272 



CALVIN. 



Calvin have furnished him with materials for the obnoxious 



-v speech, was the next object of their vengeance. 



Marin, the bailiff, a cruel and relentless bigot, was 

 eent to his room in the college of Fortret, for the 

 purpose of apprehending him ; but he was fortunate- 

 ly from home. His papers and books, however, were 

 seized, and as there were among them several letters 

 from his friends, containing heretical and exception- 

 able matter, and alluding to those who were hostile 

 to the Romish church, many were on the very point 

 of being subjected to a cruel persecution. But this 

 was prevented by the humane interposition of the 

 Queen of Navarre, who employed her influence with 

 the king, and employed it successfully, in favour of 

 the reformed. This princess sent for Calvin at the 

 same time, gave him a very favourable reception, and 

 listened to him with interest and attention. Imme- 

 diately after the interview, equally honourable to 

 Calvin, creditable to the queen, and useful to the re- 

 formation, he retired to Saintonge, where, at the 

 request of a friend, ( Lewis de Tillet,) he wrote some 

 short Christian Exhortations, to serve as homilies in 

 the several parishes, and to accustom the people by 

 degrees to search after the truth. He also paid a 

 visit to Le Fevre d'Estaple, who had been tutor to 

 Francis I., and had taken shelter at Nerac from the 

 storm of persecution. This aged saint received him 

 joyfully, and predicted that he would yet be a re- 

 markable instrument in the hand of Providence for 

 the restoration of true religion in France. Calvin 

 returned to Paris in 1534-. There he was to have had 

 a conference with Servetus, who had by that time 

 begun to propagate his heterodox opinions respecting 

 the Trinity ; but Servetus failed to appear, though 

 Calvin attended at the time and place appointed, and 

 did so at the imminent hazard of his life ; for this 

 year was peculiarly troublesome and dangerous to 

 the reformed. The king, exasperated by their firm- 

 ness and successes, and particularly incensed at some 

 of their writings against the mass, which had been 

 posted on the door of the Louvre, commanded eight 

 of them to be burned alive ; and swore that he would 

 not spare even his own children, if they were infected 

 with such abominable heresies. To avoid the perse- 

 cution, which had thus assumed such a violent and 

 bloody aspect, Calvin was determined to quit the 

 kingdom, which he did, after having published a 

 treatise, entitled Psychopannychiam, against those 

 who maintain that the soul sleeps after it is separated 

 from the body. 



Accompanied by Lewis de Tillet, he went to Ba- 

 sil in Switzerland. There he studied the Hebrew 

 language, to which he had not hitherto directed his 

 attention ; and there he first published his greatest 

 and most celebrated work, the Institutions of the Chris- 

 tian Religion. He was anxious to remain for some 

 time in obscurity; but the calumnies circulated by 

 high authority against the cause which he had espou- 

 sed, rendered this impossible, and obliged him to 

 come forward as its public advocate and friend. Fran- 

 cis I. in order to apologise for his late inhumanities, 

 and to conciliate the German princes, whose friend- 

 ship he needed, and whose resentment he had reason 

 to fear, endeavoured to persuade them that it was on- 

 ly Anabaptist,, that he had put to death, and that, 



therefore, he had merely attempted to crush a sect Calvin, 

 that was equally obnoxious to them and to him. Cal- '""" V" 

 vin's indignation was roused by this insidious con- 

 duct, and he composed his Institutes for the purpose 

 of vindicating himself and his Protestant brethren, 

 and of shewing unequivocally and distinctly the te- 

 nets which they held. The first edition of the Insti- 

 tutes (which Maimbourg and Spondanus say was 

 written in French, but which, it is probable, was 

 written at the same time in Latin,) was published in 

 1535 in 8vo,.and was only the rough sketch or outline 

 of what the author afterwards produced. The second 

 edition appeared in 1536, at Strasburgh, in folio, and 

 was both larger and more correct than the first. The 

 third edition was printed at the same place in 1543, and 

 was still more complete. A fourth edition came out 

 also at Strasburgh, with considerable improvements. 

 A fifth edition in 4to was printed at Geneva in 1550, 

 corrected in many places, and having two Indexes. 

 In 1558, both the Latin and French editions received 

 the author's last revision. Since that period the 

 work has gone through a vast number of editions, 

 and has been translated into almost all the modern 

 languages ; a circumstance which alone is sufficient 

 to demonstrate its real excellence. This work, in- 

 deed, whatever may be thought of its doctrinal me- 

 rits, is, as a system of theology, entitled to much ad- 

 miration. The peculiarities of the system may be 

 condemned, though it will be found difficult to dis- 

 prove them ; but the learning, the scriptural know- 

 ledge, and the philosophical ability with which they 

 are at once developed and supported, must be ac- 

 knowledged by all whose minds are not the victims 

 of religious or political prejudice. With respect to 

 the Latinity of the Institutes, it has obtained the ap- 

 plause of every competent judge. In particular, the 

 Dedication, which is addressed to Francis I. has been 

 universally admired, both for the sentiments and Ian- 

 guage : and is one of the few prefatory pieces which 

 are generally allowed to stand highest in this species 

 of composition. Just when Calvin was finishing the 

 Institutes, he heard that in many parts of Italy there 

 were symptoms of attachment to the reformation. 

 He therefore hastened to the Duchess de Ferrara, 

 daughter of Louis XII., a woman of distinguished 

 accomplishments and exemplary piety, and one to 

 whom the Protestants looked with some confidence 

 and expectation. Acquainted with his merits, and 

 qualified to appreciate them, she received Calvin with 

 distinction ; and while he confirmed her in her prin- 

 ciples, she conceived for him an esteem which she 

 cherished ever after, and expressed in a great variety 

 of letters. He was not, however, allowed to remain 

 long at the court of the duchess. The Inquisition 

 got notice of his arrival, and soon compelled him to 

 depart. It was probably at this period that he visit- 

 ed Piedmont, and preached the reformation there with 

 success, though he was afterwards banished from it 

 by intolerance. A pillar was erected at Aost, to 

 commemorate his arrival and his expulsion. 



From Italy Calvin went to France ; but the per- 

 secution which was raging there, determined him to 

 return to Basil or Strasburgh. The direct road be- 

 ifig rendered impassable on account ot the war, he 

 was under the necessity of going by the way of Ge- 

 4 



