should, in tiie dfcnmsUiices in which he was now placed, show marks of intoleranoe towaid others, is not surprising; and to seek a palliation ofhb guilt, we need not go back to the time when he belonged to the Church of Borne, nor yet to tfie notions of dyil and re- ligions liberty prevalent in his age. We have only to reflect on the constitntion of the homan mind, and the constant care necessary to prevent power in any hands from degenerating into tyranny. His condoct toward Servetos [see Sbbvetub] has been Jnstly con- demned, yet the punishment of Servetns was approved of by men of undoubted worth, and even by the mild Melancthon. Nor was his treatment of Bdsec (q. v.) withont leproach. In 1654 Calvin published a work in defence of the doctrme of the Trinity against Ser- vetns (FiddtM EoBpomtio Errorum M, Serveti), and to prove the right of the dvil magistrate to punish here- sy; Beza the same year puUished a work on the like subject, in reply to the treatise of Castalio. The sUte of Calvin's heidth prevented him going in 1561 to the Conference of Poissy (q. v.), an assembly which in his view promised to be of great consequence, and which was indeed remarkable in this respect, that from that time the foUowers of Calvin became kiiown as a distinct sect, bearing the name of their leader. To the last he maintained the same firmness of character which had distinguished him through life. On his death-bed he took God to witness that he had preached the Gospel purely, and exhorted all about him to walk worthy of the divine goodness: his slender fhime gradually became quite emaciated, and on the 27th of May, 1564, he died without a struggle, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. The person of Calvin was middle- sized and naturally delicate; his habits were frugal and unoetentatioua ; and he was so sparing in his food that for many years he took only one meal in the day. He had a clear understanding, an extraordinary mem- ory, and a firmness and inflexibility of purpose which no opposition could overcome, no variety of objects de- feat, no vicissitude shake. In his principles he was devout and sincere, and the purity of his character in inrivate lifo was without a stain."— ^pi^/mA Cydopadia, It is impossible to contemplate without astdnish^ ment the Uiiors of Calvin during the last twenty years of his life. He presided over the ecclesiastical and political aflSurs of Geneva; he preached every day, lectured thrice a week, was present at every meeting of the Consistory, and 3ret found time for a vast corre- spondence, and to continue his voluminous, literary la- bors. Besides his printed works, there are now in the library of Geneva 2025 sermons in MS. His health during all this period was feeble, yet he continued his various toils almost up to the very day of his death. He chose to be poor, reftisingon several oc- casions proposed additions to his very moderate sal- ary, and is said uniformly to have declined receiving presents, unless for the sake of giving them to the poor. From his numerous publications it is believed that he derived no pecuniary profit; and yet, as was the case with Wesley, he was asssiled on all sides as having amassed great wealth. ** I see," said he, "what incites my enemies to urge these falsehoods. They measure me according to their own dispositions, believing that I must be heaping up money on all sides beouise I enjoy such fovorable opportunities -for doing so. But assuredly, if I have not been abl« to avoid the reputation of being rich during my lifo, death will at last tno me from this stain." And so it was. By his last will Calvin disposes of his entire property, amounting to about two hundred and twen- ty-five dollars, and on the 27th day of May, 1564, be- ing within a few weeks of fifty-five years of age, he calmly breathed his last in the arms of his friend Beza. He was buried, according to his own request, without pomp, and no monument marks his last resting-place. Calvin's intellect was of the very first class, at once acute, penetrating, profound, and comprehensive. His
collivatkNi was in harmony with it. Scaliger dedaie that at twenty-two Calvin was the most leaned mm in Europe.
''The first editfen of his great work, TU /arfifrtii qfthe CkridUm RtKgion^ was published when he vh twenty-seven years of age; and it is a most extrsQf<di> nary proof of the maturity and vigor of his mind, cf the care with which he had studied the Word of God, and of the depth and oomprehensiveneas of his media- tions upon divine things, that, tiiou^ the woik im afterward greatly enlarged, and though some alten- tions were even made in the arrangement of the topics discussed, yet no change of any importance was made in the actual doctrines which it set forth. The int edition, produced at that early age, contained the sab- stance of the whole system of doctrine whi<^ has sitae been commonly associated with his name, the devckp. ment and exposition of whidi has been regarded Ij many as constituting a strong claim upon the esten and gratitude of the Church of Christ, and by nuky others as rendering him worthy of execration and er- eijr opprobrium. He lived twenty-seven years more after the publication of the first editkm of the Imd- tuteif and a large portion of his time during the remaiB- der of his life was devoted to the examination of the Word of God and the investigation of divine truth. But he saw no reason to make any material diange in the views which he had put forth ; and a larige propor- tion of the most pious, able, and learned men and moot careful students of the sacred Scriptures, who have since adorned the Church of Christ, have recei?ed aE his leading doctrines as accordant with the teaching of God*s Word."— Sirir. and Far, Eocmg. Bemem, 5o. xxxiiL