more from the book he holds with such a nonchalant air, than if he bent over it, with flurried nerves, at his table. And he who sits dreamily gazing into the fragrant clouds of his "meerschaum," sees far beyond, and his mind turns with restless energy to where the beautiful bowl Venus-like was moulded, from the fabled "sea-foam," and revels in strange myths and wild traditions-legends and philosophy —till he, in turn, moulds thoughts of grace and power.

We dislike splurge, and love rather the energy which turns trivial obstacles from before it with ease and calmness, that does not grow excited, to rave and fume at every little event, but flows peacefully through life's ordinary channels, and only gathers its torrent force in overwhelming fury to sweep away the barriers with which the stoutest opposition would dam its progress. In blind attack upon the every day affairs of life we would not have men madly waste their resources, but kindly advising them, "Do not fret yourself!" would indulge in calm and philosophical contemplation of the evils, we shall soon as complacently overcome.

There are few great occasions to be met here. In our preparation for life's battle field we should indeed be active-but the warrior whets his sword for the conflict with little ardor, when measured beside the passionate eagerness with which he wields it in the fight and charges the wild hosts of war.

"In some breasts passion lies concealed and silent, Like war's swart powder in a castle vault,

Until occasion like the linstock lights it,

Then comes at once the lightning and the thunder."

And the unknown writer of the old play might find among us many a one tired of the aims set before him, slumbering even in idlest lethargy, whom greater things shall hereafter wake to noble and successful action.

C. H. O.

TOWNSEND PRIZE ESSAY.

John Calvin, and the Influence of his Doctrines upon Civil Liberty.

BY EDWARD CARRINGTON, COLEBROOK, CONN.

The name of John Calvin is associated inseparably with all the blessings of religious freedom. It recalls the great intellect of the reformation, the master-mind of modern theology, the architect of a system which has stamped its clear outlines upon every feature of the Protestant faith. The sphere of Calvin's labors was theology; the end of his life was to promote God's glory, to build up on the pure doctrines of the Bible the christian church. But we must look wider to gain a view of the full significance of his work. The man of one idea, if it be a grand and a living idea, will leave his mark-and that in no narrow sense-upon the world. A mighty revolution in civil society followed closely, in fact, the contest for a reformation in the church; and if we examine the hidden springs of both these great struggles and trace out their results, we shall find that Calvin, the champion of reformed theology,—has been by his doctrines no less directly and actively the leading spirit of civil and social progress.

Calvin is emphatically a historical man. No formal sketch of his character or of the incidents of his career is necessary: they are familiar from his connection with the great events of his times. He was not such a man as Luther, with all the enthusiasm of a knight-errant, and more than the poetry and tenderness of a woman in his nature. The bold, strong traits of his mind are conspicuous at a glance; they are reflected clearly in his grand scheme of doctrine; they are embodied in those institutions which are the monuments of his constructive genius; and it is by these that his character and life are to be judged.

The striking feature of Calvin's system, is its marked intellectual character. He built upon the sure foundation of first principles, and shaped his doctrines by a logic as clear and rigorous as mathematics. An eternal God-infinite and incomprehensible,-ruling the universe, ordaining the fate of empires, and fashioning the smallest flower by His inflexible decree,-before the intolerable brightness of whose glory all His created works fade away into utter nothingness,-is the center and life of his theology. With the same relentless eye he searches

into human nature. Man is utterly fallen, corrupt, lost. He makes no effort to evolve a religion out of the inborn grace and nobleness of the human soul. He knew too well the folly of any such smooth cure for the terrible ills of humanity. He knew the deep-seated depravity, the malignity, the slumbering tempests of hate and passion which the human breast contains; that "there is but one thing in this universe that will overmaster the spirit of man,-the sight of God laying hold of His thunder-bolts!"

The problem to be considered is the influence of Calvin's doctrines upon civil liberty.

The Reformation operated in the cause of human freedom, as a fact, rather than a principle.* The practical result of it was a great revolution in society; but such a result was beyond the designs, beyond even the hopes of its authors. We can never judge of the full significance of a principle merely from the aims of its originators. The great principles of religious liberty were not at the outset fairly comprehended. The first fruit of the Reformation, as a fact, was freedom of thought; but the broad idea of toleration was then unknown, the rights of conscience were not respected. The reformers cried out against persecution, not because persecution was wrong, but because they were right. And yet it cannot be questioned that it is to the Reformation directly, that we owe the blessings of religious freedom.

In the same manner, by a gradual and practical process, the reformed doctrines made their influence felt in behalf of civil liberty. Calvin did not propose immediately, and as an end, the reform of abuses in society. We search in vain in all his writings for enlarged views of freedom and political rights. The spirit of his age was theological, and he partook of it. The first step of progress, also, had yet to be taken. The truth of God was to be proclaimed; the souls of men unshackled; the church purified and restored. This one object was before his eyes, and he sought no other; but he was silently achieving a more extended work.

From the connection which everywhere existed between civil and religious authority it followed, that an attack upon the hierarchy must be in effect a blow for civil liberty. For kings and magistrates, Calvin, like the apostle, taught respect and obedience; he aimed at no civil revolution; but he dealt a fatal shock against that great system of abuse, which was the strong pillar of arbitrary power, whether in church or state. If the reformers failed to conceive fully the idea of human

* Guizot.

rights, they were alive to the wrongs of the people of God. The breath of persecution kindled the spirit of resistance, and a burning hatred against oppressors. The same spirit which inspired David of old, in his terrible denunciations against the foes of Zion, breathes in that noble sonnet of Milton, on the massacres of Piedmont,-when in a mingled strain of sorrow and of imprecation, he exclaims—

"Avenge, O Lord thy slaughtered Saints, whose bones

Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold,

Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,

When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones."

That cry rang through Europe. It startled into existence a long forgotten power-the people-roused to madness by a sense of their accumulated wrongs. They needed no cold formulas of abstract rights. They were animated by resistance, vengeance, despair. In the heat of the struggle they caught by instinct a dim sense of political freedom; what they felt they carried into action; and often a work of reform was accomplished before it was fully conceived.

So much may be said of the Reformation in general. The distinctive influence of Calvin's doctrines remains to be considered,-we have yet to account for the fact that while the Lutheran church espoused the cause of the princes, and the Anglican church served to strengthen the prerogative of the King, the church of Geneva has continued the church of the people, and its doctrines have been everywhere a restless principle of progress.

We detect in the theology of Calvin the elements of the great idea of human rights,-not enforced in all its bearings,-still less expanded into a system, but clearly and practically enunciated. The equality of men an idea so often perverted-may it not spring from a belief in the total and radical depravity of man,-from a deep sense of the whole race as equally in the dust before God? Such a conviction annihilates the unfounded distinctions of society. It is not a degrading conviction. There is no more sturdy and vigorous sentiment in the human mind than that stern independence in the sight of men, which is the fruit of reverence and humility before an eternal God. It awakes at once a sense of equality and of responsibility,—the spirit of freedom without the spirit of pride.

The theology of Calvin was distinguished for the simplicity of its worship, its severe morality, its clear abiding faith. The last is peculiarly an active principle. Faith, in ordinary life, makes a weak man strong. Faith, though it be in an absurdity and a dream, has often

made a nation irresistible. A strong and living faith in God-the sublimest idea of which the mind is capable-inspires a people with an energy and power that can be checked only by annihilation!

The system of Calvin, also, was an intellectual system,-founded on the pure love of truth. It took root in the strong convictions of men, and not in their transient emotions, and gave a cast of determination to character. No ordinary creed could have made such a man as Cromwell, whom an iron purpose and a rugged earnestness in action brought to the head of affairs in the stormiest times in English history. No ordinary creed could have raised up such a body as the Puritans,— men who never paused or shrank in the face of danger,-who feared none save God,-who mustering from the walks of peaceful life, caught the spirit of war as if by magic, routed the pride and chivalry of Britain on the field of battle, and executed swift vengeance on a faithless king!

Need we search longer for the secret of the influence of this belief? Can we wonder at the terrible earnestness of a creed, the life of which was faith,—which uttered but one voice-duty,-which without extin guishing patriotism awoke a sentiment nobler than patriotism,-which led Calvin to exclaim, "Since the truth may not dwell in France, neither may I," which led our fathers to seek a home among savage wigwams rather than submit to the thralldom of conscience?

The political changes which succeeded the spread of Calvin's doctrines cannot have been accidents. Is history an accident? Is there no system, no order, no changeless law written in the language of events, in the annals of nations, as plainly as though it were graven legibly on tablets of steel?

That settlement of English liberties, which followed an eventful struggle of forty years, was the fruit of the stern theology of Calvin. Had it not been for that early check which the great rebellion imposed upon the rising tyranny of the Stuarts,-had it not been for the fierce courage of the independents, while the established church preached non-resistance, there would not have remained spirit and manliness enough in the British nation to have won the bloodless triumphs of the glorious revolution.

A signal instance of this influence-there is no sublimer chapter in history-is the revolt of the Netherlands. The ancient charters and municipal rights have been sometimes represented as the source of the liberties of Holland. It is absurd. Nothing but the truth of God could rouse a people to such a struggle as that. The charters had