us "that most of the facts related by the physician of Lyons (Bolsec) are perfectly true.”* In the introduction to the third volume of his "Notices," M. Galiffe bears this testimony to the state of morals at Geneva in Calvin's time: "I will show to those who imagine that the reformer had done nothing that is not good, our Registers covered with entries of illegitimate children-(they were exposed at all the corners of the city and country)-with prosecutions hideous for their obscenity-with wills in which fathers and mothers accuse their own children not only of errors, but of crimes-with transactions before notaries public between young girls and their paramours, who gave them, in the presence of their relatives, means of supporting their illegitimate offspring-with multitudes of forced marriages, where the delinquents were conducted from prison to the church— with mothers who abandoned their infants at the hospital, while they were living in abundance with a second husband-with whole bundles of processes between brothers -with multitudes (literally heaps, tas) of secret denunciations and all this in the generation nourished by the mystic manna of Calvin !"+ : Truly, if the "Registers" prove all this, we may conclude that Calvin stamped his own image upon his generation-and especially his heartlessness. The accounts of the circumstances attending the last sickness and death of Calvin are various. His disciple Beza, who wrote his life, represents his death as worthy of an apostle and of a saint. Yet he himself, as we shall see, furnishes us with some particulars which would make us doubt the truth of this picture. The diseases which led to his dissolution were many and complicated. In a letter to the physicians of Montpelier, written a short time before his death, Calvin gives a full account of the maladies with which he was tormented. Among these, * Ibid. p. 457, note. Audin, ii, 257. † Page 15, apud Aud. ii, 174. he mentions" the dropsy, the stone, the gravel, cholics, hemorrhoids, internal hemorrhages, quartan fever, cramps, spasmodic contractions of the muscles from the foot to the knee, and, during the whole summer, a frightful neuralgia or nervous affection."* His malady increasing, he dictated his last will and testament on the 26th of April, 1564. The greater part of this curious instrument is devoted to a defence of his conduct and motives throughout life!t He "protests that he has endeavored, according to the measure of grace given to him, to teach with purity the word of God, as well in his sermons as in his writings, and to expound faithfully the Holy Scriptures. And that, in all the disputes which he had had with the enemies of truth, he had employed neither chicanery nor sophistry, but had proceeded roundly (rondement) to maintain the quarrel of God." In disposing of his effects, towards the close of his will, he thus speaks of his nephew: "As to my nephew David. . because he has been light and volatile, I leave him only twenty-five crowns (ecus) AS A CHASTISE MENT." On the morning of the 27th of May, at 8 o'clock, he breathed his last, after having passed a night of horrible agony. The circumstances of his death and burial were hidden and mysterious. His body was immediately covered, and his funeral was hastened: it took place at 2 o'clock in the evening of the same day. Beza,‡ his favorite disciple, thus writes on the subject: "There were many strangers come from a distance, who wished greatly to see him, although he was dead, and made instance to that effect... But, to obviate all calumnies, he was put into the coffin at 8 o'clock in the morning, and at 2 o'clock in the evening was carried in the ordinary manner, as he himself had directed, to the common cemetery, called *See his letter in full, Audin, vol. ii, p. 452, seq. It is given in full by Audin, ibid. p. 456, seq. Vie de Calvin. 'Plein Palais,' without any pomp or parade, where he lies at the present day, awaiting the resurrection." The "calumnies" to which Beza refers were probably the public rumors spread through the city regarding the manner of the reformer's death. "It was said that every one had been prohibited from entering into his chamber, because the body of the deceased bore traces of a desperate struggle with death, and of a premature decomposition, in which the eye would have seen either visible signs of the divine vengeance, or marks of a shameful disease; and that in consequence a black veil was hastily thrown over the face of the corpse, and that he was interred before the rumor of his death had spread through the city. So fearful were his friends of indiscreet looks!""* The mystery was however penetrated by Haren, a young student who had visited Geneva to take lessons from Calvin. He penetrated into the chamber of the dying man, and has furnished the following evidence of what he saw on the occasion. And we beg our readers to bear in mind that he was no enemy, but a partisan of Calvin, and that his testimony was wholly voluntary. "Calvin, ending his life in despair, died of a most shameful and disgusting disease, which God has threatened to rebellious and accursed reprobates, having been first tortured in the most excruciating manner, and consumed, to which fact I can testify most certainly, for I, being present, saw with these eyes his most sad and tragical death." (Exitum et exitium.)† In thus presenting to our readers an imperfect summary of facts, many of them extracted from the public and official acts of the Genevan council and consistory in the sixteenth century, we would not be understood as wishing to reflect upon the character or conduct of the * Ibid. p. 464, seq. ↑ Johannes Harennius, apud Petrum Cutzenum. We have endeavored to give above a literal translation of his testimony, of which the original is in Latin. present professors of Calvinistic doctrines, many of whom are men estimable for their civic virtues. It is not our fault that the truth of history will not warrant a better character of Calvin. He was the most subtle, the most untiring, and perhaps the most able enemy of the Catholic church. He played a public and conspicuous part in the great religioso-politico drama of the sixteenth century; he was the founder of a sect more distinguished than any other, perhaps, for its inveterate opposition to Catholicity. Under these circumstances, his life, acts, and whole character, are surely public property; and truth and justice required that they should be given to the public. This is precisely what M. Audin, and the Protestant historians of Geneva, Galiffe and Gaberel, have lately done; and, treading in their footsteps, we have only given a brief abstract of the result of their labors. If even one of those who have been seduced from the "faith once delivered to the saints," by the example or teaching of Calvin, should be induced seriously to reconsider the subject, we shall be fully recompensed for our labor. Among the many proofs that the Catholic church is the church of Christ, not the least striking is the fact vouched for by authentic history, that all those who have left her bosom, and established religious sects, were men of very doubtful or of notoriously wicked and immoral characters. It is contrary to the order of God's providence to have selected men of this stamp, as the reformers of his church. This would derogate from his sanctity, and would reflect upon a religion which could be established, or reformed, by such instruments. This principle being once admitted, the inference from it is obvious. Whenever a change in religion-call it reformation, or what you will has been effected by men not remarkable for their sanctity, the fact is of itself strong presumptive evidence that the change is not from God. If the men who effected it were notoriously flagitious, as most of the soi disant reformers of the sixteenth century were, then the presumption grows into a moral certainty. CHAPTER XIV. INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON LITERATURE. "The march of intellect! what know we now Of moral, or of thought and sentiment, Which was not known three hundred years ago? Of folly, ignorance, and base intent." Light and darkness-Boast of M. D'Aubigné-Two sets of barbarians -Catholic and Protestant art—The "painter of the reformation”— Two witnesses against D’Aubigné-Schlegel-Hallam—“ Bellowing in bad Latin"-Testimony of Erasmus-Destruction of monasteries - Literary drought-Luther's plaint - Awful desolation-An "iron padlock"-Early Protestant schools-M. D'Aubigné's omissions-Burning zeal—Light and flame-Zeal for ignorance-Burning of libraries-Rothman and Omar-Disputatious theology-Its practical results-Morbid taste-The Stagirite-Mutual distrust-Case of Galileo-Liberty of the press-Old and new style-Religious wars-Anecdote of Reuchlin-Italy pre-eminent-Plaint of Leibnitz-Revival of letters-A shallow sophism-A parallel - Great inventions--Literary ages-Protestant testimony-Common schools. Ir is one of the proudest boasts of the reformation that it gave a powerful impulse to literature and the arts. Before it, the world was sunk in utter darkness, religious and literary; after it, all was light and refinement. Before it, society remained stationary; after it, all was progression and improvement. But for the reformation, we would still have been immersed in worse than Egyptian darkness; we would have had neither science nor literature! Such is the proudly boasting theory sustained by many superficial admirers of the reformation. We are not at all surprised to hear M. D'Aubigné singing the same old song which had been chaunted already usque ad nauseam, by those of his predecessors among Protestant historians, |