274 



CALVIN. 



Calvin. 



took up his permanent residence in Geneva. The 

 * first object which engaged his attention was the re- 

 formation of public morals. And for this purpose, 

 he projected a kind of police, and procured the esta- 

 blishment of a tribunal called the Consistory, with 

 power to take cognizance of all offences, and to in- 

 flict canonical punishments, even to excommunication. 

 In cases requiring the infliction of severer penalties, it 

 reported to the council of the city, with its own 

 judgment on the evidence adduced. It was origin- 

 ally composed of laymen and ecclesiastics ; and to 

 shew Calvin's moderation with respect to church 

 power, the number of the former was most consider- 

 able. This new institution was sanctioned by a law 

 passed in an assembly of the whole people, who so- 

 lemnly promised to conform to it for ever. It was 

 reprobated by many as savouring too much of Ro- 

 mish tyranny ; but there can be no doubt that its 

 operation was attended with the most beneficial ef- 

 fects, and that it contributed, in a remarkable degree, 

 to the preservation and prosperity of the republic. 

 The labours which Calvin now performed were so 

 various and so great, that it seems wonderful how he 

 sustained them. He preached daily during every 

 other week ; he gave three lectures every week in 

 theology ; attended regularly the meetings of the 

 consistory and of the pastors ; met with his congre- 

 gation every Friday ; gave frequent instructions to 

 the French churches, which appear to have depend- 

 ed almost wholly on his counsel ; vindicated and de- 

 fended the Reformation against its numerous enemies ; 

 composed various books of controversy ; kept up a 

 wide and extensive correspondence with the Protes- 

 tants ; produced works of learning and ability, in- 

 tended for general edification ; and did all this 

 amidst much agitation and disquietude, occasioned by 

 the inflexible severity with which he maintained the 

 rights, and enforced the authority, of the consisto- 

 rial tribunal. Nor was this the whole. The council 

 in Geneva, knowing his attainments in the science of 

 law, consulted him in all important matters. They 

 particularly employed him in framing their edicts and 

 laws, which were completed and approved in 1543. 

 And, in short, he was the person to whom they ap- 

 plied in all their difficulties, as one whose talents, 

 eloquence, and influence, rendered him competent to 

 any task prescribed by the circumstances of a turbu- 

 lent people, and a rising government. 



.The deference shewn to Calvin's opinions, and the 

 respect paid to his personal character, were astoni-.h- 

 ing. His disapprobation of any tenet was sufficient 

 to procure its rejection, and all who treated him ill 

 were considered as enemies of the state. Castalio ha- 

 ving attempted to disseminate some doctrines which 

 .Calvin abhorred, was instantly denounced as a here- 

 tic, and obliged to leave Geneva. And James Gruet, 

 who was beheaded there in 1547, was condemned to 

 death, not only on account of impiety and treason, 

 but also for having spoken disrespectfully of Calvin, 

 and endeavoured to injure his credit at the court of 

 .France. 



But while Calvin was universally esteemed and 

 respected in the reformed church, he was at the 

 .game time equally feared and hated by that church 

 from which he had separated. Of this, a remarkable . 



proof occurred in 1551. Being seized with a fit of Calvi*. 

 ague during sermon, and obliged to quit the pulpit, 

 the report quickly spread that lie was dead. This 

 report was heard with the highest satisfaction by the 

 Catholics ; and in Noyon, as Calvin himself r is record- 

 ed, there was a solemn procession by the canons, to 

 thank heaven for the death of that arch heretic, whom 

 their city had been so unfortunate as to produce. 

 Beza, by mistake, makes this incident to have hap- 

 pened in 1553. 



For some time he had a great deal to do in the way 

 of controversy, and wrote innumerable tracts in de- 

 fence of sound doctrine. He contended with Casta- 

 lio, who translated the Bible into Latin with the 

 Sorbonne, who had drawn up some articles of faith, 

 to impose on the weak and timid with Albert Pig- 

 hius, a profound sophist, whe had attacked the re- 

 formed church with the Nicodemites, who secretly 

 embraced the Protestant faith, but through fear still 

 adhered externally to the church of Rome with a 

 monk at Rouen, who was reviving the heresy of Car- 

 pocrates, the Gnostic and Antinomian with the Ca- 

 tholics, against the doctrine of the council of Trent 

 with those who believed in judicial astrology with 

 Laslius Socinus, author of the sect that derives its 

 name from him with Osiander and others, who im- 

 prudently revived the dispute respecting the Lord's 

 Supper and with the Anabaptists and libertines, 

 who had revived the worst errors of antiquity. In 

 this last case, the work which he published offended 

 the queen of Navarre, to whom he, on that account, 

 wrote a remonstrance, distinguished by a happy mix- 

 ture of boldness and address ; and he was so fortunate 

 as to succeed in appeasing her, and in accomplishing, 

 at least, the partial discomfiture of the sects which 

 he had attacked. He had also a keen controversy 

 with Jerome Bylzec, a Carmelite friar, who impugn- 

 ed his peculiar doctrine of absolute predestination, 

 and openly taught the sentiments on that subject 

 which were afterwards maintained by Arminius. 

 They disputed the point in church ; but Calvin dis- 

 played such a superiority in argument and erudition, 

 that, in the judgment of all present, he obtained the 

 victory ; and, according to custom, his antagonist, 

 who, besides his difference with Calvin, was of a trou- 

 blesome temper, was first cast into prison, and then 

 banished from the city. His chief contentions, how- 

 ever, were with the profane and profligate part of the 

 inhabitants of Geneva. The strictness and impar- 

 tiality of that discipline which was exercised by 

 means of the new consistory, subjected him to much 

 odium, and false accusation. But he persevered in 

 his purposes, and triumphed over all opposition. He 

 had the happiness to see the Genevese church in- 

 crease rapidly, and the faction of the seditious gradu- 

 ally subdued : And these things, together with his 

 habitual piety, supported him under the severe trial 

 which he met with about this period in the loss of 

 his wife, a woman of uncommon virtue and merit. 



It is said that Calvin did not confine his views oa 

 doctrine and discipline to the church of Geneva ; that 

 he formed the splendid design, and entertained the 

 sanguine hope, of making these a model for every 

 other protestant church in Christendom ; and that 

 proposed to send forth from the little republic, 



