not be further interrupted. Soon afterwards he made a similar request, entreating those around him, who were endeavoring with officious kindness to adjust his clothes,—‘not to disturb his delightful repose.' After some time, his friends united with the minister present in solemn prayer, and several passages of Scripture, in which he was known always to have expressed peculiar pleasure, were read, such as 'Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house, are many mansions.' 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;' particularly the fifth of Romans, and the triumphal close of the eighth chapter, commencing 'If God be for us, who can be against us.' Many other passages of Scripture were recited, and the last word he uttered was the German particle of affirmation Ja, in reply to Winshemius, who had inquired if he understood him, while reading. The last motion which his friends who surrounded him to the number of twenty, could discern, was a slight motion of the countenance, which was peculiar to him when deeply affected with religious joy!-'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace!'

“At length, in the midst of solemn vows and supplications, at a quarter before seven in the evening of the 19th of April, 1560, at the age of sixty-three years, he gently breathed his last. No distractions of mind, no foreboding terrors of conscience agitated this attractive scene. His chamber was 'privileged beyond the common walks of virtuous life quite in the verge of heaven' - and he expired like a wave scarcely curling to the evening zephyr of an unclouded summer sky, and gently rippling to the shore. It was a departure' a 'sleep'-'the earthly house of this tabernacle was dissolved!'"

6

Surely, then, in his own language at the funeral of Luther,

"such a pious and tranquil removal from a toilsome and afflictive life, ought to be a subject of joy, rather than of lamentation, and each of us should entreat God, that in the possession of a similar peace of conscience, from faith, acknowledgment of the truth and ardent devotion of mind, he would conduct us from our present imprisonment to his eternal presence."

The greatest enemies of this good man, says Mosheim, "have borne testimony to his merit. They have been forced to acknowledge, that the annals of antiquity exhibit very few worthies that may be compared with him; whether we consider the extent of his knowledge in things human and divine, the fertility and elegance of his genius, the facility and quickness of his comprehension, or the uninterrupted industry that attended his learned and theological labors. He rendered to philosophy and the liberal arts, the same eminent service that Luther had done to religion, by purging them from the dross with which they had been corrupted; and by recommending them in a powerful and persuasive manner to the study of the Germans. He had the rare

talent of discerning truth in all its most intricate connections and combinations, of comprehending at once the most abstract notions, and expressing them with the utmost perspicuity and ease. And he applied this happy talent in religious disquisitions, with such unparalleled success, that it may safely be affirmed, that the cause of Christianity derived from the learning and genius of Melancthon, more signal' advantage, and a more effectual support, than it received. from any of the other doctors of the age.

"Oh! who would envy those who die

Victims on ambition's shrine !

Though idiot man may rank them high,

And to the slain in victory,

Pay honors half divine;

To feel this heaving, fluttering breath,
Stilled by the lightest touch of death,
The happier lot be mine!

I would not, that the murdering brand,
Were the last weapon in my hand.
He of whom these pages tell,
He, a soldier too- of truth,
He a hero from his youth;
How delightfully he fell!

Not in the crash, and din, and flood,
Of execrations, groans, and blood,
Riveting fetters on the good!.
But happily and well."

JOHN CALVIN.

ILLUSTRIOUS among the noble band of reformers is the name of John Calvin. He was born at Noyen, in France, July 10, 1509. His father, a sensible and prudent man in humble life, with much sacrifice, but cheerfully borne, furnished him with the means of obtaining a good education.

Young Calvin giving early promise of intelligence and piety, his father directed his attention to theological studies, as opening the best field for his future labors, and as, in a measure, indicated by the hand of Providence. He therefore procured for him in his twentieth year a benefice in the Catholic Cathedral church at Noyen. But Calvin did not long remain in this position. Having carefully examined the Holy Scriptures, he became heartily disgusted with the Church of Rome, and resolved to renounce her communion.

Upon his quitting the church, at the earnest request of his father, he applied himself to the study of the law, removing to Orleans, where, under one of the most celebrated

lawyers of the day, he made rapid progress, being soon considered rather a master than a scholar, and in the absence of the professors he often supplied their places, acquiring the highest esteem in the University.

His father dying, he was obliged to leave his legal studies and return home. At the age of twenty-four, he published his "Commentary upon Seneca's Book on Clemency."

Shortly after his father's death he visited Paris, became acquainted with many of the reformed church, who held secret assemblages in this city, and allied himself at once with them. To their inexpressible satisfaction, he renounced the pursuit of all other sciences and devoted himself again to theology.

He was soon forced by the persecutions raised against the reformed church by the Catholics, to leave Paris, and retired into the country, from whence he soon set out for Switzerland, where the reformed doctrines had been widely spread and the hand of persecution was impotent. At this time he brought out the body of divinity still received by a large number of the members of the Evangelical church, and bearing his name by way of theological distinction. His work was entitled "Christian Institutes," and was intended to serve as an apology and a defence for his reformed brethren. The volume was dedicated to Francis I, King of France, and the dedication has been universally admired "both for the elevation and dignity of the sentiments, and the strength and purity of the language in which they are conveyed."

He afterwards visited Italy, "and was cordially received and entertained by the celebrated duchess of Ferrara, whose sentiments were not very remote from those of the reformers. But the Inquisition soon compelled him to quit this country and return to France."

In those days the persecuting and depraved Roman church gave no rest to those who left her communion and sought a purer worship. The faggot, the prison and the torture were now in incessant use. Calvin could find no resting place in his own country, but was forced to fly again to Switzerland. "Passing through Geneva, on his journey, in August, 1536, he was prevailed upon by the pressing entreaties of Farel, one of the reformed pastors, to fix his abode there, and accept a ministerial charge.

"Geneva, at that time, was full of disorders and strifes, and the most flagrant immorality stalked forth with unblushing effrontery in the face of day. Our reformer severely reproved the vices and irregularities then prevalent, and as a consequence incurred much odium. The magistrates procured an order from the council, by which Calvin and two other faithful ministers, were commanded to leave the town. within three days. Calvin hearing this order, said, 'Certainly, if I had served men, I should have been ill-recompensed; but I have served a Master, who, far from not rewarding his servants, pays them what he does not owe them.' He retired to Strasburg, and the council of that town, by the advice of Bucer and Capito, appointed him professor of theology, and pastor of a French church, (refugees from persecution.) Here he republished his Institutes, married a widow of great prudence and piety, and employed himself successfully in reclaiming many Anabaptists brought to him from various parts.

"In the year 1541, by desire of the ministers of Strasburg, he assisted at the Diet of Worms, and so highly pleased Philip Melancthon, that he always spoke of him in the highest terms, calling him the Theologian.

"By this time the inhabitants of Geneva were sensible of the loss they had sustained in the banishment of Calvin, and