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terious. Calvin was a reverent listener to the heavenly oracle, and he expounded its utterances clearly and faithfully as he could. His explanations may not be always satisfactory, and we may hesitate to adopt some of his conclusions; on the Sacraments, for instance, he is cloudy in the extreme; but the "Institutes," as a whole, cannot fail to be regarded as a splendid monument of sanctified genius. And the system is marked by the peculiarities of Scripture.

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the doctrine is practically applied, and the practice enjoined is deduced from the doctrine. His great work is at once a text-book of Christian truth, and a manual of Christian life and duty.

It is a great mistake to suppose that the distinguishing doctrines of this religious system were first enunciated at Geneva. They were taught by Zwingli when Calvin was yet in his childhood; and they had been inculcated by the fathers for many centuries as a constituent part of biblical theology, by none more fully and systematically than by Augustine.

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And it is also a mistake to imagine that Calvinism mainly consists of dry and hard notions about predestination and election. true that Calvin held, as Paul did before him, that God "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will;" but the divinity of the "Institutes" embraces all points of truth and obligation. That Jehovah acts according to His good pleasure, or, in other words, exercises a divine free will, working out His own plans in His own way, is always implied, and, indeed, lies at the foundation of the whole; the separate treatment, however, of the doctrines of predestination and election occupies but an inconsiderable space in comparison with the entire work. The "Institutes" contain eighty chapters, four

only of which are devoted to the discussion of the doctrines abovementioned.

One more observation may be made, and it is this, that much has been said and written on the subject by men who were deplorably ignorant of Calvin's real opinions. The Calvinism which some profess is but a burlesque on his principles; the Calvinism which some oppose and condemn is nothing better than a caricature of his system.

Next to the " Institutes," the most important of Calvin's works, are his Commentaries. In some respects they deserve to be placed above the "Institutes." They have ever been highly prized by theologians, and are consulted with profit to the present day. They comprise the intellectual and the spiritual; there is light and heat, the clear head and the warm heart, sound sense and wholesome doctrine, the results of learning without the parade of it. It was not the author's object to point out nice distinctions of words, or define the exact meanings of particles (confessedly useful and important as verbal criticism is); nor was it possible for him to furnish those illustrations of Eastern imagery and customs which modern researches have enabled commentators to supply. His purpose was to develop principles, to discover the motives of action, to place in clear and bold light the eternal truths taught by inspired writers, and the relationship between God and His people, and to enforce the lessons of wisdom and holiness with which the volume abounds. That he was eminently successful has been admitted by the learned of all creeds and parties.

The influence of such a man as Calvin could not but be extensively felt. For twenty years and more he was the theological arbiter of a large portion of Protestant Europe—the

referee, to whose judgment difficult questions were submitted, and whose decisions few were disinclined to accept. In Geneva it was rarely that anything was done contrary to his wishes. At synods and other ecclesiastical meetings in Switzerland the greatest deference was paid him. The Protestant church of church of France owed its existence to him, as a public organization, being constituted and governed in agreement with his suggestions. He supplied that church with many useful men, by whose labours in the ministry evangelical truth was spread in every direction, and he maintained constant intercourse by letter with the leading Protestants of the kingdom. The Netherlands, England and Scotland, were largely benefitted by his counsels, directly or indirectly, and it is probable that in completing the Reformation in the last-mentioned country John Knox was indebted in no small degree to the knowledge and experience gained during his residence at Geneva.

But it must be recorded to his honour that Calvin did not use his influence for purposes of personal aggrandizement. He might have enriched himself, no doubt, had that been his object. He lived and died a poor man. When he was banished from Geneva he was compelled to travel on foot to Basle (a distance of 120 miles), where he first took refuge, and for his support during his banishment he had chiefly to rely on the sale of his books. On his return to the city, accompanied by his wife, they had not wherewithal to set up housekeeping; the house in which they lived was furnished by the council, and the furniture was held for several years as public property; so that, as Calvin said, "neither the table at which we eat, nor the bed on which we sleep, is my own." So 11 supplied was he with money,

owing, probably, to the incessant demands on his hospitality, that there are numerous references in his letters to his inability to discharge very small debts. Notwithstanding this, he positively refused to retain the income of a prebend which was given him by the city of Strasburg, and which the council of that city wished him to continue to receive after he resumed his post at Geneva. He would not accept a gratuity voted to him during his last illness, because he had not rendered the services which would entitle him to remuneration. His brother, who had accompanied him from France, instead of being comfortably provided for by an office in the city, as might have been expected, learned the trade of a bookbinder. And finally, when the good man died, the value of all the property he had to dispose of, his library included, scarcely amounted to 300 crowns—a very inconsiderable

sum.

The Genevese could not say, 'We have made Calvin rich!" Nor have they yet rendered him due honour. That he was buried in the common grave-yard among the citizens whose dust reposed there, was in accordance with his own request. But that his grave should remain undistinguished and even unknown, is not creditable to a republic which owed so much to him. Geneva has erected a statue to Rousseau: when will she do justice to Calvin?"

Hitherto the language of encomium has been used, as was befitting and right. But the subject of this paper was a man "of like passions with ourselves." He had his weaknesses, his imperfections, and his faults. Who has not?

He has been represented as a man of sour, morose temper, addicted to bursts of passion, impatient of contradiction, proud and despotic. It may be admitted that these allegations are partially sustained by facts.

He was naturally of a stern, austere temperament, and declined to join in the usual sports of childhood and youth. His views of propriety were of the strictest order, so strict that when he was at Paris he often rebuked his fellow-collegians for such deviations from the rules of gravity and good behaviour as would have been generally passed over without censure. These constitutional tendencies and habits did not become weaker as he advanced in life: they modified the influence of religion, and perhaps induced a misapprehension of his character, leading some to denounce words and actions as derogatory to his worth, which, in reality, deserved a much more charitable consideration. That he was irascible, and that he was fond of power, cannot be denied. The former failing was ingenuously confessed; he sincerely lamented it, and acknowledged the necessity of watchfulness and prayer to prevent his being overcome. There would have been much more violent outbreaks had it not been for such restraints. power, it was thrust upon him. sides, he was born to govern. His qualifications for a leader's post were quickly discerned, and his associates voluntarily yielded to him the honour which, though he did not covet or claim it, he held with natural grace and dignity. Nominally, he was primus inter pares, nor is it laid to his charge that he interfered in the least with the equal rights of his brethren; but primus he must be, and no one disputed it.

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might console himself by reflecting that if he had fallen into Luther's hands, he would have fared worse. And yet those Reformers, rude and even churlish as some of their words sound in our delicate ears, were men of keen sensibilities, and tender feelings, and unaffected gentleness. Luther's domestic joyousness found vent in boisterous mirth; and Calvin, commonly conceived of as the very type of gloominess and severity, could so far relax as to play at the game of keys with the Seigneurs of Geneva,* and to express his regret in writing to a friend that he could not join him in watching for the smiles of his infant, as it lay in its mother's arms. The stern and the kind were singularly welded together in the heroes of the Reformation.

Waiving the question of the form of Church Government established, or rather consolidated and completed by Calvin at Geneva, a remark or two may be offered on the associations connected with the ecclesiastical arrangements there. Church and State were united, as in other parts of Switzerland. The ministers were paid by the city council. Heresy and blasphemy were capital crimes. Absence from public worship and neglect of the Lord's Supper were punishable by law; the second of these offences, if persevered in, subjected the offender to banishment for a year. Dancing, reading of romances, the use of luxurious attire, unbecoming language, indecorous behaviour at church, and

*Calvin was not so stern as to proscribe public games and amusements that harmonised with decency. 'He himself made no scruple in engaging in play with the Seigneurs of Geneva; but that was the innocent game of the key, which consists in being able to push the keys the nearest possible to the edge of a table.' (Morus, in 'Hist. de la Suisse.)"-Calvin's Letters, vol. ii., p. 49.

other offences, exposed the parties convicted before the Consistory, which body took cognizance of such things, to various degrees of punishment, inflicted by the magistrates on their report. In short, without going into further detail, Geneva was governed on the principles of the Jewish theocracy. Calvin and his brethren committed the great mistake of adopting, in a professedly Christian organization, the polity of the Mosaic economy. They attempted to infuse the spirit of the old covenant into the new. They forgot the essential differences between them. They overlooked the fact, that while the knowledge of God begun to be revealed in the Old Testament, was completed under the Gospel, so that in order to understand fully the character and government of the Most High, we must repair to both sources -the rules of Christian worship, and the laws of the Christian church, are solely derivable from the teachings of the Saviour and His Apostles. The grafting of the peculiarities of the abrogated covenant on the stock of Christianity was an unwise process, and harmful to the interests of religion.

The enforcement of discipline was the greatest of Calvin's difficulties at Geneva. Sound doctrine and a moral life were necessary, in his view, to church fellowship. Nothing more than orthodoxy and morality was called for; but any deviation from correctness in either respect was to be visited with suspension of privileges; and, if not corrected, with excommunication. This strictness gave rise to great discontent, and on more than one occasion imperilled the existence of the Genevan Church, and even exposed Calvin's life to danger. He persevered, however, and eventually triumphed; that is, he secured the right of withholding the Communion from persons of im

moral life. But it is obvious to remark, that a different mode of arrangement would have prevented much of the mischief. If, instead of regarding the whole community as the Church, religious character had been the test of membership, thus confining the privileges and duties of the Church to those who gave evidence of Scriptural piety, the interests of purity and peace would not have been endangered. The individualism of Christianity must never be forgotten. It does not act on masses, but on persons. A man is not eligible to Christian fellowship because he understands doctrines and lives an honest life, but because he has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of his soul, and has become a partaker of the rich blessings of the Gospel by the teaching and influence of the Holy Spirit. A church so constituted, and no other, is prepared for the administration of "godly discipline."

It

The great blot in Calvin's life was the death of Servetus. It was an unrighteous act, for Servetus had committed no offence in Geneva. was unchristian, because it was diametrically opposed to the New Testament, both in letter and in spirit. By the law of Moses the man was liable to death as a blasphemer; but that law was confined to the Jewish people, for whom, and for whom only, it was enacted. We cannot read the account of the trial and execution of Servetus, and of the connection of Calvin therewith, without horror; and whatever may be advanced in palliation or excuse of so foul a deed, there must be no attempt at defence. It is true that all the Reformers then living, even the gentle Melanchthon, approved, nay more, commended the action of Geneva and of her chief pastor;-it is true that Zwingli had led the way in Switzerland, twenty-six

years before, by sanctioning the drowning of so-called Anabaptists;-it is true that throughout all Christendom, in the sixteenth century, heresy and blasphemy were punished with death, with only here and there a feeble protest against it ;-but it is also true that the use of carnal weapons in the propagation and defence of Christianity is expressly forbidden by Him who said, "My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight." (John xviii. 36.) And it does appear strange, "passing strange," that those noble men who exhumed the doctrines of justification by faith and the sole intercession of Christ from the rubbish in which they had lain buried for ages, should have remained so completely in the dark in reference to the great truth and privilege of soul-freedom,-should have claimed liberty of conscience

for themselves, but refused to grant it to others,-and should have encouraged the employment of measures, which were already operating, with terrible effect, against their own cause. Yet so it was. We deplore

and condemn the intolerance of Calvin, but we are bound to remember that he was in harmony with his age.

John Calvin was one of the principal agents in the religious revolution of the sixteenth century, and he has left his mark upon it. We do not receive all his interpretations of the word of God, and we cannot but wish that he had been in some respects of another spirit ;-but we must thankfully acknowledge that he was a great, good man, one of those by whom the Lord wrought deliver. ance for his church, and whose "memory" will ever be "blessed."

ACCORDING to the sacred Scriptures, there is an indissoluble connection between religion and morality. As soon as any one is "born not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever," it is required that he should walk in newness of life. Whatever his old habits may have been, and however he may have forfeited the esteem and confidence of his neighbours, from the moment that he is born of God "old things have passed away, behold all things are become new." For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." It is but fair to pronounce

any man whose conduct does not accord with his professions of piety a hypocrite, and to refuse to class him with the disciples of Christ; and if a community, by its principles and by its recognised modes of teaching and habits of thought, train its members to disregard the rights of others, and to be unscrupulous or untruthful in the exercise of any power they may possess, there ought to be no hesitation in deciding upon its pretensions to Christian worth, or even to bear the title of Christian.

The main design of preaching the Gospel is avowed to be the salvation of them that obey it; and if it be not efficacious in all who receive its testimony to make them better men than they could have been without. it, one of the strongest inducements