to have listened to the enunciation of his principles, and to the expressions which he so distinctly uttered, proving, as they do, that from the beginning to the end of his career he protested against every kind of warlike movement. The Reformers especially recognised the rights of the temporal power against the principle of the papacy. The state with thein is a necessary moral institution. Calvin, how

ever, wished the church to have an existence proper to itself-an independent power, because he subjected the state to the church, as the church to the state, which naturally introduced a theocracy. Each separate community forms a little republic, and from the whole springs a nobler and higher unity. But, according to Calvin, every species of government was reconcileable with Christianity, even despotism. When, however, representatives of the people exist, populares magistratus, it is their duty, if the people be oppressed, to resist any act of arbitrary power. Hence, under certain circumstances, Calvin could justify in France a rising against tyranny; he preferred the republican form only as it existed in ancient Israel, where the government was carried on in the name of God, not in the name of the people. The

sovereignty of the people was altogether a novel idea to his mind; no particular form of government had with him a decided preference; each had its defects. He would have no war. In this he agreed with Luther; but the German reformer thought that if the elector of Saxony was attacked by those who persecuted his subjects, it would be the duty of that prince to defend his people by force of arms. Supposing, however, that some mistook the spirit of Calvin, and, from the synodal form of church government in France, took occasion in the struggle against Rome to uphold republican principles; or that Henry IV. established a reformed state within a state, thus committing a great political error, Calvin was not answerable for the misuse which was thereby made of his doctrines. He observed to Sadolet and the count Tarnowsky, "that if the Christian religion gave occasion to disturbances, this must be attributed to applications of the system, not agreeable to the truth." With regard to the conspiracy of Amboise, Calvin expressed his disapprobation of the design as soon as it was communicated to him, and with such force that he hoped he had prevented its execution. Applied to a second time, he still as resolutely declared his

aversion to the plan of the conspirators. When, however, he was asked a third time, he assembled his colleagues together, and openly protested against the undertaking; and on finding that the parties concerned were resolved to proceed, he complained that his influence and advice were wholly neglected. He even preached against what was being done, and exclaimed, "Better were it a thousand times that we all perished, than that we should bring such infamy upon the name of Christians and the gospel." On another occasion he declared to his associates, "that if they wished to establish their rights by the sword, they would prevent God from helping them. One single drop of blood shed by you will overflow all France." In forbidding them to take possession of the churches, he said, "that he should not be less indignant than the king against those who employed violence."

These sentiments, expressed on various occasions, most surely prove that Calvin condemned the violent proceedings of those of the Reformed party who sought to advance the cause of God by the sword, and that he looked for the extension of the true church, not to human agency, but Divine; "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts,"

was a truth which he fully recognised. He knew that "the gospel of the grace of God," was a gospel of peace and love, and that through it peace and love were to be established. "The sword of the Spirit" was the only sword which he felt should be drawn in the battle of the Lord of hosts; and he believed that none other was required than that "word of God," which is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Not from an earthly armoury, but from a heavenly one, were the weapons to be procured, which should advance the cause of Christ in the world; which should beat the sword into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruninghook; which should overcome infidelity, and idolatry, and licentiousness; subduing the lusts of the flesh and the desires of the mind, and "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." On the only banner which Calvin wished the Reformers to unfurl was engraven the apostolic inscription, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

CHAPTER VII.

Last years of Calvin's life-The reformer's literary labours-Remarks on his epistolary correspondence-Characteristics of his style-Calvin as a preacher-His illness -Patient endurance and death.

WE now approach the last years of Calvin's noble and active career. The year 1563 was a troublous one. Public affairs looked lowering and gloomy. Geneva was again threatened by Savoy. Nothing but the goodness of God restrained the evil designs of the enemy. Pius IV. closed the council of Trent; and the cardinal of Lorraine had formed there an alliance between the several Roman Catholic powers of the south against the diffusion of the reformed religion. The plague also raged with the most fearful violence, and multitudes were swept away to a premature grave. For some time past Calvin had been suffering from severe attacks of illness. In the year 1556 he was seized, while preaching, with an inter