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Farel obtained a favourable hearing, and was dismissed from the court with an apology for the trouble given in requiring his attendance. Calvin's sense of the honest zeal of his friend may be gathered from his letter to the ministers of Zurich:

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My friend Farel has lately been to see us; to whom, as you well know, the Genevese are so deeply in debted; and, as he thought he had a right, freely admonished them; but they were so enraged, that they vowed capital vengeance against him. I am aware, indeed, that there is nothing new in the creation of a disturbance by factious men in a free state; but the madness of our senate is to be deplored, which required a man to come from Neufchatel to be tried for his life, who is the father of their liberty, and the father of their church. I am forced to charge such disgrace upon this city which I would willingly wipe off with my blood. This is sufficient to give you a specimen of their ingratitude, which must be disgusting to every man of honour and probity. But because I have many reasons which hinder me from publicly deploring our calamity, I shall only say, that, unless Satan be chained up by you, he must be let loose."

Our Reformer was engaged at this period in refuting the sentiments of some leading Arians on the one hand, and defending the tenet of predestination from the misrepresentations of some ministers of the Pays de Vaud on the other. His sympathies were also called into exercise in behalf of the fugitives from France and England, who found in him an adviser, protector, and comforter, at a time when superstition and libertinism were leagued together against him. It appears from the testimonies of De Thou and Spon, two impartial historians, that the Perrinites laid ́a diabolical plan to rid the city of the persecuted French who had fled

thither, being jealous of the privilege of burghership, which had been bestowed on the more respectable, and which threatened to give the Calvinists an accession of influence in the government. They raised a tumult in the night, crying out that the foreigners were about to deliver up the city into the hands of the French, and hoping to instigate the Genevese to massacre those who had sought an asylum in their state. But the deception was too flagrant to take effect. The French keeping quiet in their houses, the Council was convinced of the seditious tendency of the pretended alarm: the feet of the conspirators were taken in the snare which they had privily laid for others; some being apprehended and punished, and others forced to escape for their lives*.

From the intimate connexion existing between Geneva and Berne, Calvin found it necessary to repair to the latter, to vindicate himself from the accusations of Castalio, Bolsec, and other enemies of scriptural truth; when he replied to their charges with so much ability and success, that they were ordered to leave the Bernese territory. Soon after his return he was seized with a tertian ague while he was preaching, which obliged him to leave the pulpit; and the report of his decease reaching Noyon, his native place, the inhabitants actually made a solemn procession, and returned public thanks to Almighty God for the removal of such an abominable pest! Senebier observes dryly, that "many great men have partaken this honour with Calvin, and have had, as well as he, the satisfaction of learning the high estimation in which they were held;" and Clark remarks with more seriousness, "But the prayers of good men prevailed for his health, and he was so far from dying of that disease,

* Thuanus, tom. i. l. xvi. p. 497. Spon. 1. iii.

that, rather being increased in his strength, he undertook a longer journey than he was used to do, viz. to Francfort, being invited thither to pacify some controversies which were sprung up in the French church there. At length returning home, though something impaired in his health, yet remitted he nothing of his daily labours, publishing the next year his very learned Commentaries upon the Psalms, to which he prefixed a very precious preface*."

Error, from its very nature, can hardly be stationary. Facilis descensus averni. The followers of Servetus proceeded from bad to worse; and Valentine Gentili taught that the Father, Son, and Spirit were three distinct essences, and three Almighty Gods. At first, he proposed his scheme to his friends Alciati and Blandrata; but afterwards this notion, and many others of a heterodox nature, spreading among the people, the Consistory of the Italian Church, in an extraordinary assembly, which was attended by many principal citizens, on the 18th of May 1558, drew up a confession of faith, which each member was required to sign after Calvin had been heard in defence of the doctrine of the general church. Gentili at first refused his subscription: he however complied afterwards, but continuing to dogmatise against the Trinitarian sense of Scripture, was sent to prison, where he held a dispute with Calvin on the 15th of July; when he retracted his sentiments, and was permitted to leave his confinement, with no other punishment than the burning of his writings, and an obligation on oath not to quit the city without special licence. He found little scruple in breaking this compulsory engagement, and, escaping into Savoy, joined Gribald the lawyer, and a patron of Servetus, from whence he departed

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to Transylvania, accompanied by Alciati and Blandrata, who united with him in the diffusion of blasphemous tenets.

Convinced that the best means of preserving the purity of religion was the illumination of the mind, Calvin prevailed on the Council to found a new college for seven classes, with three professors of Hebrew, Greek, and Philosophy. On the 15th of June 1559, the laws were read before the magistrates, ministers, and students; after which he delivered an excellent oration on the advantages of learning. He declined the nomination of Rector in favour of Theodore Beza, but undertook to read the divinity lectures. In October he suffered much from a quartan ague, and became more debilitated; yet such was his mental vigour, and desire of usefulness, that he would not relax in his labours, often observing," that nothing was more troublesome to him than an idle life*." In the beginning of this year, the Republic conferred on Knox, the celebrated Scotch Reformer, the freedom of the city, on occasion of his departure for his native land, after spending some time' at Geneva, in which he was very conversant with Calvin; but it is noticed by Dr. M'Crie, in his life of that remarkable character, as "somewhat singular, that Calvin did not

obtain this honour until December" in the same year. He was, however, fast approaching that crisis in which all earthly distinctions are lighter than vanity. He was not prevented by illness from revising and republishing his Institutes in Latin and in French, and correcting his Commentary on Isaiah. He continued to advise and comfort the Protestants in various quarters by his Epistles, and to contend earnestly for the faith, particularly against the heresy of Stancar of Mantua, who held that Christ was

* Melchior Adam, p. 48.

Mediator in respect of his humanity cil room, and, uncovering his head,

alone, and also against the errors of Heshusius concerning the Dominical supper.

On the second of February 1564, he delivered his last sermon, and was afterwards unequal from asthmatic affection to speak in public. For ten years he had eaten no din ner, limiting himself to some refreshment at the close of the day, as he found abstinence the best remedy for a head-ache, to which he was very subject. He was cured of the quartan ague, but, before his decease, was attacked by a complication of disorders. In his agonies he was frequently heard to say, with uplifted eyes, "How long, O Lord!" But as soon as he had some cessation from pain, he would take pen in hand, or return to his reading, and when importuned to the contrary, replied, "Would you that, when the Master come, he should find me idle?"

On the 10th of March, the pastors visiting him found him at his table. After rubbing his forehead with his hand, as he was accustomed in meditation, he said with a cheerful countenance, "I give you my best thanks, dear brethren, for all your care of me. I have a hope that I shall be present at our Consistory a fortnight hence; but at the same time I have little doubt it will be the last opportunity I shall have of assisting at such a meeting." He attended, according to his hope, and read some annotations he had recently made in a French NewTestament, on which he requested their judgment. Fatigued with this exertion, he was worse on the morrow; but on the 27th he ordered his attendants to carry him to the town hall, and, supported by two of them, walked into the coun

told the magistrates that he was come to acknowledge the many favours which they had been pleased to confer on him, and particularly for their attentions in his last illness; "for," said he, "I feel that I shall not again have the honour of appearing in this place." His emaciated appearance drew tears from his friends, as he affectionately bade them farewell.

He was borne by his express desire to the church on Easter day, where, after sermon, he received the sacrament from Beza, and joined in the appropriate Psalms with a cheerful countenance, though with a feeble voice. On the 27th and 28th of April he delivered charges to the syndics and pastors, full of those pious exhortations and judicious remarks which might be expected from his eminent station and experience. Understanding that the venerable Farel, now seventy-five, and infirm, intended him a visit, he wrote to him on the 11th of May in an affectionate manner, begging him not to expose himself to the fatigue of the journey: but this tried friend could not forego the gratification of another interview before their final separation on earth. From this time to the period of his death he was almost in continual prayer. It was at eight o'clock in the evening of the 17th, that this lamp of Israel was quenched, to shine more brightly in a more exalted sphere. He was buried the next day, without any parade, at the common cemetery of Plein Palais: the magistracy, consistory, and academy, witnessed with suitable emotion the deposit of his remains ; but, according to his own injunction, no memorial marked the spot.

"AND THERE WERE ALSO WITH HIM OTHER LITTLE SHIPS."

As through the fields of sacred lore,
Those boundless fields, our footsteps stray,

Our souls may find a honied store

In every flower that strews the way.

And, as the bee supplies his hoard

From many a bloom that 'scapes the view,
Our search may gain a rich reward

E'en where we thought no floweret grew.

When Jesus on the swelling tide

Launched from the crowd that thronged the shore,

Other light barks accompanied

The favoured ship the Lord that bore.

So, if his special presence own

One 'mid the tribes that Israel's be,

'Tis not to that confined alone-
The rest are all in company.

All to the Lord alike belong,

While borne on Time's tumultuous wave,-
A fleet prepared-a squadron strong-
The storm to meet, the foe to brave..

And thus 'mongst Christians: though his face
On the blest few less veiled may shine,
The waiting soul, the babe in grace,
Is not the less, O.Saviour, thine.
Light though the bark, it sails with Thee;
Doth of thy fleet a part compose;
Associate with thy company,

Thy convoy shares, thy colour shews.
Hence thou, my soul, the good mayest learn
Of Christian concord's holy tie;
And, most of all, may'st hence discern
How blest to be to Jesus nigh.

For if, ere louder gale abates,

Thy canvas split, thy mast be gone,
Some friendly sail on Him that waits
Shall lend its aid, and tow thee on.
While "wind and storm his word fulfil,".
Thou fearest not, anchored at his side;
And when He bids the waves "Be still,"
Thy little bark shall bravely ride.
If break his voice, the breezes rest;

Thy sail shall catch their waking sigh:
Or if He tread the billow's crest,

He'll whisper "Peace" in passing by.
And, when o'er Time's impetuous tide
His care has brought thee, then for thee
"A place of streams and rivers wide
The Lord, the glorious Lord, shall be *."

APRIL 1825.

*Isai. xxxiii. 21.

MARK IV. 36.

PILA

THE COTTAGE VISITOR.-No. IV.

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"FOR Some time after this I heard no more of these pious Cottagers, till one day I received the intelligence that poor Maria was at the point of death. I immediately resolved to go and see her; and accordingly on the following day I walked over to the cottage. No smiling faces greeted me upon my entrance; no Maria nimbly sprang to set me a chair; but of my own accord I seated myself in a place that sickness had rendered silent, desolate, and forlorn. I had not waited long before the old man entered the cottage. I anxiously inquired into the state of his daughter: the question brought the tears into his eyes as he replied, "Oh, sir, she will not be with me much longer. I have some time feared she was going into a decline; and so it is. But what a blessing it is to see her so happy! She is quite willing to die. But please to walk up stairs, sir.". I followed the poor old man to the chamber of his dying daughter. As I entered she turned her languid eyes upon me: they brightened as they fell upon mine; and as she raised herself in the bed, she faintly uttered, "I am glad to see you.'

There had always been something exceedingly interesting about her. Her education had been but limited, but she had not neglected to improve from the little she had received; and the Bible and Watts's Hymns were her principal companions. In short, the modesty of her demeanour, the simplicity of her attire, and the suavity of her disposition were such as to excite the admiration and the affections of all who engage knew her. She was now apparently about twenty years of age, but

times

evidently on the verge of eternity; the hectic bloom that at overspread her cheeks, the difficulty that attended every act of respira tion, the hollow cough that interrupted almost every effort to speak, and the extreme lassitude that pervaded the frail tenement of her immortal mind, sufficiently evinced that the period of her departure was at hand. She, too, was aware of its approach: she did not shrink from it in dismay; no, her hopes were firmly fixed in heaven, and thither her spirit longed to take her flight. An air of calm resignation sat upon her countenance, and the pallid look and the languid eye, though they warned us of the approach of death, heightened the interest of her departing moments, and rendered her lovely even in dissolution.

"Well, Maria," I said, as I closed her hand within mine," how are you now?"

"I am very weak, sir; but God strengthens me."

"It is a mercy indeed to have such a Friend upon a dying bed!"

"Yes, sir, it is; and I find that He is with me: his presence cheers me in the dark walley."

"Do you wish to live, Maria?" She turned her eyes, moistened by the recollections my question had excited, upon her aged father: I entered into her feelings, and forbore to press the question.

"I feel," said she, "that I have not long to live; I shall soon meet my Saviour in that happy world above. Oh, how I long to be there!

There I shall see his face,
And never, never sin;
But from the rivers of his grace
Drink endless pleasures in.

Oh, sir! I would not leave this dying bed to be a queen."

"I am glad, my dear Maria, to see you so resigned to the will of

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