dium of any one of her branches to which we have access. That this is CALVIN'S meaning, appears not only from the whole tenour of his discourse, but also from his anxiety expressed in a letter to Archbishop CRANMER, to unite all the reformed churches. Episcopacy was established in England; CALVIN was a divine-right Presbyterian. Yet even that difference was not sufficient, in his eyes, to hinder communion. According to the first principle of the Reformation, he was willing to compound for the pure word and worship of God, i. e. in its substance. For, in a letter of Oct. 22, 1548, he congratulates the Lord Protector of England, on his having been a principal instrument in "restoring the pure and sincere worship of God, and the sound preaching of his word."* Yet in that very letter he entreats the protector to complete the work of reformation; and even points out corruptions and abuses which needed the knife.

No doubt can now remain as to the nature of that communion for which CALVIN, backed by

*Est sane de quo gratias agamus Deo et Patri nostro, quod opera tua uti voluerit ad tantum opus, ut per te in primis purum et sincerum suum cultum in regno Angliæ restitueret; Præstiterit etiam ut salutis doctrina audiretur passim, et fideliter annunciaretur omnibus qui aures arrigere dignarentur.

CALV. Epist. p. 39.

the greatest and best men of the age, so nervously and eloquently contends. And their support of his doctrine precludes the necessity of further detail as to private opinion. Even illustrious names might seem to be introduced more for ostentation than for conviction. For in very deed, the voice of CALVIN, on this subject, is the general voice of the people of God in that age of grace and truth.

To their doctrine they added their example. I do not say that their example corresponded perfectly with their principles. It would be a miracle of high degree, if they who are imperfect in all things else, should be perfect in their love. Nor have I forgotten the separation of the Lutheran from the other Protestant churches. Yet this took place against the sentiments of Luther and his most distinguished associates. It was not effected without a struggle; and did not continue without magnanimous efforts to heal the wound.

CALVIN not only subscribed the Augustan, i. e. the Lutheran confession, as he himself informs us ;* but he expressly declares, in a letter to his friend FARELL, that "the petty peculiarities" in the Lutheran church, evidently meaning that they were petty when compared with the great

things of the common salvation, were no just causes of disunion.*

HENRY ALTING, professor of divinity at Heidelberg, and afterwards at Groningen, and a distinguished member of the Synod of Dordt,t "assures us, that this was the common opinion of the reformed divines who followed BUCER and CALVIN. For, proposing this question in his problems, whether the orthodox may lawfully communicate in the Lord's supper with the LUTHERANS? he resolves it in the affirmative, upon these four arguments:

"1. Because they all agree in fundamentals. "2. Because men ought to preserve unity in the church, and hate schism.

"3. Because we have the example of the prophets, and of Christ and his apostles, for communicating in more corrupt churches than the Lutherans are.

"4. Because the best divines of the last age," the Reformation, "have approved it, as CAPITO, BUCER, CALVIN, MARTYR, ZANCHY, URSIN, TOSSANUS, PAREUS, SCULTETUS, and others: some of whom, as they had occasion, DID ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE with them."‡

* CALV. FARELLO. p. 9.

+ BAYLE, Dict. Crit. Art. ALTING. Tom. I. p. 169, 170.

ALTING. Theol. Problem Par 2. Probl. 18. p. 331. quoted as above by BINGHAM, Orig. eccles. Vol. II. p. 825. Fol.

PETER MARTYR, a man of high standing among the reformers, went over to England at the invitation of CRANMER by order of EDWARD VI.; and, though far enough from holding the divine right of Episcopacy, scrupled not to join in permanent communion with the church of England, and to accept a theological chair in the university of Oxford; and that he would as freely have communed with the Lutherans, had they been as forbearing as himself, may be gathered from the disapprobation with which he mentions the harsh behaviour of some Lutheran ministers toward one of their brethren, for kindly receiving the English Protestants, when they fled from the persecutions of bloody MARY, and for communicating sometimes with the church of Friezland.*

KNOX, the Scottish ELIJAH, as firm a Presbyterian as CALVIN himself, and still less indulgent to what he considered as reliques of Papal superstition-even KNOX-with all his antiepiscopal feelings, "officiated for a considerable time in the church of England"+-assisted in revising the Book of Common Prayer‡-accepted, at

* See his letter to CALVIN, from Strasburgh, 23d Sept. 1555, at the end of his Loci communes, p. 770. ed. Genev. 1624. Fol.

+ M'CRIE's life of JOHN KNOx, Vol. I. p. 102. Lond. 1813, 8vo. IB. p. 87.

Frankfort on the Maine, the charge of a congregation composed of English exiles, differing much in their views of publick worship-and, "when the congregation had agreed to adopt the order of the Genevan church, and requested him to proceed to administer the communion according to it; although he approved of that order, he declined to carry it into practice, until their learned brethren in other places were consulted. At the same time he signified that he had not freedom to administer the sacraments agreeably to the English liturgy."* The difficulty resulted in a compromised "form of worship, in which some things were taken from the English liturgy, and others added which were thought suitable to their circumstances. This was to continue in force until the end of the next April; and if any dispute arose in the interval, it was to be referred to five of the most celebrated foreign divines. The agreement was subscribed by all the members of the congregation; thanks were publickly returned to God for the restoration of harmony; and the communion was received as a pledge of union, and the burial of all past offences."+

It is well known to have been a favourite ob