The Presbyterian of the South : [combining the] Southwestern Presbyterian, Central Presbyterian, Southern Presbyterian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1909-1931, February 17, 1909, Page 6, Image 6

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6 THE PRESBYTEF maincd an alien, in a strange city, almost to the last. He did not become a citizen of Geneva till 1559, four years before his death. When we look at the lives of the two greatest Reformers, thev appear to be anomalous. Luther's effervescent, impulsive temperament seems better suited to the volatile French character; Calvin's tranquillizing temperament to that of the Germans. As Henry says?"the watchword of the one was war. of the other, order." Luther uprooted old things, Calvin organized new things. The former planted one foot in the past, the other in the present; the latter one foot in the present, and the other in the future. Luther never completely broke with his Catholic past; Calvin created an entirely distinct and new view of the world and of tlic Church. He dug up again, from the neglected ages, the doctrine of "common grace" and ranged all human development under it. In Catholicism and also in Lutheranism, the link between God and man is the Church. Calvin knew no intermediary. He brought God and man face to face in the most intimate relation and revived the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. In a sectarian sense Calvinism may stand for a group of believers; in a confessional sense it may indicate a faith, but in its truest and widest, that is in the historical sense, it stands for a "Weltanschauung," a view of the world nn rl nf Ufo A _r,i - ...u 111ai view 01 tne world, combatted as. it is alike by the rationalism of the last century and by its revolutionary idealism, is after all the strong foundation on which modern civilization is built. It has its own viewpoints, its own principles, its own ideals. Luther could never have organized the Reformation ; Calvin found it on a downward grade, in distress and confusion, and did organize it. But it is equally certain that Calvin, with his methods, could never have inaugurated it. The Melanchthonian Reformation, as the Interim-period witnesses, would have reverted to Rome and would have shared the fate of Hussitism. Calvin, to use his own favored doctrine, urn C nrArlnef J A 1 ^.vviioiuiaicu iui me tasK and tor the hour. The two systems appealed to the world of the sixteenth century and whilst Germany largely clung to Luther, together with Denmark and Scandinavia, the rest of Europe followed the banner of Calvin. Nor is this strange. None of the Reformers had so wide an outlook as Calvin. Providentially trained both for the law and for theology, gifted with a mind both acute and profound, practical as well as erudite, a man of meditation as well as of action, a man with an immense store of reserved force,?he was the very man God needed for his work among the nations. Rome always recognized in Calvin her chief enemy. Dr. Kuy per has pointed out this fact in his "Stone Lectures." Geneva radiated a power far greater than Wittenburg had ever done. Its influence was literally felt all over Europe. Besides, with all the Swiss and German theologians, Calvin corresponded with Cranmer, Grindal, Hooper, Covcrdale, Cox and Whittingham in England. In Poland with A Lasco, who has imprinted himself for ever on the Anglican and Dutch churches. ,In y a AN OF THE SOUTH. February 17, 1909. Holland with Louis of Orange and Marnix of Aldegonde, the great poet-statesman and the right-hand man of William of Orange. Princes and nobles were among his correspondents. Margaret of Navarre and Renata de Ferrara (a daughter of Louis XII), Coligny and Conde, and King Anthony of Navarre, Lord Sotnmerset and King Edward VI, Frederick III of the Palatinate and King Sigismund of Poland. Wonderful Calvin! A man of marvelous industry and marvelous reach of influence! Does any one wonder that he could make of Geneva a fulcrum? He has been called "the Protestant pope" and with a show of truth, though what a pope! How poor and humble and unostentatious! When King Anthony of Navarre had proved unfaithful, Calvin wrote to him?"The enemy has flung this dirt upon you that lie might he able to sing a song of triumph at your disgrace." But when the same king needed money, lie applied to the poorly paid Genevan pastor and Calvin obtained the money None of the Reformers, therefore, exerted such an influence as he did; his life was fuller than that of any of them. During his lifetime he saw the growth of the Church he had founded, and when he closed his eye9, in 1564, he might well have said with Paul: "I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I. but the grace of God, which was with me." What he did say was this: "I have labored with all my strength for the common good. It would be hypocrisy not to own that the Lord has been pleased to employ me, and that not unprofitably, in His service." Pres. Seminar}* of Ky., Louisville, Ky. THE HOLY SPIRIT. His Personality and Work. God the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost, or Spirit of Holiness) is the Third Person of the Trinity, the coequal of and the co-worker with God the Father and God the Son, and is the invisible Divine personality in the world which reveals to human hearts and consciences the love of the Father and the atonement of the Son for man's salvation, He proceeds from the Father and the Son, being sent by them and through whom they operate in preserving the Church and promoting its growth in the world. Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life;" the Holy Spirit leads the soul into that way, guides it into all truth, and imparts to it that life. He convicts of sin, aids in repentance and faith, regenerates our natures, purifies from sinfulness, and gives peace and joy. He comforts, strengthens and sanctifies belie'vers, bears witness to their acceptance with God and adoption as God's children, dwelling in them as the principle of that new and divine life, and giving guidance, force and effect to the efforts of those who work and witness for him. The Holy Spirit thus continues, in unison with the Father and thp 'snn fin? ?' _ _w.., i>uii\ ui i coemption wnicn Jesus began and performed, while in person upon the earth, to the day of His ascension. Staunton, Va. Preston A. Ross.