persecutors, went to his room in the College de Fortret, intending to take him prisoner; but not finding him, seized his papers and books, amongst which were found several letters from his friends, which exposed them to extreme danger; 30 great was their aversion to the Romish church. But the Queen of Navarre, a princess of uncommon merit, having sent for Calvin, treated him with great respect, listened to him with pleasure, and made use of her influence with the king, Francis I. her brother, to appease the tempest which had arisen against the reformed.

What an apparent ignorance of the genius of christianity and of human nature, have persecutors invariably discovered! Taking our estimate of christianity from their exhibition of it, we should be ready to suppose that its predominant quality was hatred, and its ultimate object, extermination. How ignorant of human nature must they be, who are not instructed in this most obvious truth, that, opposition only strengthens opinions, and confirms prejudices; that it is equally incapable of subduing truth, and of suppressing error.

Having quitted Paris, Calvin retired to Xaintonge, where, at the request of a friend, he composed some formularies of sermons and

christian exhortations, which he induced the rectors to use as homilies, in order to excite the people to pursue their enquiries into the truth. About this time he took a journey to Nerac, to visit Jacques Le Fevre d'Estaples, who had been tutor to the children of Francis I. and who, to avoid the persecutions of the Sorbonne, had retired to that town under the protection of the Queen of Navarre. The good old man rejoiced to see him, and predicted that Calvin would one day be a powerful instrument of establishing the true religion in France.

He did not, however, remain long at Nerac, but went from thence to Paris. Yet, as he had many enemies there, who had meditated his destruction, he was obliged to remain concealed. The providence of Gop appears, however, to have conducted him to Paris at this time. For Michael Servetus began about this period to broach his blasphemies against the Holy Trinity; and as he appeared to desire an interview with Calvin, the latter attended at the time and place appointed, though at the risk of life. But he waited for him in vain; Servetus had not sufficient courage to meet him.

The following year was disgraced by many cruelties inflicted upon several pious characters. Gerard Rufi, docteur de Sorbonne, and Coraud,

a monk of the order of St. Austin, who, under the patronage of the Queen of Navarre, had many years laboured with considerable success to establish the knowledge of the truth in Paris, were torn from their pulpits, and dragged to prison. The king, Francis I. being influenced by the catholics, was so highly incensed by some writings which had been published against the Mass, and which had even been posted up on the door of the Louvre, that after a procession and public prayers, at which he assisted with his three sons, bareheaded, carrying a torch in his hand, in expiation of this crime; he commanded, that in the middle of the four most frequented parts of the city, eight of the reformed should be burned alive; and swore that he would not spare his own children, should they be infected with that execrable heresy.

What a disgusting picture of bigotry, and fanaticism are we here presented with! and how strikingly does it prove the folly of so identifying a national religion with christianity, as to make a separation from its pale, the test of heresy! In this view, how much more detestable is the papal, than the pagan persecution! With respect to the pagan religion, the first christians were innovators, as it regarded the very substance and essence of their mythology. and worship. They not only declared their

worship as superstitious; but denounced their belief as absurd, and their morality as corrupt. The protestants, on the other hand, innovated chiefly in the circumstantials of religion. For though no intelligent protestant will allow the church of Rome to be a true church of Christ, every candid protestant will admit that in her fundamental articles she recognizes the distinguishing doctrines of christianity. The plain language of the papal persecution, therefore, holds out the absurd idea, that it is more important to be agreed in the circumstantials than in the fundamentals of religion; and that uniformity of opinion is more important when it respects the drapery of her disciples, than their character.

Considering the deplorable state to which his brethren were reduced, Calvin, after having printed at Orleans, an excellent work, entitled La Psychopannychie, which he composed against those who believed that the souls of the just, separated from their bodies, sleep until the resurrection; he resolved to quit the kingdom.

Accompanied by the young man with whom he resided at Xaintonge, he proceeded to Basil by the way of Lorraine. Near Metz, a serious calamity befel him. Being plundered by a servant who fled with one of the horses, he

must have been reduced to considerable difficulty, had not the other servant providentially had ten crowns, which défrayed their expences to Strasbourg, from whence they proceeded comfortably to Basil. There he formed a close friendship with Simon Grinée, and with Walfang Capito, and applied himself to the study of the Hebrew language.

Though he wished at this time to remain in obscurity, as appears by a letter written to him by Bucer, he was, notwithstanding, constrained to publish his Christian Institutes, to serve as an apology for his persecuted brethren. For as Francis I. was desirous of the friendship of the protestant princes of Germany, and knew that they would disapprove of the murder of his protestant subjects, he affirmed that he had only put to death the anabaptists, who, far from making the word of God the rule of their faith, gave themselves up to their disordered imaginations, professing a contempt for magistrates, and sovereign authorities.

Calvin, who could not bear to see the true religion thus calumniated, thought it necessary to publish his Institutes, which he dedicated to Francis I. addressing him in such an admirable manner, that, if that prince could have been persuaded to peruse it, the church of Rome

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