New-York tribune., 1909-07-11
THE CALVIN QUADR1cEyTEY4RY.

The 40Oth anniversary Of the birth Of Calvin
| occurred yesterday, and marked the elimination
Of week of celebration at Geneva, one Of the
chief incidents of which was the laying Of the
cornerstone Of q great monument to the Heroes
Of the Protestant Reformation The occa-
sion has been worthy Of general observance in
the very spirit which led to the planning Of the
monument referred to- That is a comprehen-
sve and catholic spirit having appreciative re
gard not only for the great Picard-Genevan, but
equally for Luther Coligny, Knox, Milton and
other religious reformers Of those days. regard
less of the denominationalism with which they
Or their followers were marked It is, in brief
a cemmenoration Of an epoch of transcendent
Importance in the worlds history. and of benef-
cence so great in civil and intellectual as well
as theological matters that few viii now vent
IRE to deny il.
Calvin himself however, is naturally fore
most in the thoughts OF all who participate in
the conmemoration, as he deserves to be. It is
his rather than any other mans 400th
anniversary And with all his faults. which
were neither few nor small, he was sufficiently
great in personal characteristics and still more
in MS influence upon and his services TO the
world TO be deserving Of such remembrance. To
many, perhaps the name and fame Of Calvin
are somewhat obscured by Calynism. or by
more or less erroneous interpretations OF Calvin
ism. There may be those to whose minds Cal
wins theology is epitomized III DOws epigTam,
You'll be damned If you do, you'll be damned il
you don't and his active career comprised in
the burning of Servetus-8n atrocity, by the
way, which Calvin earnestly strove TO prevent.
The fact is that for any Of at least three major
reasons Calvin is amply entitled 10 rank high
among the great men Of the sixteenth century.
an age in which the world was more than or
dinarily prolific Of great men-his scholarship,
his ecclesiastical and theological organization,
and his civil and social legislation
II was no light thing for him when he had
scarcely attained his majority to be noted as one
Of the worlds best Latin scholars and one Of the
masters Of French prose when French literature
was assuming its noblest forms or at the age
OF Uwenty-seven TO produce one Of the greatest
OF the worlds theological masterpieces. AS
social legislator and administrator he lowered
among his contemporaries and stamped upon
his adopted city 9 more enduring and. on the
whole. more benefcent impress than perhaps
any other one man has given TO any community.
AS the man who systemarzed the theology Of
PTotestantism and organized its ecclesiastical
discipline he stands unriyalled Widely IS he
differed from Luther and the English refOrmers
in certain doctrines he IN that respect merely
continued the controversy which had existel
since the days Of Augustine and Pelagius. and
which through the disputes between the Jansen
lists and The Jesults continued after his day ~
the Roman Catholic Church as well as in the
Protestant churches II is not the least Of his
titles TO remembrance either. that his advocacy
Of the reformed faith was not undertaken under
the influence of impulse, emotion any attrb
utabe motive but that OF the deliberate and in
cxorable promptings Of conviction OF duty, and
Il may we'll be that II was largely because or
that very fact that his work, while it almost
entirely lacked the political and civil support
which thar Of his Chief contemporaries enjoyed
achieved a success and an endurance surpassed
br 10 other Of the great refOrmers