ters, and an illustration of the manner in which Calvin knew how to make allowance for the faults of this great man, we may take part of a letter addressed to Bullinger, a few years later. We might adopt some of these very words when called upon to pass judgment on the defects of Calvin's own character-defects which, proceeding from a temper quite different from that of Luther, yet have the same groundwork of zeal for what each considered as truth, and were sometimes exhibited in its too positive and intolerant assertion, but which were, nevertheless, hardly to be separated from the characters of men suited to stand in the forefront of the battle during that age of crisis and of conflict. The words are as follows:

"I hear that Luther assails not only you but all of us with horrible invective. Now I can scarcely ask you to be silent, since it is not right to allow ourselves to be so undeservedly abused, without attempting some defence. It is difficult, moreover, to believe that such forbearance could do any good. But of this I do earnestly desire to put you in mind, in the first place, how great a man Luther is; by what extraordinary gifts he is distinguished; with what strength of mind. and resolute constancy, with how great skill, with what efficiency and power of doctrinal statement he hath hitherto devoted his whole energy to overthrow the reign of antichrist, and at the same time to diffuse far and near the doctrine of salvation. Often have I been wont to declare, that even although he were to call me a devil, I should not the less hold him in such honor that I must acknowledge him to be an illustrious servant of God. But while he is endued with rare and excellent virtues, he labors at the same time under serious faults. Would that he had rather striven to curb this restless, uneasy temperament, which is so apt to boil over in every direction. I wish, moreover, that he had always bestowed the fruits of that vehemence of natural temperament upon the enemies of the truth, and that he had not flashed his lightning sometimes also upon the servants of the Lord. Would that he had exercised more care to discover his own defects. Flatterers have done him much mischief, since he is naturally too prone to be over-indulgent to himself. It is our part, however, so to reprove whatsoever evil qualities may beset him, as that we may at the same time make some allowance for him on the score of those remarkable endowments with which he has been gifted. This, therefore, I would beseech you to consider first of all, along with your colleagues, that you have to do with a most distinguished servant of Christ, to whom we are all of us largely indebted."

one.

The marriage of Calvin took place in August, 1540. His wife was Idelette de Bures, the widow of one of those Anabaptists who, through his influence, had been drawn back into the bosom of the church. She seems to have been a woman of fine character, and to have had the full confidence and respect of her husband. Their union, though short, was a very happy She died when they had been married only nine years, and her loss left in his heart a lasting wound. Of their three children, the first of which was a son, and the second a daughter, all died in infancy. It is to the first of these that he so tenderly alludes in his reply to Baldwin: "God had given me a son. God hath taken my little boy. This he reckons up among my misdeeds, that I have no children. I have myriads of sons throughout the Christian world.”

Just as Calvin was setting out for Worms, in the month of October, 1540, he received letters from Geneva, urgently inviting his return. Matters in that city had gone on from worse to worse ever since the departure of the two ministers. Their successors were weak men, themselves laboring under the imputation of some of the worst vices; and though they seem to have made some effort to stay the tide of corruption, yet the mighty torrent proved too strong for them. Calvin had not forgotten his beloved flock, but had already addressed to them letters of advice and consolation, and when some of them hesitated to receive the sacrament at the hands of unworthy men, had earnestly advised them to put aside their scruples, and to remember that the efficacy of that sacred rite depends, not on the character of him who administers it, but on its reception by a true church of God in the exercise of a living faith. When the cardinal Sadoletus, one of the purest-minded men in the Catholic party, had addressed them a letter, hoping that the evils under which they were now laboring would render them more willing to return to the bosom of the Romish church, and no one at Geneva was found able to answer it, Calvin willingly assumed the task, and by his eloquent reply called forth anew the gratitude of the church. He had heard with deep grief of their scattered and desolate state, but seems to have shrunk more and more from again entering upon a charge implying so much difficulty and danger, a life of storm and tempest little

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suited to that side of his nature of which he was as yet most thoroughly conscious, though no man was ever better adapted to take the bitter task appointed to him, and carry it through with faith, with steadfast patience, with dignity and success. The reception of this invitation seems to have taken him by surprise. He had already purchased the right of citizenship in Strasburg, and had enrolled himself in the guild of tailors. The struggle in his mind was very great. "You know," he says to Farel, referring to letters addressed to him by some of the brethren in Switzerland urging his acceptance," that I have been so agitated this day by disquietude and anguish of soul, that I have not been half myself. . . . . As often as I think how unhappy I was at Geneva, I tremble in my innermost being when mention is made of my return.” He addressed a letter to the seigneury of Geneva in which he gave expression to his sincere interest in that church, and desire to serve it, but explained to them at the same time how the nature of his engagements would not allow him to go immediately to their help, nor even to make any promises; "for so," he says, “I have always believed and taught, and to the present moment cannot persuade myself to the contrary, that when our Lord appoints a man as pastor in a church to teach in his word, . . . he may not lightly withdraw from it, without the settled assurance in his own heart, and the testimony of the faithful, that the Lord has discharged him." Meantime he advises them to obtain for the present the assistance of Viret, hoping that the Lord would open up a way in the meantime on the one hand or the other.

This advice was followed, and with excellent results; but the people were now sighing for their own pastor, feeling that no one else was equal to the great work of establishing them in order and in peace. Nor did Viret and Farel cease to urge him with their entreaties. To Viret he writes: "I could not read one part of your letter without laughing. It is that in which you exhibit so much care for my prosperity. Shall I then go to Geneva to secure my peace? Why not rather submit to be crucified? It would be better to perish at once than to be tormented to death in that chamber of torture. If you indeed wish my welfare, dear Viret, pray cease from such advice as this."

The Genevese messengers pursued him to Worms, and he sent thence a kind reply, which did not deprive them of hope. When the six months for which Viret had been lent them was nearly expired, a circular letter was addressed by the Genevese magistrates to the governments of Berne, Basle, and Zurich, entreating their intercession with the magistrates of Strasburg in this matter. Expressing their penitence for the expulsion of their pastors, they say: "From the hour that they were banished we have had nothing but troubles, enmities, strifes, contention, disorders, seditions, factions, and homicides, so that by this time we should have been completely overwhelmed, unless God in his mercy, compassionately beholding us, had sent our brother Viret, who was formerly a pastor here, to gather this miserable flock, which was so dispersed as scarcely to have any longer the appearance of a church. We acknowledge, therefore, that this great anger of God hath fallen upon us, because our Lord Jesus Christ hath been thus rejected and despised in his servants and ministers, and that we are unworthy ever to be esteemed his faithful disciples, or ever to find quiet in our State, unless we endeavor to repair these offences, so that the honor of the most holy evangelical ministry be restored; and by common consent we desire nothing more ardently than that our brethren and ministers be reinstated in their former place in this church, to which they were called by God."

At length Calvin yielded to the many and urgent entreaties which came upon him from all sides, and the city of Strasburg gave a reluctant consent to his departure. From this time he hastened forward to the work. "When I remember that I am not my own," he writes, "I offer up my heart, presented as a sacrifice to the Lord." He returned to Geneva, Sept. 13,1541.

ARTICLE VIII.

SINNERS' RIGHTS.

THE popular doctrine of the Rights of Man is derived from the consideration of man as man, and not of man as a sinner. The premises, therefore, are incomplete, and the reasoning more or less false. Even when the conclusions are correct, they are held on wrong grounds, and in a wrong spirit, and may lead to wrong inferences and applications. These errors, working diversely in divers minds, north and south, have contributed largely to produce the sins and sufferings which we now witness and endure. The truth on this subject, clearly seen and heartily embraced throughout the land, would restore all the blessings of peace and good government, sooner and more effectually than it can be done by military power or diplomacy. All this, though the subject is far too vast for a full discussion here, we hope to put such of our readers as will think on the subject and follow it out for themselves, in a way to see and know.

The prevalent doctrine is well stated by the Rev. Dr. Sears, in the "Bibliotheca Sacra" for January, 1863, page 130. He

says:

"The doctrine of modern philosophy, now generally received by political writers, is, that every human being is equally a human being, and that all are equally entitled to what belongs to man as man. The essential principle involved in this statement is that of personality. Every human being is a person, and not a thing; and ought, consequently, to be treated as a person never as a thing. To a given extent, he has within himself an end for which he exists, and ought never to sink to the rank of a mere means to ends to be realized in others. A brute may be (humanely) used exclusively for the benefit of man. A human being cannot properly be so used by his fellow-man.

"The right to exist as a person implies the right to develop, in a legitimate way, one's individuality. A man's own nature, powers, tastes, and facilities are to dictate the kind and manner of his activity. No other being has a right to interfere with his individuality, which,