Excerpt from John Calvin: Theologian, Preacher, Educator, Statesman The following pages present to the reader a labor of love. Calvin studies, pursued by the author for many years, have created in his mind an ever deepening conviction that the Genevan Reformer was the instrument specially raised up by God for the purpose of saving and preserving to the world the fruits of the reformation, at a time when these were in imminent danger of being frittered away by incompetent leaders. The great genius of Wittenberg had died in 1546, with gloomy forebodings as to the future of the work which he and Zwingli had so successfully inaugurated. His prophetic vision did not deceive him. Soon after his death, the storm of opposition became so virulent as to threaten the very existence of Protestantism. A heart-rending wail went up to heaven: "Lord, save us; we perish!" Leaders in one compartment of Protestantism, in their anxiety to save at least a few treasures, went so far as to counsel the lightening of the vessel by throwing overboard the very principles which were essential to the life of the reformation, when they consented to compromises of the most dangerous character, offered by pope, emperor and princes. It was at this critical juncture that the figure of tin; Genevan Reformer appeared in ever increasing proportions on the horizon of the Church, as the international leader and the organizer of the Reformed forces. In the name of the Captain of our Salvation, he stayed the demoralization. "Peace, be still!" he cried aloud, "Rather death than surrender," was the parole he gave out. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.