Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-11-16
Miseellaneuus 8adins.
A REMARKABLE MAN.
John caIvin's influence Upon Inte!Iec-
tuaI PROGRESS.

II a REMARKABLE MAN.
John caIvin's influence Upon IntelIee-
II tuaI Progress.
. The two most eminent citizens Of
Geneva have been John Calvin and
voltaire. and 1t is a pity that they
were not of the same generation in
stead of living more than two CEN
turtles apart. What scrapping there
would have been In theology II they
lhad lived at the same time! And what
a joint debate might have been ar
ranged. Each was the greatest con-
troversialist Of his generation, perhaps
of any generation, and no two men
were ever or could be farther apart in
their views of religion, their morals,
maxims or manner of life.
/ It is a remarkable fact that, al
though Geneva considers John Calvin
i the most celebrated Of all her citizens,
his burial place has been forgotten;
no one can find his grave or where his
long suffering wife and his little boy
were laid. There is not monument
or a statue or even bus Of the great
reformer in "the Protestant Rome"
which obtained that title because Of
him, although l believe fund to pay
for monument is being raised. There
is an oil portrait hanging in the pub
lie library, said to have been painted
from life and / send you copy and
a little pen and Ink sketch on the fly
leaf Of book in the same library made
by an artist Of his day. The only act
Of remembrance, the only apparent
honor that the people Of Geneva have
bestowed upon him, is to give. his
name to a narrow little street. Rue
de Calvin is one of their humblest
streets, however, and would not have
borne his name but for the fact that he
lived there.
| Any cabman will take you to the
church where he used to preach and 1t
is an imposing edifice. A bright young
woman, daughter of the verger, will
tell you all about 1t, and will show you
chair in which he sat in the pulpit
before and after his sermons The in
terror Of the church Is as cold and for
bidding as his theology, and the seats
On the other side Of the street Is lit
tie church in which John Knox, the
great Scotch reformer, preached for
several years. and that fact is recorded
upon a marble tablet imbedded in the
walls. The municipal officials have
marked all historical houses in SINH
lar manner. There Is another tablet
few doors distant which tells you that
Liszt, the great pianist, lived there.
Calvin resided only few steps from
his church. The tablet says that his
home was torn down in 1905, and the
present building was erected the fol-
lowing year upon the same site. with
the same materials. 1t is now occupied
by the bureau de salubrite," the in
spector of milk. meats and vegetables.
Francis Gruffat, dealer In combusti-
bles en- gros ct detail" lives next door,
which is quite appropriate, for Calvin
| was q "iOiCodiC uCliCi SoAii
bustibles Of the very fiercest quality.
Although he was a very unlovely
character, there are little touches Of
pathos here and there in his life. and
the amount Of work that he accom-
plIshed shows almost incredible versa
tility and industry. 1t has been de-
clared that his record Of intellectual
activity is unsurpassed by that Of any
historical parsonage. and he has un-
doubtedly exercised a greater infiu-
ence upon the morals and intellectual
progress Of his age, without referring
to his theological views) than any 9TH
er man who ever lived. George Ban
croft eulogizes Calvin as the father OF
popular education and the inventor Of
free schools, and says that his influ-
ence directly created the North Amer
lean colonies.
1.-The Pilgrims Of Plymouth" he says
"were Calvinists. The best influences
in South Carolina came from the CAL
vinists Of France William Penn was
the disciple Of the Huguenots. The
ships that first brought colonists to
Manhattan were filled with Calvin
lists"
And yet there are some events in his
life that make you shudder. I believe
he is the only man who ever sent an
intimate friend to the stake because
they differed on points of theology.
Concerning this friend he wrote:
HE (Servetus) offers to come hith-
er if it be agreeable to me. But I am
unwilling to pledge my word for his
safety, for, IL he does come, and my
authority be Of any avail. I shall new
er suffer him to depart alive"
Servetus came; he was Immediately
arrested by order Of Calvin, charged
with rejecting the divinity Of the Trim
ity, and with declaring that all crea-
lures are of the substance Of God, and
that God Is in all things" Such here
sy was too dangerous to be tolerated,
and on the 9th Of October, 1853, Ser
vetus was burned at the stake In the
Place de Champel. in the centre Of
Geneva.
We wonder If his ghost did not
haunt Calvin the rest of his life. We
wonder If remorse was not the chief
cause Of Calvin's broken health, but
he never admitted his error. He lived
eleven years longer, a frail invalid,
but with nerve enough to domineer
over an entire province, and sufficient
strength to work eighteen and twenty
hours a day, until his own time came.
and he died peacefully and cheerfully,
like saint, with prayer on his lips.
surrounded by his friends and disci-
Piles land he dictated a letter an hour
| before he breathed his last.
Calvin was a Frenchman, you know,
born in the town Of Noyon, educated
at the universities Of Orleans and
Paris, and became a wandering fol-
lower of Martin Luther, until DR..
Warel. leader of the Swiss Reforma-
ton, induced him to settle in Geneva
| in 1886. where he soon became pastor