his friends would be contented to pray to God for him and spare themselves the trouble of visiting him. On being visited by Beza, he informed him that he made it a matter of conscience not to divert him in the smallest degree from the duties of his charge, so much had he the interest of the church and the glory of God at heart. In that state he continued until the nineteenth of May, exhibiting a perfect resignation and comforting his friends. On that day, in token of their intimate friendship, he was anxious that they should sup in the hall of his house; and being carried thither from his chamber, on entering he said—“ I am come to see you, my brethren, and to seat myself at the table with you for the last time." He then offered up the usual prayer, ate a little, and discoursed in a manner worthy of his piety and of his zeal; and when his weakness obliged him to retire to his chamber, looking at the company with a smile; "The wall," said he, "will not prevent my being united with you in spirit." After that night he remained confined to his bed; so thin and exhausted that breath only remained, though his face was not much altered. On the day of his death, the twenty-fourth of May, he appeared to speak with less difficulty and more strength.But it was the last effort of nature. About eight in the evening the signs of death appeared suddenly in his face; he continued speaking however with great propriety until his last breath, when he appeared rather to fall asleep than die. Thus was that great light of the Protestant church extin guished. On the day following, the whole city was plunged into inconceivable grief. The republic regretted the wisest of its citizens; the church its faithful pastor; the school its incomparable master; and all bewailed their common father, the instrument of their joy and consolation. One of the most curiously interesting and painful considerations attached to the name and memory of Calvin is this; the ceaseless hatred and obloquy with which so great a luminary of the Christian church in every generation has been assailed. Notwithstanding all their persecutions, others have received their eulogium since their death; but Calvin is yet the constant source of the most noisy vituperation. O that the Lord may pardon the calumniators of those worthies who adorned the Sixteenth Century! JOHN CALVIN, A French Divine; Pastor of the Church at Geneva; He died at Geneva, In the year 1564, Aged 55. WILLIAM FAREL. WILLIAM FAREL was born at Gap in Dauphine in 1489. He pursued his studies at Paris, and became a teacher of Hebrew and Greek literature; but the persecution of the Protestants drove him from France. He removed first to Strasburg, and thence to Switzerland. Afterwards he was employed by the Duke of Wirtemberg to introduce the Reformation into Montbeliard, Aigle, Morat, and the adjoining districts. Thence he travelled to Geneva, but the Romish priests so powerfully resisted him, that he was obliged to depart, although in 1534 he was recalled. Four years after he was banished from Geneva with Calvin, and went to Basil and Neufchatel. He was one of the most resolute and ardent of all the Reformers; and his earnestness, assiduity, and pungent denunciations of "the mystery of iniquity," always exposed him to persecution and danger. Nothing could resist his impetuous eloquence or quench his dauntless zeal. He has been surrounded by drawn swords, and by the influence of his preaching they were sheathed. The Papists interrupted him by the ringing of bells, but the noise of them was silenced by his overwhelming arguments. The utmost clamour and vociferation encircled him, but his evangelical preaching overpowered "the strife of tongues;' and it is supposed that by his boldness and thunder ing irresistible eloquence no one of the Reformers was more instrumental in turning sinners from the error of their ways, and saving souls from death, than William Farel. His learning, acumen and fervour raised him to the highest distinction; and his sagacity in seizing the most interesting and welltimed themes; with his dauntless fortitude and oratorical fluency, which like an impetuous torrent swept away all opposition, rendered the labours of Farel as permanent in their protracted beneficial effects, as they were irresistible in their primary influ ence. His impassioned christian eloquence continued almost undiminished to the termination of his earthly course. He visited his renowned fellow servant Calvin at Geneva when on his death bed; and the following year, on the eighteenth day of September 1565, he was "carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom," there to be with the Lord. WILLIAM FArel, A French Divine; At Geneva and other cities. He was a Minister at Geneva and Neufchatel. He died in the year 1565, Aged 76. 12 PETER VIRET. PETER VIRET was born at Orbe in Switzerland in the year 1511, and was united with Farel and Calvin at Geneva in carrying on the Reformation. The cause of Christ having triumphed in that city, and Calvin having been settled at Geneva; Viret removed to Lausanne, and afterwards to Lyons. His transcendent eloquence equalled his burning zeal and his profound erudition; which essentially aided the extirpation of the Roman Priesthood wherever he laboured. His wit and learning and undaunted spirit were particularly displayed in three volumes, of which the titles convey an accurate idea of the author's character and vigorous assaults upon Popery. The volumes were thus designated" Papal Physic,"-" Papal Necromancy""The Requiescat in pace of Purgatory." Another work entitled "Disputations upon the state of the Dead" is an exquisite specimen of the true evangelical method to extirpate error by "the force of truth." He finished his terrestrial labours at Pau in 1571.' PETER VIRET, Pastor of Churches at Geneva, Lausanne, and Lyons He died in 1571, Aged 60. |