DURING the month of July the city of Geneva devoted itself to the grateful task of doing honor to the memory of its most noted citizen, John Calvin, who was born July 10, 1509. It is perhaps little wonder that after the lapse of four hundred years widely differing opinions should exist as to the character and work of this great reformer, but it is cheering to know that the truth, which the truly great love and serve, most surely vindicates them as humanity comes to recognize and appreciate those who have done the most for the race. It is today agreed by all fair-minded men that the world owes a tremendous debt to Calvin for advanced ideals of morality, religion, education, government, all making for civil and religious liberty. In reading that which has come to light concerning this man, one is impressed with the idea of the divine influence which is ever calling men from the grave of materiality, as Christ Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, loosing them from mortal entanglements, and fitting them for high and holy service.
We read that Calvin was a great scholar and an indefatigable worker, and that worldly ambition was early laid aside in his burning desire to know the truth; and to the extent that he recognized the truth in the Scriptures, he attained great and far-reaching results in convincing others that truth is attainable, that it is found as God is known, and that the Bible, which contains its statement, must be reverently studied and its teachings obeyed.
No one now denies that Calvin lived at an age when a much-needed reaction toward vital Christianity had set in, and that the struggle between ecclesiastical authority and advancing thought was fierce and bitter. We need not therefore wonder that he was misunderstood and misrepresented, that he was charged with being pantheistic and irreverent, but his writings and the results of his work prove the injustice of these charges, and even Renan says that he succeeded because he was the most Christian man of his age.
