August 9: Geneva Free Day (continued)

How outrageous! In the church where Calvin preached the Gospel, a new monument is put in place which discourages anyone who comes from reading, pondering, or obeying God's Word!

If the weather yesterday was rotten, the weather today was terrific. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful city. We went back to the cathedral, did this and that around town, and then in the evening found the Academy of Geneva, founded by John Calvin in 1559 with Theodore Beza as its first rector.

When the city of Geneva voted to adopt the Reformation in 1536, they immediately made what amounts to high school mandatory and free for every young person. But the city continued for a long time without any seminary. This changed in 1559 when Calvin founded the Acadamy of Geneva. The school soon became known as the "school of death" because so many of its graduates suffered martyrdom for planting churches in France. The building is today a functioning school.  The plaque below is original, placed there when the school was founded. The columned porch with arches is original too and dates back to Calvin's time. 

See you next time!

QUOTE:

Calvin on the difference between the elect of God and pretenders in the church: 

"It daily seems to happens that those who seemed to belong to Christ revolt from him and fall away: This, indeed, is true; but it is equally true that such persons never adhered to Christ with that heartfelt confidence by which I say that the certainty of our election is established: I deny not that they have signs of calling similar to those given to the elect; but I do not at all admit that they have that sure confirmation of election which I desire believers to seek from the word of the gospel."

-Institutes, 3.24.7

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