 TO WOLFGANG MUSCULUS
PROHIBITION OF THE VAUDOIS CONFERENCES — REMONSTRANCES ON THE INTOLERANCE OF THE BERNESE MINISTERS TOWARDS THOSE OF FRANCE.
GENEVA, 28th Nov. 1549.
…From my confidence in your friendship, I expostulate the more freely with you and my friend Haller. For I am persuaded that some things which trouble me are displeasing to you also. But however that may be, I hope you will put a just and friendly interpretation on these complaints. Adieu, most excellent and accomplished man, and my revered brother in the Lord. May God keep you and your family, and be ever present with you and guide you! — Yours, John Calvin.
Brief Biography:
Wolfgang Musculus, born in a small town of Lorraine, and of an obscure family, raised himself by his talents, and the varied range of his accomplishments, to a place among the most distinguished men of his time. He cultivated with success music, poetry, and theology; was converted to the gospel in a convent by the perusal of the writings of Luther; gained the friendship of Capito and Bucer, and quitted Strasbourg in 1531, with a view to the discharge of the functions of the ministry in the church of Augsbourg. Driven from that city in 1548, by the proclamation of the Interim, he withdrew at first to Zurich, and afterwards to Berne, where he died in 1563. His numerous manuscripts, as well as those of Abraham Musculus his son, are reserved in the Library of Zoffingue. — Melch. Adam, Vitoe Theol. Germ., page 367.
Richard Muller:
Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1663); studied in the Benedictine monastery near Lixheim; advocated reformed after reading early tracts by Luther and fled the monastery in 1518. From 1529 to 1531 he studied at Strasbourg and was a preacher in Augsburg from 1531 to 1548. Forced out of Germany by the Augsburg Interim (1548) he went to Switzerland and was appointed professor of theology in Bern (1549), a post he held until his death. Major dogmatic work: loci communes sacrae theologiae (1560). Richard Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, 1:41 (first edition).
Augustine Marlorate:
For more material from Musculus, see the Augustine Marlorate file.
Sins of the world:
Secondary source:
1)He has born the sins of all men, if we consider his sacrifice according to the virtue of it in itself, and think that no man is excluded from the grace but he that refuses it. “So God loved he world, that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life;” John 3:16. But if we respect those which do so believe and are saved; so he has born only the sins of many. Wolfgang Musculus, Comment, in Esaiam. [liii.5.], cited by Joseph Hall, “Via Media: The Way of Peace,” in The Works of the Right Reverent Joseph Hall, (New York, Ames press, 1969), 9:510.
Primary source:
1) We have spoken in the places before, of the grace of God, of the redemption of mankind, appointed to us from everlasting in Christ, and perfected these latter times, and also of the incarnation of the word: now we must proceed by degree to his dispensation. And I do not speak of the dispensation whereby Christ in his flesh executed the will of his Father in offering himself for us but of the same whereby salvation is gotten & communicated unto the world, that we may be made partakers of it. The grace of God is ready and set forth open to all the whole world, even as the benefit of the sun casting our heat & brightness everywhere, is read unto all. But it is necessary, that the same which is so ready & at hand for all men, be profitably received. To this purpose serves the dispensation of the purchased & prepared salvation. Two things do belong unto a redeemer. The one is to redeem: the other, is to dispense or bestow the grace of this redemption. Without this dispensation a man cannot attain unto the end & prick of the appointed redemption. Nor it is not a perfect redemption, unless the fruit of it do stretch unto them which be redeemed, & so take his effect. Indeed the grace of itself is a perfect, & the work of redemption perfect, which was made absolute & consummate by one oblation upon the cross: but for as much as the same perfection whereby the justice of God is satisfied for the sins of the whole world, is appointed unto the fruit of our salvation, it is rightly deemed imperfect, unless, it do reach unto this appointed end, although it be never so full & consummate, in itself. Wherefore the very necessity of the persevering & fulfilling of our redemption, & the counsel & purpose of God’s grace, did not require this only, that he should be offered as an expiatory, perfect & sufficient host for our sins, but that the grace of the redemption gotten by this oblation, should be communicated amongst wretched sinners, & obtain his effect by virtue of the dispensation. Wolfgangus Musculus, Common Places of Christian Religion, trans., by Iohn Merton (London: Imprinted by Henry Bynneman, 1578), 331.
2) The Schoolmen do call Satisfaction the work of Penance, enjoined by the Priest after the Auricular confession. And here they make much ado, that the satisfaction on be neither less nor lighter than countervailing the weight of the sin. This doctrine of satisfaction does exceedingly darken the clearness of the grace of Christ: it does make men’s conscience either falsely assured, when they suppose that they have satisfied: either it does piteously torment them, when they cannot tell by what time they have satisfied in the sight of God for one sin: much less all their sins. Besides that it has opened not one gap but all doors, windows, arches, &c., to the Popes market, to gain pagan pardons; and for the traffic of Priests masses, to deliver souls out of Purgatory. Wherefore all godly do worthy abhor it. The doctrine of the Gospel does denounce unto us pardon of our sins, by the blood of Christ, by the shedding whereof, there is satisfaction made, not only for ours, but for the sins also of the whole world. Wolfgangus Musculus, Common Places of Christian Religion, trans., by Iohn Merton (London: Imprinted by Henry Bynneman, 1578), 528-529.