punishment. Ami Perrin himself, whose life was very disorderly, was excommunicated, deprived of his place of counsellor, and condemned to two month's imprisonment; but, although this man had always encouraged the enemies of Calvin, and been the cause of all the troubles which he had experienced from the government, Calvin nevertherless employed his eloquence and his interest to procure the repeal of his sentence, and had the christian satisfaction to see his mortal enemy released from prison, and restored to his employment.

Germany was at this time reduced to the greatest extremity, her towns having either surrendered to the emperor, or been taken by force, she beheld the sudden ruin of a work, which had been the labour of many years. Happy, indeed, were they whom death had prevented from being spectators of that dreadful desolation. It is not to be doubted that these calamities deeply afflicted Calvin, since it is certain that when the churches enjoyed a profound peace, he took as great an interest in those that were most remote, as if they had been committed to his care. Besides which, it was impossible for him to learn that those illustrious characters, Melancthon, Bucer, and Martyr, his dearest friends, were exposed to the most imminent perils, without being pene

F

trated with the profoundest grief. Great, however, as were his afflictions, he supported them with heroic courage, and though persecuted by the wicked, his constancy and his virtue remained unshaken.

In the year 1547, and on the 26th of July, Jacques Gruet was beheaded. Gruet was one of those men whom vice and public disorders rendered famous impatient under the restraints of the laws, he had the audacity to affix against the pulpit of the cathedral, a libel against the reformed Genevese, and particularly the reformers and ministers. Being immediately apprehended, and his papers and letters examined, they were found to contain several violent passages against Calvin; as well as a petition which he wished to present to the General Council against the ecclesiastical discipline; the object of which was to suppress the bounds which it imposed upon those who led a vicious life. A paper was also found containing objections against the authority of the sacred bocks, the spirituality and immortality of the soul, and the last judgment. His sentence condemns him for having spoken with contempt of religion; for having maintained that laws, human and divine, were the work of caprice; for having written impious letters and licentious songs; for having maintained that fornication

was not criminal when both parties consented; for having att mpted to overthrow the ecclesiastical institutions, and the authority of the Consistory; for having threatened the reformers and the ministers; for having spoken disrespectfully of them, and particularly of Calvin; for having written letters calculated to irritate the court of France against Calvin, and to engage the King of France to write to the council against him; and finally for having threatened the council itself. The reasons of this condemnation, judging from the sentence itself, demonstrate that the death of Gruet was the effect of his impiety, and of his threats against the government.

During these troubles, Calvin composed a work entitled L'Antidote, against the doctrine contained in the first seven sections of the Council of Trent: and wrote also to the church of Rouen, to fortify her against the artifices and the errors of a certain monk of the order of St. Francis, who was endeavouring to infect that church with the heresy of Carpocrates.*

*

Carpocrates was a heretic of the second century, who flourished at Alexandria about the year 130. He revived the Gnostic heresy, to which he added the antinomian doctrine, that actions are indifferent, as the passions are planted in human nature by God himself. His son Epiphanius taught the same opinions. -Mosheim.

Undiverted by these foreign cares, he continued his ordinary occupations, and composed his excellent Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul. As many persons entertained a high opinion of judicial astrology, he justly exposed it in an elegant work which he published on the subject. Having received an obliging letter from Brentius, who was exiled at Basil, he consoled him with much tenderness. And it were to be wished, that Brentius had ever preserved the sentiments which he expressed at that time, and had not broken the bonds which attached him to Calvin. He also wrote to Bucer, who was in England, and after exhorting him to avow more openly his opinion on the Supper of the Lord, he renewed the assurances of a sincere and ardent friendship. To the Duke of Somerset, Protector of England, he sent such useful and important advice, as, had it been followed, would have saved the British church from many calamities.

The church of Geneva, though surrounded by afflictions, increased rapidly, and Calvin received with every mark of tenderness, those who were banished from their country on account of their attachment to the gospel. God, likewise, so eminently blessed the labours of his servant, that the faction of the seditious was almost entirely subdued. He stood, indeed, in

great need of this relief, for he now met with a severe trial in the loss of his wife; a person of singular virtue and merit. But though extremely affected by this affliction, he endured it with a constancy and resignation becoming his exalted character.

The churches of Saxony not being united respecting the nature and use of indifferent things, consulted Calvin, who frankly gave his opinion on the subject; and as Melancthon was accused (though unjustly) of too much indifference on this subject, he wrote to him respecting it.

While God was on the one hand chastising the German churches with the scourge of discord, he manifested his compassion to the churches of Switzerland; for Calvin and Farel having made a visit to Zurich, composed all the differences which had arisen among them on the subject of the sacraments. Articles were agreed upon by the consent of the churches of Switzerland, and those of the Grisons; and this agreement united the church of Zurich and that of Geneva in the closest bonds.

About this time Calvin wrote two letters, replete with profound erudition, to Lælius