IN the order of time, we come now to treat of a most wonderful man, whom GOD raised up in these last ages of the world, to break the chain of superstition and spiritual slavery, with which the bishops of Rome and their depend­ents had, for many centuries, cast over the consciences of all men. He was an instrument truly prepared for this great work; and yet but a mean and obscure monk, to shew us, that HE, who ruleth all things, effected himself the im­portant design, in which the greatest prince upon earth would have undoubtedly failed.

The conduct of the dignified clergy through­out all Europe, had long given scandal to the world. The bishops were grossly ignorant: They seldom resided in their dioceses, except to riot at high festivals: And all the effect their residence could have, was to corrupt others, by their ill example. Nay some of them could not so much as write, but employed some person, or chaplain who had attained that accomplish­ment, to subscribe their names for them. They followed the courts of princes, and aspired to the greatest offices. The abbets and monks [Page 4]were wholly given up to luxury and idleness; and it appeared, by the unmarried state both of the seculars and regulars, that the restraining them from having wives of their own, made them conclude they had a right to all other men's. The inferior clergy were no better; and not having places of retreat to conceal their vices in, as the monks had, they became more public. In sum; all ranks of churchmen were so universally despised and hated, that the world was very apt to be possessed with preju­dice against their doctrines, for the sake of the men whose interest it was to support them: And the worship of God was so defiled with gross superstition, that, without great enqui­ries, all men are easily convinced, that the church stood in great need of reformation. This was much increased when scripture and the books of the fathers were rendered common by the art of printing, and began to be read, in which the difference between the former and later ages of the church very evidently appear­ed. They found, that a blind superstition came first in the room of true piety; and when by its means, the wealth and interest of the clergy were highly advanced, the popes had upon that established their tyranny; under which, not only the meaner people, but even the crowned heads, had long groaned. All these things concurred to make way for the ad­vancement of the reformation.

[Page 5] Wickliffe, Huss, Jerom of Prague, and o­thers, had laid the seeds of the reformation, which Luther nourished with great warmth. The scandalous extolling of indulgences gave the first occasion to all the contradiction that followed between Luther and the church of Rome; in which if the corruptions and cruelty of the clergy had not been so visible and scanda­lous, so small a matter could not have produced such a revolution: But any crisis will put ill humours into a ferment.

As protestants, we are certainly much obli­ged to Erasmus; yet we are far more obliged, under God, to those great instruments of the reformation, viz. Luther, Zuinglius, Oeco­lampadius, Bucer; Melancthon, Cranmer, and others. The greatest enemies of Luther cannot deny, but that he had eminent qualities; and history affords nothing more surprising than what he had done: For a simple monk to be able to give popery so rude a shock, that there needed but such another entirely to overthrow the Romish church, is what we cannot suffici­ently admire, and marks the hand of providence conducting the whole. It was said, with rea­son, that Erasmus, by his railleries, prepared the way for Luther; and Simon Fontaine the popish historian, complained, that Erasmus oc­casionally had done more mischief than Luther; because Luther only opened the door wider, after Erasmus had picked the lock, and half [Page 6]opened it. Notwithstanding all this, says Bayle, there must have been eminent gifts in Luther to produce such a revolution as he has done.

Martin Luther was born at Isleben, a town in the county of Mansfield, in the circle of Up­per Saxony, on the tenth of November, 1483. His father was called John Luther, or Luder, because he was a refiner of metals; for Luder, in the German language, has that signification: It is agreed that his business was about the mines; and that he was the chief magistrate of the city of Mansfield. His mother's name was Margaret Lindeman, who was remarkable for her piety.

When Martin Luther was fourteen years of age, he was sent to the public school of Mag­deburg, where he continued one year, and was then removed to that of Eysenach, where he studied four years. The circumstances of his parents were at that time so very low, and so insufficient to maintain him, that he was forced, as Melchior Adam relates, to live by begging his bread. When he had finished his grammar studies, he was sent to the famous school at Eysenach in Thuringia, for the sake of being among his mother's relations, where he applied himself very diligently to his books for four years, and began to discover all that force and strength of parts; that accuteness and penetra­tion, that warm and rapid eloquence, which afterwards were attended with such amazing [Page 7]success. In the year 1501, he was entered at the university of Erford or Erfurt, in Thurin­gia where he went through a course of philoso­phy, and was admitted master of arts, in 1503, being then twenty years old. He was soon af­ter made professor of physic, and ethics: But he chiefly applied himself to the study of the civil law, and intended to advance himself to the bar, from which he was diverted by an uncom­mon accident. As he was walking in the fields with a friend, he was struck by a thunderbolt, which threw him to the ground, and killed his companion: Whereupon Luther resolved to withdraw from the world, and enter into the order of the hermits of St. Augustine. He made his profession in the monastry of Erfurt, where he took priest's orders, and celebrated his first mass in the year 1507.

It is reported, that there was an old man in this monastry, with whom Luther had several conferences upon many theological subjects, particularly concerning the article of remission of sins. This article was explained by the old monk to Luther, ‘That it was the express commandment of God, that every man should believe his sins to be forgiven him in Christ.’ Luther found this interpretation was confirmed by the testimony of St. Bernard, who says. 'That man is freely justified by faith.' He then perceived the meaning of St. Paul, when [...], We are justified by faith.' He [Page 8]consulted the expositions of many writers upon that apostle, and saw through the vanity of those interpretations, which he had read before the schoolmen. He compared the sayings and examples of the prophets, and apostles.

In 1508, the university of Wittenburg, in the duchy of Saxony, was established under the direction of Staupitius, whose good opinion of Luther occasioned him to send for him from Er­furt to Wittenberg, where he taught philoso­phy; and his lectures were attended by many wise and learned men. He expounded the lo­gic and philosophy of Aristotle, in the schools; and began to examine the old theology, in the churches.

In the year 1512, he was sent to Rome, to take up some controversies which happened a­mong his order; and he conducted himself so well as to obtain the character of a prudent man. In short, he succeeded in his business; for which he was made doctor and professor of divinity, upon his return to Wittenberg. At Rome he saw the pope and court, and had an opportunity also of observing the manners of the clergy; whose hasty, superficial, and im­pious way of celebrating mass, he has severely noted. "I performed mass, says he, at Rome; I saw it also performed by others, but in such a manner, that I never think of it without the utmost horror." He often spoke afterwards of his journey to Rome, and used to say that [Page 9] ‘He would not but have made it for a thousand florins.’ A monkish poet himself, upon the view of the barefaced iniquity of the popes pre­tended holy city, could not help singing: ‘If you would live righteously, keep clear of Rome: For though her priests can license every thing else, they allow of nothing good.’

After this, he began to expound the epistle to the Romans, and the Psalms; where he shewed the difference between the law and the gospel. He refuted the error that was then predominant in schools and sermons; that men may merit remission of sins by their own proper works. As John Baptist demonstrated the Lamb of God which took away the sins of the world: So Luther, shining in the church as a bright star after an obscure sky, expressly shew­ed, that sins are freely remitted for the love of the Son of God, and that we ought faithfully to embrace this bountiful gift.

His life was correspondent to his profession and these happy beginnings of such important matter, procured him great authority. How­ever, he attempted no alteration in the ceremo­nies of religion, and interfered in no doubtful opinions: But contented himself with opening and declaring the doctrine of repentance, o [...] remission of sins, of faith, and of true comfort in times of adversity. His doctrine was gener­ally approved by the learned, who conceived [Page 10]high pleasure to behold Jesus Christ, the pro­phets, and apostles, to emerge into the light out of darkness: whereby they began to under­stand the difference between the law and the gospel, between spiritual righteousness and ci­vil things. Erasmus revived learning while Luther was teaching divinity at Wittenberg. The former brought the monks barbarous and sophistical doctrine into contempt by his elegant work; which induced Luther to study the Greek and Hebrew languages, that, by draw­ing the doctrine from the very fountains, he might pass his judgment with more authority.

The first opportunity that this great man had of unfolding to the view of a blinded and delu­ded age, the truth, which had struck his aston­ished sight, was offered by a Dominican, whose name was John Tetzel. This bold and enter­prising monk had been chosen, on account of his uncommon impudence, by Albert archbishop of Mentz and Magdeburg, to preach and pro­claim, in Germany, those famous indulgences of Leo X. which administered the remission of all sins, past, present and to come, however enormous their nature, to those who were rich enough to purchase them. The frontless monk executed this iniquitous commission not only with matchless insolence, indecency, and fraud, but even carried his impiety so far as to dero­gate from the all-sufficient power and influence of the merits of Christ. In describing the [Page 11]efficacy of these indulgences, Tetzel said among other enormities, that even had any one ravish­ed the mother of God, he (Tetzel) had where­withal to efface his guilt. He also boasted, that ‘ he had saved more souls from hell by those IN­DULGENCES, than ST. PETER had converted to Christianity by his preaching.’ At this, Luther unable to smother his just indignation, raised his warning voice, and in ninety-five propositions, maintained publickly at Witten­burg, on the 30th of September, in the year 1517, censured the extravagant extortion of these questors, and plainly pointed out the Ro­man pontiff as a partaker of their guilt, since he suffered the people to be seduced, by such delu­sions, from placing their principal confidence in Christ, the only proper object of their trust. This was the commencement and foundation of that memorable rupture and revolution in the church, which humbled the grandeur of the lordly pontiffs, and eclipsed so great a part of their glory.

This debate between Luther and Tetzel was, at first, a matter of no great moment, and might have been terminated with the utmost facility, had Leo X. been disposed to follow the healing method which common prudence must have naturally pointed out on such an occasion. For after all, this was no more than a private dispute between two monks, concerning the extent of the pope's power with respect to the [Page 12]remission of sin. Luther confessed that the Roman pontiff was clothed with the power of remitting the human punishments inflicted upon transgressors, i. e. the punishments denounced by the church, and its visible head the bishop of Rome; but he strenuously denied that his pow­er extended to the remission of the divine pu­nishments allotted to offenders, either in this present, or in a future state; affirming, on the contrary, that these punishments could only be removed by the merits of Christ. The doctrine of Tetzel was, indeed, directly opposite to the sentiments of Luther; for this senseless or de­signing monk asserted, that all punishments, present and future, human and divine, were submitted to the authority of the Roman pontiff, and came within the reach of his absol­ving power.

The sentiments of Luther were received with applause by the greatest part of Germany, which had long groaned under the avarice of the pontiffs, and the extortions of their tax-gatherers, and had murmered grievously against the various stratagems that were daily put in practice, with the most front­less impudence, [...]o flecce the rich, and to grind the faces of the poor. But the votaries of Rome were filled with horror, when they were infor­med of the opinions propagated by the Saxon reformer; more especially the Dominicans, who looked upon their order as insulted and [Page 13]attacked in the person of Tetzel. The alarm of controversy was therefore founded, and Tetzel himself appeared immediately in the field against Luther, whose sentiments he pre­tended to refute in two academical discourses, which he pronounced on occasion of his promo­tion to the degree of doctor of divinity. In the year following two famous Dominicans, Syl­vester de Prierio and Hogstrat, the former a native of Italy, and the latter a German, rose up also against the adventurous reformer, and attacked him at Cologn with the utmost vehem­ence and ardour. Their example was soon followed by another formidable champion, na­med Eckius, a celebrated professor of divinity at Ingolstadt, and one of the most zeajous sup­porters of the Dominican order. Luther stood firm against these united adversaries, and was neither vanquished by their argnments, nor daunted by their talents and reputation: but answered their objections and refuted their rea­sonings with the greatest strength of evidence, and a becoming spirit of resolution and perseve­rance. At the same time, however, he ad­dressed himself by letters, written in the most submissive and respectful terms, to the Roman pontiff and to several of the bishops, shewing them the uprightness of his intentions, as well as the justice of his cause, and declaring his readiness to change his sentiments, as soon as he should see them fairly proved to be erroneous.

[Page 14] At first, Leo X. beheld this controversy with indifference and contempt; but, being informed by the emperor Maximilian I not only of its importance, but also of the fatal divisions it was likely to produce in Germany, he summoned Luther to appear before him at Rome, and there to plead the cause which he had underta­ken to maintain. This papal summons was su­perseded by Frederick the wise, elector of Saxony, who pretended, that the cause of Luther belonged to the jurisdiction of a German tribunal, and that it was to be decided by the ecclesiastical laws of the empire. The pontiff yielded to the remonstrances of this prudent and magnanimous prince, and ordered Luther to justify his intentions and doctrines before cardi­nal Cajetan, who was, at this time, legate at the diet of Augsburg. In this first step the court of Rome gave a specimen of that temerity and imprudence with which all its negociations, in this weighty affair, were afterwards conducted. For, instead of reconciling, nothing could tend more to inflame matters than the choice of Caje­tan, a Dominican, and, consequently, the decla­red enemy of Luther, and friend of Tetzel, as judge and arbitrator in this nice and perilous controversy.

Luther, however, repaired to Augsburg, in the month of October 1518, and conferred, at three different meetings, with Cajetan himself, concerning the points in debate. But had he [Page 15]even been disposed to yield to the court of Rome, this imperious legate was, of all others, the most improper to encourage him in the execution of such a purpose. The high spirit of Luther was not to be tamed by the arrogant dictates of mere authority: such, however, were the on­ly methods of persuasion employed by the haughty cardinal. He, in an overbearing tone, desired Luther to renounce his opinions, with­out [...]even attempting to prove them erroneous, and insisted, with importunity, on his confess­ing humbly his fault, and submitting respectful­ly to the judgment of the Roman pontiff. The Saxon reformer could not think of yielding to terms so unreasonable in themselves and so des­potically proposed; so that the conferrence was absolutely without effect. For Luther, finding his adversary and judge inaccessible to reason and argument, left Ausb [...]rg all of a sudden, after having appealed from the present decisions of the pontiff to those which he should pro­nounce, when better informed; and, in this step, he seemed yet to respect the dignity and authority of the bishop of Rome. But Leo X. on the other hand, let loose the reins to ambi­tion and despotism, and carried things to the utmost extremity; for, in the month of No­vember, this same year, he published a special edict, commanding his spiritual subjects to ac­knowledge his power of delivering from all the punishments due to sin and transgression of every [Page 16]kind. As soon as Luther received information of this inconsiderate and violent measure, he perceived, plainly, that it would be impossible for him to bring the court of Rome to any rea­sonable terms; he therefore repaired to Written­burg, and, on the 28th of November, appealed from the pontiff to a general council.

In the mean time, the Roman pontiff became sensible of the imprudence he had been guilty of in entrusting Cajetan with such a commission, and endeavoured to mend the matter by em­ploying a man of more candour and impartialli­ty, and better acquainted with business, in order to suppress the rebellion of Luther, and to engage that reformer to submission and obe­dience. This new legate was Charles Miltitz, a Saxon knight, who belonged to the court of Leo X. and whose lay-character exposed him less to the prejudices that arise from a spirit of party, than if he had been clothed with the splendid purple, or the monastic frock. He was also a person of great prudence, penetrati­on, and dexterity, and every way qualified for the execution of such a nice and critical commission as this was. Leo, therefore, sent him into Saxony to present to Frederick the golden consecrated rose (which the pontiffs are used to bestow, as a peculiar mark of distinction, on those princes, for whom they have, or think proper to profess, an uncommon friend­ship and esteem), and to treat with Luther, [Page 17]not only about finishing his controversy with Tetzel, but also concerning the methods of bringing about a reconciliation between him and the court of Rome. Nor, indeed, were the negociations of this prudent minister entire­ly unsuccessful; for in his first conference with Luther, at Altenburg, in the year 1519, he carried matters so far as to persuade him to write a submissive letter to Leo X. promising to observe a profound silence upon the matters in debate, provided that the same obligation should be imposed upon his adversaries. This same year in the month of October, Miltitz had a second conference with Luther in the castle of Leiben­werd, and a third the year following, at Lich­tenberg. These meetings, which were reci­procally conducted with moderation and decency, gave great hopes of an approaching reconciliation; nor were these hopes ill found­ed. But the violent proceedings of the enemies of Luther, and the arrogant spirit, as well as unaccountable imprudence, of the court of Rome, blasted these fair expectations, and kin­dled anew the flames of discord.

Tetzel, on the other hand, burthened with the iniquities of Rome, tormented with a con­sciousness of his own injustice and extortions, stung with the approbrious censures of the new legate, and seeing himself equally despised and abhorred by both parties, died of grief and despair

[Page 18] Had the court of Rome been prudent enough to have accepted of the submission made by Lu­ther, they would have almost nipped in the bud the cause of the reformation, or would at least, have considerably retarded its growth and pro­gress.

One of the circumstances that contributed principally, at least by its consequences, to ren­der the embassy of Miltitz ineffectual for the restoration of peace, was a famous controversy of an incidental nature that was carried on at Leipsic, some weeks successively, in the year 1519. A doctor named Eckius, who was one of the most eminent and zealous champions in the papal cause, happened to differ widely from Carlostadt, the colleague and companion of Lu­ther, in his sentiments concerning Free-will. The first conflict was between Carlostadt and Eckius concerning the powers and freedom of the human will; it was carried on in the castle of Pleissenburg, in presence of a numerous and splendid audience, and was followed by a dis­pute between Luther and Eckius concerning the authority and supermacy of the Roman pon­tiff. This latter controversy, which the pre­sent situation of affairs rendered singularly nice and critical, was left undecided. Hoffman, at that time rector of the university of Leipsic, and who had been also appointed judge of the arguments alledged on both sides, refused to declare to whom the victory belonged; so that [Page 19]the decision of this matter was referred to the universities of Paris and Erfurt.

Among the spectators of this ecclesiastical combat was Philip Melancthon, at that time, professor of Greek at Wittenburg, who had not, as yet, been involved in these divisions (as in­deed the mildness of his temper and his elegant taste for polite literature rendered him averse from disputes of this nature), though he was the intimate friend of Luther, and approved his design of delivering the pure and primitive science of theology from the darkness and sub­tility of scholastic jargon.

In the mean time, the religious dissensions in Germany increased, instead of diminishing. For while Miltitz was treating with Luther in Saxony, in such a mild and prudent manner as offered the fairest prospect of an approaching ac­ccommodation, Eckius, inflamed with resentment and fury on account of his defeat at Leipsic, repaired with the utmost precipitation to Rome, to accomplish, as he imagined, the ruin of Luther. There, entering into a league with the Dominicans, who were in high credit at the papal court, and more especially with their two zealous patrons, De Prierio and Cajetan, he earnestly entreated Leo X. to level the thunder of his anathemas at the head of Luther, and to exclude him from the communion of the church. The Dominicans, desirous of reveng­ing the affront that, in their opinion, their [Page 20]whole order had received by Luther's treat­ment of their brother Tetzel, and their patron Cajetan, seconded the furious efforts of Eckius against the Saxon reformer, and used their ut­most endeavours to have his request granted. The pontiff, overcome by the importunity of these pernicious councellors, imprudently issued out a bull against Luther, dated the 15th of June, 1520, in which forty-one pretended he­resies, extracted from his writings, were so­lemnly condemned, his writings ordered to be publicly burnt, and in which he was again summoned, on pain of excommunication, to confess and retract his pretended errors within the space of sixty days, and to cast himself upon the clemency and mercy of the pontiff.

As soon as the account of this rash sentence, pronounced from the papal chair, was brought to Luther, he thought it was high time to con­sult both his present defence and future securi­ty; and the first step he took for this purpose, was the renewal of his appeal from the sentence of the Roman pontiff, to the more respectable decision of a general council. But as he fore­saw that this appeal would be treated with con­tempt at the court of Rome, and that when the time prescribed for his recantation was elapsed, the thunder of excommunication would be le­velled at his devoted head, he judged it prudent to withdraw himself voluntarily from the com­munion of the church of Rome, before he was [Page 21]obliged to leave it by force; and thus to ren­der this new bull of ejection a blow in the air, an exercise of authority without any object to act upon. At the same time, he was resolved to execute this wise resolution in a public manner, that his voluntary retreat from the communion of a corrupt and superstitious church might be universally known, before the lordly pontiff had prepared his ghostly thunder. With this view, on the 10th of December, in the year 1520, he had a pile of wood erected without the walls of the Wittenburg city, and there, in presence of a prodigious multitude of people of all ranks and orders, he committed to the flames both the bull that had been published against him, and the decretals and cannons relating to the pope's supreme jurisdiction. By this he declared to the world, that he was no longer a subject to the Roman pontiff; and that, of consequence, the sentence of excommunication against him, which was daily expected from Rome, was entirely superfluous and insignifi­cant. It is not improbable, that Luther was directed, in this critical measure, by persons well skilled in the law, who are generally dex­trous in furnishing a perplexed client with nice distinctions and plausible evasions. Be that as it may, he seperated himself only from the church of Rome, which considers the pope as infallible, and not from the church, considered in a more extensive sense; for he submitted to [Page 22]the decision of the universal church, when that decision should be given in a general council lawfully assembled. When this judicious dis­tinction is considered, it will not appear at all surprising, that many, even of the Roman ca­tholics, who weighed matters with a certain degree of impartiality and wisdom, and were zealous for the maintainance of the liberties of Germany, justified this bold resolution of Lu­ther. In less than a month after this noble and important step had been taken by the Saxon reformer, a second bull was issued out against him, on the 6th of January, 1521, by which he was expelled from the communion of the church, for having insulted the majesty, and disowned the supremacy, of the Roman pon­tiff.

Such iniquitous laws, enacted against the person and doctrine of Luther, produced an effect different from what was expected by the imperious pontiff. Instead of intimidating this bold reformer, they led him to form the project of founding a church upon principles entirely opposite to those of Rome, and to establish, in it, a system of doctrine and ecclesiastical disci­pline, agreeable to the spirit and precepts of the gospel of truth. This, indeed, was the only resource Luther had left him; for to submit to the orders of a cruel and insolent enemy, would have been the greatest degree of imprudence imaginable; and to embrace, anew, errors that [Page 23]he had rejected with a just iudignation, and exposed with the clearest evidence, would have discovered a want of integrity and principle, worthy only of the most abandoned profligate. From this time, therefore, he applied himself to the pursuit of the truth with still more assidui­ty and fervour than he had formerly done; nor did he only review with attention, and con­firm by new arguments, what he had hitherto taught, but went much beyond it, and made vigorous attacks upon the main strong-hold of popery, the power and jurisdiction of the Ro­man pontiff, which he overturned from its very foundation. In this noble undertaking he was seconded by many learned and pious men, in various parts of Europe; by those of the profess­ors of the acadamy of Wittenburg, who had adopted his principles; and in a more especial manner by the celebrated Melancthon. And as the fame of Luther's wisdom and Melanc­thon's learning had filled that acadamy with an incredible number of students, who flocked to it from all parts, this happy circumstance pro­pagated the principles of the reformation with an amazing rapidity through all the countries of Europe.

Not long after the commencement of these di­visions, Maximilian I. had departed this life, and his grandson Charles V. king of Spain, had succeeded him in the empire in the year 1519. Leo X. seized this new occasion of venting and [Page 24]executing his vengeance, by putting the new emperor in mind of his character as advocate and defender of the church, and demanding the exemplary punishment of Luther, who had rebelled against its sacred laws and institutions. On the other hand, Frederick the Wise employ­ed his credit with Charles to prevent the publi­cation of any unjust edict against this reformer, and to have his cause tried by the canons of the Germanic church, and the laws of the empire. This request was so much the more likely to be granted, that Charles was under much greater obligations to Frederick, than to any other of the German princes, as it was chiefly by his zealous and important services that he had been raised to the empire, in opposition to the pre­tensions of such a formidable rival as Francis I. king of France. The emperor was sensible of his obligations to the worthy elector, and was entirely disposed to satisfy his demands. That, however, he might do this without displeasing the Roman pontiff, he resolved that Luther should be called before the council, that was to be assembled at Worms in the year 1521, and that his cause should be there publicly heard, before any final sentence should be pro­nounced against him. When some of his friends, informed of the violent designs of the Roman court, and alarmed by the bull that had been published against him by the rash pontiff, advi­sed him not to expose his person at the diet of [Page 25]Worms, notwithstanding the imperial safe-conduct (which, in a similar case, had not been sufficient to protect John Huss and Jerome of Prague from the perfidy and curelty of their enemies), he answered with his usual intrepe­dity, that were he obliged to encounter at Worms as many devils as there were tiles upon the hou­ses of that city, this would not deter him from his fixed purpose of appearing there; that fear, in his case, could be only a suggestion of Satan, who apprehended the approaching ruin of his kingdom, and who was willing to avoid a public defeat before such a grand assembly as the diet of Worms.

Luther, therefore, appeared at Worms, se­cured against the violence of his enemies by a safe-conduct from the emperor, and, on the 17th of April, and the day following, pleaded his cause before that grand assembly with the utmost resolution and presence of mind. The united power of threatnings and entreaties were employed to conquer the firmness of his purpose, to engage him to renounce the propositions he had hitherto maintained, and to bend him to a submission to the Roman pontiff. But he refu­sed all this with a noble obstinacy, and decla­red solemnly, that he would neither abandon his opinions, nor change his conduct, until he was previously convinced, by the word of God, or the dictates of right reason, that his opini­ons were erroneous, and his conduct unlawful [Page 26]When therefore neither promises nor threat­nings could shake the constancy of this magna­nimous reformer, he obtained, indeed, from the emperor the liberty of returning, unmolest­ed, to his home; but after his departure from the diet, he was condemned by the unanimous suffrages both by the emperor and the princes, and was declared an enemy of the holy Roman empire. Frederick, who law the storm rising against Luther, used the best precautions to se­cure him from its violence. For this purpose he sent three or four persons, in whom he could confide, to meet him on his return from the diet, in order to conduct him to a place of safety. These emissaries, disguised by masks, executed their commission with the utmost se­crecy and success. Meeting with Luther, near Eysenac, they seized him, and carried him into the castle of Wertenburg, not, as some have imagined upon probable grounds, was this done without the knowledge of his Imperial majesty. In this retreat, which he called his Patmos, the Saxon reformer lay con­cealed during the space of ten months, and emploved this involuntary leisure in compositi­ons that were afterwards useful to the world.

The active spirit of Luther could not howe­ver, long bear this confinement; he therefore left his Patinos in the month of March, of the year 1522, without the consent, or even the knowledge, of his patron and protector Frede­rick, [Page 27]and repaired to Wittenburg. One of the principal motives that engaged him to take this bold step, was the information he had re­ceived of the inconsiderate conduct of Carlostadt, and some other friends of the reformation, who had already excited tumults in Saxony, and were acting in a manner equally prejudicial to the tranquility of the state, and the true inte­rests of the church. Luther opposed the impe­tuosity of this imprudent reformer with the ut­most fortitude and dignity; and to these pru­dent admonitions this excellent reformer added the influence of example, by applying himself with redoubled industry and zeal, to his German translation of the Holy Scriptures, which he carried on with expedition and success, with the assistance of some learned and pious men, whom he consulted in this great and important undertaking. The event abundantly shewed the wisdom of Luther's advice. For the differ­ent parts of this translation, being successively and gradually spread abroad among the people, produced sudden and almost incredible effects, and exterpated, root and branch, the erroneous principles and superstitions doctrines of the church of Rome from the minds of a prodigious number of persons.

While these things were transacting, Leo X. departed this life, and was succeeded in the pontificate by Adrian VI. a native of Utrecht. This pope, who had formerly been preceptor [Page 28]to Charles V. and who owed his new dignity to the good offices of that prince, was a man of probity and candour, who acknowledged inge­niously that the church laboured under the most fatal disorders, and declared his willingness to apply the remedies that should be judged the most adapted to heal them. He began his pon­tificate by sending a legate to the diet, which was assembled at Nuremberg in 1522. Francis Cheregato, the person who was intrusted with this commission, had positive orders to demand the speedy and vigorous execution of the sen­tence that had been pronounced against Luther and his followers at the diet of Worms; but, at the same time, he was authorised to declare that the pontiff was ready to remove the abuses and grievances that had armed such a formidable enemy against the see of Rome. The princes of the empire, encouraged by this declaration on the one hand, and by the absence of the emperor, who, at this time, resided in Spain, on the other, seized this opportunity of propo­sing the summoning a general council in Ger­many, in order to deliberate upon the proper methods of bringing about an universal refor­mation of the church. They exhibited, at the same time, an hundred articles, containing the heaviest complaints of the injurious treatment the Germans had hitherto received from the court of Rome, and, by a public law, prohib­ited all innovation in religions matters, until a [Page 29]general council should decide what was to be done in an affair of such high moment and im­portance.

The pope Adrian did not long enjoy the pleasure of sitting at the head of the church. He died in the year 1523, and was succeeded by Clement VII. a man of a reserved character, and prone to artifice. This pontiff sent to the imperial diet at Nuremberg, in the year 1524, a cardinal-legate, named Campegius, whose orders, with respect to the affairs of Luther, breathed nothing but severity and violence, and who inveighed against the lenity of the German princes in delaying the execution of the decree of Worms, while he carefully avoid­ed the smallest mention of the promise Adrian had made to reform the corruptions of a super­stitious church. The emperor seconded the demands of Campegius by the orders he sent to his minister to insist upon the execution of the sentence which had been pronounced against Luther and his adherents at the diet of Worms. The princes of the empire, tired out by these importunities and remonstrances, changed in appearance the law they had passed, but con­firmed it in reality. For while they promised to observe, as far as was possible, the edict of Worms, they, at the same time, renewed their demands of a general council, and left all other matters in dispute to be examined and decided at the diet that was soon to be assembled at [Page 30]Spire. The pope's legate, on the other hand, perceiving by these proceedings, that the German princes in general were no enemies to the reformation, retired to Ratisbon, with the bishops and those of the princes that adhered to the cause of Rome, and there drew from them a new declaration, by which they engaged themselves to execute rigorously the edict of Worms in their respective dominions.

While the efforts of Luther towards the re­formation of the church were daily crowned with growing success, and almost all the nations seemed disposed to open their eyes upon the light, two unhappy occurrences, one of a fo­reign, and the other of a domestic nature, con­tributed greatly to retard the progress of this salutary and glorious work. The domestic, or internal incident, was a controversy concerning the manner in which the body and blood of Christ were present in the eucharist, that arose among those whom the Roman pontiff had publicly excluded from the communion of the church, and unhappily produced among the friends of the good cause the most deplorable animosities and divisions. Luther and his fol­lowers, though they had rejected the monstrous doctrine of the church of Rome with respect to the transubstatiation, or change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, were nevertheless of opinion, that the partakers of the Lord's supper received, along with the [Page 31]bread and wine, the real body and blood of Christ. Carlostadt, who was Luther's colleague, understood the matter quite other­wise, and his doctrine, which was afterwards illustrated and confirmed by Zoinglius with much more ingenuity than he had proposed it, amounted to this: ‘That the body and blood of Christ were not really present in the eucharist; and that the bread and wine were no more than external signs, and symbols, designed to excite in the minds of Christians, the remembrance of the sufferings and death of the divine Saviour, and of the benefits which arise from it.’ This opinion was embraced by all the friends of the reformation in Switzerland, and by a considerable number of its votaries in Germany. On the other hand, Luther maintained his doctrine, in relation to this point, with the utmost obstinacy; and hence arose, in the year 1524, a tedious and vehement controversy, which not withstanding the zealous endeavours that were used to re­concile the contending parties, terminated, at length in a fatal division between those who had embarked together in the sacred cause of religion and liberty.

To these intestine divisions were added the horrors of a civil war, which was the fatal ef­fect of oppression on the one hand, and of enthusiasim on the other; and, by its unhappy consequences, was prejudicial to the cause and [Page 32]progress of the reformation. In the year 1525, a prodigious multitude of seditions fanaticks a­rose like a whirlwind, all of a sudden, in dif­ferent parts of Germany, took arms, united their forces, waged war against the laws, the magistrates, and the empire in general, laid waste the country with fire and sword, and exhibited daily the most horrid spectacles of unrelenting barbarity. The greatest part of this furious and formidable mob was composed of peasants and vassals, who groaned under hea­vy burthens, and declared they were no longer able to bear the despotic severity of their chiefs; and hence this sedition was called the Rustic war, or the war of the peasants. But no soon­er had the enthusiast Munzer put himself at the head of this outrageous rabble, than the face of things changed entirely, and by the instiga­tion of this man, who had deceived numbers before this time by his pretended visions and inspirations, the civil commotions in Saxony and Thuringia were soon directed towards a new object, and were turned into a religious war. The sentiments, however, of this sedi­tious and dissolute multitude were greatly divi­ded, and their demands were very different. Luther, sufficiently defended both his principles and his cause against this turbulent sect, by the advice he addressed to the princes of the em­pire to take arms against them. And, accord­ingly, in the year 1525, this odious faction [Page 33]faction was defeated and destroyed, in a pitched battle fought at Mulhausen; and Munzer, their ringleader, taken, and put to death.

Luther laid aside the friar's habit in October, 1524; and married Catharine de Bore, a lady of noble descent, who, with eight other nuns, was taken out of the nunnery at Nimptschen in 1523, and carried to Wittenburg, by Leo­nard Coppen, of Torgan. Luther vindicated that action, and intended to marry Catharine to Glacious minister of Ortamunden, whose person she disliked; and so Luther married her himself, on the 13th of June, 1525, without consulting his friends: But Luther says, he took a wife in obedience to his father's com­mand. Luther was then forty-two, and his wife was twenty-six. He was so far from be­ing ashamed of entering into the holy state of matrimony, that he exorted the elector of Mentz, and the grand master of the Teutonic order, to follow his example; which was done by the latter, notwithstanding, the censure of the Romanists. This grand master was Albert margrave of Brandenburg, for whom that part of Prussia which belonged to the Teutonic or­der was formed into a secular duty.—He em­braced the Lutheran religion, renounced his vow of celibacy, and married Anna Maria of Brunswick. He afterwards conformed to the Augsburg confession, and founded an univer­sity at Koningsberg, in 1544, that the protes­tant [Page 34]religion might be introduced and establish­ed in Prussia, and all the professors were to be Lutherians. In those times, marriage soon became a recommendation among the reformers, and was a certain proof that they had abjured popery; for if a converted clergyman did not marry he caused a suspicion that he had not renounced the doctrine of celibacy.

Luther was very fond of his wife, and used to call her his Catharine. She was handsome and modest: But he professed himself, that one great reason which induced him to marry was, to give an example of the doctrine he preached against celibacy, and to shew, that he was not afraid or ashamed to do himself, what he exor­ted and enjoined in others.

While the fanatical insurrection raised in Germany, Frederick the wise elector of saxony, departed this life. This excellent prince, whose character was distinguished by an uncommon degree of prudence and moderation, had, du­ring his life, been a sort of mediator between the Roman pontiff and the reformer of Witten­burg. The elector John, his brother and suc­cessor, acted in a quite different manner. Con­vinced of the truth of Luther's doctrine, and persuaded that it must lose ground and be soon suppressed if the despotic authority of the Ro­man pontiff remained undisputed and entire, he, without hesitation or delay, assumed to [Page 35]himself the supremacy in ecclesiastical matters, and founded and established a church in his dominions, totally different from the church of Rome, in doctrine, discipline, and government. To bring this new and happy establishment to as great a degree of perfection as was possible, this resolute and active prince ordered a body of new laws, relating to the form of ecclesiasti­cal government, the method of public worship, and other matters of that nature, to be drawn up by Luther and Melancthon, and promulgated by heralds throughout his dominions in the year 1527. The illustrious example of this elec­or was followed by all the princes and states of Germany, who renounced the papal supremacy and jurisdiction; and a like form of worship, discipline, and government was thus introduced into all the churches, which dissented from that of Rome. Hence was an open rupture formed between the German princes, of whom oue party embraced the reformation, and the other adhered to the superstitions of their fore­fathers.

Things being reduced to this violent and troubled state, the patrons of popery gave inti­mations, that were far from being ambiguous, of their intention to make war upon the Lu­theran party, and to suppress by force a doc­trine which they were incapable of overturning by argument; and this design would certainly [Page 36]have been put in execution, had not the trou­bles of Europe disconcerted their measures. The Lutherans, on the other hand, informed of these hostile intentions, began also to delibe­rate upon the most effectual methods of defend­ing themselves against superstition armed with violence, and formed the plan of a confedera­cy that might answer this prudent purpose. In the mean time the diet assembled at Spire, in the year 1526, at which Ferdinand, the emperors brother, presided, ended in a man­ner more favourable to the friends of the refor­mation, than they could naturally expect. The emperors embassadors at this diet were ordered to use their most earnest endeavours for the suppression of all farther disputes con­cerning religion, and to insist upon the rigour-ous execution of the sentence that had been pronounced at Worms against Luther and his followers. The greatest part of the German princes opposed this motion with the utmost resolution, declaring, that they could not ex­ecute that sentence, nor come to any determi­nation with respect to the doctrines by which it had been occasioned, before the whole mat­ter was submitted to the cognizance of a gene­ral council lawfully assembled; alledging far­ther, that the decision of controversies of this kind belonged properly to such a council, and to it alone. This opinion after long and warm [Page 37]debates, was adopted by a great majority, and, at length, consented to by the whole assem­bly.

Nothing could be more favourable to those who had the cause of pure and genuine Christi­anity at heart, than a resolution of this nature. For the emperor was, at this time, so entirely taken up in regulating the troubled state of his dominions in France, Spain, and Italy, which exhibited, from day to day, new scenes of per­plexity, that, for some years, it was not in his power to turn his attention to the affairs of Germany in general, and still less to the state of religion in particular, which was beset with difficulties, that, to a political prince like Charles, must have appeared peculiarly critical and dangerous. Besides, had the emperor real­ly been possessed of leisure to form, or of power to execute, a plan that might terminate, in savour of the Roman pontiff, the religious dis­putes which reigned in Germany, it is evident, that the inclination was wanting, and that Clement VII. who now sat in the papal chair, had nothing to expect from the good offices of Charles V. For this pontiff, after the defeat of Francis I. at the battle of Pavia, filled with uneasy apprehensions of the growing power of the emperor in Italy, entered into a confedera­cy with the French and the Venetians against that prince. And this measure inflamed the resentment and indignation of Charles to such [Page 38]a degree, that he ab [...]lished the papal authority in his Spanish dominions, made war upon the p [...]pe in Italy, laid siege to Rome in the year 1527, blocked up Clement in the castle of St. Angelo, and exposed him to the most severe and contumelius treatment. These critical events, together with the liberty granted by the diet of Spire, were prudently and industri­ously improved, by the friends of the reforma­tion, to the advantage of their cause, and to the augmentation of their number. In the mean time, Luther and his fellow-labourers, particularly those who were with him at Wit­tenberg, by their writings, their instructions, their admonitions and counsels, inspired the timorous with fortitude, dispelled the doubts of the ignorant, fixed the principles and reso­lution of the floating and inconstant, and ani­mated all the friends of genuine Christianity with a spirit suitable to the grandeur of their undertaking.

But the tranquility and liberty they enjoyed, in consequence of the resolutions taken in the first diet of Spare, were not of a long duration. They were interrupted by a new diet assem­bled, in the year 1529, in the same place, by the emperor, after he had appeased the commo­tions and troubles which had employed his attention in several parts of Europe, and con­cluded a treaty of peace with Clement VII. This prince, having now got rid of the burthen [Page 39]that had, for some time, overwhelmed him, had leisure to direct the affairs of the church; and this the reformers soon felt, by a disagree­able experience. For the power, which had been granted by the former diet to every prince, of managing ecclesiastical matters as they thought proper; until the meeting of a general council, was now revoked by a majority of votes. This decree was justly considered as iniquirous and intolerable by the elector of Saxony, the landgrave of Hesse, and the other members of the diet, who were persuaded of the necessity of a reformation in the church. Therefore, when the princes and members now mentioned found that all their arguments and remonstrances against this unjust decree made no impression upon Ferdinand, nor upon the abettors of the ancient superstitions, they enter­ed a solemn protest against this decree on the 19th of April, and appealed to the emperor and to a future council. Hence arose the denomi­nation of Protestants, which from this period has been given to those who renounce the superstitious communion of the church of Rome.

The ministers of the churches, which had embraced the sentiments of Luther, were pre­paring a new embassy to the emperor, when an account was received of a design formed by that prince to come into Germany, with a view to terminate, in the approaching diet at Augsburg, [Page 40]the religious disputes that had produced such animosities and divisions in the empire. Hi­therto, indeed; it was not easy for the emperor to form a clear idea of the matters in debate, since their was no regular system as yet com­posed, of the doctrines embraced by Luther and his followers, by which their real opinions, and the true causes of their opposition to the Roman pontiff, night be known with certain­ty. As, therefore, it was impossible, without some declaration of this nature, to examine with accuracy, or decide with equity, a matter of such high importance as that which gave rise to the divisions between the votaries of Rome. Luther, in compliance with this order, deliver­ed to the elector, at Torgaw, the seventeen articles, which had been drawn up and agreed on in the conference at Sulzbach in the year 1529; and hence they were called the Articles of Torgaw. Though these articles were deemed by Luther a sufficient declaration of the senti­ments of the reformers, yet it was judged pro­per to enlarge them; and, by a judicious de­tail, to give perspicuity to their arguments, and thereby strength to their cause. It was this consideration that engaged the protestant princes, assembled at Coburg and Augsburg, to employ Melancthon in extending these arti­cles, in which important work he shewed a due regard to the counsels of Luther, and expressed [Page 41]his sentiments and doctrine with the greatest elegance and perspicuity.

Charles V. arrived at Augsburg the 15th of June 1530, and on the 20th, the diet was opened. As it was unanimously agreed, that the affairs of religion should be brought upon the carpet before the deliberations relating to the intended war with the Turks, the protest­ant members of this great assembly received from the emperor a formal permission to present to the diet, on the 25th of June, an account of their religious principles and tenets. In conse­quence of this, the chancellor of Saxony, read, in the German language, in presence of the emperor and assembled princes, the famous confession, which has been since distinguished by the denomination of the Confession of Augs­burg. The princes heard it with the deepest at­tention and recollection of mind; it confirmed some in the principles they had embraced, sur­prised others, and many, who, before this time, had little or no idea of the religious sentiments of Luther, were now not only convinced of their innocence, but were moreover, delighted with their purity and simplicity.

The tenor and contents of the confession of Augsburg are well known. The style that reigns in it is plain, elegant, grave, and per­spicuous, such as becomes the nature of the subject. The matter was, undoubtedly, sup­plied by Luther, who, during the diet, resided [Page 42]Coburg, a town in the neighbourhood of Augs­burg; and, even the form it received from the elegant pen of his colleague, was authorised in consequence of his approbation and advice. This confession contains twenty-eight chapters, of which the greatest part are employed in re­presenting, with perspicuity a [...]d truth, the reli­gious opinions of the protestants, and the rest in pointing out the errors and abuses that occasioned their separation from the church of Rome.

The creatures of the Roman pontiff, who were present at this diet, employed John Fa­ber, afterwards bishop of Vienna, together with Eckius, and another doctor, named Cochlaeus, to draw up a refutation of this fa­mous confession. This pretended refutation having been read publickly in the assembly, the emperor demanded of the protestant members that they would acquiesce in it, and put an end to their religious debates by an unlimited sub­mission to the doctri [...]es and opinions contained in this answer. But this demand was far from being complied with. The protestants declared, on the contrary, that they were by no means satisfied with the reply of their adversaries, and earnestly desired a copy of it, that they might demonstrate more fully its extreme insufficiency and weakness. This reasonable request was refused by the emperor, who, on this occasion, as well as on several others, shewed more re­gard [Page 43]to the importunity of the pope's legate and his party, than to the demands of equity, can­dour, and justice.

On the 19th day of November, a severe de [...]ree was issued out, by the express order of the emperor, during the absen [...]e of the chief supporters of the protestant cause; and, in this decree, every thing was manifestly adapted to deject the friends of religious liberty, if we ex­cept a saint and dubio is promise of engaging the pope to assemble (in about six months after the separation of the diet) a general council. The dignity and excellen [...]e of the papal reli­gion are extolled, be [...]ond measure, in this partial decree; a new de [...]ree of sever [...] and force, added to that which had bee [...] p [...]bl [...]ed at Worms against Luther and his adhe [...]s; the changes that had been introd [...]c [...]d into the doctrine and discipline of the protestan [...] ch [...]rch­es, severely censured; and a solemn or [...]er addressed to the princes, states, and cities, that had thrown off the papal yoke, to ret [...]rn on their duty and their allegiance to Rome, on pain of mourring the indignation and ve [...]geance of the emperor, as the patron and protector of the church.

No s [...]oner were the elector of Saxony and the confederate princes informed of this deplo­rable issue of the diet of Aug [...]burg, than they assembled in [...]rder to deliberate upon the mea­sures that were proper to be taken on this [Page 44]critical occasion. In the year 1530, and the year following, they met, first at smalcald, afterwards at Frankfort, and formed a solemn alliance and confederacy, with the intention of defending vigorously their religion and liberties against the dangers and encroachments with which they were menaced. Amidst these emo­tions and preparations, which portended an approaching rupture, the elector Palatine, and the elector of Mentz, offered their mediation, and endeavoured to reconcile the contending princes.

Many projects of reconciliation were propo­sed; and after various negociations, a treaty of peace was concluded at Nuremberg, in the year 1532, between the emperor and the pro­testant princes, on the following conditions; that the latter should furnish a subsidy for car­rying on the war against the Turks, and ac­knowledge Ferdinand lawful king of the Ro­mans; and that the emperor, on his part, should abrogate and annul the edicts of Worms and Augsburg, and allow the Lutherans the free unmolested exercise of their religious doctrine and discipline, until a rule of faith was fixed either in the free general council that was to be assembled in the space of six months, or in a diet of the empire.

The religious truce, concluded at Nurem­berg, inspired with new vigour and resolution all the friends of the reformation. It gave [Page 45]strength to the feeble, and perseverance to the bold. Encouraged by it, those who had been hitherto only secret enem [...]es to the Roman pon­tiff, spurned now his [...]oke publicly, and refu­sed to submit to his imper [...]ous jurisdiction. This appears from the various cities and provinces in Germany, which, about this time, boldly en­listed themselves under the religious standard of Luther.

About the beginning of the year 1527. Lu­ther was attacked by a very severe illness, which brought him near to his grave. He ap­plied himself to prayer, made a confession of his faith, and lamented grievously his on worthiness of martyrdom, which he had so of [...]en and so ardently desired. In this situation he made a will, for he had a son, and his wife was again with child, in which he recommended his fa­mily to the care of heaven: ‘Lord God▪ says he, I thank thee, that thou wouldest have me poor on earth and a beggar. I have neither house, nor land, nor possessions, nor money, to leave. Thou hast given me a wife and children: Take them, I beseech thee, under thy care and preserve them, as thou hast preserved me,’ He bequeathed his detestation of popery to his friends and bre­thren; agreeably to what he often used to say, i. e. Living, I was the plague of the pope; and dying, I shall be his death.

Luther, from about this period, having laid [Page 46]the great foundation of the reformation, was chiefly employed in raising and completing the superstructure. The remainder of his life was spent, in exhorting princes, states, and univer­sities, to confirm the great work, which had been brought about through him; and in pu­blishing from time to time such writings, as might encourage, direct, and assist them in doing it. The emperor threatened temporal punishment with armies; and the pope eternal pains with bulls and corses; but Luther, arm­ed with the intrepidity of grace, over and above his own courageous nature, regarded neither the one nor the other. His friend and assistant Melancthon could not be so indifferent; for Melancthon had a great deal of softness, moderation and diffidence in his constitution, which made him very uneasy and alarmed at these formidable appearances. Hence we find many of Luther's letters were written on pur­pose to comfort him under these anxieties: ‘I am (says he in one of these letters) much weaker than you in private confl [...]cts, if I may call those conflicts private, which I have with the devil; but you are much weaker than me in public. You are all distrust in the public cause; I, on the contrary, am very confident; because I know it is a just and true cause, the cause of God and of Christ, which need not tremble or be abashed. But the [Page 47]case is different with me in my private con­flicts, feeling myself a most miserable sinner, and therefore have great reason to lo [...]k pale and tremble. Upon this account it is, that I can be almost an in [...]ifferent spectator amidst all the no [...]sy th [...]e us and b [...]llyings of the pa­pists; f [...]r if we fall, the kingdom of Christ falls with us: And if it sh [...]uld fall, I had rather fall with Christ than stand with Cae­sar." So again a little farther: "You, Melancthon, cannot bear these disorders; and labour to have things transacted by rea­son, and agreeably to that spirit of calmness and moderation wh [...]ch your philosophy dic­tates. You might as well attempt to be mad with reason. Dont you see, that the matter is entirely out of your power and manage­ment, and that even Christ himself forbids your measures to take place? If the cause be bad, indeed, let us renounce it: But if it be good, why do we make God a liar, who hath promised to support us? Does he make his promises to the wind, or to his people?’

Luther preached his last sermon at Witten­burg on the seventeenth of January, 1546; and, on the twentythird, set out for Isleben, where he was honorable entertained by the count, who escorted him to his apartments with one hundred horse. Luther attended the business upon which he came from the twenty-ninth [Page 48]of January, to the seventeenth of Febru­ary, when he sickened a little before supper of his usual illness. This was an oppression of humors in the opening of the stomach, with which Melancthon, who was with him, had seen him frequently afflicted. His pain increas­ed, and he went to bed, were he slept till mid­night, when he awaked in such anguish that he found his life was near at an end. He then prayed in these words: ‘I pray God to pre­serve the doctrine of his gospel among us; for the pope and the council of Trent have grievous things in hand.’ After which, he said, ‘O heavenly Father, my gracious God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou God of all consolation, I give thee hearty thanks that thou hast revealed to me thy Son Jesus Christ, whom I believe, whom I profess, whom I love, whom I glorify, and whom the pope and the multitude of the wicked do persecute and dishonour.—I be­seech thee Lord Jesus Christ, receive my soul. O my heavenly Father, though I be taken out of this life, and must lay down this frail body; yet I certainly know, that I shall live with thee eternally, and that I cannot be taken out of thy hands. God so loved the world, &c. Lord, I render up my spirit into, thy hands, and come to thee. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit: Thou, O God of truth, hast redeemed me!’ Albert [Page 49]count of Mansfield, Melancthon, Justus Jonas, and several other friends, attended him in his last moments, joining him in prayer, that God would preserve the doctrine of his gospel among them. Melancthon says of Luther, that ha­ving frequently repeated his prayers, he was called to God, ‘unto whom he so faithfully commended his spirit, to enjoy, no doubt, the blessed society of the patriarchs, pro­phets, and apostles, in the kingdom of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.’

Luther died on the eighteenth of February, 1546, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. A thousand fables have been invented concerning his death; nor would his enemies forbear pu­blishing lies on this subject long after he had left this world. Some have said, that he died suddenly; others that he killed himself; and some have impudently proceeded so far as to give out that he was taken away by the devil. Nor are they people of mean figure and credit, who vent these calumnies, but the most famous writers, as Cochlaeus, Bessaeus, Bozius, Fabia­nus, Justinian, and Bellarmine. This, says Bayle, reflects on the whole body of popery; for such fables ought not to pass the press. He was honourably interred at Wittenberg.

Luther left a widow, three sons, and two daughters. Whilst the troops of Charles V. were at Wittenberg, in the year 1547, the [Page 50]Spaniards solicited the emperor to pull down Luther's monument, and wanted to dig up his bones; But the emperor had more generosity and prudence, than to consent to a procedure so base and infamous.

His commentary on the epistle to the Gala­tians, was his favourite work, which he used to call his wife, his Catharine de Bore.

His favourite doctrine was justification by faith alone, and not by works, moral, legal, or evangelical: But we must do him the justice to observe, that he perpetually inculcated the absolute necessity of good works. According to him, a man is justified only by faith; but he cannot be justified without works; and where those works are not to be found, there is assu­redly no true faith.

It has also been said of Luther, that it was a great miracle a poor friar should be able to stand against the pope: It was a greater that he should prevail: And the greatest of all that he died in peace, as well as Erasmus, when sur­rounded by so many enemies.

The doctrine of this eminent divine, and great reformer; was soon extended through all Germany, Denmark, Sweden, England, and other countries, under different modifica­tions.

Luther's works were collected after his death, and printed at Wittenberg in seven volumes folio.

[Page 51] Our serious readers will, perhaps, be pleased with the insertion of some remarkable sayings and observations of this great man. Erasmus confessed, ‘that there more solid divinity con­tained in one leaf of Luther's commentaries, than could be found in many prolix treatises of schoolmen, and such kind of authors.’ Speaking of the pope's using the mass for de­parted souls, Luther observed, that ‘he with his mass was not satisfied to thrust himself into all corners of the earth, but he must needs go tumbling down into the very bosom of hell.’

He used to call the indulgence-merchants, purse threshers.

There were many plots laid against his life, which the bloody papists sought after by all means. Poisen, daggers, pistols, were inten­ded; when fire and faggot could not be used, through the elector's protection. A Polish Jew was hired for 2000 crowns to poison him. ‘The plot (says Luther) was discovered to me by the letters of my friends. He is a doctor of physic, and dares to attempt any thing; He would go about this business with incredible craft and agility. He is just now apprehended.’—However, God preserved him from the malice of his enemies. It shews, however, what papists can attempt (says Mel­chior Adam); and if we wanted further proof of it, the words of Alexander, the pope's legate, [Page 52]are sufficient. ‘Though you Germans (said he), who pay the least of all people to the Roman see, have shaken of the pope's yoke; yet we will take care, that ye shall be de­voured with civil wars, and perish in your own blood.’—A pious resolution indeed!

When Luther's bold manner of expressing himself was censured, he replied; ‘Almost all men condemn my tartness of expression; but I am of your opinion, (says he to his friend) that God will have the deceits of men thus powerfully exposed. For I plainly per­ceive, that those things, which are softly dealt with in our corrupt age, give people but light concern, and are presently forgot­ten.—If I have exceeded the bounds of mo­deration, the monstrous turpitude of the times has transported me. Nor do I transcend the example of Christ, who, having to do with men of like manners, called them sharply by their own proper names, such as, an adulte­rous and perverse generation, a brood of vi­pers, hypocrites, children of the devil, who could not escape the damnation of hell.’—Erasmus, with all his refinement, could own, ‘That God had sent in Luther a sharp physci­an, in consideration of the immensity of the diseases, which had infected this last age of the world.’

Luther caused the Psalms, used in worship, to be translated into German. ‘We intend [Page 53](says he to Spalatinus), after the example of the prophets and primitive father's of the church, to turn the Psalms, for spiritual singing, into the vulgar tongue for the com­mon people; so that the word of God may remain among the people even in their sing­ing. Upon this account, we seek for some poets: And as you possess the copiousness and elegenoe of the German, which you have greatly cultivated; I would request your assistance in this business. Let the sense be clear, and as close as possible to the original. To preserve the sense, when you cannot render word for word, it may be right to use such a phrase as will most per­fectly convey the idea. I confess, I am not sufficiently qualified myself; and therefore would request you to try how near you can approach to Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun.’

He used to say of himself and the other mini­sters; ‘We are only planters and waterers, in administering the word and sacrament; but the increase is not in our power.’

Concerning our righteousness, he observed; ‘Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness: but I am altogether sin; Thou hast taken what was mine, and hast given me what was thine; thou hast taken what thou wast not and hast given me what I had not before.’

Respecting ceremonies, he said; ‘I co [...] demn [Page 54]no ceremonies, but such as oppose or obscure the gospel.’

With regard to human learning, he thus expressed himself; ‘I am persuaded, that true divinity could not well be supported without the knowledge of letters: Of this we have sad proof, for while learning was decay­ed and in ruins, theology fell too, and lay most wretchedly obscured. I am sure, that the revelation and manifestation of the word of God would never have been so extensive and glorious as it is, if preparitorily, like so many John Baptists smoothing the way, the knowledge of lan­guages and good learning had not risen [...]p among us.—They are most exceedingly mistaken, who imagine, that the knowledge of nature and true philosophy is of no use to a divine.’

He advised, in the case of temptations, in this manner; ‘I would comfort those, that are tried in their faith and hope towards God, in this way; first, let them avoid solitariness, keep always in good company, sing the psalmns, and converse upon the holy scrip­tures. Secondly, Though it be the most difficult point to work upon the mind, yet it is the most present remedy, if they can, through grace, persuade themselves, that these [...]evous thoughts are not their own, but Satan's; and that, therefore, they [Page 55]should earnestly endeavour to turn the heart to other objects, and quit these evil sugges­tions: For to dwell upon them, or fight with them, or to a [...]m to overcome them, or to wait for an end of them; [...]s only to irri­tate and strengthen them, even to perdition, without relief.’

Luther frequently said; ‘That a preacher should take care not to bring three little sly d [...]gs [...]int [...] his profession; viz. PRIDE, COVET­OUSN [...]SS, and ENVY.’ To which he added to preachers; ‘When you observe the people hear most attentively; be assured, they will return they more readily. Three things make a divine, meditation, prayer, and temptation. And three things are to be re­membered by a minister; turnover and over the bible; pray devoutly; and be never above learning.—They are the best preachers for the common people, who speak in the meanest, lowest, humblest, and most simple style.’

In private life, Luther was an example of the strictest virtue. At dinner or supper, he would often dictate matter of preaching to others, or correct the press; and sometimes amuse himself with music, in which he took great delight. Though a large man, he was a very moderate eater and drinker, and not at all delicate in his appetite, for he usually fed upon he simplest diet. He much delighted in his [Page 56]garden, and was very fond of cultivating it with all kinds of plants. In short he was never idle.

Though he had not much himself, he very freely bestowed of what he had upon others. A poor student, asking money of him, he desi­red his wife to give some, who excusing herself on account of their poverty; he took up a silver cup and gave it to the scholar, bidding him to sell it to the goldsmith, and keep the money f [...]r his occasions. When a friend sent him two hundred pieces of gold, he bestowed them all on poor scholars. And when the elector gave him a new gown, he wrote in answer, ‘That too much was done; for if we receive all in this life, we shall have nothing to hope for in the next.’ He took nothing of printers, for his works, to his own use, saying, ‘'Tis true I have no money, but am indeed poor; yet I deal in this moderate manner with printers, and take nothing from them for my variety of labours, except sometimes a copy or two.’ This, I believe, may be due to me, when other authors, even translators, "for every sheet have their stipulated price." When he had some money sent him, he wrote thus to a friend: ‘I have received by Tauben­heim an hundred pieces of gold; and at the same time Schart has sent me fifty; so that I begin to fear, lest God should give me my portion here. But I solemnly protest, that [Page 57]I would not be satisfied from HIM: I will either presently return, or get rid of them. For what is so much money to me? I have given half of it to Prior, and made him very happy.’

He had great tenderness for his family. When he saw Magdalen his eldest daughter at the point of death, he read to her this passage from the xxvith of Isaiah: Thy dead man shall live together with my dead body shall they arise: Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my peo [...]le, enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee: Hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. ‘My daugh­ter, do thou enter (says he) into thy cham­ber with peace: I shall soon be with thee; for God will not permit me to see the judg­ments, that hang over Germany.’ And upon this he poured forth a flood of tears. Yet afterwards, when he attended the funeral, he contained himself, so as not to appear to weep.

Being once asked, Whether we should know each other in heaven? he answered; ‘How was it with Adam? He had never seen Eve; for when God formed her, he was in a deep sleep, yet when he a waked and saw her, he did not ask, Who she was? or from whence she came? but immediately said, that she [Page 58]was flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone. How, then, d [...]d he know this? Being filled with the Holy Spirit, and endued with the true knowledge of God, he was able to de­termine upon the nat [...]re of things.—In like manner, we shall be perfectly renewed here­after through Christ; and shall know, with far greater perfection than can be conceived of here, our dearest relations, and indeed whatever exists; and in a mode, too, much super [...]or t [...] that [...] Adam [...] paradise.’

If we would know what was the ground of this wonderful man's magna [...]m [...]y, [...]t cannot be better expressed than it is by himself in a letter to Spala [...]ia [...]s, during the diet of Augsburg; ‘That kings, and princes, and people, (says he) rage against Christ, the Lord's annoint­ed, I esteem a go [...]d sign, and a much better one than [...]f they flattered. For it follows upon this, that he, who dwelleth in hea­ven, laughs them to scorn. And if our head laugh, I see no reason why we should weep before the faces of such beings. He does not laugh for his own sake, but for our's, that we, putting the more tr [...]t in h [...]n, might despise their empty designs; of so great need is faith, that the cause and ground of it is not to be perceived without faith. He, who began this work, began it without our advice and contrivance; he hath hither­to protected it; and hath ordered the whole [Page 59]above and beyond our counsels and imagina­tions. He also, I make no doubt, will carry on and complete the same, without and above all our conceptions and cares. I know and am assured of this, for I rest the whole upon him, who is able to do above all that we can ask or think. Yet our friend Philip Melanc­thon will contrive and desire, that God should work according to and within the compass of his puny notions, that he may have somewhat whereof to glory. Certain­ly (he would say) thus and thus it ought to be done; and thus and thus would I do it.' But this is poor stuff: 'Thus I Philip would do it.' This (I) is mighty flat. But hear how this reads; I AM THAT I AM, this is his name JEHOVAH: HE, even HE, will do it.—But I have done. Be strong in the Lord, and exhort Melancthon from me, that he aim not to sit in God's throne, but fight against that innate, that develish implanted ambition of our's, which would usurp the place of God; for that ambition will never further our cause. It thrust Adam and Eve out of paradise; and this alone per­plexes us, and turns our feet from the way of peace. We must be men, and not gods.’ The protestant champion knew full well where his strength lay—not in himself, but in his Sovereign. If deserted by his Covenant head, he felt the deep conviction, that every reed [Page 60]might make him tremble, and every blast of trial cast him down. He knew (to use the words of a late writer) that ‘if God changed from his purpose of saving a man, whenever the man, left to his own will, would change from the desire of being saved, he must re­nounce the strongest believer upon earth, in five minutes after he had ccommitted him to himself.’—But Luther had not so learned Christ.

Luther's memorable protestation, upon the article of justification, must not be omitted, and with it we shall close this account of his life. ‘I, Martin Luther, an unworthy preacher of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus profess and thus believe; that this article, THAT FAITH ALONE WITHOUT WORKS, CAN JUSTIFY BEFORE GOD, shall never be overthrown neither by the emperor, nor by the Turk, nor by the Tartar, nor by the Persian, nor by the pope, with all his car­dinals, bishops, sacrificers, monks, nuns, kings, princes, powers of the world, nor yet by all the devils in hell. This article shall stand fast, whether they will or no. This is the true gospel. Jesus Christ redeem­ed us from our sins, and he only. This most firm and certain truth is the voice of scripture, though the world and all the de­vils rage and roar. If Christ alone take [Page 61]away our sins, we cannot do this with our works; and as it is impossible to embrace Christ but by faith, it is, therefore, equally impossible to apprehend him by works. If then faith alone must apprehend Christ, be­fore works can follow, the conclusion is irre­fragable; that faith alone apprehends him, before and without the consideration of works: And this is o [...]r justification and deli­verance from sin. Then, and not till then, good works follow faith, as its necessary and in [...]epparable fruit. This is the doctrine I teach; and this the Holy Spirit and church of the faithful have delivered. In this I will abide. Amen.’

THIS eminent reformer was born, on the tenth of July, 1509, at Noyon, a city of France. His parents enjoyed a decent for­tune, and bestowed on him a liberal education. In all the branches of literature then known, his studies were attended with the most amazing and rapid success. He was originally designed for the church, and had actually obtained a benefice; but the light that broke in upon his religious sentiments, as well as the preference given by his father to the profession of the law, induced him to give up his ecclesiastical vocati­on, which he afterwards resumed in a purer church.

Calvin made great progress in the civil law; and pursued his private studies in the holy Scriptures with equal success. He was incited to the latter by Melchior Wolmar, who was professor of Greek at Bourges, and secretly a Lutheran.

While Calvin was studying the civil law at Bourges, he preached several sermons in a neighbouring town called Live [...]ta: But his father died in 1533; on which account he re­turned [Page 63]to Paris, in the twenty-third year of his age, with a resolution to make divinity his principal study. Soon after he came back to Paris, he became acquainted with all those who professed the reformed religion; and about this time, he embraced the doctrine of the reformers, and began publickly to teach it.

Calvin was esteemed in the French congrega­tions, as one of the most able and best qualified men to teach and defend the doctrine of the reformation, which had been introduced into that kingdom. His zeal exposed him to various perils, and the connexion he had formed with the friends of the reformation, whom Francis I. was daily committing to the flames, placed him more than once in imminent danger, from which he was delivered by the good offices of the queen of Navarre. To escape the impend­ing storms he returned to Basil, where he published his Christian Institutions; and prefix­ed to them that famous dedication to Francis I. which has attracted the admiration of succeeding ages, and which was intended to soften the fury of that prince against the protestants. The Institution are a body of divinity, containing the doctrines of the Christian religion, in a distinct and easy method. It was published in 1535, and afterwards translated into almost all the languages of Europe.

When Calvin had published this book, he made a journey into Italy, to wait on the duch­ess [Page 64]of Ferrara, the daughter of Lewis XII. She was a princess of exemplary piety, and a favourer of the reformation. Calvin met with a very gracious reception from her: But the duke of Ferrara would not suffer him to conti­nue long with his duchess; and he returned into France, to settle his affairs in that kingdom, from whence he prepared to set out for Stras­burgh, or Basil.

The war had left no other passage, but through the duke of Savoy's dominions, which obliged them to take that course. This seemed a particular direction of Providence, that de­signed him for Geneva, where he was kindly entertained by William Farel, who detained him there, as it were, by an order from a­bove.

Farel was a man of a truly heroic spirit, and used a great many arguments to prevail with Calvin to stay and assist him at Geneva, rather than proceed any farther. Calvin was unwilling to continue there, till Farel said to him, ‘Be­hold, I declare to you, in the name of Almigh­ty God, that unless you will here become fel­low-labourer in the work of the Lord, his curse will be upon you, for seeking yourself rather than Christ.’ Peter Viret seconded Farel, and Calvin then submitted to the judg­ment of the presbytery and magistrates; by whose suffrages, together with the consent of the people, he was chosen preacher, and [Page 65]divinity professor. He complied with the latter, and would have declined the former; but he was obliged to undertake both functions Cal­vin afterwards called Farel his ‘fellow-labour­er, to whom the Genevese owed even them­selves; that he was the father of their liberty; and the founder of their church.’

Hooker has given a full character of Calvin, as head of the Genevan discipline. ‘A founder it had, whom for mine own part, I think in­comparably the wisest man that ever the French church did enjoy, since it enjoyed him. His bringing up was in the study of the civil law. Divine knowledge he gather­ed not by hearing or reading so much, as by teaching others: For though thousands were debtors to him, as touching knowledge in that kind; yet he to none, but only to God, the author of that blessed fountain, the book of life; and of the admirable dexterity of wit, together with the helps of other learning, which were his guides; till being occasioned to leave France; he fell at length upon Geneva, which city the bishop and clergy thereof had a little before forsaken, as some do affirm; being of likelihood frighted with the people's sudden attempt, for the abolishment of the popish religion. At the coming of Calvin thither, the form of their civil regimen was popular, as it continueth to this day; neither king, nor duke, nor [Page 66]noblemen, of any authority or power over them; but officers chosen by the people, yearly out of themselves, to order all things with public consent. For spiritual govern­ment they had no laws at all agreed upon; but did what the pastors of their souls by persuasion could win them unto. Calvin considered how dangerous it was, that the whole estate of that church should hang still on so slender a thread, as the liking of an ignorant multitude, if it have power to change whatsoever itself liketh. Wherefore taking unto him two of the other mini­sters for more countenance of the action, albeit the rest were all against it, they moved and persuaded the people to bind themselves by solemn oath, first, never to admit the papacy amongst them again: and, secondly, to live in obedience unto such orders, concern­ing the exercise of their religion, and the form of their ecclesiastical government, as those their true and faithful ministers of God's word, had, agreeable to Scripture, set down to that end and purpose,’ Hence it appears, how extremely false and unjust the exclamati­ons of the papists against Calvin are, that he subverted the government, and turned the state of Geneva into confusion; whereas the truth is, the bishop of Geneva who, like some other prince-bishops in Germany, claimed the office of ruler, was expelled long before Calvin's [Page 67]arrival; and as the government was modelled into its democratic form, previous to his resi­dence, he did not believe that he had any divine authority to alter the civil constitution, if it had been in his power.

This reformation of doctrines had not remo­ved that corruption of manners which had prevailed in Geneva; nor that factious spirit which had so much divided the principal families. Therefore Calvin, assisted by his colleagues Farel and Caroldus, declared, that as all there remon­strances had proved ineffectuall, they could not celebrate the holy sacrament while those disor­ders continued. They also agreed, that they would no longer submit to the constitutions that the synod of Bern had made; and they desired to be heard in the synod which was to be held at Zurick.

The church of Geneva made use of leavened bread in the communion; they had removed the baptismal fonts out of the churches; and abolished all festivals except Sundays. But the churches of the canton of Bern disapproved of these three things; and, by an act made in the synod of Lausanne, required that the use of unleavened bread, the baptismal fonts, and the festivals should be re-established in Geneva. These were the regulations with which Calvin refused to comply.

The syndics of Geneva summoned the people in 1538; and Calvin, Farel, and Courant, [Page 68]presented themselves before the council, offer­ing to make good their confession of faith. The Syndics favoured the discontented party, and were catholics in their hearts. The coun­cil, under pretence of preserving the liberties and privileges of the city; and because Calvin and his friends would not conform to the custom of Bern in celebrating the communion, made an order to enjoin those three members to leave the city in three days. When this decree was brought to Calvin he said, ‘Truly, if I had served men, I should have had an ill reward: But it is well that I have served him, who doth always perform to his servants what he hath once promised.’

Calvin had no maintainance from the city, and lived at his own expence. He went to Basil, and from thence to Strasburgh, where Bucer and Capito gave him every mark of their esteem. He was also caressed by Hedio, and other learned men, who procured him permission from the magistrates to set up a French church, of which he became the pastor, and had a com­petant maintainance allowed him there. He was also made professor of divinity.

While Calvin was absent from Geneva, car­dinal Sadolet wrote an eloquent letter to the inhabitants of that city, to exhort them to re­turn into the bosom of the Romish church. Calvin answered that letter in 1539; in which he manifested his affection for the church of [Page 69]Geneva, and disappointed the views which the bishop of Carpentras had entertained in his fine artful letter to that state.

The time was now come for establishing the church at Geneva, by recalling Calvin ^. The Syndics who had promoted the decree of banish­ment were dead or banished; and the people were not before so willing to be rid of their learned pastor, as now importunate to obtain him again from them who had given him entertainment, and were unwilling to part with him, if irresistible solicitations had not been used.

One of the town ministers, who saw in what manner the people were inclined for the recall­ing of Calvin, gave him notice of their affection in this sort. ‘The senate of two hundred be­ing assembled, they all desire Calvin. The next day a general convocation; they all cry, we will have Calvin, that good and learned man, the minister of Christ.’ When Calvin understood this he praised GOD; and judged it was the call of heaven. He said, It is marvellous in our eyes; for the stone which the builders refused, was made the head of the corner. In his absence, he had persuaded them, with whom he was able to prevail, that though he more approved of common bread to be used in the eucharist; yet they should rather accept the other, than cause any trouble in the church about it.

[Page 70] The people saw that the name of Calvin in­creased every day greater abroad; and that with his same, their infamy was spread, who had ejected him with such rashness and folly.

He re-entered Geneva, (leaving Brulius to succeed him in the French church at Strasburgh) on the thirteenth of September, 1541, to the infinite satisfaction of the people and magistra­cy; and the first thing he did was to establish a form of discipline, and a consistorial jurisdiction, with power to exercise canonical censures and punishments, even to excommunication. This displeased many, who urged, that it was resto­ring the Roman tyranny: However, the thing was executed; and this new cannon passed into a law, in a general assembly of the people, on the twentieth of November, 1541.

He rightly considered how gross a thing it was for men of his quality, wise and grave men, to live with such a multitude, and to be tenants at will under them, as their ministers, both himself and others, had been. For the remedy of this inconvenience, he gave them plainly to understand, that if he became their teacher again, they must be content to admit a com­plete form of discipline, which both they, and also their pastors, should be solemnly swore to observe for ever after. Of which discipline the principal parts were these: A standing ecclesi­astical court to be established: perpetual judges in that court to be their ministers, others of the [Page 71]people annually chosen, twice so many in num­ber as they, to be judges together with them in the same court: These two sorts to have the care of all men's manners, power of deter­mining all kind of ecclesiastical causes, and authority to convent, control, and punish, as far as with excommunication, whoever they should think worthy, none, either small or great, excepted.

Both the clergy and laity of Geneva engaged themselves to a perpetual observance of the new institution made by Calvin, whose inflexible severity, in maintaining the rights of his con­sistory, raised him a great many enemies, and occasioned some disorders in the city. Howe­ver, he surmounted all opposition, and also governed the protestants in France, who al­most all held the doctrine of Calvin, and recei­ved ministers from Geneva, who presided in their congregations.

Of all the undertakings of Calvin, there was none that involved him in so much trouble, or exposed him to such imminent danger, as the plan he had formed, with such resolution and fortitude, of purging the church by the exclusion of obstinate and scandalous offenders, and inflicting severe punishments on all such as violated the laws, enacted by the church, or by the Consistory, which was its representa­tive. The party at Geneva, which Calvin cal­led the sect of Libertines (because they defended [Page 72]the licentious customs of ancient times, the erection of slews, and such like matters, not only by their discourse and their actions, but even by force of arms), was both numerous and powerful. But the courage and resolution of this great reformer gained the ascendant, and triumphed over the opposition of his ene­mies.

Dupin says, ‘The doctrine of Calvin con­cerning the sacrament, is not fundamentally different from that of the Zuing lians; though he uses very positive words to express the presence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.’ The expressions which are in Calvin's instituti­ons, and his other writings, might make us believe, that he did not deny the real and sub­stantial presence of the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist: Yet, in other places, he clearly rejects not only transubstantiation, but also his real presence; by asserting, that the body of Jesus Christ is really and substanti­ally present only in heaven; and that it is united to us only by faith, after a spiritual manner, by the incomprehensible working of the Holy Spirit, which joins things together that are separated by distance of place. These words, this is my body, ought to be understood after a figurative manner, according to his notion; and the sign is there put for the thing signified, as when it is said, ‘The rock is Christ; the lamb is the passover; and [Page 73]circumcision is the covenant.’ The body and blood of Jesus Christ are united to us only by virtue and efficacy; and his flesh, remaining in heaven, infuses life into us from his substance: Lastly, though the substance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ are communicated to us by the sacrament of the eucharist, they are not really and substantially present there: And though the body and blood of Christ are there presented, and offered to all christians, they are not really received, except by the truly faithful, and not by the unworthy.

Calvin differed not so much from Luther in other points of doctrine. He held the same principles as to imputed righteousness, and the certainty of our justification, which he exten­ded to an assurance of eternal salvation. He also added an impossibility of falling finally from grace; and he asserted the salvation of the chil­dren of believers who die before they have been baptized. He likewise condemned with more severity than the Lutherians, the invocation of saints; the worship and use of images; vows; celibacy of priests; fasting; holy-days; sacri­fice of the mass; adoration of the eucharist; in­dulgencies; the sacraments, except the eucha­rist and baptism; and, in general, all the rites and ceremonies of the church, which the Lu­therians had not entirely abolished.

The views and projects of this great man were grand and extensive. For he not only under­took [Page 74]to give strength and vigour to the rising church, by framing the wisest laws and the most salutary institutions for the maintenance of or­der and the advancement of true piety' but e­ven proposed to render Geneva the mother, the seminary of all the reformed churches, as Wit­tenberg was of all the Lutheran communities. He laid a scheme for sending forth from this little republic, the succours and ministers that were to promote and propagate the protestant cause through the most distant nations, and aimed at nothing less than rendering the gover­ment, discipline, and doctrine of Geneva the model and rule of imitation to the reformed churches throughout the world. The under­taking was certainly great, and worthy of the extensive genious and capacity of this emmi­nent man; and, great and arduous as it was, it was executed in part, nay, carried on to a ve­ry considerable length, by his indefatigable as­siduity and inextinguishable zeal. It was with this view, that, by the fame of his learning, as well as by his epistolary solicitations and en­couragements of various kinds, he engaged ma­ny persons of rank and fortune, in France, Italy, and other countries, to leave the places of their nativity, and to settle at Geneva; while others repaired thither merely out of cu­riosity to see a man, whose talents and exploits had rendered him so famous, and to hear the discourses which he delivered in public. Ano­ther [Page 75]circumstance, that contributed much to the success of his designs, was the establishment of an academy at Geneva, which the senate of that city founded at his request; and in which be himself, with his colleague. Theodore Be­za, and other divines of emminent learning and abilities, taught the sciences with the greatest reputation. In effect, the lustre which these great men reflected upon this infant seminary of learning, spread its fame through the distant nations with such amazing rapidity, that all who were ambitious of a distinguished progress in either sacred or profane erudition, repaired to Geneva, and that England, Scotland, France, Italy, and Germany, seemed to vie with each other in the numbers of their studious youth, that were incessantly repairing to the new aca­demy. By these means, and by the ministry of these his disciples. Calvin enlarged conside­rably the borders of the reformed church, pro­pagated his doctrine, and gained proselytes and patrons to his theological system, in several countries of Europe.

Calvin reduced the power of the magistrate, in religious matters, within narrow bounds. He declared the church a separate and indepen­dent body, endowed with the power of legisla­tion for itself. He maintained, that it was to be governed, like the primitive church, only preshyteries and synods, that is, by assemblies of elders, composed both of the l [...]rgy and laity; [Page 76]and he lest to the civil magistrate little else than the priviledge of protecting and defending the church, and providing for what related to its external exigencies and concerns. Thus this emminent reformer introduced into the republic of Geneva, and endeavoured to introduce into all the reformed churches throughout Europe, that form of ecclesiastical government, which is called Presbyterian, from its neither admit­ting of the institution of bishops, nor of any subordination among the clergy; and which is founded on this principle, that all ministers of the gospel are, by the law of God, declared to be equal in rank and authority. In conse­quence of this principle, he established at Ge­neva a consistory, composed of ruling elders, partly pastors, and partly laymen, and invest­ed this ecclesiastical body with a high degree of power and authority. He also convened sy­nods, composed of the ruling elders of different churches, and in these consistories and synods had laws enacted for the regulation of all mat­ters of a religious nature; and among other things, restored to its former vigour the anci­ent practise of excommunication. All these things were done with the consent of the greatest part of the senate of Geneva.

The absolute decree of God, with respect to the future and everlasting condition of the hu­man race, was an essential tenet in the [...]reed of Calvin, who inculcated with zeal the fol­lowing [Page 77]doctrine: That God in predestinating, from all eternity, one part of mankind to ever­lasting happiness, and another to endless misery, was led to make this distinction by no other mo­tives than his own GOOD PLEASURE and FREE WILL.

Calvin was intimidated at nothing, and set­tled the peace of Geneva. It would be difficult to believe, that in the midst of violent agitations at home, he could shew so much care, as he did, of the churches abroad, in France, England, Germany, and Poland; and write so many books and letters. But there are incontestable proofs of it; for he lived in continual action, and almost constantly with his pen in his hand, e­ven when sickness confined him to his bed; ari­sing from his zeal for the general good of the churches. He was a man on whom God had confered extraordinary talents, a great deal of wit, an exquisite judgment, a faithful memo­ry, an able, indefatigable, and elegant pen; an extensive knowledge, and a great zeal for the truth. But he could not escape slander abroad, nor opposition at home.

He was full thirty years old when he mar­ried Idolette de Bure, the widow of John Stor­deur, a native of Liege, and an Anabaptist, whom he had converted.

As the reformers married to prove their con­version from the papists, the latter reproached them, as if they warred against Rome for the [Page 78]same reasons the Grecians warred against Troy. "Our adversaries, (says Calvin)" pre­tend we wage a sort of trojan war for a woman. ‘To say nothing of others at present; they must allow myself at least to be free from this charge: Since I am more particularly able, in my own case, to refute this sour lous reflection. For notwithstanding I was at liberty to have married under the tyranny of the pope, I voluntarily led a single life for many years.’

The ordinary labours of Calvin were these. Every other sabbath he preached twice. Mon­day, Tuesday, and Wednesday, he read his divinity lectures. Thursday he assisted in the consistory for the exercise of ecclesiastical discipline. On Friday he read a lecture in ex­position of some difficult places in scripture: Besides his public writings, and private nego­ciations. God so blessed his ministry that he was applied and resorted to from all parts of the christian world; some to consult his advice in matters of religion, and others to hear him preach. This filled the city of Geneva with a great concourse of people: and besides the esta­blished church, there were also churches for the English, Spaniards, and Italians.

We have in the writings of Calvin, an ac­count, and also a refutation, of a most per [...] ­cious sect that sprung up in that church, and produced troubles of a more deplor [...]ble [...]ind [Page 79]than any that happened in our community. This odious sect which assumed the denomina­tions of libertines and Spiritual Brethren and sisters, arose in Flanders, was headed by Poc­kesius, Ruffus, and Quintin, got a certain foot­ing in France through the favour and protection of Margarett, queen of Navarre, and sister to Francis I. and found patrons in several of the reformed churches. Their doctrine, as far as it can be known by the writings of Calvin and its other antagonists (for these fanatics published no account of their tenets that is come to my knowledge), amounted to the following pro­positions: "That the deity was the sole opera­ting cause in the mind of man, and the imme­diate ‘ author of all human actions; that, consequently, the distinction of good and evil, that had been established with respect to these actions, were false and groundless, and that men could nor, properly speaking, com­mit sin; that religion consisted in the union of the spirit, or rational soul, with the su­preme Being; that all those who had attained this happy union, by sublime contem­plation and elevation of mind, were then allowed to indulge, without exception or restraint, their appetites and passions: that all their actions and pursuits were then in­nocent? and that, after the death of the bo­dy, they were to be united to the Deity.’

We must not confound, as is frequently done, [Page 80]with these fanatics, another kind of Libertines, whom Calvin had to combat, and who gave him much trouble and perplexity during the whole course of his life and ministry, I mean the libertines of Geneva. These were rather a cabal of rakes than a sect of fanatics. For they made no pretences to any religious system, but pleaded only for the liberty of leading voluptu­ous and immoral lives.

The opposition that was made to Calvin did not end here. He had contests of another kind to sustain against those who could not relish his theological system, and, more especially, his doctrine in relation to eternal and absolute De­crees. He however executed his plan of disci­pline with the utmost rigour. He excluded obstinate offenders from the communion of the church, and even procured their banishment from the city.

The year 1545 was rendered infamous by that cruel and abominable edict which the par­liment of Aquitain issued against the poor Wal­denses, whereby the most unparalleled barbarities were exercised upon those unhappy people, without any distinction of age or sex, even to the very burning of their towns. The Wal­denses, or Vaudois, were a sect established by Peter Vaud, or Valdo, a rich merchant of Lyons in France, in 1160, who found out several errors in the church of Rome, and be­gan a reformation. The clergy excommuni­cated [Page 81]him, and persecuted some of his disciples which occasioned them to quit Lyons, and fly into the valies of Piedmont, which have been ever since inhabited by their descendents, who have adhered to their doctrine.

Calvin was greatly afflicted for the sufferings of the Waldenses, to whom he had wrote con­solatory letters a short time before, and sent them faithful pastors for instructing them in the gospel precepts. He wrote to the reformed in France, to convince them they acted in a per­nicious manner, who pretended it was no sin to be present at the popish services, if they kept the true religion in their hearts. He told them, it was an error condemned by the ancient fa­thers: And, because some of them might think him too rigid, he adjoined to his own the opinions of Melancthon, Bucer, and Martyr: whereby the name of these Nicodemites became obnoxious; for so they were called, who cloaked their errors with his example.

When the emperor hold the diet at Ratisbon, in 1541, the necessity of his affairs compelled him to grant the protestants the INTERIM; that is, a set form of faith, which might be agreeable to both parties, till a general council should regulate the points wherein the protest­ants had abandoned the sentiments of the Ro­man church. The emperor wanted to invade the Turkish dominions in Africa: But he lost half of his army in that fatal expedition, and [Page 82]returned to Germany, where he renewed his severities against the protestants. Calvin assist­ed Melancthon in writing against the Interim; while the emperor and the king of England were engaged in a war against France, which ended in 1546, and was soon followed by the deaths of Henry VIII. and Francis I.

The city of Geneva had been infested with the plague, and very unhappy divisions began there in 1546. Calvin, from the pulpit, ex­claimed against the wickedness of the people, who revived the controversy about their privi­leges, and would not suffer their pastors to dispose of the ecclesiastical goods taken from the Pontificians, as they ought to be. The young people would not suffer themselves to be depri­ved of their sports, taverns, and other places of debauchery. The ministers insisted earnestly upon it, both in the council and church, threat­ening the contumacious with excommunication. One of the council accused Calvin, that he had taught false doctrine for the space of seven years: But the council committed him to pri­son, without the solicitation of Calvin, and enjoined him to perform pennance by carrying a torch in his hand through the city.

Viret's servant received a letter from Calvin: But, instead of carrying it to his master, as he was directed, he delivered it to the Syndics, who broke it open, and were not a little dis­pleased at some passages in it, especially where [Page 83]he told Viret, ‘that the people of Geneva would govern without GOD; and that he had to do with hypocrites.’ Calvin was sent for to answer this before them; when he justified his complaint by the instance of several debauched persons, who were suffered to scoff at the word of GOD, and scoff at their instruc­tions. He then left the city.

‘Calvin, (says a late excellent writer) has been taxed with fierceness and bigotry: But his meekness and benevolence were as emi­nent, as the malice of his traducers is shame­less. I shall give one single instance of his modesty and gentleness. While he was a very young man, disputes run high between Luther and some other reformers, concerning the manner of Christ's presence in the holy sacrament. Luther, whose temper was na­turally warm and rough, heaped many hard names on the divines who differed from him on the article of consubstantiation: and among the rest, Calvin came in for his divi­dend of abuse. Being informed of the harsh appellations he received, he meekly replied, in a letter to Bullinger;" 'Tis a frequent saving with me, that, if Luther should even call me a devil, I hold him not­withstanding in such veneration, that I shall always own him to be an illustrious servant of GOD; who, though he abounds in ex­traordinary virtues, is not without consider­able [Page 84]imperfections."—Turretin's opinion of him also deserves attention. 'John Calvin, (says he) was a man, whose memory will be blesseed in every succeeding age. He in­structed and enlightened, not only the church of Geneva, but also the whole re­formed world, by his immense labours. In­somuch, that all the reformed churches are, in the gross, frequently called by his name.’ Thus wrote this candid Arminian, and there­fore an unsuspected evidence of all undue par­tiality, so late as the year 1734.

When Calvin returned to Geneva, the se­nate published a decree, empowering the mini­sters to require of every family an account of their faith: And they ordered, that no holy­day should be observed but the sabbath.

Calvin, in his writings, every where de­clares, when he treats of the cause of sin, that the name of GOD ought not to be mentioned: Because the nature of GOD is perfectly righte­ous and just. ‘How rank a calumny is it then, to charge a man who hath so well deser­ved of the church of GOD, with making GOD the author of sin: He teaches, on all occasions, that nothing can be without the will of GOD. He says, the wicked actions of men are so ruled by the secret judgment of GOD, as that he is no ways accessary to them. The sum of what he teaches is, that GOD, in a wonderful manner, and by ways un­known [Page 85]to us, directs all things to whatev e end he pleased. But why GOD wills wha seems to us not suitable to his nature, he acknowledges to be incomprehensible: And therefore denies that it should be over curi­ously searched into; because the judgments of GOD are a vast abyss, and mysterious beyond our reach, which ought to be adored with awful reverence. But still he keeps to this principle; that, though the reason of his council be unknown to us, the praise of righteousness is ever to be given to GOD; because his will is the supreme rule of equity.’ Let Calvin himself be heard against the abuse, which men will attempt in defaming the great doctrine of predistination. ‘In all our inqui­ries, (says he in his Institute,) into predisti­natination, let us never fail to begin with effectual calling. Again; There are some who go on, securely in sin, alledging, that if they are of the number of elect, their vices will not hinder them from going to heaven. Such abomoniable language as this is not the holy bleating of Christ's sheep, but, the im­pure grunting of swine. For we learn from St. Paul, that we are elected to this very end, even to holiness and blamelessness of life. Now, if sanctity of life is the very end, scope, and drift of election itself; it will follow, that the doctrine of election should [Page 86]awaken and spur us on to sanctification, in­stead of furnishing us with a false plea for idleness.’

Philibert Bertelier, register of the inferior court of justice at Geneva, had been suspended from the sacrament by the presbytery, on ac­count of his vicious life: But he applied to the senate to be absolved; and that body actually absolved him from the sentence. This was opposed in the name of the presbytery, by Cal­vin, who shewed, that the Christian magistrate ought to preserve, not to destroy, the ecclesi­astical constitution. The sacrament was to be administered within two days. When Calvin came to hear what had passed, he soon resolved what to do, and preached against the contempt of the sacrament. He raised his voice, lifted up his hands, and said that he would imitate St. Chrysostom: that he would not oppose force to force, but that he would rather suffer him­self to be massacred, than that his hands should present the holy mysteries to those who had been judged unworthy of them. This was a thunderbolt, which confounded the faction of Bertelier; so that it was not thought fit that he should present himself to the communion. The next day after the sacrament, Calvin, ac­companied by his consistory, desired leave of the senate, and of the council of two hundred, to speak to the people about this matter, as it concerned the abrogation of a law made by the [Page 87]people. This made so great an impression on their minds, that it was resolved the Swiss Can­tons should be consulted about it; and that the decree of the two hundred should be suspended; but that none should say the ancient regulati­ons had been infringed.

Calvin dispatched letters to some of the prin­cipal pastors in the Helvetic cities; craving earnestly at their hands to respect this affair, as a thing whereon the whole state of religion and piety in that church so much depended, that the cause of GOD, and all good men, were inevitably certain to be trampled under foot, unless those cities, by their good means, might be brought to give sentence with the ministers of Geneva, when the cause should be brought before them. The Swiss pastors an­swered, that they had heard of those consisto­rial laws, and acknowledged them to be godly ordinances, drawing towards the prescript of the word of God; for which cause, they did not think it good for the church of Geneva, by innovation, to change the same, but rather to keep them as they were.

The attempts of Michael Servede or Serve­tus, a Spanish physician, were much alarming to those who had the cause of true religion at heart. This man, who has made such a noise in the world, was born at Villa Nueva, in the kingdom of Arragon, distinguished himself by the superiority of his genius and had made a [Page 88]considerable progress in various branches of science. In the years 1531 and 1532, he pub­lished, in Latin, his Seven books concerning the errors that are contained in the doctrine of the Trinity, and his two Dialogues on the same subject, in which he attacked, in the most au­dacious manner, the sentiments adopted by far the greatest part of the Christian church, in re­lation to the Divine Nature, and a Trinity of persons in the Godhead. Some years after this he travelled into France, and, after a variety of adventures, settled at Vienne in Dauphine, where he applied himself, with success, to the practice of physic. It was here, that, letting loose the reins of his warm and irregular ima­gination, he invented that strange system of theology, which was printed, in a clandestine manner, in the year 1553, under the title of Christianity restored. The man seemed to be seized with a passion for reforming (in his w [...]y), and many things concurred to favour his de­signs, such as the sire of his genius, the extent of his learning, the power of his eloquence, the strength of his resolution, the obstinacy of his temper, and an external appearance, at least, of piety, that rendered all the rest doubly en­gaging. Add to all this, the protection and friendship of many persons of weight, in France, Germany, and Italy, which Servetus had ob­tained by his talents and abilities both natural and acquired; and it will appear that sew in­novators [Page 89]have set out with a better prospect of success. But, notwithstanding these signal ad­vantages, all his views were totally disappoint­ed by the vigilance and severity of Calvin, who, when Servetus had escaped from his pri­son at Vienne, and was passing through Switz­erland, in order to seek refuge in It [...]ly, caused him to be apprehended at Geneva, in the year 1553, and had an accusation of blasphemy brought against him before the council. The issue of this accusation was fatal to Servetus, who, adhering resolutely to the opinions he had embraced, was, by a public sentence of the court, declared an obstinate heretic, and, in consequence thereof, condemned to the flames. For it is observable, that, at this time, the an­cient laws that had been enacted against here­tics by the emperor Frederic II. and had been so frequently renewed after his reign, were still in vigour at Geneva. It must, however, be acknowledged, that this learned and ingeni­ous sufferer was worthy of a better fate; though it is certain, on the other hand, that his f [...]ults were neither few nor trivial; since it is well known, that his excessive arrogance was ac­companied with a malignant and contentious spirit, an invincible obstinacy of temper, and a considerable portion of fanaticism.

The author of the memoirs of literature says, ‘If the religion of protestants depended on the doctrine and conduct of the reformers, he [Page 90]should take care how he published his account of Servetus: But as the protestant religion is entirely [...]f unded on holy scripture; so the defaults of the reformers ought not to have any ill influence on the reformation. The doctrine of nontoleration, which obtained in the sixteenth century, among some protest­ants, was that pernicious error which they had imbibed in the church of Rome: And, I believe, I can say, without doing any inju­ry to that church, that she is, in a great measure, answerable for the execution of Servetus. If the Roman catholics had never put any person to death for the sake of religi­on; I care say, that Servetus had never been condemned to die in any protestant [...]i­ty. Let us remember, that Calvin, and all the magistrates of Geneva, in the year 1553, were born and bred up in the church of Rome: This is the best apology that can be made for them.’

The number of strangers visibly increased in Geneva; and the English were all [...]wed to found a church of their own nation in the city, as the Italians had done before them in 1551, and the Spaniards some time afterwards: But when Q. Elizabeth came to the throne, and re­vived the protestant religion, the English thanked the magistrates for their protection, and returned to their own country.

In 1555, a conspiracy was form [...]d against the [Page 91]ministers of Geneva: But it was seasonably dis­covered, and the conspirators punished; some being beheaded, and others banished. Calvin went to Bern, and defended himself against Bolsec, who was banished [...]r accusing him of false doctrine. Calvin regulated the church of Poland; he comforted the persecuted in En­gland, and encouraged the affl [...]ected in France. But, in 1556, a tertian ague seized upon him as he was preaching, which obliged him to quit the pulpit, and it was rumoured abroad that he was dead. He recovered, and went to Franckfort to pacify some controversies which had lately sprung up in the French church.

The number of youth, who came from all parts to study at Geneva, increased so much, that the old school was not large enough to con­tain them. The council therefore resolved to erect a new college for seven classes, and three professors of Hebrew, Greek, and philosophy; besides divinity lectures, which Calvin read himself, to whom was joined Theodore Beza, who preached the following week after Calvin. The statutes of this college were first published in St. Peter's church, before the magistrates, ministers, and scholars, by Calvin, who seemed to consecrate so body and profitable a founda­tion.

On the sixth of February, 1564, Calvin preached his last sermon. He was faint, thin, and consumptive. He had for ten years toge­ther [Page 92]abstained from dinners, for he was fre­quently troubled with the head-ach, which his abstinence only could cure. By straining his voice, and using of aloes, he brought on the hemorhoids, which at last proved ulcerous; and he had also a spitting of blood. When his ague left him, the gout took him in his right leg; then the cholic, and lastly the stone, which he never perceived till a few months be­fore his death.

Though he was tormented with so many violent diseases, he never uttered a word un­becoming a Christian, and so great a divine; only lifting up his eyes to heaven, he used to say, "How long, Lord!" which was an ex­pression he constantly used, when he heard of the calamities which afflicted his protestant brethren, for which he felt more than for any thing that could befal himself. On the twenty-seventh of March he was carried in his chair to the senate, when he presented to them a new rector for the school; then uncovered his head, and thanked them for all their favours, and particularly for their great care of him in his sickness: ‘For I perceive, (said he), this is the last time I shall come into this place.’ His voice failed him as he spoke, and the assem­bly took leave of him in tears.

On the second of April, which was Easter­day, he was carried to the church, where Beza edministered to him the sacrament. He made [Page 93]his will on the 25th and on the 27th died, ‘having, by over-much study, brought upon him several distempers.’ He died in the fif­ty fourth year of his age, and was buried the next morning, in the common church-yard of the large palace, according as he had desired in his will, without any pomp or epitaph.

Burnham, in his Prous Memorials, trans­lates from Melch. Adam, the following ac­count of his last will and death; he dictated his will to the public notary of Geneva in these words. ‘I. John Calvin, minister of the word of GOD in the church of Geneva, be­ing so oppressed and afflicted with divers diseases, that I conclude the Lord GOD hath appointed shortly to take me out of this world; therefore have determined to make my last will and testament in this form fol­lowing:’

To the four syndics, and all the magistrates, who in a body honoured him with a visit be­fore his death, he spoke to the following effect:

Then, considering the immeasureable bene­fits which GOD had confered on that city, he said;—, ‘I am a very good witness, out of how many great dangers the hand of GOD hath delivered you; Moreover, you see in what estate you now are Therefore, whe­ther your affairs be prosperous or adverse, let this thing be always before your eyes, that GOD is he alone who establisheth king­doms and cities; and therefore will be wor­shipped by mortal men.’

And, continuing his discourse, he shewed them at large, the danger of pride and security; the great dangers they were also in from errors in judgment, and corruptions in practice.

Then he prayed to GOD for the increase of his gifts and blessings upon them, and for the safety and welfare of the commonwealth. After which, giving his hand to each of them, they took their leave; departing full of sorrow, and with many tears, as from their common father.

[Page 97] April 28. The ministers of Geneva being with him, he spake thus to them— ‘Brethren, after my decease stand fast in this work of the Lord, and be not discouraged; for the Lord will preserve this church and commonwealth against the threatnings of the enemies. When I came first to this city, the gospel indeed was preached, but the management of things, with respect to it, was very trou­blesome: Many conceiving, that Christiani­ty was nothing more than the demolishing of images. And there were not a few wick­ed persons, from whom I suffered many things. But the Lord our God so strength­ened and confirmed me, who am not natu­rally bold, that I gave not place to any of their attempts. I profess, brethren, that I have lived with you in true love and sincere charity; and thus I now depart from you. If you have found me any way pettish under my disease, I crave your pardon; and give you very great thanks, that you have so borne, on your part, the burden imposed on me, in the times of my sickness.’

Having thus spoken, he gave his hand to each of them, who then took their leave, sor­rowing and weeping.

A while after, Calvin hearing that Viret, who was eighty years of age, and sickly, was on his journey to visit him, wrote thus to stay him.

[Page 98] ‘Farewell, my best and sincerest brother: GOD will have you to out-live me in this world, live mindful of our friendship; for it has been profitable to the church of GOD here, so the fruit of it tarrieth for us in hea­ven. I would not have you weary yourself for my sake. I hardly draw my breath: And I expect daily when it will wholly fail me. It is enough that I live and die to Christ, who is gain to his both in life and death. Again farewell." May 11, 1564,’

Yet notwithstanding this letter, the good old man came to Geneva; and having folly confered with Calvin, he returned to New­come. After which, Calvin passed his re­maining time almost wholly in prayer, with his eyes towards heaven; while his voice of­ten failed him, by reason of the shortness of his breath.

He died as we observed before, May the 27th, A. D. 1564, aged fifty-four years, ten mouths, and seventeen days. Beza had but just left him when Calvin suddenly altered for death. On which a messenger was dispatched after Beza to bring him back; but though Be­za returned presently, Calvin, without a sigh or groan was fallen asleep in Jesus before Beza could reach him.

He was a man, whose thoughts were lifted up much above the desire of worldly go [...]ds, on­ly [Page 99]seeking how he might most and best pro­mote his master's service in the establishment of his gospel. When he took leave of the peo­ple at Strasburg (as we have mentioned above) to return to Geneva, they would have conti­nued his freedom of the city, and the revenues of a prebend; which had been assigned him; The former he accepted but absolutely refu­sed the latter.

When his friends would have dissuaded him in his sickness, from dictating, and especially from writing, he answered; ‘What; would you have me idle when my Lord comes?’

‘It is a strong proof of his not having stu­died to heap up riches, that all his effects, notwithstanding his library were sold very dear, as scarce amounted to three hundred crowns; so that he might very justly, as well as elegant­ly, in order to wipe off this monstrous calum­ny, use these words, in the preface to his Commentary on the Psalms; If I cannot in my life time persuade some people that I am no hoarder of money, I shall convince them at my death. The senate certainly can witness for him, that, though his stipend was very small, he was so far from being unsatisfyed with it, that he positively refused the offer of increa­sing it.’ This is one of the m [...]st extraordinary victories, the magnaminity of grace obtains o­ver nature, even in those who are ministere of he gospel. Such a disinterestedness is a thing [Page 100]so extraordinary, as might make even those, who cast their eyes beyond the philosophers of antient Greece, say of him, I have not 'found so great faith, no not in Israel.'

The works of Calvin, published at Geneva, comprehended twelve volumes in folio; which the edition of Amsterdam, 1667, has reduced to nine. His commentaries upon the Bible are the most considerable part of his works: But he guined most honour by his "Christian Insti­tution," which was wrote in defence of the protestant religion, and has been always esteem­ed an incomparable work. This "institution" has not only appeared in French, but also in High Dutch, Low Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and English. Calvin intended it as a complete system, and a fall Idea of theology.