Shortly after Martin Luther's break with the Pope, another man was able to lead the world still farther from the mistakes of the Middle Ages. This time it is John Calvin, who deserves our attention. John Calvin (Jean Chauvin) was born in Picardy in 1509, so was eight years old when Luther nailed his famous theses to the Church door at Wittenberg. Calvin had a . brilliant mind and was a great organizer. Though of delicate physique it is said that through his stern self-discipline he was able to accomplish more in half a lifetime than many would achieve in three lifetimes. His father was an educated French Roman--Catholic who wished his son to become a priest. As a lad of sixteen at college, though retiring in manner, Calvin showed himself to be a clever thinker. Small wonder then, that John Calvin would at first have nothing to do with the new aoctrines that Luther and other Protestant leaders were preaching. He kept aloof from the other students a good deal and was critical of them. They soon gave him a nickname "The accusative Case!"

Many doubts and anxieties passed through Calvin's mind as to his future calling. One day he passed a market place where a Protestant was being burnt for his faith. The calm and peaceful way in which the martyr met his death made such an impression upon Calvin that he felt he must find out about the new expression of Christianity. What he learned convinced him that he could never become a Roman Catholic priest, and so he decided to train as a lawyer. At the University he met a Protestant who was studying the Bible in Greek. Calvin, too, started to study the Bible, which caus him to become a wholehearted f lower of the Reformed religion and before long he was the leader of the Protestants in Paris.

Then persecution began. One day, friendly fellow students warned Calvin that he was in danger of arrest, and he knotted sheets together and lowered himself out of the window at the very moment when the footsteps of the officers sounded outside his door.

He went to Poictiers and carried on his preaching and teaching there, especially among the students of the University. People gathered round him and pledged themselves to study the Bible. Like some of the early Christians, they used to meet secretly in a cave not far from the city. Persecution increased, and Calvin fled to Switzerland. Hearing of the sufferings of the Protestants in other parts, he felt he could help the cause by writing a book to explain the meaning of the Reformation. This book, written at the age of twenty-three, was called "The Institutes of the Christian Religion". It was written in. Latin and translated into French, and it had a very wide influence. It helped to show that what people were calling a heresy was really the true Gospel; that the Reformers were striving to get back through the falsehoods of the time to those things that the Bible plainly taught.

The City of Geneva in Switzerland had declared itself for the Reformed faith, and after a time Calvin joined William Farel, the Protestant French minister there, to help, with the work of reforming the City. Calvin found Geneva to, be a city of strict laws but much evil living. He saw that if he could put into practice in Geneva the beliefs he had set out in his book, a great influence would go out from the city to Protestants all over Europe. At Easter he and Farel preached to a crowded congregation, many of whom were armed. Calvin announced that there would be no service of the Lord's supper afterwards since the people had shown themselves unworthy of the privilege. Upon this the citizens drew their swords and rushed to the Communion table. Calvin stood before it without flinching. "It must be through my body this is touched," he said. The uproar died down. Next day the two reformers were driven from the City.

Three years later the citizens asked Calvin to return and help them. Calvin accepted and lived twenty years in Geneva. Despite ill-health and many other difficulties, he strove to make Geneva a city of God. In his plan for Church Government we find no bishops, but elders. There were preaching elders and ruling elders, also teachers and deacons. Like Luther, he thought the sermon ought to be an important part of the service, and the Lord's supper should be celebrated every Sunday and that everyone should partake of it, though those who were wilfully careless or irreverent were forbidden to attend. Calvin also taught the people to respect the State, but that he considered the State to be a servant of the Church. To the Church their first loyalty was due.

Calvin understood the Christian life in such a way as to find room for it in all constructive conditions of life. In the world of manufacture, of politics, of trade, we are set by God. In all these activities Christ demands to be enthroned and it is our task to crown Him. Here Calvin had the definite advantage over all the other reformers, for it proved to be the well nigh immortality and lasting vitality of Calvinism. It also proved to be the only safeguard of democracy as we know it today in the Western nations, where the banner of Calvinism was raised.

Calvin's enormous contribution made good the words of the poet Isaac da Costa, when he saw the Glory of Israel revived.