CALVIN, Join, one of the most eminent of the reformers of the 16th c., was b. at Noyon, in Picardy, on the 10th of July, 1509. His father, Gerard Cauvin or Calvin, was procureur•fiseal of the district of Noyon, and secretary of the diocese. Ile was one of six children—four sons and two daughters. All the three sons who survived were bred ecclesiastics; and the reformer himself, while still only 12 years of age, was appointed to a chaplaincy in the cathedral church of Noyon. This he held as a means of support during the period of his education, and even for some short time after he had entered on his reforming career. C. was educated in eirenuistances of ease, and even affluence. The noble family of Monumur, in the neighborhood. invited him to share in the studies of their children; he was in some measure adopted by them; and when the family went to Paris, in his 14th year, ha accompanied them, and participated in the benefits of the higher instruction which was there au/killable. Ile was entered as a pupil in the college de la .larche, under the regency of Mathurin Cordier, better remembered, perhaps, by his Latin name of Corderius. It was under this distinguished master that C. laid the foundation of his own wonderful mastery of the Latin language. During this early period, he was distinguished by the great activity of his mental powers, and the grave severity of his manners. His companions, it is said, surnamed him the " Accusative." For awhile, his attention was directed to the study of law. His remarkable talents seemed to promise great success in this branch of study, and his father sent him, with the view of prosecuting it, to the university of Orleans, then adorned by Pierre de I'Etoile, one of the most famous jurists of his day, and afterwards president of the parliament of Paris. At Orleans, he continued the same life of rigorous temperance and earnest studiousness for which he was already noted. Beza says that, after sup ping moderately, he would spend half the night in study, and devote the morning to meditation on what he had acquired. His undue habits of study seem to have laid thus early the foundation of the ill-health which marked his later years. It was while a law-student in Orleans that he became acquainted with the Scriptures, and received his first impulse to the theological studies which have made his name so distinguished. A relative of his own, Pierre Hobert Olivetan, was there engaged in a translation of the Scriptures; and this had the effect of drawing C.'s attention, and awakening within him the religious instinct which was soon to prove the master-principle of his life. We can not say as yet that his traditionary opinions were unfixed, or that he had embraced with any decision the Protestant opinions that were spreading everywhere; but the seeds of the new faith were now beyond doubt sown in his heart, and from this time, although he still continued for awhile longer to pursue his legal studies, his main interests appear to have been religious and theological. From Orleans he went to Bourges, where he acquired the knowledge of Greek, under the tuition of a learned German, Melchior Wolmar, to the influence of whose spiritual instructions he was also greatly indebted.
He began here to preach the reformed doctrines, and passed over into the ranks of Protestantism, under the slow but sure growth of his new convictions, rather than under the agitation of any violent feeling. Ilere, as everywhere, his life presents a marked contrast to that of Luther.
He proceeded to Paris in 1533, which at this date had become a center of the " new learning," under the teaching of Lefevre and Farel, and the influence of the queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I. The Sorbonne itself had not escaped the infection. There was a growing religious excitement in the university, in the court, and even among the bishops. This, however, was not to last. The king was soon stirred up to take active measures to quell this rising spirit; and the result, was that C. and others were obliged to flee for their lives. The story is that C. narrowly escaped, having descended from his window by means of his sheets, and fled, under the guise of a vine-dresser, 'a friend of his, in whose clothes he concealed himself. After this he repaired for a short time to his native place, resigned the preferment he held in the Roman Catholic church, and for a year or two led wandering life, sheltered in various places. We find him at Saintonge; at Nerac, the residence of the queen of Navarre; at Angoul6me, with his friend Louis Tillet; then for a brief while at Paris again, strangely enough expecting a meeting with Servetus, who had expressed a desire to see and confer with him. Perse cution against the Protestants at this time raged so hotly, that C. was no longer safe in France; and he betook himself to Basel, where lie is supposed to have prepared the first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, and whence he certainly issued, in the year 1535, the famous preface addressed to Francis I. The concentrated vigor of this address, its intensity of feeling, rising into indignant remonstrance, and at times a pathetic and powerful eloquence, make it one of the most memorable documents in con nection with the reformation. It is throughout a noble defense of the righteous charac ter of the reformed doctrines, and their support alike in Scripture and in history. The energetic decisiveness and moral zeal of the future teacher and legislator of Geneva, speak in every page of it. After completino. this great service to the cause of Protest antism, he made a short visit to Italy, to Renee, the duchess of Ferrara. Finally, he revisited his native town; sold the paternal estate, which had devolved to him on the death of his eldest brother; and bidding it adieu, set out in company with his younger brother and sister on his way to Strasburg. The direct road being rendered dangerous by the armies of Charles V., which had penetrated into France, he sought a circuitous route through Savoy and Geneva.