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cern this departure from the spirit of the gospel, and laboured at first by the arts of gentleness and persuasion, to bring back their fellow citizens to a sense of their duty. When these means were unsuccessful, they had recourse to the established discipline of the church, threatened the refractory with the sentence of excommunication, and openly declared that they could not dispense the Lord's supper to persons who had broken the bonds of charity, peace, and unity, and who resisted the ecclesiastical jurisdiction to which they had sworn subjection. These divisions were increased by another cause the church at Geneva had used common bread for the sacrament, and abolished all holy days, while the Protestants at Berne had retained the use of wafers. In this they were confirmed by the synod of Lausanne, which also appointed the Genevese to observe the same custom. Calvin and his colleagues appealed to a synod which was to meet at Zurich. The newly elected syndics of Geneva, being leaders of the most numerous faction, taking advantage of this appeal, represented Calvin and his two colleagues as enemies to the peace of the church; and having assembled the people in a tumultuous manner, commanded these faithful men to leave the city within two days, because they refused to administer the ordihance of the supper. When this sentence was intimated to

The syndics were the chief magistrates of Geneva, annually elected by the votes of the community,

Calvin, he said, " Verily, if I had served men, I would have had a sorry reward; but it is well that I have served Him, who does not forget a single promise that he makes to his servants."

This event might seem to threaten the subversion of the Reformation at Geneva; but it was overruled by Providence for promoting the interests of the gospel in other places, for improving the talents of the exiled ministers, and even for purifying the corruptions, and rectifying the disorders of the Genevan church. Obeying this unchristian edict, these three venerable pastors retired to Zurich, where a synod of the Swiss churches being convened, the church of Berne was requested to use all its influence to procure the re-admission of these faithful men to their charges at Geneva. The attempt was ineffectual; and Calvin, having left Zurich, went first to Basil, and then to Strasburg, where, by the unanimous request of the Senate and ministers, he was called to the theological chair, with the appointment of a competent salary. There, he not only taught divinity with universal applause, but with the consent of the Senate, modelled the church after the Genevan form. In his exile, he was not unmindful of his former charge; but kept up a constant correspondence with them, exhorting them to return to the purity and unity of the faith. By these epistolary labours, he succeeded in quieting the commotions which the decree of the synod of Lausanne concerning the use of wafers in the sacrament had excited, and in preventing the influence of

Sadolet, the bishop of Carpen- the Lord's Supper, which was of

tras, (a city of Dauphiny) who exerted all his powers of eloquence to bring back his dear friends, as he styled the Senate and people of Geneva, to the Romish communion. These letters breathe a spirit of ardent affection for his beloved flock, and inculcate on them the important duties of self-examination, humility, and repentance, on account of their spiritual declension; of love to their pastors, and of a tolerant disposition towards those who differed from them in matters of inferior importance. Their dissensions he represents as marks of divine judgment against their sins, and uniformly prays that they might be led by the Spirit of truth into the love and practice of Christian virtue.

While at Strasburg, in 1540, he published an enlarged edition of his Institutions, and a short but comprehensive Treatise on

singular use to the church at that time, when the Lutheran and Popish doctrines on this point were the subject of frequent discussion. During this period, he was the means of converting several Anabaptists, some of whom afterwards became bright ornaments of the Protestant cause. In 1541, he was called to assist at two diets held by the authority of the emperor Charles V. at Worms and Ratisbon, for the purpose of accommodating matters between the Protestants and their adversaries. There he gained the friendship of Melanchton, whose gentleness and modesty made him an advocate for reconciliation, but whose timidity inade him often shrink from that opposition, which Luther carried on with such vehemence and success, against the tenets and practices of Rome.

To be continued.

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ration of his belief of the Christian religion.

3. Students in this seminary shall be aided in their preparation for the ministry by able profess ors; whose duty it shall be, by public and private instruction, to unlock the treasures of divine knowledge, to direct the pupils in their inquiries after sacred truth, to guard them against religious error, and to accelerate their acquisition of heavenly wisdom.

4. The public instruction shall be given in lectures on natural theology, sacred literature, ecclesiastical history, Christian theology, and pulpit eloquence.

5. In the lectures on natural theology, the existence, attributes, and providence of God, shall be demonstrated; the soul's immortality and a future state, as deducible from the light of nature, discussed; the obligations of man to his Maker, resulting from the divine perfections and his own rational nature, enforced; the great duties of social life, flowing from the mutual relations of man to man, inculcated; and the several personal virtues deduced and delineated; the whole being interspersed with remarks on the coincidence between the dictates of reason and the doctrines of revelation, in these primary points; and, notwithstanding such coincidence, the necessity and utility of a divine revelation stated.

6. Under the head of sacred literature shall be included lectures on the formation, preservation, and transmission of the sacred volume; on the languages, in which the Bible was originally written; on the septuagint version of the Old Testament, and

on the peculiarities of the language and style of the New Testament, resulting from this version and other causes; on the history, character, use, and authority of the ancient versions and manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments; on the canons of biblical criticism; on the authenticity of the several books of the sacred code; on the apochryphal books of both Testaments; on modern translations of the Bible, more particularly on the history and character of our Engfish version; and also critical lectures on the various readings and difficult passages in the sacred writings.

7. Under the head of ecclesiastical history shall be comprised lectures on Jewish antiquities; on the origin and extension of the Christian church in the first three centuries; on the various sects and heresies in the early ages of Christianity; on the characters and writings of the fathers; on the establishment of Christianity by Constantine, and its subsequent effects; on the rise and progress of popery and mahometanism; on the corruptions of the church of Rome; on the grounds, progress, and doctrines of the reformation; on the different denominations among Protestants; on the various constitutions, discipline and rites of worship, which have divided, or may still divide the Christian church; on the state and prevalence of paganism in our world; and on the effect, which idolatry, mahometanism, and Christianity have respectively produced on individual and national character.

8. Under the head of christian theology shall be comprehended

lectures on divine revelation; on the inspiration and truth of the Old and New Testaments, as proved by miracles, internal evidence, fulfilment of prophecies, and historic facts; on the great doctrines and duties of our holy Christian religion, together with the objections made to them by unbelievers, and the refutation of such objections; more particularly on the revealed character of God, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; on the fall of man, and the depravity of human nature; on the covenant of grace; on the character, of fices, atonement, and mediation of Jesus Christ; on the character and offices of the Holy Spirit; on the scripture doctrines of regeneration, justification, and sanctification; on evangelical repentance, faith, and obedience; on the nature and necessity of true virtue or gospel holiness; on the future state, on the immortality of soul and body, and the eternity of future rewards and punishments, as revealed in the gospel; on the positive institutions of Christianity; on the nature, interpretation, and use of prophecy; and on personal religion, as a qualification for the gospel ministry. 9. Under the head of pulpit eloquence shall be delivered a competent number of lectures on the importance of oratory; on the invention and disposition of topics; on the several parts of a regular discourse; on elegance, composition, and dignity in style; on pronunciation, or the proper management of the voice and correct gesture, and on the immense importance of a natural manner; on the rules to be ob served in composing a sermon, and on the adaptation of the

principles and precepts of ancient rhetoric to this modern species of oration; on the qualities in the speaker, in his style, and in his delivery, necessary to a finished pulpit orator; on the methods of strengthening the memory and of improving in sacred eloquence; on the character and style of the most eminent divines and best models for imitation, their respective beauties and excellencies in thought and expression; and above all, on the transcendent simplicity, beauty, and sublimity of the sacred writings.

10. It shall be the duty of the professors, by private instruction and advice, to aid the students in the acquisition of a radical and adequate knowledge of the sacred scriptures in their' original languages, and of the Old Testament in the septuagint version; to direct their method of studying the Bible and other writings; to superintend and animate their pursuits by frequent inquiries and examinations, relative to their progress in books and knowledge; to assign proper subjects for their first compositions, and to suggest a natural method of treating them; frequently and critically to examine their early productions, and in a free, but friendly manner, to point out their defects and errors, in grammar, method, reasoning, style, and sentiment; to improve them in the important art of reading, and to give them oppor tunities of speaking in public, favouring them with their candid remarks on their whole manner; to explain intricate texts of scripture, referred to them; to solve cases of conscience; to watch over their health and morals with

paternal solicitude, and by every prudent and Christian method to promote the growth of true piety in their hearts; to give them friendly advice with relation to their necessary intercourse among men in the various walks of life, and especially with respect to the manner, in which it becomes a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus to address both God and man, whether in the assembly of his saints, or in the chamber of sickness and of death.

LETTERS FROM A CLERGYMAN TO HIS SON.

My Son,

LETTER VI.

IN reading my preceding let ters, I believe you have been led to this reflection, that the work of the sincere and humble Christian is much more plain, simple and easy, than the work of a man of the world. The former makes his duty the rule of his conduct, and indulges no painful anxiety about the consequences. The latter is solicit ous about the consequences, and pays little attention to duty. The apostle says, "We have our conversation in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God."

The man governed by the wis dom of the world is always in uncertainty and perplexity. Human wisdom is short sighted; it cannot look far into futurity; nor foresee what will be the remote consequences of the policy, which it adopts. The very means, which it applies to the procurement of wealth, honour,

or preferment, may operate to quite contrary effects. New expedients must then be chosen, and new disappointments will soon ensue. Or if the measures chosen seem successful in the first essay, remoter consequences may be adverse and disastrous, and doubtless will be so. I need not refer you to history, sacred or profane; your own recollec. tion will verify this remark. The man, who, laying aside the plain maxims of virtue and morality, governs himself by the policy of the world, is never satisfied; never consistent with himself; never uniform in his conduct. He is continually shuffling and changing his means, always anxious and embarrassed; wishing to undo what he has done; and doing what should not be done; still too proud to confess his error, and too selfsufficient to ask advice. If danger threatens and probable means of deliverance fail, he takes some desperate measures, trusting to the contingence of events. If he falls into ruin, he draws many after him, and endeavours to console himself by imputing the blame

to others.

The pious and honest man escapes all this vexation and misery. "He walks uprightly, and walks surely." He has one plain rule to guide him. This is the word of God, and this, he knows, will never mislead him. If ever he is in doubt, he recurs to this rule, and his doubt is removed; for his way is marked before him. He feels no embarrassment; for he knows what is good, and what God requires of him. He walks right on in the way prescribed, committing his way to God, and trusting that his thoughts will be

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