According, therefore, to Calvin and Chalmers, the moral world and the material universe are on the same footing, and are governed by laws of the same nature; they have deduced this opinion from their own conception of God, and the knowledge which they believe themselves to possess of his nature, his designs, and his relation to his creatures. God, they say, is an absolute monarch; and in no part of his realm, from no one of his subjects, will he allow of any intervention, any action, or any will opposed to his own law, and because of this inexorable and universal law they deny the free-will of man.
Strange denial, which has been condemned beforehand by God himself! God is infinitely more powerful and more incomprehensible than Calvin and Chalmers have imagined him to be. Among the infinitude of his creatures there is one being whom he has created and placed high above all others on this earth, and whom he has distinguished by his own mark placed upon him. God has thought fit to create man, and to make him in his own image, that is to say, a free being, capable of deliberate acts of intelligence and will.
It is the Bible which tells us this—the book which contains the record of Divine revelation; man's first act according to the Bible, the first historical fact recorded of him in his relation towards God, is an act of disobedience, that is, an act of free-will. I repeat my questions: Why has God desired this, and created man thus? What position and what share of action has God assigned to man in the circle of his designs and works? We do not know, and we shall never know. But, with all our ignorance, we do wrong to disown the sublime gift which we have received from God, and to deny our own free-will at the very time that we are using it.
Calvin was not a theologian and a moralist only, he did other things besides the writing of books; he took part in human affairs, and directed and controlled the social struggles and convulsions of his age. At all times, his actions were prompted and regulated by his opinions: he did not believe in man's free-will, and he treated it with severity and a kind of contempt; he had entire faith in the authority of God and the law of God, and he worked with the utmost zeal to secure the triumph of divine authority and law. In everything which had reference to human opinions and actions, to the thought and conduct of private individuals, to public or private life, Calvin laboured to introduce and to insure the ascendency of the doctrines and precepts, the discipline and morality, of which he found either the germs or the formal expression in the sacred volume; that is, in the Divine revelation to man. He had the strength arising from the sincerity of his convictions and the disinterestedness of his motives; he was exacting and rigorous towards himself, and therefore he was exacting and rigorous to others also; he believed and asserted that he had more right over other men's opinions and actions than he ought to have claimed, and he did not show sufficient respect to their rights. He was affectionate and faithful to his friends, but he often lacked sympathy for men in general, and justice to his enemies. Some of his faults were, no doubt, owing to his natural character and disposition; but the convictions which he held so firmly and had systematized with such care, had a still greater share in the occasional severity and injustice of his conduct towards others. Perhaps no man was ever more devoted to that which he believed to be the truth than Calvin; no man has shown more fearless courage in running every risk, making every sacrifice, in order to serve the cause to which he had given his faith. This is his noblest and most beautiful characteristic, one that is manifested at every step during the whole course of his life, even in his very errors and those results of them which are most to be regretted.
And here, with great regret, I must close this inquiry into Calvin's fundamental principles as they are disclosed in his 'Institutes of the Christian Religion:' an exhaustive discussion of their merits and defects would necessitate a much more complete development than I am able at this time to give them. I therefore return to my picture of the character and genius of Calvin as they are shown in the labours and struggles in which he so rapidly wore out his life.
Towards the close of 1535, when the first edition, or, to speak more accurately, the first sketch of his 'Christian Institutes' had been prepared, or possibly published at Basle, Calvin had not as yet come to any definite conclusion with regard to his ultimate abode and life-work; he was engrossed in the propagation of his faith, and wandered about, as one may say, in search of places which might seem to promise the best means and chances of success for his labours. He resolved to visit Italy and, like others, to preach reform in the very stronghold of the ancient Church. I say 'like others,' for the Reformation already possessed more or less open adherents in Italy—reformers who were sincere and active even when they were timid. Their chief protector was Renée of France, duchess of Ferrara and daughter of Louis XII.: they gathered round her, secure of her favour, and at times tolerated by her husband Hercules d'Este, Duke of Ferrara; but their religious labours were always to some extent disguised by their love of learning and literature. Either from prudence or in the interest of his cause, Calvin did not travel in Italy under his own name, nor did he pass by it at Ferrara; he was known as Charles d'Espeville, a name which he often assumed to the end of his life whenever he wished to write without compromising his friends. At the court of Ferrara he soon found, or rather gained, admirers and disciples, some of them ardent and enthusiastic like M. and Madame de Soubise, others brilliant and vacillating like the poet Clement Marot. But Calvin's most important and valuable conquest at Ferrara was the Duchess Renée herself. She was a princess of insignificant appearance, little and deformed, but she possessed rare intelligence and a very noble nature; she was deeply interested in the study of religion as well as that of literature, and was capable of making great efforts and sacrifices for the Christian faith, although she never forgot the requirements of her position and royal birth. She had married her eldest daughter to Francis, Duke de Guise, and in 1557, at the close of the disasters of the army commanded by the duke in Italy, 'she saved,' says Brantôme, 'more than ten thousand souls, poor Frenchmen, soldiers and others, who would have died of hunger and want if it had not been for her; they passed through Ferrara and she succoured them all, as many as ever there were, supplying their wants and giving them money: so much so, that I have heard from one of her maîtres d'hôtel that their passage through the place cost her more than ten thousand crowns; and when the intendants of her palace remonstrated at the excessive expense, she said nothing more to them than—"What would you have me do? They are poor Frenchmen of my nation, and if God had given me a beard on my chin, and I had been a man, they would have been my subjects; and indeed they would be my subjects now if that cursed Salic law did not press so hardly upon me."'
Some years later, after 1559, the duchess became a widow, and she then returned to France, and lived in her own castle of Montargis; in 1562, in the midst of the civil war, she sheltered in it a considerable number of Calvinists, some of them men of rank; her grandson Henry, Duke de Guise, besieged the castle, and summoned her to deliver up her guests. 'Take good care of what you are doing,' was Renée's answer to the duke's envoy; 'know that, except the king himself, no one has any right to dictate to me, and if you execute your threats, I will be the first to enter the breach, and I will try if you are bold enough to kill a king's daughter, whose death both heaven and earth will be compelled to avenge on you and your descendants, down to the children in their cradles.'
Such a victory for the Reformation, and such a protector for the reformers, were well worthy of the affectionate esteem and great consideration which Calvin constantly showed the Duchess of Ferrara from 1536 to 1564. During his short sojourn in Italy he had evidently acquired that ascendency over her which a powerful nature always obtains over a generous one, and a religious leader exercises over his sincere adherents. There is no indication of his having ever seen her again; but he was in constant correspondence with her, and he became truly, in the language of the seventeenth century, the director of her conscience. In this difficult task he displayed an admirable admixture of religious severity and wise moderation; he was prompt in his warnings when he found the duchess weak, but very careful not to wound her by unnecessary severity, or to require anything at her hands which was inconsistent with her position; he took pains to put her on her guard against the irregularities of her servants, but did this without any meddlesome interference in her affairs or the affection she felt for her family. In 1554 she asked him to send her a chaplain for herself, and two widow ladies 'to take charge of and have rule over the daughters of her house.' Calvin sent her a reformed minister, Francis Morel, who was known as Monsieur de Colonges. 'I think,' wrote Calvin, 'you will find him so satisfactory that you will have good reason to thank God. As he is a gentleman of good birth, he will be so much the better received by those who will never listen to good men if they are contemptible in the world's eyes. The truth is that we must strive after that which is highest, and even noble birth is not always to be desired if a man prizes it too highly and is hindered, because of it, from serving God.' [Footnote 66]
[Footnote 66: August 6th, 1554. Lettres Françaises de Calvin, vol. i. p. 428.]
In 1555 the duchess was compelled to witness the cruelty of her husband Hercules, Duke of Ferrara, towards the reformers, and even to submit to his wishes with regard to Catholic ceremonies: 'I am sure,' wrote Calvin, 'that you have been compelled to swerve from the right path, or you could not have satisfied those who are of this world; for it is an evil sign that they who offered such fierce opposition, in order to turn you from the service of God, now leave you in peace. But, Madam, since our good God is always ready to have mercy upon us, and stretches out his hand when we stumble so that we may not fall utterly, I pray you to take courage; and if the enemy for once, by reason of your weakness, has had the advantage over you, yet do not let him think that he has gained any real victory; let him rather feel that those whom God has raised have twofold strength to sustain them against all assaults.' [Footnote 67]
[Footnote 67: February 2d, 1553. Lettres Françaises, vol. ii. p. 5.]
When the duchess sheltered the reformers in her chateau of Montargis, in 1562, and gave such a haughty refusal to the summons of the Duke de Guise that she should deliver them up, Calvin congratulated her in a sternly eloquent epistle: 'I have often thought, Madam, that God had reserved some trials for your old age in order to indemnify himself for all the arrears that you owe him on account of your timidity in the past. I speak according to the manner of men, for if you had done a hundred, a thousand times more, it would not have been enough to pay what you owe him from day to day for the infinite benefits which he continues to grant you. But I understand that he has shown you singular honour, and has employed you in no less a service than that of bearing his banner, so that you may be a refuge for the members of Christ.' [Footnote 68]
[Footnote 68: May 10th, 1563. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 514.]
In 1564 Calvin was informed that the duchess was deeply grieved at the violent hatred which the reformers continued to feel for the memory of her son-in-law, Francis, Duke de Guise, who had been assassinated the previous year by Poltrot, and by their assertion that he would be condemned to everlasting punishment; he was touched by her sorrow, and wrote to her four months before his own death: 'Although we may all have said, "Woe to him by whom the offence cometh, yet there has been reason why we should lament and weep, in that a good cause has been very badly conducted. And how could the Duke de Guise, who had kindled the fire, be spared, if the evil which he committed vexed the souls of all good men. I myself, even though I always prayed God to have mercy upon him, yet verily I often implored the Lord to lay his hand upon him and deliver the Church from him, if it was not his will to turn his heart. And, I can assure you, that very often during the war, if it had not been for me, impetuous and resolute men would have attempted to rid the world of him; and they were kept back by my exhortations only. Nevertheless, to say that he will be damned is to go too far, unless we have sure and certain signs of his condemnation. In which matter, we must guard against rash presumption, for there is one judge only, before whose throne we must all render up an account." [Footnote 69]
[Footnote 69: January 24, 1564. Lettres Françaises de Calvin, vol. ii. p. 533.]
Surely, very few men in the sixteenth century—I do not speak of any other—were liberal and large-hearted enough to use such language concerning the death and the future state of their most formidable enemy.
I do not hesitate to affirm, that the great Catholic bishops, who in the seventeenth century directed the consciences of the mightiest men in France, did not fulfil this difficult task with more Christian firmness, intelligent justice, and knowledge of the world, than Calvin displayed in his intercourse with the Duchess of Ferrara. And the duchess was not the only person towards whom he fulfilled this duty of a Christian pastor. His correspondence shows that he exercised a similar influence, in a spirit equally lofty and judicious, over the consciences of many Protestants.
The severity of Hercules d'Este towards the Protestants obliged Calvin to leave Ferrara. He knew no more than when he had arrived there some months previously, where he should ultimately take up his abode, nor how he should carry on the work to which he had devoted his life. He wandered from place to place in northern Italy, tarrying where he found friends, and teaching and preaching religious reform wherever he went. Sometimes he was received well, at others he was pursued by enemies who were embittered against his doctrines and himself, for he had already become famous. In 1536 he arrived in Piedmont and stayed there some weeks, not in the city of Aosta itself, but in the neighbourhood, at the house of a family of high rank, where several of his adherents were assembled to meet him. But the alarm was given to the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Piedmont: a council was held at Aosta, which was reinforced by a strong manifestation of popular feeling. 'All the corporations in the country renewed to the bishop the oath of fidelity which they had taken to his royal highness, binding themselves to live and die in obedience to him, and in the Apostolic and Roman faith.' Orders were given to arrest Calvin 'and all others of his party.' He escaped, but not without difficulty; he had to traverse perilous Alpine passes, and, according to an ancient tradition, was followed by 'the Marshal d'Aosta, Count of Chalans, who pursued him to the very foot of the mountains with a drawn sword in his hand.' In 1541, five years later, a fountain surmounted by a cross was erected, in the principal street of Aosta, in the market-place, and the following inscription may now be seen on the pedestal:—
'This cross, erected in 1541, in memory of Calvin's flight, restored in 1741 by faithful believers, was renewed and ornamented in 1841 by the piety of the citizens.'
The cross of Aosta and its inscription are not the only monuments of Calvin's visit to Piedmont; local tradition has preserved many other memorials: Calvin's farm and Calvin's bridge are still shown in the valley of Aosta; and the pass of Duranda, one of the lofty passes on the borders of Valais which he ascended when he fled from Piedmont, is still known as Calvin's window.
Driven out of Italy, he returned to France; not, however, that he desired to remain there, or would have been able to do so, for there was no more safety for him in France than in Italy; his intention was to establish himself at Basle or Strasburg; but either attracted by recollections of home, or influenced by other motives of which we are ignorant, he desired once again to see the place of his birth, and those members of his family who were still living. He reached Noyon, and spent some time there, apparently meeting with no opposition; at Noyon also he preached the Reformation and made proselytes. Among others he induced one of his sisters, Mary, and his only remaining brother, Anthony, to share his belief and follow him to a new country; accompanied by them, he set out for Basle; but as hostilities had again broken out between Francis I. and Charles V. he did not go by way of Lorraine, where the war was being carried on, but by Geneva. He arrived there towards the end of August 1536, not intending, so he says, to stay more than a single night. It was at Geneva, however, after many severe trials, that he was to be established and to find the great work of his life.
Great ideas, great men, and great events cannot be measured by the magnitude of their cradles. Geneva at that time seems not to have had more than from 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants, and it was not then a place of renown; but within its narrow limits it was the scene of every crisis and every problem, great or small, which can agitate human society. It had only just obtained the national independence which it was still struggling to defend, and which it had wrested from its former masters, the dukes of Savoy, and from the hands of its own bishops. Its form of government as an independent state was still imperfect and unsettled, and was undergoing many experiments. Religious reform had been inaugurated at the same time as political freedom, but as yet it had not been condensed and embodied either in doctrine or in ecclesiastical organization and discipline. There was an urgent need of moral reform, for the ancient creeds and authorities had strangely tolerated the decay of public morality; and their downfall had been followed by an increase of licence and profligacy. Religious reform made moral reform all the more necessary, but did not succeed in accomplishing it. In fact, Geneva presented the spectacle of a tottering republic, a wavering faith, a nascent church; State and Church were sometimes confused together, at others entirely separated, and there were no definite rules recognised by both Church and State in their mutual relation; whilst to all these public difficulties must be added the frightful immorality of private individuals. What was the meaning of these numerous indications? What would be the result of a complication in which everything as yet seemed dark and uncertain? Was it life-giving power that was at work, or unfruitful anarchy? Such were the questions suggested in the sixteenth century, in Geneva as well as in several of the great European States; but in Geneva they were put forward more distinctly, emphatically, and urgently than elsewhere.
Geneva became a celebrated city, because she was able to answer these questions in a manner that for three centuries has been satisfactory, whilst it is to Calvin that the answers are due.
When Calvin reached Geneva towards the end of August 1536, with the intention of resuming his journey on the following day, another reformer, a man who was earnest, eloquent, and fearless, was living there. This was William Farel, also a Frenchman, and one who, like Calvin, after having tried to propagate reform in France, had left it, as he had done, and travelled in Switzerland, to Basle, Berne, and Neufchatel, teaching and preaching with great fervour. Farel had now lived for some time at Geneva, where he was working with his whole soul to ensure the triumph of reform over all its adversaries, whether Genevese or strangers, whilst they opposed him with equal zeal. After more than two years of alternate success and reverses, of public discussion and civil war, Farel succeeded in getting the whole question stated in the following terms to the inhabitants of Geneva, who were assembled in the church of St. Peter:—'By a decree of the Council of Two Hundred you are assembled here, that it may be known if there are any among you who have anything to say against the Word of God, and the doctrine which is preached to us in this city. … If so, let them speak, so that we may know if there are any who are not willing to live according to the Gospel which has been proclaimed to us since the abolition of the mass and of the papal sacrifice.' 'Upon which,' says the Register, 'without one single opposing voice, it was unanimously agreed to, and carried by the holding up of hands; and a promise, and an oath taken to God that all the people would live according to this holy evangelical law and the Word of God which has been made known to them, forsaking all masses and other papal ceremonies and frauds, images and idols, and living together in unity and in obedience to the law.'
The latest and most accurate historian of the Church of Geneva, says: 'That day, the 21st of May, 1536, is the true date of the Reformation at Geneva. From that time the citizens, pressing to their hearts a faith which was sanctified by misfortune, prepared themselves for the sacrifices and glory of the future, and, like the Hebrews on the frontiers of Canaan, they repeated Joshua's oath, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."' [Footnote 70]
[Footnote 70: Gaberel, ancien Pasteur. Histoire de l'Église de Genève, vol. i. p. 261.]
Farel had conquered, but his victory gave him great uneasiness and apprehension. He was as conscientious as he was courageous, and did not deceive himself as to the defects of his work; the reformed faith was triumphant at Geneva, but the foundations of the reformed Church were not laid, nor did Farel feel that he was capable of establishing a church: he lacked the knowledge and authority, the intellect and judicious tact which are necessary for such a task; his vocation was religious warfare, not the organization of a new religious society. In the midst of his perplexity, a French refugee at Geneva, the canon Louis du Tillet,—who was, as we have seen, a lukewarm reformer, and had formerly received Calvin at Angoulême, leaving France with him afterwards,—hurried to Farel's house and told him that Calvin, the author of the 'Institutes of the Christian Religion,' had just arrived; that he had been driven out of Italy, where he had gained great renown teaching and preaching the reformed religion; but that he was only passing through Geneva, and was on his way to Basle or Strasburg. Farel immediately hurried to Calvin, implored him to stay at Geneva, to establish himself there, and work with him to secure the complete triumph of the reformed religion. Calvin refused, pleading the studies he had commenced, his desire of pursuing them, and his dislike to a public and stormy life. Farel pressed him eagerly; Calvin persisted in his refusal. 'When he saw,' says Calvin, 'that he could gain nothing by prayer, he tried imprecation, demanding that it might please God to curse my retirement and the tranquillity which I was seeking for my studies, if I held back and refused to give succour and aid at a time of such urgent need. And these words terrified and shook me as if God from on high had stretched out his hand upon me to stop me, so that I renounced the journey which I had undertaken; but conscious of my diffidence and timidity, I refused to bind myself to undertake any definite office.' [Footnote 71]
[Footnote 71: Calvin's Preface to the Commentaries on the Psalms.]
At first he only engaged to give instruction, in St. Peter's church, in the Holy Scriptures; he began to do so on the 1st of September, and with such success that, on the 5th of the month, Farel said at a meeting of the Council of State, that 'the lectures which had been commenced in the cathedral by the Frenchman were absolutely necessary, and he entreated the Council to retain that minister and provide for his maintenance.' The Council consented, but they did not assign Calvin any official function, and merely spoke of him as the Frenchman. [Footnote 72]
[Footnote 72: 'Iste Gallus.']
Calvin's powers were almost immediately manifested on a very solemn occasion. A conference had been arranged at which Catholics and Reformers should meet and freely discuss their differences of faith and ecclesiastical discipline, and it was held at Lausanne, towards the close of September 1536. Both Farel and Calvin were present, Farel as the chief representative of Geneva, Calvin as his ally and auxiliary. The conference lasted seven days, and until the 5th Farel took the lead in the debate; Calvin was silent. At length he took up the question of the real presence of Christ at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and after expressing his ideas as to the nature of the debate itself, he protested strongly against the reproach of the Catholics against the Reformers that they despised the Fathers of the Church, their belief and traditions: 'We read them, and learn more from them than you do,' said Calvin; 'but we cannot submit unreservedly to their judgment, because the Word of God forbids us to do so. How can you dare to assert that whoever does not acknowledge the absolute authority of the Fathers thereby rejects all authority whatsoever, even that of the law and the rulers of his country?' And here he referred to all the principal Fathers of the Church, especially Tertullian, St. Augustine, and Chrysostom; he traced back all their thoughts to the New Testament itself, to the Epistles of St. Paul, and that with so much learning and eloquence that Joseph Jandy, a monk who was present at the conference, suddenly started up and called out 'that at length he had found the truth and could understand the teaching of the Gospel; that if he did not receive it he should commit the sin against the Holy Ghost; that he now confessed his errors, and prayed God to grant the same grace to his brethren that they might also confess theirs.'
Calvin's arguments and eloquence produced so deep an impression, both in the conference and elsewhere, that the reformed religion was formally adopted and proclaimed at Lausanne and throughout the Pays de Vaud, as it had formerly been at Geneva, and Calvin returned to the latter city towards the middle of October with greatly augmented fame and influence.
He had need of it; for the task which awaited him and which he imposed upon himself was indescribably complicated and arduous. He desired to establish and promote Christian faith in accordance with his own views;—to secure to the religious society which had been founded in virtue of that faith, on the one hand religious independence from state control, and on the other due authority and power in matters of religion over its members and faithful adherents; to reform public and private morality both in civil and religious society, in the name of the allied powers of Church and State, and by their mutual help. Such was the threefold design which Calvin hoped to accomplish. No doubt he had not set it very distinctly before him, nor had he fully realized all that it involved and all its difficulties, but he commenced the struggle with a stout heart and resolute mind.
He returned to Geneva with Farel in October 1536, was elected pastor and, under this title, solemnly installed in the church of St. Peter. The first time that he preached there the crowd thronged around him with loud expressions of satisfaction, and he was obliged to promise those who had been unable to hear him that he would preach again on the following day. He and Farel together drew up a confession of faith: 'a brief formula of belief and doctrine,' says Beza, 'to give some shape to the newly established Church. Calvin also wrote a catechism, not that which we have at the present time, arranged in questions and answers, but one which consisted of brief summaries of all the principal tenets of our religion.' On the 10th of November in the same year, Farel submitted the confession to the Council of Two Hundred, who ordained 'that the articles should be regularly observed by the citizens,' but did not definitely adopt them, and adjourned the discussion of them to another day.
This first confession of faith by the reformed Church in France was simple in form, moderate in tone, and free from many of the theological controversies which afterwards arose among the reformers; its principal object was to separate the reformed faith clearly and entirely from the Church of Rome, its traditions, its priestcraft, and its worship; at the same time it was entirely in harmony with the facts, dogmas, and precepts contained in the Scriptures, the authority of which it asserted as the fixed basis and law of Christian faith. The confession is divided into twenty-one articles. The starting-point of the three first is the word and law of God 'as they are contained in the Holy Scriptures,' and at their close all the Ten Commandments are inserted according to the version given in the Book of Exodus. The ten subsequent articles enumerate and announce the fundamental doctrines of evangelical orthodoxy; namely, the natural depravity of man, the redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ, the necessity of faith in Christ for regeneration and salvation, and they end with the insertion of the whole of the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer, together with this previous declaration: 'All that Jesus Christ did and suffered for our redemption, we believe truly and without doubt as it is stated in the creed which is recited in the Church.' The eight remaining articles treat of the sacraments of the Church, which they reduce to two, baptism and the Lord's Supper; they very briefly indicate the essential principles of ecclesiastical organization, the duties of the pastor to his flock, and of believers to the civil powers: 'By which we mean that every Christian is bound to pray to God for the prosperity of the rulers and governors of the country in which he lives, to obey the statutes and decrees which are not in opposition to the commandments of God, to strive to promote the public welfare, peace, and profit, and to take no part in schemes which may provoke danger and dissension.' At the same time in the hands of the Church, and to be exercised by its authority, these articles formally establish 'the punishment of excommunication which we hold to be a sacred and salutary weapon in the hands of believers, so that the wicked by their evil conversation may not corrupt the good and dishonour Christ. We hold that it is expedient and according to the ordinance of God, that all open idolaters, blasphemers, murderers, thieves, adulterers and false witnesses, all seditious and quarrelsome persons, slanderers, pugilists, drunkards, and spendthrifts, if they do not amend their lives after they have been duly admonished, shall be cut off from communion with believers until they have given satisfactory proof of repentance.' [Footnote 73]
[Footnote 73: Gaberel, vol. i. Pièces Justificatives, p. 120.]
Objections and complaints broke out, before long, against a rule of such religious and moral austerity: the bold innovators, who in their struggles with dukes and bishops had recently established the political independence of their country, were as much accustomed to licence in their manner of life as to freedom of thought. They accused Calvin of exceeding the duties of his office: 'It was his place,' they said, 'to explain the Scriptures; what right had he to meddle with other things, to talk about morals and find fault? He was to show that they were right in not having anything more to do with mass, and the Pope, and confession, and all the rest of it; was he going to revive an office which they had abolished, and make himself confessor to, and inflict penance on the whole city?' Calvin did not deceive himself as to the danger of these attacks: 'We are exposed to the most serious difficulties,' he wrote to his friend Bullinger, 'for the people in breaking off the yoke of the priests think that they have shaken off all authority in this world. Many of the citizens say, "The knowledge of the Gospel is enough for us; we know how to read it, and our actions are nothing to you." The greater number are inclined to look upon us as preachers rather than pastors. Oh, what a difficult thing the rebuilding of the Church will be! We shall have to struggle against all the worst passions of flesh and blood!'
But Calvin and Farel were of the number of those who gain strength and courage in the face of danger; they addressed a long memorial to the Council, in which they demanded that the provisional vote of the previous 10th of November on the organization of the Church, should be replaced by a decisive vote; and they pointed out the measures which they looked upon as essential in a Christian government,—monthly celebration of the Lord's Supper, excommunication to be put in force, the introduction of psalm-singing in public worship, instruction of children in Christian doctrine, and the regulation of marriages. The Council adjourned the consideration of, or discarded some of these measures, and accepted others; although they were partisans of Calvin and Farel, the magistrates were disposed to try conciliation and patience. The two reformers, on their side, showed their moderation by consenting to the modifications which the magistrates desired, and on the 16th of January, 1537, the Council definitely accepted the confession of faith, and all the most important resolutions in the scheme of moral and religious discipline which Calvin and Farel had drawn up.
Their scheme was put into execution at once; and although it was not carried out in what the two reformers considered a complete and satisfactory manner, still the attempt was bold and dangerous enough in the state of men's minds at that time. One of the magistrates entrusted with executive power, the syndic Ami Portal, was a fearless and devoted friend of Calvin's; he unhesitatingly applied the measures for the promotion of moral and religious discipline; gaming-houses were closed; gamblers were seized with loaded dice,—one of them was condemned to sit for an hour at St. Gervais, with his cards suspended round his neck; a convicted adulterer was led through the streets with his accomplice and then expelled from the town; and all masquerades and immodest dances were prohibited, 'I do not condemn amusements as such,' said Calvin; 'dances and cards are not in themselves evil, but how easily these pleasures succeed in making slaves of those who are addicted to them! Wherever wrong-doing has become an old-established custom we must avoid every risk of falling back into it.'
This moral police force was at first well received; rich and poor, great and small, were alike subject to it, and neither family influence nor political merit could ensure exemption. A man of some distinction, who was found guilty of offence, urged in extenuation of it the services which he had rendered to Geneva in the hour of peril when her national independence was at stake. Calvin, to whom he had appealed, answered: 'It is the act of a disloyal citizen to claim the right of doing evil and setting a bad example, as a recompense for the blood which he has shed for his country.' Moral instinct as well as secret jealousy causes men to take pleasure in the contemplation of virtuous and impartial severity, but they are none the less influenced by the clamour of discontented men, and assertions of the right of liberty.
There was a violent outbreak at Geneva. Two Anabaptists arrived there, and were favourably received by the adversaries of the two reformers; they were members of a sect which was at that time in great disrepute, both on account of the profligacy which it was supposed to sanction, and of the mystical doctrines, immoral or anarchical, held by its members, or attributed to them. Calvin and Farel were uneasy at this introduction of a new element of disorder, and were always ready to take part in the intellectual contest which was kept up on both sides. They demanded a public conference, at which the two Anabaptists could be openly heard and refuted. At first the magistrates refused their request: 'It would be dangerous,' they said, 'on account of the tenderness of the public mind; it would be better to hear these men in the council.' Farel persisted; the magistrates gave way: 'The usual conditions of these theological tournaments were proposed to the strangers,' says the historian of Geneva, [Footnote 74] and they consented to submit to banishment or death in case of defeat.
[Footnote 74: Gaberel, vol. i. p. 281.]
The discussion lasted for three days. The subjects of the most important debates were, the sacrament of baptism and the nature of the soul. Philosophy can show no more luminous demonstration of the immortality of the soul than that uttered by Calvin. The reasoning of his opponents does not seem to have been very conclusive. There were many, however, who took their part; for those who were secretly vicious were delighted to find that the words of the Anabaptists made excuses for them; therefore they held their reasons to be good and valid, and refused to examine those of the ministers. At the end of three days the Council seeing that the breach was widening daily, and that the faith of many began to totter, commanded that the discussion should cease, and summoned the Anabaptists before them: 'You see,' said the first syndic, 'that we listen to each one, and that when we have heard your arguments you cannot prove them to be valid by the Scriptures. Since therefore you will not retract your errors and turn to God, we banish you for ever from our land.' The two Anabaptists left Geneva.
Calvin and Farel were victorious, but they were keenly alive to the incompleteness of their victory, and the necessity of making some powerful impression upon the minds of the people. They had recourse to the two most legitimate and efficacious plans which they could have adopted: they increased their intimacy with the citizens, multiplied their visits and the religious instruction given in private houses, and, acting with the magistrates, they caused the confession to be printed and distributed among the people. They thus placed their doctrines and precepts within the reach of all, and they took great pains to find out the opinions of the citizens, to strengthen and encourage believers, and to enlighten and confirm those who hesitated. There was another French refugee at Geneva, Courault, formerly a monk, then a preacher of reform, received with favour by the Queen of Navarre, now old and blind, but eloquent, impetuous, and indefatigable; he became their colleague in the ministry, and their most popular agent. The assiduous labours of the reformers had the effect which is invariably produced in the early and violent stages of moral and social disturbances. Men's passions on both sides became equally excited; the two parties were sharply divided and hopelessly separated: the Libertines, as they were already called, became more turbulent and aggressive; the orthodox believers more harsh and exclusive. Calvin and Farel demanded that one of the syndics, accompanied by certain officers, should enter every house, in order to obtain the adhesion of the inmates to the confession. The Council consented to take this step, but to the demand for religious observance of the confession they added the following restriction, 'as far as may be.' The result of these domiciliary visits was to show the complete separation and mutual opposition of the two parties; many of the citizens, some of them men of good position, others humble and obscure, refused their adhesion to the confession; one of the first of these sent word to the Council that 'as to him and his servant there were certain articles of the confession of faith which they were quite ready to agree to, but that they could not take any oath about the ten commandments of God, because they were exceedingly difficult to keep.' Similar declarations, and the immorality of those who made them, filled the pastors and their allies with alarm and anger; in September 1537, when they were about to celebrate the Lord's Supper, Calvin and Farel demanded that the abettors of the Anabaptists should be censured before they were allowed to partake of it; once again the magistrates consented, but they implored the pastors to be careful and 'to exhort the people without casting them out of the right path.' Both pastors and magistrates felt that they were on the verge of a crisis; the magistrates, although they did not in theory acknowledge liberty of conscience, yet in point of fact respected it, fearing that, unless they did so, public order would be seriously disturbed, and the city depopulated; the pastors were afraid that the civil powers would attack the independence and rights of the Church, and were more and more anxious to assert and use them so that they might be secured. The commencement of the year 1538 was at hand, the time when the magistrates were to be re-elected by the citizens; the pastors insisted on the acknowledgment of their right of excommunication before they would consent to celebrate the Lord's Supper; the Council considered this threat too dangerous, and declared that communion must be refused to no one. The pastors gave way for the moment, for they were themselves anxious as to the sentiments of the people and the result of the approaching elections, and as we have seen already, Calvin was not incapable either of prudence or patience. The elections were unfavourable to him; three at least of the four new syndics were taken from the ranks of his enemies. The pastors restrained themselves for some weeks longer, and were content to do no more than call the attention of the Council to 'certain immoralities in the city both by night and day, as well as indecent songs and language.' The new magistrates, on their side, received these complaints with due consideration, and 'sent criers round the town to announce, to the sound of trumpets, that no one should dare to sing indecent songs, or to go out after nine o'clock at night, or to cause any disturbance or altercation in the city, on pain of condemnation to bread and water for three days.' Both sides now hesitated at the prospect of the contest towards which their own passions, and those of their party, had been hurrying them for the last eighteen months.
It was an external incident that brought about the explosion. The canton of Berne and its magistrates had more than once taken up arms in defence of Geneva, and had always been its faithful allies; they now tried to induce the Genevese to lay aside their internal dissensions, and regulate the celebration of the Lord's Supper according to the same rules, customs, and conditions that had been adopted in Berne. There were differences of more or less importance between the Genevese ceremonial and that of Berne, but they related to matters which clearly affected the authority of the Church, and Calvin and his colleagues refused to accept the rules and customs of Berne. Their adversaries were all the more anxious to conform to them, and desired the magistrates to enforce them upon the pastors. In March 1538, the difficulty was submitted to a synod held at Lausanne, a city which was at that time under the dominion of Berne, and the decision was unfavourable to Calvin and Farel. They demanded that the question should be referred to another synod which was about to meet at Zurich, a city perfectly independent both of Berne and Geneva. This was peremptorily refused, and the magistrates commanded them to celebrate the Lord's Supper according to the Bernese custom, and without refusing it to anyone. They declared that they would not submit to commands which were opposed to the rights of religious authority and to their own consciences. 'There is,' said Calvin, 'a manifest distinction between spiritual government and political or civil government. Christ drew a distinction between the spiritual kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. If, therefore, princes usurp something of the authority of God, we must not obey them, except in so far as may be done without offending God. Is it any better to submit to Berne than to Rome?'
But the 'Libertines' opposed Calvin with other weapons than arguments; popular violence was joined to the injunctions of the magistrates; 'tumultuous crowds assembled at night, uttering threats of death against the ministers, discharging arquebuses at their houses and crying, "To the Rhone with the pastors who will not accept the Bernese rite!"' The most fiery of the pastors, old Courault, responded to these threats by insults: 'You gentlemen who are at the head of the government,' said he from the pulpit, 'you are like Daniel's idol; you have feet of wax. … Perhaps you think that the kingdom of heaven is like that of the frogs, where those who are inside make more noise than the rest. You are like rats among straw. … Your flock consists of a troop of drunkards, without any conscience.' After this attack the magistrates forbade Courault to enter the pulpit, threatening him with imprisonment if he did not obey. He made no answer, but a few days later he preached again, 'using many abusive words against the magistrates.' He was arrested and imprisoned.