ARTICLE III.

1. Life of John Calvin. Carefully written by THEODORE BEZA, Minister of the Church of Geneva. Calvin Translation Society. Edinburgh. 1844.

2. Life and Times of John Calvin. Translated from the German of PAUL HENRY, D.D., by HENRY STEBBING, D.D. New York: Carter & Bro. 1851.

3. The Life of John Calvin. Compiled from authentic Sources, and particularly his Correspondence. By THOMAS H. DYER. New York: Harper and Bros. 1850.

Ir is singular that, looking through the innumerable volumes of biography which have issued from the British and American press, we cannot find a life of "the Theologian" of the Reformation, at once full, just, and adapted to the popular mind. The life by Beza, prefixed to Calvin's works, although eminently just and appreciative, is yet entirely too brief to satisfy the inquiries which naturally suggest themselves respecting such a man. He wrote also as a cotemporary, when much was known of Calvin's private and public life, which he might not then regard as of special importance, but which now would be of intense interest, as tending to throw light both upon the Reformer's character and the progress of the Reformation. As a cotemporary, Beza was not in a position to write such a biography as this age demands. He must write, if he write at all, in the spirit of those times, and in harmony with the current feelings of his generation. He could not well foresee the change which, on some questions, would be effected in three centuries. He could not put himself forward, amidst the altered opinions and feelings of the Protestant world at this day, and adjust his view of the Reformer to meet our wants. But his work is preeminently valuable as a record of the impressions made by Calvin upon one who knew him intimately-one who, by his deep learning and varied talents, was capable of justly appreciating his intellect and heart.

The great work of Dr. Paul Henry, published in its complete form in 1844, begins a new era in respect to our knowledge of the Reformer. It is the result of more than twenty years' patient research into all the sources of information open to the historian, on the Continent. He has combined the various particulars of Calvin's life with an analysis of his most important works, and a general review of the period of the Reformation. Dr. Henry has the rare advantage, in a biographer, of being heartily in sympathy with his subject. He has penetrated beneath the less attractive exterior, into the inner spiritual life and deep Christian experience, which more than all things else enriches the writings of Calvin. He has formed a clear and just idea of the peculiar intellectual power which distinguished the author of the "Institutes" and the volumes of Commentary on the word of God. Perhaps he is as impartial as any man could be who had dwelt so long under the direct influence of this mighty mind. To the theologian and the scholar his work is invaluable as a mine of original materials and genial criticism; and, in this respect, it will never be superceded. But, as a work for the general reader and especially the American reader, it has certain characteristics that will materially interfere with its usefulness, and greatly limit its circulation. The division of the work is rather artificial than natural and necessitates a great deal of repetition and many apparent anachronisms. He considers Calvin's life and character under three divisions; the first of which embraces the formation and development of his doctrinal views; the second, his system of discipline and his efforts to establish it; while the third describes his controversial labors in the defence of Protestantism against the Papacy, and his own form of Protestantism against errorists and schismatics. Now it so happens, that while in Calvin's life these three divisions have an apparent, they have no real foundation. It is impossible to carry out such a plan as this without constantly returning to portions. of the life already passed over. It is not like travelling over the successive stages of the same road, but like traversing in succession three parallel roads. Chronology is set at defiance. Dates mix themselves up in singular confusion. The men whom

you saw hurry over the first road, you journey with again on the last. On this plan, it is next to impossible to have a single full picture of the Reformer or a connected view of his life.

Nor is this the natural development of the subject. In the real life these several parts cohere as one whole. Dr. Mott might just as well dissect a body in parallel sections as Dr. Henry write a life in that form. Calvin began as a theologian, but his commentaries, his establishment of the Presbyterian discipline and his manifold efforts in defence of the faith, synchronized to a large extent with each other. His efforts to establish Presbytery began with his first settlement at Geneva. His controversial tracts date back to the exile at Strasburg and the masterly letter to Sadolet. His Commentaries occupied him all his life as a pastor; and though there were particular periods when he was more absorbed in one or the other of these things, yet it is not possible to divide the whole life by them, in regular chronological sequence.

This mode of writing destroys the charm of progress which one feels in advancing through a biography. It fails to leave upon the general reader any very distinct and single impression, and it is only possible for the scholar to attain a connected view by the slow process of reconstructing the materials for himself. It furnishes, indeed, a fine opportunity for the introduction of dissertations and philosophical essays on topics connected with the Reformation. In this respect, Dr. Henry has enriched his work with many profoundly suggestive discussions. But this kind of writing is not exactly biography, except as it rises naturally out of the life of the subject, and is designed to set that life forth more completely. Even then, however, it is necessary rather to touch lightly and briefly upon such points. We protest against the introduction of long, abstruse and barren analyses of all the works an author may have written, into the body of his biography. It is amply sufficient to show the occasion and the general manner of his work, and its relation to his own development or that of his time. It is much better for the general reader to have the minute and critical examination of an author's writings placed in a volume by themselves, as Orme has treated the Life and Works of Baxter.

If to this artificial division, and the substitution of these

miscellaneous dissertations for lively and graphic narrative, we add a style somewhat heavy and diffuse, we shall see clearly enough the reason why this life of Calvin will not be able to take rank with the living history of D'Aubigne as a work for the popular mind. The latter writes history as if it were biography, and his work has all the interest which attaches to the life of Johnson or Defoe; while the former writes biography as if it were philosophical history, and occupies a position, in respect to popular interest, not unlike Hallam in his historical essays. With all these subtractions, however, this work will remain as one of the most original, comprehensive and noble contributions to the history of the great Reformer and his times. For the scholar, it will continue to be the most important aid in the formation of a just opinion of the most hated, and the most admired man of the XVIth century; the man who, above all the mighty minds of that period,-rich though it was in great names, beyond any equal period of the past,―gave form and systematic development to Protestantism, and originated those republican theories which are now spreading through the world.

The life of Calvin, by Dyer, written by an Englishman, and published some years subsequent to the great work of Henry, has the merit, which we have denied to the former, of lively and graphic description. It has been characterized as a mere compilation from Henry and others. But this does not do it justice. There are some facts brought out in it that we have seen nowhere else: and the whole, together, forms a consecutive biography, possessing much more unity and interest as a popular work, than that of the German. Instead, however, of being worthy of the subject, it is the rarest piece of special pleading to sustain a foregone conclusion, that we have ever met with, in court or out of it. He systematically exaggerates the failings, and contracts the excellencies of the Reformer. He never rises to a broad and impartial view of his real position. He judges Calvin just emerging from Romanism and with the shadows of the escaping darkness yet resting on the foot of the glorious mountain whose summit was bathed in the rising sunlight, as if he lived and acted in this day when the sun had reached the meridian. He exhibits an astonishing ingenuity in the mis-interpretation of

garbled extracts of letters whose whole tenor and spirit lead us to a directly opposite conclusion. With remarkable tact and under professions of the strictest impartiality, he so groups together the testimony against, and so destroys by sly insinuations that which is in favor of Calvin, as to distort the character he professes to describe and blacken the man he pretends to admire. A more thorough biographical pettifogger, the annals of this class of writing have yet to furnish. It is in perfect keeping for Beda, Duprat and the inventors of popish legends, to execrate the man who, more than all others, gave existence, form and perpetuity to the Reformed Church; but it is passing strange that a Protestant, in this nineteenth century, should be found capable of writing a work wherein all that can be brought to bear against him is set forth with dogmatic confidence, while the excellencies that adorned or constituted his real life are only glanced at sideways, or admitted reluctantly with an over-cautious "may be."

We propose, in this Article, to give a brief sketch of the life of the Reformer, and hereafter to trace out his influence upon the world and compare his character with some of the other great leaders of the Reformation. Once for all, we give Dr. Henry credit for much that we shall say, which it has not been convenient to note as his at the time of writing.

John Calvin was born at Noyon, in the north of France, July 10, 1509, a little after the time that Luther, then twentysix years old, entered the university of Wittenberg, as Aristotelian professor. His father, Gerhard Calvin, the notary apostolic and procurator fiscal of the county of Noyon, was in high favor with the chief men of the province. He was for a time educated at his father's expense, in the family of the Mommors, one of the most distinguished in that region. He early evinced a fondness for study and a freedom from boyish excesses. His father destined him for the Church, and had influence sufficient to procure for him, in March, 1521, a vacant chaplaincy in the cathedral of his native town. Thus, at twelve years of age, was our young Reformer invested with the clerical character. A week after his election, "the child's hair was solemnly cut by the bishop," and by this act of " ton