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 CALVIN 635 Socinus came to Geneva even after the execu- tion of Servetus, and subsequently correspond- ed with Calvin on the doctrine of election. The most melancholy case was that of the Spanish physician Servetus, burnt at Geneva in October, 1553. He was arrested by the Catholics at Vieniie, and Calvin forwarded pa- pers of Servetus which he had in order to se- cure his identification and condemnation as a heretic, and threatened that if ever he should come to Geneva he should not be sufl'ered to depart alive. He was condemned by the au- thorities at Vienne, but escaped and went to Geneva, where he was again tried and con- demned to be burned. Calvin interceded in vain to have his punishment changed to decapi- tation. His condemnation was the act of the council, after a long deliberation, and in accor- dance with the expressed opinions of other cantons. Among Calvin's other theological works was an "Antidote," in 1543, to 25 new articles of faith, drawn up by the Sorbonne ; another "Antidote," in 1547, to the decrees of the council of Trent ; a severe treatise on the "Freedom and Bondage of the Will," against the Roman Catholic Pighius, which had the rare controversial success of convincing his opponent. After prolonged discussions, Zurich and Bern united with Geneva (1549) in a consensus on the Lord's supper; the Swiss churches generally acceded to it in 1551. But the Lutherans were enraged. Westphal aroused them to opposition. When Lasco's reformed church was driven from England on Mary's accession, it could at first find no rest- ing place in Denmark or Germany ; Westphal called them " martyrs of the devil." Calvin made a fierce attack on him and Hesshusius, and rebuked with severity the silence of Melanch- thon. He could never understand how the Lutheran divines could make their peculiar views of consubstantiation necessary to church fellowship. The most important part of Cal- vin's labors was in connection with the new academy of Geneva, inaugurated in 1559, and endowed by the liberality of Bonnivard. Such institutions of learning sprung up wherever the reform prospered. At Geneva there were chairs of Hebrew, philology, philosophy, and theology. Beza, the ardent .friend and able successor as well as biographer of Calvin, was the first rector of the academy. Calvin taught theology, and students flocked from Scotland, Holland, and Germany. From 6 to 4 o'clock in summer, and from 7 to 4 in winter, the classes were together, excepting at the dinner hour, which was from 10 to 11. The place be- came a focus for the reformed faith. Calvin- ism was dispersed all over Europe. "There was not a single day of his life," says Sayous, "in which John Calvin was faithless to his apostolate." His labors were ceaseless and prodigious. Every other week he preached every day, and often on the Sabbath. His sermons were extemporaneous, short and sim- ple, always cogent, solemn, and often tender. Three times a week he lectured on theology. Every Thursday he presided in the consistory, and on Friday he was present at the congrega- tion. His commentaries cover the larger part of the Old Testament, and all of the new ex- cepting Second and Third John and the Apoca- lypse. His commentaries on the Psalms and the Pentateuch, and on Paul's epistles, and his lectures on Job, stand in the front rank of Biblical interpretation. Calvin was the coun- sellor of the reformed churches everywhere, but his chief influence outside of Switzerland was felt in France ; its churches looked to him for counsel and received his creed and polity ; Coligni greeted him as the leader of the refor- mation, and concerted with him the first Prot- estant attempt at missions, that of the Hugue- nots at Rio de Janeiro, in 1556, which was how- ever broken up in 1558. The wide influence thus begun in life was perpetuated after Cal- vin's death. His system of doctrine and polity has shaped more minds and entered into more nations than that of any other reformer. In every land it made men strong against the at- tempted interference of the secular power with the rights of Christians. It gave courage to the Huguenots ; it shaped the theology of the Palatinate ; it prepared the Dutch for the he- roic defence of their national rights; it has controlled Scotland to the present hour; it formed the Puritanism of England ; it has been at the basis of the New England character; and everywhere it has led the way in practical reforms. His theology assumed different types in the various countries into which it pene- trated, while retaining its fundamental traits. In France, the school of Saumur advocated a general atonement. In Holland, the five points were sharply presented, and Supralapsarianism was partially defended ; but here too the Coc- ceian theology of the covenants found a less ab- stract and a more historical basis for the system of divinity. The Westminster Confession com- bined the results of a century of controversy in an exposition, fuller than any continental sym- bol, and to which Scotland and the Presbyterian and Congregational churches of America have in the main adhered. But in the United States the system of Edwards has enlarged and lib- eralized the theology of Calvin. And in all these countries the love first of religious, and then of civil freedom, has been deeply implant- ed in the adherents of a theology which elevates man because it exalts God. Early in 1564 Cal- vin began to sink under his multiplied cares, and a complication of disorders that had been wearing upon him ever since his youth. On April 27 the lesser council met around his bedside to receive his parting words ; the next day the min- isters of the city and neighborhood listened for the last time to his affectionate and faithful counsel. Prayers were offered for him in all the churches. He lingered on in intense suf- fering, yet in the triumph of faith, till May 27, at 8 o'clock in the evening, when he breathed his last. He was buried in the ceme-