celibates in virtue of their vow. The policy of the Russian government, in reference to the church, makes it almost impossible that they should permit free exercise of worship and of thought to those who are in communion with Rome. In 1867 the archbishop of Warsaw was abolished, and all the Roman Catholics of the empire were made subject to the archbishop of Mohileo. In 1876, the orthodox adherents of the Russian church were upwards of 60,000,000. The government's contribution for the maintenance of religion was upwards of L. 1,350,000.

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Reformers.

Agricola.

Agricola, John, was a zealous advocate of Protestantism. was born in 1492, and educated at Wittenberg and Leipsic. His talents and learning were so highly appreciated by Martin Luther that he sent him to Frankfort on the Main to institute there, at the desire of the magistrate, the Protestant worship. On his return he resided as a teacher and preacher in his native town of Eisleben, until 1536. In 1537 he became a professor at Wittenberg where the Antinomian controversy, already begun between him and Luther and Melancthon, broke out openly. (See Antinomianism.) This, in 1538, obliged him to withdraw to Berlin, where he was. reduced to extreme want, and was induced to make a recantation, never altogether sincere. He took a part in drawing up the Augsburg Interim, which was intended to reconcile different opinions of religious doctrines. He was hated for his share in this, as much as he was for his Antinomianism. He died at Berlin, Sept. 22nd, 1566. He was a zealous advocate of Protestantism, but his doctrine was repudiated.

Arminius.

Arminius, Jacobus, was born at Oudewater (Old Water) in 1560. His Dutch name was James Harmenson; but he chose to Latinize it. After preliminary education at Leyden, where he remained six years, in 1582, he went to Geneva, and received the instructions of Theodore Beza, the most rigid of Calvinists. Here he made himself odious by the boldness with which he defended the logic of Peter Ramus, in opposition to the Calvinism in Geneva. He retired to Basel. His fame having preceded him, he was offered the degree of Doctor Divinitatis, which he declined on account of his youth. At Basel he studied under Gyrnaeus. In 1588 he returned to Amsterdam and was appointed minister. Shortly after this he was commissioned to defend the doctrine of Beza, regarding predestination. Arminius carefully examined both sides of the question, and at last came to adopt the opinions he had been commissioned to confute. He had many sharp discussions on this. question. In 1604 Francis Gomar, his colleague in the university of Leyden, attacked his doctrines, and from that time to the end of his life Arminius was engaged in a series of disputes with his opponents. The substance of his doctrine is that God bestows forgiveness and eternal life on all who repent of their sins and believe in Christ; he wills that all men should attain salvation, and only because he has from eternity foreseen the belief or unbelief of

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individuals, has he from eternity determined the fate of each. the other hand Gomar and his party maintained that God had, by an eternal decree, predestinated what persons shall, (as being elected to salvation,) be therefore awakened to repentance and faith and by grace made to persevere therein; and what persons shall, (as being rejected,) be left to sin, to unbelief, and to perdition. While these fierce disputes were continued Arminius was not destitute of either friends or influence. In 1608 he applied to the states of Holland to convoke a synod for the purpose of settling the controversy; but worn out with care and disease, he died, on the 19th of October, 1609, before it was held, leaving seven sons and two daughters by his wife, Elizabeth Reael.

The dispute between Calvinism and Arminianism has divided the church, some having endorsed the doctrine of one, and other churches the other doctrine; and the members of many churches are divided on this subject; and freedom of the interpretation of the Scriptures on this question is the position of many churches. The extreme of high Calvinism and the extreme of Arminianism are wide apart. But the most conciliatory phase of each towards the other, by dropping out some items to which those of the other party are the most strongly opposed, brings them nearer each other.

The intellectual, moral, and religious character of both Calvin and Arminius stands high. And so it ever has been on opposing sides of this question. George Whitefield was a Calvinist, and John Wesley was an Arminian; both were men of deep piety, and very effective preachers of the Gospel.

Calvin,

Calvin, John, one of the most eminent of the reformers, was born at Noyon, in Picardy, July 10th, 1509. At the age of twelve years he was appointed to a chaplaincy in the cathedral church at Noyon. This he held as a means of support during the period of his education. In his 14th year he, with the family, moved to Paris, and was entered as a pupil in the College de la Marche. During this early period he manifested great activity of his mental powers, and grave severity of manners. For a while he intended to study law. With this in view, his father sent him to the university of Orleans. He would spend half the night in study, and devote the morning to meditation on what he had acquired. While in Orleans he became acquainted with the Scriptures, and received his first. impulse to theological studies. He continued for a while to pursue his legal studies, but his main interest appears to have been religion and theology. From Orleans he went to Bourges, where he acquired the knowledge of Greek. He began here to preach the reformed doctrines.

He proceeded to Paris in 1533, at which date he had become

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