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upon the prosperity of the college must soon be felt; such provocations to moral and religious improvement must operate. The subjects will not be given out till October; which, in this first instance, it is probable that the bishop himself will propose.

Life Boat. On the 8th and 14th July Capt. Manby made several experiments with a life boat and apparatus, at Yarmouth, constructed under his own inspection, and which not only overcomes supposed impossibilities, but promises the most essential service in saving the lives of those unfortunate persons, who may in future be involved in such dreadful situations, as occurred to the crew of the Snipe gun brig in that tremendous gale of the 18th Feb. last, when only 18 out of 72 were saved. It is only necessary to add, that Adm-Douglas, and many officers of the navy, also several merchants and gentlemen resident there, were present, and expressed themselves fully convinced of its services and great utility. [Panora,

UNITED STATES.

Variation of the Magnetic Needle..

THE editors of the Panoplist are informed, that S. Dewitt, Esq, surveyor general of the state of New York, has lately discovered, that the variation of the magnetic needle is rapidly changing in a direction contrary to that in which it has heretofore moved. This is a singular and interesting phenomenon; and we should be obliged to any of our philosophical correspondents to favour us with their observations upon it; noticing the time when this reversed movement commenced, the progress it has already made, the causes which have probably produced it, and any other circumstances, which may throw light on a subject of so much importance. A communication of this kind would be very acceptable to the editors, and gratifying and useful to the public.

List of New Publications.

The Approved Minister. A sermon preached October 28, 1807, at the ordination of the Rev. Enoch Pratt, to the pastoral care of the West Church and Society in Barnstable. By Thaddeus Mason Harris, Minister of Dorchester. Boston. Lincoln & Edmands.

A Thanksgiving Sermon, delivered before the Second Society in Plymouth, November 26, 1807. By Seth Stetson, minister in that place. Boston.

Lincoln & Edmands.

A Sermon, preached at Hatfield, October 20, 1807, at the opening of Hatfield Bridge. By Joseph Lyman, D. D. pastor of the church in Hatfield. Northampton. William Butler.

A Sermon, preached July 22, 1807, at the funeral of the Rev. Alexander Macwhorter, D. D. senior pastor of the Presbyterian church, in Newark, New-Jersey. By Edward D. Griffin, A. M. Surviving pastor of said church. New York. S. Gould.

An Essay on the Life of George Washington, commander in chief of the American army through the revolutionary war, and the first president of the United States. By Aaron Bancroft, A. A. S. Pastor of a Congregational Church in Worcester. 8vo. pp. nearly 600. 2 dols. 50 cts. boards. Worcester. Isaiah Thomas, jun.

A Letter to Dr. David Ramsay, of Charleston, S. C. respecting the errors in Johnson's Dictionary, and oth er Lexicons. By Noah Webster, Esq. 12mo. pp. 28. New Haven. Oliver Steele, & Co. 12 cts.

Vol. VI. Part I, & II. of Rees' New Cyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Philadelphia. S. F. Bradford. Lemuel Blake, No. 1, Cornhill, agent in Boston.

A Sermon preached at Northamp. ton before the Hampshire Missionary Society, at their annual meeting, Aug, 27, 1807. By Rev. Samuel Taggart, A. M. Pastor of the Presbyterian church in Colrain. Northampton. W. Butler.

336

Poetry....To Correspondents.

Serious and Candid Letters to Rev. Thomas Baldwin, D. D. on his book entitled "The Baptism of Believers only, and the particular Communion of the Baptist Churches explained and vindicated." By S. Worcester, A. M. Salem. Cushing & Appleton.

Domestic Medicine; or a treatise on the prevention and cure of Diseases by Regimen and simple Medicines; with an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners, &c. By William Buchan. First Charleston edition, enlarged, from the author's last revisal. 8vo. Charleston. South Carolina. John Hoff. 1807.

Worlds Displayed, for the benefit of young people, by a familiar history

[Dec.

of some of their inhabitants. Boston. Lincoln & Edmands. 1807.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.
The Tenth Volume of the Collec-
Society, is in the press of Munroe &
tions of the Massachusetts Historical
Francis of this town, and will be pub-
lished in February.

in the press an 8vo. volume of Select
Manning & Loring of this town have
Sermons, by the late Rev. Samuel
Stillman, D. D. late pastor of the 1st
Baptist church in Boston.

E. & J. Larkin are publishing Law's Serious Call, from the fifteenth Londollar and 25 cents, neatly bound and don edition in one volume, price, one lettered.

Poetry.

THE ALARM.

WRITTEN IN 1753.

From the Religious Monitor.

YE, who with giddy thought, or ardent view,
Earth's bliss through all her fancied paths pursue ;
Who o'er the flow'ry fields of pleasure stray;
Or climb, with steep ascent, ambition's way;
Or dig, beneath a weight of gold to groan;

Or chase the flying echoes of renown;

A friendly muse, a complicated throng,
Calls you to listen to her serious song-

Be wise, be taught, and know at what you aim ;
Earth's bliss is false, a visionary name.

PARMENAS..

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

THE Editors feel under great obligations to Candidus, for the assistance his communication affords them in preparing a sketch of Calvin's life. His learning, diligence and fidelity are manifested in his communication, which will be used, we trust, in a manner corresponding with the wishes of Candidus. His letter, on the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, is received, and shall appear next month.

The Reviews of Dr. Tappan's volume of Sermons, of the first volume of Foster's Essays, and of Mr. Griffin's Sermon on the Death of Dr. Macwhorter, came too late for this month. These approved compositions, with several articles for the Obituary, prepared for the present number, shall be inserted

in the next.

Errata.-Page 309, first colume, 11th line from bottom, for "beaten soil, &c. read "beaten oil, &c.

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SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN CALVIN, Taken from the Religious Monitor, with the addition of several extracts of communication received from a learned and ingenious Correspondent.

BIOGRAPHY, or the delinea tion of human character, may be termed the art of moral painting. It represents the features of the mind, and the actions of the life, as the pencil does the lineaments of the face, and the peculiar air of the person. When the moral portrait is skilfully executed, it wants nothing to make it perfect, but what it is impossible it ever can receive, the animation of real life; and is as superior in importance and utility to the most striking picture, as the living character is to the inanimate bust. It not only revives the memory of friends long forgotten in the silence of the dead, but gives them a much more extensive range of acquaintance than when alive, by transmitting not their name only, but their attainments and virtues, their imperfections and errors, for the imitation and warning of future generations.

The lives of those, who have been raised up as instruments of reviving, reforming, strengthening, or extending the knowledge Vol. III, No. 8. Тт

of divine truth, must be interesting in no common degree to the friends of genuine godliness. No apology, therefore, is necessary for introducing to the notice of our readers, the following sketch of the life and character of that illustrious reformer and defender of the faith, John Calvin, to whom the greater part of the Protestant world look back, as under Providence, one of the most eminent supporters of that form of religious doctrine and discipline, which they believe to be consonant to the word of God. When we consider his piety, and his ardent zeal for the truth, his uncommon talents, and indefatigable industry, his deep and solid learning, and his vari ous other accomplishments; we must view him as one of the most eminent men of the sixteenth century, and as one of the first, the ablest, and most suc cessful reformers.

It must be accounted a very interesting attainment for any modern Christian to become fully acquainted with this won

derful man. A full drawn picture of him would be a valuable present to the literary and the christian world. His virtues would afford a strong spur to imitation, while his imperfections would remain a most instructive caution. But he, who shall undertake this task, must have a complete acquaintance with the political state of Geneva at that period; with the arts and intrigues of the court of Rome and her partizans at the dawn of the Reformation, and with all the obstacles which the first Reformers had to surmount.

The Reformation of Geneva, being inseparably connected with the history of Calvin, cannot be passed in silence. A concise account of it will spread light on some dark spots in the following sketch.

The Reformation was begun in Geneva long before Calvin's residence in that city. But the obstacles, which prevented or delayed its progress, were many and powerful; among which must be mentioned the ignorance, superstition, bigotry, and domineering spirit of the higher and lower clergy; and the turbulent state of the city arising partly from various factions watching one another with a furious zeal, partly from the imminent danger which menaced their liberty and independence from the dukes of Savoy, and partly from their alliance with the Swiss Cantons, who opposed the Reformation with violence.

It was, indeed, something, that the canton of Berne had seceded from the church of Rome, espoused openly the Reformed cause, and encouraged its neighbours and allies to throw off the

papal yoke. too, that the dominant clergy, the regular canons above all, had, by their depraved manners, incurred the hatred of the best of their fellow citizens; while the interdict of the archbishop of Vienne, in the year 1527, exasperated them more and more, and the detection of priestly imposture opened the eyes of many.

It was something

In 1532, Farell daringly stept forward in Geneva, and preached the gospel doctrine, convincing many of its truth. This bold, intrepid preacher was not awed by danger. In Basil and Wirtemberg he had before encountered harsh and violent treatment; but there, as well as in Geneva, his labours were crowned with success.

Farell was followed, 1534, by one of his disciples, Ant. Froment, who, under the cloak of a schoolmaster, spread the seeds of the Reformation far and wide. But after awhile the violence of the soldiery, and the increasing tumult of the people, induced him to leave the city.

After his retreat, more rigid laws were enacted against the meetings of the Reformed. But all these proved too weak to check the impetuous ardour of the Reformers. They were yet, however, compelled to hold their assemblies in secret, in which the Lord's Supper was first administered by Guerin. They all opposed themselves vigorously to the scandalous superstitions, which had, for ages, defaced the church of Christ, though it must be acknowledged that, in the manner of their opposition, they sometimes went beyond due bounds. From the year 1538, a more sol

id foundation was laid for the Reformation in Geneva, and the minds of the inhabitants at large became prepared to give it a cordial reception.

Viret soon joined Farell and Froment. Their preaching was unremitted, and the number of believers increased day by day. This opportunity was too favourable to be neglected by the Senate of Berne, who had been slandered for favouring the Reformtion by Furbit, a Dominican monk and doctor of the Sarbonne. The Senate demanded the punishment of Furbit. He was actually imprisoned. The irritated clergy could not brook that one of their body should be subjected to the judicature of laymen. They were countenanced by the Senate of Fribourg; but the more powerful menaces of Berne prevailed with the Senate of Geneva. After a public disputation, Furbit was again imprisoned, from which he was afterwards enlarged at the intercession of the king of France.

At length the Reformation was sanctioned by the Senate in a solemn decree of Aug. 27, 1535. Farell, Viret, and Froment had continued, under the protection of the mission of Berne, the irreligious instructions, and claimed an open toleration, till one of the churches in the suburbs was seized by the populace with the connivance of the Senate. Here Farell preached the first sermon, 1 March, 1534.

But what wisdom can avail, where intemperate zeal dictates, and when the populace is the chosen instrument for the execution of its fury and its whims? The multitude, inflamed by Farell's ardent sermons, broke every

where the images. Farell thundered from the pulpit, even in the churches exclusively reserved to the Catholics, till those who yet remained were removed by a decree of the Senate, and all the monasteries suppressed, and ap propriated to secular uses. A confession of faith, composed by Farell, was adopted, and sanctioned with an oath, which, for its native simplicity, as Ruchat observes, has been highly and deservedly recommended.

But what use did the Reformed make of this glorious victory? Did they obey the command of their divine Master, to do to others, as they would that others should do to them? No. They showed no symptoms of his meekness. They treated the Catholics with uncommon harshness, and proved too often, that they were more eager to imitate, than to abhor their example. The mass was abolished, the images in the church proscribed, and the refractory punished with imprisonment and exile. With the same intemperate zeal they went on reforming the churches in the country, till the civil magistrate interposed, and notwithstanding the cries of Farell, "that the work of God ought not to be obstructed," obtained a month's time for the dissenters to reflect maturely on a topic so serious.

But in this reprehensible point Farell was not alone. Nor was he so guilty, as in more favour. able circumstances he might appear to us. He was unquestionably a worthy man; a man of eminent abilities, and genuine piety.

His blemish was the blemish of all the Reformers. Even Melanchton was not free.

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