After the year 1553, Calvin's life was comparatively tranquil. He was occasionally distressed with intestine divisions, respecting the exercise of discipline in Gene va. He found it necessary to engage in controversy with some heretics, particularly Valentine Gentilis, who vented some crude absurdities on the doctrine of the Trinity. Above all, he was deeply afflicted by the cruel and bloody persecutions to which the Protestants were exposed in Paris, where no fewer than twenty-one of that proscribed class were burned alive. Still, however, his troubles were neither so severe, nor so numerous, as they had hitherto been ; and he had the unspeakable satisfac tion of seeing the reformation prosper, in spite of all the power and artifice and malignity by which its progress was opposed. And he even succeeded in composing the disturbances which had reigned in the city, in defeating those heretics who had attempted to corrupt the gospel, and in putting a stop to the persecutions which had raged so violently in France, though they afterwards broke out with their wonted fury.
On the 2d of February 1564, Calvin preached his last sermon, and delivered his last prelection in theology. He laboured under a vast complication of disorders, which the skill of the best physicians was unable to remove ; but under all of which he maintained the dignity and cherished the piety of a Christian. On the 10th of March, he was visited by Bean and other friends, to whom he spoke with the greatest cheerfulness and composure of his approaching dissolution. Being carried to the coun cil on the 27th, he thanked them for all the affection which they had shcwed him ; and having said, " I feel that I shall not again have the honour of appearing in this place," he took his leave of them wecping.—Though much reduced, he attended church, on the `.2d of April, and received the sacrament from the halals of Beza, lis tening also to the sermon, and joining as w ell as he could in the psalmody. The congregation, though they grieved at the prospect of his departure, crc yet delighted at seeing the calm serenity and holy joy which beamed upon his countenance. On the 25th, he made %%ill, in which, besides bequeathing the little propel ty, and it was but little that he had, to his relations, he gave a concise statement of his experience and I is sentiments, and bore his emphatic testimony to the doettine of saltation by grace. Ilaving thus made his trill, he was anxious once more to address the four syndics in their assembly ; but un account of the state of his health, they waited upon him, when he spoke to them in the most earliest manner, expressing his gratitude for their kindness, fait log them many wholesome admonitions, suggesting to them topics of comfort, and supplicating for them the blessing of heaven. Ile then shook hands w ith each of them, and bade them farewell. They departed with tears and sor row. On the 28th of April, all the ministers of the town and neighbourhood being assembled in his room, accord ing to his desire, he delivered to them a parting address, exhorting them to fidelity, charity, and per severance, and encouraging them, by mentioning the success which had attended his own labours. Ills an
cient friend Fare', venerable for his piety and his years, came from Neufchatel to have a last interview, which was tender and affecting. After this, he devoted his f w remaining- days to prayer and meditation; and, on the 2 tth of May, he calmly and gently fell " asleep in Jesus." His death plunged the city of Geneva into the deepest affliction; for in him they lost their most illus trious citizen, their ablest pastor, their most learned teacher, and their most valuable friend. lie was buried in a CO111111011 cemetery, without any extraordinary pa rade. His funeral was attended by almost the whole inhabitants. In compliance with his own request, there was no monument erected to his memory. But his me mory is embalmed in the hearts of all the friends of learning, liberty, and religion, and NVIII descend, with un fading honour, to the latest generations. No man has perhaps ever received so many, or such high encomi inns, from writers of every age, of every country, and of every denomination. Although he had his failings, which were chiefly those of a dogmatical and irritable temper, the general and just opinion of him is, that he was " a man whose extensive genius, flowing eloquence, im muse learning, extraordinary penetration, indefatigable •ndustry, and fervent piety, placed him at the head of all the reformers." Even the language of Scaliger, usually so parsimonious in praise, is scarcely too strong, when he says, that Calvin was the most exalted character that had appeared since the days of the apostles ; and that, at the age of twenty-two, he was the most learned man in Europe. Such eulogiums, from such men, should make those sciolists of the present day ashamed, who never mention the name of Calvin without a sneer, and who associate with it no ideas, but those of bigotry, into lerance, and fanaticism.
The works of Calvin are extremely voluminous. The most considerable part of them arc his Commentaries on Sacred Scripture. These, which extend to the whole Bible, except the Book of Revelation, are distinguished by piety, sound sense, clear illustration, and uncommon •mpaitiality. Of his great work, on the Institution of :he Christian Religion, an account has already been giN en. Most of ids productions, indeed, are worthy' of perusal.
•-__ • r I or etc.. a he re the subj”ct is of a local or (Kea .tonal na ture, he seldom fails to edify the reader by general 1E12,k, or to please him by acute reasoning. 11is controversial pieces are ingenious and powerful, but frequently disfi gured by intemperan •e and coarsene s of lati%uage. ills Epistles are intertming and and oold be read by tbo ,e who 51 mild aequ.linted with the history of that psi iod. S 'C t) Dictionary, art, vin ; Beza in rut. ('alvin ; `40mit'Ar r, Hist. liter. de. Ge neve • Calc. Ala t ; Spot. 11. de Geneve ; Dr' lin court's Defence de Calvin ; atc's 1. port Arcuunt of the !lest., Present Govern., and Laws of the Rep.
of G eneva ; Panegur. an ; ..410. to Bishol: 119rsl•y's ‘S'eruz:6,f-Jre th !Luse rf Lords in 1793. (r)