He was no sooner installed, than he set himself seri ously and zealously to the discharge of his public duties. He composed a Formula of Christian Faith, accommo dated to the Genevese, who were just emerging from the corruptions of Popery : and to this he added a Cate chism, embracing the chief points of religion. In the following year, (1537,) he succeeded, with the help of Farel and Corault, in making the senate and people openly abjure the church of Rome, and swear to a sum mary of doctrine and plan of discipline which he drew up for them, and which distinctly recognised the Presbyte rian form of church government. Various circumstan ces occurred, however, to counteract his efforts, and to give him personal trouble. The Anabaptists opposed him, and laboured to overturn what he had established. But he confuted them so completely in a public disputa tion, that they never afterwards gave him any distur bance. A turbulent outcast from the Sorbonne, of the name of Peter Caroli, also endeavoured to bring him into discredit, by accusing him of heretical tenets re specting the Trinity. The subject was brought before the synod of Berne, which, after various discussions, found Caroli guilty of defamation. He was exposed, however, to evils of a more serious and invincible kind. Though the Genovese had agreed to the reform in reli gion which Calvin and his colleagues had introduced, and professed submission to the ecclesiastical authorities which had been instituted, yet a great proportion of them remained quite unchanged, in their principles and prac tice, and addicted as much as ever to those impurities in which they had formerly indulged. Besides this, a great deal of animosity between families and individuals had been engendered during the war of Savoy, which con tinued to burn, and to produce effects the most inimical to religion. Calvin and the other ministers did every thing in their power to correct these errors. They preach ed against them with the greatest energy. They used all their official influence ; and applied to the civil power for its interference in behalf of public morals. But these attempts only excited the resentment of those whose un worthy conduct had called for them ; and the more vi cious and refractory of the people now wished for nothing but to relieve themselves from the jurisdiction of such vigilant pastors. Some differences which had occurred with respect to the administration of the Lord's Supper, gave encouragement and facility to the execution of that design.`.•ot only had Calvin and his associates refused to administer the Lord's Supper at all to the Genevese while so much immorality and strife prevailed, but they maintained opinions with respect to the celebration of this ordinance, and certain other ceremonial points, op posite to those whichseem to have then been received in that district of the Protestant church. The church of Geneva made use of leavened bread in the eucharist: they had removed the baptismal fonts as unnecessary ap pendages ; and abolished all the festivals except Sunday. The churches of the canton of Bern disapproved of their practice in these particulars, and by an act made in a synod held at Lausanne, required them to change it. To this order Calvin and his brethren refused obedience. And the syndics, or chief magistrates, who were their greatest enemies, taking advantage of chat fact, and making it seem as an aggravation of their other offences, assembled the people, and procured an order from the council, for the immediate expulsion of Farel and Cal vin. When the sentence was communicated to Calvin, he said, " Truly, if I had served men, I would have had a poor reward ; but it is well that I have served a Master who never forgets to pay his servants all that he has promised." Calvin retired to Strasburgh, where, through the in fluence of Bucer and others, he was appointed professor of theology, and pastor of a French church, which he modelled according to the form adopted at Geneva. Not withstanding the harsh treatment which he had received from the Genovese, he still remembered them with af fection ; and this affection he displayed in writing to them several letters, full of wholesome instructions, ten der remonstrances, and encouraging prospects. He was particularly successful and happy in an answer that he wrote for their use, to a letter of Cardinal Sadolet, Bi shop of Carpentia, in which that artful priest endeavour ed to recal them to the Romish communion. The reply of Cali in was so able and eloquent, that he abandoned his project. While at Strasburgh, he published an ex cellent treatise on the Lord's Supper, produced a new edition of his Institutes, was useful in reclaiming many Anabaptists, and was appointed in 1541, by the divines of that city, to attend the diet convoked to meet at Worms, and afterwards at Ratisbonne, for settling the religious differences which had arisen in Germany. He
went there with Bucer ; had a conference with Melanc thon, who was highly pleased with him, and called him, by way of eminence, the theologian and proved highly useful to the protestant churches, especially to those of France.
The Genevese had now repented of their unjust ba nishment of Calvin, and longed to enjoy again the bene fits of his instruction and authority ; and, after much solicitation on their part, he consented to return. His arrival, which happened in May 1540, was welcomed with the acclamations of the people, and being released from his engagements at Strasburgh, in a manner honour able both to himself and to the magistrates and inhabi tants of that city, he took up his permanent residence in Geneva. The first object which engaged his attention was the reformation of public morals. And for this pur pose, he projected a kind of police, and procured the establishment of a tribunal called the Consistory, with power to take cognizance of all offences, and to inflict canonical punishments, even to excommunication. In cases requiring the infliction of severer penalties, it re ported to the council of the city, with its own judgment on the evidence adduced. It was originally composed of laymen and ecclesiastics ; and to slim Calvin's modera tion with respect to church power, the number of the former was most considerable. This new institution was sanctioned by a law passed in an assembly of the whole people, who solemnly promised to conform to it for ever. It was reprobated by many as savouring too much of Romish tyranny ; but there can be no doubt that its ope ration was attended with the most beneficial effects, and that it contributed, in a remarkable degree, to the pre servation and prosperity of the republic. The labours which Calvin now performed were so various and so great, that it seems wonderful how he sustained them. I le preached daily during every other week ; he gave three lectures every week in theology ; attended regu larly the meetings of the consistory and of the pastors ; met with his congregation every Friday ; gave frequent instructions to the French churches, which appear to have depended almost wholly on his counsel ; vindicated and defended the Reformation against its numerous ene mies ; composed various books of controversy ; kept up a wide and extensive correspondence with the Protes tants ; produced works of learning and ability, intended for general edification ; and (lid all this amidst much agitation and disquietude, occasioned by the inflexible severity with which he maintained the rights, and enfor ced the authority, of the eonsistorial tribunal. Nor was this the Nv 1101 . The council in Geneva, knowing his attainments in the science of law, consulted him in all important matters. They particularly employed him in framing their edicts and laws, which were completed and approved in 1543. And, in short, he was the person to whom they applied in all their difficulties, as one whose talents, eloquence, and influence, rendered him competent to any task prescribed by the circumstances of a turbulent people, and a rising government.
The deference shown to Calvin's opinions, and the re spect paid to his personal character, were astonishing. Ills disapprobation of any tenet was sufficient to procure its rejection, and all who treated him ill were considered as enemies of the state. Castalio having attempted to disseminate some doctrines which Calvin abhorred, was instantly denounced as a heretic, and obliged to leave Geneva. And James Gruct, who was beheaded there in 1547, was condemned to death, not only on account of impiety and treason, but also for having spoken disre spectfully of Calvin, and endeavoured to injure his cre dit at the court of France.
But while Calvin was universally esteemed and re spected in the reformed church, he was at the same time equally feared and hated by that church from which he had separated. Of this, a remarkable proof occurred in 1551. Being seized with a lit of ague during sermon, and obliged to quit the pulpit, the report quickly spread that he was dead. This report was heard with the highest satisfaction by the Catholics ; and in Noyon, as Calvin himself has recorded, there was a solemn procession by the canons, to thank heaven for the death of that arch heretic, whom their city had been so unfortunate as to produce. Be za, by mistake, makes this incident to have happened in 1553.