SUCH was Calvin, and such the triumphant defense of his character against all assaults, which he has left behind him in his unspotted life, his unimpeachable character, his familiar epistles, and his everlasting works. his wisdom, learning, prudence, and unapproachable excellencies as an author, no one has ever dared to dispute. The star of his fame has continued to shine with ever increasing brilliancy in the intellectual firmament, and still guides many a voyager over the dark and uncertain sea of time to the sure haven of everlasting blessedness. Such is the rich inheritance he left us, who would desire to be followers of him, as far as he followed Christ. But this is not all. To him we are indebted for other treasures, dearly prized by every American citizen.

We look, for instance, to our system of common schools as the great hope of American freedom, in the intelligence they everywhere diffuse. Now, Calvin was the father of popular education, and the inventor of the system of free schools. None of the Reformers perceived more clearly the advantages of education, or labored more earnestly to promote it.

Next to our common schools, we prize our colleges and theological seminaries as the nurseries of citizens, statesmen, and ministers, capable of guarding the affairs of a great and free people. Now the building and complete endowment of the college and seminary at Geneva, was among the last acts accomplished by Calvin — it having been opened in 1559, with 600 students. “Even now, when Geneva has generally deserted the standards of the original Reformers, and joined those of Arius and Socinus, her sons rejoice in the great triumph achieved by the wisdom of Calvin over the power of Napoleon, who, on conquering Geneva, wanted courage to make any change in the system of education, which had been planted more than two hundred years before Bonaparte was born, by this distinguished friend of genuine Christianity, and a truly scriptural education.”

We hail the birthday of our country’s liberty. We still commemorate the declaration of our national independence. We glory in a country more rapidly extending its territory, its population, and its riches, than any other upon earth — in laws the most just and impartial — in a government the most equitable, economical and free — and in the enjoyment of a religious liberty more perfect and complete than can be paralleled in the history of man. The star spangled banner awakens the envy and the admiration of the world — and our glorious republic is the fairy vision which excites the emulous desire of imitation in the bosom of every well wisher to the advancement of society. But whence came all these? “The pilgrims of Plymouth,” says Bancroft, “were Calvinists; the best influence in South Carolina came from the Calvinists of France; William Penn was the disciple of the Huguenots; the ships from Holland that first brought colonists to Manhattan, were filled with Calvinists. He that will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin, knows but little of the origin of American liberty.” Yes! Calvin was a thorough going republican.

The Institutes of Calvin carry with the truths of Christianity the seeds of republicanism to the ends of the earth. “Indeed,” says he, “if these three forms of government, which are stated by philosophers, be considered in themselves, I shall by no means deny, that either aristocracy, or a mixture of aristocracy and democracy, far excels all others; and that, indeed, not of itself, but because it very rarely happens, that kings regulate themselves, so that their will is never at variance with justice and rectitude; or in the next place, that they are endued with such penetration and prudence, as in all cases to discover what is best. The vice or imperfection of men, therefore, renders it safer and more tolerable for the government to be in the hands of many, that they may afford each other mutual assistance and admonition, and that if any one arrogate to himself more than is right, the many may act as censors, and masters, to restrain his ambition. This has always been proved by experience, and the Lord confirmed it by his authority, when he established a government of this kind among the people of Israel, with a view to preserve them in the most desirable condition, till he exhibited, in David, a type of Christ. And as I readily acknowledge, that no kind of government is more happy than .this, where liberty is regulated with becoming moderation, and properly established on a durable basis, so also I consider these as the most happy people, who are permitted to enjoy such a condition; and if they exert their strenuous and constant efforts for its preservation, I admit that they act in perfect consistence with their duty.” “Calvin,” says Bishop Horsley, “was unquestionably, in theory, a republican; he freely declares his opinion that the republican form, or an aristocracy reduced nearly to the level of a republic, was of all the best calculated, in general, to answer the ends of government. So wedded, indeed, was he to this notion, that, in disregard of an apostolic institution, and the example of the primitive ages, he endeavored to fashion the government of all the Protestant churches upon republican principles; and his persevering zeal in that attempt, though in this country, through the mercy of God, it failed, was followed, upon the whole, with a wide and mischievous success. But in civil politics, though a republican in theory, he was no leveller.”

Geneva, the mother of modern republics, is the monument of Calvin’s fame; and as Montesquieu says, should celebrate, in annual festival, the day when Calvin first entered that city. Politically and ecclesiastically, Calvin honored the people; assumed their intelligence, virtue, and worth; and entrusted them with the management of affairs. He taught, also, the spiritual independence of the Church; its entire separation from civil government; and the supreme and exclusive headship of its only lawgiver and sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. These were the grand truths taught and illustrated by Calvin; truths which drew the lovers of freedom to Geneva, which sent them away burning with the thirst for liberty and republicanism, which aroused the slumbering people of Europe, which convulsed France, confederated the states of Holland, revolutionized England, Presbyterianized Scotland, colonized New England, and founded this great and growing republic. f52 This, too, is an age of missions. The missionary enterprise is the glory of the Church, the regenerator of society, the precursor of the millennial reign of peace and happiness, and the hope of the world. With generous emulation, all branches of the church catholic strive for the mastery in this glorious achievement, while Ichabod is written upon any denomination from whose battlements the gospel banner is not unfurled, and whose laggard troops come not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Now it was Calvin who led on this mighty enterprise, and gave birth to this modern crusade against the powers of darkness. He alone, so far as we know, of all the Reformers, while battling with surrounding foes, remembered the waste places of the earth which are full of the habitations of horrid cruelty, and connected his name with the very earliest attempt to establish a Protestant mission in the heathen world. He united with the admiral de Coligny in establishing a colony on the coast of Brazil, to which he sent Peter Richter and several others from Geneva, who were accompanied with numerous French Protestants. Presbytery and missions are therefore coeval, coextensive, and inseparable. They went hand in hand during the first six centuries. They again clasped hands in indissoluble union at the era of the Reformation. They have lived together in wedded peace, harmony and zeal. And whom God hath so joined together, let no apathy or unbelief, or opinions, ever put asunder.