FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 of the 
 
 Reformed and 
 Presbyterian Churches 
 
Jffrom % ffitbrarg of 
 
 flrnftflHnr Itenjamm Hmkinrftge Harfirtt 
 
 ffi^qu^at^rb bg Ijtm to 
 
 tip Htbrarg of 
 
 BR 31b .GT 1917' ' ~ * 
 
 Good, James I. 1850-1924. 
 Famous reformers of the 
 Reformed and Presbyterian 
 
FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 * 
 
 JUL 17 1922 
 
 Reformed and Presbyter 
 
 Ck 
 
 urcnes 
 
 A MISSION STUDY MANUAL ON THE 
 REFORMATION 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. PROF. JAMES I. GOOD, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 Professor of Reformed Church History in 
 Central Theological Seminary- 
 Author of "* Famous Women of the Reformed Church, " Famous 
 Missionaries of the Reformed Churches," Famous Places 
 of the Reformed Churches," Origin and History of the 
 Reformed Church of Germany," "History of the Re- 
 formed Church in the United States," " History of the 
 Reformed Church of Switzerland since the Reformation," 
 " Historical Handbook of the Reformed Church," etc 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE HOME AND FOREIGN MISSION 
 
 BOARDS OF THE REFORMED CHURCH 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 THE HEIDELBERG PRESS 
 
 Fifteenth and Race Streets 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 1916 
 
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1916 by 
 
 Rev. James I. Good, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington 
 
 PRESS OF BERGER BROTHERS 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fore-word vii 
 
 Preface • ix 
 
 Chapter 1 — Zwingli and Luther 1 
 
 Chapter II — Zwingli and his Co-laborers, Juda, Ecolani- 
 
 padius and Vadian 21 
 
 Chapter III — The Completion of the Reformation in 
 German Switzerland by Haller and 
 Bullinger, and its Beginning in French 
 Switzerland by Farel 41 
 
 Chapter IV— The Life and Work of John Calvin 61 
 
 Chapter V— The Completion of the Reformation in 
 French Switzerland by Viret and Beza, 
 and the Reformation in Holland 82 
 
 Chapter VI — The Reformed Reformers of Germany, 
 
 Bucer and the Heidelberg Catechism.. 101 
 
 Chapter VII — The Reformers of Poland, Hungary, Italy 
 
 and the Jews 121 
 
 Chapter VIII — The Reformers of Scotland, Hamilton, 
 
 Wishart and Knox 141 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The City of Zurich Frontispiece 
 
 Ulric Zwingli 1 
 
 The Conference at Marburg 21 
 
 The City of Geneva 41 
 
 Farel's Call to Calvin 61 
 
 The Escalade at Geneva 82 
 
 The City of Heidelberg 101 
 
 The Tomb of William of Orange at Delft 121 
 
 Knox and Queen Mary 141 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 One of the promising tendencies in the sphere of 
 present-day religious life, especially among the young peo- 
 ple, is the growing interest in the study of the history of 
 the Christian Church. "Bible and Mission Study Classes" — 
 the combination of terms is itself highly significant — are 
 being successfully organized and maintained by so many 
 agencies directly and indirectly connected with the Church, 
 that we may fairly cherish the hope that, not only among 
 youthful converts, but also among older members in our 
 households of faith, the zeal that is so marked and so 
 admirable a feature of our religious activities may be in- 
 creasingly tempered with that knowledge which is ever the 
 prime requisite for the cultivation of the noblest types of 
 character and the promotion of the best forms of service. 
 
 And if truth is never more potent than when it is seen 
 incarnated in human life, surely the study of the great 
 Reformers of the sixteenth century — the leaders in that 
 wondrous anabasis that brought the Church out of her 
 medieval tutelage into the spacious liberties of the modern 
 era — will ever be an effective means for the deepening and 
 enriching of our conception of what Christianity is and what 
 it may become. 
 
 I therefore heartily welcome this "Mission Study 
 Manual on the Reformation." The author's many publica- 
 tions in this particular field and his long experience as a 
 professor of history in a theological seminary are a suffi- 
 cient guarantee for the general excellence of his work. He 
 has succeeded in sketching the careers and achievements of 
 the Reformers with admirable simplicity, clearness and con- 
 
viii FOREWORD 
 
 ciseness, and in maintaining a due proportion among the 
 varied elements of the outline as a whole. The style is 
 frequently brightened with picturesque and dramatic touches 
 and with references to historic landmarks and memorials 
 that reveal the sympathetic interest of the narrator as an 
 eyewitness. After the approved fashion in works of this 
 sort, each chapter is followed by a series of questions de- 
 signed to bring out the salient features of the text for the 
 purpose of a class review. As explained in the Preface, the 
 book is adjusted to the specific purpose of stimulating popu- 
 lar interest in the study of the Reformation considered 
 primarily, though not exclusively, as an evangelistic and 
 missionary enterprise. 
 
 We congratulate the author on the completion of this 
 Manual on the eve of the four hundredth anniversary of 
 the beginning of the Reformation, and express the hope 
 that the book may be widely useful in spreading the knowl- 
 edge of the Church of that period, and by this means 
 furthering the kingdom of our Lord and Savior in our 
 own day. 
 
 Frederick W. Loetscher. 
 Princeton Theological Seminary, 
 May 15, 1916. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Reformation is a fitting study for its 400th anni- 
 versary (1917). We have endeavored in this Mission Study 
 Manual to gather together, in as brief and popular a way 
 as possible, the leading facts about the Reformers, especially 
 of the Reformed Churches. As this is to be a Missionary 
 Manual, we have, of course, emphasized the missionary 
 spirit of the Reformers, an aspect which has been generally 
 forgotten. 
 
 The Reformation and missions, what have they to do 
 with each other? This, — that the Reformation was a great 
 missionary movement, one of the greatest the Christian 
 Church has ever seen; and it was both home and foreign 
 missions. The Reformation has been studied from many 
 standpoints, as a political movement, or as a polemical or 
 a theological one, or as economic or moral or ecclesiastical. 
 But to its missionary aspect little attention has been paid. 
 Why should this be. It has been looked upon as mainly the 
 arena of great doctrinal controversies or ecclesiastical strife, 
 and its soul-saving feature has been forgotten? We fear 
 that its polemics have caused some in this peace-loving age 
 to turn away from it. They will recover their interest when 
 its practical evangelistic spirit is fully brought out as in 
 this book. The Reformation was a great missionary move- 
 ment as much as any that we call missionary or evan- 
 gelistic to-day. 
 
 We in this distant age, so long after the Reformation, 
 are apt to consider it a sort of ready-made thing and to 
 forget that it required a tremendous amount of hand-to- 
 hand, personal work to make it a success. Andrew first 
 
x PREFACE 
 
 found Peter, and John, James; these apostolic examples 
 were followed in the Reformation. For, although the Ref- 
 ormation was largely a social movement that brought cer- 
 tain individuals to the front, as Luther and Zwingli; yet, 
 after all, the personal element must not be forgotten, for 
 it bulked largely in the success of the movement. And this 
 personal effort was missionary effort. We art apt to forget 
 that the Reformation was real missionary work — a calling 
 of souls out of the darkness produced by the superstitions 
 of Rome into the light of the Gospel of grace through 
 Christ. And we forget that it began first with one man 
 or a few men, who gathered others around them and thus 
 the Reformation spread in ever-widening circles. The cause 
 of its spread was missionary, — a zeal for souls, — a desire to 
 tell them the new joy found in Protestantism. The Ref- 
 ormation was just as much missionary as our sending 
 missionaries to Catholic lands, as Spain and Mexico and 
 South America, to-day. We name the latter "missionaries." 
 And there has just been held a great missionary convention 
 at Panama to consider their work, for Latin-America is 
 very much in the condition of Europe at the Reformation. 
 And if these who go to Latin-America to-day are called 
 "missionaries," then the Reformers and their co-workers 
 should be called so, too, for they did the same kind of 
 work among the same kind of people. 
 
 The Reformers talked to those around them about 
 their new Gospel. They wrote many, many letters — a tre- 
 mendous correspondence to persons and places, trying to 
 lead them to the Evangelical faith. Church historians have 
 made much of the doctrinal treatises of the Reformers and 
 forgotten their correspondence, which is full of evangelism. 
 Never since the days of the Apostle Paul and his Epistles 
 was there so much consecrated letter-writing as in the 
 Reformation; and much of it was missionary, for its aim 
 was the spread of the Reformation by the conversion of 
 individuals, cities or countries. The Reformers labored in 
 their home towns and districts, and so were home mis- 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 sionaries; they also sent missionaries out into districts as 
 yet unevangelized, and so there were foreign missionaries. 
 .This was more true of the Reformed than of the Lutheran, 
 as the Reformed spread more widely. The Lutherans had 
 this missionary spirit, and spread their gospel from Ger- 
 many to Scandinavian lands; but the Reformed spread their 
 gospel over all Europe except Scandinavia. But for their 
 missonary and evangelistic zeal, we would not have our 
 Church to-day. 
 
 Perhaps, to further elucidate this point, we may call 
 attention to the fact that there have been and are three 
 definitions of missions. 
 
 1. Only those are missions that are sent to non- 
 Christian peoples. But this view has been given up by 
 most Protestants as too narrow. 
 
 2. Missions include also the efforts to evangelize 
 Christians who are not Protestant, as the Roman Catholics, 
 Copts, etc. This view has been generally accepted. 
 
 3. Missions also include evangelization. This is the 
 later view, and tends to make missions and evangelization 
 run into each other. Thus revival services in our Churches 
 are often called "missions." Evangelistic movements in 
 our Christian lands are named "missions." It is this evan- 
 gelistic aspect of the Reformation that becomes prominent 
 in this book, although we believe that its definition of 
 missions would be the second, for its work was the con- 
 version of Roman Catholics to the Evangelical Gospel.* 
 
 We have endeavored in this book to prevent monotony 
 and stimulate interest by calling attention to some special 
 peculiarity in the life of each Reformer. Of course, in so 
 brief a treatise much is omitted. And we especially regret 
 that, on account of lack of space, some of the Reformers, as 
 Lambert of Avignon, Blaurer of Constance, and Capito of 
 Strasburg, have to be omitted. But, because we have thus 
 
 * It is to be remembered that this book is written for 
 the Home Mission Board as well as for the Foreign Board. 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 limited the number of Reformers, we believe that their 
 story will come out more vividly. And, though we have 
 thus abbreviated the history, we believe that the great # 
 body of the most important facts of the Reformation is 
 given, and given in their latest light. The colors in which 
 this book is bound are historically significant. The colors 
 of Zwingli were black and old gold. The cloth edition is 
 bound in these colors. The paper edition is bound in black 
 and gold. The nearest to the Zwingli colors that could be 
 gotten, owing to the difficulties caused by the European war. 
 A cheap library of popular biographies has been pre- 
 pared that ought to be used by the class in this study, and 
 when the class is through with them, they can be put into 
 the Sunday School library. They are Blackburn's "Ulric 
 Zwingli," Blackburn's "William Farel," Vollmer's "John 
 Calvin," Good's "The Heidelberg Catechism in Its Newest 
 Light," and McCrie's "John Knox." They can be purchased 
 for $2.85 a set.* The Presbyterians may not want the 
 work on the "Heidelberg Catechism," and the Reformed 
 may not want the "Life of Knox," and they can be deducted. 
 But, as the set is so cheap, the whole set ought to be bought 
 for use by the class and then placed in the Sunday School 
 library. The most important works for the teacher are 
 those of the "Heroes of the Reformation" series, as Jack- 
 son's "Zwingli," Walker's "Calvin," Baird's "Beza," and 
 Cowan's "Knox." In the study of this Manual, the Pres- 
 byterians may leave out the part on the Heidelberg cate- 
 chism, and the Reformed may omit the last chapter on 
 Scotland, though we believe that in doing so, each will lose 
 more than they think. A small leaflet will accompany this 
 book, intended for the use of its teachers in Mission Study 
 Classes, suggesting books and helps for preparation in 
 teaching.* The author would also suggest to teachers of 
 this book that questions of doctrines should be entirely 
 
 * The books and leaflet can be gotten from the Reformed 
 Publication Board, 15th and Race Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 subordinated to those of missions and evangelism. For this 
 is a mission study book and missions should come to 
 the fore. 
 
 The author desires to express his gratefulness to Rev. 
 Prof. Frederick W. Loetscher, D.D., Rev. C. E. Schaeffer, 
 D.D., Rev. W. E. Lampe, Rev. J. G. Rupp and to Mr. 
 John H. Poorman for suggestions made on the manuscript 
 of the book. 
 
 He would also add that this volume forms another of a 
 set of works that he has for a number of years been writ- 
 ing, as "Famous Women of the Reformed Church," "Famous 
 Missionaries of the Reformed Churches," and "Famous 
 Places of the Reformed Churches." This "Famous Reform- 
 ers of the Reformed Churches" adds to that set its fourth 
 volume. We hope at some time to complete the set by a 
 last volume on "Famous Men of the Reformed Churches." 
 We now leave this volume to its readers, hoping that the 
 reading and study of it will be both educational and inspira- 
 tional — especially inspirational for missionary work; and 
 that the Lord may use it in the furtherance of His kingdom 
 on earth. 
 
OVM PATRLfe qyA.RO PKK DOGMATA SANCTA WLVTTN' 
 INGK.^O TATRbt C/tSVs AB ENS£ CM 
 
 ULRICII ZWINGLI 
 
FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 The; First Reformers — Zwingu and Luther 
 
 I. The Reformation and Missions. 
 
 The Reformation, that great movement of the sixteenth 
 century, out of which Protestantism was born, can be 
 viewed from different standpoints. It has been looked at 
 in Church History largely as a polemical movement — as a 
 tremendous controversy in doctrine and religious life be- 
 tween Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. But, as this 
 is a missionary study-book, we will look upon it as an 
 evangelistic and missionary movement, and this will give 
 a new perspective to it.* For evangelization played a promi- 
 nent part in the work of the Reformers. They did personal 
 hand-to-hand work; and they also either went themselves 
 or sent missionaries into regions as yet unevangelized by 
 Protestantism. 
 
 It will be an interesting study, we hope, to watch the 
 birth and growth of the missionary spirit in the Reformers 
 and to see how they struck the keynote for all the future 
 Protestants. The Reformation was a great missionary re- 
 vival. Would that the Protestant Church since the Reforma- 
 tion had had the missionary zeal the Reformers had! Our 
 great modern missionary movements are only a return to 
 that of the Reformation. That founded the Protestant 
 Church; this converts a world. The Reformation is there- 
 
 * For a defence of this aspect, see the preface. 
 
2 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 fore a very suitable mission study for 1917, its 400th 
 anniversary. 
 
 II. Preparation for the Reformation. 
 
 The preparation for the Reformation was of two kinds, 
 a secular and a religious one. 
 
 1. Viewed secularly, there were five events that led 
 the way to it. Three of them were mechanical inventions: 
 printing, the compass and gunpowder. One was geograph- 
 ical: the discovery of America in 1492. And the fifth was 
 historical: the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 
 the fifteenth century, which forced eastern scholars west- 
 ward, and so led to humanism, or the revival of classic 
 education. 
 
 2. The religious preparation lay in three "Reformers 
 before the Reformation": Wickliffe, Huss and Savonarola. 
 Wickliffe was an Englishman, and was the most Protestant 
 of them all, holding to the supremacy of Scripture and 
 denying transubstantiation. Huss was a Bohemian, and 
 held to the supremacy of Scripture, but still held to tran- 
 substantiation. Savonarola was an Italian, and was a full 
 Catholic in doctrine, but prepared for the Reformation by 
 his denunciations of the evils of the papacy. The last two 
 were martyred. Luther was somewhat influenced by Huss, 
 and Zwingli, perhaps, by Savonarola through Picus de 
 Mirandola. 
 
 III. Birth and Education. 
 
 Ulrich Zwingli, the founder of the Reformed Churches, 
 was born in northeastern Switzerland, at the village of 
 Wildhaus, in the canton of St. Gall, which is located in a 
 high valley about 4,000 feet above sea-level. The low Swiss 
 chalet, in which he was born, January 1, 1484, is there 
 to-day, black with age. Zwingli's father, the magistrate of 
 the district, saw he was too bright to be a shepherd boy, 
 and at the age of eight sent him away to school. His 
 education was guided by his uncle, his father's brother, 
 
. ZWINGLI'S EDUCATION 3 
 
 who was priest at Wesen, about fifteen miles south of 
 Wildhaus. There was a providence in this, for his uncle 
 was inclined to the new learning of that day, called human- 
 ism. Its more liberal spirit reacted against the narrow 
 scholasticism of the Catholic Church and thus prepared 
 the way for the Reformation. It was the liberalizing in- 
 fluence of this uncle that prepared Zwingli to later become 
 the Reformer. 
 
 After studying in his uncle's school for two years, he 
 was sent to school to Little Basle (opposite Basle, on the 
 east side of the Rhine), where he began to reveal remark- 
 able ability in his studies, especially in debate and music. 
 About three years later he was sent to the school at Bern, 
 which was noted for its humanism, and he remained there 
 until sixteen years of age. His stay there was cut short 
 by this incident. He later became the most musical of all 
 the Reformers, playing seven instruments. The Dominican 
 monks at Bern, seeing his ability and remarkable love for 
 music, tried to get him to join their Order. Had he done 
 so, he would have become a monk-reformer, as was Luther. 
 But providence wanted the Reformation in Switzerland to 
 be different from that of Luther, — to be begun by a priest- 
 reformer, and by one who was, especially, a scholar in the 
 new learning, humanism. Zwingli had gone so far toward 
 joining the Dominicans as to live in their monastery. 
 But then came the command of his father, perhaps at the 
 instigation of his liberal-minded uncle, calling him home, 
 so that he might be saved from monkhood. He was then 
 sent to the university of Vienna, where he remained for 
 two years, giving attention especially t o philosophical 
 studies, though there were humanistic influences there. 
 
 IV. The Crisis in His Education. 
 
 Zwingli progressed rapidly in his education. In 1502 
 he returned to Basle to teach, and also to study in the uni- 
 versity. Here, fortunately, he attended the lectures of a 
 Professor Thomas Wyttenbach. Wyttenbach had' been born 
 
4 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 at Biel, a town west of Bern, and, after lecturing at Basle 
 to Zwingli, he some years later went back to his birthplace 
 to become its Protestant Reformer. Just as Ananias, who 
 brought Paul out of the darkness of soul at Damascus, is 
 forgotten in the greater glory of his convert, so Wyttenbach 
 is forgotten in the greater glory of his pupil, Zwingli. 
 Zwingli always spoke of him as "the most learned and 
 holiest of men," and in his letters calls him "his dear pre- 
 ceptor." This reveals the debt that he felt he owed to his 
 teacher. 
 
 Wyttenbach planted in his mind three seed-thoughts, 
 that afterward came to harvest and produced the Reforma- 
 tion. Luther became a Reformer by emphasizing the doc- 
 trine of justification by faith, but Zwingli approached the 
 Reformation from a somewhat different viewpoint, namely 
 (and these were the three seed-thoughts that Wyttenbach 
 taught him) : 
 
 1. The supreme authority of Scripture, — the Bible was 
 to be the guide rather than the Church, as the Catholics held. 
 
 2. Sins are forgiven through the death of Christ, and 
 not through the Virgin Mary, as Catholics held. 
 
 3. The sale of indulgences was a fraud and a cheat. 
 Zwingli was under Wyttenbach but a few months, but 
 
 in that short time Wyttenbach left an indelible impression 
 upon him. These three seed-thoughts slumbered in his 
 mind for about ten years, and then, as we shall see, they 
 came to harvest as he began the Reformation at Einsedeln. 
 How wonderful and eternally-lasting is the influence of a 
 Christian teacher. All the Reformed and Presbyterian 
 Churches, now numbering about thirty millions of adher- 
 ents, have come directly out of this Reformed Reformation, 
 and are the result of these three seed-thoughts of Wytten- 
 bach. Indeed, all the other Protestant Churches, except 
 the Lutheran, have indirectly come out of it. so that Wyt- 
 tenbach's influence through Zwingli is affecting more than 
 one hundred millions who are living to-day. What an 
 inspiration, this, to the Christian worker! It is one of the 
 
ZWINGLI AT GLARUS 5 
 
 most remarkable illustrations in all Church history. 
 
 We now come to the study of Zwingli's conversion. The 
 study of a man's conversion, especially of a great man like 
 Zwingli, is a very interesting subject, and we may well 
 pause to follow its steps carefully. 
 V. Zwingli 's First Charge — Glarus (1506-1516). 
 
 In 1506 Zwingli was called as priest by the congregation 
 at Glarus, situated about fifty miles southeast of Zurich. 
 He remained there for ten years. The church in which he 
 preached was burned down by a conflagration in 1861, which 
 destroyed most of the town. And the new church is a 
 simultaneous church, — that is, one in which both Catholics 
 and Reformed worship, though at different hours. The 
 communion cup used by Zwingli is still there. 
 
 The most interesting question about this period is 
 whether there are any signs of his becoming a Reformer. 
 It is very evident that as yet he was only a humanist; and 
 yet in his case, as in that of a number of others, humanism 
 was the bridge over which he passed to Protestantism. He 
 revealed his love of humanism during this period in sev- 
 eral ways: 
 
 1. He began the study of the Greek language about 
 1513. The Latin language was the sacred language to the 
 Catholics, so the study of the Greek prepared him to become 
 a Reformer when he later gained possession of the Greek 
 New Testament. 
 
 2. He started a school which was attended by young 
 men of the best families and in which he taught the new 
 humanistic methods of education. Some of his students, 
 who afterward became prominent, as Tschudi, bore witness 
 to his wonderful power as a teacher. 
 
 3. He came into correspondence with Erasmus, the 
 leader of the humanists. 
 
 But the Protestant was beginning to appear in the 
 midst of the humanist, though still faintly. There are 
 several signs that prophesied the coming Reformer. These 
 were : 
 
6 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 1. A linguistic preparation (the knowledge of the 
 Greek), which prepared him to later read the New Testa- 
 ment and thus see the difference between it and the Romish 
 Church. 
 
 2. A political preparation. He paid three visits to 
 Italy as chaplain to the Swiss troops hired by foreign 
 powers. These visits to Italy opened his eyes to the great 
 wickedness of the papacy, for the proverb then was "the 
 nearer Rome, the worse Christian." 
 
 3. A liturgical preparation. While in Italy, he found 
 at Milan that the old liturgy of Ambrose, the early Church 
 Father, differed from the Romish liturgy of his day. A 
 second discovery that he made was at Mollis, a village just 
 north of Glarus, of a liturgy of two hundred years before 
 his time, which said that at communion the cup was given 
 to the laity, whereas the Catholics in his day gave only 
 the bread to them. 
 
 4. A doctrinal preparation. He began to doubt the 
 doctrine of the intercession of the saints, one of the funda- 
 mental doctrines of Romanism.* 
 
 VI. His Second Charge at Einsedeln (1516-1518). 
 
 In 1516 he left Glarus for Einsedeln. The cause of 
 his departure was the opposition of a minority in his 
 congregation because he was so outspoken against the 
 foreign military service of the Swiss. We thus see that 
 he was a political reformer even before he became a re- 
 ligious one. Einsedeln was a very different field from 
 Glarus. It was a pilgrimage-place in an upper valley four 
 thousand feet above sea-level, and about twenty-five miles 
 northeast of Zurich. Here Zwingli was not priest, as there 
 was no parish. But he was preacher for the pilgrims who 
 came from Switzerland and southern Germany. The name 
 Einsedeln means hermit, and hither Meinrad. the hermit, 
 had come in the ninth century and founded a monastery. 
 
 *Egli, Schweizerische Reformations-Geschichte, page 
 35. 
 
ZWINGLI AT EINSEDELN 7 
 
 It had in it one of the most sacred of the Romish relics, 
 the image of the Black Virgin, which was believed to have 
 power to forgive sins. There was a providence in his ap- 
 pointment to this place, for, as he had no pastoral duties, 
 it gave him ample time for study. Like Paul in Arabia, 
 and Luther at the Wartburg, he was set aside in quietness 
 so as to be prepared for his great work as Reformer. It was 
 here that he began preaching the Gospel of Protestantism, 
 for he said, "I began to preach the gospel of Christ in 
 1516, before any one in my locality had as much as heard 
 of Luther." 
 
 The event that made Zwingli do this was the publica- 
 tion of a book. Oh, how great is the power of a book, 
 especially when that book is the Bible. In 1516 Erasmus 
 published the Greek New Testament. As Zwingli read it, 
 a flood of light burst on his mind, as he saw how different 
 the Romish Church was from the New Testament. He 
 copied in his own handwriting all the Epistles of Paul in 
 Greek,* and committed whole Epistles to memory. This 
 later proved of great value to him in his disputations with 
 the Catholics. In thus committing Scripture, he is an 
 example to be imitated by Christians to-day. 
 
 And now the seed-thoughts planted in his mind by 
 Wyttenbach sprang forth to harvest, and he began the 
 Reformation. His progress seems to have been gradual, 
 but at that time he seems to have been farther advanced 
 than Luther when the latter nailed the theses on the 
 church door at Wittenberg, October 31, 1517. For he was 
 already emphasizing the central doctrine of Protestantism, 
 that sins were forgiven through the ransom of Christ.** 
 Zwingli had gone deeper than Luther, for he believed in 
 the ransom of Christ, which is the root and basis of justi- 
 fication. He was, too, a hero of great moral courage in 
 
 * The manuscript of this is in the Zwingli museum 
 at Zurich. 
 
 ** Bullinger, History of the Reformation, page 9. 
 
8 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 preaching this doctrine, for over the door of his abbey 
 were the words, "Here sins are forgiven by the Virgin 
 Mary," and within was the Black Virgin worshiped by 
 the pilgrims. And yet he boldly preached that sins were 
 forgiven by Christ, not by Mary- His preaching was revo- 
 lutionary, for some of the pilgrims carried away these new 
 doctrines with them. Thus they were scattered far and 
 wide, and he gained great fame for his boldness and 
 eloquence. 
 
 VII. Zwingli's First Year at Zurich — 1519. 
 
 Zwingli's fame as a preacher became so great that the 
 little mountain abbey could not hold him. In the latter 
 part of 1518 he was called to be the head priest at the 
 cathedral of Zurich. He went to Zurich as a missionary 
 to tell them the new Gospel he had learned from the Word 
 of God and to preach to them about the ransom of Christ, 
 for they were in the darkness of Romanism. Zurich was 
 at that time a walled city of perhaps 10,000 inhabitants, 
 the chief city in northeastern Switzerland. Here on New 
 Year's Day, 1519, he startled his congregation by an- 
 nouncing that he would preach to them on the Gospel of 
 Matthew, verse by verse. In doing this he was making 
 prominent one of his cardinal principles, namely, the su- 
 premacy of Scripture. But this was a very different kind 
 of preaching from that to which they had been accustomed, 
 which consisted of saint stories, etc. It created great excite- 
 ment, but many found in it the spiritual food for which they 
 had long been yearning. He also showed his missionary 
 spirit by trying to convert the country people as well as 
 the city folk, for he began preaching on Fridays as well 
 as on Sundays, as Friday was market day and that brought 
 the people of the canton to Zurich. The result was this 
 new Gospel was spread through all the canton of Zurich 
 as well as the city. Soon after he came to Zurich, Samson 
 came there selling indulgences, but Zwingli preached so 
 hard against him that Samson left not only Zurich, but 
 
ZWINGLI AT ZURICH 9 
 
 Switzerland. 
 
 But the labors of the young priest proved greater than 
 his strength. He, in order to recuperate, went to a neigh- 
 boring watering place, Ragatz-Pfaffers, about seventy miles 
 southeast of Zurich, where in a picturesque narrow gorge 
 were healing springs. Then the plague broke out in Zurich, 
 and, like a faithful pastor, he came back to Zurich to min- 
 ister to his flock. He soon fell a victim to the plague, and 
 was so sick that it was reported that he was dead. But 
 God preserved him for great purposes. However, this severe 
 illness greatly deepened his religious experience. This is 
 shown by the hymn that he composed during this sickness, 
 w T hich consisted of three beautiful short prayers in verse.* 
 He was now, both by study and religious experience, pre- 
 pared for the great work that was about to come upon him, 
 namely, the Reformation of the city of Zurich. 
 
 VIII. The Beginning of the Reformation at Zurich — 
 1520-1523. 
 Zwingli's preaching soon began to exert great influence 
 in Zurich. Already at the beginning of 1520 he had over 
 2,000 adherents. In 1520 the city council ordered that all 
 preaching must be according to the Word of God. In 1522 
 matters began to come to a crisis. As a result of Zwingli's 
 preaching, Christopher Froschouer, the great printer of 
 Zurich, refused to fast in Lent. Zwingli defended this posi- 
 tion about fasts. The Bishop of Constance, in whose diocese 
 Zurich was, complained to the councils of Zurich against 
 Zwingli. The Reformation was in great danger. Zwingli 
 betook himself to prayer, and, lo, on April 9 the great 
 council of the city decided against the bishop. Then the 
 bishop had a decree passed at the Swiss Diet against 
 Zurich. But Zurich went on, nevertheless, in her reforms. 
 On July 17 Zwingli did what may be called personal mis- 
 sionary work for the conversion of Lambert of Avignon. 
 Lambert was a Franciscan monk, with whom Zwingli de- 
 
 * See Jackson's Life of Zwingli, 132-134. 
 
10 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 bated publicly about the intercession of the saints, and so 
 powerfully that Lambert was converted to Protestantism. 
 On November 11, 1522, the Zurich council took an action that 
 virtually was the beginning of a declaration of independence 
 from the power of the Bishop of Constance, and so from the 
 Catholic Church. It was when Zwingli brought matters 
 to an issue by resigning, because certain of his duties 
 were against his Protestant views. The council accepted 
 his resignation, but, without asking permission of the 
 bishop, requested him to continue to preach. It also went 
 farther and forbade the foreign service of the Swiss, and 
 also refused to give up to the bishop the Evangelical pastors 
 at Zurich. 
 
 It was very evident that matters were approaching a 
 crisis. This crisis came in 1523. On January 29 there 
 was a great disputation held at Zurich. Zwingli had, ten 
 days before, just as Luther had done at Wittenberg in 
 1517, nailed up 67 theses for debate. These were much 
 more Protestant than Luther's were, though it is to be 
 remembered that Luther's were five years earlier. Zwingli 
 defended his theses out of the Bible, and gained a great 
 victory, as the council ordered that nothing be preached 
 but what was founded on the Word of God. A second great 
 conference was held on October 26, 1523, before a large 
 audience. A voice or two were feebly lifted up to defend 
 Catholicism, but Zwingli and Leo Juda literally annihilated 
 their opponents out of the Bible as they discussed images 
 and the mass. As a result of this conference, Zurich com- 
 mitted herself more fully than ever to Protestantism. 
 
 Zwingli, in November, 1523, preached against images. 
 Thomas Platter tells the story that he was at that time 
 sexton in the Fraumiinster Church, Zurich. One morning 
 when Zwingli was to preach in the church. Platter found 
 he had no wood for making a fire to heat the church. II? 
 looked into the church and saw no one there, so he took a 
 wooden statue of John from the nearest altar, and as he 
 threw it into the stove he said, "Little John, now stoop, 
 
ZWINGLI AT ZURICH 11 
 
 for you must go into the stove." When it began to burn 
 it produced a very ugly odor, due to the paint on it. So 
 he closed the stove door. The schoolmaster, Myconius, 
 came in and asked, "Have you had good wood?" and Platter 
 thought that John had done his best. As the congregation 
 began to sing the hymn, two of the priests, who had come in, 
 began quarreling about the missing statue, the one calling 
 the other a Lutheran and charging him with having stolen 
 his John. These facts never were made public until many 
 years later when Platter was at Basle. The next year 
 (1524) the images were taken out of the churches, and in 
 December of that year the monasteries were suppressed. 
 
 IX. The Completion of the Reformation at Zurich — 1525. 
 
 By the end of 1524 the only remnant of Catholicism 
 was the mass. Finally, in the spring of 1525, the Zurich 
 council ordered that on Thursday of Passion Week, April 13, 
 the Lord's Supper should be celebrated in the Protestant 
 fashion, by using bread instead of wafers, and by giving the 
 cup to the laity in addition to the bread. Thus, after six 
 years of struggle, from 1519 to 1525, the Reformation was 
 victorious. Zwingli was its leader, and he was aided by Leo 
 Juda, who had become pastor of St. Peter's Church, 
 Zurich, and by Myconius, the schoolmaster of the Frau- 
 miinster Church there. 
 
 On July 19, 1525, Zwingli began a new kind of service 
 in the chapel of th cathedral, which was called a "prophesy- 
 ing." It was a sort of conference and prayer-meeting, the 
 forerunner of modern prayer-meetings. In this he was 
 later followed by Haller at Bern, Calvin at Geneva, and 
 Lasco in London. Zwingli also, in 1525 wrote his most 
 important work, "A Commentary on True and False Re- 
 ligion." It was a brief system of theology describing the 
 different Protestant doctrines and refuting Catholicism. 
 But -all this victory was gained only after great effort and 
 also great clanger to Zwingli, for his life was often 
 threatened. 
 
12 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 The life of Zwingli, after he had by his missionary zeal 
 evangelized Zurich, divided itself into two parts, — his rela- 
 tion to Luther and his relation to the other Swiss cantons, 
 who by his leadership were led out of Catholicism to the 
 light of the Gospel. We will now take up his relations to 
 Luther. 
 
 X. Luther's Youth and Education. 
 
 Martin Luther was born at Eisleben, November 10, 
 1483, but his father soon moved to Mansfield, where Martin 
 went to school. He later was educated at Magdeburg and 
 then at Eisenach. There, as a boy, he was accustomed to 
 sing carols in the streets and thus gain money for his edu- 
 cation. His fine voice attracted the notice of Ursula Cotta, 
 who belonged to one of the leading families at Eisenach, and 
 she welcomed him to her table. At Eisenach he also 
 had as his teacher Trebonius, who would always on enter- 
 ing the school, take off his cap to the boys, because he 
 said he did not know but some of them might become 
 famous, — a prophecy afterwards fulfilled in Luther. Luther 
 went (1501) to the university of Erfurt. He was a serious- 
 minded youth, and later had for his motto: "To pray well 
 is half the study." 
 
 In 1505 he entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt. 
 He was brought to this decision when caught in a terrible 
 thunder storm. Then, at a fearful flash of lightning, he 
 threw himself to the earth and made a vow that he would 
 become a monk. Two years later he was ordained to the 
 priesthood. In 1508 he was made professor of theology at 
 the university of Wittenberg. Two years later he was 
 sent to Rome on business of his Order. When he came in 
 sight of that city, so sacred to all Catholics, he threw him- 
 self on the ground and exclaimed, "Hail to thee, holy 
 Rome." There he climbed the "Sacred Stairs" of Pilate's 
 Judgment Hall, and when doing so the words "the just shall 
 live by faith" came to him. 
 
 XI. Luther's Conversion. 
 
 The conversion of Luther, like that of Zwingli, is a 
 
LUTHER'S THESES 13 
 
 profoundly interesting subject. Formerly Luther's conver- 
 sion was described as sudden and emotional. Later biog- 
 raphers make it more gradual. In the early days of his 
 manhood he was very zealous in his fastings and self- 
 mortification, hoping thereby to save his soul. But he was 
 disappointed in them, for they gave him no peace. Then 
 the kind advice of Staupitz, the vicar-general of his order, 
 and the reading of the mystic theology of Tauler gave him 
 some light. He was especially prepared for his conversion 
 by a growing study of the Bible and of the works of Augus- 
 tine, the early Church Father. The text "The just shall 
 live by faith" led him to rely more on faith than on works 
 for salvation. In his lectures on the Psalms (1513-15) and 
 on Romans and Galatians (1515-17) he used the works of 
 Lefevre, the Reformed Reformer of France, who, before 
 either Luther or Zwingli, taught in 1512 the doctrine of 
 justification by faith. Erasmus' New Testament of 1516 
 greatly influenced him, as it did Zwingli. He now inclined 
 to the Bible rather than to the theology of Catholicism 
 founded on Aristotelianism. In 1517 he seems to have held 
 to salvation by faith and yet "could not discard his doubts 
 about the certainty of salvation or his monkish aversion 
 that it was against true humility to thus count on God's 
 mercy." 
 
 Then occurred the event that produced the crisis. 
 Tetzel, the Dominican monk, came to Germany to sell in- 
 dulgences. An indulgence was a papal pardon that insured 
 one of freedom from punishment without any repentance, 
 provided money were paid. Luther protested against this 
 by nailing up 95 theses on the church door of the Castle 
 Church at Wittenberg, October 31, 1517. 
 
 "That," says one of Luther's biographers, "was the 
 birthday of the Reformation." Hardly; for these theses 
 were not at all Protestant. Another of his biographers, 
 Koestlin, speaks of them as "the germ of the Reformation." 
 That is truer. There is nothing said in them about justi- 
 fication by faith. Luther, in them, believes in Catholic in- 
 
14 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 diligences, for he says there, "Cursed is he who speaks 
 against the truth of apostolical pardons." 
 
 1. What he condemns are not indulgences, but their 
 abuse. For the whole business of indulgences had become a 
 great commercial monopoly by which the rich banking 
 house of Fuggers at Augsburg and the Archbishop of 
 Mayence made high commissions." As we would say now, 
 "The trusts had gotten hold of the business." 
 
 2. Luther also protested in these theses against the 
 papal indulgences, over against those given by the bishops 
 and clergy, which he still endorsed. 
 
 3. That he was not yet a Protestant he himself later 
 says, for he called himself at this time "a most insane 
 papist," and said that he would have killed any one who 
 denied obedience to the pope. He says (1520): "Some two 
 years ago I wrote a little book on indulgences, which I 
 now deeply regret having published, for at that time I held 
 that indulgences should not be altogether rejected, seeing 
 that they were approved by the common consent of men." 
 That book, published a year later than his theses on in- 
 dulgences, showed he still believed in them. 
 
 Now, if Luther had believed in salvation by faith, as 
 Protestants do, he never would have there endorsed the 
 Catholic view of indulgences, which has its basis in justi- 
 fication by works; for part of the Catholic doctrine of in- 
 dulgence was the idea that the deeds or the money, pre- 
 scribed by the priest in the indulgence, were of value to 
 save. And yet, on the other hand, his belief in salvation 
 by faith instead of by works was growing. How shall we 
 harmonize it with his view of indulgences? Perhaps the 
 explanation is that Luther was then like the great Church 
 Father whom his Order revered, Augustine. Augustine 
 held to the two opposing theories of Evangelicalism and 
 SacramentarianJsm. According to the former he held that 
 men were saved by grace, — that is, by the election of God — 
 God's- act; according to the latter he held to regeneration 
 by baptism, — that is, men were saved by man's act — the act 
 
LUTHER'S REFORMATION 15 
 
 of the priest. Like him, Luther seems here to have held 
 to salvation by faith and also by works, as the Catholic 
 Church later did at the Council of Trent. But, as the result 
 showed, the former was growing more rapidly than the 
 latter. It is evident, therefore, that when he nailed up 
 the theses he was not yet a Protestant. Even after it, in 
 1519, says Doumergue, he held to purgatory, saint worship 
 and transubstantiation, and did not renounce the elevation 
 of the host until 1543. Luther's act in nailing up the 
 "theses" was an epoch-making event, but he was not yet a 
 Protestant. Zwingli much more quickly and fully re- 
 nounced these Romish errors. 
 
 XII. Beginnings of Luther's Reformation. 
 
 But his "theses" struck a popular chord in Germany. 
 They were the match that ignited the powder-magazine. 
 Large parts of Germany had become hostile to papal in- 
 dulgences and abuses. In two weeks the theses had spread 
 all over Germany, and in a month all over Europe. The 
 next year he went to Heidelberg for his Order, and there 
 in his theses he comes out clearly on justification by faith. 
 In the summer of 1519 he had a disputation at Leipsic 
 with Eck, the great Catholic champion. Then he went a 
 step farther and declared that the papacy rested not on 
 divine authority, but was a human institution. By the end 
 of that year he laid emphasis on the priesthood of all 
 believers, over against the priesthood of the Romish Church. 
 
 But it was in the year 1520 that he made the formal 
 declaration of his independence from Rome. In that year 
 he published three works which formulated his new views. 
 The first was his "Appeal to the German Nobility." This 
 was a ringing trumpet note that woke up all Germany. 
 Its theme was the responsibility and duty of the laity in 
 church matters. It urged the secular power to take a hand 
 in the regeneration of Germany and not leave it to the 
 Church. This was followed by his "Babylonish Captivity," 
 in which he attacked the Catholic doctrine of the sacra- 
 ments and showed how they were perverted so as to corrupt 
 
16 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 the Christian life. A third book was his "Christian Lib- 
 erty," on the liberty the Christian enjoys through the doc- 
 trine of justification by faith. These three treatises were 
 the chief reforming works of Luther. The first showed the 
 reformation of the state; the second, of the Church, and the 
 third, of the inner Christian life. When the pope had pub- 
 lished a bull against him, he burned it, December 10, 1520, 
 at Wittenberg. This was a most heroic act. 
 
 XIII. Worms and Wartburg. 
 
 The year 1521 was also a fateful year for Luther. The 
 pope finally, on January 3, 1521, pronounced the ban on 
 him. It remained now to be seen whether it could be car- 
 ried out in Germany. He was summoned to Worms in 
 April, 1521. He was given a safe-conduct, but it was com- 
 monly expected that it would be violated as had been done 
 to Huss a century before. But Luther defied the clanger, 
 and declared he would go to Worms "if there were as many 
 devils as there were tiles on the roofs of the houses." At 
 the diet he was asked whether he would recant what he 
 had written. He refused to do so, closing his address with 
 the famous words, "God help me. Amen." The diet then 
 ordered the ban of the empire to be placed upon him. To 
 save him from this, he was secretly kidnapped and hidden 
 in the castle of the Wartburg near Eisenach. There he 
 remained for about a year, hidden under the name of Squire 
 George. He spent much of his time in translating the New 
 Testament into German, which was published 1522. While 
 he was absent from Wittenberg, matters there were getting 
 into confusion. The mild Phillip Melancthon, who had been 
 called as his associate in 1517, and who was a fine scholar 
 and strong humanist, was unable to control the erratic 
 Carlstadt, one of the preachers at Wittenberg. So Luther 
 returned to Wittenberg in March, 1522, and restored order. 
 
 XIV. Political Events Affecting the Reformation. 
 
 The ban of the empire still hung over Luther. Rut 
 there is an important providence to be noted in connection 
 
LUTHER'S CONTROVERSY WITH REFORMED 17 
 
 with the Reformation. Whenever Protestantism was 
 greatly threatened by the Catholic powers, then the Turks 
 would threaten to invade Germany; and the Emperor, 
 for the sake of getting men and money to carry on war, 
 instead of oppressing the Protestant princes, would 
 have to conciliate them. Luther was also protected by his 
 prince, the Elector of Saxony, who was supported by a con- 
 stantly increasing number of Protestant princes. In 1523 
 the Peasants' War broke out. This was an economic upris- 
 ing of the peasants against the princes and the authorities, 
 as well as a religious revolt against Catholicism. It repre- 
 sented Protestant radicalism. Yet Luther took strong 
 grounds against it and in favor of law and order. It was 
 finally suppressed in 1525. But Carlstadt's extremes at 
 Wittenberg in 1522 and the Peasants' War had an unfortun- 
 ate effect on Luther. They made him become more con- 
 servative. Zwingli represented the progressive Reforma- 
 tion, Luther, the conservative. Luther now became more 
 conservative, both in regard to doctrine, worship and 
 church government. It was in connection with doctrine 
 that he became involved in a controversy with the Re- 
 formed, especially on the Lord's Supper. 
 
 XV. Luther's Controversy with the Reformed. 
 
 Luther in 1526 began attacking Zwingli for his doctrine 
 of the Lord's Supper. The difference between them was 
 this: Both rejected the Catholic doctrine of transubstantia- 
 tion — that is, that the bread and wine at the Supper were 
 changed into the very body and blood of Christ. Zwingli 
 (especially at first) went to the other extreme and held to 
 the memorial view, — that the prime reference of the Lord's 
 Supper was to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, of which 
 it was a memorial. This Luther attacked. For he held 
 that the real body and blood of Christ were present with the 
 elements. Luther attacked the Zwinglian view because it 
 seemed to him to have no presence of Christ at the Supper. 
 Zwingli, on the other hand, attacked the Lutheran doctrine, 
 because it required a material presence of Christ's body with 
 
18 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 the elements of the Supper. In exegesis they differed as 
 to the interpretation of the word "is" in the phrase "This 
 is my body." Zwingli claimed that the word was used 
 figuratively, and meant "signifies." Luther claimed that 
 the word must be taken literally, — that it expressed a fact 
 and not a figure. Such was the controversy that unhappily 
 divided the Lutherans and Reformed at a time when they 
 most needed to be united against Rome. Of the Conference 
 at Marburg, where Luther and Zwingli met and debated 
 the Lord's Supper, we will speak later. This controversy of 
 Luther with Zwingli and the Reformed continued up to the 
 time of the latter's death and later. 
 
 XVI. Luther's Later Years. 
 
 After the Peasants' War the Catholic powers of Ger- 
 many still tried to suppress the Protestants. At the diet 
 of Spires, in 1529, they decided to take violent measures 
 against the Protestants. This led to the delivery of a 
 protest to the Emperor, signed by five princes and fourteen 
 free cities of the empire. Because of this act we are to-day 
 called "Protestants." In 1530 the next diet was held at 
 Augsburg. Luther dared not go to it, as he was under the 
 ban of the empire, but stayed at Coburg. Melancthon at- 
 tended it, and laid before the Emperor the Lutheran creed, 
 the Augsburg Confession. Luther then returned to Witten- 
 berg, where he spent the rest of his life in teaching in the 
 university. He also labored to introduce Protestantism into 
 new districts and to organize the Churches. He died on 
 February 18, 1546. 
 
 Luther's life was the most dramatic of the four great 
 Reformers. He stands out as a great heroic figure. His 
 great work was as the founder of the Lutheran Church, 
 which in the Reformation spread from Germany into Scan- 
 dinavian lands. Next to that was his translation of the 
 Bible into German, which was published in 1534. 
 
QUESTIONS 19 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 ZWINGLI 
 
 What is the relation of the Reformation to Missions? 
 
 What events and what persons prepared the way for 
 the Reformation? 
 
 When and where was Zwingli born? 
 
 Describe his education? 
 
 Describe Wyttenbach's influence over him? 
 
 Where was his first charge? 
 
 What signs of the coming Reformer appeared at 
 Glarus? 
 
 What did Zwingli do at Einsedeln? 
 
 What beginnings of the Reformation were there at 
 Einsedeln? 
 
 Describe his first preaching at Zurich? 
 
 Describe the various steps of the Reformation at Zurich 
 
 What completed the Reformation at Zurich? 
 
 LUTHER 
 
 When and where was Luther born? 
 
 Describe his education. 
 
 Describe his visit to Rome. 
 
 What influences prepared him to become a Reformer? 
 
 What were indulgences, and how did he attack them? 
 
 What two opposing views were struggling in Luther for 
 the mastery? 
 
 What effect on Germany had his theses? 
 
 What three works did he publish in 1520? 
 
 What was the pope's bull, and what did Luther do 
 with it? 
 
 Describe his attendance at the diet of Worms. 
 
 What did he do while at the Wartburg? 
 
 Why did he return to Wittenberg? 
 
 What was the difference between Zwingli and Luther 
 on the Lord's Supper? 
 
20 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 How long did the controversy continue? 
 
 Why are we called Protestants? 
 
 What occurred at the diet of Augsburg? 
 
 When did Luther die? 
 
 What was Luther's character and work? 
 
CHAPTER II 
 Zwingu and His Fellow-Reformers 
 
 I. The Spread of the Reformed Doctrine. 
 
 The Reformed Church having been established at 
 Zurich by 1525, entered on its next stage, namely, its 
 spread to the other cantons. Here Zwingli appears as a 
 true home missionary, as were indeed all the Reformers. 
 The Reformation was a great missionary age. Every- 
 where and in all directions we see them striving to lead 
 men to Christ. Zwingli did this to the other cantons in 
 Switzerland, and even to regions beyond, as Germany. 
 His zeal should be an inspiration for home missions to-day. 
 Wherever he heard the Gospel was being favorably re- 
 ceived, or that there was an opening for it, there he 
 hastened to write a letter or to go himself. Thus in 1524, 
 when he heard that the Toggenburg, the district where 
 he was born, accepted the Gospel, he wrote to its council 
 a letter congratulating them on it. In 1525 he wrote to 
 the canton of the Grisons urging them to aid the spread of 
 Protestantism and also help Zurich. 
 
 II. The Conference at Baden. 
 
 The first step that prepared for the reception of the 
 Gospel elsewhere was the Conference at Baden, May 21, 
 1526, in which the Catholics planned to crush the Refor- 
 mation at Zurich. Baden was not in the canton of Zurich, 
 but was close enough to have great influence there, being 
 about fifteen miles west of Zurich. Zwingli did not attend 
 the Conference. As Baden was a very bigoted Catholic 
 city, the city council of Zurich forbade his attendance, as he 
 probably would have suffered violence. He, however, spent 
 
 21 
 
22 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 more time in outlining arguments for the speakers there 
 than if he had been debating there. For messengers brought 
 Zwingli the report of the Conference each evening. To 
 these he replied during the night and his replies were sent 
 to Baden by morning. 
 
 One of these messengers was Thomas Platter, who thus 
 tells the story. It was arranged that a young man in the 
 Conference should each day write down what was said, 
 and that either Platter or another young man would carry 
 it from Baden to Zwingli. When they were asked at the 
 city gate of Baden what their business was, they replied 
 that they brought chickens to Baden to sell, which was 
 true. This interchange of messages continued until the 
 last day of the disputation, when Platter carried the report 
 to Zurich. But he started late and so came to Zwingli's 
 house very late. He had to knock a long while before 
 Zwingli's servant opened, who said, "Why so late? Can 
 you not let Master Ulrich rest for one night? For six 
 weeks he has not been in bed because of the disputation." 
 Being admitted, Platter knocked a long while at Zwingli's 
 door, until Zwingli woke up and received him, when he 
 told him what had been done at Baden. In an hour or so, 
 Zwingli's reply was on the way to Baden, taken by the 
 other young man, as Platter was too tired to return. When 
 this messenger came to the gate of Baden, it was yet dark. 
 The gate was locked. He found a wagon of hay standing 
 at the gate waiting for it to be opened. He climbed up in 
 the hay-wagon and fell asleep. When he woke up, he found 
 that the wagon had gone in through the gate, and had 
 brought him to the market-place at Baden, right in front 
 of the house where he was to deliver Zwingli's reply to 
 Ecolampadius. 
 
 Although Zwingli was not at the Conference, yet for- 
 tunately the Reformed found a new champion in Ecolam- 
 padius, the Reformer at Basle. The champion of the Catho- 
 lics was Eck, who came there from his victory over Luther 
 at Leipsic, as he claimed. We shall later in connection with 
 
BERN AND MARBURG CONFERENCES 23 
 
 the life of Ecolampadius describe this Conference. The 
 Catholics claimed a victory there, but the facts are against 
 it, for the Conference undoubtedly spread the Reformation, 
 especially in the cantons of Bern and Basle. 
 
 III. The Conference at Bern. 
 
 The next great event was the Conference at Bern, 
 January 6, 1528. This was a great missionary effort on the 
 part of Zwingli and others to bring that largest of the Swiss 
 cantons into the Reformed Church. Zwingli attended it as 
 did the leading Reformers from other Protestant cantons. 
 We shall not describe this Conference here, as it will come 
 up again in the life of Haller, the Reformer at Bern. As we 
 shall there see, Zwingli was easily the leader in th^e Confer- 
 ence and exerted a great influence. This Conference proved to 
 be a great victory for the Reformed, because by it they 
 gained the large canton of Bern. And it also opened up the 
 way, as we shall see in the life of Farel, for the spread of 
 Protestantism to the French cantons of southwestern 
 Switzerland. 
 
 IV. The Conference at Mar our g. 
 
 The next great event was the Conference at Marburg 
 in 1529. Wie also see in this the missionary enterprise of 
 Zwingli and the other Reformers. The doctrines of Zwingli 
 had been spread over German Switzerland. Zwingli hoped 
 they would now find on entrance into Germany, for the 
 Conference of Marburg was the prophecy of the permanent 
 founding of the Reformed Church in Germany, later at 
 Heidelberg. 
 
 Landgrave Phillip of Hesse, one of the leading princes 
 of Germany, was anxious to bring the Lutherans and the 
 Reformed together. In order to do this, he arranged that 
 a Conference should be held at Marburg in western Ger- 
 many. Zwingli, fearing that the council of Zurich would 
 not permit him to go on account of the danger, secretly 
 left Zurich on September 3, 1529. He traveled by way of 
 Basle. From Basle he went down the Rhine by boat to 
 
24 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Strassburg. Then under an armed guard, he went to the 
 border of Hesse on the Rhine, crossing it at St. Goar, or 
 Rheinfels. He arrived in Marburg on September 27th, 
 accompanied by other Reformed Reformers, as Ecolam- 
 padius of Basle, and Bucer and Hedio of Strassburg. This 
 Conference was the only time when all the Reformers came 
 together. Luther and Melancthon were there, together with 
 other Lutheran Reformers. It looked as if the two 
 Churches, Lutheran and Reformed, might be united. 
 
 On October 1st, the public debate took place in the 
 great hall of the castle, in the presence of Landgrave Phillip 
 of Hesse and Duke Ulrich of Wurtemberg. These princes 
 sat at one end of the table, while the leading Reformers 
 sat or stood around the table. There is a tradition that 
 Luther wrote on the table in chalk the words, "This is my 
 body," so that he might not weaken from his position on 
 the Lord's Supper. For two days they debated, especially 
 on the Lord's Supper. Zwingli and Ecolampadius so pressed 
 Luther by the exegesis of the Scripture texts and quotations 
 from the Church Fathers that finally he could answer no 
 more, but pulling the cloth, on which he had written the 
 words "This is my body" from the table, he held it up 
 before them as his vindication. 
 
 But a sickness broke out in the crowded town and 
 broke up the Conference. Before they separated, the Land- 
 grave had them draw up fifteen Articles of Faith. Both 
 sides agreed on all the Articles except on that about the 
 Lord's Supper. As it was evident that they could not reach 
 an entire agreement, the Swiss asked that they be recog- 
 nized by Luther as brethren. But Luther refused, saying, 
 "You have a different spirit from ours." Zwingli held out 
 his hand to Luther but was refused, and so the Conference 
 broke up (October 5th), without uniting the two Churches. 
 But it made a favorable impression for Zwinglianism on 
 Germany. Thus Lambert of Avignon, the Reformer of 
 Hesse, declared he had come to the Conference with his 
 mind like a sheet of white paper, ready to receive impres- 
 
ZWINGLI'S LATER YEARS 25 
 
 sions. After the Conference lie favored Zwingli, but unfor- 
 tunately died soon. It also made the Landgrave so favorable 
 that he proposed to the German princes an alliance with the 
 Swiss, but it was rejected by the Lutherans. However, the 
 city of Strassburg entered into an alliance with Zurich. 
 
 V. Zwingli's Later Years. 
 
 For the diet of Augsburg in Germany (1530), where 
 Melancthon presented the first Lutheran creed, the Augs- 
 burg Confession, to the Emperor of Germany, Zwingli pre- 
 pared a Confession of his own, w T hich he sent to the Em- 
 peror, who, however, paid no attention to it. But it is 
 interesting to note that it differed from the Augsburg Con- 
 fession on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and like all 
 the Reformed creeds, made the Bible prominent. 
 
 The last years of Zwingli were taken up with political 
 alliances and with the spread and conservation of Protes- 
 tantism. He had been criticized for the former, but it is 
 to be remembered that Zurich was at that time peculiarly 
 situated by being isolated. In 1527 she was excluded from 
 the Swiss diet by the Catholic contons, and only the next 
 year did Bern, Basle, Schaffhausen and the other Protestant 
 districts unite with her to form the Protestant diet. In this 
 we must not judge Zwingli by our day or by our American 
 views of the separation of Church and State. Certain it is, 
 that had Zwingli's views been carried out and a political 
 alliance of all Protestants formed, the Protestants would 
 not have suffered such losses as they did, especially in the 
 Thirty Years' War, for Rome would have been held in check. 
 
 But Zwingli was also very busy introducing and build- 
 ing up Protestantism in the Catholic cantons of St. Gall, 
 Appenzell and Thurgau, northeast of Zurich, and of Schaff- 
 hausen to the north. His letters reveal his activity there. 
 At the end of 1529 he went to Frauenfeld, the capital of 
 Thurgau, and organized the Reformed congregations into 
 a synod, composed of about five hundred ministers from 
 the Rhine valley. The next year he again went there to 
 
26 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 synod meeting. The result of his influence and work was 
 that all those districts are now largely Potestant. 
 
 VI. His Death at Cappel. 
 
 The year 1531 was the last year of his life. It brought 
 with it the Second Cappel War. The First Cappel War 
 broke out in 1529, between the canton of Zurich and the 
 five mountain cantons south of her: Lucerne, Zug, Schwytz, 
 Uri and Unterwalden. These remained intensely Catholic 
 and opposed the Protestantism of Zurich. In this First 
 Cappel War, the two armies met for battle, but just as they 
 were about to fight, peace was made. This peace has come 
 down to us in history as the "milk-soup peace"; because 
 when it was made, the soldiers of the one side brought milk 
 and of the other side, bread. They threw the bread into the 
 soup and both ate out of the same dish, as the symbol of 
 peace. It was in connection with this war that Zwingli 
 wrote his most famous hymn, <: Guide, O Lord Thy Chariot 
 Now." 
 
 But the First Cappel War had settled nothing per- 
 manently. So the w T ar broke out again in 1531. The Protes- 
 tant cantons had decided to lay an embargo upon the five 
 Catholic cantons on wheat, and other necessary articles, 
 until these cantons would give up foreign pensions, etc. 
 Bern especially urged this procedure, and then left Zurich 
 in the lurch to suffer from it. Suddenly the five Catholic 
 cantons rose in war and marched on October 9, 1531, against 
 Zurich. Zurich hurriedly gathered her army together, but 
 she was greatly unprepared. Zwingli bade good-bye to his 
 wife and family and went out as chaplain with the army. 
 On October 11, 1531, the two armies met on the battlefield 
 of Cappel. The 8,000 Catholic troops soon defeated the 
 2,700 in the Zurich army, although the latter fought bravely. 
 Zwingli was knocked down while ministering to a soldier. 
 Lying under a pear tree he was dying of his wounds. The 
 Catholic troops came up and, finding him dying, asked him 
 if he wanted a priest. He shook his head, saying, "No." His 
 
ZWINGLI'S DEATH 27 
 
 last words were (and they ought to be classic to every 
 member of the Reformed faith) : "They may kill the body, 
 but they cannot kill the soul." When his identity was dis- 
 covered, they very quickly put him to death. His body was 
 quartered and burnt. So died Ulrich Zwingli, as the in- 
 scription over the door of his house in Zurich says "for 
 truth and for his faith." The defeat of Cappel was a terrible 
 blow to Zurich and to Protestantism. It would have been 
 its death-blow, but for the fact that Protestantism had be- 
 come so great a movement that the death of no one man 
 could check it. God fortunately raised up a man, in every 
 way fitted to be Zwingli's successor, in Henry Bullinger, of 
 whom we will speak later. 
 
 VII. Zwingli's Character and Doctrines. 
 
 So lived, so died the great founder of the Reformed 
 Churches. He was of all the Reformers the most modern 
 in his views, and as time rolls on, his life and character 
 are being better understood. He was by no means faultless. 
 He made mistakes, — many of them, — though some of them 
 were mistakes due to his age. There were none of the 
 Reformers who were faultless and who made no mistakes. 
 However, in spite of them, and rising above them, Zwingli 
 appears as a great character and a mighty force. He was 
 one of the four great pillars of the Reformation: Luther, 
 Melancthon and Calvin being the other three. His greatness 
 was many-sided. He was great as a thinker,* as a theologian, 
 as a poet, as a patriot, as a statesman, and as an orator, — 
 and all these were consecrated in the highest way to the 
 cause of the Reformation. His was a great missionary 
 spirit and he did not rest until most of German Switzerland 
 had become Protestant. 
 
 His doctrinal position may be now defined as a "liberal 
 Calvinism." 
 
 1. He strongly held to the supremacy of Scripture. 
 
 2. He held to the doctrine of election, as did all the 
 
 * In nine years he published about eighty works. 
 
28 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Reformers, even Luther. They emphasized this doctrine, 
 because in their reaction against the Catholic doctrine of 
 justification by works, they held to justification by faith. 
 And as man's works could not save, then God alone could 
 save and he did it by electing them. But Zwingli was 
 broad and liberal in his Calvinism. He held that all 
 infants were saved, and also that there was a possibility of 
 salvation for some of the heathen, as Socrates and Seneca; 
 for his love for the classics had liberalized his theological 
 views. In holding this, he gave the death-blow to the 
 doctrine of baptismal regeneration. And while strict Cal- 
 vinists hold that Christ died for the elect, Zwingli held 
 that He died for all. 
 
 But he did not live long enough to fully co-ordinate 
 these doctrines into a system, for he died in middle life. 
 On the doctrine of justification by faith he agreed with 
 Luther, but his emphasis was different. He emphasized the 
 cause of justification, namely, the death of Christ, while 
 Luther emphasized the result, namely, justification. He 
 says in his Confession to Emperor Charles V, "For this is 
 the one sole mediator between God and men, the God and 
 man Christ Jesus." Luther's doctrine was based on Cala- 
 tians, Zwingli's on Hebrews (7:28 and 10:10). This em- 
 phasis of Zwingli's on the "Ransom of Christ" led him to 
 hold at first to the memorial view of the Lord's Supper, 
 though toward the end of his life he inclined toward the 
 higher Calvinistic view. 
 
 VIII. The Life of Leo Judo. 
 
 This sketch of the life of Zwingli would not be complete 
 without referring to his helper at Zurich, Leo Juda. It was 
 at the feet of Prof. Thomas Wyttenbach at Basle that 
 Zwingli and Leo Juda, born in southwestern Germany, 1482, 
 first met. With Zwingli he drank in the Evangelical teach- 
 ings of Wyttenbach, and in his life he somewhat followed 
 Zwingli, going first to Einsedeln and then to Zurich, ;is 
 pastor of St. Peter's Church. In the second Zurich disputa- 
 
LEO JUDA 29 
 
 tion in 1523, Juda appeared as Zwingli's helper and debated 
 against the mass. He also aided Zwingli in his corres- 
 pondence and his preaching, and, when Zwingli was away 
 from Zurich, acted as the head of the church. He was a 
 fine scholar, and greatly helped Zwingli in the publication 
 of the first German Bible after the Reformation. This was 
 published at Zurich in 1530, four years before Luther's 
 translation appeared. In it, Zwingli and Juda utilized 
 Luther's translation as far as he had gone, but added other 
 translations of their own, as of the Prophets. 
 
 When the Protestants were defeated at Cappel in 1531, 
 his life was in great danger, because of the reaction that 
 took place at Zurich against the Protestants. As he stood 
 next to Zwingli in the Church, he was held somewhat re- 
 sponsible for the defeat. A colonel came to town for the 
 express purpose of killing him, and was only prevented by 
 Juda's friends so crowding around the man that he could 
 not do it. The danger was so great that Leo Juda did not 
 dare go out of his house. One night some of the women 
 came and begged him to leave the house disguised as a 
 woman. But he refused, and, buckling on his armor, walked 
 through the main street to the house of a friend where 
 the Protestants protected him. He stayed there until the 
 storm was over. He was called to be Zwingli's successor, 
 but declined. When Bullinger was called to that position, 
 Juda w r as ever his right-hand man. 
 
 His greatest work for the Zurich Church was his pre- 
 paration of two catechisms, that the children might be 
 instructed in the faith, — a larger catechism in 1534, and a 
 shorter one in 1541. In the first of these the catechumen 
 asks the question and the minister gives the answer. But 
 this was reversed in all later Reformed catechisms. They 
 were widely introduced into other cantons, and even into 
 other lands, and other catechisms as Calvin's were based 
 on them. He died June 19, 1542, greatly honored. Time 
 fails to speak of Zwingli's other helpers at Zurich, as 
 Myconius, the schoolmaster, Pellican, the professor of 
 
30 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Hebrew, and also Christopher Froschouer, who published 
 Zwingli's works, and who published so many Bibles that he 
 was a whole Bible Society in himself. His missionary work 
 in the sale and spread of his Bibles was very remarkable. 
 We must also not forget to call attention to Bibliander, the 
 successor of Zwingli, and the learned professor of Hebrew 
 at Zurich, who urged missions to the Mohammedans and 
 Jews (1546 and 1553) in his works and who for a time 
 wanted to go as a missionary to the Mohammedans. 
 
 IX. The Name of Ecolampadius. 
 
 John Ecolampadius (or (Ecolampadius, as the Germans 
 have it) has never received his due at the hands of church 
 historians. Perhaps his great modesty had something to 
 do with it; but he was as great as he was modest. His 
 name was in the German "Hausschein," which he, after the 
 custom of his time, latinized into Ecolampadius. The 
 word means "the light of the house," and Ecolampadius was 
 a great light in God's House. Though in his modesty he 
 was often in his own eyes only a rush-light, yet he was 
 a "burning and shining light," as was John the Baptist. 
 
 X. His Birth and Conversion. 
 
 He was born at Weinsberg in southern Germany in 
 1482. He studied theology at the Universities of Heidel- 
 berg and Tubingen. As priest he came to Basle in 1515 
 just as the great scholar and humanist, Erasmus arrived; 
 and there he entered the select circle of the learned, led by 
 Erasmus. He was so fine a scholar in Hebrew that Eras- 
 mus utilized him a great deal to help him. Indeed, Erasmus 
 declared that he was the best Hebrew scholar of his day, 
 next to Reuchlin. Erasmus, though he bitterly attacked 
 the abuses of the Catholic church, yet never became a Pro- 
 testant. He was too timid. But what Erasmus did not do, 
 as we shall later see, Ecolampadius did, — he began the 
 Reformation. The old proverb was that "Erasmus laid the 
 egg of the Reformation, but Luther hatched it." As far as 
 Basle was concerned, Ecolampadius, and not Luther hatched 
 
ECOLAMPADIUS 31 
 
 it. When he first arrived at Basle he was not yet a Re- 
 former, though his great seriousness was fertile ground 
 for it. In 1516 he returned to his home, but in 1518 he is 
 again at Basle at the earnest request of Erasmus, so as to 
 aid him in the publication of the second edition of the 
 New Testament. Then for a short time he was pastor at 
 Augsburg in Germany. When Luther's theses were scat- 
 tered over Germany, he was greatly influenced by them. 
 Then to the surprise of his friends, he suddenly entered 
 the cloister near Augsburg in 1520. But he soon became 
 disgusted with the life of the monks and left the cloister, 
 saying, "I have put off the monk, and have found Christ." 
 Where to go, he knew not. He was then called in 1522 as 
 pastor at Ebernberg, by Count Francis of Sickingen, 
 who inclined to the Reformation. But when that prince 
 lost his principality, Ecolampadius had to leave. 
 
 XI. The Beginnings of the Reformation at Basle. 
 
 At the end of 1522 he is again at Basle, where he be- 
 came vicar of St. Martin's Church. But now, instead of 
 Erasmus having the greatest influence over him, it is 
 Zwingli, whose reformatory movements at Zurich had by 
 this time attracted attention. His learning soon led to 
 his becoming a lecturer in the university, in which he began 
 to reveal his Evangelical leanings. In 1525 he was advanced 
 so as to be head-priest at St. Martin's Church at Basle, 
 which gave him great influence and greater freedom to 
 preach the Gospel. There came a reaction against Pro- 
 testantism in 1525, so that even some of his friends urged 
 him to leave. But he kept on quietly but firmly introducing 
 the Reformation; and in November, 1525, he introduced the 
 Protestant Lord's Supper in his own church. 
 
 XII. The Conference at Baden. 
 
 It was the disputation at Baden, May 2, 1526, that 
 brought Ecolampadius' ability into prominence. To that 
 disputation the Catholics had brought the most eloquent 
 opponent of the Reformation, Eck. He claimed to have al- 
 
32 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 ready crushed Martin Luther at the Leipsic Disputation, 
 and he expected to crush Protestantism at this. The cause 
 of Protestantism was in great peril unless some strong 
 leader should arise. Zwingli was the one who could have 
 led. But this Conference at Baden was intended to inveigle 
 him there so that the Catholics might imprison, and perhaps 
 kill him, and so the Zurich Council forbade his going. For- 
 tunately for the Protestants, Ecolampadius was there and 
 proved to be the man of the hour. He debated with Eck with 
 great power, on the mass, on prayers to Mary and the saints, 
 and on images. He produced a profound impression even on 
 the Catholics. He matched Eck in argument so that some of 
 Eck's friends declared that "Ecolampadius is not vanquished 
 by argument, but by vociferations," and some of the Catho- 
 lics declared: "If only this pale man were on our side." 
 His host, who was a Catholic, declared that if he was a 
 heretic, he was a very pious one, for he said that Ecolam- 
 padius was always engaged in study and in prayer. 
 
 XIII. Progress of the Reformation at Basle. 
 
 After the Conference at Baden, Ecolampadius went 
 back to Basle to continue his work of reforming that city. 
 He published a Protestant form of worship, and, unlike 
 Zwingli at Zurich, introduced congregational singing. But 
 the progress was slow, because the city council always 
 tried to mediate between Catholics and Protestants. When 
 a new bishop of Basle was elected in 1527 and entered the 
 city in great pomp, Ecolampadius wrote to Zwingli "Our 
 cause hangs on a thread." In 152S he attended the Con- 
 ference of Bern. The fact that the canton of Bern had 
 decided to become Reformed greatly affected Basle, but still 
 the city council tried to conciliate. However, certain events 
 brought matters to a crisis. On Good Friday, 152S, some 
 Protestant zealots, without the knowledge of Ecolampadius, 
 went to his Church of St. Martin's, and took away all the 
 images from the altar. On Easter Monday, they did the 
 same in the Church of the August ines. The city council 
 put five of them in prison, but soon released them. 
 
THE REFORMATION AT BASLE 33 
 
 The controversy, however, continued. The priests in the 
 cathedral inveighed against the Reformers as heretics and 
 knaves; and the Protestant pastors in the other churches 
 preached against the superstitions in the cathedral. Burgo- 
 master Meyer led the Reformed, Burgomaster Meltinger led 
 the Catholics. On December 23, 1528, 300 of the citizens 
 met in the Carpenter Guild Hall and drew up a petition to 
 the council for Protestantism. As they took the petition 
 to the council the Catholics met them, and, brandishing 
 swords and lances, tried to bar their way. Nevertheless 
 the Reformed carried it to the council. Meltinger refused 
 to receive the petition, but Meyer received it and brought 
 it before the council. Still the council failed to act. But 
 then there came rumors throughout the city that Zurich 
 and Bern were about to send help to the Reformed, and 
 Austria, to the Catholics. The result was that both parties 
 armed, and Christmas night was spent by both parties 
 under arms. This strained condition continued until Feb- 
 ruary 8, 1529. By that time it became evident that the 
 Protestants were in control of the situation. Meltinger 
 fled across the Rhine, as did the other Catholic members 
 of the council. Then some of the Protestants in passing the 
 cathedral pulled out an image, which broke into pieces as 
 it fell on the payment. They then pulled out others. "I am 
 surprised," said Erasmus ironically, "that the saints per- 
 form no miracles to save themselves, for formerly they 
 worked great prodigies for much smaller offenses." The 
 Protestants continued this casting out of images in the 
 other churches. On Ash Wednesday of that year, a number 
 of images were burned, so that some wags said "The idols 
 are really keeping their Ash Wednesday to-day." Then the 
 city council gave orders that thereafter there should be no 
 masses said in Basle,- and that was the end of Catholicism 
 there. Ecolampadius, who for years had been faithfully 
 preaching the Gospel, was after this victory transferred to 
 the cathedral and made head of the church. During all 
 this time Zwingli, with true missionary zeal, encouraged 
 
34 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Ecolampadius by his correspondence and sympathy. 
 VIV. Ecolampadius' Last Days. 
 
 When the Marburg Conference met in 1529, he went 
 there with Zwingli. Zwingli was, however, the leader of 
 the Reformed in that Conference. When the catastrophe of 
 the Swiss Reformation occurred in 1531 and Zwingli was 
 killed on the battlefield of Cappel, Ecolampadius was greatly 
 grieved and worried. The Church at Zurich called him to 
 succeed Zwingli, but he declined. He soon after died, 
 November 29, 1531, after a brief illness. As the pastors 
 of the city gathered round his dying bed, he asked of one 
 who came in "What is the news?" "Nothing," was the reply. 
 "But I will tell you something new," was his answer. His 
 friends waited in astonishment and Ecolampadius continued 
 "In a short time I shall be with the Lord Jesus." He died 
 with the words "Lord Jesus help me." Yes, "there was light 
 at eventide" with him as his life went out. He had been 
 "a burning and shining light" for the Reformation. Intel- 
 lectually he stands in the front rank of the Reformers, and 
 is the twin-Reformer of Zwingli, as Melancthon was of 
 Luther. A man who could write a book which was so 
 powerful as to make a scholar like Melancthon change his 
 view about the Reformed in regard to doctrine of the Lord's 
 Supper is not a tyro; yet that is what Ecolampadius did in 
 his work entitled "The Dialogue." In learning he ranks 
 with Zwingli, for he was one of the most learned in the 
 Church Fathers. 
 XV. Vaclian and St. Gall. 
 
 While Zwingli was busy at Zurich, the light of the Re- 
 formation spread to other cantons and cities. Just as the 
 Alpine sun-rise, as seen from the Rigi mountain, so beauti- 
 fully lights one snow-capped peak after another; so the 
 cities of Switzerland were lit one after the other with the 
 light of the new day of the Reformation. The first to accept 
 it was St. Gall, 1527, followed by Bern, 1528, and Basle, 
 1529. The Reformer of St. Gall was Vadian; of Bern, Hal- 
 ler; and of Basle, Ecolampadius. 
 
VADIAN'S EARLY LIFE 35 
 
 Vadian was the great Layman of the Swiss Reforma- 
 tion. The conversion of St. Gall to Protestantism was one 
 of the most notable victories of the Reformation, for St. 
 Gall and Einsedeln were the two great centres of Catho- 
 licism in German Switzerland. In the seventh century, 
 Gallus, the British missionary who held a purer, simpler 
 worship than the Romish, had founded a monastery at St. 
 Gall. But by the sixteenth century this monastery had 
 become full of Catholic superstitions. That this great abbey 
 should become Protestant was one of the surprises of the 
 Reformation. Nowhere in the Reformation were the lines 
 more clearly drawn than at St. Gall between town and gown, 
 that is, between the citizens of the town and the robed 
 clergy of the abbey. And all this great victory was due to 
 the ability and influence of this Reformer of St. Gall, 
 Joachim Vadian, or Vadianus. Vadian's real name was 
 Von Watt, but according to the custom of his age, he latin- 
 ized his name into Vadianus. Like James Watt, who dis- 
 covered steam, and by that discovery made this a new 
 world; so Joachim Von Watt discovered Protestantism, and 
 by it made St. Gall a new city. 
 
 XVI. Vadian's Birth and Education. 
 
 He was born at St. Gall, December 28, 1484, the same 
 year as Zwingli. In 1502 he went to the university of 
 Vienna, where he remained sixteen years, first as a student 
 and then as professor. While at the university two things 
 prepared him to be a Reformer. The first was his accept- 
 ance of humanism; the second was his meeting with 
 Zwingli, who was his fellow-student there. As they were 
 from the same district of Switzerland, they became very 
 close friends. Vadian revealed great ability, taking two 
 degrees at the university in four years. Later, in 1510, he 
 began lecturing in the university with great acceptance. 
 He also began writing poems and the Emperor of Germany 
 was so pleased with them that, in 1514, he made Vadian 
 Poet Laureate. Two years later, Vadian, though only 32 
 years of age, was elevated to be rector, or head of the 
 
3G FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 university of Vienna. That a small Swiss city should pro- 
 duce the rector of a great university at such a youthful age 
 made St. Gall very proud of him. And this helped him to 
 gain so great an influence there, that he was later able to 
 swing the city to Protestantism. 
 
 Vadian's natural love for the sciences led him to study 
 medicine, and in 1517 he took the degree of doctor of medi- 
 cine. In 1518 he left Vienna on account of the plague, 
 expecting to return; but when he came home to St. Gall, 
 the city honored him by appointing him city-physician, and 
 in 1520 made him a member of the city council. The rest 
 of his life was spent in his native city. And there was a 
 providence in it; for God brought him home to begin the 
 Reformation in his own city. 
 XVII. Preparations for the Reformation. 
 
 When he came back to St. Gall there was no sign of 
 the Reformation. The city was closely controlled by the 
 abbey and was full of papal superstitions. When Zwingli 
 began his work at Zurich, St. Gall soon heard of it, and 
 Vadian was the leader in the movement toward it. Thus 
 he gathered together those who were inclined to be Evan- 
 gelical and gave them lectures on the Acts of the Apostles. 
 He aimed by this to show them what the early church was 
 like. These lectures were never published, but are in the 
 city library of St. Gall. He also tried to get Evangelical 
 ministers and schoolmasters for his city. Zwingli with 
 his missionary spirit encouraged Vadian and this Evangeli- 
 cal movement at St. Gall with all his power. In 1523 Vadian 
 showed his sympathy for the Reformers by going to the 
 second great disputation at Zurich, where he was made one 
 of the presidents of the Conference. 
 
 But still St. Gall had not been shaken by the Reforma- 
 tion. How was it possible that a city, chained so close to 
 Rome by the abbey, should become Reformed. The Pro- 
 testant movement began in 1524. A young man who had 
 been born in St. Gall, named John Kessler, had gone away 
 to Basle to study for the priesthood. There he met Erasmus 
 
THE REFORMATION IN ST. GALE 37 
 
 and became a humanist. And there he also heard Ecolam- 
 padius and became a Protestant. He came back to St. Gall, 
 but as he had lost faith in the priesthood, he started as a 
 saddler's apprentice. A number of men, inclined to the 
 Evangelical doctrines, came to him and asked him, though 
 only a layman, to give them expositions of the Bible. And 
 soon hearers streamed to him from all parts of the town. 
 The rulers of the abbey, alarmed, brought complaint against 
 him to the Swiss Diet. (They played on his name, calling 
 him "Kettlemender.") The Diet warned St. Gall that a lay- 
 man had no right to preach. He was, therefore, called be- 
 fore the council of St. Gall, which ordered him to give up 
 his Bible lectures. But lo, it did something better. It 
 ordered three preaching services each week in the Churches. 
 And though Kessler gave up his Bible lectures, they were 
 continued by a converted monk of the abbey, named 
 Schorant, and the attendance became so great that his fol- 
 lowers asked that St. Mangen's Church should be opened 
 to them. As the abbot had its* doors locked, Schorant 
 mounted the wall of the churchyard and preached to them. 
 But it was still winter, and too cold for open-air services. 
 So, finally, on Sunday, February 2, 1525, the city council 
 opened the St. Lawrence Church, the leading church of the 
 city, and there Kessler preached. 
 XVIII. Introduction of the Reformation into St. Gall. 
 
 In 1526 Vadian was made burgomaster of the city, and 
 was re-elected to that office eight times, continuing in it 
 until his death. On Easter, 1527, the first Protestant Lord's 
 Supper was celebrated in the St. Lawrence Church. This 
 signified that the city had become Reformed. At the be- 
 ginning of 1528 Vadian attended the great Conference at 
 Bern, and was one of its presidents. Soon after that, the 
 Protestants carried the city council at St. Gall, and so 
 gained entire control of the city. In 1528 St. Gall made a 
 league with the Protestant cantons of Zurich and Bern, 
 thus declaring her full allegiance to Protestantism. At this 
 the abbot of the monastery became alarmed and fled from 
 
38 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 the city, and Zurich closed it as a Catholic institution. 
 On March 2, 1529, Zili, a Protestant schoolmaster, held the 
 first Protestant service in the abbey, at which 4,000 persons 
 were present and Protestant services were held in the abbey 
 for four years. Vadian was also busy doing missionary 
 work for Protestantism in the neighboring canton of Appen- 
 zell, so that in 1530 a synod was organized at which Zwingli 
 was present. 
 
 But the fateful year 1531 brought defeat to the Prot- 
 estants, as Zwingli was killed at the Battle of Cappel. 
 Vadian, when he heard of it, fell into a fever because of 
 anxiety, saying, "Oh, poor congregation of St. Gall." And 
 well he might be deeply anxious, for the act of Zurich In 
 taking the abbey at St. Gall, and allowing Protestant ser- 
 vices there, had greatly angered the Catholics. Vadian 
 could now expect reprisals, and they came. The two abbeys 
 of Einsedeln and St. Gall were given back to the Catholics, 
 and have been in their hands ever since. The city of St. Gall 
 was ordered to pay 1,000 florins for the injury clone to the 
 abbey, of which Zurich was to pay 400. 
 
 XIX. Vadian's Later Years and Character. 
 
 Thus peace came, but the friction between the Catholic 
 abbey and the Protestant town continued. In 1531 the 
 Catholics scattered pamphlets throughout the town against 
 the Protestants. In reply the city council forbade the 
 citizens to attend the services of the abbey. In 1542 Kessler, 
 who had started the Reformation at St. Gall, was called 
 back to St. Gall as pastor, and later, in 1571, he became 
 the head minister or antistes of the Church. He died in 
 1578. Before he died Vadian had passed away, April G, 
 1551. 
 
 Such was the man of whom Zwingli said: "I know 
 no Swiss that equals him." Both Calvin and Beza recog- 
 nized him as a man of real piety and equally real learning. 
 He was a many-sided man. He was a professor and poet 
 in his youth, and a physician in his later life. He also 
 wrote history, but he excelled in geography. He was 
 
VADIAN'S DEATH 39 
 
 one of the leading geographers of his time. But, greatest 
 and best of all, he was an earnest Christian. He stands out 
 as the great Layman of the Swiss Reformation. The other 
 Reformers were ministers, or, if they were at first laymen, 
 they became preachers. Not so Vadian; he was a Reformer 
 and yet a layman. His prominence is shown by his appoint- 
 ment to be president at the religious Conferences at Zurich 
 in 1523 and at Bern in 1528. And when the two great 
 leaders of the Swiss Reformation, Zwingli and Ecolampa- 
 dius, were cut off by death within about a month of each 
 other, Vadian was then looked up to by the Protestants of 
 Switzerland as their leader. In the negotiations after the 
 sad defeat at Cappel in 1531, Vadian guided the Protestants. 
 The Reformed Church has always emphasized the work 
 of laymen, and given them an equal seat with the ministers 
 in the church courts. What great laymen the Reformed 
 Church had in the Reformation, as Admiral Coligny in 
 France, William of Orange in Holland, Elector Frederick 
 III in Germany, and others. What kind of laymen and 
 church members does the Reformed Church have now? Are 
 they worthy of those who have gone before, or are they 
 only "degenerate sons of noble sires?" What an inspiration 
 a man like Vadian should be to our church members, so 
 true, so pure and so active in God's cause. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 How was Zwingli a missionary? 
 
 Describe the Conference at Baden. 
 
 Describe the Conference at Bern. 
 
 What did Zwingli send to the Emperor at Augsburg? 
 
 How was Zwingli active in politics and missionary 
 work? 
 
 Describe the First Cappel War, and what did Zwingli 
 write in connection with it? 
 
40 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 What led to the Second Cappel War? 
 
 Describe the defeat at Cappel and Zwingli's death. 
 
 What was the effect of the defeat at Cappel? 
 
 Describe Zwingli's character and theology. 
 
 What was Leo Juda's early association with Zwingli? 
 
 How did Juda help Zwingli at Zurich? 
 
 Describe his later life. 
 
 Who was Ecolampadius, and what did his name mean? 
 
 Describe his birth and conversion. 
 
 What were his relations to Erasmus? 
 
 Describe his early ministry at Basle. 
 
 What part did he take in the Conference at Baden? 
 
 How did the Reformation ultimately triumph at Basle? 
 
 Describe his last years. 
 
 What was the significance of his character to us? 
 
 How did the Reformation spread through Switzerland? 
 
 Why was St. Gall so difficult to make Protestant? 
 
 Where was Vadian educated? 
 
 What led him to become a Reformer? 
 
 What did he do at first to introduce the Reformation? 
 
 Who was the young man who first began preaching in 
 St. Gall, and what were its effects? 
 
 To what high position in the city was Vadian elected? 
 
 When was Protestantism officially introduced into St. 
 Gall? 
 
 What Protestant service was held at the Abbey? 
 
 What results did the defeat of Cappel have on St. Gall? 
 
 What was Vadian's character? 
 
 What does his life teach us? 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The Completion ok the Reformation in German 
 
 Switzerland by HakkKr and BueungEr and Its 
 Beginning in French Switzerland by Faree 
 
 I. Haller's Youth and Education. 
 
 Berthold Haller, the Reformer of Bern, is an illustra- 
 tion of the way in which a man of ordinary ability can be- 
 come great, because he remained steadfast in an hour of 
 crisis. He was born in southern Germany in 1492. He went 
 to school with Melancthon at Pforzheim, in Germany, where 
 they became close friends. He was called to Bern in 1513 
 as an assistant in the school of his former teacher, Rubellus. 
 By his industry and worth of character he made many 
 friends. Gradually the way to enter the priesthood opened 
 before him, for one of the guilds, the bakers, elected him 
 as their chaplain; and in 1517 he became apostolic notary, 
 also an ecclesiastical position. The movements towards 
 Protestantism had their forerunner in the influence of 
 Nicholas Manuel, one of the leaders of Bern, a poet, a 
 painter, a warrior and a statesman. But more important 
 for Haller was the coming to Bern of Thomas Wyttenbach, 
 Zwingli's teacher, who in 1515 became priest in the cathe- 
 dral at Bern. In the latter part of Wyttenbach's stay in 
 Bern, Haller lived with him. It is easy to see what an influ- 
 ence for the Reformation Wyttenbach would have on him. 
 Wyttenbach left Bern in 1520 to become a Reformer of his 
 birthplace, Biel, a town west of Bern, though he later re- 
 turned to Bern and died there. 
 
 II. Beginning of the Reformation at Bern. 
 
 In 1520 Haller was elected a canon at the cathedral. 
 
 41 
 
42 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 His eloquent preaching gained him influence. His sermons 
 revealed an Evangelical tendency. When he heard what 
 Zwingli was doing at Zurich he greatly rejoiced. In 1521 
 he visited Zwingli at Zurich, and began a friendship which 
 lasted Until the latter's death. But his preaching aroused 
 hatred, and the Catholics began to call him a heretic. He 
 preferred peace, but circumstances forced him on. In Feb- 
 ruary, 1522, two Fastnacht plays were given at Bern. 
 These boldly revealed the great corruption of the Church 
 and helped to hasten the Reformation. Haller began, like 
 Zwingli, to preach on the Gospel of Matthew, verse by 
 verse. In June, 1523, the city council ordered that only 
 the Gospel should be preached, and by November 20 of 
 that year the nuns left the convent. But in 1524 the priest 
 Meier, who sympathized with him, was compelled to leave 
 Bern. That left Haller the only Protestant among the 
 priests. His position was made more difficult by the fact 
 that on April 7, 1525, the council issued a new decree 
 restoring the Catholic worship, though with a few changes. 
 Haller was thus hindered and threatened on every side, yet 
 he remained firm. 
 
 In 1526 Haller attended the Conference at Baden. He 
 found everything arranged to prejudice the case against the 
 Evangelicals. With Ecolampadius he took part in the de- 
 bate, and attacked the doctrine of the mass as a sacrifice. 
 He had not the learning of Ecolampadius, but he made an 
 able defense from Scripture. When he returned to Bern 
 he found himself in a dilemma. The little council had 
 ordered him, under pain of dismissal, to again perform 
 the mass (which he had not done for half a year), because 
 this had been decreed by the Conference at Baden. The 
 matter was carried up to the great council. Here there was 
 a stormy session, so that the rumor went abroad that they 
 had come to blows. Haller begged them to be at peace, 
 and said he would rather leave the city than cause such 
 strife. But he was vindicated by being reappointed preacher 
 at the cathedral. 
 
THE BERN CONFERENCE 43 
 
 And now at last the Evangelical reform began really 
 to grow in Bern. Haller's preaching produced a profound 
 impression. The plague came in 1526 and solemnized the 
 people, and that helped the Protestant cause. His labors 
 became so great that he begged for an assistant, and finally 
 gained one in Francis Kolb. So there were now two Evan- 
 gelical preachers in the city of Bern. In 1527 the Reformed 
 party gained the control of the great council, and it ordered 
 that the Word of God should be preached. Still there was 
 a conflict about the mass, as some congregations still ob- 
 served it. Then came the controversy about the marriage 
 of priests and about monasteries. Haller wrote to Zwingll 
 at that critical time for- advice. Zwingli warned him not to 
 go too fast in setting aside the mass, until the hearts of the 
 people revealed a great desire for the Lord's Supper. So 
 it was finally decided that there should be a religious dis- 
 putation at Bern, January 6, 1528, to settle these questions. 
 
 III. The Conference at Bern. 
 
 This Conference was attended by a large number of 
 foreign delegates, who came from the other cantons and 
 even from southern Germany. More than 100 delegates left 
 Zurich for Bern, guarded by 300 armed men. All the lead- 
 ers of the Reformed were there; Bucer and Capito came 
 from Strassburg, Zwingli from Zurich, and Ecolampadius 
 from Basle. They came with the great missionary impulse 
 to convert the large canton of Bern to Protestantism. In 
 the discussion of the theses at the Conference, either Haller 
 or Kolb always began the debate on each thesis, but, as we 
 have before said, the commanding character at the Confer- 
 ence was Zwingli. 
 
 An interesting incident is told concerning Zwingli at 
 this Conference. On Sunday, January 19, Zwingli went 
 up into the pulpit and preached on the articles in the 
 Apostles' Creed on Christ's ascension, session, and second 
 coming. "These three articles," says Zwingli, "contradict 
 the mass." While he was thus preaching against the mass, 
 
44 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 a priest attempted to celebrate mass at one of the side 
 altars. But as he listened to Zwingli, he stopped in aston- 
 ishment at Zwingli's words. And suddenly, in the presence 
 of the whole congregation, he tore off his priest's robes, and, 
 throwing them on the altar, he exclaimed: "Unless the 
 mass rests on a more solid foundation, I can celebrate it 
 no longer." 
 
 This dramatic conversion of this priest produced a 
 most profound impression on the council and the city, and 
 undoubtedly helped the Reformed to gain the victory at the 
 Conference. The result of this Conference was that the 
 great council, on January 27, 1528, ordered that in the city 
 all masses should be stopped and all images cast out. On 
 February 7, 1528, it ordered the same for the whole canton. 
 Haller also received assistant ministers, who were Evan- 
 gelical, to help him. In April, 1528, the Protestant Lord's 
 Supper was first celebrated, and thus the great canton of 
 Bern became Reformed. But the influence of this Confer- 
 ence not only wheeled the large canton of Bern into the 
 Protestant column, but opened the way for the introduction 
 of the Protestant Gospel into the cantons of French Switzer- 
 land, as we shall see when we take up Farel's life. We 
 shall then see how Bern constantly worked to introduce 
 and protect Protestantism in French Switzerland. Haller 
 continued preaching the Gospel faithfully until his end 
 came on the 25th of February, 1536. He had been a faithful 
 witness for his Master, often standing alone for the Gospel 
 amid much opposition and danger. 
 
 IV. Henry Bullinger — His Birth and Education. 
 
 Henry Bullinger belongs to the second generation of 
 the Reformers. Those we have already described belonged 
 to the first generation. Bullinger came in to complete in 
 Zurich what Zwingli had begun. He was born July 18, 
 1504, at the little town of Bremgarten, west of Zurich. 
 His life was evidently preserved for great purposes, for 
 several times he was saved from death in his boyhood days. 
 
BULLINGER'S EARLY LIFE 45 
 
 At the age of twelve he went abroad to study. We have 
 already spoken of humanism as one of the preparatory move- 
 ments to the Reformation. We must here note another, the 
 schools of the Brethren of the Common Life. The Brethren 
 of the Common Life was an Order in the Catholic Church 
 founded before the Reformation by spiritually-minded men, 
 who longed for better things than they found in the Catholic 
 Church of their day. They founded schools to prepare 
 priests and monks for a higher, better ministry. The most 
 famous of this Order was Thomas A'Kempis, whose "Imita- 
 tion of Christ" reveals the deep piety of the man, though 
 tinctured with monasticism. To one of the schools of the 
 Brethren of the Common Life at Emmerich, in Holland, 
 Bullinger went. There he received an excellent education. 
 Like Luther, he sang in the streets and at the doors of 
 private houses so as to gain money for his education. 
 
 After remaining there three years he went, in 1519, 
 to the university of Cologne. This university was intensely 
 Catholic, and bitterly opposed Protestantism, and yet in 
 1520 Luther's works were scattered abroad in Cologne, 
 although the university declared them heretical. Bullinger 
 felt the influence of this upheaval that was taking place 
 around him, and with greater earnestness than ever he 
 studied the early Fathers of the Church. He noted the 
 difference between them and the Catholic doctrines of his 
 time. Then he secretly read Luther's works, especially his 
 "Babylonish Captivity." It seemed to him that Luther came 
 nearer to the early Church Fathers than the Catholics of 
 his day, especially because the Fathers founded themselves 
 on the Bible rather than on the Church. So he secured a 
 New Testament and read it. The result of it was that he 
 gave up the previous plan of his life, which had been to 
 join one of the strictest Orders of the monks, the Car- 
 thusians. In fact, he found that the whole Romish system 
 was becoming distasteful to him. Then Melancthon's 
 "Commonplaces," a work on theology, fell into his hands. 
 This so impressed him that, in 1521 and 1522, he became a 
 
46 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 great student of the Bible, reading it day and night. Thus 
 he gradually passed out of the Catholic Church. In 1522 
 he returned home to Switzerland. 
 
 V. His Call to Zurich. 
 
 But what should be do? His education had been for 
 the monkhood, but now he must do something else. So he 
 went to teaching, and in 1523 was rector of the cloister 
 school at Cappel, and later, in 1528, became pastor at Cap- 
 pel. In 1529 he became pastor at Bremgarten, where he 
 was born. But in 1531, when Zurich was defeated at Cappel, 
 he was compelled by the Catholic army to flee from Brem- 
 garten, and found refuge in Zurich. He found everything 
 there in confusion. The Catholic party was trying to 
 manoeuvre things so as to bring Zurich back to Catholicism. 
 The Protestants had no leader, for the reaction against 
 Zwingli had compelled Leo Juda to hide himself. Things 
 looked dark for the Protestants. While Zurich was waiting 
 for the answer of Ecolampadius to become the head min- 
 ister, Bullinger was invited to preach in the cathedral. He 
 preached with such power that many thought him Zwingli 
 risen from the dead. His youth made him unmindful of 
 his danger. A contemporary said: "Only young Bullinger 
 thunders." He was the kind of man that Zurich was look- 
 ing for as antistes, or head minister; and when Ecolampa- 
 dius declined that position, Bullinger was elected, though 
 only 27 years of age. He proved to be the man of the hour. 
 It was a great honor, but also a great responsibility for so 
 young a man to be called to so prominent a place. 
 
 VI. His Activity as Antistes. 
 
 Fortunately he was a man of great courage, common 
 sense, prudence and eloquence, so that he splendidly filled 
 Zwingli's place. By his wisdom he destroyed the hopes of 
 the Catholics for a reaction at Zurich, and by his firmness 
 he rallied the Reformed. He soon became known all over 
 Europe as the worthy successor of Zwingli. He was a man 
 of great kindness of heart, and when the family of Zwingli 
 
BULLINGER'S ACTIVITY 47 
 
 was left in poverty by Zwingli's sudden death, he took them 
 under his roof and raised the children as his own. He 
 was also accustomed to take promising young men into his 
 family in order to study for the ministry, and an interesting 
 romance grew out of it. One of these young men was 
 Rudolph Gualther, who fell in love with Zwingli's daughter, 
 Regula, and later married her. Later Gualther became the 
 successor of Zwingli and Bullinger as the antistes of the 
 Church at Zurich. Bullinger proved himself a very wise 
 administrator of the Church. He was also an eloquent 
 preacher and a faithful pastor. He exerted a great influence 
 on the city government, as he had the courage of his con- 
 victions. He was very watchful against the Catholics, pre- 
 venting them from doing any work in Zurich that would 
 undermine the Protestants. 
 
 VII. The Tigurine Confession. 
 
 He was also influential outside of Zurich. The Prot- 
 estant cantons looked on him as their mediator. He was 
 especially successful in welding the Reformed of French, 
 or southern Switzerland, with those of German, or northern 
 Switzerland. This was done in 1549, when Calvin and 
 Bullinger drew up a creed called the Tigurine Confession, * 
 in which they agreed on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. 
 In doing so Bullinger accepted Zwingli's later view, that 
 there was a spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord's Sup- 
 per. This view is familiarly called the Calvinistic, and 
 holds that the Lord's Supper has not merely a past reference 
 as in the memorial view, but brings a present spiritual 
 blessing to those who have faith. Bullinger also drew up 
 the Second Helvetic Confession, the most widely adopted of 
 the Reformed confessions. He at first drew it up as his 
 own personal creed, but when it was published it was 
 adopted by all the Protestant cantons of Switzerland as 
 their creed, and was afterward adopted by other Reformed 
 churches, as Hungary, Bohemia, etc. 
 
 * Tigurine is derived from the word Zurich. 
 
48 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 VIII. His Missionary Spirit. 
 
 He felt a deep interest in the spread of the Gospel every- 
 where. Thus he was deeply interested in the conversion 
 of Italy. The Reformation had gained adherents in north- 
 ern Italy, at Locarno, and he had aided them with his 
 counsel and influence. A congregation of two hundred was 
 organized by Beccaria. But Beccaria was driven away, and 
 then the Protestants, in 1555, were summoned before the 
 city council and ordered to become Catholics or leave the 
 town in midwinter. They refused to recant, and were 
 driven out at a season when all access to the Protestants 
 on the northern side of the Alps was impossible. They 
 fled to a neighboring valley belonging to the Swiss canton 
 of the Grisons. But, as they were unsafe there, they, in the 
 spring, before the Swiss passes were open, fled, men, women 
 and children, over the snows of the St. Bernardino pass. 
 They came to Coire, and then to Zurich, where Bullinger 
 and the citizens, who had before fostered them, gave them 
 a cordial welcome, and many of them settled there. Some 
 of the most prominent families of Zurich to-day are de- 
 scended from them. The fact is that the present promi- 
 nence of Zurich as the largest of the Swiss cities is due to 
 the silk industry which these Italian refugees brought with 
 them there. 
 
 Bullinger was also deeply interested in the conversion 
 of England to Protestantism. Many were his letters to the 
 Evangelicals there, giving them encouragement and guid- 
 ance. He watched every move there with the deepest solici- 
 tude. When the Protestants were driven out, he welcomed 
 them to Zurich. One of the first to come was Hooper, 
 later a bishop of the Anglican Church and founder of the 
 low-church party in that Church. When Queen Mary came 
 to the throne of England, and Hooper was imprisoned and 
 put to death, Bullinger's letters to him in prison greatly 
 strengthened him. Hooper, in dying, gave his glove to 
 Bullinger, as a token of affection, and it was long pre- 
 served in the Bullinger family as a sacred relic. Many of 
 
BULLINGER AND FAREL 49 
 
 the British ministers who fled from the Marian persecution 
 came to Zurich. Bullinger gladly received them, and even 
 opened a theological school for their young students. In 
 1558, after Queen Mary's death, they went back to England 
 to re-found the Anglican Church, in which five of them 
 became bishops. All this gave Bullinger great influence in 
 that Church. Thus in many parishes the clergy were 
 required to read his sermons, and his work, "The Ten 
 Decades," was used in Oxford university as the guide in 
 theology. As a sign of their gratefulness for his kindness, 
 three of these bishops each presented silver cups to the 
 Church of Zurich, and a finely embellished cup was sent by 
 Queen Elizabeth in 1560 to Bullinger.* Bullinger also had 
 an interesting correspondence with Lady Jane Grey, whose 
 three Latin letters to him are among the gems in the 
 Zwingli Museum at Zurich. 
 
 Bullinger reveals his missionary zeal in his corre- 
 spondence. It, like that of Calvin's, became very great. 
 Many, for instance, were the letters he wrote to the canton 
 of the Grisons so as to make it Protestant. He was also 
 deeply interested in the evangelization of Poland, and wrote 
 many letters there. He thus exerted a wide influence all 
 over Europe. His work was so large that finally, in 1575, 
 his health gave way. On August 26 he bade good-bye to 
 the ministers of Zurich, and on Saturday evening, Septem- 
 ber 17, 1575, he passed to his reward, after almost a half 
 century of leadership in the Zurich Church and indeed of 
 all the Reformed Churches. His death was greatly mourned 
 all over Europe. 
 
 IX. William Farel. 
 
 William Farel was the picturesque character among 
 the Reformers, for he was the great evangelist of the Ref- 
 ormation—the Elijah of the Alps— the John the Baptist, 
 preparing the way of Jesus in many hearts. He was a 
 mighty preacher with a tremendous voice — the Whitefield 
 
 * These are in the National Museum in Zurich. 
 
50 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 of the Reformation. He excelled all the Reformers in 
 daring courage, for it is said "he feared no man, only God." 
 And he might also be called the great foreign missionary 
 of the Reformation, because he went into territory that had 
 never heard the Evangelical Gospel and evangelized it. The 
 other Reformers were most of them mainly home mission- 
 aries, building up the church in their own cities or districts, 
 as Zwingli in Zurich and Bucer in Strassburg. Calvin, too, 
 was rather a home missionary, for he aimed to build up 
 the church in Geneva. But Farel was a foreign missionary. 
 To-day we call those whom we send to Catholic lands, as 
 Latin America, foreign missionaries. If they are foreign 
 missionaries, so was Farel, who, like them, evangelized in 
 Catholic lands that knew not the Gospel. Everywhere that 
 Farel went he preached and talked Christ to the people 
 with true missionary zeal. 
 
 X. Farel's Youth and Conversion. 
 
 Farel was a Frenchman by birth, having been born 
 (1489) at Gap, in the French Alps. As a boy he was fond of 
 adventure. Into whatever he went, he went with his whole 
 heart. So in his youth he was an intensely bigoted and 
 superstitious papist; and when he later became a Protestant 
 he put the same whole-heartedness into his work. As a 
 youth he wanted to study, and so went to Paris. Fortunately 
 for him, there was in the university at that time a pro- 
 fessor who was to him what Wyttenbach had been to 
 Zwingli, — Prof. James Lefevre, who, as we have seen, before 
 either Luther or Zwingli, taught the doctrine of justification 
 by faith, in his lectures. Under his teachings the eyes of 
 this "rigid papist," Farel, were opened to the truth. There 
 were at that time in Paris and the neighborhood a circle 
 of pious spirits who were drawn together by their Evan- 
 gelical views. They were protected by Margaret, the king's 
 sister, who belonged to them. Farel joined himself to them, 
 but he was too outspoken for them. They, though Evan- 
 gelical, wanted to remain in the Catholic Church. But 
 
FAREL AT MONTBELIARD 51 
 
 Farel never stopped half-way in anything. The result was 
 that he was compelled to leave France. 
 
 XI. Farel in Exile. 
 
 He fled to Basle; but what could he do there? He was 
 bursting to tell the Gospel, but could not, as they spoke 
 German and he spoke French. Finally God found a place 
 for him in the District of Montbeliard, west of Basle. 
 This was then under the control of the Duke of Wurtem- 
 berg of Germany, and was then opening to the Gospel. 
 Ecolampadius ordained him at Basle in July, 1524, and sent 
 him to Montbeliard to labor. His preaching soon caused 
 a sensation, for there was always a sensation when Farel 
 was about. Many heard and believed. As he was walking 
 on the banks of the little river that flows through the town 
 of Montbeliard on a Catholic festival day, he met a Catholic 
 procession crossing the bridge over the river. They were 
 reciting prayers, and were led by two priests bearing the 
 image of the saint. His blood boiled at the sight of such 
 idolatry. Unable to restrain himself, he boldly advanced, 
 and, grasping the image from the hands of the priests, he 
 threw it over the bridge into the river. Then he turned 
 to the surprised crowd and said, "Poor idolaters, will you 
 never cease from your idolatries?" It would have gone 
 hard with Farel, for he would have been mobbed by the 
 procession, had not an incident saved him. The priests, 
 surprised and horror-stricken, for the moment lost their 
 presence of mind. Then some one cried out, "The image 
 is drowning," as if an image of wood could sink and be 
 drowned. This diverted the attention of the crowd from 
 Farel to the image. They rushed to save the saint in the 
 water, and in the excitement Farel escaped. But he had 
 done a most daring thing; and yet we will find that he was 
 constantly doing such things. The duke, however, was com- 
 pelled to leave Montbeliard, and so Farel had to leave. He 
 went back to Basle, then to Strassburg, where for fifteen 
 months he preached to French exiles. He was waiting for 
 
52 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 an opportunity to preach the Gospel to Frenchmen, and 
 finally the opportunity came. 
 
 XII. Farel at Aigle. 
 
 His field was to be French Switzerland, and there, in 
 his own French language, he could preach his Gospel. Bern 
 had been capturing the French districts north of Lake 
 Geneva. At the southeastern end of this district, in the 
 valley of the Rhone, was the town of Aigle. At the sug- 
 gestion of Haller, the Reformer at Bern, Farel went there 
 in December, 1526, but disguised as a schoolmaster, under 
 the name of Ursinus. He gathered the children and taught 
 them, and he also taught them the Bible and Christ. Then 
 he went further and began teaching the parents against 
 Romish errors, as purgatory and intercession of the saints. 
 When he had gained their respect, he announced himself 
 as William Farel, and showed his appointment by the gov- 
 ernment of Bern to be their preacher. It happened there 
 was a priest there who was afraid to attack Farel because 
 of his great eloquence. So he went to a neighboring village, 
 and from the pulpit denounced Farel, declaring that the 
 devil preached through Farel. He then went back to Aigle, 
 and on his way met Farel, who had heard what the priest 
 had said. "Did you preach against me?" asked Farel, "and 
 say that the devil spoke through me?" You must make 
 good your statement, for I am ready to stake my life in 
 defense of my doctrines." The monk began to bluster and 
 denounce Farel, and a crowd began to gather. Farel still 
 demanded proof from him, and took advantage of the crowd 
 to give them some of the Gospel. The friar, pale and 
 flushed by turns, took off his cap and, tramping it under 
 foot, said: "I wonder the earth does not open and swallow 
 you up." One of the bystanders took the monk by the 
 sleeve and said: "Listen to him as he has listened to you." 
 The monk, half-dead with fright, said to the man who held 
 his sleeve: "Thou art excommunicated." At this the town 
 was in an uproar. The result was that Farel, being backed 
 
FAREL AT NEUCHATEL -53 
 
 by the government at Bern, compelled the monk to publicly 
 apologize. For the Bern authorities always tried to spread 
 Protestantism. 
 
 XIII. Farel in Neuchatel. 
 
 Farel now turned to a larger field than Aigle. Pro- 
 tected by Bern, he went to evangelize in the large district of 
 Vaud, south of Bern. He preached at Morat, and gained 
 some disciples, and at Lausanne, but was driven out. On 
 a December day, 1529, a frail boat was seen to cross the 
 lake of Neuchatel to its western coast. In it was Farel, 
 who wanted to preach the Gospel in this entirely Romish 
 district of Neuchatel. Not Caesar when he crossed the 
 Rubicon, with the empire of Rome on his shoulders, carried 
 a greater responsibility than did Farel; for the salvation 
 of the whole of French Switzerland was resting upon him. 
 No foreign missionary now traveling on a steamer over the 
 ocean was more really a missionary than he in this boat. 
 
 He landed at the village of Serrieres, about three miles 
 south of the town of Neuchatel. He knew that the priest 
 there was favorable to the Gospel, and he asked if he could 
 preach in his church. The priest replied that the bishop 
 had forbidden Farel's preaching in any of the churches. 
 But he added that "the bishop had laid no injunction against 
 preaching on the rocks and in the open air." So Farel, 
 taking the hint, mounted a gravestone beside the door of 
 the church and preached the first Protestant sermon in that 
 district. That stone became the cornerstone of the Re- 
 formed Church of the canton of Neuchatel, all of whose 
 inhabitants are now Protestants. 
 
 But the people in the town of Neuchatel, having heard 
 that Farel was near, sent for him to come to their city. 
 So at a fountain at the foot of the citadel hill he preached 
 his first sermon. At first there was some disorder. "Throw 
 him into the fountain," "Beat out his brains," were cries 
 that were heard. But Farel was a preacher who feared 
 neither drowning nor beating. So he continued preaching 
 
54' FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 to ever-increasing audiences. Then he went back across 
 the lake to the eastern shore to fill the whole district with 
 his doctrines. The priests there became so alarmed at 
 his presence that a humorous scene took place. In one 
 of the towns, while the priest was at the high altar of 
 the church saying mass, Farel entered unobserved. He went 
 up into the pulpit and began to preach. The priest, when 
 he heard Farel's voice and recognized him, was so frightened 
 that he did not finish chanting the mass, but ran out of 
 the church. Then Farel preached to the congregation, and 
 they tore out the images and the altars, and made the 
 church Protestant. By the middle of the year 1530 Farel 
 returned to the town of Neuchatel, and the number of 
 Protestants greatly increased. Matters came to a climax 
 on Sunday, October 23. As Farel was preaching in one of 
 the down-town churches, his congregation took him and 
 climbed the steep street up the hill to the castle and to the 
 cathedral. The canons and priests tried to stop them, but 
 in vain. They forced their way through the crowd and 
 entered the cathedral. They placed Farel in the pulpit, and 
 he preached one of his most effective sermons. When he 
 was through, they knocked down the images, crucifixes and 
 altars; and the traveler who visits Neuchatel to-day will 
 see in the cathedral an inscription, in large letters: "On 
 October 23, 1530, idolatry was overthrown in this church 
 by the citizens." 
 
 XIV. Farel at Vallengin. 
 
 Just before the last event, Farel went, in company with 
 a young Protestant named Anthony Boyve, to the town of 
 Vallengin, a few miles west of Neuchatel. The priest was 
 about to chant the mass, when Farel entered the pulpit and 
 began preaching. While he was preaching, the priest and 
 his choir were chanting the mass. Suddenly Boyve, seeing 
 that the mass was beginning to be preferred to the sermon, 
 rushed up to the priest, and, snatching the host from his 
 hands, cried out. "This is not the God you should worship. 
 
FAREL AT GENEVA 55 
 
 He is above, in heaven." The audience was awed by this, 
 and Farel took advantage of the silence to preach. But 
 the priests and their party rushed to the tower and rang 
 the alarm bell. This caused the whole town to gather. 
 Farel and Boyve would have been killed had they not 
 retired. And as they were trying to go back to Neuchatel 
 they were attacked with stones and clubs, and dragged, half 
 dead, to the castle at Vallengin. "Drown them," said its 
 owner, the countess; "throw them into the river, these Luth- 
 eran dogs, who have despised the host." Never was Farel 
 nearer to death. But just then several persons arrived from 
 Neuchatel and suggested caution, and so they were thrown 
 into prison. But they so beat Farel that the bloodstains 
 were on the walls there for six years. However, the Bern- 
 ese had him freed, though he had to rest for a month to 
 recover from his injuries. 
 
 XV. Farel at Geneva. 
 
 But Farel had his eyes on a greater conquest than 
 Neuchatel. He wanted the city of Geneva, the largest in 
 French Switzerland, to be won for Christ. He had been 
 down (1532) to Italy to win the Waldenses to the Reformed. 
 On his return he stopped at Geneva. Here he preached in 
 his hotel, and it created a great sensation. He and his com- 
 panion, Saunier, were brought before the city council, but 
 when they found that Farel was protected by Bern, they 
 ordered him out of town. Before he left, however, the 
 Catholics proposed that a disputation should be held. They 
 thus hoped to get Farel in their power and kill him. Farel, 
 at this disputation, attempted to defend the Gospel, but he 
 was spit upon and beaten. A gun was leveled at him and 
 the priming flashed, but the gun did not go off. Farel 
 turned and said, "Your toy does not alarm me. I am not 
 to be shaken by a popgun." Farel then got away from the 
 priests and managed to get out of town, by the aid of some 
 friends who rescued him from the mob. But, although he 
 left the city, a little band of believers remained, and one 
 
56 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 morning, just before sunrise, they met in a garden outside 
 of one of the city gates, to celebrate the first Protestant 
 Lord's Supper. They were in great danger, for if the 
 priests had found out what they were doing, they would 
 have been killed. But as the ceremony was taking place, 
 the sun rose over Mount Blanc, and they took it as the 
 sign from God of His blessing. 
 
 As it was too dangerous for Farel to go back to Geneva, 
 he sent there a school teacher named Froment, to begin 
 by teaching the Gospel as he had previously done at Aigle. 
 Froment soon gathered a school and taught Protestantism. 
 Finally his adherents led him to the Molard Square, where 
 he held the first public Protestant service, preaching from a 
 market stall. But an armed band of Catholics forced their 
 way to Froment and took him away, so that it was with 
 the greatest difficulty that he was saved. He, however, had 
 to leave Geneva, and his school was broken up. 
 
 All now seemed lost in Geneva. But about Christmas, 
 1533, there came to Geneva a deputation from Bern that 
 brought three preachers with it, Farel, Viret and Froment, 
 and insisted that they be heard. When Lent came, 1534, 
 the Bernese demanded that their preachers be heard publicly, 
 as there were rumors abroad that the Protestant preachers 
 kept in dark corners and dared not appear in the Churches. 
 So Farel was placed in the Franciscan pulpit, and preached 
 the first Protestant sermon preached in a Church there. 
 When Whitsunday came, a Protestant communion was held. 
 Farel administering it. As it was being held, it appeared 
 for a moment as if there would be a disturbance, for a 
 priest in full clerical dress walked in as if he would break 
 up the service. While all held their breath, he walked up 
 to the communion table, threw off his robes, and asked to 
 be received as a Protestant. After this, gradually one 
 church after another was opened to the Protestants. 
 
 On August 8, 1535, as Farel was on his way to preach 
 in the Franciscan church, he was met by a strong body of 
 men, who took him to the main church, the cathedral of 
 
PAREL AND CALVIN 57 
 
 St. Peter, and from its pulpit he preached the old Prot- 
 estant Gospel. Then they threw the images out of all the 
 churches. Finally, on May 21, 1536, the citizens took the 
 oath to support the Reformation. 
 
 XVI. Farel arid Calvin. 
 
 Parel prayed to God to send him a helper', for the work 
 had grown too large for him. God always hears such 
 prayers. Two months after the Genevese had accepted 
 Protestantism, in July, 1536, a young man earned to Geneva, 
 named John Calvin, already famous because he had written 
 the best book on theology in the Reformation. Such a man 
 Farel had been praying for. And when he heard that 
 Calvin was in Geneva, he called at his hotel and urged 
 him to stay. The wonderful story of Farel's call to Calvin 
 will be given in the next chapter. The result of this con- 
 ference was that Calvin decided to remain, and he became 
 Farel's co-laborer. Gradually the younger became more 
 famous than the older, because he was a man of superlative 
 ability. Farel, however, was never jealous, but cordially 
 worked with him. In this he sets a good example to many 
 Christian workers to-day. Hand in hand these two Reform- 
 ers labored to make Geneva a model city. They succeeded 
 in getting very strict laws passed against gambling, swear- 
 ing, dancing, etc. But the laws proved to be too severe, 
 for there came a reaction against them. Finally a breach 
 occurred. Calvin and Farel refused to administer the Lord's 
 Supper by the use of unleavened bread and without proper 
 church discipline. The result was that they were both 
 ordered to leave the city within three days. They departed 
 and went to Basle, where they separated in their life-work. 
 Calvin went to Strassburg, and afterwards returned to 
 Geneva. Farel went to Neuchatel, whose church was still 
 greatly attached to him. 
 
 XVII. Farel's Last Years at Neuchatel. 
 
 Farel's life, after he became pastor at Neuchatel, was 
 comparatively tame, compared with his earlier life. He was 
 
58 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 getting older, though he still had the same courage. Prot- 
 estantism was also becoming better established, so that the 
 scenes through which he had once gone did not need to be 
 so often repeated. Yet the old missionary fire was in him. 
 Thus in 1542 he went to Metz, and was urged to preach on 
 the next Sabbath. A pulpit had been erected in the church- 
 yard of the Dominicans, and from it he preached to a large 
 audience. While he was preaching, two of the monks came 
 and ordered him to be silent. As he paid no attention to 
 them, they had the church bells rung. But Farel's wonder- 
 ful voice rose above the din. The next day he preached to 
 3,000 hearers. The town council, however, became alarmed 
 and stopped his services. Then he retired to the neighbor- 
 ing town of Gorze. When a monk was preaching on salva- 
 tion through Mary, Farel arose in the audience and ques- 
 tioned his statements. But the women in the church han- 
 dled him so severely that he nearly lost his life. On Easter 
 many came there from Metz, and he celebrated the Lord's 
 Supper with them. This greatly enraged the Catholics at 
 Metz, and as Farel was celebrating the Lord's Supper, sud- 
 denly armed troops fell on them. Some were killed. Farel 
 was wounded, but escaped. After a year's absence, he re- 
 turned to Neuchatel. When he heard that Calvin was sick 
 and would probably die, he went to Geneva with the 
 thought, "Oh, that I might die with him." With tears and 
 prayers, he bade Calvin a last farewell. But his restless 
 spirit would not down. Just before his death he went to 
 Metz to strengthen the Church. He preached with great 
 power, but the effort was too much for him. He sank on 
 his couch after the sermon, and was with great difficulty 
 taken back to Neuchatel. There he died a few weeks later, 
 September 13, 1565. 
 
 Thus died the great missionary of the Reformation. In 
 season and out of season he was laboring for souls. His 
 life should be an inspiration for missionary work. The 
 secret of his success was that he was a mighty man of 
 prayer. Often he would carry away his hearers in his 
 
FAREL'S CHARACTER 59 
 
 prayers. When his enemies came to attack him, he some- 
 times prayed them into silence. Placed on his coat of arms 
 was the motto, "What would I but that it were kindled." 
 He, under God's Spirit, kindled a fire that has never been 
 put out. O, that God would kindle by His Spirit such work- 
 ers in the Church as Farel! 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 When did Haller first come to Bern and what position 
 did he have? 
 
 Who there early influenced him toward Protestantism? 
 
 What did he do at the Conference at Baden? 
 
 What difficulties had he to overcome at Bern? 
 
 What was the effect of the Bern Conference? 
 
 What does Haller's life teach us? 
 
 Describe Bullinger's birth and boyhood. 
 
 Who were the "Brethren of the Common Life"? 
 
 How was he converted to Protestantism? 
 
 When he returned to Switzerland what did he do? 
 
 How did he come to be called as Zwingli's successor at 
 Zurich? 
 
 What were his various activities in the Church? 
 
 What was his kindness to Zwingli's family? 
 
 What was the Tigurine Confession? 
 
 What was his missionary interest in the Italian Re- 
 formation? 
 
 What was his missionary interest in the English Re- 
 formation? 
 
 Describe his death. 
 
 What was Farel's significance among the Reformers? 
 
 Where was he born? 
 
 How was he converted to Protestantism? 
 
 When exiled, where did he go? 
 
 Why was he unable at first to preach? 
 
60 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 What controversy had he with the Catholics at Mont- 
 beliard? 
 
 What controversy had he with the Catholics at Aigle? 
 
 Where did he preach at Serrieres? 
 
 How did he preach at Neuchatel, and what were its 
 results? 
 
 How did he preach at Vallengin, and what were its 
 results? 
 
 What was his first effort at Geneva? 
 
 What did Froment do in Molard Square? 
 
 What was his second effort at Geneva? 
 
 Who providentially came to Geneva to help him? 
 
 Why were Farel and Calvin compelled to leave Geneva? 
 
 Where did each go to? 
 
 Describe his preaching at Metz and vicinity. 
 
 Describe his last days. 
 
 What lesson does he teach us for missionary work? 
 
> i 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Th£ Lii^ and Work of John Calvin 
 
 I. Introduction. 
 
 John Calvin was the greatest genius of the Reformation. 
 The only ones to dispute this place with him are Luther 
 and Zwingli. Luther is the popular hero of the Reforma- 
 tion, especially among the Germans, and Luther's greatness 
 cannot be disputed. But it was mainly the greatness of in- 
 spiration — that is, he was able to inspire others. He was 
 also a genius in Bible translation. Zwingli, too, was a 
 scholar, but he died too early to produce his best, that is. 
 produce things in which to scholarship is added the matured 
 ripeness of later life. Melancthon, too, was a great scholar, 
 but his vacillations and his tendency to mediate detracted 
 from his greatness. But Calvin was the genius because: 
 
 1. He was the great theologian of the Reformation. 
 He sprang into fame at the early age of twenty-six, when 
 he published his "Institutes of Theology," which was the 
 greatest dogmatic work of the Reformation. 
 
 2. He was also the greatest exegete of the Reforma- 
 tion, — "the prince of commentators," as Spurgeon calls him. 
 His careful, ripe judgment, his spiritual insight, his acute 
 perception and his practical tact make his commentaries 
 valuable even to-day. 
 
 3. He was the greatest teacher of ethics (or morality) 
 in the Reformation. None of the early Lutherans compared 
 with him in this subject, and Calvin was here the greatest 
 among the Reformed. 
 
 4. And, finally, Calvin was the great Church organizer 
 of the Reformation. Compared with him, Luther did little 
 
 61 
 
62 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 to organize the Church; he left the princes do that. As 
 a result of this carelessness about organization, the Luth- 
 eran Church in this country has virtually had to reorganize 
 itself. Not so Calvin. He carefully laid the foundations 
 of the Presbyterian Church government of the Reformed. 
 It is strange that Calvin, who was so theoretic and logical, 
 should also excel in such practical matters as Church 
 organization. It reveals the universal character of his 
 mind, which is one of the characteristics of genius. The 
 great fault that has been found with Calvin has been his 
 lack of heart, his intellectuality. He has been charged with 
 being cold as an icicle. But that judgment is now being 
 revised. Since his letters have been published, they reveal 
 that, while Calvin was a man of very large head, he also 
 had a very large heart; and Calvin is growing in the estima- 
 tion of the world, as was shown in the recent 400th anni- 
 versary of his birth in 1909. Calvin would seem to be more 
 of a builder-up of Churches already founded than a mission- 
 ary, yet he had a true missionary spirit. 
 
 II. His Birth and Youth. 
 
 Calvin, it is to be remembered, belongs to the second 
 generation of the great Reformers. The first generation was 
 composed of Luther and Melancthon, Zwingli and Ecolampa- 
 dius; but the last two were dead before Calvin began his 
 work. He came to complete what they had begun. He was 
 a Frenchman by birth, having been born at Noyon, in north- 
 ern France, July 10, 1509. He was educated in the school 
 of his birthplace. His association there with the noble fam- 
 ily of Hangest, whose son Claude was his school-companion, 
 gave to Calvin an acquaintance with the manners of polite 
 society, which later distinguished him. In order to gain 
 help to educate his son, Calvin's father secured for him a 
 position in the Church. In those clays the Catholic Church 
 some times gave high positions even to boys. So John 
 Calvin was appointed chaplain in the cathedral of Noyon 
 at the age of twelve. Of course, he was not expected to 
 
CALVIN'S YOUTH 63 
 
 preach. Some one else was found to perform his service 
 at the altar. But he drew the salary. Six years later he 
 added to this position the curacy of Pont-1-Eveque, the 
 ancestral home of the Calvins. We see in all this how 
 venial the Catholic Church had become; surely a reforma- 
 tion of the Church was needed. But this fact in Calvin's 
 life reveals that he received the tonsure at the age of 
 twelve, for otherwise he could not have held this office. 
 And that was the only ordination, it seems absolutely cer- 
 tain, that Calvin ever had. 
 
 At the age of fourteen he was sent to Paris to study 
 for the priesthood. He entered the College de la Marche, 
 and there studied Latin under Cordier, from whom he 
 gained his fine Latin style. Then he entered the College 
 de Montaigu. He was an apt student and very religious, 
 so much so that he was a censor of vices among his school- 
 mates. The Reformers as yet had no influence on him, 
 for his teacher at this college was the great opponent of 
 Lefevre and his Evangelical views. Calvin was still a stiff 
 papist, especially as he had the priesthood in view. 
 
 But when he graduated, there came a change. His 
 father insisted that he should study law instead of theology. 
 So he was sent to the university of Orleans to study under 
 the leading lawyer of France, Prof, de P Estoile. Here he 
 studied with great diligence. The burning of the midnight 
 oil was his habit. By it he greatly enlarged his learning, 
 but also laid the foundations of the ill-health with which 
 he was later afflicted. While studying law he also empha- 
 sized the classics, and in studying them he came into con- 
 tact with a Protestant professor, Melchior Wolmar, a Ger- 
 man, who taught him Greek. 
 
 III. Calvin Becomes a Protestant. 
 
 Biographies of Calvin have heretofore held that Wol- 
 mar was the one who led him to become a Protestant. 
 But later biographers tend to place his conversion later. 
 The whole subject of Calvin's conversion is somewhat 
 
64 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 obscure. However, he always looked back with very grate- 
 ful recollections to Wolmar. Wolmar removed from Orleans 
 to Bourges, where Calvin also went to sit at the feet of a 
 famous lecturer on law named Alciati. Alciati so lectured 
 on law that it was not a mere matter of arbitrary detail, 
 but he made it concrete instead of abstract, by illustrating 
 it from history and literature. In the spring of 1531 oc- 
 curred an event that changed all of Calvin's plans, — the death 
 of his father. His father's death removed from him the pres- 
 sure to study law. He, however, completed the law course 
 and received his degree. And, though he no longer fol- 
 lowed the law, there is no doubt that his legal studies 
 greatly aided him afterward in his professorship and in the 
 preparation of his work on theology. Calvin is always a 
 logician, and he reveals his judicial balance of judgment 
 in his excellent interpretations of the Bible in his Com- 
 mentaries. 
 
 As soon as he had graduated from Bourges, he went to 
 Paris to study the classics. He there became enamored with 
 the new humanistic studies, and studied Greek and Hebrew. 
 He also published (1532) his first book, a commentary on 
 Seneca's "Treatise on Clemency," in which he reveals his 
 remarkable ability and precocity. Written in Latin, its style 
 has a peculiar clearness and brilliancy, and reveals the 
 lawyer's grasp in its lucid presentation of the cogent argu- 
 ment. In it he shows remarkable familiarity with classic 
 writings. It looked as if a new great leader of humanism 
 had arisen to become the successor of Erasmus and Reuch- 
 lin, who had been its leaders. But in the book there are, 
 as yet, no signs of Protestantism. 
 
 For providence had marked out for him a different 
 career, namely, that of a Reformer. The study of the con- 
 version of a great man is a very interesting one. We have 
 watched Luther's and Zwingli's conversions. What was 
 Calvin's? Was it of the heart or of the head? Here we come 
 upon a very difficult subject, — one that has caused much 
 discussion. One would expect that so intellectual a genius 
 
CALVIN'S CONVERSION 65 
 
 would have an intellectual conversion, and doubtless such 
 it was; and yet, according to his statement, it was a sud- 
 den one. The old view was that Wolmer led to his con- 
 version. It has been suggested by so good an authority as 
 Beza, who was Calvin's biographer and successor at Geneva, 
 that he was converted through his relative, Olivetan, who 
 urged him to study the Bible. Doubtless there was a truth 
 in all these — that Olivetan and Wolmer influenced him. But 
 his later biographers place his conversion about 1533. That 
 was the year in which the Reformation gained great promi- 
 nence at Paris, through the patronage of Margaret, the sister 
 of the King. A letter of Calvin's of that date reveals his 
 great interest in the religious discussions then going on. 
 He was then on intimate terms with Roussel, the Evan- 
 gelical preacher of the Catholics. In November, 1533, there 
 occurred an event which reveals that he had become a 
 Protestant; his friend, Nicholas Cop, the rector of the uni- 
 versity, delivered an address, using in it, it is said, the 
 words of Calvin. For this he was charged with Protestant- 
 ism, because he insisted on justifying faith. So Calvin's 
 conversion was not later than 1533. Calvin speaks of it in 
 one place as sudden, and in another as gradual. His two 
 statements may be harmonized in this way, that after care- 
 fully considering Protestantism for a time, he suddenly 
 surrendered himself to God. 
 
 IV. Calvin a Wanderer. 
 
 The address of Cop led to Calvin's threatened arrest, 
 which he avoided by flight. Like Paul, he was let down 
 from a window and escaped, carrying a hoe on his shoulder 
 so as to complete his disguise. Proceedings against him 
 were, however, dropped, and he later returned to Paris. 
 But he did not feel safe there, and so found an asylum at 
 Angouleme, about 250 miles southwest of Paris, with his 
 friend, Louis du Tillet. The fine library of Du Tillet was 
 of great assistance in preparing him to write his "Insti- 
 tutes of Theology." On March 4, 1534, he went back to 
 
G6 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Noyon, and resigned all his offices in the Catholic Church. 
 This meant his final break with Catholicism. It is interest- 
 ing to learn that he was imprisoned there twice "for uproar 
 made in the Church on the eve of Holy Trinity." Whether 
 that "uproar" was his public protest against the papal 
 errors, we do not know, but this imprisonment was the 
 beginning of many persecutions which finally compelled 
 him to leave his native land. He returned to Paris for a 
 short time, and then went to Poitiers.* At Poitiers he 
 revealed his home missionary spirit. For, finding a number 
 of persons who were Reformed, he held religious conferences 
 with them. He then took the next important step after 
 his conversion. In a cave outside of the city he secretly 
 celebrated the Lord's Supper with them. In thus giving the 
 Lord's Supper, Calvin took his place as a minister of the 
 Gospel. He thus shows his missionary spirit here by organ- 
 izing a congregation. 
 
 Then he went to Orleans, where he wrote the preface 
 to his next work on "The Sleep of Souls." It was a work 
 written against the Anabaptists.** This book revealed that 
 Calvin felt he was not only called to be a minister, but a 
 teacher, as in this book he teaches against heresy. 
 
 V. Calvin in Exile. 
 
 But it became too dangerous for him to remain in 
 France. By the end of 1534 the placards against the mass 
 were posted up all over France. This greatly angered 
 the Catholics. So he fled and arrived at Strassburg in 
 Germany at the beginning of 1535. From this time he was 
 
 * The order of his stay in these different places, Angou- 
 leme, Poitiers and Orleans, seems to be somewhat uncertain. 
 
 ** The Anabaptists were those in the Reformation who 
 denied infant baptism. Many of them were excellent peo- 
 ple, but some were fanatics and heretics. They differed 
 from our Baptists because they did not require immersion 
 as a necessity. 
 
CALVIN'S "INSTITUTES" 67 
 
 an exile from his native land. He then went to Basle, 
 where he published his famous "Institutes of Theology." 
 This book reveals him as a theological genius. It was the 
 greatest work on dogmatic theology produced during the 
 Reformation, and yet it sprang from the brain of a young 
 man only twenty-six years of age. His preface to it, 
 which is dedicated to the king of France, was a master- 
 piece of apologetic literature. He dedicated it to the 
 king in the hope that it might lead him to lessen his 
 persecutions against the Protestants. The charge had 
 been made by the Catholics against the Protestants that 
 Protestantism was destructive, not constructive. Calvin 
 replied to this by showing in his "Institutes" that it was 
 constructive. It contained a whole system of theology 
 based, however, on the Bible, and not on the Church, as in 
 Catholicism. But its first edition was briefer than the later 
 editions and was not so sharply Calvinistic on predestina- 
 tion and other doctrines. The work was the completed 
 fruit of his conversion. It gave him great fame among 
 the Protestants of that day. 
 
 VI. Calvin in Italy. 
 
 Calvin, having published his "Institutes," set out on an 
 evangelistic expedition to Italy, to visit Princess Renee of 
 Este, the daughter of the late king of Prance, but who 
 favored the Reformed. At her palace in Ferrara, he found 
 a circle of kindred spirits. But he was not permitted to 
 stay long, for one of these Protestants, a young singer 
 named Jehanet, at one of the services walked out of the 
 Church as his protest against the adoration of the cross 
 in the mass. The Catholics brought charges against him, 
 which led to an investigation, and the Protestants there 
 were discovered and compelled to flee. Calvin fled to 
 Switzerland. There is a very curious cross at Aosta in 
 northwestern Italy on the border of Switzerland, called 
 "Calvin's Cross." There have been a great many things 
 and places named after Calvin because he visited them 
 
68 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 during his life, but this is the only one erected to his 
 memory by the Catholics. It seems strange that they 
 would erect this to the memory of the man they hated. 
 It seems that Calvin came to Aosta, which is at the south- 
 ern end of the great St. Bernard Pass, and there found 
 some secret Protestants. The Catholics learned of his 
 presence and brought charges against him, so he had to 
 flee. And while they guarded the great St. Bernard Pass 
 (famous for its dogs) he, aided by his friends, escaped 
 over the neighboring, but very dangerous pass, named the 
 Col de Fenetre, and arrived safely at Switzerland. The 
 Catholics seemed to have been so glad that they had rid 
 their neighborhood of such a heretic that a few years 
 later they erected this cross. There it stands to-day, and 
 right opposite to it is the Waldensian Church which 
 preaches the Gospel of Calvin. 
 
 Calvin went from Switzerland back to France, for the 
 king seemed at that time to be more favorable to Protest- 
 ants, as he even invited Melancthon to visit his court. He 
 also went back so as to arrange his few business interests 
 that he might leave France and settle in a foreign land. 
 He also brought his brother and sister away with him. 
 Then he started for Germany. But in order to get there he 
 had, on account of a war, to make a long detour south- 
 ward by way of Lyons and Geneva. He arrived at Geneva 
 in the latter part of July, 1536. 
 
 VII. FareVs Call to Calvin. 
 
 One of the most dramatic scenes in the history of the 
 Reformed Church was Farel's call to Calvin. Calvin came 
 to Geneva expecting to spend a night there. Instead, he 
 spent most of his life there and became the great Reformer 
 of Geneva. Farel, when he heard that Calvin was at 
 Geneva, called at his hotel and begged him to stay. Calvin 
 demurred. He said he was a student and was not made 
 of the stuff to be a Reformer. He declared that he wanted 
 to go to Germany to study. Farel persisted in his appeal, 
 
CALVIN AT GENEVA 69 
 
 but when he saw that Calvin was not inclined to yield, 
 he reminded him of the punishment that came to Jonah 
 when he ran away from duty. But still Calvin refused. 
 Finally Farel, his mighty spirit rising within him at the 
 sense of the great need of helpers at Geneva, rose from 
 his chair, and laying his hands on Calvin, said with his 
 voice of thunder, "May God curse your studies, if in our 
 great need you do not come to our help." Calvin was 
 awed; he trembled like a leaf; he asked to be permitted 
 to think and pray over the matter until morning. In the 
 morning he surrendered and decided to stay. He thus 
 became Geneva's great Reformer, and made that city, even 
 according to the testimony of so strict a Lutheran as 
 Andrea, the model city of that age. 
 
 VIII. Calvin at Geneva. 
 
 Calvin began his work at Geneva without any salary, 
 but by the following February a small salary was voted to 
 him. He at once began lectures on the Epistles of Paul, 
 but it took Geneva some time to realize what a prize she 
 had gotten in him. He had hardly settled there when in 
 October, 1536, he, together with Farel, went to Lausanne, 
 where Viret was trying to introduce the Gospel. To do 
 this a disputation between Catholics and Protestants was 
 held. At this disputation Calvin gained great fame by the 
 masterly way in which he refuted the doctrine of trans- 
 substantiation from the Church Fathers, so as to com- 
 pletely silence the priests. After his return to Geneva he 
 prepared a Catechism and a Confession of Faith for that 
 city. He also began the more difficult task of preparing 
 its ordinances, so as to make it a Protestant city. But 
 when his very strict laws were attempted to be enforced, 
 the looser element, called the Libertines, reacted against 
 him; and taking advantage of a slight difference between 
 Calvin and the Bernese in regard to Church discipline and 
 the use of bread at the Lord's Supper, they produced a 
 situation that compelled Calvin and Farel to resign, be- 
 
70 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 cause they refused to administer the communion as or- 
 dered. They were dismisesd April 23, 1538. 
 
 IX. Calvin at Strassburg. 
 
 Calvin was invited by Bucer to come to Strassburg as 
 pastor of the French Reformed Church, so as to gather 
 the French into a congregation. He proceeded to organ- 
 ize this congregation just as any home missionary would 
 do to-day. His stay of three years at Strassburg was 
 destined to be of great value to him and the Reformed 
 Church. Thus he was able, in his congregation, to 
 carry out his idea of church government, as he had not 
 been able to do at Geneva. He also began lecturing on 
 the Bible, and it is likely that his "Commentary on Ro- 
 mans" was given there in the form of lectures. Here, too. 
 he rewrote his "Institutes of Theology" into the form in 
 which they now are, though somewhat revised before his 
 death. He made them more sharply Calvinistic, especially 
 on the doctrine of election. At Strassburg, too, he formu- 
 lated his method of worship, which was mainly a transla- 
 tion of what was used by Bucer, though arranged for Bucer 
 and the Strassburg Church by Diebold Swartz, a minister 
 of Strassburg. In his services he made prominent the use 
 of the psalms and of singing, which Zwingli had not done. 
 Here he was married to Idelette de Bure, by whom lie 
 had a son who died soon after birth. But most important 
 during his stay here was his association with the Reformers 
 of Germany, for he learned their viewpoint. Three im- 
 portant Conferences were held at that period to reunite 
 the Catholics and Protestants, at Hagenau, Worms and 
 Ratisbon. In the latter, Calvin took a prominent part. 
 Fortunate was it for Protestantism that he was there, for 
 the yielding Melancthon was apt to concede too much to 
 the Catholics. But the Conferences brought no practical 
 results, except that in them Melancthon and Calvin, in spite 
 of their differences of character and views, became fasl 
 friends for the rest of their lives. His missionary spirit 
 
THE RECALL OF CALVIN 71 
 
 shows itself then in trying to convert the Anabaptists and 
 gain them for the Church. 
 
 X. Calvin Recalled to Geneva. 
 
 Meanwhile affairs at Geneva were going from bad to 
 worse, until the city approached Calvin about coming back. 
 It was, however, a difficult thing to get him to do so 
 after the unkind treatment that he had received. For he 
 had declared to Farel, that he would rather suffer "a 
 hundred other deaths than that cross." But Farel pressed 
 him to return, and finally after months of negotiation, he 
 returned to Geneva, September 13, 1541. He received a 
 salary of about $1000, which was a great relief after his 
 poverty at Strassburg. He now had things his own way, 
 for his friends were in control of the city council. He 
 drew up ordinances which were adopted, and which thor- 
 oughly organized the city both religiously and morally. 
 In them appeared the germ of the Presbyterial form of 
 government, in which the laity were represented in the 
 consistory as well as the ministers. The germ of the 
 Presbyterial government is representation — the elders rep- 
 resenting the congregation. It also contained the germ 
 of the separation of church and state, for the consistory 
 was granted the power of excommunicating members. This 
 gave to the Church a power that did not belong to the 
 State. This was in contrast with the Zwinglian form of 
 government, in which the punishment of offenders in the 
 church was given to the state who imprisoned and punished 
 them. We say this was the germ of the separation of 
 church and state, for there was, as yet, no complete 
 separation of the church and state as we have it in 
 America. The beginning of religious liberty in Protestant- 
 ism was not at Geneva under Calvin, but in the eastern 
 canton of Switzerland, the Grisons, where in 1526, at Ilanz, 
 Catholics and Protestants mutually agreed to respect each 
 other's rights. That was about a century before the Pil- 
 grims claimed to have brought religious liberty to Ply- 
 
72 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 mouth Rock. But the Pilgrims, from what source did they 
 get religious liberty? Not from England, their home, for 
 there was none there; but from the Reformed in Holland, 
 from which country they sailed to America. Calvin, in 
 these theocratic regulations, tried to make God the Ruler 
 in Geneva — to make all government but the expression of 
 th Will of God. His ordinances were very severe against 
 dancing, gambling, drunkenness, profanity, and any licenti- 
 ousness in dress, word or act. The reading of bad books 
 was prohibited. They even went so far as to prescribe the 
 number of dishes to be served at a meal. These things 
 seemed severe, but they made Geneva the model city 
 of Europe. 
 
 Gradually, however, the leaders of Calvin's party 
 died off and the dissatisfaction with such strict laws in- 
 creased, until a considerable party was formed against 
 Calvin. In 1547 a number of his opponents were elected 
 to office. At the election of 1548, the parties were evenly 
 divided. Meanwhile Calvin's life was made very un- 
 pleasant. His enemies nicknamed him Cain; they named 
 their dogs after him; placards were posted up criticizing 
 him and ballads were sung ridiculing him. It is true the 
 perpetrators were often punished, but these things made 
 Calvin's life unhappy. Once at the Lord's Supper, when 
 unworthy Libertines were coming forward to take the ele- 
 ments without his permission, Calvin flung his arms 
 around the sacramental vessels as he said: "These hands 
 you may crush, these arms you may lop off; my life you 
 may take; but you shall never force me to give holy 
 things to the profane." Indeed, during these conflicts his 
 life was at times in danger. One night fifty shots were 
 fired before his bed-chamber. On another occasion he met 
 a number of his opponents who were armed. Baring his 
 bosom, he said, "You want to kill me, here is my breast." 
 But his martyr-spirit and courage so awed these opponents 
 that they made no attempt. At the next election. Febru- 
 ary, 1549, his arch-enemy, Perrin, was elected as first 
 
CALVIN AND SERVETUS 73 
 
 syndic, or head of the government. In the midst of these 
 struggles and trials, his wife died, March 29, 1549. His 
 own health was uncertain, due to his anxieties, and in- 
 creasing nervous headaches. The two parties continued 
 evenly divided until 1553, when Calvin's opponents gained 
 control. 
 
 XL Calvin and Servetus. 
 
 It was just at this critical time that there came to 
 Geneva a man whom Calvin looked upon as an arch-heretic, 
 Michael Servetus, a Spaniard by birth. He had published 
 in 1531 a work against the Trinity; as a result he was a 
 wanderer, driven hither and thither. In 1553 he published 
 a work, "The Restitution of Christianity," which was pan- 
 theistic and denied the full deity of Jesus. He was con- 
 demned at Vienne, France, 1553, but escaped and came 
 to Geneva just when Calvin's opponents were in control. 
 At Calvin's instigation he was arrested. His opponents in 
 the government took hold of the case, hoping by it to dis- 
 credit Calvin. At the examination Calvin pressed Servetus 
 about his pantheistic ideas, that if God was everything 
 and everything, God, as Servetus said, "then the very 
 floor and benches of the room in which they were, were 
 the substance of God," and Calvin went further and said, 
 "then the devil is, in substance, God." To which Servetus 
 replied, with a laugh, "Do you doubt it?" This reveals 
 the flippant as well as .heretical character of Servetus. 
 
 The result was that the Council ordered Servetus to 
 be burned alive. Calvin sought a milder form of death, 
 but Servetus was burned, October 27, 1553. The burning 
 of Servetus has prejudiced the world against Calvin. But 
 we believe the odium attached to him is excessive and 
 largely unjust. Of course, in the light of our twentieth 
 century, it cannot be defended, but we must judge Calvin 
 by the sixteenth century and not by the twentieth. It is 
 to be remembered, too, that the law that led to Servetus' con- 
 demnation was based on Catholic jurisprudence of the 
 
74 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 time before Calvin, and in its day heresy was everywhere 
 punished with death. The Catholics had treated it as 
 treason, for they held that the church and state were 
 united, and therefore, heresy to the church was treason to 
 the state, and so punishable with death. This law con- 
 tinued in existence until the seventeenth century. Calvin 
 was not directly responsible for his burning, for the city 
 council that ordered it was led by Calvin's opponents, 
 who had been trying to use the trial against Calvin. And 
 the burning of Servetus was not only due to the law of 
 that day, but to the spirit of the times. All the Reformers 
 approved it, even the mild Melancthon. It must also be 
 remembered that such acts were done by all in that day. 
 The Catholics put Protestants to death for heresy. The 
 Episcopalians in England did the same to the Catholics. 
 The Lutherans did the same to the Anabaptists — indeed, 
 they put one of the Reformed, Crell, the chancellor of 
 Saxony, to death at Dresden near the end of the seven- 
 teenth century for his faith. And so here the Reformed 
 did it too. It was due to the spirit of the times. But we 
 do not believe it is right to lay the fault of a whole age 
 on one man, as has been done to Calvin. We regret the 
 event, but the Lutherans and Episcopalians all were also 
 blameworthy. And we believe that if Calvin had lived in the 
 light of this century, he would not have approved it, espe- 
 cially if he had seen that our religious liberty is largely 
 the outgrowth of his work at Geneva, 
 
 But after 1553 the tide in the city government began 
 to turn toward Calvin. In 1555 an event occurred that led 
 to the arrest of Perrin and others of his party, on the 
 charge of treason. They were executed. This loss of 
 leaders to his enemies placed Calvin in supreme control 
 of the situation in Geneva, and he held it until his death. 
 This gave him relief from opposition for the rest of his 
 life. It enabled him to complete the work at Geneva. 
 It also gave him liberty to do more for the Church at 
 large. For while Geneva was his abode, his heart was 
 
REFORMED MISSION TO BRAZIL 75 
 
 with the Church of Christ everywhere. 
 
 XII. The French Mission in Brazil.* 
 
 And now occurs an event in connection with Calvin 
 and his church that has received little attention, but is 
 of great importance in a missionary manual like this. We 
 have seen how the Reformation was a great home mis- 
 sionary revival, as everywhere the Reformers and other 
 Protestants tried to convert souls to their Gospel. We 
 now take up the Reformation work among the heathen. 
 Protestantism had hardly been born before it became mis- 
 sionary. We have already noted how Professor Bibliander, 
 of Zurich, wanted to go as a missionary to the Mo- 
 hammedans. In 1557 the Church of Geneva founded the first 
 foreign mission of the Protestants in Brazil, one year be- 
 fore the Lutherans founded their first foreign mission in 
 Lapland. 
 
 In 1555 a colony of Frenchmen, under Admiral Ville- 
 gagnon, went from France and located on an island in 
 the harbor of Rio Janeiro, Brazil. Admiral Coligny fos- 
 tered the expedition and Villegagnon professed to be a 
 Protestant. After they arrived at Rio Janeiro, Villegagnon 
 wrote back to Calvin to send ministers. The letter came 
 to Geneva when Calvin was away at Frankford, Germany; 
 but Calvin's missionary spirit had permeated his church 
 and they took action in his absence. They appointed two 
 ministers to go to Brazil, Peter Richer and William 
 Chartier. These, together with a number of Genevese, 
 went out with the next expedition from France and arrived 
 in Brazil March 9, 1557. Among the Genevese were sev- 
 eral young men who were sent out to be especially trained 
 for missionary work among the natives, among them De- 
 Lery, a student of theology, who afterwards wrote the 
 history of the expedition and described their efforts to 
 preach to the natives. 
 
 * See Good, "History of the Reformed Church in the 
 United States," pages 3-11. 
 
76 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 After they had arrived at Brazil, Villegagnon was at 
 first very friendly and supported their religious services, 
 but soon he began to criticise and then to quarrel with 
 them, especially about the Lord's Supper. The truth was 
 that the Catholics had sent an emissary in the last expedi- 
 tion, who was winning Villegagnon back to Catholicism. 
 Finally matters came to an open breach between Ville- 
 gagnon and the ministers, so Chartier returned to France 
 to get the judgment of the churches on the matters in 
 controversy. Meanwhile the quarrel became so great that 
 the Genevese, with Richer, left the island on which Ville- 
 gagnon had his fort and went to the mainland to live 
 among the natives, where DeLery and the other young 
 men, who were to be missionaries, were already living. 
 The natives gladly received them. DeLery and the others 
 tried to preach to the natives, but accomplished little 
 because their stay was so short. Nevertheless it was the 
 first attempt to reach the heathen by the Protestants. 
 Soon after this, Richer and his party went back to France; 
 so the missionary effort ended. On their return to France 
 they were in the greatest danger. The vessel proved un- 
 seaworthy; fire threatened them, and starvation came on 
 them, until just before they came in sight of France, they 
 were about to draw lots as to who should be killed for 
 food. A few years later Villegagnon returned to France 
 and spent the rest of his life in bitter controversy against 
 Calvin and the Protestants. 
 
 We have said that this was the first Protestant for- 
 eign mission. It also gave the first martyrs for Protestant 
 missions. For when the vessel, on which Richer and the 
 rest were returning, had been out at sea a few days, the 
 captain offered a boat to any who were afraid to continue 
 the voyage on account of the danger. Five of them went 
 in the boat to land, and lived at first with the natives. 
 Four of them found their way back to Villegagnon, but 
 he arrested them as spies and put three of them to death. 
 One of them, John Boles, did not return to Villegagnon, 
 
CALVIN'S LAST YEARS 77 
 
 but continued living with the natives. He preached Prot- 
 estantism to them with such power and influence that the 
 Jesuits finally became alarmed at his success. They had 
 him arrested and put to death. Thus the Reformed were 
 the first to establish Protestant missions and also to have 
 the first missionary martyrs for Protestantism. 
 
 XIII. Calvin's Last Years. 
 
 Calvin, in 1559, was able to complete the school system 
 of Geneva by founding the Theological Academy, out of 
 which has grown the present university of Geneva. The 
 building, which was opened June 5, 1559, is still used as 
 a theological school, and has over its door the motto in 
 Latin, "After darkness, light." To this school came stu- 
 dents from every Protestant land, and it became a great 
 educational centre. It completed Calvin's ideal of a Christ- 
 ian commonwealth, for to pure preaching and morals was 
 added religious education. But after 1558 his health de- 
 clined. On February 2, 1564, he delivered his last lecture 
 in the Academy, and he was carried to the April com- 
 munion in a chair. On April 27th the council of Geneva 
 went in a body to his bedside to express their sympathy 
 and appreciation for his great service to the city. He 
 expressed his gratification at their coming and exhorted 
 them to be faithful to their city. The next day the min- 
 isters of Geneva came in a body. He spoke briefly to them 
 in a reminiscent way, and yet his address reveals great 
 humility, and a great desire to exalt God. He died on 
 Saturday evening, May 27, 1564. He left a request that no 
 monument should be erected to his memory, but there is 
 in the cemetery at Geneva a plain stone with the letters 
 "J. C." marked on it, which, it is said, marks his grave. 
 But though no monument was then erected there, his monu- 
 ment is the Reformed Church that he organized, whose 
 members are now found in every part of the world. The 
 Reformed and Presbyterian churches, now numbering about 
 thirty millions, are his direct descendants; in fact, all the 
 
78 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 other Protestant churches, except the Lutheran, are in- 
 directly the result of his work. 
 
 XIV. Calvin's Theology. 
 
 This is a large subject, of which only the briefest 
 outline can be given here. He held to 
 
 1. The Supremacy of Scripture. The Bible was the 
 infallible and sufficient rule of faith and duty. Where does 
 Scripture get its authority? The Romanists said, "From 
 the Church." "No," said Calvin, from "the testimony of 
 the Holy Spirit." This was the self-evidencing power of 
 the Bible to us. — the appeal that its truths made to us, for 
 we feel the Holy Spirit speaking to us through it as 
 through no other book. This, however, differs from the 
 modern view which makes the authority of Scripture de- 
 pend on our religious experience of it. Calvin made its 
 authority depend on the Bible itself as objective to us, 
 but proving itself by its own appeal to us. Not our 
 answer to Scripture (as according to the modern view), 
 but Scripture's appeal to us gives it its authority. 
 
 2. Predestination. This was the eternal decree of God, 
 by which he determined in himself the destiny of every 
 man; in his plan Christ died for the elect. Not all of the 
 Reformed fully accepted Calvin's views, though some seem 
 to go higher than he. Historically, there have been 
 three kinds of Calvinism — supralapsarianism, infralapsar- 
 ianism, and sublapsarianism. It has been a question to 
 which of the first two Calvin belonged, and his successor, 
 Beza, and the scholastic Calvinists went higher than he. 
 Infralapsarianism is now held by what we know as the 
 Federal school. But many Calvinists have held to sub- 
 lapsarianism, which is a lower form. Zwingli, Bullinger 
 and Lasco held to it. According to it, Christ died not only 
 for the elect, but for all men. It emphasizes redemption in 
 Christ rather than God's eternal decree, and election is 
 redemptive not metaphysical. 
 
 3. The Lord's Supper. Here Calvin occupied a middle 
 
CALVIN'S DOCTRINES AND WORK 79 
 
 ground between the memorial view and the Lutheran. 
 Over against the Lutheran he denied the bodily presence 
 of Christ at the Lord's table — Christ's body, he held, was 
 in heaven. On the other hand he held that the Lord's 
 Supper was more than a memorial — that there was a real 
 presence of Christ in it, but a spiritual one. Hence, his 
 view of the Lord's Supper has been called the spiritual 
 view. He also emphasized the subjective and refused to 
 give objective efficacy to the bread and wine. Faith was 
 necessary in order for sacramental efficacy. This sub- 
 jectivity is shown in most of the Calvinistic liturgies, 
 which require us by faith to lift our minds from the bread 
 and wine up to heaven where Christ is, and thus com- 
 mune with him through the Holy Spirit, who unites Him 
 and us. 
 
 XV. Calvin's Missionary Work. 
 
 Calvin was a city missionary as truly as any city mis- 
 sionary, who to-day is laboring to save any of our cities. 
 He stands out as the typical city reformer, both in morals 
 and religion. Would that we had some Calvin to clean 
 up our 'cities of New York, Philadelphia and other cities 
 of our land, instead of the superficial, non-religious re- 
 formers we have to-day. But Calvin was also a foreign 
 missionary; that is, laboring to save other lands. This 
 he did through his enormous correspondence, much of 
 which is soul-saving in its aim. This correspondence ex- 
 tended all over Europe. What has come down to us fills 
 ten quarto volumes. The number of letters from, to and 
 about Calvin numbers 4,271, and they are directed to no 
 less than 307 persons and organizations. Many of these 
 letters were intended to aid in introducing the Evangelical 
 Gospel into new places or to new persons, or else to guide 
 those who were doing missionary work. How anxious do 
 his letters reveal him about the evangelization of England 
 and Scotland and Poland. To aid this evangelization he 
 dedicated some of his works to the crowned heads of 
 
80 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Europe, hoping to make them more favorable to the Gospel. 
 Indeed, sometimes he was too aggressive here, and he 
 would dedicate books to those, to whom this would prove 
 dangerous. Thus he dedicated one of his Commentaries 
 to Elector Frederick III of the Palatine, who, though a 
 Lutheran, he heard was inclining to be friendly to the 
 Reformed. Fortunately for Frederick, he never read the 
 book or his case at the Diet of Augsburg, 1566, about the 
 Heidelberg Catechism would have gone against him. But 
 this reveals Calvin's earnest spirit in spreading the Re- 
 formed faith. 
 
 So died at the age of fifty-five of overwork, one of the 
 most remarkable men of history. He had his faults, and no 
 one was more conscious of them than himself. But he 
 had tremendous faith in God and he did everything from 
 the standpoint of obedience to God's will. His motto, "My 
 bleeding heart I yield to thee quickly and entirely," de- 
 serves to be the motto of every one of his followers. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 What position does Calvin hold among the Reformers? 
 
 In what four things did Calvin excel as a Reformer? 
 
 Where was he born and when? 
 
 To what position was he appointed as a boy? 
 
 Describe his education. 
 
 Why did he change from studying for the. priesthood 
 to the law? 
 
 How did his legal education help him afterwards as 
 a Reformer? 
 
 Before his conversion, what was he? 
 
 When and how was he converted? 
 
 What did he do at Angouleme and Poitiers? 
 
 When did he leave France and why? 
 
 Where did he go to? 
 
 What were his "Institutes of Theology"? 
 
 Describe his visit in Italy? 
 
QUESTIONS 81 
 
 What occurred at Aosta? 
 
 What was Farel's call to him to become the Reformer 
 of Geneva? 
 
 What changes did he make at Geneva? 
 
 What caused his departure from Geneva? 
 
 Where did he go to? 
 
 What did he do at Strassburg? 
 
 What effect did his stay at Strassburg have upon him? 
 
 What great Lutheran Reformer did he meet in Ger- 
 many? 
 
 Why was he recalled to Geneva? 
 
 What rules did he lay down for the city? 
 
 Where was there the first religious liberty in the 
 Reformation? 
 
 Where did the Pilgrims, who came over in the May- 
 flower, get their ideas of religious liberty? 
 
 What opposition rose against Calvin at Geneva? 
 
 What other trials came to him then? 
 
 What dangers came to him in Geneva? 
 
 Who was Servetus? 
 
 Who tried and put Servetus to death? 
 
 What mitigates our judgment of the burning of Ser- 
 vetus ? 
 
 How did Calvin again gain control of the city? 
 
 Where were the first Reformed foreign missionaries 
 sent and when? 
 
 Who led the expedition, and who were the first two 
 missionaries? 
 
 How did Villegagnon at first treat them? 
 
 What efforts were made to evangelize the natives? 
 
 Describe their journey back to France. 
 
 Describe the first martyrdoms for Protestantism and 
 the Reformed? 
 
 What school did Calvin found at Geneva? 
 
 Describe his death. 
 
 Where is his monument found? 
 
 Describe his character. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 The Compilation of the Reformation i\ t French 
 
 Switzerland by Virft and I '»i;za and the 
 
 Reformation in Holland 
 
 I. Virefs Birth and Education. 
 
 Peter Viret was the Boy-Preacher of the Reformation, 
 for he began preaching at the age of twenty. He was, 
 therefore, the youngest of the Reformers. Although he 
 stands behind Farel and Calvin in importance, yet he did 
 an important work. The three, Farel, Calvin, and Viret, 
 stand together as the great trio of French Reformers. 
 Farel was the Reformer of Neuchatel, Calvin, of Geneva, 
 and Viret, of Lausanne, the city so beautifully located in 
 the northwestern corner of the Lake of Geneva. 
 
 The little town of Orbe, in which Viret was born in 
 1511, is picturesquely situated in southwestern Switzerland. 
 At the. age of sixteen he went to Paris to study, and re- 
 mained there several years. He came home to find the 
 Reformation entering there. The story of its introduction 
 into Orbe is quite dramatic. In Lent, 1531, a friar came to 
 the little town and noisily offered indulgences for sale. 
 One day as he was hawking his wares at the public 
 fountain, which still stands in the center of the town, he 
 was interrupted by a pale man with a stentorian voice 
 asking him the question, "Have you an indulgence for a 
 person who has killed his father and mother?" The monk 
 was confounded. At this the questioner, who was none 
 other than Farel, stepped to the curb of the fountain and 
 began preaching the Gospel. His eloquence was so great 
 that the people left the indulgence-monger, and gathered 
 round the new preacher. As a result of Farel's preaching, 
 
 82 
 
VIRET AND PAREL 83 
 
 two leading men of the town were converted. The result 
 of this sermon was excitement enough to please Farel, but 
 he deemed it best to go away. Later Farel came back to 
 Orbe, and on Palm Sunday, 1531, he entered the large 
 church there, followed by a crowd, and went up into the 
 pulpit, where he preached. The Catholics in the congre- 
 gation tried to howl him down; "It was a glorious noise," 
 said a Catholic, "you really could not have heard it thunder." 
 Then they proceeded to pull Farel out of the pulpit, but 
 the Bernese magistrate protected him and led him safely 
 out of the church. The next Sunday Farel, by order of 
 the Bernese, preached again in the church at Orbe, and 
 had the first Protestant audience, ten persons in all, among 
 them Viret. On May 6, 1531, young Viret, after having 
 been ordained by Farel, preached his first sermon as 
 pastor of the church, at the age of twenty. And on Whit- 
 sunday of that year, Farel administered the first Protestant 
 communion to eight persons. 
 II. Viret as Farel's Helper. 
 
 Farel went away, leaving the infant church at Orbe in 
 the care of Viret. Under his care it increased tenfold in 
 a year, so that by Easter, 1532, he had seventy-seven com- 
 municants. His missionary spirit led him to go to the 
 neighboring town of Payerne in September, 1532. There 
 he challenged a priest, who had publicly defended justifica- 
 tion by works, to a debate, and the day was appointed for 
 it. But before it took place the priest met him' on the 
 street and beat him so severely that he left him almost 
 lifeless. After his recovery, he went with Farel to Geneva 
 in 1533. These two men, Farel and Viret, so different in 
 nature, complemented each other; Farel so aggressive and 
 headstrong, Viret so mild in manner and sweet in his 
 preaching. Yet Farel loved Viret as a son and Viret 
 looked up to Farel as a spiritual father. At Geneva the 
 Catholics attempted to poison the Reformers, but Viret 
 was the only one who ate of the poisoned soup. Fortun- 
 ately the remedies promptly administered saved his life. 
 
84 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 But the thin face of Viret, as it has come down to us in 
 his portraits, reveals that he was never a well man after- 
 wards. After his recovery he aided Farel there in preach- 
 ing. He then went to Neuchatel as pastor for a short 
 time, but on his way back to Geneva was held up by a 
 providence. He met the Bernese army and Bern sent him 
 to Lausanne (which Bern had recently captured from the 
 Duke of Savoy), in order to reform the city. 
 
 III. Viret at Lausanne. 
 
 He became the great foreign missionary to Lausanne 
 and the district of Vaud, which had not yet received the 
 Protestant Gospel. He had as unpromising a field as our 
 missionaries to-day to Catholic lands, Spain or Brazil. 
 Farel had been driven out by the Catholics at Lausanne, 
 what hope was there for him? He at first preached in 
 the streets and at his hotel. Finally to further the Prot- 
 estant cause, a great disputation was held at Lausanne, 
 October 1, 1536. Farel and Calvin, with other foreign min- 
 isters, were present to help Viret. Farel placed ten theses 
 before the conference for debate. Viret led in the dis- 
 cussion, assisted by Farel and Calvin. When the debate 
 on transubstantiation took place, a monk arose and pub- 
 licly disavowed Catholicism. Another dramatic episode oc- 
 curred in the debate on justification. Farel called for the 
 reading of the verse in the third chapter of Romans, "We 
 see how that it is freely, without desert, without the deeds 
 of the law, that man is justified." At this the Catholic 
 disputant, Dr. Blancherose, burst out, "I do not believe that 
 that is there." A Bible was brought to him from the 
 neighboring Franciscan Convent, and he was bidden to read 
 it for himself. Scarcely believing his eyes, he cried out. 
 "It is true." His conversion completed the victory for the 
 Reformed. 
 
 Viret labored not only in Lausanne, but all over the 
 district of Vaud, so as to convert it to Protestantism. But 
 his greatest work was the founding of an Academy at 
 
VIRET'S LATER YEARS 85 
 
 Lausanne in 1537 for the training of ministers. This was 
 more than twenty years before Calvin was able to found 
 a similar school at Geneva. He labored quietly for many 
 years as professor and lecturer in that Academy. Then 
 he came into conflict with Bern, which ruled Lausanne, on 
 the question of church discipline, and as he refused to 
 obey the authorities at Bern, he was deposed and left in 
 1559. 
 
 He then went to Geneva, where he was elected pastor. 
 His sermons gave great satisfaction, for he was one of 
 the most remarkable orators of the Reformation. His 
 preaching was sweet, yet forceful, so that it held the audi- 
 ence with rare power. Calvin was the nervous orator, 
 Viret the persuasive one. Calvin carried his audience by 
 the forcefulness of thought and logic; Viret by his sweet- 
 ness and persuasiveness. 
 
 IV. Viret in France. 
 
 But after being in Geneva for two years, in 1561, he 
 became pastor at Nismes in southern France, where he 
 was very successful. Then he became pastor at Lyons for 
 a short time. But his position was very difficult, for the 
 first civil war of the Huguenots with the Catholics had 
 broken out. In 1566 he was driven out of Lyons, and in 
 1567 he was called by the Huguenot Queen of Navarre, 
 Jeanne D'Albret,* to come to Orthez as pastor and pro- 
 fessor. But in 1569 the Catholic troops burst into this dis- 
 trict of Beam, captured Orthez, Pau, and other places, and 
 drove away the professors. Viret was captured and im- 
 prisoned at Orthez. The Huguenot army came to his 
 relief and captured the chateau of Chevany, where he was 
 imprisoned, and set him free. On August 23, 1569, the 
 Queen of Navarre made her triumphal entry into Pau, her 
 capital. But the anxieties, sufferings, and labors proved 
 
 * For her interesting life, see Good, "Famous Women 
 of the Reformed Church," pages 71-80. 
 
S6 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 too great for the man who had not been strong since he 
 was poisoned at Geneva, and he died at Orthez, 1571. 
 
 So died the one who had begun, almost as a boy, to 
 preach the Gospel. He was of stronger mind than he has 
 been given credit for by historians. He wrote several 
 strong theological works, as ''Christian Instruction." 
 Among the Reformers he was the ironical one. What 
 Erasmus used before the Reformation, and Voltaire, two 
 centuries after it, he used to some extent; namely, satire 
 against the Catholics. In this he was the forerunner of 
 Agrippa D'Aubigne, the greatest satirist of his day and a 
 Huguenot.* Only recently has the ability and influence of 
 Viret begun to be realized in connection with the 400th 
 anniversary of his birth. 
 
 V. Beza — Introductory. 
 
 Theodore Beza was the Gentleman of the Reformation. 
 Not that the other Reformers of the Reformation were not 
 gentlemen, but Beza excelled them all. The French are 
 proverbially polite, but Beza was the quintessence of 
 French politeness. He was above all a Christian Courtier. 
 for in his early life he had been trained in the French 
 court; and later, to the graces of the courtier he added 
 those of the Christian. Of all the Reformers, he was the 
 one best fitted to state and defend Protestantism before 
 the King and Queen of France at the famous Colloquy of 
 Poissy, 1561. He was not only the Christian gentleman, 
 but also one of the most learned scholars of his day. And 
 he was also the last of the Reformers, living more than 
 a quarter of a century after the others had passed away. 
 If Erasmus, the famous scholar who published the New 
 Testament in Greek, may be said to have begun the Re- 
 formation, Beza, who, as a great scholar, also published 
 the New Testament, may be said to have closed it. 
 
 * For his life, see Good, "History of the Reformed 
 Church in Switzerland," pages 116-121. 
 
BEZA'S EARLY LIFE 87 
 
 VI. Beza's Birth and Education. 
 
 Beza was born at Vezelay, France, June 24, 1519. He 
 was a puny child, and lost his mother when he was quite 
 young. He had a wealthy uncle who reared him in his 
 own home. One day when he was nine years old, a mem- 
 ber of the king's council was the guest of his uncle, and 
 noticing young Theodore, said he was about sending his 
 nephew of the same age to school at Orleans to a Pro- 
 fessor Wolmar. So Beza's uncle sent Theodore with this 
 man's son, and thus Wolmar, who ten years before had 
 taught Calvin, was now the teacher of the boy who was 
 later to become Calvin's successor. Under him Beza 
 gained such a command of Latin and Greek, as few men 
 of his day possessed. But better than that, Wolmar in- 
 fluenced him to the Bible, and thus prepared him for Prot- 
 estantism. Wolmar taught Beza for seven years at Orleans 
 and Bourges; and when he went back to Geimany, so great 
 was his love for Beza that he wanted to take him with him. 
 But Beza's father refused, so Beza remained at home to 
 enter the study of law. In 1539, having finished the 
 university, he went to Paris to practice law. But law did 
 not interest him, so he led the life of a scholar rather 
 than of a lawyer. And as he had plenty of money (for 
 his uncle had died) he became a gentleman of leisure. 
 Poetry attracted him and he wrote his "Juvenalia," in imi- 
 tation of the classics. 
 
 VII. Beza's Conversion. 
 
 But the influence of Wolmar ever remained with him. 
 During these years his ideal (which had been prevented 
 by his father), viz., to go to Germany to be with Wolmar, 
 still hung before his eyes. How remarkable is the lasting 
 influence of a good teacher. The high ideals of Wolmar 
 remained in his mind, and kept him from becoming what 
 was so common among Frenchmen of means and culture — 
 a man of loose morals. Wolmar was to Beza what Wytten- 
 bach was to Zwingli. Then God's providence came in to 
 
88 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 help. His older brother died and that sobered him. Then 
 came a serious illness, so severe that his life was for a 
 time despaired of, and so long that it gave him time 
 for deep thought. As he remembered his worldliness and 
 sinful condition, he came to deep conviction of sin, and 
 out of that he came to forgiveness, and Wolmar's Savior 
 became his. Knowing that France was no place for a 
 Protestant, he suddenly fled to Geneva, where he arrived 
 October 24, 1548. 
 
 VIII. Beza at Lausanne and Geneva. 
 
 The first thing Beza did was to fulfill the ideal of years 
 — to go and visit Wolmar in Germany. On his return to 
 Geneva, he happened to stop at Lausanne, where Viret 
 was just founding the Academy. Viret felt that Beza was 
 the man he needed, and so Beza became professor of 
 Greek, and taught there for nine years. In 1558 he re- 
 signed at Lausanne after a brilliant career, in which the 
 number of students had grown from a mere handful to 
 700. He left for the same reason as Viret, because he ap- 
 proved of the use of church discipline by the Church, which 
 Bern opposed. 
 
 In Geneva he became Calvin's assistant; for Calvin's 
 work had grown far beyond his failing strength. When 
 Calvin opened his academy at Geneva in 1559, Beza became 
 its first rector or head. For this his splendid knowledge 
 of the classics and his high position in literature amply 
 fitted him. 
 
 IX. Beza at Poissy. 
 
 In 1561 occurred the greatest event in Beza's life, and 
 one of the most dramatic in the history of the Reformation, 
 the Colloquy at Poissy, near Paris. This reveals Beza's 
 missionary zeal, for he wanted to convert the court of 
 France to Protestantism in the hope that France would 
 follow. What a contrast! Thirteen years before he had 
 left France for exile, and now it was the king who invited 
 him to return. For the king of France was willing to give 
 
BEZA'S DEFENSE AT POISSY 89 
 
 Protestantism a hearing. The Protestants of France looked 
 around for a man who could measure up to such an occasion. 
 Calvin could have done it, but he was too sickly to leave 
 Geneva; and besides, he had so many enemies in France 
 that it would have been dangerous. So Beza was chosen, 
 and no one was better fitted by grace, eloquence, and learn- 
 ing than he. One of the most beautiful suburbs of Paris 
 is St. Germain, with its magnificent forest. There the King 
 of France had his palace. Near it, about three miles away, 
 in a nun's convent, the famous Colloquy took place, Sep- 
 tember 9, 1561. 
 
 No more magnificent assembly could have been present. 
 There was the boy King, Charles IX, his mother, later the 
 infamous Catherine de 'Medici, and all the nobles of the 
 court in all their brilliant costumes. There were also the 
 great dignitaries of the Catholic Church in their most 
 gorgeous robes. And there stood Beza, the Christian cour- 
 tier, the best apologist of the Protestants. As Beza reached 
 the rail before the gathered court, he and his colleagues 
 knelt on the floor and prayed aloud the beautiful Huguenot 
 "Confession of Sin." Its beauty made a profound impres- 
 sion. And then with wonderful eloquence, grace, and great 
 ability, he summarized before the Catholic court the faith 
 of the Protestants. He was listened to respectfully until 
 he came to speak about the Lord's Supper, until he happened 
 to say that "the body of Christ is as far removed from the 
 Lord's Supper as the heavens are from the earth." The 
 Catholic prelates broke out with the exclamation "he has 
 blasphemed," and for a few moments there was much con- 
 fusion. But the queen-mother commanded silence. Having 
 finished his address he presented to the King a copy of the 
 Confession of the Huguenot Church, the "Gallic Confession." 
 Then occurred another sensation. The leader of the Catho- 
 lics. Cardinal Tournon, asked that Beza's words be not ac- 
 cepted, at least until a day had been appointed in which 
 they could be answered. The queen-mother said, "We are 
 here to hear both sides. Reply to the address of Mr. Beza." 
 
•JO FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 But the Cardinal was afraid to answer Beza, and no the 
 famous Colloquy closed. Never perhaps in the history of 
 Protestantism was such a magnificent defense made before 
 so magnificent a court. Beza remained in France for a year 
 and a half, counseling the Huguenots in their first civil war. 
 This Colloquy made him the acknowledged head of the 
 French Church. Then he returned to Geneva and after 
 Calvin's death in 1564, he became the head, also, of the 
 Church in Geneva. 
 
 X. His Last Years. 
 
 Just before his death there occurred the Escalade. The 
 Duke of Savoy, to whom Geneva had formerly belonged, had 
 always been anxious to recover the city for himself. This 
 would have meant the extinction of Protestantism there. 
 So the Genevese were always on the alert against Savoy. 
 But on the night of December 12, 1602, one of the longest 
 and darkest nights of the year, eight thousand of the 
 Duke's soldiers secretly approached Geneva. The advance 
 guard put ladders to the walls so as to scale them. They 
 were encouraged by the Jesuits, who whispered, "Climb 
 bolder, each round is a step heavenward." They had scaled 
 the walls to the number of two hundred; they had already 
 gotten so far as to approach the inside of one of the gates, 
 which a traitor had promised to open to them, when a sen- 
 tinel saw then and discharged his gun. This signal woke 
 up the Genevese and they rushed armed into the streets 
 by thousands. The Savoyards were driven back to the 
 ramparts. But before they got there, one of the Genevese 
 fired a cannon, which, by the hand of providence, was so 
 guided in the darkness that it hit all their ladders and 
 destroyed them. The result was, that as the Savoy soldiers 
 could not escape on their ladders, they were caught like 
 rats in a trap. Many were killed and those captured were 
 beheaded as a warning to Savoy. As soon as the conflict 
 was over, the people streamed to the Reformed cathedral, 
 where Beza held a thanksgiving service. The 124th Psalm. 
 
BRAVE LITTLE HOLLAND 91 
 
 translated by Beza, was sung, and every year since, on that 
 day, a commemorative service is held in Geneva, and that 
 Psalm is sung. 
 
 But Beza was now an old man. He lived longer than 
 any of the Reformers, even to the great age of 86. On 
 October 13, 1605, he passed away. His last words were 
 significant: "Is the city in full safety and quiet?" Having 
 received an affirmative answer, he sank down and in a few 
 moments passed away as his friends prayed by his bedside. 
 So died the last of the Reformers, a scholar and a theologian, 
 a statesman and a poet. But Beza lives in the hearts of 
 the French to-day more by his metrical translation of the 
 Psalms than by anything else, for the singing of these 
 Psalms has been the great power in the Huguenot Church. 
 
 XI. Brave Little Holland. 
 
 Brave little Holland, the land of one hundred thousand 
 martyrs of our faith! The land, that had fought the sea 
 and conquered it, had also to fight the Roman See and 
 build dykes against its floods of superstitions, heresies, and 
 cruelties. A peculiarity of the Reformation in Holland was 
 that it had no one commanding Reformer, who rises 
 above the others as does Luther in Germany, or as Zwingli 
 and Calvin do in Switzerland. It was a people's Reforma- 
 tion, a mighty popular uprising against popery. There were 
 many Reformers, brave and noble men and women, but no 
 one of them towers far above the rest. Its history is not, 
 therefore, so picturesque because it cannot be gathered 
 around one great personage. Only two characters have 
 become at all prominent, Guy de Bres, the author of the 
 Belgic Confession, and Prince William of Orange, that 
 magnificent statesman; only he was a politician rather than 
 a religious reformer. We will try and use these two men 
 as clues to the Reformation in the Netherlands.* 
 
 * It will be noticed that in speaking of the Reformation, 
 we include Belgium in the Netherlands, though they are 
 now separated: for Belgium was at that time included with 
 
92 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 XII. The Early Reformation. 
 
 The Reformation in the Netherlands passed through 
 three periods, Lutheran, Anabaptist, and Reformed. The 
 first influences for Protestantism came into Holland from 
 Germany. Luther's writings came in very early. The 
 Reformation appeared first in Belgium. Jacob Spreng, the 
 provost of the Augustinian monastery at Antwerp, preached 
 the Evangelical Gospel, it is said, as early as 1517. He was 
 arrested and condemned, but recanted. Broken-hearted at 
 his weakness, when set free, he preached the Evangelical 
 doctrines more than ever. Threatened with arrest again, 
 he fled to Germany. Henry of Zutphen, another monk of 
 the same cloister as Spreng, having heard Spreng preach 
 the Evangelical doctrines, fled to Luther at Wittenberg and 
 returned to Antwerp, where he preached with such power 
 that the Church of the Augustinians could not hold the 
 people. He was the great preacher of his age. Antwerp 
 hung on his lips. He was arrested and imprisoned and 
 expected to give up his life for his faith. But a great crowd 
 of his friends broke into the prison and set him free. The 
 enmity of the Catholics was so great that the monastery 
 that produced Spreng and Zutphen was razed to the ground 
 in 1522. Still, however, the preaching continued. Great 
 crowds went wherever there was Protestant preaching in 
 spite of the fact that such preaching was forbidden by law. 
 In 1523 two Augustinian monks, Voes and Esch, were pub- 
 licly burned at the stake in Brussels as adherents of Luther. 
 As the fires were kindled, they repeated the Apostles' Creed, 
 sang the TeDeum and prayed in the flames, "Jesus thou 
 Son of David, have mercy on us." 
 
 Meanwhile the gospel was entering Holland as well as 
 Belgium. On September 15, 1525, a Protestant martyrdom 
 occurred in front of the Prince's palace at the Hague. John 
 
 Holland in the Netherlands. And the Reformation appeared 
 in both, though Belgium later became almost entirely 
 Catholic. 
 
GUY DE BRES 93 
 
 Van Bakker, a young Hollander, had been preaching the 
 Evangelical Gospel and had been to Wittenberg. He re- 
 turned but retired from the priesthood and was a farmer, 
 though still preaching. He went back to the priesthood 
 and was then arrested, tried, condemned and martyred. 
 They tore his priest's robes from him, and he replied: "In 
 the dress of a citizen, I look more like a Christian than 
 before." Before he died, he called to his brethren, "Be of 
 good cheer. As valiant soldiers and stimulated by my 
 example, defend the truth of the gospel against all de- 
 tractors." After him the list of martyrs became so great 
 that it is impossible to describe them or to give their 
 noble dying testimonies. It is said that during the reign 
 of Emperor Charles V there were already fifty thousand 
 martyrs in the Netherlands. 
 
 XIII. The Netherlands Become Calvinistic. 
 Protestantism in the Netherlands was, as we have said, 
 
 at first Lutheran. Then Anabaptism seemed to gain the 
 ascendency. Finally, however, the Netherlands became Re- 
 formed. This was due to the fact that a number of Calvin's 
 pupils came into Belgium, where as Frenchmen, they were 
 welcomed by the people who also spoke French, Calvin's 
 language. From Belgium the influence of Calvinism spread 
 north to Holland. The severe doctrines of Calvin seemed 
 especially to appeal to the Dutch mind. The leader in this, 
 if any one can be called a leader, was Guy de Bres, the 
 author of the Belgic Confession or the creed of the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 XIV. Life and Early Preaching of Guy de Bres. 
 
 Guy de Bres was born at Mons about 1522. He came 
 under Protestant influences in his early manhood. In 1550 
 when the placards were placed in the towns against Prot- 
 estantism, he fled to England, and joined the Church of the 
 Refugees in London, of which Lasco was the pastor. In 
 1553 when King Edward VI died and Queen Mary came to 
 the throne, he was compelled to flee. He might have found 
 
1)4 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 a refuge in the city of Emden in northwestern Germany. 
 But no, he went hack to his own country, though at the 
 risk of his life, because he was so anxious that his family 
 and friends should have the gospel. He became a traveling 
 evangelist and missionary in southwestern Belgium and 
 northeastern France. For two years (1554-1556), he 
 preached at Lille. His missionary zeal led him also to 
 evangelize in its environs. The crown of his work were 
 four martyrs in 1556, who died with the prayer on their 
 lips "Lord Jesus, into thy hand we commend our spirits." 
 That persecution disorganized his work there and he went 
 to Ghent for a short time. 
 
 Then he went on his second exile. London had been 
 the place of his first exile; Frankford in Germany was the 
 place of his second, where he probably met Calvin. Indeed, 
 he went farther in order to study, for he went to Lausanne 
 and Geneva. But he could not keep himself from work, for 
 he had the true missionary spirit. When his ruler, Emperor 
 Charles V, died and Philip II became ruler of the Nether- 
 lands, back he went to Belgium. He preached at Lille, then 
 at Antwerp and then at Tournai. At Tournai he organized 
 eight congregations. The Protestant movement became so 
 strong there that they had a night demonstration of it, 
 when they sang Psalms in the streets and the public places; 
 yes, even before the priests' houses. Guy had too much 
 common sense to approve of this, for he knew it would 
 cause a reaction, and it did. The government appointed a 
 commission against them and Guy had to leave. He was 
 a veritable "bird of passage," for he dared not stay long 
 in any one place. All this reveals his bravery, for like 
 Damocles he lived with the sword of death continually 
 hanging over his head. 
 
 XV. The Belgic Confession. 
 
 It was while at Tournai that he had written the Belgic 
 Confession. Before that time the Dutch and Belgians had 
 had no creed except that they used several catechisms, as 
 
THE BELGIC CONFESSION 95 
 
 Calvin's and the Heidelberg. But he felt the need of a 
 common bond for the churches of his land. Another reason 
 why he wrote it was to oppose the Anabaptists, some of 
 whom were heretical. After he had composed it, he sent it 
 to different ministers in his land and abroad, especially to 
 Saravia. professor of theology at Leyden. Saravia sent it 
 to Calvin, who approved of it, but advised that it be set 
 aside for the Gallic Confession which had just been adopted 
 by the Reformed Churches of France in 1559. De Bres 
 followed the advice partially, for it is evident that his 
 Confession was based on the Gallic, which it very much 
 resembles. In 1561 he sent it to the Reformed ministers 
 in Emden, who were Zwinglian, and they approved of it. It 
 was submitted a second time to the ministers at home, and 
 their suggestions were embodied in it. It was approved 
 by the pastors of the Walloon and Flemish Churches, and 
 published in 1562 in French for the south provinces, and in 
 Dutch for the northern provinces. 
 
 The history of its official adoption is quite interesting. 
 On October 2, 1565, about twenty nobles met in the city of 
 Brussels. They were led in prayer by Francis Junius. 
 He, when a young man, as pastor at Antwerp, had been so 
 zealous and fearless as to preach when the flames 
 that were consuming a Protestant were reflected on 
 the walls of the room where he preached. These nobles 
 consulted how they could protect themselves from the 
 Spanish yoke. They signed an agreement. And the next 
 year between three and four hundred of them rode into 
 Brussels and presented a petition to the Regent, Margaret, 
 requesting that she remove all restrictions of Protestantism. 
 The reply, says Hansen, to the petition was so equivocal 
 that the people changed the word "moderation" in it to 
 "murderation." Still the appearance of so many nobles 
 gave courage to the Protestants, and they held a synod 
 at Antwerp in May, 1566. This meeting was a secret one, 
 for the danger was great. The members were required to 
 give a countersign, — "the vineyard," — before they were per- 
 
96 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 mitted to enter. This was the synod that formally adopted 
 the Confession of Guy de Bres. At the synod of Dort, 
 1618, it, together with the Heidelberg Catechism and the 
 Canons of Dort, was adopted as the creed of the Dutch 
 Church. 
 
 XVI. The Later Preaching of Guy de Bres. 
 
 Guy de Bres, having completed his creed, later died for 
 it. All the creeds of the Reformed and Presbyterian 
 Churches have many martyrs, but this was the only one 
 whose author died for it. Guy now went on his third exile. 
 This time he went to Sedan. From Sedan he returned to 
 Antwerp in 1566. He found that by that time the people 
 had largely become Protestant. Great open-air services were 
 being held. Thus in June a Reformed minister, Hermann 
 De Strycker, preached on the outskirts of Ghent to assem- 
 blies of seven to eight thousand. On June 28, at eight P. M., 
 six thousand persons assembled near Tournai to hear a 
 Protestant minister, and ten thousand the third day there- 
 after at Pont a Rieu. De Bres, after remaining at Antwerp 
 for three weeks, went to Valenciennes. Here the Reforma- 
 tion had first appeared in 1561. It showed itself, as it had 
 at Tournai, by the singing of Psalms in the streets. In 
 1562 two of the Protestants were about to be put to death. 
 Their cry, "Father eternal," caused a tumult. The scaffold 
 was torn down and they were freed. But that only brought 
 severer measures against them. In 1565 a Protestant min- 
 ister secretly preached there for a year. Just before Guy's 
 arrival this minister had announced a public service, and 
 from two to three thousand attended. When Guy arrived, a 
 dozen services were held, attended by three to six thousand. 
 It is said that three-fourths of the town (which had thirty 
 thousand inhabitants) attended Protestant services. In 
 August the images were torn out of the Catholic churches, 
 and Protestant worship was introduced into them. But 
 then an army was sent against Valenciennes by the Cath- 
 olics, and it was besjeged for seven months. Meanwhile 
 
PRINCE WILLIAM OF ORANGE 97 
 
 the Catholics outside were busy working on the Catholic 
 party within the walls. As it was evident that it could not 
 hold out, Guy, with four others, fled. They were arrested 
 and imprisoned in the castle at Doornik, then at Tournai, 
 and finally at Valenciennes. He was tried and condemned. 
 From prison he wrote letters to his brethren, to his old 
 mother, his wife and children. 
 
 XVII. Martyrdom of Guy de Bres. 
 
 On May 31, 1567, he was executed at the city hall of 
 Valenciennes. He went to death as to a marriage feast. When 
 he got to the foot of the ladder, he attempted to pray. The 
 executioner did not permit it, but pushed him up the 
 ladder. But on the last round of the ladder he cried to 
 the people, "Be submissive to the magistrates, faithful to 
 the truth." He protested that he had taught nothing but 
 the truth of God. 
 
 So died one of the flaming heralds of the truth. But, 
 though dead, he did not die. His Gospel remained to found 
 the Dutch Reformed Church. For as the great successor of 
 Guy de Bres came the great statesman, William of Orange. 
 
 XVIII. Prince William of Orange. 
 
 Just at the time of De Bres' death, the Reformed 
 fled to Germany, and there held two synods, at Wesel 
 (1568) and at Emden (1571), to organize their church. 
 After that they returned to the Netherlands. For the 
 Duke of Alva was sent to the Netherlands to crush out 
 Protestantism by the introduction of the inquisition. But 
 the Dutch would not submit to the inquisition. Prince 
 William of Orange arose in 1568 to defend the liberties of 
 the Netherlands against Spain, and to defend Protestantism 
 against the inquisition. In 1572 there came a thunder- 
 clap out of a clear sky as the "sea-beggars" captured the 
 town of Briel, and William was made stadt-holder or gov- 
 ernor. At first in the war with Spain he suffered much 
 from the lack of funds and the smallness of his army. As 
 a result the town of Haarlem was besieged and captured by 
 
98 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 the Spaniards. The Spaniards tied the Reformed citizens 
 of Haarlem together, two and two, and threw them into 
 the lake of Haarlem. In the face of all these reverses, 
 William of Orange publicly professed the Reformed faith 
 in 1573. 
 
 The next year came the siege of Leyden. The inhabit- 
 ants of that city, knowing they would be massacred by the 
 Spaniards like the citizens of Haarlem, determined to die 
 rather than surrender. They ate the leaves off the trees 
 and the grass in the streets, but they would not surrender. 
 William of Orange came to their rescue with a fleet. The 
 dykes were broken down so that the ocean could come 
 in, and his fleet relieved them, October 3, 1574. The first 
 thing that the thankful people did was to go to the Great 
 Dutch Church there and thank God for their deliverance. 
 And then they founded, as a memorial of their deliverance, 
 the great university of Leyden. In 1576 the different 
 provinces of the Netherlands, south as well as north. Cath- 
 olic as well as Protestant, united in the pacification of 
 Ghent, which united all the Netherlands against Spain. 
 
 XIX. The Death of William of Orange. 
 
 This great prince, William of Orange, continued his 
 victorious career in war and diplomacy until July 10, 
 1584, when he was shot by an assassin. The Catholics, 
 having been unable to destroy him by fair means, resorted 
 to foul. His life had often been threatened. The assassin. 
 Gerard, who killed him, pretended to be a Calvinist, and 
 stayed at Delft, where Prince William was living, so as to 
 become familiar with William's habits. As the prince rose 
 from the dining table and passed out of the room, this 
 man, who was in hiding outside of the door, fired at him. 
 The prince realized that his end had come. "My God, take 
 pity on my soul: my God, take pity on this poor people," 
 was his dying cry. His sister asked him if he trusted his 
 soul to Christ, and "Yes" was his last word, lie was buried 
 in the New Church at Delft, where a beautiful marble 
 
WILLIAM OF ORANGE'S CHARACTER 99 
 
 monument has been erected to his memory. But his greatest 
 monument is the Netherlands, which, having been saved 
 by him from Spain and the Catholics, soon became the lead- 
 ing Protestant nation of Europe. William of Orange is, 
 without doubt, one of the greatest characters in history. 
 He had all the qualities of a great world-leader, — far- 
 sightedness, tact, .breadth of mind, firmness of purpose, and 
 knowledge of human nature. His absolute self-sacrifice for 
 his country has raised him to be one of the noblest of 
 patriots, and his devotion to our Reformed faith has made 
 him one of the greatest of her sons. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 W'hat was the significance of Viret among the Re- 
 formers? 
 
 Describe Farel's visit to Orbe, and its results. 
 
 Describe Viret's preaching at Payerne. 
 
 Describe the poisoning of Viret. 
 
 What was the Conference at Lausanne? 
 
 Why had Viret to leave Lausanne, and where did he go? 
 
 Describe his labors in France. 
 
 What was the significance of Beza among the Re- 
 formers? 
 
 What was Wolmar's influence over him? 
 
 What led to his conversion? 
 
 Where did he go, and what did he do? 
 
 What did he do later at Geneva? 
 
 Describe the Conference at Poissy. 
 
 What was the Escalade, and how was it celebrated? 
 
 Describe Beza's death and the influence of his Psalms. 
 
 HOLLAND 
 
 What was the great peculiarity of the Reformation in 
 the Netherlands? 
 
100 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 In it what two characters rise into prominence? 
 
 Through what three periods did the Reformation in the 
 Netherlands pass? 
 
 Describe the early Reformation at Antwerp. 
 
 Describe the early Reformation in Holland. 
 
 How did it happen that Calvinism at last gained control? 
 
 Describe the early life and preaching of Guy De Bres. 
 
 Why did he write the Belgic Confession? 
 
 WEhom did he consult in writing it? 
 
 How was it adopted as the creed of the Netherlands? 
 
 Describe the later preaching of Guy De Bres. 
 
 Describe his martyrdom. 
 
 Why did William of Orange become the defender of the 
 Netherlands? 
 
 What capture roused the Netherlands to resistance? 
 
 Describe the sieges of Haarlem and Leyden. 
 
 How was William of Orange assassinated? 
 
 What was the character of William of Orange? 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 The Reformed Reformers of Germany 
 
 I. Bucer and Strassburg. 
 
 The original Protestant Church in Germany was Luth- 
 eran, and that Church is still the largest there. But very 
 soon the Reformed doctrines began to appear. They ap- 
 peared about the same time at two places, at Emden, in 
 northwestern Germany, and at Strassburg, in southwestern 
 Germany. Strassburg was one of the free cities of Ger- 
 many, and therefore had greater freedom to receive doc- 
 trines from abroad than the imperial cities, where in re- 
 ligion the law was, "like prince, like people." Strassburg 
 lies on a flat plain a few miles west of the Rhine, and its 
 tall cathedral spire can be seen for many miles around. 
 Like that church spire, Strassburg became a finger pointing 
 heavenward, as it exerted a wide influence for Protestantism 
 in western Germany. 
 
 II. His Birth and Youth. 
 
 The Reformer of Strassburg was Bucer. Though 
 around him were gathered several other Reformers, as 
 Zell and Capito, yet he was the leader. He was born at 
 Schlettstadt, in Alsace, November 11, 1491. At the Latin 
 school there he soon showed such precocity that his friends 
 prophesied that he would become pope if he could. But 
 a better sphere was to open up to him, — that of a Re- 
 former. At the age of fifteen he entered the Dominican 
 monastery there. In 1516 he was transferred to Heidelberg, 
 where he could enjoy the advantages of the university. At 
 Heidelberg he seems to have come into contact with human- 
 ism and to have become a humanist. 
 
 III. His Conversion to Protestantism. 
 
 In 1518 Luther came to Heidelberg on a tour of visita- 
 tion to his order, and held a disputation. Although Luther 
 belonged to a rival order of monks, the Augustinian, yet 
 
 101 
 
102 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Bucer, though a Dominican, attended the disputation. 
 Luther's address produced a piofound impression in south- 
 western Germany, hut on no one did it make more impres- 
 sion than on Bucer. Its truths came like a revelation to 
 him. He was at once won, and a private conference which 
 he then held with Luther deepened the impression already 
 made. Luther, it is said, was so pleased with him that 
 he declared that "Bucer was the only Dominican without 
 guile." But for a Dominican to become a follower of 
 Luther was, at that time, considered a contradiction. The 
 Dominicans not only opposed Luther because he was an 
 Augustinian, but they upheld Tetzel, the seller of indul- 
 gences in Germany, whom Luther so bitterly attacked, 
 because he was a Dominican. So Bucer, for his Evan- 
 gelical leanings, was compelled to leave his order. But 
 where should he go? In the early Reformation it was hard 
 to find an asylum for Protestants. Finally he found a 
 refuge with Count Francis of Sickingen, who was favorable 
 to the Reformation. But, as the Count was soon overthrown 
 by his Catholic enemies, Bucer had to flee, and went to 
 Weissenberg. There he married a nun, being one of the 
 first of the Protestants to marry. For that act the Bishop 
 of Weissenberg excommunicated him, and he fled to Strass- 
 burg in May, 1523. 
 
 IV. Bucer at Strassburg. 
 
 When he arrived at Strassburg he found that the 
 Evangelical Gospel had already entered the city. Matthew 
 Zell, the preacher at the cathedral, had, as early as 1521, 
 begun to preach it in the chapel of St. Lawrence in the 
 cathedral. And when that chapel became too small, he 
 preached it in the cathedral. When the Catholic bishop 
 locked the pulpit there against him, the carpenters of a 
 neighboring street made- a portable wooden pulpit, which 
 was carried into the cathedral whenever he preached, and 
 carried out when he was done. In 1523 Zell completed the 
 breach with Rome by marrying. His wife, Catharine, was a 
 
BUCER AT STRASSBURG 103 
 
 woman of forceful character.* She made his home a refuge 
 for all persecuted Protestants who came to Strassburg, as 
 Parel and Calvin. Zwingli stayed with her on his way to 
 Marburg. She was also the first female authoress of the 
 Reformed Church, and she proved such a defender of Prot- 
 estantism that Catholic leaders hesitated to break a lance 
 with her. Zell in the same year (1523) introduced the 
 Protestant Lord's Supper in the cathedral. 
 
 Then, after Zell had begun this work, Capito had come 
 to Strassburg from Basle and Mayence, where he had been 
 cathedral preacher. He became pastor of St. Thomas' 
 Church at Strassburg. At Basle he had been in sympathy 
 with Erasmus and Ecolampadius. His great ability is 
 shown in that he possessed a three-fold academic degree of 
 doctor, in medicine, law and theology. Still another Prot- 
 estant of Strassburg was a prominent layman, Jacob Sturm, 
 who belonged to a family that for more than two centuries 
 had given Strassburg her ablest magistrates. In 1522 
 Sturm was made mayor of the city, and held it many years 
 afterward. Prom 1525 to 1552 he was Strassburg's repre- 
 sentative in ninety-one political and religious negotiations. 
 
 These were the leaders who had labored at Strassburg 
 before Bucer came there. No wonder, therefore, that Bucer 
 declared that Strassburg was ready for an overflowing har- 
 vest. Bucer came there to complete the Reformation and 
 become the leader. But at first his work was very much 
 circumscribed, as the city council would not permit him to 
 lecture publicly because he was an excommunicated priest. 
 So he began delivering lectures in Zell's house on the 
 Pastoral Epistles. But he had the missionary spirit, and 
 it was hard to keep him from preaching. A few months 
 later he was permitted by Zell to preach in the St. Lawrence 
 chapel of the cathedral. His services continually increased 
 in popularity. As the bishop refused to permit him to preach 
 
 * See Good, "Famous Women of the Reformed Church," 
 pages 45-54. 
 
104 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 from the pulpit, Zell loaned him his wooden pulpit. The 
 Catholics tried to stop his preaching. One day, while he 
 was preaching in the cathedral, the monks in the choir of 
 the cathedral began singing their service so as to drown 
 his voice. Bucer's audience murmured at this, and one of 
 them went to the monks and advised them to wait until 
 Bucer was through. But the monks defended their course, 
 and as a result a riot was imminent between the two con- 
 gregations. Bucer's congregation picked up their seats 
 and foot-stools for use against the insolent monks; when 
 just then the chief magistrate appeared. Both parties were 
 ordered to appear before the city council the next day. 
 The threatened riot brought matters to a crisis favorable 
 to the Protestants; for the city council ordered that nothing 
 but the pure Gospel should be preached. 
 
 The next year (1524) completed the Reformation in 
 Strassburg. Bucer was elected pastor of the church of 
 St. Aurelian, and became a great home missionary for the 
 city. This church had St. Aurelian's tomb in it, which was 
 famous for its wonder-working cures, and to which many 
 pilgrimages were made. Bucer preached against all these 
 Romish practices, and also had the wonder-working body of 
 the saint removed. On February 16, 1524, Swartz, Zell's 
 assistant, read the first mass in German instead of Latin, 
 in the St. John's chapel of the cathedral, and on Easter of 
 that year the Lord's Supper was administered after the 
 Protestant fashion in most of the churches. 
 
 V. Bucer's Great Influence. 
 
 Bucer was one of the most important of the Reformers, 
 lie emphasized the doctrine of election, not in a meta- 
 physical sense, but as a definition of the "Church." which he 
 said was "composed of the elect," meaning by that, of the 
 saints. He thus emphasized the practical side of election. 
 It is interesting to note that Calvin re-wrote his "Institutes 
 of Theology" here, in which he made election more promi- 
 nent. Bucer. too, was the first to introduce church disci- 
 
BUCER, A UNION MAN 105 
 
 pline and excommunication as the fundamental law of the 
 Reformed Church. We have seen how Calvin followed him 
 in trying to get it introduced into Geneva. The truth was 
 that, before Calvin came, Bucer had come into controversy 
 with Anabaptism, which threatened to become victorious in 
 Strassburg. Bucer gained the victory over the Anabaptists, 
 but felt that they were right on the subject of church disci- 
 pline, and so he tried to have it introduced into the 
 churches. We have also noted before, that in the matter 
 of worship, Calvin but followed the method laid down in 
 Strassburg. We thus see that in many respects Bucer was 
 one of the most influential of the Reformers. 
 
 VI. Bucer and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Bucer at first was a whole-souled follower of Luther, 
 but of Luther in his early period, when Luther emphasized 
 the subjective in the Lord's Supper. When, later, Luther 
 began to emphasize the bodily presence of Christ in the 
 Supper, Bucer could not follow him. For he, like Zwingli, 
 had been a humanist, and his mind demanded a view of the 
 Lord's Supper that was not encumbered with so many ra- 
 tional difficulties. He, therefore, inclined to the Zwinglian 
 view. In 1525 Luther was not satisfied with Bucer's state- 
 ments, and Bucer was charged with departing from Luth- 
 eranism on this doctrine. So Bucer went over to the Swiss, 
 and at the Conference at Marburg, 1529, he was rated among 
 the Zwinglians. Luther there pointed his finger at him 
 and said, "You are a knave." At the diet of Augsburg 
 (1530) he was, therefore, not allowed to sign the Augsburg 
 Confession. So he drew up and presented the "Confession 
 of the Pour Cities," whose statements on the Supper were 
 Lutheran but could include the Reformed within them. 
 
 VII. Bucer as a Union Man. 
 
 Even before the death of Zwingli, Bucer began to 
 swerve from the Zwinglian view. He became the great 
 mediator between the Lutherans and Zwinglians on this 
 doctrine. After much labor on his part, he finally succeeded 
 
106 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 (1536) in getting Luther to agree to a compromise creed 
 called the Wittenberg Concord. Its phraseology on the 
 Lord's Supper was Lutheran, but it could be made to cover 
 the Reformed view also. He then tried to have this creed 
 adopted by the Swiss, but in vain. For they considered 
 that Bucer was juggling with words in his phraseology of 
 the Lord's Supper, instead of being clear and outspoken. 
 The truth was he was no longer truly Reformed, and was 
 so considered by Bullinger and the Swiss, who refused to 
 adopt his Wittenberg Concord. 
 
 VIII. Buccr's Work at Strassburg. 
 
 Bucer tried in every way to build up the Church at 
 Strassburg. The beginnings of a university were made in 
 his day, and John Sturm (who was Reformed), one of the 
 greatest educators of his day, was called to it. He, with 
 Melancthon, were the two most famous teachers in Ger- 
 many; so that they were called "the two eyes of Germany." 
 But in 1548 the Interim was ordered to be introduced into 
 Strassburg. According to this, various Catholic rites were 
 to be re-introduced into the Protestant churches. Now, 
 while Bucer was yielding toward Protestants, he was firm 
 as a rock against the abuses of Catholicism. He declared 
 "man dares do nothing against conscience and the truth." 
 So he resigned. Fortunately, a call came to him from Eng- 
 land, and he went there in 1549. After his departure, Strass- 
 burg became high Lutheran. The Reformed were driven 
 out, and for two centuries were not permitted to worship 
 there. 
 
 IX. The Reformation in England. 
 
 England, like the countries on the continent, had begun 
 to feel the movements toward Protestantism. King Henry 
 VIII fell out witli t he Pope because he could not get a 
 divorce from his queen so that he might marry Anne Boleyn. 
 He, therefore, declared the Church of England independent 
 of the Pope, and made himself the head of it. He sup- 
 pressed the monasteries because they were so powerful and 
 
WILLIAM TYNDALE 107 
 
 also so wicked. But, although he broke with the Pope, he 
 was not willing to become a Protestant. Indeed, he perse- 
 cuted and martyred Protestants. Thus William Tyndale, 
 who had become a Protestant, was compelled to flee. Tyn- 
 dale, angered in a controversy with a priest, had declared 
 that every plough-boy in England should have a copy of the 
 Scriptures. As it would not have been safe for him to 
 translate and publish them in England, he fled to the conti- 
 nent. There he had the New Testament published and sent 
 back to England in large quantities. The Catholics became 
 so alarmed that they tried to buy up the whole edition. 
 But the money made in this way only enabled the publishers 
 on the continent to publish more copies and send them to 
 England. They were largely sold and secretly read. The 
 Catholics, unable to stop the circulation of his Testament, 
 hunted for Tyndale, and soon were hot on his track. He 
 was finally treacherously arrested at Antwerp, taken to 
 Vilvorde, and there put to death, October 6, 1536. His last 
 words were, "O, Lord, open the King of England's eyes." 
 This prayer was answered, for King Henry VIII began to 
 see that his only safety over against the Pope lay in the 
 Bible, and Coverdale was commissioned to publish a trans- 
 lation. So that by the time of the King's death, the Bible 
 was permitted in England; and, of course, through it Prot- 
 estantism grew rapidly In 1547 the King died, and his 
 son, Edward VI, reigned in his stead. He was a Protestant, 
 and with his accession Protestantism came in everywhere. 
 The leaders of the Reformation in England were Cranmer, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, Ridley, Latimer,* and Hooper. 
 
 * The conversion of Latimer is interesting as showing 
 how a Catholic rite can be used to make a Protestant out 
 of a Catholic. Bilney had been converted, and in order 
 to bring the Evangelical Gospel to his friend, Latimer, he 
 made a confession in the confessional to Latimer. When 
 Latimer heard Bilney's story of forgiven sin, he, too, was 
 converted. 
 
108 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 X. Bucer in England. 
 
 But among the Protestants there was a great lack of 
 scholars able to meet the Romanizers in the Anglican 
 Church. So Cranmer invited a number of the Reformers 
 of the continent to come to England. Peter Martyr, Bucer, 
 and Fagius went there. Bucer, with true Evangelistic zeal, 
 was glad to go and convert this distant land to Christ, and 
 when he arrived in England was cordially received by 
 Cranmer and the British Reformers. He was appointed pro- 
 fessor of theology at Cambridge, and began lecturing there 
 on January 10, 1550. His lectures were such a rare com- 
 bination of learning and spirituality that they gave great 
 satisfaction. In the summer of 1550 he was the leader in 
 a disputation at Cambridge, for the Catholics in the Anglican 
 Church were still strong, and they tried to have as many 
 elements of Catholicism remain as possible. About this 
 time the Prayer-book of the Anglican Church was revised, 
 first in 1549, and again in 1552. The first was very unsatis- 
 factory to Protestants because there were so many relics of 
 Catholicism left in the worship. Bucer was asked to pass 
 criticism on it, which he did in a lengthy pamphlet. While 
 he approved of much of it, he yet criticized it for having 
 Catholic elements in it. And its revision of 1552 agrees 
 with a number of his recommendations, although the lead- 
 ing Anglican historians of the Prayer-book deny that his 
 criticism had much to do with these changes. At any rate, 
 the second Prayer-book was nearer the worship of the 
 Reformed. 
 
 But it was still far from Reformed worship, as is shown 
 by the later dissatisfaction with it by the Reformed Reform- 
 ers, Peter Martyr, Calvin, and Bullinger. This dissatisfac- 
 tion of the Reformed with the Prayer-book was also shown 
 by the fact that two Reformed liturgies were also published 
 in England just at the time that the Prayer-book was 
 published. If the Reformed had been satisfied with the 
 Prayer-book, why did they publish these? They were the 
 liturgies of Poullain and Lasco. Lasco's especially stands 
 
BUCER'S DEATH 109 
 
 out in contrast with the Prayer-book, for he, with Bishop 
 Hooper, was the leader of the Puritan party in England. 
 They wanted less form and more freedom in the church 
 service, and also stricter church discipline than was in the 
 Prayer-book. The Reformed have generally followed Lasco 
 (and also Knox) rather than the Prayer-book, in that free 
 worship became common in the Reformed Churches ulti- 
 mately. 
 
 XI. Bucers Death. 
 
 But Bucer did not live long in England, — only two 
 years. Its damp climate did not agree with him. He died 
 March 1, 1551. He was buried with great honor at Cam- 
 bridge. It is said that not less than three thousand persons 
 took part in the funeral. His body, however, was not al- 
 lowed to rest in peace, for when Queen Mary came to the 
 throne she ordered the bodies of Bucer and his fellow-Re- 
 former, Pagius, to be disinterred. They were condemned 
 for heresy, and were burned in the market-place at Cam- 
 bridge, together with their published works. But when 
 Queen Elizabeth succeeded Queen Mary, and the university 
 had again become Protestant, a memorial service was held 
 to Bucer and Pagius. They could not gather up the ashes 
 of their bodies, but they gathered up their teachings and 
 paid tribute to their lives and influence. 
 
 XII. Bucers Position Among the Reformers. 
 
 Bucer stands out among the Reformers as the Union 
 Reformer — the great representative of Church union. He 
 cared more for union among Protestants than for any of 
 its doctrines. The Reformed criticized him for not being 
 clear in his doctrines, especially on the Lord's Supper. 
 Indeed, Bucer, when he died, was busy on a work on the 
 sacraments against Lasco, who represented the Reformed.* 
 Bucer was ready to sacrifice much for sake of union. 
 He was, therefore, the Broad Churchman of the Reforma- 
 
 * Harvey, "Bucer in England," page 53. 
 
110 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 tion. He was so broad in his theology that he was ready 
 to take all true Protestants in. He is to be admired for his 
 peace-loving disposition, but criticized in that he was so 
 often concessive where he should have been firm. And his 
 theological statements are often double in their meaning, 
 so as to suit both parties. But he exerted an important and 
 peculiar influence in the Reformation on its doctrine, wor- 
 ship and government. 
 
 XIII. Elector Frederick III and the Heidelberg Catechism. 
 The Reformed Church was later introduced into another 
 
 place in Germany than Strassburg. Elector Frederick III, 
 the ruler of the Palatinate, in western Germany, ordered 
 the Heidelberg Catechism (so called because published at 
 Heidelberg) to be written, and it was published at Heideh 
 berg, his capital, in 1563. His surname was Frederick the 
 Pious, because he was a man of great piety. He was an 
 earnest student of the Bible and a man of much prayer. 
 This prince, for the sake of producing peace between the 
 different religious parties in the Church of his land, ordered 
 that this new catechism should be written, and appointed 
 two young theologians of his Church to write it, — Zacharias 
 Ursinus and Casper Olevianus. 
 
 XIV. Ursinus' Birth and Education. 
 
 Ursinus was an east German, born at Breslau, July 18, 
 1534. He was educated there, having for his pastor the 
 mild and pious Ambrose Moibanus, whose catechism he 
 studied for confirmation, and some elements of which he 
 put into the Heidelberg Catechism, written about fifteen 
 years later. When sixteen years of age, he went to the 
 university of Wittenberg, to sit at Melancthon's feet and 
 became a great admirer of him. The Lutheran Church of 
 Germany was at that time greatly divided between high 
 Lutherans and low Lutherans. Melancthon was the leader 
 of the latter. While Ursinus was studying in the uni- 
 versity, he was financially aided by a native of Breslau. 
 one of the leading physicians of Germany, Crato of Crafft- 
 
URSINUS' EARLY LIFE 111 
 
 heim, who was the private physician to three of the 
 Emperors of Germany. He had entered the university 
 before Ursinus, expecting to become a minister, but had 
 been turned away from it. So he wanted to put some one 
 in his place in the ministry, and aided Ursinus. Money 
 thus invested in the Church is safely and profitably in- 
 vested. Ursinus amply repaid his kindness by becoming 
 one of the leading theologians of his day. Indeed, he be- 
 came the spiritual guide of Crato, whom he won to the 
 Reformed faith. 
 
 After studying at Wittenberg for seven years, he began 
 traveling. In 1557 he went to the Conference at Worms, 
 where his teacher, Melancthon, had gone as the leader of 
 the Protestants. He then visited Heidelberg, Strassburg, 
 Basle, Lausanne, and then Geneva. Everywhere, because 
 introduced by Melancthon, he was kindly received. At 
 every place he had his eyes open so as to improve himself 
 theologically. At Geneva, Calvin was so pleased with him 
 that he presented him with one of his works. He went 
 to Paris, and on his return stopped at Zurich and learned 
 to know Bullinger and Peter Martyr there. Fries, the 
 professor of Hebrew there, invited him to come to Zurich 
 if he ever needed a refuge. He then returned through Wit- 
 tenberg to Breslau, his birthplace. 
 
 XV. Ursinus at Breslau. 
 
 He was appointed teacher in the school of the Church 
 in which he had been confirmed, St. Elizabeth's Church. 
 There he taught for two years. But he soon found them 
 years of trouble, for the breach in the Lutheran Church 
 had reached Breslau and had become very bitter. Ursinus, 
 being a follower of Melancthon, was severely attacked by 
 the high Lutherans. The high Lutherans declared that 
 their opponents were not Lutherans, and charged that 
 Ursinus did not teach Lutheran doctrine. They looked 
 with suspicion on Ursinus, not only because he had been a 
 pupil of Melancthon's, and used one of his works as a text- 
 
112 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 book, but also because he had been traveling in Reformed 
 lands. Ursinus, therefore, published a pamphlet on the 
 sacraments in defense of his views. But his publication 
 only made matters worse. His enemies seized on certain 
 passages in his pamphlet to show that he was Reformed 
 and not Lutheran. The truth seems to be that, although 
 his pamphlet was Melancthonian, yet there were undoubt- 
 edly outcroppings of Calvinism in it. In his travels he 
 had unconsciously imbibed some Reformed views. The re- 
 sult of these attacks on him was that he resigned and left 
 Breslau. But where should he go? He said that if Melanc- 
 thon were living he would have gone to him at Wittenberg, 
 but Melancthon had just died. He went to Wittenberg, 
 where the university professors would have gladly detained 
 him as teacher. But he made up his mind to go to Zurich. 
 
 XVI. Ursinus at Zurich. 
 
 A few days after he arrived at Zurich he wrote a 
 letter which stated that he had come to full agreement with 
 the Reformed. He there studied at the feet of Peter Martyr. 
 He thoroughly reviewed the doctrines of the Bible, espe- 
 cially election, and in the light of the Bible became strongly 
 Reformed in his faith. In 1561 the Elector of the Palatinate 
 called Peter Martyr to be professor of theology at the uni- 
 versity of Heidelberg. He, however, declined, but recom- 
 mended Ursinus. Ursinus accepted, and went to Heidelberg 
 in the summer of 1561. The next year he was appointed to 
 write the Heidelberg Catechism. For such a work he had 
 been prepared by providence. For he had been teaching 
 the young at Breslau. And his experiences there were a 
 special preparation for him. He was, by nature, inclined to 
 be melancholy. And his dismissal from Breslau and sepa- 
 ration from his friends there greatly dispirited him. These 
 troubles and disappointments prepared him to write a cate- 
 chism, whose motto is comfort. 
 
 XVII. Casper Olevianus. 
 
 Olevianus was a west German, born at Treves, August 
 
OLEVIANUS' EARLY LIFE 113 
 
 10, 1536. Treves was one of the sacred cities of the Cath- 
 olics in Germany, because it was said to contain the holy 
 coat of Christ — the coat which they said He had worn. In 
 this most Catholic city he went to school until the age of 
 fourteen, when he was sent to France to study law. From 
 Paris he went to Orleans and Bourges to study, thus fol- 
 lowing in the footsteps of Calvin, who had studied in these 
 universities. He seems to have come into contact with 
 the Protestants in France, for an incident decided him to 
 study for the Reformed ministry. One day, while walking 
 along the bank of one of the rivers that flow through 
 Bourges, together with the oldest son of Elector Frederick 
 III of the Palatinate, who was also a student there, several 
 German students of the nobility came in a boat to them 
 and invited them to take a boat-ride. Unfortunately the 
 prince accepted the invitation, and fortunately Olevianus 
 declined. For the students, some of them being under the 
 influence of liquor, began rocking the boat so that it over- 
 turned and threw them into the river. Olevianus leaped 
 into the water to save the prince, and almost lost his life 
 in the attempt. While he was thus hanging between life 
 and death, he made a vow that if God would spare his 
 life he would become a minister. God heard his prayer, 
 for a servant of the prince, who came running to the 
 rescue, unable to save his master, saved Olevianus. From 
 that time Olevianus became an earnest student of the Bible. 
 After a brief visit home, he went to Geneva and studied 
 theology under Calvin. 
 
 XVIII. Olevianus at Treves. 
 
 While he was in Switzerland he met Farel, that fiery 
 herald of the Gospel. Farel told him it was his duty to go 
 back to his native city, Treves, and start Protestantism 
 there. So in June, 1559, he returned to Treves to do what 
 might be called foreign missionary work. For Catholic 
 Treves was as foreign to the Gospel as Ecuador to-day. It 
 seemed a foolhardy thing for a young theological student 
 
114 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 to try to convert so intensely Catholic a city as Treves. 
 It seemed like putting his head into the lion's mouth, and, 
 as we shall see, the jaws of the lion of Rome very nearly 
 closed over him.* 
 
 When he returned to Treves he became a teacher; and, 
 finding that there were a number of persons who wanted 
 Protestant preaching, he, on August 10, preached the first 
 Protestant sermon in his school. Forbidden to preach in 
 his school his friends found a small church for him, which 
 soon became so crowded that the people sat on the pulpit 
 steps and put up ladders outside at the windows so as to be 
 able to hear him. But the Catholics became active against 
 him. Charges were preferred against him that, as a lay- 
 man, he had no right to preach. His adherents replied that, 
 according to the German law of 1555, the Protestants, who 
 adhered to the Augsburg Confession, had the right to wor- 
 ship, which was true. But then the Catholics brought 
 charges that Olevianus was not a Lutheran and an adherent 
 of the Augsburg Confession, but was a Calvinist, because 
 he had studied under Calvin; and Calvinism had no legal 
 standing in Germany. He, however, continued preaching 
 with great power, so that in about a month one-third of the 
 city declared its adherence to Protestantism. He must have 
 been a remarkable preacher for so young a man. Several 
 times he was called before the Electoral council there and 
 forbidden to preach. He, nevertheless, kept on preaching, 
 declaring that he must obey God rather than man. 
 
 But by September 16, the Elector who ruled Treves, 
 alarmed at the progress of Protestantism, returned to the 
 city from Augsburg, where he had been attending the Ger- 
 man diet. And he brought soldiers with him to enforce 
 the Catholic worship. He sent a Catholic priest to Olevi- 
 anus' church to steal in and take his place in the pulpit. 
 
 * For a fuller description of Olevianus at Treves, see 
 Good, "The Heidelberg Catechism in Its Newest Light," 
 pages 201-241. 
 
OLEVIANUS AT TREVES 115 
 
 The priest came there before Olevianus and went up into 
 the pulpit. But the congregation rose against him, and he 
 was in danger of being mobbed, when Olevianus, who had 
 meanwhile entered the church, led him out in safety. It, 
 however, was becoming very dangerous for Olevianus to 
 preach. One day, after he had been forbidden to preach, 
 he asked the congregation whether they would stand by 
 him if the priests would try to lay hands on him. The 
 reply of the congregation was t 7 iat they would stand by 
 him "through thick and thin." It became so dangerous 
 for him that he was escorted to and from the church by an 
 armed bodyguard of his friends. 
 
 On October 11, Olevianus and the leaders of the Prot- 
 estants were imprisoned. The charges against them were 
 heresy and conspiracy, both of them high crimes and punish- 
 able with death. He and his friends would probably have 
 suffered death had it not been for the intercession of the 
 neighboring Protestant princes. They were finally released 
 by Christmas and exiled, as were all Protestants in Treves. 
 Olevianus went to Heidelberg, where the Elector, who re- 
 membered his friendship for his son (who had been drowned 
 at Treves), made him professor of theology and afterward 
 superintendent of his Church in the Palatinate. This ex- 
 perience at Treves prepared him to write the Heidelberg 
 Catechism. If Ursinus had learned the comfort of religion 
 in sorrow so as to write it into the catechism, Olevianus 
 had learned the courage of religion, and he infused it into 
 the catechism. One can understand the martial answer of 
 the catechism to the question, "Why art thou called a 
 Christian?" when we remember his threatened martyrdom 
 at Treves. 
 
 XIX. The Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 These were the two men appointed by Elector Frederick 
 III to write the Heidelberg Catechism. In spite of their 
 youth (the one was only twenty-eight, and the other only 
 twenty-six years of age), they produced in the catechism 
 
116 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 a work finer than either of them produced alone, — in fact, 
 one of the finest masterpieces of catechetical literature 
 extant. It is the great experimental catechism of Protestant- 
 ism. Luther's Smaller Catechism is briefer, but more sac- 
 ramentarian. Calvin's and the Shorter Westminster Cate- 
 chism are more intellectual. But the Heidelberg is the 
 great catechism of the heart. This catechism, which was 
 written in 1562, was laid before the synod in January, 1563, 
 and published early in that year. It soon became one of 
 the great creeds of the Reformed Church, rivaled only, by 
 the Second Helvetic Confession and the Westminster Confes- 
 sions. It has been a great missionary catechism, and for 
 this purpose has been translated into nearly thirty lan- 
 guages. It is to-day used in many foreign mission stations, 
 as Japan, China, India, etc. 
 
 XX. Elector Frederick's Defense of the Catechism. 
 
 Elector Frederick was not left at ease with his new 
 Catechism. It was attacked almost immediately by the high 
 Lutherans as tending to Calvinism. Finally the opposition 
 to the Catechism became so great, that in 1566 Elector 
 Frederick III was compelled to publicly defend it before 
 the German diet at Augsburg. So great was the danger to 
 Frederick that his brother urged him not to go to the diet, 
 lest he lose his electorate, and perhaps his life. In fact, 
 while he was at Augsburg, a rumor came to Heidelberg 
 that he had been deposed, yes, beheaded. But Frederick 
 had the martyr spirit. He declared that he was ready to 
 loose everything for his faith, for he believed his catechism 
 to be thoroughly Biblical. So he went to the diet. He 
 arrived a short time after it had opened, and found it packed 
 against him, as the Catholics had joined with the high 
 Lutherans, who were determined that he must give up his 
 catechism or lose his realm. Only one friend among them 
 at all stood up for him, the Elector of Saxony, who, like 
 him, was a low Lutheran. The charge against him was 
 that the only Protestant creed recognized by law in Germany 
 
ELECTOR FREDERICK'S DEFENSE 117 
 
 was the Augsburg Confession, and that the Heidelberg Cate- 
 chism was a Reformed creed and therefore had no legal 
 standing. This was true, for the Reformed had no legal 
 standing in Germany until at the end of the Thirty Years' 
 War (1648), nearly a century later. Remembering these 
 facts — that he stood virtually alone with the whole diet 
 against him, and that the verbiage of the German law was 
 against him (although its application was somewhat indefi- 
 nite) — we can look with greater wonder and also greater 
 thankfulness at the splendid victory that he gained there.* 
 The 14th of May, 1566, is a red-letter day in the his- 
 tory of the Heidelberg Catechism; for on that day Frederick, 
 summoned before the diet to answer for his book, made his 
 great defense. The Emperor and the different members of 
 the diet had already decided on his condemnation. It only 
 remained for the diet to give its sanction. He came into 
 the diet chamber, his son, John Casimir, carrying the 
 Bible before him. In his address he declared that, as for 
 Calvinism, he had not read Calvin's works. But he also 
 added that his catechism was entirely in accord with the 
 Bible and with the Augsburg Confession.* If it were not 
 Biblical, he asked the Emperor and the princes to show it 
 to him. And if he were punished, he declared himself 
 willing to suffer. But none of his listeners were ready to 
 take up the controversy with a man so full of the Bible as 
 he was. Moreover, his address, by its sincerity, spirituality 
 and courage, so awed the assembly that, when he ended, 
 the impression he had made was so profound that no one 
 could reply. His solitary friend, the Elector of Saxony, 
 
 * For a full description of this defense, see Good, "The 
 Heidelberg Catechism in Its Newest Light," pages 184-200. 
 
 * He meant the Altered Augsburg Confession of 1540, 
 whose article on the Lord's Supper had been changed by 
 Melancthon so as to allow room for the Reformed in it. But 
 his opponents argued from the original Augsburg Confession 
 of 1530, which would have excluded the Reformed. 
 
118 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 seized the psychological moment and said, "Fritz, you are 
 more pious than all of us." The result was that nothing 
 was done against the Catechism. Its use was permitted in 
 Germany, and as a result we in America are using it to-day. 
 But except for this magnificent defense of Frederick it 
 would have been strangled almost as soon as it was born, 
 and we would have never known its comforts. Elector 
 Frederick went back to Heidelberg from the diet, and was 
 gladly received by his subjects, many of whom looked upon 
 him as one risen from the dead, for they never expected 
 to again see him alive. 
 
 XXI. Ursinus' and Olevianus' Last Years. 
 
 Elector Frederick III continued to rule the Palatinate 
 ten years after he made this defense. He died October 
 26, 1576. He had been a wise, pious ruler, and under him 
 his land had prospered. Instead of using his money for 
 war, he used it to build up churches, schools and charities. 
 When asked why he built no forts, he replied in the words 
 of Luther's hymn, "A mighty fortress is our God." His 
 great comfort in his last moments was prayer and the 
 reading of the Psalms. "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant 
 depart in peace," was his cry. He will ever be held in 
 lasting remembrance by every one who loves his Catechism. 
 
 When he died, a reaction took place in the Palatinate. 
 His son and successor, Lewis, was a high Lutheran. As a 
 result, Lutheranism was reintroduced into the land, and 
 Ursinus and Olevianus were compelled to leave. Ursinus 
 was called to Neustadt, west of Heidelberg, where Count 
 John Casimir, the son of Frederick III, was the possessor of 
 a small county. This prince founded a university at Neu- 
 stadt, and called Ursinus, together with the other Reformed 
 professors of Heidelberg, to it. It greatly flourished. Hut 
 Ursinus was overburdened by work and weakened by sick- 
 ness. His old melancholy came back on him. He complained 
 of his work as a "treadmill." He continued teaching until 
 death gave his weary soul release on March G, Lis:!. 
 
OLEVIANUS' DEATH 110 
 
 Olevianus also left Heidelberg, but was soon called to 
 Herborn, and became a missionary to introduce tbe Re- 
 formed faith into the districts of Nassau, etc., northeast of 
 Heidelberg. There Prince John of Nassau, the brother of 
 William of Orange, started a university and made Olevianus 
 its rector or head. He taught there until his death, March 
 15, 1587. As he was dying, one of his colleagues, Professor 
 Alsted, asked him whether he felt sure of his salvation. 
 He replied in one Latin word, "Certissimus," which means 
 "most certain." The comfort of the Heidelberg Catechism 
 is crystallized in that one dying word of his, "most certain." 
 
 Of these two men, Ursinus and Olevianus, Ursinus was 
 the stronger intellectually, and ranks next to Bullinger and 
 Beza among the second generation of Reformers. Ursinus 
 was rather the teacher, but Olevianus was the missionary — 
 a great home missionary, as superintendent of the Church 
 of the Palatinate. But Elector Frederick III also had the 
 missionary spirit, and whenever he saw an opportunity of 
 introducing the Reformed faith, he was quick to utilize it, 
 especially by sending his beloved Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 Describe Strassburg. 
 
 What order of monks did Bucer join? 
 
 What was the religious situation at Strassburg when 
 he arrived? 
 
 Who were the other Reformers there? 
 
 Describe his early preaching there. 
 
 What attitude did he take on election and church 
 discipline? 
 
 What was his early view on the Lord's Supper. 
 
 What did Luther say of him at Marburg? 
 
 What was the significance of the Wittenberg Concord? 
 
 Did the Reformed accept it? 
 
120 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 How was Bucer driven out of Strassburg, and where 
 did he go? 
 
 Why did England leave Catholicism? 
 
 Describe Tyndale's life. 
 
 Why was Bucer called to England? 
 
 Where did he teach in England? 
 
 How did he oppose the Catholic party there in the 
 Anglican Church? 
 
 Describe his death and funeral. 
 
 What was done to him after his death? 
 
 What position does he take among the Reformers? 
 
 Who was Elector Frederick III of the Palatinate? 
 
 Whom did he order to write the Heidelberg Catechism? 
 
 Describe the early life of Ursinus. 
 
 How was Ursinus educated? 
 
 How did Crato of Crafftheim aid him? 
 
 What compelled him to resign at Breslau? 
 
 Where did he go? 
 
 How did he happen to get to Heidelberg? 
 
 How did his previous experience prepare him to write 
 the Heidelberg Catechism? 
 
 Describe the early life of Olevianus. 
 
 What led him to study for the ministry? 
 
 How did he begin at Treves? 
 
 What was the effect of his preaching there? 
 
 Why did the Catholics object to his preaching? 
 
 What did the Elector of Treves do? 
 
 How did he escape martyrdom? 
 
 How did this prepare him to write the Heidelberg 
 Catechism? 
 
 When and where was the Heidelberg Catechism pub- 
 lished? 
 
 What is its great peculiarity? 
 
 Describe Elector Frederick's defense of it. 
 
 Describe Ursinus' last years. 
 
 Describe Olevianus' last years. 
 
pj|jjilliii»i;,'> «■■« |r. 
 
 liliii mi mill llllliilllll U1I 
 
 V- 
 
 THE TOMB OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE 
 (See Page 98) 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Thic Reformers oi< Poland, Hungary, Italy 
 and the Jews 
 
 POLAND 
 
 I. Lasco's Birth and Education. 
 
 John A'Lasco, the Polish Reformer, stands out as the 
 pure, self-sacrificing Reformer, for he is one of the most 
 beautiful characters among the Reformers. When he was 
 a young man, Erasmus pronounced him "A soul without a 
 stain." He was also a prince-Reformer; that is, he was of 
 princely blood. But he gave up his princedom for Christ, 
 like Moses, "who esteemed the reproach of Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures of Egypt." Though all the 
 Reformers were self-sacrificing, he was more so. His mis- 
 sionary zeal led him to become the Reformer of three lands. 
 Other Reformers reformed one land, as Luther did Germany, 
 and Zwingli, Switzerland. A few reformed two, as Calvin 
 and Beza, who led the Reformation in France and French 
 Switzerland. But Lasco was the Reformer of three lands, 
 Germany, England and Poland. We therefore here come 
 upon one of the most interesting characters among the 
 Reformers. 
 
 John A'Lasco (or John of Lask) was born in 1499, in 
 the town of Lask, Poland. His father was of the Polish 
 nobility. From the time he was ten years of age he was 
 reared by his uncle, the Archbishop of Gnesen, one of the 
 highest religious nobles in Poland. In the episcopal palace 
 of this uncle at Cracow he received his education for the 
 priesthood under the uncle's oversight. The archbishop 
 lived in great splendor, and his nephew lived in luxury 
 
 121 
 
122 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 in the highest society. In 1513 he went with his uncle to 
 Rome, and in 1515 to Bologna to study church law. In 
 1518 he returned to his native land. There his kind uncle 
 loaded him with honors in the hope that he might, one day, 
 rise to his position of archbishop. Thus, when hardly 
 eighteen years of age, he had the highest hopes placed befoie 
 his eyes. In 1521 he was ordained as priest, and became 
 dean of Gnesen. 
 
 II. His Travels. 
 
 Lasco loved to travel. In 1523 he started for Italy. 
 On his way he stopped briefly at Zurich, and Zwingli, always 
 a missionary, gave him the first impulse toward Protestant- 
 ism by inducing him to read the Scriptures. Then he went 
 to Basle. There he got another impulse toward the Refor- 
 mation by meeting Erasmus. Then be went to Paris, and 
 there the works of Lefevre fell into his hands, and in the 
 court he met Margaret, the king's sister, then leaning toward 
 the Evangelical Gospel. But the memory of Erasmus fol- 
 lowed him, so he returned to Basle. There he boarded with 
 Erasmus, who was captivated by this young noble. He thus 
 writes of him, "While a man of no ordinary learning, Lasco 
 is in his life spotlessly pure as fresh-fallen snow, kindly 
 amiable, so that every one begins to live in his society, and 
 all have a sense of bereavement at his departure, — a golden 
 disposition, a true pearl, and so unassuming and free from 
 arrogance, although he is to be called some day to fill one 
 of the highest offices in his native land." Lasco. on his 
 part, became deeply attached to Erasmus, and boasted of 
 being his disciple. Here, too, he met Ecolampadius, for 
 whose piety and learning he had the highest respect, and 
 whose books, especially his expositions of the Scriptures, 
 doubtless brought him to a deeper understanding of the 
 truths of the Bible. 
 
 III. Lasco in Poland. 
 
 When Lasco came back to Poland, alter an absence of 
 two and one-half years, he was still only a humanist, like 
 
LASCO BECOMES PROTESTANT 123 
 
 Erasmus, and for ten years more he remained a Catholic. 
 When he then returned to Poland he found that rumors 
 against him had been circulated, — that he had visited Zwin- 
 gli and become a heretic, and also that he had married. 
 He was soon able to convince his uncle that these rumors 
 were baseless, but this did not satisfy his opponents in 
 Poland. So he took an oath of purgation, in which he 
 declared that he was still a Romanist and had no thought 
 of separating from the pope. Lasco was still active in sup- 
 porting the papacy, but his humanism ever came out promi- 
 nently. He wanted it introduced into the Romish Church, 
 that it might be purified. In 1531 his uncle, the Archbishop 
 of Gnesen, died. The death of his uncle took away from 
 him his strongest support and hope of advancement in the 
 Catholic Church. Still he remained faithful to Rome, and 
 seven years later was made Archdeacon of Warsau. But 
 that was the last honor that Rome gave him. 
 
 IV. Lasco in Exile. 
 
 Soon after (1538) he suddenly quitted Poland, and re- 
 nounced the Catholic Church. It was evident that during 
 these years humanism no longer satisfied him. He was by 
 nature spiritually-minded, and longed for something better 
 than humanism, especially since he had gradually become 
 convinced that it was impossible to reform the Catholic 
 Church. He did not leave the Romish Church because of 
 pique or disappointed ambition, for he had just received 
 one of its highest positions. He left it because of con- 
 viction. But in leaving it and his native land, he made the 
 greatest of sacrifices. He gave up all his splendid hopes 
 of advancement in the Catholic Church. Like Moses, he 
 would "rather suffer affliction with the people of God than 
 to rejoice in the pleasures of sin for a season." But where 
 should he go? All his possessions and hopes were in 
 Poland. He left his native land and everything to go, like 
 Abraham, not knowing, whither he went. He could say: 
 
124 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 "To me remained no place nor home; 
 My country is in every clime; 
 I can be calm and free from care 
 On every shore, since God is there." 
 
 He went to Louvain, in the Netherlands, where he re- 
 mained three years. There he joined the secret band of 
 Protestants. 
 
 V. Lasco in East Friesland. 
 
 Persecution drove him out of Louvain, and he fled to 
 East Friesland, in the extreme northwestern part of Ger- 
 many. There, far away from Switzerland, there had already 
 been founded, as early as 1524, a Reformed congregation, 
 the only one in Germany, besides Strassburg. Aportanus, 
 one of the Brethren of the Common Life, to whom we 
 referred in connection with Bullinger, had become Prot- 
 estant, and preached at the city of Emden, not the Gospel 
 of Luther, but of Zwingli. In 1543 Lasco was appointed the 
 superintendent of churches in Emden, and began his home 
 missionary work very actively and thoroughly. Thus the 
 Franciscan monks still kept up the Catholic service at 
 Emden. The Duchess of Oldenberg, who was the ruler, was 
 timid and feared to silence them. But, just as Knox spoke 
 to Queen Mary so that she trembled, so Lasco bravely ad- 
 dressed his ruler so that she took courage and suppressed 
 the monks. He also thoroughly organized the Church at 
 Emden, reforming it of its evils. He established a coetus, — 
 a weekly Monday meeting, and also a sort of a synod, 
 which looked after the morals of the clergy. In 1548 he 
 went to England to aid in the introduction of the Reforma- 
 tion, and remained there several months. In 1549 he was 
 back at Emden, but, alas, the condition of his Church! 
 The Catholics had triumphed politically in Germany, and 
 the Interim was to be forced on Protestant lands. The 
 seven sacraments and other Catholic rites were to be rein- 
 troduced. As the Emden ministers refused to permit this, 
 the church was closed against them. So they held their 
 
LASCO IN ENGLAND 125 
 
 services in the neighboring graveyard, which was thronged 
 with greater crowds than had come to the church. There, 
 amid the graves of the dead, children were baptized and 
 marriages were performed. Lasco on his return preached 
 in the graveyard. But the Catholic powers learned of his 
 presence, and after he had been there a month he was 
 compelled to leave. 
 
 VI. Lasco in England. 
 
 But where was he to go? He had been driven out of 
 Poland, out of Belgium, and now out of Germany. For- 
 tunately England was opened to him. We have seen in the 
 last chapter how England had accepted Protestantism, and 
 how her King, the pious Edward VI, had called Bucer and 
 Martyr from the continent. There Lasco became the confi- 
 dential friend of Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and lived with him for a time in Lambeth Palace, London. 
 To live in a palace was not new to Lasco, for he had been 
 reared in one in Poland by his uncle. Here he gained a 
 most remarkable influence over Cranmer, and so was led to 
 exert a remarkable influence in England. It seems very 
 probable that it was Lasco's learning and influence that 
 led Cranmer to give up his Lutheran views* and become 
 Reformed. As a result, the Episcopal Church in its creed 
 holds to the Reformed and not the Lutheran doctrines. About 
 the publication of the Prayer-book in 1549, he showed his 
 dissent from it by publishing, about the same time, his own 
 liturgy for the foreign Protestant Church in London, of 
 which he was the superintendent. He aided in the founding 
 of the Puritan or low Church party in the Anglican Church. 
 The fact is that this low Church party was founded by 
 the Anglicans, who had been on the continent and who 
 had sat at the feet of the Reformed Reformers, Bullinger 
 and Calvin. The first of them was Hooper, who was so 
 
 * For he was married to a relative of the German 
 Lutheran Reformer, Osiander, and had published in Eng- 
 land a translation of a Lutheran catechism. 
 
126 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 low-Church that when he was appointed bishop he refused 
 to wear the white robe for his ordination until compelled 
 to. In all these controversies, as against vestments, Lasco 
 stood with Hooper. 
 
 But more important was his influence in his own con- 
 gregation for the further development of the Reformed 
 Church. He became the great missionary to the foreigners 
 in London, and organized them into congregations. No 
 home missionary to-day in London is doing truer missionary 
 work than did Lasco among the Dutch, Germans and 
 Italians then. Strange to say, he was permitted to organize 
 them outside of the Episcopal Church. Nothing but his 
 tremendous influence with Cranmer could have gained this 
 concession, and some of the Anglican Reformers, as Ridley, 
 Bishop of London, objected to it at the time. In his church 
 at Austin Friars, in London, he proceeded to organize the 
 foreigners according to Presbyterial ideas. He organized 
 this congregation in 1550 by the election of elders and 
 deacons. Calvin gets the credit of organizing the Presby- 
 terial Church government, but he must divide this with 
 Lasco. Lasco's London congregation surpassed Calvin's at 
 Geneva in the completeness of its organization. Lasco's 
 Presbyterianism also differed from Calvin's in being demo- 
 cratic, while Calvin's was aristocratic; that is, Lasco gave 
 more power to the people and the congregation; Calvin, 
 more to the upper church court.* 
 
 VII. Protestantism in England. 
 
 But this prosperous congregation of Lasco's in London 
 was not to continue long. Too soon for Protestantism the 
 good King Edward VI died, and Bloody Mary came to the 
 throne. Then followed a reign of terror for Protestantism 
 
 * It is interesting to those who belong to the Re- 
 formed Churches, rather than the Presbyterian, to know 
 that Lasco's liturgy and church order were closely fol- 
 lowed in Holland and at Heidelberg. 
 
PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND 127 
 
 in England. Many of the Protestant clergy fled to Ger- 
 many and Switzerland, and Catholicism was everywhere re- 
 stored. The climax of these persecutions were the martyr- 
 doms of Hooper, Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer, the heads 
 of the Protestant Church in England, the last three at Ox- 
 ford (1555-6). Cranmer at first recanted, but his con- 
 science smote him for doing so, and he withdrew his recanta- 
 tion. When he was brought to the stake, he stretched forth 
 the hand that had made the unhappy signature at recanta? 
 tion, held it in the flames until it was consumed, and fre- 
 quently exclaimed, "That unworthy hand." Fortunately 
 Queen Mary did not live long. When she died (1558), 
 Queen Elizabeth came to the throne and restored Prot- 
 estantism. 
 
 VIII. Lasco's Flight. 
 
 Lasco did not suffer martyrdom like Cranmer. He and 
 his foreign congregation, 175 in number, were compelled to 
 flee. They sailed from Gravesend, September 17, 1553, 
 'singing Lasco's favorite Psalm, the second. But they went 
 out into storm and suffering. They aimed to go to Den- 
 mark, where Lasco hoped to gain a favorable reception. 
 On November 8 they landed at Kolding, in Denmark. Lasco 
 went to the Danish court preacher, Noviomagus, stating 
 their sad condition, and begged him to get for them an 
 audience with the King. Before it could be given, they 
 were required to attend church, and the court preacher 
 preached on the pericope of the day, Philippians 3: 7-21. 
 The Scripture passage was full of comfort, but the sermon 
 was full of denunciation of the Reformed because of their 
 view of the Lord's Supper. Lasco then presented the 
 request to the King that they be permitted to remain in 
 Denmark. They were answered five days later that they 
 would be permitted to stay only on condition that they 
 become Lutherans. Now, the Lutherans of Scandinavia are 
 more high church in their ceremonies than the German 
 Lutherans, and they reminded Lasco's congregation of the 
 
128 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 high church Anglicans, against whom they had contended 
 in England. So his congregation declared that they would 
 rather continue their wanderings than stay and worship 
 with such Romish rites. Lasco then made a second request 
 that they be permitted to stay during the winter and not 
 be driven out to sea in such inclement weather. But they 
 were refused. What to do they knew not. So Lasco went 
 overland to Emden to try and find a place of refuge. 
 Micronius, another of their ministers, went with them in 
 the ship to Copenhagen, where they hoped to find a refuge. 
 At first the Lutheran ministers there received them kindly, 
 but an order from the King of Denmark came ordering 
 them to leave. Their requests, to stay the winter, then to 
 stay a month, then to stay two weeks, were all denied them. 
 They must leave within three days. So away they sailed 
 into the storm and snow. Lasco's two sons had gained per- 
 mission to remain in Denmark, but this was at the last 
 minute recalled, and they, with their tutor, were compelled 
 to flee to the vessels, which had already started away, by 
 jumping from one ice-floe to another in the harbor. In a 
 few days they arrived in Germany, for the Danish ports 
 were closed against them. 
 
 One vessel landed at Warnemunde, where the magistrate 
 received them kindly. But a week after, orders came from 
 Rostock that they must be sent away as they were heretics. 
 They were compelled to travel overland through snow and 
 wind to Wismar, where they met the rest of the refugees. 
 These had found the bay full of floating ice, so that the 
 vessel that landed there stuck fast a mile from the town. 
 During the night a Storm arose which drove the ice against 
 the ship, so that the captain wakened the refugees and bade 
 them flee in the darkness over the ice to shore. They 
 refused to do so, as the danger was too great, so they put 
 out to sea, but later landed at Wismar. At first they were 
 permitted to stay there, but the Lutheran preachers heated 
 up the people against them as heretics, and by the end of 
 February they were compelled to leave. Men, women and 
 
LASCO'S LAST YEARS 129 
 
 children, they walked through the storm and snow for 
 many miles to find a place of refuge. The third ship 
 landed at Travemunde, but they were soon driven out as 
 heretics. So the refugees turned to the city of Hamburg, but 
 here the leader of the high Lutherans, Westphal, lived and 
 preached. He it was who had gotten into a controversy 
 with Calvin and stirred up all northern Germany against 
 the Calvinists. On March 24 they were ordered to leave 
 Hamburg. Fortunately they succeeded in getting a ship to 
 take them to Emden, where, after three months of suf- 
 fering in mid-winter, they at last found an asylum; for 
 Lasco had already come there from Denmark and arranged 
 for their reception. How terrible these sufferings for their 
 faith! Would we be willing to suffer as much for it? And 
 how sad this tale of religious bigotry. Of course, we must 
 remember that those days were not like ours. Times have 
 changed, and the Lutherans of our day would not think of 
 such unkindness. But to the glory of the Reformed be 
 it said that they never cast out suffering refugees in that 
 way. Again and again they received Lutheran refugees 
 and gave them an asylum. Thus when the Lutheran preach- 
 ers of southern Germany were driven out by the Interim, 
 Bullinger received them gladly and hospitably, even those 
 who had denounced Reformed doctrines; and at Basle, 
 Brenz, the Lutheran Reformer of southern Germany, was 
 cordially received, although he had attacked the Reformed. 
 
 IX. Lasco' s Last Days in Poland. 
 
 In April, 1555, Lasco left Emden, as the countess no 
 longer supported him. He went to Frankford, where many 
 refugees from England had already found an asylum. 
 There he met Calvin. The high Lutherans of northern 
 Germany began heating up the Lutherans, who controlled 
 Frankford, against the Reformed. So Lasco visited the 
 neighboring princes, the Duke of Wurtemberg and Elector 
 Otto Henry of Palatinate, to gain their help against the 
 persecutions of the high Lutherans. In this way Lasco 
 
130 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 came into contact with the Palatinate, which soon after 
 became Reformed. 
 
 But a new field was opening to him; his own native 
 land, Poland, was at last receiving the Gospel and calling 
 for him. So he returned to Poland (1556), which he had 
 left many years before. He went back, with true missionary 
 spirit, to become the great Reformer of his native land. 
 Poland needed a great Reformer, for Protestantism there 
 was much divided. Lasco proved equal to the occasion. 
 With great wisdom he guided them. He met with great 
 difficulties, from the Catholics on the one hand, and on the 
 other from the Unitarians, who were beginning to appear. 
 He was active at the synods of 1557 and 1558. He organ- 
 ized their Church along full Presbyterial lines. The minutes 
 of its general synod, which have lately been published, 
 show that it was one of the earliest Reformed synods, even 
 antedating France. He also took an active part in the trans- 
 lation of the Bible into Polish. But he did not live long 
 after his return to his native land, — only four years. He 
 died January 8, 1560. At last, he, whose life had been such 
 a pilgrimage, found rest in the Father's house. At last, 
 he, who gave up all for Christ, received the hundred-fold 
 reward. He had given up a princedom for Christ, but he 
 now received a crown in heaven above. 
 
 HUNGARY 
 X. Hungary's Reformer, Matthew Devay. 
 
 Devay's real name was Matthew Biroe, of Deva, the 
 name Devay being taken from the place of his birth. 
 While he is the most prominent of the Hungarian Re- 
 formers, there are several others who need to be mentioned, 
 as Szegedin and Melius. Hungary was then partly under 
 the Turkish rule and partly under Christian. And the 
 parts that were under Turkish rule had greater religious 
 liberty than those under the Catholic, and there it was 
 that Prctestantism spread most widely. 
 
DEVAY AND SZEGEDIN 131 
 
 The first Protestantism in Hungary was Lutheranism. 
 Devay studied at the university of Cracow and became a 
 monk. But he felt the influence of the new religious 
 movements around him, and went to Wittenberg, where 
 Luther, seeing great possibilities in him, took him into his 
 own house, and Devay became a great favorite of his. In 
 1531 he returned to Hungary, determined that the places 
 that knew him as a boy should know the true Gospel. With 
 true missionary zeal, he preached it with great eloquence 
 to both high and low. Soon town after town in upper 
 Hungary, around Buda, followed him into Lutheranism. 
 But the enemies of the Gospel arose and had him impris- 
 oned at Pesth. In prison he converted a blacksmith, who 
 had declared he wanted to share Devay's fate. The king, 
 moved by this, set Devay free. 
 
 He then went to Kassa, which, unlike Buda, was under 
 the control of Austria. There the people heard him gladly. 
 But the Catholic authorities had him arrested, and he was 
 imprisoned at Vienna for two years. Bishop Faber, the 
 bitterest foe of Protestantism, tried to win him back to 
 Catholicism. Once when the bishop left the prison, he 
 said, "I would bless thee if thou wert a Christian." Devay 
 replied, "I do not want thy blessing; God blesses me." 
 Released from prison, he went a second time to Witten- 
 berg to tell Luther of the progress that the Reformation 
 was making in Hungary. He returned in 1537 to the 
 Papa district. Here the Catholics bitterly opposed him. 
 About that time Devay changed his views about the Lord's 
 Supper, after reading Calvin's "Institutes." He gave up the 
 Lutheran view for the Reformed. Over no defection from 
 Lutheranism did Luther mourn so much as over that of 
 Devay. He died about 1545, at Debreczin. 
 
 XL Szeged in. 
 
 After Devay came Stephen Kiss, of Szegedin. He is 
 generally known to English readers, as was Devay, by the 
 name of the town of his birth, Szegedin. Devay had been 
 
132 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 the bold, eloquent preacher; Szegedin was the learned pro- 
 fessor and author. A graduate of the universities of Vienna 
 and Cracow, he, like Devay, went at first to Luther, at 
 Wittenberg, in 1543; though later he, too, became Reformed. 
 On his return to Hungary, Petrovics, the count of Temesvar, 
 appointed him as teacher in his school there. Protected by 
 this prince, he taught and preached the Gospel with large 
 results. But when the town came under the control of 
 King Ferdinand, he, with other ministers, had to flee. 
 There was a providence in this. Had he stayed, he would 
 later have been slain in the terrible slaughter there by 
 the Turks. Driven from place to place by the Catholics, 
 he finally went to Turkish Hungary. His enemies, however, 
 accused him before the Turkish pasha, who imprisoned and 
 scourged him. His sufferings there secured for him great 
 sympathy. His friends at Buda tried to have him released, 
 but gained only the concession that he was allowed to 
 work in his room, bound by chains. He was finally released, 
 1563, and went to Raczkeve, where he became superin- 
 tendent over thirty-five congregations under Turkish rule. 
 He died (1572) leaving a large Reformed systematic the- 
 ology or "Common Places," for he was a learned theologian. 
 He wrote against the Unitarians, who were beginning to 
 appear in Transylvania. Beza called him "A champion 
 worthy of eternal remembrance." 
 
 XII. Melius. 
 
 A third Reformer came to complete the Reformation 
 of Hungary for the Reformed, — Melius. He, too, had gone 
 to Wittenberg to study (1555-1558) under Luther. On his 
 return he was called as pastor to Debrec'zin, and helped to 
 found what is at present one of the largest Reformed con- 
 gregations in the world. Though he had, at first, been 
 friendly to Luther, he, like the other Hungarians men- 
 tioned above, went over to the Reformed (1550). He 
 wrote the first Reformed Confession, 1562. He died in 
 1572. He did great missionary work among the princes 
 
THE REFORMERS OF ITALY 133 
 
 of Transylvania, so that a number of them joined the Re- 
 formed. He strongly opposed the Unitarians. The publi- 
 cation of the Lutheran creed, the Formula of Concord, with 
 its condemnation of the Reformed, led many mild Lutherans 
 in Hungary to become Reformed. In 1567 the first Re- 
 formed synod adopted the Second Helvetic Confession. 
 The Reformed type of doctrine seems to have been better 
 suited to the Hungarian type of mind, or it would not 
 have been so generally and quickly adopted by them. Its 
 doctrine of the supremacy of God, and its more rational 
 view about the Lord's Supper, seems to have appealed to 
 the Hungarians, who were, originally, a Semitic race, and 
 combined mysticism with rationality in religion. By the 
 close of the sixteenth century the Reformation had become 
 so general that there were only three of the nobles of 
 Hungary who remained Catholic, and the great majority of 
 the Protestants there to-day belong to the Reformed Church. 
 
 ITALY 
 
 XIII. Ochino and Vergerius. 
 
 A Reformation in Italy, — can it be possible that there 
 was a Reformation in the land where the pope ruled su- 
 preme? There certainly was one needed, for it used to be 
 a proverb, "The nearer Rome, the worse Christian." Yes, 
 the Reformation broke out even in Italy, and gained a strong 
 hold for a time at several places, at Naples and Lucca. 
 But it was soon cut short by the introduction of the in- 
 quisition. In this Italian Reformation, three Reformers 
 were prominent, — Ochino, Vergerius, and Peter Martyr. 
 
 Ochino, the Capuchin monk, was the most eloquent 
 preacher in Italy. The Emperor, Charles V, was wont to 
 say that his sermons could draw tears from stones. When 
 he preached his Lenten sermons, the cathedrals at Florence 
 and Naples were filled to overflowing. But he became too 
 Evangelical and had to flee. 
 
 But the Reformation struck higher than this monk. 
 
134 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 One of the Roman Catholic bishops was Peter Paul Ver- 
 gerius, who had been sent by the Pope to convert the 
 Protestants. But, lo, he turned Protestant. As he was 
 compelled to flee from Italy for his Evangelical opinions, 
 he stopped at the village of Pontresina, in the canton of 
 the Grisons, in southeastern Switzerland. The priest of 
 the village had just died, and the simple-hearted moun- 
 taineers begged him to stay and be their priest. He re- 
 plied, "You may not like my preaching." They declared 
 that they would be fully satisfied with it. And soon his 
 preaching began to bear fruit as their eyes were opened 
 to the errors of Romanism. They finally decided to put 
 away their images in their church. But what to do with 
 them they did not know. Some of them wanted to sell 
 them to the churches down the valley below them, which 
 still remained Catholic. But others said, "What is wrong 
 for us is wrong for them." And so they were divided. 
 They finally took the images out of their church and threw 
 them into the little mountain stream that flows through 
 Pontresina. And that was the end of Catholicism in that 
 valley for more than three centuries. His missionary zeal 
 there converted that whole valley and also the whole 
 Romansch race. Vergerius went to Switzerland and Wur- 
 temberg, where he died, 1565. 
 
 XIV. The Conversio?i of Peter Martyr. 
 
 But the ablest of the Italian Reformers and the one of 
 greatest interest to us was Peter Martyr Vermigli, generally 
 called Peter Martyr. For he became identified with the 
 Reformed, and, next to Calvin, was the strongest dogma- 
 tician among the early Reformed. He was born in September, 
 1500, at Florence. This city, which had burned Savonarola, 
 the Reformer, before the Reformation, in 1498, saw the 
 birth, two years later, of one of its sons who was to be 
 the successor of Savonarola in attacking the papacy. 
 Martyr's mother was a woman of deep piety, and poured 
 into him her spirit of devotion. At the public schools of 
 
PETER MARTYR'S CONVERSION 135 
 
 Florence he was noted for the strength of his intellect and 
 the power of his memory, but above all by a thirst for 
 learning that would stop at nothing. His father wanted 
 him to be educated for civil affairs, and had great ambi- 
 tions for him there. But the boy disappointed his father 
 by choosing to become a monk and entering the monastery 
 at Fiesole, a suburb of Florence. He first studied philosophy 
 for eight y-ears. It was his intense desire for study that 
 ultimately led him to become a Protestant, because he al- 
 ways wanted to get at the root of things. Thus he was 
 not satisfied with studying Aristotle in the Latin. He 
 learned the Greek, so as to read Aristotle in the language 
 in which he spoke. He did not then know that the learning 
 of the Greek of Aristotle would prepare him to read the 
 Greek of the New Testament, which would open his eyes 
 to the falsity of Rome. He studied so diligently that at 
 the age of twenty-six he had gained the title of "Doctor 
 of Divinity," and his eloquence led him to be placed on 
 the list of preachers for his Order. He preached with great 
 power in a number of the Italian cities. 
 
 Providence led him to be appointed a few years later 
 as prior of the monastery at Naples. There is an old 
 proverb referring to the great beauty of the bay of Naples, 
 "See Naples and die." But Peter Martyr saw Naples and 
 lived; — he gained life. — eternal life. He saw something 
 more than its natural beauties, as he there began to see the 
 beauties of divine grace. There it was that he met the first 
 Reformer of Italy, Jean Valdes, a Spaniard. This Reformer 
 was wont to hold spiritual seances in a villa at Chiaja, 
 one of the western suburbs of Naples. Valdes' delightful 
 discoveries in God's Word led a number of prominent 
 Italians to become Evangelical; Martyr was one of them. 
 Soon in his sermons on I Corinthians (which Martyr 
 preached with marvelous eloquence at Naples) it began to 
 be whispered that he was Evangelical. His sermons raised 
 a great storm at Naples, and he was forbidden to preach. 
 But he had influence with the pope, and so the prohibition 
 
136 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 was removed. When Valdes died, he was appointed prior 
 of the monastery at Lucca. There, too, he preached with 
 great power, and it was owing to his preaching that there 
 were more Protestants at Lucca than in any other city in 
 Italy. But his enemies were watching him, and finally he 
 was summoned to appear before the council of his Order 
 at Genoa. With the summons came a warning that if he 
 obeyed he would be convicted and put to death. . So there 
 was nothing left for him but flight. At Florence he met 
 Ochino, like himself in great danger. They determined to 
 flee to Switzerland, but by different roads. 
 
 Thus the Reformation was crushed out of Italy. Poor 
 Italy! For three centuries no Protestant Gospel was al- 
 lowed and she was in darkness. But in 1848 the kingdom 
 of Piedmont gave recognition to the Waldenses. And in 
 1870, when Victor Emmanuel captured Rome, the Gospel 
 entered with his army. To-day the Waldenses and other 
 religious bodies, notably the Methodists, are bravely trying 
 to conquer Italy from the pope to Christ. 
 
 XV. Peter Martyr's Later Life. 
 
 Peter Martyr, when he left Italy, went to Strassburg, 
 in Germany, where for five years he was professor in the 
 university. He wrote back to his friends at Lucca his great 
 joy in being in a land of Gospel freedom, where he could 
 teach the whole truth without fear of persecution. In 
 1547 Protestantism was oppressed in southern Germany by 
 the introduction of the Interim. Both Bucer and himself 
 were compelled to leave and go to England, which at that 
 time was in great need of men of learning to support and 
 defend the new Protestant faith. While there he labored 
 with great missionary zeal to convert England to Protestant- 
 ism. There, while Bucer became professor of theology at 
 Cambridge, Martyr became professor of theology at Oxford 
 university. He found that the Romanizing elements in the 
 Church of England were still strong, so strong as to incite 
 a riot, and in one of them he was in danger of loosing his 
 
THE JEWISH REFORMER 137 
 
 life. When the danger was over, the young King of Eng- 
 land, Edward VI, gave him an audience, warmly con- 
 gratulated him on his escape, and promised him promotion. 
 At Oxford even bishops attended his lectures, and he saw 
 much of Latimer and Ridley, who, later, with Cranmer, 
 suffered martyrdom (March 21, 1556) for their faith, under 
 Queen Mary, at Oxford. When Bloody Mary came to the 
 throne he was compelled to flee. After a perilous voyage 
 he landed at Antwerp, in the middle of the night. He went 
 to Strassburg, but found that the high Lutherans had 
 forced out the Reformed there. So he went to Zurich, 
 where he became professor of Hebrew. The only prominent 
 event in the later part of his life was his attendance at the 
 Colloquy at Poissy in France, where he ably seconded Beza 
 in his missionary effort to convert the court of France. 
 He died at Zurich, November 12, 1562, deeply loved and 
 greatly regretted. He was an eloquent preacher as well as 
 an able theologian. 
 
 THE JEWS 
 
 XVI. The Jewish Reformer. 
 
 One other kind of a Reformer remains, and one whose 
 significance has been little noticed. An attempt was made 
 at missions to God's ancient people, the Jews. It is true, 
 not much was accomplished, but a beginning was attempted. 
 Protestantism had hardly begun to live before she began to 
 do missionary work. We have seen her beginning in Brazil 
 in 1557, in a previous chapter. Now we notice a Reformer 
 who, like Paul, could say, "Brethren, my heart's desire and 
 prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved."* 
 This man was himself a converted Jew, for Protestantism 
 very early made an appeal, not only to Catholics, but also to 
 Jews. His name was Immanuel Tremellius. He was born 
 at Ferrara, and early came into contact with a friend of 
 
 * Romans 10: 1. 
 
138 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 Peter Martyr. Baptized a Christian, he soon became teacher 
 of Hebrew in the cloister school at Lucca, which Peter 
 Martyr had founded. Having been a Jew, he had learned 
 their sacred language, the Hebrew; but while teaching 
 Hebrew he also learned what Protestantism was. And he 
 learned, too, what suffering Protestantism brought. For, 
 like his master, Peter Martyr, he was soon compelled by 
 the inquisition to flee. He went to Strassburg, and there 
 taught with Peter Martyr, and then went with him to Eng- 
 land, where he taught Hebrew in the university of Cam- 
 bridge. Driven out of England by the Marian persecution, 
 he fled to the continent, and sought a place to teach in 
 different cities, but without success. Finally he was called 
 as tutor to the children of one of the lesser princes of 
 Germany, the Duke of Zweibriicken. When the Lutheranism 
 of his prince was stirred up, Tremellius was imprisoned 
 for several months because he was Reformed. 
 
 He was then called, in 1561, to Heidelberg. There he 
 was made professor of Hebrew and the Old Testament, and 
 held his place for fifteen years. During this time he 
 revisited England, which had again become Protestant under 
 Queen Elizabeth. He was received' there with great honor, 
 and was called to a professorship, but declined. His prince, 
 Elector Frederick III, of the Palatinate, appreciated his 
 work at Heidelberg so highly that when Calvin called him 
 as professor for his new theological school at Geneva, he 
 refused to let him go. When Lutheranism was reintroduced 
 into Heidelberg, at the death of Elector Frederick III, of 
 the Palatinate, he was again banished, and became pro- 
 fessor of Hebrew in the Reformed Theological Semi- 
 nary at Sedan, in France. There he died, October 0, 
 1580. His greatest work was a Latin translation of the 
 Bible, made while he was professor at Heidelberg. But 
 more interesting to us are his repeated efforts to prepare 
 books so that the Jews might learn to know Christ. He 
 tried to lead the Jews to Jesus, the Jews' Savior. Thus he 
 translated Calvin's catechism into Hebrew. And he also 
 
TREMELLIUS AS REFORMER 139 
 
 translated the Heidelberg Catechism into Hebrew for this 
 purpose. He stands out among the Reformed Reformers as 
 the great Jewish convert and professor. He, in the Reforma- 
 tion, revealed that holy intensity of zeal peculiar to con- 
 verted Jews (as Edersheim, the author of the best Life of 
 Christ in English), as they try in every way to bring their 
 race to the knowledge of Christ as their Messiah. Tremel- 
 lius may well be called the father of Protestant missions 
 to the Jews. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 POLAND 
 
 What was Erasmus' opinion of Lasco? 
 
 Where was Lasco born? 
 
 By whom was he reared in boyhood? 
 
 How did he come into contact with the Reformed in his 
 travels? 
 
 What rumors were against him on his return to Poland? 
 
 Why did he leave Poland? 
 
 What sacrifices did he make in doing so? 
 
 What work did he perform in East Friesland? 
 
 When he returned from England, in what condition did 
 he find the Reformed Church at East Friesland? 
 
 What was his great influence on Cranmer? 
 
 What were* his relations to Hooper and the Puritans? 
 
 Describe the Presbyterial organization of his London 
 congregation. 
 
 What English martyrs were there in Queen Mary's 
 reign? 
 
 Where did Lasco and his congregation flee to? 
 
 What was their reception by the King of Denmark? 
 
 What was their treatment at Copenhagen? 
 
140 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 How were they treated at Warnemunde, Wismar and 
 Travemunde? 
 
 Why were they so persecuted? 
 Where did they finally find an asylum? 
 What did Lasco do at Frankford? 
 What were his labors in Poland? 
 
 HUNGARY 
 
 Who were the three Reformers of Hungary? 
 
 What great Reformer did Devay first visit? 
 
 When he returned home, how was he persecuted? 
 
 What led him to become Reformed? 
 
 Describe Szegedin's early preaching. 
 
 In what respects did he differ from Devay as a Re- 
 former? 
 
 Describe Melius and how did he aid the Reformed? 
 
 Why did the Reformed doctrines take among the Hung- 
 arians better than the Lutheran? 
 
 How widely did the Reformation spread in Hungary? 
 
 ITALY 
 
 Name the three great Reformers of Italy. 
 
 Describe Ochino's life and preaching. 
 
 Describe Vergerius' life and preaching. 
 
 Describe Peter Martyr's early life and education. 
 
 What led him to become a Protestant? 
 
 Why did he leave Italy? 
 
 After leaving Italy, where did he go? 
 
 Describe his life in England. 
 
 Describe his life after leaving England. 
 
 THE JEWS 
 
 Who among the Reformers was the Father of Jewish 
 Missions? 
 
 How did he become a Protestant. 
 
 Where did he teach? 
 
 What did he do for the salvation of the .lews? 
 
KNOX AND MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS 
 From an Engraving in the Presbyterian Historical Society 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 The Reformers of Scotland — Hamilton, Wish art 
 
 and Knox 
 I. Hamilton's Youth and Education. 
 
 Patrick Hamilton was one of the two prince-reformers, 
 Lasco being the other. His father was Sir Patrick Hamil- 
 ton and his mother was of royal blood. He stands out as 
 one of the most beautiful characters of the Reformation. 
 He was Scotland's first Reformer. He was also Scotland's 
 first Protestant martyr, and of all Scottish martyrs, Hamil- 
 ton is the most attractive. 
 
 He was born about 1504 at Glasgow or Linlithgow. Of 
 his youth and education nothing is known. But having the 
 best blood of Scotland in his veins, he grew up to become 
 one of the most accomplished and heroic of her sons. About 
 1517 he attended the university in Paris where he 
 took the degree of Master of Arts in 1520. There he first 
 came into contact with humanism and with what was better 
 than humanism, namely, Evangelical faith. For Luther's 
 works were beginning to be circulated in France. And 
 when the university of Paris condemned Luther's writings, 
 Melancthon's splendid reply was published and republished 
 there, so great was the demand for it. From Paris, Hamil- 
 ton seems to have gone to Louvain where Erasmus was 
 living Then he returned to Scotland and entered the uni- 
 versity of St. Andrews in 1523. He not only studied there 
 but also composed a mass (for he was a fine musician) 
 which was sung in the cathedral. 
 
 He seems to have been gradually coming more and 
 more toward Protestantism. As a humanist he seems to 
 have especially disliked the monks because of their hypoc- 
 risy. And though appointed Abbot of Feme, he never 
 went into residence as a monk in his own abbey. Instead 
 of becoming a monk he became a priest. His historian, 
 Frith, says "he took upon him priesthood, so that he might 
 be permitted to preach the Word of God." He still, how- 
 
 141 
 
142 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 ever, had no idea of breaking with the Church. Just then 
 Luther's works began to come to Scotland, and the Scotch 
 Parliament in July 1525 forbade the circulation of Luther's 
 works. The next year Hamilton began to openly declare 
 his adherence to Evangelical doctrines. Early in 1527 Cardi- 
 nal Beaton, the head of the Catholic Church, began to make 
 inquiries about Hamilton's heterodoxy, and then proceeded 
 to accuse him. Hamilton was in great peril, for Beaton 
 had introduced the inquisition. Suddenly Hamilton found 
 himself confronted with the alternative of dying for his 
 doctrine or publicly recanting it. So he fled to the conti- 
 nent of Europe in the spring of 1527. 
 
 II. Hamilton an Exile. 
 
 He went to Luther at Wittenberg but did not stay long. 
 For the plague broke up the university and compelled its 
 transference to Jena. Hamilton did not follow it there but 
 went to Marburg, where one of the leading German Prot- 
 estant princes, Landgrave Phillip of Hesse, had just opened 
 a new university. Before that time all the universities 
 had had the sanction of the pope, but this was the first 
 Protestant university opened without asking the pope for 
 his sanction. Hamilton enrolled himself as one of its first 
 students. The Reformer of Hesse had been Lambert of 
 Avignon, who conceived for this young disciple the warmest 
 affection. Lambert thus speaks to the Landgrave about 
 him, "This young scion of the illustrious family of the 
 llamiltons, which is closely allied by ties of blood to the 
 King of Scotland, who although hardly twenty-three years 
 of age, brings to the study of Scripture a very sound judg- 
 ment and who has a vast store of knowledge, is come from 
 the end of the world to be more fully established in God's 
 truth. I have hardly ever met a man. who expresses him- 
 self with so much spirituality on the Word of God." 
 
 While at Marburg he took part in a public disputation. 
 The Landgrave felt himself specially honored at having 
 a prince from such a distant country defend his theses. 
 They were summed up in these two topics, "Christ is the 
 
HAMILTON'S RETURN TO SCOTLAND 143 
 
 author of redemption and faith is the eye that sees him." 
 They were published and are the only work that has come 
 down to us from his pen. They were really a brief outline 
 of theology and were named after him "Patrick's Places".* 
 It was the first work on Protestant theology in English. 
 The reading of this booklet led a number in Scotland to 
 become Protestants and some of them to become martyrs 
 for their faith. 
 
 III. Hamilton's Return to Scotland. 
 
 But he had hardly begun his studies at Marburg when 
 he felt called upon to end them. He felt that Scotland was 
 calling him over the sea. His native land needed the gos- 
 pel. He could not resist the call. He went home to become 
 the first Protestant missionary to Scotland. In the autumn 
 of 1527, after being a little more than six months on the 
 continent, he returned to his native land. It .was a heroic 
 return. He must have felt that to return must mean death. 
 But he feared not death. So out of his love for Scotland 
 and for his Savior, he went home to die. He went first to 
 his own family at Kincavil and told them of the blessed 
 peace he had found in the sacrifice of Christ. But his mis- 
 sionary zeal did not permit him to limit himself to his 
 family. He soon began preaching to the people around 
 his home and great crowds came to hear him, for his 
 preaching was so sweet and beautiful. He then grew bolder 
 and preached in St. Michiels at Linlithgow. Listening to 
 his preaching was a young maiden who accepted it. He 
 had given up all ideas of monastic celibacy and so married 
 her at the beginning of 1528. 
 
 IV. Hamilton at St. Andrew's. 
 
 But the arch-enemy of Protestantism in Scotland, Cardi- 
 nal Beaton, was watching him. He did not, however, dare 
 send armed men to take him. "For such a Protestant 
 
 *Commonplaces being the name for works on theology 
 in that day. 
 
144 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 missionary with royal blood in his veins, and the Hamilton 
 clan at his back, made Hamilton a more formidable heretic 
 than Luther would have been", says his biographer, 
 Lorimer. So the Cardinal resorted to strategy and perfidy. 
 He sent young Hamilton an invitation to come to St. 
 Andrew's for a conference on religion. The simplehearted 
 Reformer walked into the net, though not unconsciously, 
 for he predicted that he had not long to live. But he had 
 the courage of a martyr. He went there in January, 1528. 
 The conference was conciliatory, and he was given freedom 
 to preach. But all this was part of the plot, for he had 
 listeners who took down what he said and later became 
 witnesses against him. An old student friend, Alesius, 
 who was now very prominent as a Catholic, and who had 
 desired to break a lance with Luther, went to him, confident 
 that he would convert him back to Catholicism. But lo, 
 instead of converting the Protestant heretic, he was himself 
 converted to Protestantism. For nearly a month Hamilton 
 disputed in the university on the necessity of a reforma- 
 tion in the Church. He reasoned with them as he had 
 done in his "Patrick's Places," with all the logical power 
 of Thomas Aquinas, but with logic guided by Protestantism. 
 Like Paul, he reasoned with them out of the Scripture. 
 His teaching and preaching became so popular that the 
 Cardinal determined to strike. He was cited to appear 
 at the archbishop's palace to answer charges of heresy. 
 His friends urged him to flee from the country. But he had 
 returned to Scotland to lay down his life for it, if necessary, 
 that thereby Christ might be glorified; and to turn his 
 back now would lay a stumbling-block in the paths of those 
 who were inclined to Protestantism. His brother, hearing 
 of his danger, came with an armed force to deliver him. 
 But a freshet had caused the Forth river to rise, and he 
 could not cross it to save Patrick. 
 
 V. Hamilton's Death. 
 
 Hamilton appeared before the Cardinal's court, and 
 the charges against him were read. He replied to them. 
 
HAMILTON'S MARTYRDOM 145 
 
 A few days later it was publicly announced that he would 
 be sentenced in the cathedral on the last day of February. 
 His house was surrounded by soldiers at night. When the 
 governor of the castle opened the door, he said, "Here am 
 I." They took him away and threw him into the dungeon, 
 shaped like a bottle, in the castle, and about twenty-five 
 feet deep.* On the day appointed, he was brought to the 
 cathedral. He there defended himself so that he silenced 
 his enemies. He was condemned and led forth to the 
 gateway of St. Salvator's College. While they were piling 
 up the wood for his pyre, he calmly took his last meal, 
 and then inquired of the governor of the castle, "Is all 
 ready?" The governor, whose heart was breaking to see 
 such innocence and nobleness put to a cruel death, could 
 only reply, "God give you a better fate." Joyous he went 
 to the pyre. There he prayed for a few moments. The 
 bishop asked him to recant. "No," was the reply; "better 
 that my body should burn in your flames than that my 
 soul should burn in hell for having denied Him." Later 
 he added, "In the name of Jesus, I give up my body to 
 the fire and commit my soul into the hands of the Father." 
 The chain around his body became red-hot and had almost 
 burned him in two. One of the bystanders called out, 
 "If thou still holdest true the doctrine for which thou 
 diest, make us a sign." Two fingers of his hand had been 
 consumed, but he raised the other three. In the midst of 
 the tumult he was heard to cry, "O, God, how long shall 
 darkness cover thy realm." But his arm began to fall. 
 "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," he was heard to say. His 
 head drooped, his body sank, and his form was reduced to 
 ashes. And on that spot where he died can to-day be found 
 the stone on which are his initials, "P. H.," to mark the 
 place of his burning. 
 
 His death made a profound impression. In distant 
 Germany, his friend, Lambert of Avignon, speaking of his 
 
 * This dungeon is still there. 
 
146 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 life and death, said to his prince, "Such is the flower of 
 surpassing sweetness, yea, the ripe fruit which your uni- 
 versity produced at its beginning. You founded this school 
 that from it might go forth intrepid confessors of Christ. 
 See you have one such already." But it was in Scotland that 
 the most profound impression was made. "The reek of 
 Hamilton infected as many as it blew upon," was the 
 saying in Scotland. His high rank as a noble, the beauty 
 of his character, his youthfulness (he was only twenty-four 
 when he died), all combined to impress his native land. 
 His death startled the minds of men into attention, so 
 that they asked the question why a young nobleman so 
 gifted and good had been put to death. The Catholics 
 hoped to strangle the Reformation in its cradle by burning 
 him, but, says Lorimer, "it proved an infant Hercules, and 
 strangled the serpents that sought to destroy it." His pyre 
 lighted a light in Scotland that never went out until Knox 
 in 1560 completed the Reformation. His father had died 
 as a hero of chivalry; the son died as a hero for Christ. 
 If Ireland had its St. Patrick to save it from heathenism, 
 Scotland had its St. Patrick in Hamilton the saint to 
 save it from Romanism. 
 
 VI. Wishart's Preaching. 
 
 Sixteen years after Hamilton's death another Reformer 
 appeared in his footsteps, for then George Wishart returned 
 from England to Scotland. Born about 1513, he. in 1538, had 
 at Montrose gotten hold of a Greek New Testament, which 
 he read with several young men whom he was educating. 
 And it read itself into his heart. Cited to appear for heresy 
 before the Catholic bishop, he had left Scotland for Eng- 
 land, where he studied at Cambridge for six years. About 
 L544 he returned to Scotland with great missionary zeal. 
 At Montrose and Dundee he preached the Word of God. 
 His fame had preceded him, and many came to hear him, 
 for since Hamilton's time Protestantism had more and more 
 crept into Scotland. While he was preaching at Dundee, 
 
WISHART'S PREACHING 147 
 
 .the priests, alarmed, got an influential magistrate to rise 
 up while Wishart was finishing his discourse, and in the 
 name of the authorities forbid him to preach. So he left 
 Dundee and went west to Ayrshire, later the home of Rob- 
 ert Burns, the poet. As the Church of Ayr was closed 
 against him, he preached at the market cross to a larger 
 audience than the bishop, who locked him out of the 
 Church, had. Kept out of the Church at Mauchline, he 
 climbed a dike and preached for three hours. Then he 
 heard that the plague had broken out in Dundee, and he 
 hastened back there. As those who were in health were 
 within the city, and those sick were without, he took his 
 station at the east gate of the town, the Cowgate, and 
 preached to both the well and the sick. While preaching 
 there an armed priest waited at the foot of the steps to 
 assassinate him. Wishart noticed it, seized the priest's 
 hand, and snatched the weapon from him. The crowd 
 rushed on the man to punish him. Wishart saved him 
 by throwing his arms around him and saying, "Whoso 
 troubles him, troubles me." 
 
 When the plague ceased he went to Montrose, and while 
 there Cardinal Beaton tried to trick him into captivity. 
 He sent Wishart a letter purporting to have been written 
 by a sick friend who wanted him to come and see him. 
 So Wishart started. Sixty armed men lay in wait for him 
 behind a hill. When he came to the other side of the hill, 
 he suddenly stopped and declared he would go no farther. 
 When asked why he acted so, he replied, "I am forbidden 
 of God; I am assured there is treason." Pointing to the 
 hill, he sent some of his friends thither, who ran back to 
 tell him of his danger. So he escaped, but it was not for 
 long. Soon after he set out for Edinburgh. On the way he 
 stopped at a house. Two of his friends watched him as 
 he went into the garden of the house after midnight. They 
 heard him sighing and groaning, and just as day dawned 
 they saw him fall on his knees and for an hour pray with 
 bitter tears. In the morning they asked him for the mean- 
 
148 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 ing of this strange procedure. At first he evaded their 
 question, but finally confessed it was because of his ap- 
 proaching death. That garden had been his Ciethsemane, 
 where, like his Lord, he wrestled in prayer. He, however, 
 added, "This realm will be illuminated with the light of 
 Christ's Evangel." 
 
 VII. Wisharfs Death. 
 
 After preaching in various places, he finally came to 
 Haddington, where he stayed one night at the country-seat 
 of the Lord of Ormiston. That night the house was sur- 
 rounded by armed men. The Lord of Ormiston refused to 
 give him up. But the Catholics got the most powerful noble 
 of that part of the country, the Earl of Bothwell, to come 
 and give his word that Wishart would not be harmed. So 
 Wishart was carried away to the Earl's Castle. But the 
 Cardinal bought off the Earl with money, and so Wishart 
 was given over to Cardinal Beaton, who put him in the 
 same bottle-dungeon in the castle of St. Andrew's where 
 Hamilton had been imprisoned. Then he was called before 
 the cardinal's court and charged with heresy. He ably 
 replied, but was ordered to be burned on the next day. As 
 they refused him the Lord's Supper, because he was a 
 heretic, he celebrated it at breakfast with the governor of 
 the castle. On March 1, 1546, just west of the castle, but 
 several blocks away from where Hamilton had been burned, 
 he was put to death. Before his death he said, "I fear not. 
 But I know surely that my soul shall sup with my Savior 
 Christ this night." The hangman fell on his knees before 
 him and begged his forgiveness. Wishart kissed him as a 
 token of his forgiveness. There is a tradition that, as the 
 fire gathered around him, the governor of the castle cried 
 out, "Take courage." He replied, "This fire torment- my 
 body, but in no way abates my spirit." Then, catching 
 sight of Cardinal Beaton at a window of a house, he uttered 
 a prophecy, "He who from that high place feedeth his 
 eyes on my torment, within a few days shall be hanged, 
 
KNOX'S EARLY LIFE 149 
 
 but at the same window" — a prophecy which came true 
 three months later, as some of Beaton's enemies, together 
 with Wishart's friends, secretly entered his castle, murdered 
 him, and threw his body out of that very window. Thus 
 Wishart, like Elijah, went up to heaven in a chariot of fire. 
 God took the workmen, but continued their work. The 
 blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Hamilton 
 and Wishart, like Abel, being dead, yet continued to speak, 
 as more witnesses of the faith rose (and some were put 
 to death), until Knox came. Scotland has been bought with 
 Christ's blood and also with the blood of such martyrs as 
 Hamilton and Wishart. 
 
 VIII. Knox's Birth and Conversion. 
 
 A man holding a sword before him, whose point rests 
 on the ground, — such is the statue of Zwingli, the Reformer, 
 in the city of Zurich. A man holding a two-handed sword 
 before him, — so John Knox enters history. Thus the first 
 Reformer, Zwingli, and one of the last of the Reformers, 
 Knox, appear alike. Knox, like Calvin, belonged to the 
 second generation of the Reformers, and completed what 
 Hamilton and Wishart had begun. He was a Reformer of 
 many lands, more perhaps than any other of the Reformers, 
 for he labored in England, France, Germany and Switzerland 
 as well as in Scotland. He was a great missionary force 
 wherever he went. 
 
 Knox first appears prominently as the bearer of the 
 two-handed sword, which he carried before George Wishart 
 as his guard. Almost nothing is known of his previous 
 life. He was born probably in 1515, at or near Haddington. 
 He studied at the university of Glasgow. Then for many 
 years we hear nothing of him. Thomas William, the 
 Regent's Chaplain, was Knox's earliest instructor in Evan- 
 gelical doctrine. Of his conversion we know nothing, except 
 that just before he died, he told his wife that it was on the 
 seventeenth chapter of John that his soul first cast anchor. 
 Then Wishart, in one of his preaching tours, came to the 
 
150 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 noble family of Ormiston, where Knox was tutor. It was 
 in this house that Wisnart, as we have seen, was arrested. 
 Knox wanted to accompany him. But Wishart, foreseeing 
 his end, said, "Nay; return to thy pupils, and God bless 
 you. One is sufficient for the sacrifice." And thus, while 
 Wi.shart went to death, Knox was spared from death for 
 great purposes. But Wishart greatly influenced him, for 
 he left with him a book he had brought from the continent, 
 Bullinger's Confession of Faith, the First Helvetic Con- 
 fession. 
 
 The assassination of Cardinal Beaton, after Wishart's 
 martyrdom, led to a reaction against the Protestants, from 
 whose persecutions Knox only escaped by a constant change 
 of residence. He finally, together with his pupils, took 
 refuge (1547) in the castle of St. Andrew's, where the con- 
 spirators against Beaton were being besieged. In the chapel 
 of the castle he resumed the instruction of his pupils on 
 the Gospel of John. But this tutor of boys became the 
 leader of men. Soon the garrison and the refugees gathered 
 with them to hear his teaching. His ability and success 
 led to his call into the ministry. John Rough, one of the 
 ministers, preached one day on the ministry; and then, 
 in the name of all present in the congregation, he made a 
 public appeal to Knox to become a minister. Knox burst 
 into tears and withdrew to his chamber, for he had 
 scruples about accepting the responsibilities of so high an 
 office. But the next Sunday he preached his first sermon 
 against the papacy with such great force that his hearers 
 said of him. "Maister Wishart spoke never so, and yet he 
 was burned, even so will he be." Then in a disputation 
 with the Catholics he, by the use of Scripture proofs, drove 
 his opponents into a corner, so that the latter declared 
 that when the apostles wrote their Epistles they had not 
 yet received the Holy Ghost. He also celebrated the Lord's 
 Supper like the Reformed on the continent. 
 
 IX. Knox in the Galleys. 
 
 After Knox had been at St. Andrew's about four months. 
 
KNOX IN THE GALLEYS 151 
 
 a- French fleet appeared before the town and compelled it 
 to surrender. The French took Knox with others as pris- 
 oners, and made them galley-slaves for nineteen months. 
 Many years later he thus refers to his sufferings, "How 
 long I continued in prison, and what torment I sustained 
 in the galleys, and what were the sobs of my heart, there 
 is no time to repeat." Other Reformers there were who 
 died for their faith, but he then suffered a living death; 
 and he was the only one of the Reformers who went through 
 that sort of martyrdom. 
 
 Of this period two interesting incidents have come 
 down to us. Soon after his galley arrived at Nantes, in 
 France, a gaudily painted image of Mary was offered to 
 one of them, probably Knox. He replied, "Trouble me not; 
 such an object is accursed, and therefore I dare not touch 
 it." But they forced it on him and put it between his 
 hands. Whereat he threw it into the river, saying, "Let 
 the lady now save herself. She is light enough. Let her 
 learn to swim." The other incident occurred when his galley 
 had been taken back to Scotland. As it lay opposite St. 
 Andrew's, Knox, then very sick, was asked if he recognized 
 St. Andrew's. "Yes," he replied, "I know it well, for I see 
 the steeple of the place where I first opened my mouth to 
 His glory." And then he added this prophecy, "And I am 
 fully persuaded, though I am very sick now, that I shall 
 not depart this life until my tongue shall glorify His godly 
 name in the same place." This prophecy was, as we shall 
 see, fulfilled many years after. At last, in 1549, he was 
 set free. 
 
 X. Knox in England. 
 
 As a return to Scotland would mean that he would 
 suffer the same fate as his spiritual father, Wishart, he 
 remained in England, where Evangelical preachers were 
 greatly needed since Edward VI had come to the throne. 
 The Anglican Church licensed him, asking no questions as 
 to whether he had been episcopally ordained. For five 
 
152 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 years, with true missionary zeal, he was a minister of that 
 Church, first at Berwick and then at Newcastle on Tyne. 
 Then he was appointed one of the royal chaplains, and often 
 preached in London. He refused, it is said, the bishopric 
 of Rochester. He left, however, a permanent impress on 
 the Anglican Church by his opposition to kneeling at the 
 Lord's Supper. This is shown in the Prayer-book of 1552, 
 where a rubric was inserted explaining that this kneeling 
 means no adoration of the elements. "This," said a later 
 ritualist, "was the act of runagate Scot." But when Mary 
 came to the throne of England he was compelled to flee, 
 and went to the continent for four and a half years. 
 
 XI. Knox on the Continent. 
 
 In 1554 he was called to be pastor of the English 
 Refugee Church at Frankfort, in Germany. And here during 
 his pastorate occurred a great controversy which was the 
 prophecy of the later Puritan controversy that so long 
 divided the Anglican Church. His congregation was re- 
 quired by the Lutheran authorities of Frankfort to con- 
 form to the Calvinistic liturgy of the Walloon refugee 
 church, which had come to Frankfort some time before 
 them. So the Anglican Prayer-book was modified by leaving 
 out the litany and the responses, together with a few other 
 changes. These changes suited Knox and some of the 
 congregation who preferred the simpler Reformed worship. 
 But later a colony of English refugees arrived, led by 
 Cox, who had been one of the compilers of the Prayer-book. 
 They demanded the full use of that liturgy. And, by 
 bringing a charge of treason against Knox for having com- 
 pared the Emperor Charles V to Nero, they led the city 
 government to demand Knox's departure. He went to 
 Geneva, where he was gladly welcomed by Calvin, who had 
 sympathized with him in his troubles at Frankford, and 
 had written him a letter in which he speaks of the Anglican 
 Prayer-book as having "many tolerably foolish things," — 
 a charge for which the Anglican Church has never for- 
 
KNOX'S RETURN TO SCOTLAND 153 
 
 given him. Knox organized the English Church at Geneva, 
 and soon the congregation numbered more than two hun- 
 dred. His stay at Geneva was the happiest time of his life. 
 There he had the kind of worship he liked, and also a 
 congenial friend in Calvin, to whom he always looked up as 
 a father. And his congregation, too, had in it scholars of 
 first rank, as Coverdale. The congregation, though small, 
 was charged with great destinies, for out of it Came Pres- 
 byterianism in Scotland and also Puritanism in England. 
 One of its most influential acts was the publication by 
 Whittingham of the Genevan Bible, the most popular of the 
 early English versions. 
 
 XII. Knox's Return to Scotland. 
 
 After twelve years of exile from Scotland, during 
 which time he had visited his native land once (1555-6), 
 he started to return to Scotland after the death of 
 Queen Mary of England in 1558. He was, however, halted 
 at Dieppe by his friends in Scotland, countermanding their 
 invitation to him to return. So, as he was possessed of 
 the true missionary spirit, he began preaching for the 
 Ili.guenots at Dieppe. He founded the Huguenot Church 
 there, and his converts were so many that it afterward 
 became one of the strongholds of the Reformed Church 
 of Prance. 
 
 Finally the way opened for him to return to Scot- 
 land, May 2, 1559. The Reformation had been gaining 
 power there, especially among the nobles, so that in Decem- 
 ber, 1557, the Protestant nobles had drawn up a covenant, 
 which organized them into a party. The political situation 
 helped their cause, as many of the Scotch had grown 
 restive against the growing domination of France in Scotch 
 affairs. Knox arrived at Scotland at the psychological 
 moment. Although much of the political power of the 
 Protestants had been due to James Stewart and the Duke 
 of Argyle, yet it was due no less to Knox, for in him 
 Protestantism found a religious leader. He became the 
 
154 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 great missionary and evangelist to call Scotland to Christ. 
 The crisis that occurred when he arrived was that the 
 Queen Regent had ordered the Protestant preachers to ap- 
 pear before her at Stirling, May 10, 1559. Instead they 
 gathered at Perth, and there Knox made his first public 
 appearance in Scotland with the Dundee contingent. There 
 Knox sounded the trumpet call of Protestantism by preach- 
 ing a series of sermons against the idolatries of Rome. At 
 the end of one of his sermons a priest came in to celebrate 
 mass. As a boy made some comment on his act, the priest 
 gave him a cuff on the ear. But the boy was ready, and 
 retaliated with a stone, which, missing the priest, struck 
 and broke an image. That was a sufficient signal. The 
 Protestants cleared the churches of images and relics of 
 Romanism. The Regent saw in this an opportunity against 
 Protestantism, so she marched her army against Perth. It 
 finally surrendered. But she violated her promise to them 
 to permit Protestant worship. 
 
 So the Protestants withdrew to St. Andrew's. And so 
 Knox fulfilled his prophecy of years before, — he preached 
 the Gospel again at St. Andrew's. Then the Protestants 
 captured Perth and Edinburgh, and Knox preached there 
 in St. Giles Cathedral. Then the tide turned, for the 
 Catholics received help from France. The Protestants were 
 defeated at Leith, and retreated in great disorder to Stirling 
 and St. Andrew's. Knox went to the latter place. The 
 Regent tried to drive them out of St. Andrew's. Their 
 extremity was then so great that the Regent exclaimed, 
 "Where is now John Knox, his God? My God is stronger 
 than his, yes, even in Fife."* Knox's anxiety now pierced 
 his heart more than all the torments of the galleys. But 
 still he never doubted that the Gospel would triumph. Then 
 providence sent help. England sent an army, so that they 
 captured Edinburgh. By July 6 peace was made, and the 
 Protestants were masters of the kingdom. Knox in all 
 
 * The district of Fife was largely Protestant. 
 
KNOX AND QUEEN MARY 155 
 
 these campaigns was not only army-chaplain, but he was 
 also secretary, penning dispatches and negotiating with 
 England for help, yes, even haggling with her about the 
 sums of money to be paid to the Scotch nobles, it was said. 
 But his voice put more fire into the men than five hundred 
 trumpets. 
 
 However, though peace had come, much still remained 
 to be done. The appeal that had most influenced Scotland 
 had been political and not religious. The nobles had grown 
 jealous of the foreign French dominion. It remained for 
 Knox to complete this political reformation by a religious 
 reformation. Fortunately the state was now on his side, 
 and one of the early acts of the Scotch Parliament of 1560 
 was the forbidding of the mass, under severe penalties. 
 
 XIII. Knox and Mary, Queen of Scots. 
 
 Suddenly an event occurred that changed the whole 
 situation. Queen Mary returned from France to Scotland 
 on August 19, 1561. Then came the tremendous struggle 
 between Knox and Queen Mary — one of the great duels in 
 history between two religions and also between fashion 
 and worldliness in Mary on the one side, and intense 
 spirituality and Puritanism in Knox on the other. On the 
 Sunday after her arrival, she celebrated mass in Holyrood 
 Castle, just south of Edinburgh. Knox thundered against 
 this from his pulpit at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, 
 about a mile away. He declared that the mass was for- 
 bidden by law, and said that "one mass was more fearful 
 to him than the landing of ten thousand armed enemies." 
 Mary decided to win him, and so invited him to an inter- 
 view in her castle, August 26. But she found a man on 
 whom her smiles and blandishments, usually so powerful, 
 had no effect. His replies completely silenced her. A sec- 
 ond time he was called before her, for a sermon that he 
 had preached against the persecutions of the Huguenots in 
 France, in celebration of which the queen had had a ball 
 at Holyrood castle. As he was going out of this interview. 
 
156 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 some papists, seeing his "merry countenance," said of him, 
 "He is not afraid." He overheard it, and replied, "Why 
 should the pleasing face of a gentlewoman make me afraid? 
 I have looked into the faces of many angry men, and yet 
 not been afraid above measure." But the most stormy 
 interview occurred in June, 1563, when the rumor went 
 abroad that Mary was to marry the Catholic king of Spain. 
 Knox denounced this with such force from his pulpit that 
 even his friends were displeased. The queen, when he came 
 in, was in a towering passion, and she had called him to the 
 castle for the express purpose of silencing him. But Knox 
 was not a man to be silenced, especially when he believed 
 religion to be at stake. During the period of these inter- 
 views, of which there were five, Knox was virtually the 
 uncrowned king of Scotland, as at St. Giles Cathedral he 
 thundered against Mary and the papacy in Holyrood palace. 
 
 But after this last interview Knox's life was in peril, 
 for the queen's example was telling on the country. Those 
 who came up to Edinburgh to protest against her celebra- 
 tion of the mass somehow cooled when they came into con- 
 tact with her court. And they went home with the idea that 
 the mass was not so dangerous after all. The holy water 
 of the court sprinkled on them took away their fervency. 
 The priests took advantage of this feeling, and here and 
 there throughout the land they began to celebrate mass. 
 It was a question whether the queen might not ultimately 
 gain the day, especially as Mary's blandishments were 
 undermining the virtue of the Protestant nobility. 
 
 But suddenly Mary threw all her chances away. She 
 married her cousin, Darnley. This act cost her some of 
 her best counsellors. Darnley, though young and beautiful, 
 was a fool, and she soon tired of him for Rizzio, an Italian 
 of her court. Then Rizzio, her favorite, was assassinated, 
 March 9, 1566. Matters, however, had been dark for the 
 Protestants after the queen's marriage, especially as Knox 
 had been forbidden to preach in Edinburg when the king 
 and queen were there. They became darker after the 
 
KNOX'S LAST YEARS 157 
 
 assassination of Rizzio, for some of the Protestant leaders 
 were implicated in that act and had to flee. Knox had to 
 retire to Ayrshire. He returned, however, to Edinburgh, 
 as Mary's new favorite was the Earl of Bothwell, a nominal 
 Protestant. But just then the queen restored the Catholic 
 archbishop of St. Andrew's to his jurisdiction. This was 
 the most daring act that Mary had done, and Knox knew 
 not what to expect next. Then Darnley was assassinated. 
 And three months after, the queen was married to Both- 
 well. Horror at this caused a revolution against Mary on 
 the part of many of the Scotch nobles, both Catholic and 
 Protestant. Mary's forces were defeated, and she was im- 
 prisoned in Loch Leven Castle. Mary's infant son, James, 
 was crowned king, and Knox preached the coronation ser- 
 mon on the Coronation of Joash. The next parliament in 
 1567 confirmed the acts of 1560, forbidding Catholicism in 
 Scotland. On May 2, 1568, Mary escaped from Loch Leven 
 and took refuge in England. Thus Knox and Protestantism 
 triumphed. 
 
 XIV. Knox's Last Years. 
 
 But, alas, the good Protestant regent, Moray, was soon 
 after assassinated, January 23, 1570, an irreparable loss to 
 Knox. The situation was still somewhat uncertain in Scot- 
 land. Even the castle at Edinburgh sided with Mary 
 against the Protestants who controlled the city. Knox was 
 in danger. A shot was fired into his house, but missed 
 him because he accidentally, or, rather, providentially, had 
 left his accustomed seat. By this time Knox began to 
 reveal the infirmities of age, superinduced by his worries 
 and cares. He was now a broken man physically. His last 
 public act was the installation of his successor, Lawson, at 
 St. Giles Cathedral. His voice was then so weak that he 
 could not be heard in that great edifice. The last night of 
 his life he had a great wrestling with a new temptation, 
 namely, that his good works were sufficient in the sight 
 of God to save him. Later asked to give a parting sign that 
 
158 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 he was in peace, he lifted his hand and passed away. At 
 his funeral the regent, Morton, uttered the memorable 
 eulogy, "Here lies one who neither flattered nor feared 
 any flesh." 
 
 XV. His Character. 
 
 So died Knox, a man of superb faith in the face of 
 greatest difficulties, — a man of impulsiveness, so that he 
 sometimes made mistakes. But he was a man of prayer, 
 so that Queen Mary trembled at his prayers. He more 
 nearly approached Farel in his character than any of the 
 other Reformers, except that he had certain elements of 
 Calvin's statesmanship. He had the fervor peculiar to the 
 Scotch in oratory. When he preached, he fused logic and 
 passion, and stormed at once the head and the heart of 
 his hearers. Says his biographer, "He was one of the four 
 great Scotchmen," Buchanan, Burns and Carlyle being the 
 other three. 
 
 XVI. Conclusion. 
 
 In closing this work, the author can only express the 
 hope that this study of the zeal of the Reformers for the 
 salvation of their age may prove to be a stimulus to us to 
 be missionaries in our age. How much we owe to the 
 Reformers of the sixteenth century! But for them we 
 would still be in the superstitions and darkness of Roman- 
 ism. Shall we not show our thankfulness to them by giv- 
 ing the precious Gospel of God's grace, which they preached, 
 to those in our day who have it not? May their mission- 
 ary zeal lay hold of us, and may the Spirit of God so fill 
 all who study this book that we may have a new era of 
 the Evangelism of the Reformation. 
 
QUESTIONS 159 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 What was the significance of Patrick Hamilton among 
 the Reformers? 
 
 How was he educated? 
 
 How was he converted? 
 
 Why did he flee to Europe? 
 
 Where did he go? 
 
 What was the name of his book, and what his influence 
 on Scotland? 
 
 Why did he go back to Scotland? 
 
 To whom did he first preach? 
 
 How did Cardinal Beaton get hold of him? 
 
 How was he arrested and condemned? 
 
 Describe his martyrdom. 
 
 What was the effect of his martyrdom on Scotland? 
 
 Describe Wishart's early life. 
 
 Describe his preaching in Dundee and Ayrshire. 
 
 How did Cardinal Beaton try to trick him so as to 
 capture him? 
 
 Describe his arrest and captivity. 
 
 Describe his martyrdom. 
 
 What prophecy did he utter at his death, and how 
 fulfilled? 
 
 Describe the conversion of Knox. 
 
 Describe his call to the ministry. 
 
 What was his life as a galley slave. 
 
 Describe his preaching in England. 
 
 Why did he leave England, and where did he go? 
 
 What was the controversy at Frankford? 
 
 Describe his pastorate at Geneva. 
 
 What missionary work did he do at Dieppe? 
 
 When did he at last return to Scotland? 
 
 How did his arrival in Scotland affect the Protestant 
 cause? 
 
 Describe his preaching at Perth. 
 
 Describe the war between the Catholics and Protestants. 
 
160 FAMOUS REFORMERS 
 
 How did the return of Mary affect the Protestant cause? 
 Describe any of the interviews between Knox and 
 Queen Mary. 
 
 How was Mary winning the Protestants to her side? 
 
 How did Mary throw away her cause? 
 
 What finally became of her? 
 
 What dangers still gathered around Knox? 
 
 Describe his death. 
 
 What was his character? 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 *%g&g0^&&\ 
 
 
 
 JUII \*> 
 
 I**** 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 ■<£L 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 *J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^r- 3i=S!a: 
 
 Wf4f 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYUORO 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U. S A. 
 
BW1842.G64C.2 
 
 Famous reformers of the Reformed and 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Libr; 
 
 1 1012 00016 4824