tude to God and them-many a drooping spirit been revived by exhortation from their

ed, that it will be impossible for me to attend him either to-night or to-morrow. I commend the unhappy man, therefore, to thy unremitting care.

"Thy brother,

"CALVIN."

This letter was in Latin, which language, it is well known, the learned of that period generally used in writing.

If this be an authentic document, it will go far to exonerate him, from whose pen it came, from that reproach which the fate of Servetus will then have so unjustly cast upon him. In order to prove the fictitious nature of Calvin's letter to Farel, as given by Mr. Middleton, on which much of the validity or invalidity of the foregoing must rest, it is further alleged by Mr. de L. in his reply, that Farel not only attended Servetus to the stake, as we have already remarked, but that he actually passed the preceding night with him in his cell, which would have been utterly impossible had Farel been at Neufchatel, according to the address of the letter in question, as Servetus was condemned on the twenty-sixth of October, and suffered on the twenty-seventh.

The conduct of Farel, supposing our present statement correct, seems, on this melancholy occasion, to have been exemplary in the extreme. His first object was, to endeavour to prevail on Servetus to recall the sentiments

lips-and many a " mourner in Zion looked up," and beheld their "redemption drawing

he had maintained, as the slightest retractation would have been accepted by the council, who conceived the success of the rising reformation to be closely connected, either with his punishment, or with a public disavowal of his former opinions, in case of a pardon being extended to him; and would gladly have embraced the lenient alternative. This, however, he soon found it in vain to press ; and he then flew, as his only remaining refuge, to the mercy-seat, there to intercede for him with an angry God. Nor did he desist from supplicating on his behalf, until the unhappy being was enveloped in flames.

In the account of this transaction, as given by Mr. Middleton, no mention is made of any one having visited Servetus after his condemnation, except Calvin, in company with two of the magistrates; and that more as something casual, and at the request of the criminal, than as the godly counsellor of an offender under his awful circumstances. Whether the narrative, as we have related it, is more accordant with that deep spirit of piety, which, amidst some asperity of disposition, is universally admitted to have been the ruling principle of this extraor. dinary man, than the other as hitherto received, it is not difficult to determine.

It may be added, as affirmed by Mr. de L., that so far was Calvin from bearing any personal ill-will to Servetus, whom he at the same time opposed with all the energies

с

nigh!" And, within these consecrated precincts "sleeps in Jesus," many a saint turned by their instrumentality "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God!" O what a day of triumph will be the day of resurrection to the followers of the Lamb! But, can tongue paint it's horrors to him, who shall not have died "the death of the

of his powerful mind, as the enemy of the truth, that he wrote to him at Lyons, after his escape from Vienne, conjuring him not to come to Geneva, as otherwise a prosecution would be unavoidable.

Indeed, the writer of this note cannot prevail upon himself to believe, that among all the pious ministers who were at that period assembled in Geneva, none should have been found, who would pass the night with a poor guilty sinner, doomed to appear on the morrow in the presence of his Judge- none, to accompany him to the place of execution-none, to bow his knees for him at a throne of grace-none, who would whisper in his ear to the very latest moment-" Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out"-to the very latest moment, not one, who would warn, intreat, and pray!

He expired, without testifying any signs of repentance, but, at the same time, unhappy being! manifesting great dread of death.

righteous!" O sinner, sinner, wilt thou not be warned? Wilt thou run headlong on everlasting perdition? Will neither tears nor prayers check thy ruinous career? If not

Upon the noiseless wing of time,
Away thy years unnoticed steal;

Nor carest thou-thou shalt reach a clime,
That to thy wonder shall reveal
The value of that desecrated rest,

Thou must lie down in, at thy God's behest.
Rest?-no; 'tis but the stillness of the tomb;
A fearful, wide, impenetrable gloom,

Wherein that form shall moulder; such the sleep
That no glad host, no minist'ring angels keep!

While I was occupied in meditations of this nature, a little girl came into the inclosure, and began to look with much earnestness apparently for something she had lost. I watched her in silence for a few minutes, and then in a familiar tone entered into conversation:

"Have you lost any thing, my little girl?" Without giving a direct answer to

my question, and with her eyes still intent on the ground, she replied;

"Have you found my halfpenny ?"

"No; have you lost one?"

"Yes."

"When did you lose it?"

"This evening, a little while ago." "How did that happen ?"

"I was playing under the trees, and when I went home I found my halfpenny gone; and I'm come back to look for it."

66

Why, that's a sad affair to be sure; but you need not be in great distress about it." "Oh, yes, I need, because I have only one or two more."

"Well, well; but perhaps I could repair your loss."

66

Aye ?"

"Could not I give you another instead of

it ?"

"I don't know."

"I think I could; let us see."

I here took out my purse, and calling her to me, put a few halfpence into her