Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. On the Continent other things operated against his repu tation. Popery owed him a deep grudge; for no one of the Reformers probed the depths of its iniquities with so much discrimination, and with such an unsparing hand as he did. His remarkably acute mind enabled him to do this most effectually; and there is much on this subject in the present work, which renders it especially valuable at this period, when Popery makes such efforts to spread its errors and delusions. The two weapons which he commonly employed were Scripture and common sense, – weapons ever dreaded by Popery and to blunt their edge has at all times been its attempt, the first, by vain tradition, and the other, by im plicit faith, not in God, or in God’s word, but in a palpably degenerated Church. But these weapons calvin wielded with no common skill, dexterity, and power, being deeply versed in Scripture, and endued with no ordinary share of sound and penetrating judgment. In addition to this, his doctrinal views were diametrically opposed to those of Popery, and especially to the papal system, as modified by and concentrated in J esuitism, which may be considered to be the most perfect form of Popery. For these reasons, the Writings of Calvin could not have been otherwise than extremely obnoxious to the adherents of the Church of Rome: and the consequence has been, that they spared no efforts to vilify his name, and to lessen his reputation.
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