s
theological studies in Paris. Here he experienced what he himself
describes as a "sudden conversion." He joined the Reformed congregation,
and before long was its acknowledged leader. In 1533 he was compelled to
leave France because of his anti-Roman testimony. In Basel, 1535, he
wrote the first draft of his _Institutio Religionis Christianae_. In
Geneva where he was constrained to remain by William Farel [born 1489;
active as a fiery Protestant preacher in Meaux, Strassburg, Zurich,
Bern, Basel, Moempelgard, Geneva, Metz, etc.; died 1565], Calvin
developed and endeavored to put into practise his legalistic ideal of a
theocratic and rigorous puritanical government. As a result he was
banished, 1538. He removed to Strassburg, where he was held and engaged
by Bucer. He attended the conventions in Frankfort, 1539; Hagenau, 1540;
Worms, 1540; and Regensburg, 1541. Here he got acquainted with the
Lutherans notably Melanchthon. September 13, 1541, he returned to
Geneva, where, woefully mixing State and Church, he continued his
reformatory and puritanical efforts. One of the victims of his
theocratic government was the anti-Trinitarian Michael Servetus, who,
at the instance of Calvin, was burned at the stake, October 27, 1553.
In 1559 Calvin established the Geneva School, which exercised a
far-reaching theological influence. He died May 27, 1564.

Calvin repeatedly expressed his unbounded admiration for Luther as a
"preeminent servant of Christ--_praeclarus Christi servus_." (_C. R._
37, 54.) In his _Answer_ of 1543 against the Romanist Pighius he said:
"Concerning Luther we testify without dissimulation now as heretofore
that we esteem him as a distinguished apostle of Christ, by whose labor
and service, above all, the purity of the Gospel has been restored at
this time. _De Luthero nunc quoque sicut hactenus non dissimulanter
testamur, eum nos habere pro insigni Christi apostolo, cuius maxime
opera et ministerio restituta hoc tempore fuerit Evangelii puritas_."
(Gieseler 3, 2, 169.) Even after Luther had published his _Brief
Confession_, in which he unsparingly denounces the Sacramentarians
(deniers of the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's
Supper), and severs all connection with them, Calvin admonished
Bullinger in a letter dated November 25, 1544, to bear in mind what a
great and wonderfully gifted man Luther was, and with what fortitude,
ability, and powerful teaching he had shattered the kingdom of