Watchman And Observer

CALVIN'S GRAVE.
The Rev. Mr. Dwight, of Portland, who is
now in Europe, in a letter to the Christian Mirror, speaking of Geneva, says:-
"Geneva, as most of your readers know, became the home of Calvin, when driven by persecution from France—his native land; here he
lived, and here he died; and the influence he exerted while living, and which has survived him
in his writings, has long been so decisive, that
Geneva is even now scarcely less mentioned in
connection with Calvin than is Rome in union
with the papacy. Yet it is universally known
that the faith of Calvin has ceased for half a century to be popular at Geneva. Not one of the
public churches is now occupied by those who
avow his sentiments, and since the beginning of
the present century evangelical religion has approached here to the very point of extinction.—
The house where this great man died, cannot—as
I was informed—be certainly identified. Years
ago, there were four trees standing in the public
cemetery, which, as it was believed, included the
place of his interment; but all these trees have
disappeared, and it is now doubtful where is his
grave. When walking in a favorite promenade,
around which sweep the waters of the Rhone, I
saw a colossal bronze statue of Rousseau; but I
neither saw nor heard of any memorial which
veneration or hatred has designated for Calvin.
Thus let it be. Were it otherwise, it would be
indeed most fitting, and would gratify many a
traveller from distant shores, who muses at Geneva on those whom her sons have now long forgotten; but thus let it be. What is earthly, what
is skeptical, what is essentially polluted, though
dazzling with all the scintillations of genius, is
destined to certain oblivion, and asks for statues
and pageants that it may thus obtain a temporary
reprieve; what is pure, what is sanctified by zeal
for Christ, and by benevolence to man, needs no
such memorials; for like Him from whom it
emanates, it is as it were—omnipotent and immortal."