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'demn them to a perpetual banishment.' In these terms spake Calvin in the council, when 54 he was recalled by the very suffrages which had banished him. A convincing proof of the extreme hatred which he bore to all descriptions of vices,

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Since, therefore, it is evident that Calvin has no equal for depth of doctrine, for eloquence, for erudition, and for diligence; since he was ever ardent in detecting, and in censuring, every kind of vice, and exemplary in practising all the virtues which he recom mended; since he was never known to fail, either in sweetness of manners, or in greatness of courage under trials, or in patience while suffering under injuries; since he was ever admirable for prudence joined with charity, gravity united with affability, severity accompanied with benignity, and modesty, which seemed to dispute the victory with all his other virtues; since, finally, neither imposture, nor envy, nor Antichrist are able to oppose any thing which does not defeat itself, what remains but that we congratulate our Geneva upon her happiness in having possessed Calvin, recollecting that it is to his cares that she is principally indebted for the truth of her Latin anagram!

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Respublica Genevensis

Gens sub cœlis verè pia,*

and that it is to his labours that she is chiefly indebted for the glory of her device, expressed in an emblem in the middle of the name of Jesus the Sun of Righteousness,

Aprés les ténébres la lumiere,†

Abridged from another,

Aprés les tenebres, j'espere la lumiere,‡ which had been used, as if by a prophetic spirit, during the preceding ages."§

* The Republic of Geneya.

A people the most pious under heaven,

+ After darkness, light.

After darkness, I hope for light.

§ Panegyrique De Jean Calvin prononcé a Genéve, par

M. Alexandre Morus, Recteur De L'Academie.

OF THE

WRITINGS OF CALVIN.

SECTION I.

Character of Calvin as an author and commentator-Testimonies to his excellence from Papists and Protestants-Account of his Christian Institutes.

We have already pourtrayed the subject of the present Memoirs, in the character of an illustrious reformer, and shewn the influence of his labours in promoting the revival of pure Christianity. We have seen united in his person, the most entire disinterestedness, the most ardent zeal, and active energy co-operating to the diffusion of knowledge, virtue, and happiness; it remains that we now consider him as an author, and it will be abundantly evident, that few persons have better deserved the tributary praises of posterity under this character, than Calvin.

When we consider the extent and variety of his works, the importance of the subjects,

and the practical tendency of his writings, we shall be disposed to assign him a very high rank in the class of useful and important authors. Indebted to no temporary, or local circumstances for the impression and popularity of his works; their interest, uninfluenced by the fluctuation of circumstances and opinions, remains undiminished. What Dr. Johnson says with so much justice of Watts, is equally true of Calvin: "Few men have left behind such purity of character, or such monuments of laborious piety."*

His character as an author, must be ascertained from the multiplicity and variety of his works, rather than from any single performance; it would, indeed, require volumes to review all his works, which were published in Latin, at Geneva, in twelve volumes, folio.

But the most important view of the writ ings of Calvin, and that which is most congenial with the spirit of the present work, is rather an exhibition of his theological sentiments, than a critical review of his compositions; which, were it practicable, would, in all probability, be less interesting, and certainly less profitable.

* Johnson's Lives of the Poets. Life of Watts,

Under the investigation of Calvin's merits as an author, it would be unpardonable to omit the consideration of his style.

The dignity and majesty of his eloquence were so eminent, that those who had the greatest aversion to his pretended heresy, were constrained to admire in his writings the exact purity of the Latin tongue, and to confess that his latinity was worthy of the Augustan age. Hence, those who are willingly blind, refuse to acknowledge that the mighty energy by which he replaced Geneva under the yoke of Jesus Christ, and recalled multitudes of other people to the practice of a purer and more evangelical worship, was the effect of the finger of God, as undoubtedly it was. They ascribe it, on the contrary, to the soft and persuasive eloquence which he possessed in so eminent a degree. Thus a determined partisan of popery, has not been ashamed to use these words:

And thou, Calvin, the scourge of the thrice dignified kingdom,

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Who in thine own language, eclipsest the
Roman name."*

* "Et toy, Calvin, le fleau du régne a triple etage,
Qui perds le nom Romain par son propre langage."+

+ Barclai.

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