The fifteen years that D’Aubigné was away from Geneva had seen an increase of those concerned about the views presented by the Academy of Geneva’s theological faculty. In response to the situation in 1831, the Geneva Evangelical Society was founded with one of its goals being the establishment of a seminary faithful to Calvin’s design and Protestant theology. The seminary was opened including D’Aubigné and his friend François Samuel Robert Louis Gaussen on the faculty. In 1841, Gaussen would publish his book on biblical inspiration that was later released in English with the title, Theopneustia: The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. It was during D’Aubigné’s years as a professor that he produced books on the Reformation as well as works on other topics.

For anyone familiar with books published about the history of the Reformation the mention of D’Aubigné is likely associated with his historical studies of the era. The first of five volumes appeared in French in 1835 with the last one released in 1853, and the English translations were published 1846-1853 with the title History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. The set enjoyed great success, however, D’Aubigné was not fully satisfied with the five volumes and reviewers had been critical, so he picked up his pen again to write a more scholarly version in eight volumes with the title History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, which was published in both French and English 1863-1878. According to his biography in McClintock and Strong published in 1890 sales of the five-volume history had numbered over 200,000 in France and more than 300,000 in Great Britain and the United States. How many historians today would delight to leave a legacy of a half-million books sold in two different languages?

Jean Henri Merle D’Aubigné was born August 16, 1794 in Les Eaux-Vives (Living Water) Switzerland, which is located on the south-western end of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) at the mouth of the Rhone River. Les Eaux-Vives is currently within the city limits of Geneva. Jean Henri was descended on his father’s side from his great-grandfather John Lewis Merle. Around the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685, John Lewis Merle fled France to Lausanne, Switzerland, seeking religious freedom as did many other Huguenots. John Lewis’s son, François Merle, married Elizabeth, the daughter of a Protestant nobleman named George D’Aubigné who lived in Geneva. Elizabeth’s paternal ancestors were descended from Theodore Agrippa D’Aubigné, a Calvinist that left France in 1620. Theodore had published Universal History of the Late Sixteenth Century which was condemned by Louis XIII resulting in its confiscation and public burning. As was a practice in the era, François Merle added D’Aubigné to his name to become François Merle D’Aubigné. His son Amie Robert Merle D’Aubigné, born 1755, was the father of J. H. Merle D’Aubigné. It is a complicated family tree, but it is recounted here to show both the Huguenot and intellectual heritage of young D’Aubigné.

Merle D’Aubigné was educated in the Academy of Geneva which was founded in 1559 through the influence of John Calvin. After he completed the required curriculum in letters and philosophy, he studied theology. The theological faculty at the time had adopted Socinian (Unitarian) views such as had been expressed historically in the Racovian Catechism, 1605, and had been greatly influenced by the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason and opposition to the supernatural interpretation of Scripture. All the professors in the theological faculty of the Academy of Geneva rejected the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, salvation through the work of Christ, as well as regeneration and sanctification through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The institution had wandered considerably from Calvin’s vision for a school that would teach men to become ministers and leaders not only in Geneva and Switzerland but also other nations influenced by the Reformation.

There was a growing awareness among some individuals in Geneva, including some of the students, that there were problems with the doctrine taught by the theological faculty. The Socinian views and Enlightenment rationalism had been gaining adherents for several decades resulting in pastors in the Swiss Reformed Church who denied the divinity of Christ as well as other key doctrines. The problem was thrust before the public in mid-November 1816 when Henri Empeytaz published a pamphlet titled Considerations About the Divinity of Christ. Empeytaz had read nearly two-hundred sermons preached since the mid-eighteenth century by the Venerable Company of Pastors in Geneva and found that all the pastors but two denied the divinity of Christ. Empeytaz’s exposé demonstrated for readers that the theological views presented in the Academy of Geneva were inconsistent with historic Protestantism in general and Calvinism in particular.

The furor created by the publication of Empeytaz’s study led to a meeting of the students and others concerned about the doctrine taught by the faculty. Chosen to preside over the meeting was J. H. Merle D’Aubigné who at the time was a leader of the students that supported the professors and their views. The meeting composed a formal protest document denouncing Empeytaz’s pamphlet, which was signed by all attendees of the gathering except for two that refused. In Geneva, the influences from the Enlightenment and Socinianism appeared to have won the day, but Empeytaz’s book resulted in increased opposition to the faculty from those who held to a high view of Scripture and historic Reformed doctrine.

At the time, Switzerland was experiencing a movement known as Le Reveil (The Revival or Awakening), which was a response to the prevalent theology in the Swiss Reformed Church and its institutions. Le Reveil was seeded by Moravian missionaries and by D’Aubigné’s day was increasingly influenced by evangelists from England and Scotland. One of those influential figures was Robert Haldane. Haldane was born in London to a wealthy Scottish family and converted in 1795. He sold his family estate and used the proceeds and other wealth for missionary work. After a failed attempt to be a missionary to India, Haldane traveled, 1816-1819, as an evangelist in France and Switzerland. Henri Empeytaz’s pamphlet had been published in the middle of November 1816, which was contemporaneous with Haldane’s arrival in Geneva. Haldane was shocked by the theological situation in Geneva, so he worked to do what he could to provide orthodox instruction. He invited students from the theological school to daily lectures from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Merle D’Aubigné’s experience with the instruction he received from Haldane was quoted in The Gospel Herald.

I met Robert Haldane at a private house, with some other friends, and heard him read from an English Bible, a chapter from Romans about the natural corruption of man—a doctrine which I had never heard before. In fact, I was quite astonished to hear of man being corrupt by nature. I remember saying to Mr. Haldane, “Now I see that doctrine in the Bible.” “Yes,” he replied, “but do you see it in your heart?” That was a simple question, but it came home to my conscience. It was a sword of the Spirit; and from that time I saw that my heart was corrupt, and I knew from the word of God that I could be saved by grace alone (Vol. 53, No. 7, July 1885, p. 201).

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