JUDGMENTS OF GERMAN SCHOLARS.
John Lawkence Mosheim (1695-1755).
From the English translation of his Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, by James Murdock, D.D., New York, 1854, vol. III. 163, 167, 192. "
" Calvin was venerated, even by his enemies, for his genius, learning, eloquence, and other endowments, and moreover was the friend of Melanchthon.
" Few persons of his age will bear any comparison with Calvin for patient industry, resolution, hatred of the Roman superstition, eloquence, and genius. Possessing a most capacious mind, he endeavored not only to establish and bless his beloved Geneva with the best regulations and institutions, but also to make it the mother and the focus of light and influence to the whole Reformed Church, just as Wittenberg was to the Lutheran community.
" The first rank among the interpreters of the age is deservedly assigned to John Calvin, who endeavored to expound nearly the whole of the sacred volume.
" His Institutes are written in a perspicuous and elegant style, and have nothing abstruse and diflScult to be comprehended in the arguments or mode of reasoning."
Johannes von Muller (1752-1809).
The great historian of Switzerland, called " the German Tacitus."
Allgemeine Geschickte, Bk. III.
"John Calvin had the spirit of an ancient lawgiver, a genius and characteristic which gave him in part unmistakable advantages, and failings which were only the excess of virtues, by the assistance of which he carried through his objects. He had also, like other Reformers, an indefatigable industry, with a fixed regard to a certain end, an invincible perseverance in principles and duty during his life, and at his death the courage and dignity of an ancient Roman censor. He contributed greatly to the development and advance of the human intellect, and more, indeed, than he himself foresaw. For among the Genevese and in France, the principle of free inquiry, on which he was obliged at first to found his system, and to curb which he afterwards strove in vain, became more fruitful in consequences than among nations which are less inquisitive than the Genevese, and less daring than the French. From this source were developed gradually philosophical ideas, which, though they are not yet purified sufficiently from the passions and
282 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
views of their founders, have yet banished a great number of gloomy and pernicious prejudices, and have opened us prospects of a pure practical wisdom and better success for the future."
Fr. August Tholuck (1799-1877).
Commentary on the Epistle to the Momans, 3d ed. 1831, p. 19.
" In his [Calvin's] Exposition on the Epistle to the Romans are united pure Latinity, a solid method of unfolding and interpreting, founded on the principles of grammatical science and historical knowledge, a deeply penetrating faculty of mind, and vital piety."
Dr. TwESTEN (1789-1876).
The successor of Schleiermacher in the chair of systematic theology at Berlin, and an orthodox Lutheran in the United Evangelical Church of Prussia.
From his Dogmatik der evamjelisch Lutherischen Kirche, I. 216 (4th ed. Hamburg, 1838).
After speaking very highly and justly of Melanchthon and John Gerhard, Twesten thus characterizes Calvin's Institutes : —
" Mehr aits einem Gusz, als Melanchthon' s Loci, die reife Frucht eines tie/ religiosen icnd dcht ivissenschaftlichen Geistes, mit groszer Klarheit, Kraft und Schonheit der Darstellung geschrieben, einfach in der Anlage, reich und grilndlick in der Ausfiihrung, verdient es neben jenen auch in unserer Kirche als eins der vorziiglichsten Werke auf detn Gebiete der dogmatischen Literatur iiberhaupt studi7-t zu werden."
Paul Henrt.
Doctor of theology and pastor of a French Reformed Church in Berlin, author of two learned biographies of Calvin : a large one, in 3 vols. (1833-1844), which is chiefly valuable as a collection of documents, and a popular one in 1 vol.
From Das Leben Johann Calvins (Hamburg and Gotha, 1846), pp. 443 sqq.
" The whole tendency of Calvin was practical ; learning was subordinate ; the salvation of the world, the truth was to him the main thing. His spiritual tendency was not philosophical, but his dialectical bent ran principles to their utmost consequences. He had an eye to the minutest details. His former study of law had trained him for business. . . . He was a watchman over the whole Church. . . . All his theological writings excel in acuteness, dialectics, and warmth of conviction. He had great eloquence at command, but despised the art of rhetoric. . . . Day and night he was occupied with the work of the Lord. He disliked the daily entreaties of his colleagues to grant himself some rest. He continued to labor through his last sicknesses, and only stopped dictating a week before his death, when his voice gave out. . . . .AH souglit his counsel ; for God endowed him with such a happy spirit of wisdom that no one regretted to have followed his advice. How great was his erudition! How marvellous his judgment! How peculiar his kindness, which came to the aid even of the smallest and lowliest, if necessary, and his meekness and patient forbearance with the imperfections of others!"