tihvaxy of t:he Cheolojical ^tminavy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY The Stephen Collins donation BX 9418 .H45 1851 V.2 c.l Henry, Paul ] Emil, 1792 1-1853 The life and times ! of John Calvin V ■ V ■> THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN C ALY I F, THE GREAT REFORMEE. TRANSLATED FRjOM THE GERMAN OP PAUL HENEY, D.D., MINISTER AND SEMINARY-INSPECTOR IN BERLIN. BY HENRY STEBBING, D.D., F.Ii.S. AUTHOR OF " HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND REFORMATION" IN LARDNEr's CYCLOFjEDIA HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG ; LIVES OF THE ITALIAN POETS, ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285BROADWAY. 1851. CONTENTS PART II.— CoNTmuED. CHAPTER X. State of the Church in the years, 1544 and 1545. .... 1 CHAPTER XI. The German War. — League of Smalcalde. — Defeat of the Protes- tants. — Calvin writes against the Interim. — The Church of Eng- land. — Calvin's literary labors, . . . . . . .19 CHAPTER XII. Anabaptists. —Spiritual libertines. — The antichristianity of Geneva. — Political Ubertines opposed to the Refugees, . . . .41 CHAPTER XIII. Fury of the libertines. — Anger and severity of Calvin. — Ameaux, Perrin, and Gruet, . . . . . . . . .55 CHAPTER XIV. Insults heaped on Calvin, — His resolution, inward peace, and con- solation in friendship. — Viret, ....... 69 CHAPTER XV. ■ Efforts to re-establish peace. — Struggle on behalf of a Great Church Union. — Agreement of the Zurichers on the Lord's Supper, 75 IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. Page Union of great minds. — A plan to effect unity of doctrine and dis- cipline by a community of spirit. — Harmony between Luther and Calvin in living faith. — Melancthon, 84 PART III. CHAPTER I. Introductory remarks. — Characteristics of Calvin, .... 103 CHAPTER II. The outward condition of the Church, and Calvin's circumstances at Geneva in the years 1550, 1551, 1552. — His work 'De Scan- dalis.' — Letters to Cranmer and Melancthon, . . . .108 CHAPTER III. The first great controversy. — The dispute respecting Predestination. — Bolsec, 128 28j) CHAPTER IV. Calvin's second great controversy, on the Trinity, 1553. — Dispute with Servetus. — Its consequences, ...... 158 CHAPTER V. Servetus condemned to death. — His last hours in prison. — His execu- tion. — An inquiry into the circumstances attending it. — Review of liis doctrines, .......... 214 CHAPTER VI. Other teachers of false doctrine respecting the Trinity. — MatthjEus Gribaldi, — Blandrata, — Gentilis — his system and history, . . 263 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Page Calvin's controversy -with Westphal and Hesshus on the doctrine of the Sacrament. — Rise and progress of the dispute. — Parties engaged. — Results, 2V4 CHAPTER VIIL Final struggle against the libertines. — Berthelier. — -Triumph of dis- cipline. — Failure of Calvin's enemies. — Educational plans, . . 306 CHAPTER IX. • Calvin's activity. — His influence in England and Scotland. — John Knox. — Correspondence with the English exiles in Frankfort, . 326 CHAPTER X. Calvin's relation to the Northern churches. — His influence in Poland. — Correspondence with King Sigismund and with the Polish nobles, 340 CHAPTER XI. Influence of Calvin in France. — Rapid development of the Refor- mation in the fire of persecution. — Martyrs in the reign of Henry II. at Lyons, Chambery, and other places. — Calvin's dis- tress. — He exhorts the German princes to interfere. — Beginning of the Church in Paris. — Emigration of the Reformed to Amer- ica. — Heroic courage of the Confessors. — Anne du Bourg. — Sketch of events preceding the Colloquy of Poissy. — Belief and discipline of the French Church. — Unity of the Church under Calvin's influence. — His success at its highest point. — Animating address to all the great personages in France belonging to the Evangelical party, , 363 CHAPTER XII. Beza at the Colloquy of Poiss)'-, 1561. — His account to Calvin. — Occurrences September 9, IbQl. — The Reformed Church recog- nized by the Edict of January, 1562, 380 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. Page First religious war. — The Peace. — 1562-1563, . . . . 396 CHAPTER XIV. Calvin's latest controversies. — The false reports published by his enemies. — Struggle against Balduin, 410 CHAPTER XV. Calvin takes leave of the world. — Review of the close of his life. — !y[is outward circumstances and inward state. — His last labors. — Farewell address to the Ministers and to the Council. — General mourning. — Beza's character of Calvin, . . . . .419 Appendix, 43j[ Index, 445 PART 11. CONTINUED. LIFE AND TIMES OF CALVIN. PART II.—CONTINUED. CHAPTER X. STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THE YEARS 1544 AND 1545. The beginning of a letter from Calvin to Bullinger contains a notice of the progress of the Gospel in France. He speaks of the descendants of the Waldenses in Provence and^ Piedmont : " Their piety and the innocence of their lives is such, that their salvation must be precious in the eyes of every believer. Three years ago they presented a copy of their confession to the par- liament of Aix ; it is pure and simple, and such a one as we our- selves should have delivered. Do not believe that it was a zeal, ^ir in appearance, but soon to vanish. They have been again and again summoned before the tribunal ; have endured the trial with unflinching firmness, and are still exposed to the most cruel persecutions. The king himself proposes to examine and judge their cause. Two commissaries have received command to inquire, both publicly and secretly, into their doctrine and manners. The brethren have no fear of these officers, for they have ever so conducted themselves, that even their enemies bear testimony to their integrity. Now bishops, prefects, and even the parliament, are strenuously laboring to hinder the fulfil- ment of the king's intentions ; and if the old rule be followed, VOL. II. — 1 2 LETTER TO BULLINGER. [cHAP. X, they will rouse up all the lions and wolves they can to rage against them. But even if he be obeyed, they are not freed from danger. They have already introduced the pure worship of God into three cities, and into several villages, and have even es- tablished a church purified from all papistical corruption. In that church they celebrate baptism and the Lord's Supper according to our usage. " Now, the greater the danger on all sides, the more must we strive to be ready to afford help, especially since they exhibit so noble an example of firmness ; and we should deserve, did we for- sake them, to be overwhelmed with shame. Add to this, that the present matter does not concern them alone, for either the way will be opened by their persecution to the rage of the wicked against the churches, in all parts of the kingdom, or the Gospel will by this means be everywhere diffused. What remains there- fore for us but to employ all our strength, lest our pious brethren should perish through our sloth, and the door be long closed to Christ ? I have desired to say this to you, in order that, should they seek refuge with you, your government might be prepared to render them assistance. One of two things must be done for them; that is, we must either induce the king to exercise his promised good-will towards them, or soften his anger, should it have been excited to their prejudice." Thus it appears that the persecution which broke out in the following year already threatened the unfortunate Waldenses. We find Calvin busily occupied at Geneva, in 1545. in receiving the sufferers, and affording them every possible kind of help. Another storm also was now brooding over the church in Ger- many. Charles had commenced in 1542 an expedition against France ; but this was concluded in 1544 by the peace of Crespy, and in a manner very advantageous to the French. This course was adopted by the emperor, that he might employ his whole ac- tivity against the league of Smalcalde. It had been determined by the diet at Speier, that both parties should resolve on certain points of reformation. In the expectation of carrying this into effect, the states assembled in 1545 at Worms. The Wittenberg reformation, as the plan offered by the protestants was called, had been sketched by Melancthon with the greatest moderation. Paul III. opened the council in opposition to these proceedings, and in order to prevent the emperor from interfering with religious affairs: this constrained Charles to support the interests of the reformers. A.D. 1544-45.] STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 3 During the hostilities in France and the disturbances in Ger- many, the Gospel continued to advance ; and Beza shows how the power of faith, exhibited by many Christians in their mar- tyrdom, gave occasion to the further triumphs of the Holy Spirit. It was just now that the violent persecution of the innocent Waldenses was commenced, at the instigation of the cardinal Tournon, and a certain Menyer d'Opede, governor of Provence. They pretended to the king of France, that they would send the unfortunate people to Marseilles, and convert the country into a Swiss canton. The ardent and volatile Francis believed this statement, and the accused were surrendered as a prey to their persecutors, who assailed them with inconceivable cruelty, and even ordered that the little children should be left to die of hun- ger.* Those who escaped the persecution, and fled into the moun- tains, obtained at their earnest entreaty a safe-conduct into Ger- many. A part of these afterwards returned into their valleys, where, after the endurance of many persecutions, their descendants are still existing, Beza has given in his history of the reformation in France, a transcript of the 'Instruction' which Henry II. issued, at the request of his dying father, who repented of the course which he had pursued, against the persecutors of the Waldenses. We learn from this instrument, and from the acknowledgment of the persecutors themselves, the treacherous and barbarous char- acter of the persecution. Twenty-two villages were reported as burnt, and their inhabitants were murdered without even the form of a trial. Calvin, most deeply afflicted at the sufferings of these unfortunate people, to whom he had formerly sent a minister for their instruction in pure doctrine, so exerted him- self on their behalf, that 4000 Waldenses found support in Geneva. He instituted collections for them.t The council allowed them to be employed on the public works, and opened a way for them through Switzerland. In the year 1554 those who still remained in Geneva obtained grants of land. Calvin * " Les mamelles coupees a plusieurs femmesj aupres desquelles mortes furent vus raourans de faitn les petits enfans, ayaut fait crier le dit Opede sur peine de la hard, qu'on ne donnat vivres ne soulagement quelconque a aucun d'iceux. Tout fut pille, brule, saccage, et ne fureut sauves que ceux, que Poulin choisit pour ses galeres. Les fenimes rassetnblees et brulees dans une grange ; 800 personnes tuees dans le temple." Leger in his account of his country says, that the Eternal, who destined it to be the theatre of his miracles and the asylum of his ark, had naturally and wonder- fully fortified it. (T. i. p. 9.) f Reg. du 8 Juin 1545. — " Collection for the poor, made at the requeist of Calvin, and which produced 16 florins." 4 CALVIN TO VIRET, [cHAP. X. turned especially to the Swiss cantons and the German princes, and pressed them to intercede strongly with France in behalf of the Waldenses. Thus he wrote to Schaff hausen and to Bul- linger, July 24, 1545, desiring that an embassy might be sent to the king: — "You must assail, their base opponents, and those who are excited against them by false reports. The greater number of these unhappy people are perishing in chains, others are dispersed by flight. None dare venture even to indulge the wish of ever again seeing their families. Continual attacks are made, and that with the knowledge of the king, upon the lord- ship of Avignon. Prisoners are carried from all sides to Paris, and if some effort be not made to resist these proceedings, you will soon hear that a vast conflagration is raging through the whole kingdom, and which the times will leave no chance of extinguishing. Use all your influence therefore to promote the sending of a respectable embassy, which may earnestly entreat the king to free the prisoners, to restore their goods to those who have fled, and to institute a fair inquiry into the faith and man- ners of these pious sufferers." Notwithstanding Calvin's active and zealous exertions, the em- bassy, if we may judge from a letter to Viret, dated August 17, 1545, seems not to have been sent. In September he despatched two Waldenses to Viret, and wrote, " You will see that Satan is using every means to turn the hearts of all against them ; to pre- vent their receiving any help, and to exasperate the feehngs of the king and his courtiers, fierce as they already are, still more to their prejudice. Even the Swiss are greatly distressing me by supposing that I am bringing upon them the anger of the French monarch. But nothing can appear sufficiently important in our eyes to turn us from a duty, which is more than ever indis- pensable." It appears that Viret, during these troubles, had undertaken a journey, the means for which had been provided by Geneva. In the following year Calvin encouraged Farel and Viret to travel to Worms, to make exertions in behalf of the sufferers in France; — " It is your business to fulfil my promise, even though it might be given improvidently. This circumstance itself will afford you help, you not being the originators of the affair." His whole life, in fact, was marked by the most diligent endeavors to suppress, by the interference of Germany and Switzerland, which had then a certain degree of poUtical importance, the persecutions in France. A.D. 1544-45.] CHURCH AT MEAUX. 5 We learn from a letter addressed to Calvin by Myconius,* some of the darkest features of that afflicting season. The writer thanks him for his letter to Charles V., and says of the emperor : — " He is now persecuting the saints in Belgium. Queen Mary, the emperor's sister, has not been able to defend even her own chaplain. This is the case in numberless other instances, and the emperor hopes by these means to obtain his reconciliation with the offended pope. Why does he not much rather endeavor to procure peace with God, whose hand lies now so heavy upon him, weighing him down with grievous sicknesses ? I hear from the council that it is suspended. The diet is not proceeding. Up to the present time the bishop of Augsburg, lately made a cardinal, is the only prelate at Worms, and he has been playing a game, which is quite the mode in little cities, and has not wholly gone out of fashion even in Rome. Men in masks force themselves into the houses of the citizens, eat, drink, play, dance, and commit all sorts of follies and debaucheries, which may seem gay and jovial enough, but greatly scandalize the masters of families, though there are none, as I hear, who dare venture to oppose them. This is a worthy preparation, as well for the diet as for the synod ! O let us pray that God may arise to uphold his cause and declare his righteousness ! The offences of the great continually increase, so that the day of God's wrath seems nearer than men believe. The Lord grant that we may meet Him with joy." But what was most important for Calvin and Geneva at this period, was the deep impression whicli evangelical truth was then making in France. This is, we lament to say, one of the most unnoticed portions of church history, which only delights in re- peating the great events of an age, instead of exhibiting for ad- miration the work of the Holy Ghost on the souls which shone like stars in this night of gloom. The history of the martyrs in France has been till now almost totally neglected. The following scenes afford a fitting contrast to the levity of which Myconius speaks, and to the vanities of the council. The year 1546, so pregnant with events, produced a fearful perse- cution of the church at Meaux. It had been already once dis- persed in the year 1523; but the seed of the divine Word soon after took still deeper root there, so that the Lutherans of Meaux were spoken of proverbially in France. They formed a complete church, according to the model of that which Calvin * March 1545. Ep. 61. 6 CHURCH AT MEAUX. [CHAP. X. had established at Strasburg. Having fasted and prayed, they chose for their minister Pierre Leclerc, a wool-comber by trade, but who was deeply versed in the holy Scriptures. His preach- ing was so blessed, that in a short time between 300 and 400 be- lievers assembled to hear him. On the 3d of September, 1546, St. Mary's day, sixty persons were taken prisoners in the house where he preached, and who, far from attempting to defend then)selves, submitted quietly to be bound, praising God for the honor. The Lutherans who were outside immediately joined them in singing the seventy-ninth psalm. Those who were seized (nineteen women and forty-one men) bad been selected from the rest, because at the time they were celebrating the Lord's Supper. Having been thrust iiUo wagons, prepared for the purpose, they were conveyed in the most unmerciful manner to Paris. Several of them arrived with broken limbs, but this did not protect them against the infliction of the rack. Fourteen,^ whose names have been preserved in the history of the church, were condemned to unusual tortures^ and afterwards to be pub- licly burnt. The house in whicii they had been accustomed to assemble was pulled to the ground, and a chapel built on the spot, in which every Sunday mass was to be performed. All the expenses attending this were furnished by the confiscated property of the sufferers. Some of the prisoners had been placed in a monastery, that an attempt might be made to convert them. As this experi- ment did not succeed, they were sent back to Meaux, attended by two Soibonnists, who continued to press their conversion while seeking their blood. The sentence of death pronounced upon them was executed October 7, in the place before their meeting-house, and in the following manner. The tongue of one of them being torn out, he was still heard to murmur, " The name of God be praised." The several martyrs were then dragged up, that they might be burnt at the fourteen stakes, placed in a circle. Owing to this position of the stakes, they were able to see and encourage each other. This they did ; praising God with a loud voice to their last breath, although their words were often interrupted by the priests, who shouted forth like madmen their hymns, " O salutaris hostia," and " Salve Regi- na." On the following day, in order to complete the triumph, the catholic priest proceeded under a golden canopy to the spot, where the fire was still burning, and preached to the people. Among other things, he said, that " it was necessary for the sal- A.D. 1544-45.] PERSECUTION IN FRANCE, 7 vation of souls to believe that the fourteen heretics were now in hell ; that if an angel from heaven should say otherwise, he must be rejected ; and that God would no longer be God if He did not eternally damn them." This seemed incredible even to the catholics themselves, who had known the pure and simple con- versation of the martyrs ; and instead of the seed of the Gospel being destroyed by this rage and cruelty, other churches, as Beza relates, were built of the stones of the ruined temple, and there is even to the present day a reformed community at Meaux ; that city, in which, at a later period, under Louis XIV., the zealous Bossuet reposed. Calvin said to Farel (1546), " The parliament of Paris continues, I hear, a fiery war with Christ. Certain it is, that a vast number of believers, far and wide, are lying in bonds. Sardanapalus in the meanwhile is dreaming of victory in the midst of his courtezans. May the Lord look down upon his church !" The new life was now beginning to diffuse itself abroad, when Francis I., oppressed by political cares and terrors, died at Ram- bouillet in 1547. He has been dignified by some with the title of Great, but Beza says, — " This surname had been much more to his praise, if it could have been truly said of him, that he was as great a warrior and patron of letters as he was a determined adversary to the interests of religion." His only son, Henry H., an enemy to the Gospel and a weak prince, easily allowed him- self to be deceived, and became a cruel persecutor. His whole reign exhibits a succession of crimes, and his untimely death was regarded in France as a divine judgment.* A multitude of exiles, driven from their homes by the perse- cution, flocked out of various lands, but especially from France, to Geneva. Humanity, religious fellowship, and love for his countrymen, induced Calvin to make the most strenuous exer- tions to gather them together in that city, and to obtain their support in the establishment t)f his principles. A great number of letters, in his own handwriting, may be appealed to as show- ing how anxiously he advised them to leave their country. Many respectable families however had not the resolution to follow his advice. The storm of persecution had led them to adopt the erroneous notion, that they might serve God in secret, while outwardly they appeared to adhere to the old errors. But the reformer was of too resolute a mind to yield in a * Calvin refers to this subject in a letter to Farel (MS. Gen.), July 19, 1649, and in one to BuUinger, August 15, 1549 (MS. Tig.). 8 CALVIN AGAINST THE NICODEMITES. [CHAP. X. matter like this. The sincerity of his profession would not allow a violation of truth, and the duty of making a good confession of his faith, and of annihilating every temptation to hypocrisy, induced him to write at this period his two useful little works against the Nicodemites. Calvin's ideas, as expressed in these essays, are regarded as too violent, and he has been accused of speaking with severity in a case in which he himself was free from danger. The writ- ings referred to are now chiefly valuable in an historical point of view, but at the time when they were produced they had a real practical worth, being well calculated to strengthen timid minds against the terrors of martyrdom, and thus to do good, not only in France, but also in Switzerland and Germany. In these moments of approaching danger, when Luther was already ad- vanced in life, Calvin, his junior, labored with determined energy. I We can now form no conception of the heroism of that Walden- sian in Calabria, who, being allowed to choose between kissing the cross and being tlirown headlong from a lofty tower, imme- diately preferred the latter. But the triumph of evangelical truth then depended upon this devoted courage. Hypocrisy, at such a time, would have bowed the church to the dust. '' Dissimulation," says Calvin, " makes a man an offender against himself, by hiding what is in his own heart. Hypocrisy however is still worse, for it consists in the endeavor to give us that in appearance of which we are destitute in reality. God is not satisfied with the heart. When Peter assails the vice of uncleanness, he says, 'Are ye not the members of Christ V &c." He next examines all the various ceremonies of the catholic church, and shows how we defile ourselves, as protestants, when we take any part in their performance. I will here quote only what he says respecting the funeral service, the Calvinistic sim- plicity having now almost totally disappeared. "We who have embraced the pure doctrine of the Gospel, all know well enough that the services for the dead, and funeral solemnities generally, .are abominations, for they are founded in falsehood, are con- trary to Scripture, and do dishonor to the meritorious suffer- ings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ." Calvin means by this, that Christ having died for souls, it is unlawful to pray for their deliverance from purgatory, for the dead must either have believed or not, and this alone will have determined their fate. He speaks even still more severely against any apparent con- formity to the catholic worship, and confutes the argument A.D. 1544-45.] APOLOGY TO THE NICODEMITES. 9 biought from the example of Naaman, permitted by the proph- et Elisha to enter the heathen temple, and bow himself, with the king. The instance of St. Paul, who retained some Jewish customs,* is explained in a similar manner ; and he presses upon his readers the sublime example of the martyrdom of the seven brothers in the time of the Maccabees. But liaving thus condemned a carnal caution, he pleads with mildness for the weak : — " I protest before God, that, so far am I from lightly blaming my poor brethren who are in such bonds, I would far rather, out of mere pity and mercy, find arguments by which to excuse them. After all I have said on the subject, I sigh over them, and pray God to comfort them. It is far from me to con- demn them. God knows that the opinion which I entertain of many in France is, that they are hoUer in life and more perfect than I am. I acknowledge, that it is a greater virtue in them to walk in the fear of God, in the midst of such an abyss, than it is for me, who have not so many trials to endure ; and that if they fall, I ought to regard it as more deserving of excuse, than would be the case were I to fall. So far also ara I from not con- sidering them as brothers, that I praise them in all other respects before God and man, and hold them as more deserving than myself to have a place in the church." In conclusion, he im- parts noble counsel and consolation to the weak. So much love and tenderness is expressed in this address, that none of his writings are better calculated to confute the accusation which has been brought against him of hardness or want of feeling. The following little work, 'His Apology to the Nicodemites,' is written in a stronger tone : this was because he had learnt that people were not satisfied with the former. He here char- acterizes, with considerable humor, the various classes of Nico- demites existing in those times : first were those who imper- fectly explained the Gospel, according to human taste ; and next those who were glad to seize upon the Gospel as a means of making themselves agreeable in the sight of the ladies, and furnishing amusing topics for conversation ; the only drawback to this being, that it would not allow them to live after their own taste. In the same line with the persons last-mentioned, were the court favorites and the ladies, who had no other wish but that homage should be paid them ; and hence it was not to be won- * Acts xviiL 18-24. 10 Calvin's defence. [chap. x. dered at if all such were against him, their common watchword being, " Do not speak to us of Calvin — he is a monster." There were also the Nicodemites, who understood Christianity philosophically, and the merchants, and other little people, who were liappy enough in their homes, and did not wish to be dis- turbed by the Gospel. He continues with great earnestness : — " If the believers in the primitive church had acted thus, where now would the church have been ? The whole theology of the old martyrs consisted in the knowledge of one God, whom we are bound to worship, and in whom alone we must place our trust ; and in that of Jesus Christ, beside whom there is no Saviour. Nor had they any such lofty acquaintance with these things, that they would have been able to deduce them, in order, from each other. They held them in all simplicity, but they rushed with rejoicing hearts into the fire to bear testimony to the truth of these doctrines. Nay, even the women readily committed their children to the flames. We, on the other hand, — we, who are such great doctors, scarcely know what is meant by bearing wit- ness to the truth." This is followed by a defence of his own conduct. He had been accused of giving people advice at a distance, when it would have been better for him to have furnished them with an example in his own person. This was, in fact, a very delicate point. " If Calvin be so very brave," it was said, " why does he not come here, that we may see how he would conduct him- self?" He expresses his indignant feeling against the people who thus vilified him, in a very characteristic passage : — " Because they cannot endure that any one should expose their leprosy, they have recourse to the wretched subterfuge of saying, that their inward affection is towards God ; this is as much as to say, that they make a division between God and the devil, and give their soul to the one and their body to the other. Will they however satisfy, in this manner, Him who says, ' To him all knees shall bow,' «fec. ? It is a miserable, unhappy attempt at escape, to make ourselves blind in order not to see our misfor- tune. I know not with whom we can better compare them than with some cleaner of sewers, who, having been so long em- ployed in the filth that he has lost all sense of the horrible odor, ridicules those who hold their noses at the stench. And to carry out the comparison : as the scavenger arms himself by A.D. 1544-45.] Calvin's letter to luther. 11 strong salves and onions against the poisonous effluvia, and re- sists one evil smell by another, so these people, that they may not suffer through the odor of their idolatry, fill themselves with wicked excuses, like stinging spices, in such a manner that they may hinder any other impression," This species of irony will be considered as the more pointed, when it is recollected, that it was intended for the multitude in Paris, and for the court, debased by a miserable habit of flattery. Melancthon, Martin Bucer, and Peter Martyr, also gave their opinion on the same question : they all agreed with Calvin. The latter has further expressed his sentiments on the subject in two letters, written in 1546 ; and in four sermons preached in 1552. An epistle was addressed to Calvin by the Zurichers in 1549, and from this we learn that the matter had been long under their consideration. Even from France Calvin received commu- nications, calling upon him to obtain Luther's counsel on the subject. The letter which Calvin wrote to Luther in conformity with this desire, is interesting as the only one which he addressed to the German reformer. His great reverence for him is clearly shown by this document. He proceeded very cautiously while speaking with the venerable father of the church, who died the next year ; and he felt while approaching him almost as a young beginner, scarcely supposing that, in the following century, the common consent of mankind would place him by his side. Zwingli would not have written such a letter to Luther.* " My honored father !t — Being assured that many of my fel- low-countrymen in France, having turned from the darkness of popery to the pure light of the Gospel, have, notwithstanding, been backward to change their open profession, and therefore continue to pollute themselves with the horrors of popery, as if they had no knowledge of pure doctrine, — being informed of this, I could not refrain from assailing such sloth and indiffer- ence with the severity which I think they deserve. For what kind of faith is that which remains buried in the recesses of the soul, and never declares itself by an open confession ? What * MS. Tig. f Another letter -written by Calvin at this time, to some unknown person, expresses his feelings respecting the difficulty of the present design (Ep. 392. Ed. Amst. 235). He mentions his own narrow circumstances, the difficulty of meeting the calls upon him even in good times, and the expense attending borrowing money of the merchants or others. It was not the best time, he added, to ask counsel of Luther, whose mind was but just beginning to enjoy repose after his long struggle. 12 Calvin's letter to luther. [chap. x. kind of witness is that which shrinks concealed behind a hypo- critical respect for catholic idolatry? But I will not here dis- cuss this matter, of which I have treated in two little writings, from which you may easily learn, if you be pleased to look over them, what my opinion is, and upon what grounds it rests. Some of our brethren, aroused by reading these papers, have awaked from the slumber in which they were sunk, and begun to consider what it is their duty to do. But since it is a hard thing either to exercise such self-denial as to expose one's life to danger, or to bring upon ourselves the hatred of the whole world, through opposition to its customs and opinions, and to suffer the loss of country and property by a voluntary exile, so it is that many have found themselves unable to persevere in their resolution. They suggest however other excuses for their conduct, and it is plain that they are only anxious to find a pre- text for yielding. While they thus vacillate to and fro, they seem desirous of learning your opinion, which, honoring it as they ought to do, will have great weight with them. They have therefore entreated me to despatch a trusty messenger to inquire your sentiments on the subject. This I have been unwilling to refuse, assured as I am that it is of importance to their best interests to find, themselves supported by your judgment, and delivered from their present state of uncertainty ; and still fur- ther, feeling as I do that the same help will be of great use to myself. " I therefore beseech you by Christ, my very honored father in the Lord, out of regard for them and for me, to endure the trouble of reading, in the first place, this letter which is written to you in their name, and my own two httle books. This you may do for pass-time in your leisure hours, or may commission some one to do it for you, and then make you acquainted with the principal points. In the second place, I would beg you to state to us, in few words, your opinion on the subject. It is against my will that I thus disturb you, occupied as you are with so many important and such various affairs; but I am convinced that, according to your wonted kindness, you will pardon me, while I only yield to necessity in laying before you this request. Would to God that I could hasten to you, were it to enjoy but a few hours of your conversation ! Much should I prefer it, and far more useful would it be to speak with you personally, not only on this, but on many other affairs. I hope, however, that that which is not allowed us on earth, will soon be A.D. 1544-45.] melancthon's letter to calvin. 13 granted us in the kingdom of heaven. Farewell, very renowned man, and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, and my, at all times, revered father ! May the Lord continue to guide you by his Spirit to the end, for the common good of his church." — Jan. 20, 1545. Calvin sent with his letter to Luther another to Melancthon,* and it is easy to see that he feared the latter might accuse him of too great severity in his second book against the Nicodemites. This letter is also remarkable as exhibiting Calvin's diligent endeavor to establish a union of opinion with Melancthon, probably in reference to the last statement of the letter on elec- tion. On the doctrine of the Lord's Supper they had already long, agreed. Melancthon's answer, which has, perhaps, never been printed till now, affords a striking view of his position at that period. We see how he stood in respect to Luther, seeking peace and finding none; what he thought of his hfe, how oppressed he felt, and yet full of hope. Much is contained in few words. He had not the courage to lay Calvin's letter before Luther, but he sent Calvin his opinion, as found in the works of the Gene- vese reformer : — " To the very renowned doctor John Calvin, distinguished by learning and virtue, minister of the church at Geneva, his pious and true and very dear friend, Melancthon, sends greeting. Thankful should I be, my beloved Calvin, to receive from you, on my own account, some good advice. The strife from which at an earher period I escaped, is now increasing here. Having ever considered that one must strive to uphold the peace of the church in these wild and terrible lands, and having always expressed myself accordingly in the most temperate language, something more difficult is now demanded of me. Therefore I beseech you to commend me to God in your pious prayers. I have not given your letter to doctor Martin : he looks at things with suspicion, and does not like to have his sentiments on such questions as you ask, published abroad. I have answered them as well as 1 could, and do not set my judgment higher than your own, or that of other pious men. It is a satisfaction for me to know that I have lived without seeking to indulge in theolo- gical disputes, but that I have labored, not unprofitably, to disentangle and explain many difficult subjects. Notwithstand- ing this, I now expect banishment and other sorrows. Fare- * Ep. 60. ed. Amst. p. 31. 14 LUTHER AND THE SWISS. [cHAP. X. well. — The day when, 3846 years ago, Noah entered the ark, and God intended to show us, by his example, that He would never forsake his church, however it might be tossed about on the stormy waves of the world." * Luther's angry feeling, as alluded to in the above letter, was connected with the dispute between him and the reformers of Zurich. This will lead us to speak of the part taken by Calvin in the sacramentarian controversy, and of the earnest endeavor which he made to restore peace. We must first look back to the origin of those unhappy circumstances which occasioned the long and distressing schism. t The Swiss had adopted in 1538 the Wittenberg confession, and although even in the time of peace opinions were not altered, people were thoroughly weary of dispute. This was especially proved by the cold silence preserved, when Luther, a few years before his death, began to renew the controversy, and, left by his friends, remained alone in the arena. He had already, in 1.543, written to Froschauer, saying, that neither he nor any church of Christ could have communion with the Swiss. Melancthon sought in vain to tranquillize him. In 1544 Luther published new libels, pouring forth his gall in his ' Annotations on Genesis,' and setting forth his last confession on the subject of the Lord's Supper, in which Zwingli and (Ecolampadius, with their fol- lowers, were called heretics and reprobates. The cause of his wrath, according to Hospinian, who follows Pezel, may be traced to Zwingli's latest production, his ' Exposition of the Christian Faith,' edited and published by BuUinger in 1536. t This work seemed to Luther so contrary to its author's statement at Mar- burg, that he was convinced that Zwingli must have acted to- wards them with false heart and mouth. Other reasons for his anger have been found in the injurious reports that he was no longer esteemed at Zurich ; and in the circumstance that a new German translation of the Bible, undertaken by Leo Juda and other reformers, was published in 1543 ; while, on the other hand, Schwenkfeld accused him of a secret understanding with the Helvetian church, because he had suffered the elevation of the bread to be discontinued. So again, Amsdorf and others in Wittenberg occasioned him much vexation; Melancthon him- self not concealing his favorable feelings towards the Swiss. * Melancthon's opinion is added to Calvin's Excus. ad Nicodemitas; f Schrockh, Reformations geschichte, t. i. p. 363-420. :j: Hess. Leben Bullingers, t. L p. 432. A.D. 1544-45.J LUTHER AND THE SWISS. 15 Now, while the traces of advancing age were beginning to ap- pear, he allowed the following words to escape him:— "Let Zwingli not only speak as he will against the sacraments, but let him be a heathen altogether, and place the impious pagans side by side with Christ in the kingdom of heaven. But where then were Christianity and the sacraments? Therefore is all hope gone ; nor ought any more prayers to be offered up for those who are soul-consumers and murderers." At the same time it is evident from all this, that the sentiments which may be ascribed to his own personal feelings ought not to be regarded as pos- sessing a dogmatic value, or as justifying the separation of his church from the reformed. Melancthon, deeply afflicted at this breach, wrote to Bullin- ger, — "That he would receive a letter from Luther, according to which all hope of reconciliation must be given up; that he himself would retreat quietly into his own soul, and there en- deavor to find that freedom of conscience which he could not enjoy under the guardianship of Luther." The Swiss, though warned on many sides, replied, by Bullin- ger, in a German and Latin writing, entitled, " A genuine state- ment of the servants of the church at Zurich, as to what they teach ; especially concerning the Lord's Supper, in answer to the slanders, condemnation and jests of Doctor Martin Luther." People were far from satisfied with this production. Calvin said in a letter to Melancthon, " One must write better, or not at all: the work is meagre and puerile."* Luther refrained from saying anything publicly in answer to this last attack of the Swiss ; but he continued to the end hos- tile to the Zwinglians. After his death, his letter to the provost Jacob, dated January 17, 1546, became commonly known, and , in this he says, "Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the Sacramentarians ; nor stood in the way of the Zwinglians ; nor sat in the seat of the Zurichers." He also '; alludes to the controversy in his work against the theologians of Louvain. Many of Calvin's writings show how, mindful of his call- ing, he sought at this time to quiet men's minds, while he saw with a prophetic glance the approaching schism. t Thus in a * Hess. Leben Bullingers, t. i. p. 455. Ep. 63. ed. Amst. p. 33. f He expressed his feelings on this subject in a letter to Farel, dated October 10, 1544, MS. Gen. — "We must now, before all things, pray to the Lord, who alone can avert this evil, which will soon blaze forth like a burning brand. We may now look for the end." 16 CALVIN TO BULLINGER. [CHAP. X. letter to BuUinger, dated November 25, 1544, he adjured him to treat the great man, meaning Luther, with respect: — "I hear," lie says, " that Luther assails not only you, but all of us, with horrible abuse. Now I can scarcely ask you to be silent, since it is not right to allow ourselves to be so undeservedly abused, without attempting some defence. It is difficult more- over to believe that such forbearance could do any good. I wish however that the following may be clearly understood : — in the first place, how great a man Luther is ; by what extraordinary gifts he is distinguished ; and with what energy of soul, with what perseverance, with what ability and success he has con- tinued up to the present day to overthrow the kingdom of anti- christ, and to extend at the same time the doctrine of salvation. T have already often said, that were he to call me a devil, I should still continue to venerate him as a chosen servant of God, uniting with extraordinary virtues some great failings. Would to heaven that he had striven more to subdue those tempests of feeling which he has so continually allowed to break forth ! Would that he had only employed that violence, so natural to him, against the enemies of the truth, and not against the ser- vants of God ! Would that he had exercised more care to dis- cover his own defects ! Unhappily there was too great a crowd of flatterers about him, who added still more to the self-confi- dence peculiar to his nature. It is even our duty to view his failings in such a light, that we may the more properly estimate his extraordinary gifts. I beg you therefore to bear in mind, that we liave to do with one of the first servants of Christ ; with one to whom we all owe much. I would also have you consider, that you could not possibly gain any advantage by entering into a struggle with him. You would only, by such a course, afljord pleasure to the enemy, who would delight not so much in our defeat as in that of the Gospel. People will everywhere will- ingly believe what is said, when we vilify and condemn each other. You must consider this, rather than what Luther may have deserved on account of his violence ; lest that should hap- pen to us of which Paul speaks, namely, that while we bite and devour one another, all may go to the ground. Nay, even should he challenge us to the contest, we must rather turn away than hazard by our twofold fall the injury of the church." Calvin also comforted Melancthon, who, in the latter years of Luther's life, found himself in a very painful position. Not agreeing with Luther on the subject of the spiritual presence of A.D. 1544-45.] Calvin's opinion of luther. 17 Christ in the Lord's Supper, he had entered fully into Calvin's purer views. The statements of the latter on Luther's great power and in- fluence are also worthy of remark, in connection with the ques- tion of discipline.* Shortly before his last journey to Eisleben Luther spoke to Melancthon in a conciliatory tone. This state- ment is made by Haller, provost of Zurich, in his continua- tion of the Bullinger Chronicle, but without reference to his au- thority. Luther, weary of life and conflict, left the arena at the mo- ment when the approach of a storm was evident. Calvin was then thirty-six years of age, armed for the strife and not fearing it. It is interesting at the present day, when the churches are united, and after we have been so long accustomed to think only of Luther at Wittenberg, to meditate by his grave on Calvin also, and on the united consequences of their labors. The relation existing between these two witnesses of the Lord is seen in the common and the general ; what was opposite in them consisted in their appearance ; the work of each had its own proper limits ; the twofold spirit was still the same, and is one to us : more of living energy was given on this side, more depth of thought on the other. The one sought to clear Cathol- icism of what was antichristian ; the other went further, pene- trated critically into the Gospel, rejected what did not closely agree with it, and completed the reformation. We may con- clude from the contrast in their habits of thought, and accus- tomed as they were to execute their will with determined reso- lution, that they could not easily have lived near each other. But as John, Paul and James treated of the same truth, only from various points of view, so did Luther and Calvin beheve altogether but the same. Hence, though they never saw each other, they never felt as strangers, but entertained a mutual respect, while each expressed his belief according to his par- ticular character. These men, with some few others, were the greatest of their kind, and humanity owes to them its highest blessings. With the heroism of self-devotion, and continuing the conflict which they began, in the name of God, to their latest breath, they persevered, whatever their individual imperfections, in proclaiming the great truth, that one only is holy, that is the Lord. It is right that Luther's grave should be left with- | out any inscription. All words would have been tame ; just as ■ * Epis. Ixiii. Ed. Amst. p. 33, of the year 1545. VOL. II. — 2 18 ZWINGLl's OPINION OF LUTHER. [cHAP. X. it would have been impossible to find a fitting inscription for the tombs of the apostles. While however the entire people of Ger- many thus honor him by their silence, the vi'ords of the other evangelical party are not to be passed over, and might well adorn his chamber in the Augustine monastery. Calvin says of him : — " We sincerely testify that we regard him as a noble apostle of Christ, by whose, labor and ministry the purity of the Gospel has been restored in our times." * Again : — " If any one will carefully consider what was the state of things at the period when Luther arose, he will see that he had to contend with almost all the difficulties which were en- countered by the apostles. In one respect indeed his condi- tion was worse and harder than theirs. There was no kingdom^ no principality, against which they had to declare war ; whereas Luther could not go forth, except by the ruin and destruction of that empire which was not only the most powerful of ally but regarded all the rest as obnoxious to itself" t Similar sentiments are expressed, we have seen, in the epistle already quoted. But if we desire to adduce the most honorable testimony to Luther, it is that which the noble, virtuous Zwingli delivers respecting hira.t "Luther," he says, "is in my opinion an ad- mirable soldier of God. He has examined Scripture with as great earnestness as any one has done within the last thousand years. I consider it as deserving not the slightest attention, if the papists should abuse both him and me as heretics. No one can be compared to him for the manly, unflinching courage with which he has assailed the pope of Rome. As long as the papacy has endured, all others have been blameless. What the eternal, unchangeable Word of God contains, that he bears richly forth, and shows the heavenly treasure to poor, wandering Christians, neither caring for what the enemies of God may do against it, nor trembling at their fierce looks or threats. I have designedly read him but little ; but what I have read, insofar as it respects the doctrines, meaning and sense of Scripture, is commonly so well considered and grounded, tliat it is not possible that any one should mistake it. He yields in some things too much to the weak and foolish, and in this I do not agree with him. But Luther preaches Christ. He does it as I do it, although, God be praised, a countless world of people have been converted by * T. viii. p. 123. t T. viii. p. 119. J Niischeler's Lebens gescliichte Zwingli's, p. 159. A.D. 1547.] THE GERMAN WAR. 19 him more than by me and others, whose limits, however, whether great or small, are divinely appointed."* CHAPTER XL THE GERMAN WAR. — LEAGUE OF SMALCALDE. DEFEAT OP THE PROTESTANTS. — CALVIN WRITES AGAINST THE INTE- RIM. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. — CALVIN's LITERARY LABORS. Two Other combatants left the arena soon after Luther ; that is, Francis I. and Henry VIII. of England. The circumstances of society had received on all sides an extraordinary impulse, as if the spirit of the world were challenging the spirit of God to the fight, for the purpose of deciding their quarrel in open conflict. Whilst the council of Trent was treating things useless and trifling as important, and things most important with levity, still pretending that its object was the peace of the whole church, Charles had already conceived the notion of suppressing the league of Smalcalde by force of arms. Already, in 1546, was the little state of Geneva, lying among the Alps, on the borders of Germany, France, and Italy, greatly agitated. It was ex- pected that the emperor would pass through Geneva on his way from Italy. An instant resolution was taken to arm. The whole of Switzerland offered supplies of troops. Bern alone was ready with 2000 men. But such was the feeling then ex- isting in Geneva, that, dreading the loss of its independence, the citizens rejected the offer ; and the little state, with a population of only 20,000 souls, prepared itself singly for the struggle. Calvin approved of this, and said in a letter to Farel, — " It is a wretched condition not to be able to accept defenders without putting ourselves in bondage to them." The news however was received that the troops of the emperor had been repulsed. In the state-protocol of the republic Charles is constantly described as the enemy of the Gospel. The protestants had firmly declared their sentiments at Worms * BuUinger, Zwingli's successor, speaks of Luther's death in a similar style. Fu»- lin : Epist, Reformat, p. 23«. 20 THE GERMAN WAR. [CHAP. XI. in opposition to the will of the emperor, had refused to furnish help against the Turks, and were preparing themselves for war. The year 1547, the most eventful, and, at the same time, the sad- dest year in the whole century, was now at hand. Beza, in his account of Calvin, thus expressed at a later period the pain which he felt : — " That great edifice of the German reformation, raised with so much toil, now seemed ready to perish, and they we're accounted happy who had been suddenly snatched away by death." He bears witness to Calvin's having at this time exhibited all the greatness and elevation of his character : — " How must he have sulfered, he who, even in times of peace, bore in his heart the remotest even of the churches, and participated in the cares of all, as if their burdens rested upon him alone ! How must his pious soul have been tortured through the misery of so many ! He beheld at this moment his most intimate friends, Melanclhon, Bucer, Peter Martyr, involved in the greatest danger, and nearer death than life. But his writings and letters of that period prove that he overcame all those storms by the energy of his noble soul. His opponents in Geneva persecuted him to the uttermost, but he yielded to them not so much as an inch." It is evident indeed that Calvin, who speaks of himself as naturally timid, exerted the whole force of his spirit at this time, which may well be regarded as the brightest in his career as a reformer. He was especially useful to the interests of the church : the combatants needed a leader, and he was admirably suited to become the centre-point of their power. His resolution, his firmness, doubtless contributed greatly to prevent the courage of the persecuted from sinking. No sooner did all seem lost in Germany, than people turned their eyes towards Switzerland, which still enjoyed some degree of security under the shield of its ancient renown. The league of Smalcalde was to be destroyed. It was the ob- ject of the emperor to become absolute, and he intended, as soon as he had vanquished the protestants, to make himself the master of both the council and the pope. But both he and the pope were deceived in their reckoning, and the conquered be- came the conquerors. The league of Smalcalde might certainly have established itself by force of arms, had not John Frederic, firm and constant in the spiritual struggle, but unfitted for out- ward action, been chosen for its leader. The emperor, secretly united with Maurice of Saxony, very cautiously declared that A.D. 1547,] THE GERMAN WAR. gH he would not attack doctrine. Union was wanting among the piotestants, and a council of war determined that the whole should be summoned to Ulm. Schartel unfortunately was no longer at their head ; and when Maurice advanced upon Saxony, and sequestered it in the name of the emperor, the elector has- tened back from the south of Germany to repossess himself of his dominions. Augsburg fell first, and all the others, with the exception of Magdeburg and Bremen, which remained invincibly faithful, opened their gates to the emperor. The hardest con- ditions were accepted ; so that even the king of France found it wise to raise the spirits of the protestanfs again by promises, and once more to excite the Turks and the pope against the conqueror. Calvin however had not lost his courage, and hoped much from the Germans. In a letter to the Sr. de Bourgogne, Feb. 25, 1547, he says, " I hope that our Antiochus (Charles V.), who now oppresses us, will be chained so tightly that he will not remember the marks on his feet and hands, for he will have them over his whole body. May God grant the same in respect to his companion, Sardanapalus (the king of France), for they both deserve one and the same measure." But after the battle of Miihlberg he writes, " If God will chastise us so severely as to give the reins to this tyrant, who meditates nothing but de- struction, the lesson for us to learn is, to be prepared to suffer. He who has taken us for h'is servants is the ruler in the midst of enemies. It becomes us therefore to have patience, and to comfort ourselves with the hope that he will at length bring his enemies to shame. But I trust that he will bear our weakness, convert these distresses to a good end, and bridle the violence of those who triumph before their time, and even against God himself." A proof was now given of the truth of that which the landgrave Phihp said to Bucer, — " It is not the will of God to uphold the interests of the Gospel by the sword, or by force, but by preaching, by knowledge, by suffering, by death and the cross," — words which clearly indicate the secret cause of the apparent want of activity in the protestants, but which was accounted for their honor. They acted not, because they were convinced that God must contend for his Gospel. Luther even had long hesitated on this subject, and had at last only slowly decided that self-defence was lawful, which in reality gave a false direction to the entire power of protestantism. 22 THE GERMAN WAR. [CHAP. XI. On the 24th of April the emperor attacked the elector John at Miihlberg. The latter was attending a sermon at the time, and would not allow himself to be disturbed. He fled when it was too late. Alba pursued him with liis cavahy, and took him pris- oner without a struggle. The emperor allowed sentence of death to be passed upon him. John renounced his electoral dignity, but declared that he was not subject to the council of Trent. Soon after this, Philipof Hesse, during an entertainment given him by Alba, was treacherously made j)risoner, and in the presence of the elector of Brandenburg, who had agreed to be surety for his safety. Granvella and Charles answered disdainfully all repre- sentations made to them on the subject. The latter led John Frederic and Philip about with him in triumph, and trampled all Germany in the dust. Calvin expressed himself well on these unhappy occurrences, and employs the same sentiments as the landgrave Philip. "We have news from Germany (July 14, 1547) ; affairs are at present in such a state that I know our Lord will take from us the victorious Gospel, in order to compel us to fight under his cross. But He consoles us by the reflection that He intends to uphold his church by the wonderful exercise of his power, and not by the hand of man. The trial^ I acknowledge, is severe ; but our forefathers have experienced it as well as we, and they remained constant and unshamed. We may now prove the truth of the proverb, ' Let us hope, and then we shall see.' For the rest, we must not be surprised if God proves to us by so hard a method that there is an eternal life. But may those who have not yet been shaken, contemplate themselves in the mirror of these examples, and so be prepared to stand in this manner before the judge." After the death of Francis L and Henry VIH. the emperor felt himself at the summit of his power. He was master of Germany, but his thirst for rule was to prove the deliverance of the church. The diet was opened at Augsburg, and he now declared openly that he was resolved to establish unity in reli- gion. But the entire uprooting of protestantism formed no part of his plan : the evangelical church was to be made a barrier to the papal power. The pope, on his side, jealous of the pro- ceedings of the emperor, concluded a treaty with Henry H., and transferred, under pretence of the plague, the council from Trent to Bologna. He thus placed it more under his own immediate control. Charles did not conceal his anger at this proceeding : A.D. 1547.] CALVIN TO BULLINGER. 2^ the Germans could not send their representatives into Italy ; and when the Synod recommenced its sitting in 1548, he protested solemnly against its translation. A plan was at the same time proposed to the Diet of Augsburg for the re-establishment of religious union, and from this arose the celebrated Interim. But both parties were brought into a hostile position by the Interim and the Council. The pope demanded an unconditional sub- jection to his will : he allowed but the single choice, antichrist or excommunication. His sole object was to raise the spiritual power to its greatest height ; while the emperor desired the union of parties, in order to exalt in a similar degree the authority of the state. At the commencement of this unhappy epoch, Calvin entreated the Geneva council to allow him to visit the Swiss churches, for the purpose of gaining information as to the state of those in Germany ; perhaps also to exhort the Swiss themselves to union. He returned on the 10th of February, 1547, and he concludes his address to the council, in which he mentions the capture of Ulm, with these apostolic words : " Seeing that the devil torments those who have a zeal for the Gospel, because of our sins and our forgetfulness of God, let us recommend ourselves to the Lord." The danger for Switzerland became every day greater by the entrance of the Spaniards into Germany, and their possession of that country. Calvin earnestly exhorted the cantons to rise. Strasburg and Constance were the bulwarks of their church. Thus he wrote to Bullinger in September, 1547 : " The people of Strasburg are alarmed because the emperor intends to spend the winter among them : they would shut their gates against him, if they could obtain assistance from other quarters. Let him enter Strasburg, and he will form a camp, from which he will make war upon you. Now, dear Bullinger, were there an opportunity of taking counsel among each other, and you neglected to do so, would you not be, as it were, holding your throats to the knife? But it is useless to speak. I know that your fellow-townsmen are wise enough to wish for some remedy to these disorders. Your neighbors, who have no idea of employing means to bridle the beast, lose their reason. But if they have actu^Jy resolved to perish, the Lord will direct his elect by the spirit of his good counsel, that in due time they may be delivered from the danger. Many are the reasons which ought to make you shrink with alarm from forming a league with France. But though 24 STATE OF THE CHURCH. [CHAP. XI. it can be of no possible advantage to you to entangle yourselves with that country, yet I do not see why you should refuse all of- fers of union."* Calvin's firm, exalted sentiments, in the midst of these troubles, appeared the still more encouraging. In a letter, dated July 24, 1547, he warns the faithful in France that the agitation in Ger- many could hardly fail to affect them in some degree. " It is impossible for us, if we once find ourselves established on this firm foundation of the church, not to be prepared to breast even the fiercest waves and storms, and to hold out against their assault. Yea, it is even good for us to be exposed to such afflictions as may prove our constancy and the firmness of our faith. In Ger- many the Lord has so humbled whatever was great and glorious among our brethren, and has so increased the power of him from whom nothing but evil is to be expected, that he seems to be engaged in re-establishing his spiritual kingdom wherever it be- fore existed. According to human appearance, there is the least possible cause for hope ; but if we do not cease to commend the unhappy church and the kingdom of Christ in prayer to the Lord, I still hope that He will, beyond our expectation, lend his hand to the work. It is to be feared, that we have hitherto allowed our eyes to be too much dazzled by the expectation of human help. Now that we have been taught to depend upon Him alone, we must recall to our minds the truth, by which He supported the church in former ages, and so do nothing but what may tend to his glory. Often have we had occasion to wonder at that which no one before hoped to see. In the mean time let us continue our warfare as soldiers fighting under the standard of the cross of Christ. This has already gained triumphs surpassing all those of the world." Turning his eyes from the great disorders existing in Geneva, he says, " It is not worth while to trouble you with these. Moses and the prophets, the earlier leaders of God's people, had other troubles to bear, and such trials are altogether necessary for us. It is your present duty to seek God by prayer, and to entreat Him that we may not become weak, but that, if it be necessary, we may be prepared to give up our lives for his s^ice, and to regard the rage and threats of the impious as * In a letter to Bullinger, dated May, 1549, lie shows, by examples from Scrip- ture, that a league miglit be formed with the wicked, though it was to be feared. The sutfeiings of the unfortunate brethren in France influenced him, and he adjured Bullinger to think of them. A.D. 1548.] PALL OF STRASBURG. 25 nothing in comparison with the fear of the Lord. God grant that all tumults may at last be stilled, for they sorely afflict the souls of the weak, and that to me is of all things the most dis- tressing." Strasburg was obliged to sign a capitulation, April 12, 1547, whereby it agreed to pay 30,000 dollars, and surrender twelve pieces of cannon. Even this however could not long protect the city. Switzerland suffered still more. The free imperial city of Constance lost both its spiritual and political liberties. The emperor took advantage of this event to unite it to the dominions of Austria. An army of three thousand Spaniards attacked it, and were repulsed ; but a ban was now pronounced against it, and it was compelled not only to receive the Interim, but to give itself up to Ferdinand. Altars and masses were now introduced, and evangelical ministers were forbidden to reside there. Farei says, " As the ruin of Sodom is described, so will that of insen- sate Constance be related. They celebrate the Interim, like bacchanals, with dancing, gaming, and drinking." " You would be astonished," remarks BuUinger, "if you could see the form of oath by which Constance has pledged itself to the king. They have sworn by God and the holy angels to adopt his opinions." The celebrated Ambrosius Blaarer, and all the evangelical party, departed with grief from the state, where Huss, a century before, had suffered for freedom. Musculus had already fled from Augsburg, and sought refuge in Switzerland. The council of Zurich, though fearing the emperor, allowed Bullinger to receive 'him. He was afterwards appointed professor at Bern. Calvin wrote thus to Fare!, April 30, 1548 : " I say nothing respecting the fearful destruction which threatens so many churches : I am too much troubled at it. Such is the state of things, that no one can be reckoned among the servants of Christ who is not ready bodily to venture his head in their defence. If Yiret wish it, I will hasten to him with all speed, that we may all three go together to Zurich." Mention is soon after made of the meeting of this triumvirate, to consult for the good of the church. Calvin says: '-If our prayer has any weight with the people of Zurich, they will prevent, unless I err, the coming evil by a timely interference. A means will then be found to extend the discussion, till we have adopted some common measure of safety." To Viret he writes, June, 1548, " Beheve me, the eyes of both the wicked and the good are directed towards you. Each party inquires what kind 26 SWISS EXILES. [chap. XI. of spirit animates you. By prudent conduct you will preserve that reputation which is now exposed to such danger, and will soften the rage of the enemy." But the Swiss remained divided and inflexible. Bullinger speaks only of a bold answer, which they had resolved to give the emperor, who, strange enough, had shown no willingness to unite with them. The catastrophe was accomplished at Stras- burg. In 1549 the Interim was fully introduced ; those who would not acknowledge it were to be sent to the galleys. The teachers fled ; but in the midst of the general apostasy, a feeling of strength and dignity was again awakened in Germany. "Many firmly reject the deceitful, double-meaning deforma- tionP The weaker indeed the resistance when the struggle was only for territory, so much the bolder it became when it regarded matters of conscience. Melancthon had disapproved of the Interim in almost all its particulars : Maurice of Saxony opposed and protested openly against it : the captive elector expressed himself in noble language, and still more definitely against it. A host of writings followed. The landgrave Philip yielded, but his clergy did not. Frederick II., of the Palatinate, and Joachim II. adopted it. The margrave of Brandenburg- Kustrin, on the contrary, and all the principal cities, took the part of its opponents. At Augsburg Musculus had preached against it ; Osiander also was obliged to flee ; Bucer, Fagius and Martyr went to England. The Interim was everywhere ridiculed, especially at Magdeburg, which distinguished itself by its deter- mined opposition. The power of the emperor however at length prevailed ; but the fiercest hatred was awakened, and the way prepared for new events. Calvin comforted all those who had been obliged to flee. Brentius, who hastened to Basil, wrote to the reformer. His courageous answers are filled with the joyful sentiments of the Gospel ; and in the whole of this period we meet with opinions and events in France and Germany which recall to mind the first centuries of Christianity, and exhibit a zeal unknown to our mild, free age, in which the persecution of opinion is the only thing visited with anathemas. It was under the name of the Interim that the emperor, in 1548, published a formulary, which was to serve as a rule for both parties in the church, till a general council should have pronounced definitively on the disputed points of belief. All that the Interim granted to the protestants was the communion in A.D. 1548.] THE INTERIM. 27 both kinds, and the marriage of the clergy ; but it was declared that even this was only conceded for the time. In other respects the decision was wholly against the Lutherans, and under the pretence of impartiality, questions of the utmost importance were solved, to the injury of the evangelical cause. Notwith- standing this however the catholics were as little contented with the Interim as the prolestants. It already existed in the germ at Ratisbone, and was wrought out by the politic, but far from conscientious, theologians, Pflug, Helding, and Agricola. The first two were catholics, but they were honored on account of their personal character: the third, Agricola, was a protestant, who, as it was suspected, had been bribed to mislead or betray his party. The emperor had passed a law which rendered it a cap- ital offence to write against the Interim.* Still, more than thirty- seven papers appeared against it. Calvin was also called upon by his friends to controvert it. He wrote to Farel, August 10, 1548: "BuUinger has exhorted me to write against the bastard reforma- tion [adiiUero-Germami'm, as he named the Interim). I was al- ready prepai^d for this, before his letters reached me, but I had put the work aside. I have asked Bucer's advice : if he think it right, I will attempt something." In the then state of things it was a proof of great courage to dare to attack the dreaded em- peror, who might any day fall upon Switzerland. Bullinger was rejoiced to see his writing, and mentions that an answer had appeared in Saxony, but that it contained nothing but abuse. He had himself prepared something, but would not let it be printed. Calvin, in the paper referred to, again opposed with minute particularity the Roman Catholic doctrine in all its details, and shows especially how the church might have been reformed, and peace established, had the authors of the Interim really desired to settle the dispute. He proves, on the other hand, the sophistry of the so-named mediators, according to all the various catholic principles. " Not the smallest truth," he says, " must be lost, unless we mean to be guilty of what is indisputably a sacrilege." In the part of the work where he treats of the supremacy of Rome, he asserts, among other things, that Peter never was in that city. He develops his ideas on marriage and divorce, opposes the notion that marriage is a sacrament, and particularly refutes a catholic who had written against the Interim on the ground that it allowed the marriage of priests. He concludes with an admirable exhortation to all 28 CHURCH OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XI. his evangelical brethren to die if necessary, for the faith, and to fix their thoughts on eternal Ufe with God. When Melanc- thon, at a subsequent period, did not reject the modified Leipzig Interim, Calvin reproached him in the severest manner, and with the most passionate love of truth.. " Vacillation in so great a man is not to be tolerated. I would a hundred times rather die with you, than see you survive a doctrine which you had betrayed." Thus he reproved him, but without undervaluing, as others did, his greatness. To one of the impressions of this work the printer affixed an admonition, stating that he did not agree with an opinion con- tained in the book, which seemed to affirm that the children of believers are already, before baptism, holy and regenerate, and that baptism therefore is not unconditionally necessary. Calvin opposed the attack of the unknown editor in an especial appendix, which appeared only in 1550. The distracted state of the church in Germany had occasioned the flight of many of Calvin's friends to England ; and the learned and Christian Peter Martyr became in Cranmer's hand a chief instrument of the Reformation, which now, notwithstand- ing great imperfections and abuses, of which Calvin speaks in many of his writings, and especially in his letter to Somerset, went more prosperously forward. The earlier measures of the king, under whom court cabals, passion, and the love of women entered into the conduct of church affairs, had given such a bad direction to the operations of the clergy, that even the best teachers could not overcome the difficulties in their way. Hert- ford, the uncle of the heir apparent, was appointed protector during the minority of Edward VI., and, as duke of Somerset, ruled with kingly power, but with justice and moderation. The disturbed state of the nation as to religious affairs, the variety of parties, rendered the control of a ruler at tliis time more especially necessary. Sincerely devoted to the Reformation, he looked to Cranmer for the accomplishment of his ends. This prelate sought not only Bucer and Martyr, but Fagius, Ochinus, and Musculus as his fellow-laborers. The first four only came to England ; with them however was associated John a Lasco, who had been converted to the truth at Zurich by Zwingli. It was at Bucer's suggestion that Calvin undertook to exhort the duke of Somerset to despise all difficulties in the execution of his purpose. Somerset seems to have received this advice favor- A.D. 1551.] BUCER AND MARTYR, 29 ably, Calvin having subsequently said in a letter to Farel, " Can- terbury has told me that I cannot do anything more useful than to write often to the king." "I hear," he says in his epistle to the protector, "that there are two classes of agitators in your kingdom, the one consisting of fanatics, who, under the pretence of zeal for the Gospel, over- turn all social order ; the other, of those who obstinately desire to retain the whole mass of catholic superstitions. Both deserve to be punished by the sword which God has given you, for they rise in defiance against the king and against God. The best means however to check the evil is to instruct men in the knowl- edge that we are created after the image of God, and that Christianity is opposed to all disorder. What I have to say to you therefore may be reduced to three points. First, in what manner the people may be best taught ; second, what means may be used to remove the abuses of the church ; and third, how the scandals which exist, the vices and luxury of the day, may be overcome." He wrote at the same time to Bucer in England, encouraging him to promote peace and union there ; he also prayed him, with great freedom of expression, to speak more clearly on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and begged him to have the honor of the Holy Spirit and of Christ more distinctly before his eyes, that no part of it might be ascribed to the mere minister, or the elements of the sacrament. The letter is well worth read- ing, and affords an excellent view of the subject. " You must be careful to devote yourself to the church, and to the service of the Lord. You have already run over a long course, and you know not how much still remains to you. I, who left the cradle a little earlier, stand perhaps nearer the goal, but the direction and the end of our lives are in the hand of the Lord." He then speaks of the wretched condition of France, and expresses a hope that England may raise itself up. " I have exhorted the pro- tector, as you wished me, and as the present state of affairs re- quires. It is now your duty, in all possible ways, if you can but obtain a hearing, to press especially for the abolishing of all ceremonies, which always carry somewhat of superstition with them." It was Somerset's design only to purify the English church and the papacy, not to reconstruct them. Bucer promised, in order to avoid contention, to speak of the Lord's Supper in the same language as Martyr. In the year 1551 a new strife arose, as to which of the cathohc ceremonies 30 CHURCH OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XI. should be abolished. Hooper, who, even according to Calvin's opinion, viewed the subject too strictly, was thrown into prison. Calvin immediately entreated the duke of Somerset to protect Hooper, and he was soon after liberated. Bucer died the same year, and Calvin deplored his death in a letter to Viret : — " I feel as if my heart would break, whenever I think of the manifold loss which the church has suffered in Bucer. May the Lord grant that all the rest whom I might have to weep may survive me, and so let me die joyfully !" But he was still very dissatisfied with the state of the church of England.* "There is yet much to be desired. Among others, it is an in- curable evil, that, so long as the king remains under guardianship, all the revenues of the church will be squandered by the great. In the meanwhile, they give a mere pittance to men without merit, but who perform the character of pastors. I will not cease however to rouse the consciences of all on this subject." He de- veloped a grander plan, in a subsequent letter to Cranmer, for a general union of the evangelical churches. The young king Edward, who ascended the throne in his tenth year, ruled till 1553. His noble dispositions awakened the greatest hope, and Calvin sought to gain him more and more for the Gospel. This is strikingly shown by his sending him a copy of his Commentary on Isaiah. This was followed by a dedication of the Commentary on the Catholic Epistles-. In the epistle dedi- catory he arms the young prince against the Council of Trent. Lastly, he dedicated to him the Commentary on the eighty- seventh Psalm, with a French letter, dated 1552. Evident progress was made by the Reformation at this period. The parliament in 1549 appointed a committee of bishops and clergy to undertake the task of forming a new liturgy. They retained only so much of the Mass as was consistent with the principles of the Reformation ; thus the invocation of saints was abolished, and Latin was exchanged for English. The marriage of the clergy was allowed. But the evil disposition of Henry VIII. was still at work ; even Cranmer knew not of what spirit he was, and became the persecutor of those who differed from his opinions. Bishop Bonner was deprived of his office because he supported the old doctrine of the real presence. Even some mechanics, who adhered to their extravagant notions, were brought to the scaffold : and Cranmer pressed it upon the young king as a duty to order them to be executed. He yielded, but * Epis. 123, Ed. Amst. p. 240. A.D. 1552.] Calvin's commentaries. 31 with tears. Violence like this led only to an outward unity, and not to the truth. Thus an altogether different system became necessary. Calvin's influence in Scotland was not exercised till a later period ; but he already took a comprehensive survey of the churches in foreign lands. In the year 1545 he renewed his intercourse with the Austrian reformed communities, to which he dedicated his catechism, with the view of establishing a union of doctrine between them and his own church. He also address- ed himself to the Poles, and dedicated his Commentary on the Hebrews, in 1549, to king Sigismund Augustus, whom he ex- horted to give himself to the service of Christ, " which places us in the rank of angels," and to walk in the footsteps of his glorious father, Sigismund, who, while persecution raged in so many other countries, never stained his pure hand with blood. The great men of his kingdom, he added, were now expressing their zeal for Christ and the truth ; John a Lasco, a descendant of a most renowned family, shining conspicuous before the rest. The reformation was established in Denmark as early as 1536, but it was not till 1552 that Calvin had any intercourse with that nation. In that year he dedicated the first half of his Commen- tary on the Acts of the Apostles, to the excellent king Christian I. ; and in 1554 he dedicated the second half to the son of that monarch, Frederic, expressing on both occasions his high esteem for those princes, and his love towards the Danish church. His intercourse with Sweden was of a still later date. Beza says, '' He bore all these churches on his shoulders." It is a characteristic and a joyous sign of the freshness and overflowing living energy in this great man, that at this busy period of his career he published so many works, that it might have been supposed he had nothing else to do. When moreover we consider their solidity, especially in the case of his exegetical writings, we feel that he had an internal, especial existence for himself, as well as his outward being ; or, as he expresses it, ' all the conflicts which took place around him, and the consequences of which seemed to oppress him so severely, were but, in his eyes, as skirmishes.' * If he was by anything more especially characterized, it was by the exegetical element, with which he wrought upon the in- tellectual world. The clearness and sedateness of his under- standing, the tranquillity, the caution against extravagances, in * Epis. ad Pios Gallos. 32 Calvin's commentaries. [chap. xi. a word the higher cultivation in contrast with the rudeness of an earlier period, the simple style, the dogmatic freedom, the tact, the learning and Christian sentiment, the practical character of his interpretation, — all characteristics of his genius and writings, have been spoken of in the first part of this work. It was Bucer who first encouraged him to undertake the labor of a commentator. " The Lord," he said, " has endowed you with an excellent ability to interpret his Gospel. You have again bestowed upon us a noble gift by your commentary on the Epistles to Timothy. May the spirit of God himself guide you !" The first part of his Commentary on the Epistles to the Corin- thians he dedicated, in 1546, to the Sieur de Bourgogne ; and ten years later another to Galliazzo Carraccioli. In writing to the former, he gives a proof of pure Christianity and of greatness of soul, and at the same time of his skill in addressing persons of rank. The second Epistle to the Corinthians was dedicated to Melchior Wolmar, to whom Calvin expresses his thankfulness, while he reminds him of the days of his youth, which he spent with him. The Epistles to tlie Galatians, Ephesians, PhiUppians, Colossians, were dedicated to Christopher, archduke of Wirtemberg and Miimpelgard, to strengthen him in his Chris- tian course. But the first Epistle to the Thessalonians he dedi- cated, in 1551, to the aged Maturin Cordier, his former teacher, principal of the gymnasium at Lausanne, and to whom he ex- presses his gratitude that he so carefully instructed him in his early years. In the year 1551 he sent his Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians to his physician, Textor, whom he thanks for his friendship, and adds, "When I think of my de- parted wife, I am daily admonished how much I am indebted to you, both because you once before cured her of a heavy sickness, and employed all your art and eflTorts to afford lier help in her last sufferings." In 1548 he dedicated the two Epistles to Timo- thy to the duke of Somerset, that, as Paul exhorted Timothy, so he might exhort the youthful king, and show him in what the true church consisted. The Epistle to Titus he dedicated to Farel and Viret, as we have already stated. Mention has also been made of the Catholic Epistles, and of that to the He- brews. Calvin's methodical unity of thought, which he yet knew how to combine with freedom, was strongly shown in his scientific style of interpretation. He wished to cultivate reverential feel- A.D. 1544.] CALVIN AND CASTELLIO. 33 ings rather than mere knowledge, but he never unexegetically sacrificed the meaning of Scripture to the desire to estabhsh a particular doctrine. He was therefore naturally averse to all hot- headed people, who rashly rushed onward before their time. This leads us to speak again of his dignified opposition to the celebrated Castellio. His struggle for doctrine and discipline in the church began with the year 1544. We pass over a polemical intermezzo which he had with Chaponneau, a minister at Neu- chatel, which is only interesting on account of a characteristic letter, addressed to a party in that city, which it drew from Cal- vin. He met Chaponneau's strife-loving disposition in an indirect way, showing his own disinclination to dispute, and at the same time the little worth of his opponent. So also he stated to the members of the church at Neuchatel his opinion of their rules in respect to discipline and ecclesiastical censures. He touches upon, and explains, all the difficulties which had anything to do with the delicate office of correcting manners. " Let it be uni- versally agreed," he says, " that the erring should be openly ex- posed ; they would otherwise go to other churches, and so all dis- cipline would cease." This operation of spiritual censures throws some light also upon the affair of Castellio, who was the representative in his age of that free, passionate spirit which has only in later times burst forth and become so fearless. Calvin became acquainted with Castellio at the university of Strasburg in 1539-40. He lived for sometime in the same house with him, and endeavored to obtain the diligent young man, the ingenious student of antiquity, for Geneva, it always being the wish of the great reformer to secure for his church a scientific cultivation. But Castellio was determined to be a theologian also. Beza described him, according to his own style, by the Greek term, iSioyvibj-mv^ self-opinionated. His residence at Geneva, as principal tutor in the Gymnasium, lasted about three years. He did not receive any appointment as a preacher, but he now began to put forth some singidar exegetical opinions on scriptural subjects. Thus he declared the Canticles to be a mere obscene song, especially the seventh chapter. It was written, he said, by Solomon in his youth, and ought to be struck out of the canon. He never considered the difficulty of setting bounds to such experiments, and to what end they would lead where the catholics were concerned. His perverseness was" even VOL. II. — 3 34 CALVIN AND CASTELLIO. [cHAP. XI. still more apparent in his denial of the descent of Christ into hell^ in his refusal to receive Calvin's intelligent and cautious exposi- tion of the subject, or to consider the vast importance of a reference to the sentiments of the early believers. Calvin was obliged to declare aloud his disapprobation of this conduct. He spared him, from the great regard which he enter- tained for him, as much as he could; but Castellio, deeply offended, wished to enter into an open discussion with him on the point in dispute. The council refused its consent, and thereby evinced its discretion ; but for the sake of truth, and not to limit the freedom of opinion, the discussion was allowed to take place in the presence of the assembled preachers. It was continued a long Avhile, but without any good result. Castellio was now so embittered, that he openly abused the ministers in a sort of congregation, in which every one was allowed to bring forward his complaints. He then took his departure, but without being obliged to leave Geneva in a degrading manner, as Beza falsely reports. This occurrence is worthy of attention, because it was the first time that the council was wholly on Calvin's side ; and through him it was that that union of opinion was established upon which the safety of the protestant church entirely depended. It appears indeed, from the whole of Castellio's history, that he was by no means a man of vicious disposition, but an ingenious, bold and earnest theologian, interesting and worthy of esteem, notwithstanding his failings, which mainly arose from inconsider- ateness, a want of forbearance and love of strife. He was such a person, in short, as the French call U7ie mauvaise tete. His ability was not sufficiently exalted to enable him to understand Calvin's worth and calling as a peace-maker in those times of excitement, and he named that despotism which was really but fidelity to duty. Bayle was as httle able to understand Cal- vin. This is evident when, at the end of his article on Cas- tellio, he observes, that the latter had only failed in not knowing how kings — that is, theologians who hold the rank of authorities — i-must be managed. Schlosser judges him correctly, when he describes him, Castellio, as " the learned, but unfortunate, proud and restless Sebastian." Beza regarded him as honest ; and 'the testimony given him by Calvin and the ministers of Ge- neva tends equally to prove his integrity. The first cause of annoyance between these two distinguished men was connected A.D. 1544.] CALVIN AND CASTELLIO. 36 with the printing of Castellio's French translation of the Bible, which Calvin would willingly have corrected, but Castellio would not allow him. Castellio bore himself so unbecomingly in the whole of this affair, that we may easily account, by his passionate conduct in the one instance, for his rage in other and later occurrences against the reformer. Calvin wrote to Farel, May 30, 1544 : " I now again see what it is to live in Geneva. I lie among thorns. There have been terrible quarrels among my colleagues during the last two months. Our Castellio, on the other hand, raves against us with the fury of despair. About sixty hearers were present at the meeting yesterday, when the Scriptures were ex- pounded. The following passage was proposed : ' Let us prove ourselves the servants of God in all long suffering.' Castellio now raised a constant opposition, in order to create between us and Christ's servants the greatest possible dissension. Thus he played with the words in this manner : ' Paul was a servant of God, — we serve only ourselves : he was the most patient of men ; — we are impatience itself: he watched the night through for the edifying of the church, — we watch to amuse ourselves : he was modest and temperate, — we have a drunken boldness : he was persecuted by the rebellious, — we excite ihem : he was chaste, — we are licentious : he was himself cast into prison, — we cast others in, if they but utter a word against us : he looked to the power of God, — we to the strength of others : he was oppressed, — but we oppress, and that the innocent.' What more is ne- cessary ? It was in short a cruel, exciting speech throughout. I was silent for the moment, lest a greater dispute might be kindled in the presence of our numerous friends, but I complained to the syndics. Such a conduct marks the beginning of all schismatics. I am induced to oppose myself to his rage, not so much on account of the perverseness of his conduct and the rash- ness of his abuse, as because of the perfect groundlessness of his accusations." * At Basel, where it was not felt to be so absolutely a duty to contend for unity, Castellio was appointed to the office of Greek professor. If we again consider the relation in which these two eminent men stood to each other, we shall find that Castellio * Other letters however exist which show, that, full of indignation as Calvin was on account of Castellio's slanderous abuse, he yet continued to befriend him. Thus he recommended him to his acquaintances, only lamenting his fierce and inconsid- erate conduct : 1544 (MS. Gen.). In a letter to Viret, March 26, 1544 : (MS. Genj), he says, " Consider what can be done for him." 36 CALVIN AND CASTELLIO. [cHAP. XI. continued all his life through the same noble but absurd cham- pion of unlimited toleration ; while Calvin, as the supporter of the grand truth which he viewed as the source of life, pursued with enthusiasm to the end of his career the one great object which he had always in view. The strife was soon revived. Castellio published a paper on the doctrine of predestination and justification, as founded on the ninth chapter of the Romans. It was directed against Calvin's principles. The essay on toleration is also generally, and rightly, ascribed to him : it appeared after the trial of Servetus, under the assumed name of Martin Bellius, and with the following title, "Haeretici, an sint persequendi, mul- tor, sententiee." Calvin answered this work. Beza'also wrote a very strong reply to it, at Lausanne, under the title of " De Heereticis a magistratu gladio puniendis." He supported his views with great talent, painted Servetus in the darkest colors, and undertook the defence of his friend against all assailants. But Castelho was not yet silenced. An anonymous writing, the author of which Calvin and Beza could easily guess, appeared at Paris, under the title of " Extracts from the Latin and French works of Calvin." In this publication the fundamental doctrine of election, that which supplied all deficiencies, was trod- den under foot with the biting wit and the keen logic which might have been looked for from a Voltaire. Beza and Calvin however exhibited far greater ability in the answer, and again trod the adversary in the dust. Worth and dignity were on their side, and it cannot be denied that Castellio would have done better to be silent. It is not so much matter of surprise, there- fore, that they should have spoken severely of him in the preface to their translation of the New Testament, and warned every Christian to beware of a man " who had been chosen by Satan to deceive the thoughtless and indifferent." Castellio indeed, in his Apology, published in 1558, complains of Calvin's fierceness against him, and declares that he had never seen the two works which Calvin ascribed to him.* But who can doubt that they were his, when they breathe so entirely his spirit? Still we must praise the moderate tone of this Apology. He accuses the reformer of believing too easy all the evil which was told him of his opponents. Among other things Calvin, deceived by a false report, had accused him of stealing wood to warm his chamber. Castellio spoke very temperately of this slan- der, and cleared it up in the following manner. He was * Bayle, art, Castellio. A.D. 1544.] CALVIN ON ASTROLOGY. 37 indeed in very necessitous circumstances, having to bring up a family of four sons and four daughters. In order to finish iris translation of the Scriptures, he was obliged to sit up during the night, and to provide fuel he went to the bank of a stream which flows into the Rhine, to pick up the pieces of wood borne down by the current, and which two hundred men had done at the same time. He appealed to all Basel in proof of the truth of this statement. This gives us a glimpse of the state in which this great and accomplished scholar lived. He had not the means of warming his chamber, and such was his poverty or necessity, that he was obliged to cultivate by his own labor a little spot of ground outside the city. He died in want, in the year 1563, and was buried in the grave of Grynseus. But his remains were subsequently disinterred, and some Polish students buried him in the high church at Basel, adorning his tomb with ?n inscription. Montaigne* devotes to him some expressions of sympathy: "To the great shame of our age, two distinguished scholars, as I hear, have died before our very eyes in a condition in which they had not sufficient to eat, — Lelio Giraldi in Italy, and Castellio in Germany. Thousands, I should think, would have come to their help had they only known their state." We may close our account of Calvin's present labors by the mention of two works, which had an immediate relation to the common intellectual character of the period. They show how sick the world was, and form a proper introduction to that which we have to say on the anti-christianity of those times. The first is a work against relics : it is written with much humor and irony, and was likely to be useful from its popular tendency. The second was a treatise against astrology. Although a certain degree of light had been diflTused, even the most power- ful minds were affected by the remains of superstition, and it was Calvin's peculiar characteristic to be able by his own activ6 spirit to penetrate, in that unlearned age, the mists of error and falsehood. Even Beza himself, according to Schlosser, believed at one time in astrological signs, and thought that the appear- ance of the famous star in Cassiopea betokened the overthrow of all things. It is well known that Melancthon inclined to this weakness. The regions of presentiment and mysticism were equally strange to Calvin, and there are only two cases in which such matters are touched upon. In the very year in which his work against astrology appeared, he wrote to Viret, Septem- * Essais, lib. i. ch. 34. 38 CALVIN ON ASTROLOGY. [CHAP. XI. ber 23 : " In Ihe packet which you lately forwarded to me, were letters from Poland : they contained nothing new, except the account that a lake (in ditione Marcicii) had appeared for two days like blood, and that the people had here and there taken up masses of the gore. A fearful wonder, the meaning of which will soon become clear to us. There being now so many fables abroad, I can scarcely believe it, till our booksellers come back from the fair." In speaking of one of Calvin's sicknesses Beza says, "He was lying in bed; it was Saturday; the north wind had raged terribly for the last two days ; Calvin lifted up his voice in the presence of many persons, and said, ' I know not what I ought to think of it, but the whole night through I have seemed to hear a tremendous sound of warlike instruments, and I could not convince myself that it was not so. Let us, I beseech you, pray; for certain it is that some great event is at hand.' And, strange to say. on that very day the great battle of Dreux was fought." It is not uninteresting to hear the remarks of so clear a mind on the then famous science of the heavenly bodies, especially at a time when the curtain has fallen, and a Chalmers has brought this new branch of knowledge into harmony w^ith the Gospel. Calvin had yet no idea of the system of Copernicus, although the work of that astronomer was written in 1530. " The whole heaven moves itself around the earth," said Calvin, even in the last edition of his Institutes. The writings of Aristarchus of Samos, the only one among the ancients who awoke out of the egoistical dream, had been but lately discovered ; and how slowly this knowledge was diffused appears from the case of Galileo, who in 1610 first ventured to proclaim the truth of the new system. Somewhat later Beza shows, in his work on the plague, that he was acquainted with the Copernican system, though he might not understand it. Astrology is certainly indebted for its origin to the desire of the human spirit to look upwards, and there, above, to seek the solution of all mysteries. Nor is the influence of the heavens on the organization of man to be despised. The repressed super- stition of catholics and protestants had now again concentrated itself in this art, familiar in Calvin's time to all men of learning. Francis I. dismissed his physician because he had shown himself unwilling to prophesy from the stars respecting the future. The celebrated Renata, duchess of Ferrara, the friend of Calvin and a promoter of the pure faith, received instruction from her A.D. 1544.] CALVIN ON ASTROLOGY. 39 astrologer, Luc Gauric, in order not to be ignorant of the matter. At the court of king Henry II., Francis II. and Charles IX. the far-famed Michael Nostradamus, doctor and professor of medicine, enjoyed as much distinction as if he had been really endowed with the prophetic spirit. He had, as well as Luc Gauric, foretold the death of the king in a duel, which happened in close agreement with their predictions. The influence indeed of this error arose to such a height in France in the time of Catherine, that both the church and the state found it necessary to check it. Under the old system of astronomy, which regarded the heavens only in relation to the earth, and the latter as the central point of the whole, the notion could be easily justified that the stars were the language of God, seeing that all was ap- pointed for the use of man alone. Calvin, who opposed himself to this error, did not intend to write a learned book on the subject, but such a one as might be useful to persons of moderate understanding. " God," he simply says, " has given us his word, but men surrender themselves to superstition. The true astrology and astronomy is the knowl- edge of heaven. We learn from Moses that God appointed the sun and the stars for the day and the night, for months and seasons. But it is not given to every one to understand their courses, their changes, or their oppositions. This belongs to science." — "Astronomy teaches the period of time which each planet requires for its course round the sun, what relations the sun has to the other planets, and how eclipses may be calculated even to a minute. The fact is this : our astrologers start with the correct principle, that all earthly bodies are subject to those above ; but they draw a wrong conclusion herefrom. Natural astrology teaches rightly that the moon exercises an influence on bodies : that, for example, when it grows or wanes, the joints are more or less affected ; and from this science of astrology physi- cians derive what insight they possess. We are therefore obliged to confess that there is a certain degree of harmony between the stars and human bodies. But these presumptuous people have invented, under the name of an art, a system of astrology, which is twofold, and consists, 1. in the knowledge of nature and the organization of man, and 2. in an inquiry into all the occurrences of human life, — into what men have to do and suffer, what will be the issue of their undertakings, — nay, into the minutest affairs of existence." He then shows them, in his peculiar and cutting style, that they are fools who believe in such a system. 40 THE ANABAPTISTS. [cHAP. XI. We find from this writing, that Calvin despised all such things as presentiments, regarding them in the same light as astrology, and that he recognized no slumbering and re-awakening faculty in man to look into the future. Thus he rejected the predictions of Ascletario, who foretold Domitian his death, and those of Spurinna, who warned Csesar to beware of the Ides of March. He thus argues : — " I ask you, whether there were not many other persons born at Rome, and in Italy, on the same day and under the same star as Csesar ? Did they all die on the same day, and by a similar death 1 It is evident then that there is no truth in your art, since, if there were, what happens to one must happen to all. There may be thirty who have the same nativity: one may die when he is thirty, another when he is fifty ; one at home, another in battle. Theagenes had foretold Augustus that he would be emperor, having been born under the sign of Capri- corn : but how many poor wretches were there not born under the same sign, and who attained to no higher glory than that of being swineherds or cowherds ? If the stars had given the king- dom, not only to Augustus, but to all the rest who were born under the same sign, a very little portion of territory would have remained for him." "Let us allow," he continues, " that some predictions are ful- filled ; still, this is only the devil's work. God allows it, in order to punish disbelievers, as he did in the case of Saul." Thus he ascribes the whole of this dark side of human knowledge to the influence of the evil spirit. It appears also that people in his time had gone very far in these practices: he speaks of the secret exorcism of spirits ; and in contemporary writings, as for example in tlie life of Cellini, it is mentioned, that a marvellous necromancer dwelt in the Coliseum at Rome. "Who," he asks, " has made the devils subject to them, that they should serve them 7 The children of God cannot but regard them as their most cruel enemies, must flee from or repel them, instead of seeking com- munion with them. They who would make use of their service will at last see that they have played into the hands of their master," It should be remarked that Calvin has said nothing respecting magnetism and clairvoyance, by which the whole empire of the supernatural is placed under another and higher point of view, unknown to the reformers. We proceed now to consider the anti-christianity of those times. Having seen how Calvin, by his Institutes, endeavored to give stability and consistency to the whole church, and then A.D. 1544.] SPIRITUAL LIBERTINISM. 41 directed his attention to the common necessities of the age, we have at present to examine more particularly the efforts which he made at Geneva to fix the constitution and discipline of his church. In order to do this, we must first describe the character of his opponents. Full of the thought that the Gospel is no speculation, and that it is but a dead letter without a Christian hfe, he could not fail to regard all as antagonists who ridiculed what is spiritual and moral. Yet, as in the middle ages the rude violence of the world, which so long resisted the power of the papacy, was at length compelled to give way, so, in this case, libertinism was in the end subjected to a moral rule. CHAPTER XII. ANABAPTISTS. SPIRITUAL LIBERTINES. THE ANTICHRISTI- ANITY OF GENEVA. POLITICAL LIBERTINES OPPOSED TO THE REFUGEES. It is evident that the principles which gave birth to the oppo- sition which Calvin had to endure in Geneva, were diffused through the whole church, but had their stronghold in that city ; as if, according to Beza's remark, the power of evil was to be manifested in its most satanic forms where it was to meet with the boldest resistance. Popery no longer concealed its worst features : it was unmasked. Far more dangerous was the spirit of malice, which was inwardly consuming the life of the re- awakened church. Under the veil of a pious pantheism, and the form of a new, more perfect doctrine, that spirit was seeking to win away unstable souls. How well it succeeded in this appears from the case of queen Margaret of Navarre, who protected the spiritual libertines at her court, and in consequence quarrelled with Calvin. This is sufficient to prove how necessary it was that he should stand forth, and endeavor to quiet the waves which had been raised by the storm of various passions, and of life, now in the progress of its new development. The awaken- ing of a fresh principle must ever be attended with something unusual. When the human spirit is excited by great objects, it goes forward with the same daring feehng which prompted it 42 SPIRITUAL LIBERTINISM. [CHAP. XII. to the overthrow of idols, and easily yields itself up to the ideas which carry with them the contempt of all rule and order. The anabaptists are an example of this perversion. It is well known that, when Luther was residing on the Wart- burg, great disturbance was created at Wittenberg through a sect of tliis kind. He left the castle to restore quiet, and de- livered, during eight successive days, his famous sermons, so distinguished by practical good sense and discretion, against the spirit of fanaticism. But neither his powerful influence,* nor the death of Thomas Munzer, and the disgraceful defeat of the fanatics at Miinster, availed wholly to suppress their errors. The same notions, not long after, took another and more speculative direction, — not so rude, but equally deceptious. The main doc- trine of the anabaptists was the necessity of re-baptism in mature years, and the rejection of infant baptism as not apos- tolical. The libertines went much further: they were pantheists of the worst kind, trampling all morality to the ground, as well as Christianity, against which they raged in the most awful manner. Calvin, to confute their erring and wretched notions, wrote against both. The work against the libertines appears, in the Amsterdam edition, with the date 1544 : that against the ana- baptists was of the same year, but is written with so much solid- ity that it deserves to be read in all times. The two works are closely connected, the notion of an individual inspiration being the fundamental error, and that which required to be combated, in both sects. In the preface to the second work, Calvin writes to the brethren of Neuchatel, who had begged him to oppose the fanatics, and states that he dedicated his book to them as a public proof of the friendship which was so dear to him, and that the world might see how they agreed in zeal and doctrine. " Our William Farel, who is endowed by the Holy Spirit with so many excellent gifts, and who, as an old veteran, has ever stood forth against the enemies of God, has already done more than was necessary in that which you have required of me." The first error, namely that children ought not to be baptized, and that those only ought to be admitted to the rite who are walking in the Lord, is thus refuted : " In the time of the apostles children were baptized: the command of Jesus refers only to unbehevers. Christians who enjoy the promise have * A. D. 1522. A.D. 1545.] SPIRITUAL LIBERTINISM. 43 received it also for their children. These are baptized because they are already in the covenant, and are so born. The circum- cision of children was practised among the Jews, and had reference to repentance and conversion." In respect to excommunication, they supposed that open sin, after a second admonition, rendered the offender ripe for the inflic- tion of the anathema ; and further, that even he who sinned through ignorance, though still more he who willingly trans- gressed, could never receive forgiveness. According to their no- tions therefore every actual sin is a sin against the Holy Ghost, which is blasphemy. " To what does this lead ?" asks Calvin. " What Christian lives without sin ? and where, if such a doctrine be correct, is the consolation for penitents ? Actual sin is not always sin against the Holy Ghost, but is only so when the transgressor opposes himself with all his might to divine truth. A man however may actually sin, though he has never declared war against God or blasphemed his word." Some excellent obser- vations follow against every species of separatism. " These people want a perfect!}^ pure church, and insist that no behever ought to remain in a church which does not excomnmnicate all who are wicked." In opposition to this he says, " A church may exist with imperfections. Every church is stained with sin. The prophets and Christ are members of the church, though it be con- joined with reprobate communities. We ought to improve, not to separate." Again : " Those who dream of a perfect church are unwilling to recognize any temporal power in the church, or any authority independent of itself, seeing that it is perfect in itself Excom- munication has supplied the place of the sword. Christ, they say, would not judge the adulteress, nor decide between the brethren, nor be a king, nor allow his brethren to exercise au- thority." So also he justifies the Christian oath, as grounded on the Old Testament, and not abrogated by the New. Lastly, he confutes the doctrinal errors of the fanatics. They spoke of the Lord's having a heavenly body, as the Marcionites contended for his having only an apparent body, whence it would follow that Christ was not really man. So too they reasoned of a sleep after death, which error Calvin had already opposed in his Psychopanny- chia. But although he designated these people as dreamers, and 44 SPIRITUAL LIBERTINISM. [cHAP. XII. even as swine, who delighted to wallow in the mire, a tone of pity and great gentleness pervades his work, as if it were intended to be addressed to those who had only exalted themselves too much from a well-intended though erroneous design. It appears that the anabaptists, though pursued with fire and sword in catholic countries, instead of being so reckless in his time as they had been at an earlier period in Germany, were now well-disposed. This was not the case with the libertines. In order to justify a free and licentious life by Christian prin- ciples, the spiritual had united with the political libertines in ex- hibiting a false view of Christian freedom. They were distin- guished from the German fanatics in this, that they grounded immorality on a system. No attempt to characterize them is made in the smaller lives of Calvin, and even Schrockh passes them over in his church history. Calvin's work against them is very original and peculiar. He describes this sect as " reprobate, and not merely sinful, but horribly corrupt above all others. Its end is licentiousness : it gives a false idea of freedom, and calls itself spiritual. Those who hear these people speak might suppose them to be carried away by their raptures above the skies. Their heresy reminds us of that of Cerdo, who adopted the notion of two principles, and de- nied the resurrection. This was the case also with Marcian, with the Gnostics and the Manichseans. They took something from all, but rejected the Gospel, and gave nicknames to the apostles. Neither wit nor reason can be found in their speech, no more than it could in what old women might say on astronomy. And I am expected to be silent when the name of Christ is abused, and when it is employed to screen the introduction of such wick- edness into the world as has never been heard of, and thus to ex- pose him again to the shame of being accounted worse than a demon. Were I to do this, I should be baser than a dog, which will not allow his master to be attacked without at least barking. I must cry aloud then with a clear voice, so that if heresy dare boldly utter its wretched and horrible blasphemies, this may be heard above them." " It would be ridiculous were I to oppose myself to the pope and his coadjutors with all my power (for I cannot edify the church of God if I do not make war with those who would pull it down), and yet should excuse those who are still worse enemies of God, and much greater destroyers of the truth. For the pope does allow a shadow of rehgion to remain ; he takes not away A.D. 1545.] SPIRITUAL LIBERTINISM. 45 the hope of eternal life ; he desires men to fear God ; he makes a distinction between good and evil ; he acknowledges our Lord Jesus Christ to be true God and true man ; he ascribes honor to the Word of God. But the only end which these people have in view is to confound heaven and earth together, and to nullify all religion. All, even the little children, ought to spit at them in sign of horror, as they see them pass along the streets, and tiius to heap infamy upon those who, by supporting them, have been the cause of ruin to thousands of souls." Calvin next complains greatly of their unintelligible, mystical mode of expression, and accuses them of playing the catholic under the pretence of Christian freedom. They indulged in an allegorical interpretation of the Bible. Calvin, on the other hand, shows what Paul meant when he said, ' The letter killeth.' On the one side they exalted themselves very high and desired to be called spiritual, and on the other they sank down into the very mire. ' Their main defence was, that there is only one spirit ; but it is a very different thing to say with Scripture that all crea- tures come from God, and that jvhat God has created is God him- self. They speak of the devil as identical with the world and sin. The devil and his angels have no proper existence : wickedness is only a negation of good, and the distinction between good and evil vanishes. The human soul is not eternal, since it is of the world. The spirit accomplishes whatever is done in the universe. Man has no freedom, and therefore everything is good to him ; or, in other words, God commits sin. Thus both the belief in God and every trace of morality are lost in their system, crimes of every kind, even those pertaining to God, being allowed. The consequences are, first, the blasphemous position, that God is the devil himself, not providence ; secondly, that men have no con- science or ability to distinguish right from wrong ; thirdly, that all kinds of sin are to be praised, and that none are punishable, all being the work of God.' These conclusions are assailed in a manner as convincing as it is pious. The Scriptures are the source of the writer's arguments : he shows by the strongest evidence that God performs his own proper work, and man his, without God's either assisting man too much, or taking too much from him. Christ, according to the Libertine system, is the spirit which is in the world, and in us all. The death upon the cross was in appearance only. Christ is in his people : they are all Christ, and can no more suffer, all being now accomplished. The new birth consists in 46 SPIRITUAL LIBERTINISM. [cHAP. XII. the power of suppressing the fear of God and conscience, and in living according to Christian freedonri. Man can sin no more in that perfected state of innocence. The freedom thus possessed is boundless ; as if Paul, who is cited, had allowed them to steal, to slay, and commit every species of licentiousness. Calvin proves, on the contrary, that the law retains its force for Chris- tians, with this distinction only, that it no longer condemns us without recall, grace being provided by the Gospel. " Let every man live according to his inclination." It is thus that they un- derstand what Paul says of the calling of Christians. But Calvin shows that we ought to follow the inward calling of God. If every one were to obey his own inclinations as a call, married people might separate from each other. The new marriage is a spiritual marriage. And further. They would fain establish a perfect community of goods. Calvin however proves that the first Christians under- stood thereby nothing more than the greatest degree of liberality and benevolence. The resurrection, they say, is already passed, seeing that the spirit now returns to God.* We shall shortly find to what extent these principles obtained ground in Geneva : they were not those of the anabaptists, which never revived after they had been opposed and openly confuted by Calvin, but the doctrines of an antichristian pan- theism. It appears that in France the higher ranks were especially infected by this spiritual libertinism. Those who had rejected Catholicism in their hearts misused their Christian freedom, living according to their will, but preserving an appearance of attach- ment to catholic forms. The enemies of the faith therefore took advantage of the publication of the work against the libertines to excite the queen of Navarre against Calvin, her favorites Q,uin- tin and Poques having been rendered ridiculous by the satirical freedom with which he had treated their names. When he learned at Geneva the change which had taken place in her opin- ions, he wrote to her, and in a style which combined equal dignity, firmness, and prudence.t A perfect understanding was hereby restored between them, and the sect, which had spread * A letter to the Faithful of Rouen refers to the same subject. It was written " Centre un Franciscain sectateur des erreurs des libertins." Fare! also wrote against this wretched sect. Calvin had exhorted him to do all in his power to suppress it. A Franciscan wrote an answer to his work. f According to Beza, " ingenue et cordate." A.D. 1546.] SPIRITUAL LIBERTINES. 47 itself at various times over France, was forever suppressed, no trace of it remaining except in Belgium. The system of the libertines however erhibited itself at Geneva under still darker colors. A perfectly formed antichristianity, a true offspring of hell, sprung forth. We learn from many circum- stances that this spiritual libertinism was in close union with the pohtical, but not necessarily so. Among the signs of the evil spirit thus existing we may particularly mention the blasphemies uttered against the truth of the Gospel. These are found in the work of a certain Genevese citizen of the libertine party, and ex- hibited in the most hideous forms. An utter disregard for all morality is shown, among other instances, in the trial of the wife of the councillor Ameaux. Proofs of superstition and of the gross- est egotism are afforded, especially in the compacts formed with the devil, in order to obtain from him a certain degree of power. These appear in the process against the persons w ho were ac- cused of diffusing the plague. Numberless other things of an equally infamous character, but of a different kind, are grouped together. Gruet's work is now only known by the sentence pronounced upon him, and by Calvin's extract. As even this however was never generally circulated, Gruet was always confounded with the authors of the •' Three Impostors."* But it is certain that he had no hand in that work. He speaks of God and Christ, of Moses, the prophets, and the apostles, but never of Mahomet, which could not have been unobserved by Calvin. The main object of his work seems to have been to show, that the founders of both Ju- daism and Christianity were deceivers, and that Christ was justly put to death. But the work entitled " De Tribus Impostoribus" is a species of philosophical treatise, in which a disbeliever pre- tends to show, tranquilly and with regret, but without abuse, that the three revealed religions are founded in fraud, and that the only true religion is that of nature. The world was for three hundred years mystified respecting this production : it was at length printed. Till it was thus made known, it was dreaded as a kind of monster lurking in secret. People considered that they were affording one of the best proofs of conversion if, just before their death, they burnt the extracts from this work which they had secretly obtained at some exorbitant price. But Gruet's work was still more adapted * Trait6 des Trois Imposteurs, 1^11. Diss, de la Monnoye, p. 108. 48 GRUEt's condemnation. [chap. XII. to honif}^ the world, and we owe a debt of gratitude to those by whom it was destroyed. The present generation is tolerably well hardened against atheistical writings, but the daring blasphemy of this production was so frightful, that no one could read it with- out terror ; for what are all the antichristian writings of the French revolution compared with the heUish laughter which seemed to peal from its pages ?* It was not till a later period that the work to which we allude was discovered, but it was at the present time (1545-6) that it was written, and secretly read at Geneva, The principles of the anti- calvinistic party are sufficiently apparent. The pantheism of the libertines led directly to atheism, and this, among the initiated, to a secret but most decided hatred to Christ. How indeed could such a wicked and blasphemous disposition have developed itself in Gruet, had he not been living in the midst of an infected at- mosphere ? The book consisted of thirteen sheets, in Gruet's own handwriting, and was bound in parchment. It was discovered in 1550, under the roof of his own house, where he had probably placed it at the time of his apprehension, and was delivered to the magistrate. Only some single, detached passages were found among his papers, but they seem to have contained the elements out of which the work was composed. They formed the founda- tion of the charge of blasphemy brought against him, and in pur- suance of which he was condemned to death. The work itself was burnt, but Calvin's remarks, and the evidence respecting its general character, are sufficient for the permanent justification of the (jlenevese magistrates, who, according to their principles and the feeling of their times, believed themselves bound to punish such offenders with the sword, and whom we still deem it right to load with chains. The corruption of morals in Geneva has been already men- tioned. It is evident, even from the numerous trials for witch- craft, .that the state of manners in that city was fierce and turbu- lent. Men, clothed in black and masked, frequentl}^ appeared to women, and gave themselves out for the devil, intending no * Although this work, De Trihus Lnpostoribus, is attributed by many to the em- peror Frederic II., or rather to his chancellor Petriis a Vineis, it is probably a pro- duction of the 16th century. It is written in Latin, and bears the title, De Iviposturis rdigionum breve Compendium. There have been two editions of the Latin text ; the latter with the title, JJe Tribus Impontoribus. A later work, of the same blat^phemous character, has appeared in French, which however is nothing more than a copy of the LEnprit de Spinoza. A sect known as that of the Lucianists existed in the lat- ter half of the sixteenth century, and from this proceeded the Be Tribus Impos- toribus. A.D. 1546.] SPIRITUAL LIBERTINES. 49 doubt to fill their minds with terror, and subject them to their will. But this immorality received a new impulse from the principles of the spiritual libertines ; and numberless processes before the tribunals prove that this state of things must have long continued. The account of the wife of the councillor Ameaux belongs to the same period. Her principles, which were identical with those of the libertines, show by their very nature that they were not gathered from the clouds, or created by the wanderings of a sick or phrensied mind. It was the wish of her friends to make it believed that she was mad : they hoped by that means to secure her escape. But her opinions had a deeper root ; and her conduct compromised her husband, whose condemnation followed at a later period. According to the report of her trial, she not only gave herself up to the grossest immorality, but justified this immorality as founded in principle. The process shows, that she was convinced that she might place herself at the disposal of any believer. This was a notion common to the spiritual libertines, as it appears from the trial of Gruet, and other acts. "It is in this sense," she said, "we ought to take the communion of saints, spoken of in the Apostles' Creed ; for this communion can never be perfect, till all things are common among the faithful, goods, houses, and the body. Believers have then only reached the highest grade of love when they understand this principle. No one ought to forbid this com- munion even between the nearest relatives. Such a union is holy, if it take place between a protestant and a catholic, since, according to St. Paul, the believer sanctifies the unbeliever. A union of this kind cannot be forbidden without wickedness, the first command which God gave to man being, ' Increase and multiply.'" The consistory and the council employed themselves earnestly about these matters, and granted the husband the separation which he desired. The woman was committed to prison for life. At a somewhat later period, the history of Raoul Monnet, a rep- resentative of the madness and folly of this sect, affords a further illustration of the prevailing power of Antichrist. Raoul boasted his iUicit connection with women of the highest families in Gene- va, especially with the wife of the first syndic Perrin. He had a collection of obscene prints, copied from Aretino, and which he insultingly called his New Testament : so too he had spoken dis- gracefully of his fatherland. VOL. II. — 4 50 THE PLAGUE AT GENEVA. [cHAP. XII, Raoul was beheaded, and his pictures were burnt by the com- mon hangman. He had been long connected with the faction of Perrin, and it was only shortly before his apprehension that he had left it. This party, well skilled in the arts of intrigue, hastened as much as possible his execution, that he might not have time to address the people, and expose their conspiracies.* It is well worthy of observation, that Calvin makes no mention in any of his letters of these circumstances. They might occur perhaps too rapidly, or they might seem of too tragical a nature to form the subject of friendly communication. But still more horrible was the iniquity of the egois7Ji, which appeared in the alliance of the so-called infectionists. A pestilen- tial disorder had for many years prevailed in Geneva, and the surrounding districts, to such a degree, that the population was in fact decimated, two thousand inhabitants dying out of twenty thousand, the highest estimate of the population of this little city. All the relations of life were disturbed : the courts of justice were closed ; and the evil would have become still worse, had not circumstances led to the discovery of a conspiracy, of rare iniquity even in those times, formed by a set of wretches who diffused the infection by means similar to those employed in 1530. Their practice was to mix up the virus drawn from those who were sick of the plague with salve, and then to place it upon the locks and bars of doors, and on the lines in the public streets. The disease was thus spread in the most awful manner. Even some of the inspectors of the hospital were in league with these wretches, whose only object it was to share among each other what belonged to the dead. They had bound themselves by an oath, not to cease from this course, till Geneva, as they expressed it, might be fed by a single measure of corn, when it would be possible for them to take possession of the entire city.t A man named Tallent betrayed the conspirators, and one Lentille was the first brought to trial. He pretended to know nothing of the matter, but said, that care ought to be taken to * Picot, T. i. p. 42 G. f Some suspicion respecting this crime existed at an earlier period. In the registers of April 17, 1543, we read: "J. Goulaz, accuse d'avoir seme la peste, a endure sept cstrapades et le tourment des Bujegnins sans rien avouer ; on le gardera encore en prison, puis Ton avisera. June 8 : L'on soupconne que de uuit il y a des einpoissonneurs, qui sement la peste par la ville. Ordonne d'en parler a M. Henri, portier de la Tartasse. May 16, 1545 : On bannit pour trois ans, sous peine de fouet, lea maris des femmes executees pour avoir communique la peste." A.D. 1546.] HORRIBLE CONSPIRACY. 51 watch those who were engag-ed in the hospital, if the magistrates wished to stop the pestilence. According to Spon and others, the affair was made a matter of jest among these people : they inquired, when they met each other, how tlie plague went on, and gave it the name of the cripple, as death and fever have been called. Thirty-one of these wretches were apprehended and burnt : Jean Lentille died in consequence of the torture to which he had been subjected : the physician and the two assistants were quartered. Notwithstanding the horrible punish- ments which the culprits had suffered, the same crime was re- newed in 1568. It is impossible to account for the perpetration of such enormities, without supposing them to have been con- nected with others of a still more secret character. We trace, for example, the existence of a fanaticism among the conspirators, which had its origin in superstition and in the most frightful selfishness. They were resolved to destroy all or to gain all, and their confessions show that they believed themselves pro- tected against infection by a league with the devil ; being indeed guarded and allowed to gain possession of the treasures of the world, while they prayed to him, who has promised them to his worshippers. It may easily be conceived how these horrors afflicted Calvin and all other holy men : he ascended the pulpit, and, deeply moved, spoke with great vehemence against the levity and vice which prevailed in the city. Convinced that the pestilence was a scourge sent by God, he declared aloud that the corruption of manners was the cause of the affliction, and besouglit the council to inflict severer punishments on those guilty of adultery and harlotry. He seems indeed from this time to have resolved that adultery ought to be punished whh death : the offence was con- nected in his mind with others of a still higher kind ; he regarded it as resulting from the anti-christianity of the age, and which he desired to extirpate with fire and sword. Some writers have sought in later times to throw suspicion on these accounts, and to compare the belief in their truth to the absurd notion which attributed the cholera to certain physicians, and so to establish the position that fanaticism discovered horrors where none existed. They seem however to forget that it was the educated, and not the lower class of people, in Geneva who undertook to punish the accused, that the crime was repeated at three different times, and that a period of twenty years was sufficient to afford ample opportunities for reflection, and for the 52 HORRIBLE CONSPIRACY. [cHAP. XII. investigation of evidence. To this it may be added, that two of the culprits were, with Calvin's help, converted, and, by the grace of God, went tranquilly to their death. We cannot suppose that they did not make a true confession to their spiritual adviser. Calvin therefore may be taken as a witness, in whose testimony we may place entire confidence : he speaks of their fanatical ideas, but without saying anything further. It seems that they were instigated to their hellish work by some fearful kind of influence. Calvin viewed this with grief and awe ; but he communicated the fact to his friends very briefly, and without attempting to determine what is true or false in the supposed operations of Satan. This laconic mode of expressing himself led to the suspicion that he did not willingly speak on the subject. His own, words are as follows :* — " The Lord is trying us in a wonderful manner. A short time back the discovery was made of a conspiracy of men and women, who for three years past have contrived by some species of witchcraft to cir- culate the pestilence through the city. Already have fifteen women been burnt : several men, dreadfully tortured, have killed themselves in prison : there are still twenty-five in confinement. But notwithstanding this, the locks on the doors of houses con- tinue to be every day besmeared with the infectious salve. Such are the dangers to which we are exposed. God has hitherto guarded our house, but it stands in the midst of perils. Well it is that we know He careth for us. Farewell, my honored friend and dear brother !" To Farel he wrote :t — "Why should I relate to you what has taken place in regard to the infection ? Weber (Textor) is with you, and he can explain to you all the circumstances much more clearly than I could in a letter. Renat has filled us with surprise : it is perfectly wonderful that a man who remained firm under torture should be overcome by a supposed promise ; that is, by its being told him that I had obtained the promise of a pardon for him from the council. His wife confessed that she had destroyed eighteen men by witchcraft or poisoning, and that he had killed four or five. The power of the Lord was wonderfully shown at the death of this culprit, so perfect was the conversion of his soul. In the morning he evinced no sign of repentance, but still, as it seemed, hurried on by his fanaticism, he complained that he was about to be punished, though the Lord had pardoned him. But the Lord, as I have said, has wrought marvellously * MS. Geu. March 27, 1545. f MS. Gea April 25, 1545. A.D. 1546,] POLITICAL LIBERTINES. 53 and beyond my hope. Both met their death joyfully, with the greatest firmness, with the strongest faith, and with the surest in- dications of repentance." About this time also a so-called wizard was apprehended at Peney, but he was dismissed by the magistrates as a madman. This is a proof that some distinction was made among offenders of this kind. To such an extent did these disorders proceed, that Geneva was suspected by the people of the neighboring states of being engaged in the sale of poison. Thus in 1565 a simple, ignorant man from the country came to the city for the purpose of pur- chasing from the seigneurs, that is, the council, a portion of the well-known salve : he is said to have been in league with the devil, and was burnt alive.* In conjunction with the spiritual libertines, and as active in- struments of the same spirit, were another class to which the name of political libertines was applied. Among these may be ranked those families in Geneva who, not comprehending Calvin's theocratical views, employed all their influence to resist them. This party desired nothing but emancipation from the despotism of Savoy, and the establishment of free institutions. The Ref- ormation offered them the means of attaining their end. They were not necessarily connected with the spiritual libertines : their leader Perrin does not appear to have been imbued with any speculative anti-christian element, but to have simply desired reputation and power. But Calvin was a stumbling-stone to these people: so long as he stood with the thunder of his elo- quence, with his iron will, and with the Gospel in his hand, they could not advance a step. Calvin's vocation and zealous spiritual efforts were a riddle to them, and they ascribed his conduct to a boundless ambition, judging his principles by their own passions. Both parties were repeatedly brought into rude collision with each other, and the apple of strife was the spiritual authority of the consistory and the right of excominunication. There was but one celebrated man of the anti-consistorial party, Bonnivard, who though burning with zeal for the freedom and welfare of his fatherland, and daring in his opinions, could yet understand Cal- vin and humble his libertine opposers. Calvin's design extended further than to the present establish- * This horrible transaction diil not take place till a year after Calvin's death. The unhappy old man was evidently a lunatic; he had been urged to desire the poisonous salve, so he said, that he might take vengeance on those who had taken away his daughter. 54 EXILES AT GENEVA. [CHAP. XII. ment of his institutions and principles. That which he was effecting on a small scale, he hoped to accomplish still more gloriously in the great kingdoms of the world, and thus to ob- tain for his principles a universal victory. To succeed in this object, however, it was necessary for him to procure allies, to surround iiimself with friends, and to form a new Geneva in the old. The persecutions which still raged, especially in France, favored his plan ; fugitives from all parts gathered round his standard ; among them were faithful, earnest Christians, some from Italy, others from the Netherlands and Spain, and with whom conscience availed more than fatherland. New churches were established ; one of the first was that of the Italians, to whom the Chapelle des Maccabees was granted, or, according to others, La Grand Salle du College* In Notre Dame la Neuve the service was performed in English, in *S'^. Gervais in Spanish, and in St. Germain in Flemish. Calvin, as we have already seen, proclaimed it to be the bounden duty of the followers of the Gospel to leave their country, to die or become exiles, rather than incur the guilt of hypocrisy. Many of his writings, as those against the Nico- demites, show what were the arguments which he employed for this purpose. In one of his unpublished letters he exhorts a whole family to flee, proves why they ought to do so, tells them ■what course they should take, and what they had to expect at Geneva. These exiles found in that city the pestilence, hatred, and continual strife ; but they willingly bore ail this, settling themselves in the neighborhood of this great man, that they might cheer themselves by the beams of his noble spirit, and listen to his sublime discourse. Thus a hundred youths sat at his feet in the lecture-room and noted down every word which he spoke, that they might publish his interpretation of the Scriptmes in foreign lands. This was the state of things on the field of strife. Calvin's present efforts were all directed to obtain the admission of these worthy people to the rank of citizens, that, adopting his principles as they did, they might contend with him in the council for their establishment. The greater their number, the greater his influence : a majority of votes was thereby secured to him in the assemblies ; but this led the entire faction of the libertines to persecute these people, or at least to render their lives as miserable as they could ; and hence arose numberless disturbances. Nothing was neglected to pre- * Picot. T. i. p. 891. Regis. Oct. 13, 1642. A.D. 1546.] CALVIN AND THE LIBERTINES. 55 vent their acquiring the right of citizenship. They demanded that they should be forbidden to bear arms ; and it was at one time feared that they were plotting some murderous design against thetn. The exiles on the other hand rejoiced in the espe- cial protection of the consistory, Galiffe, and the state-protocol show, that it was not safe for any one to speak insultingly against either the ministers or the refugees ; to do so was regarded as an offence against God ; and it is known that Calvin, when he had gained a majority in the council, procured the enrolment of three hundred new citizens at one time. They were for the most part Frenchmen, and it was openly declared that the measure was adopted " for the better protection and support of the lesser coun- cil." A change was now produced in the spirit of the republic, the state being, according to Calvin's idea, an oligarchy. Nothing more was to be heard of the great assembly of the whole body of the citizens, the central point of primitive freedom ; and they who wished to revive it were marked as unquiet spirits and dis- turbers of the people. Thus the party which consisted of the old Genevese were brought, though too late, to the conviction that they were over- powered by intruders, and that they had been guilty of a gross oversight in committing the conduct of their spiritual affairs to a stranger. But the new citizens, strong in spirit, retained the up- per hand, and vanquished these modern Canaanites. The ref- ormation, after a period of fearful contention, was accomplished, and a new Calvinistic Geneva brought into existence. CHAPTER XIII. . FURY OF THE LIBERTINES. ANGER AND SEVERITY OF CALVIN. AMEAUX, PERRIN, AND GRUET. It cannot be matter of surprise that the rage of the fanatical libertines was excited to the highest degree against a man who, unarmed, and aided by the sword of his eloquence, could confound them all. It may be that he occasionally acted with too much of passion, that he allowed himself to be carried away by his indignation. The world can form no proper idea of his zeal, but vast is the debt of gratitude which it owes to Calvin 5b CALVIN AND THE LIBERTINES. [cHAP. XIII. for his having with such steadfastness resisted that torrent of in- fidehty which, but for him. had to this day invaded and oppressed us. The hbertines gnashed their teeth at him, and cried aloud that the state was lost. Calvin did not allow himself to be alarmed ; the more they raged the higher rose his courage. He let the law take its free course ; and the first councillor, as well as the simplest burgher, felt his severity and his power. But the wicked spirit which prevailed would yield neither to these efforts, nor to the solemn signs of the times ; it was rather excited to new outbreaks of violence, and Calvin's stern announcement of the coming vengeance of God was found no false or empty prophecy. The libertines, who knew that they could not resist the continual thunder of his attacks, at length threw off the mask. All were resolved to venture the utmost ; and from henceforward they de- sired to be made accountable for their offences not to the consisto- ry, as the moral tribunal, but to the council of state. The former however was anxious to preserve the discipline of which it was the guardian, and which was sanctified by the Word of God. It appealed therefore to the council for support ; this it obtained, and the spiritual principle was victorious. The struggle here al- luded to is worthy of note in the history of the church ; it shows the difficulties with which such a tribunal, especially in a small state, has to contend ; and we cannot sufficiently admire the firm- ness of the council. Calvin pours out his heart on this subject in his introduction to the commentary on the Psalms, and thus characterizes the rage of his enemies: — "If I should describe the course of my struggles from this period, it would make a long history. But it affords me no slight consolation, that David preceded me in these conflicts. For as the Philistines vexed this holy king by continual wars, but the wickedness and treachery of the faithless of his own house grieved him still more, so was I on all sides assailed, and had scarcely a moment's rest from outward or in- ward struggles. But when Satan had made so many efforts to destroy our church, it came at length to this, that I, unwarlike and timid as I am, found myself compelled to oppose my own body to the murderous assault, and so to ward it off. Five years long had we to struggle without ceasing for the upholding of discipline ; for these evil-doers were endowed with too great a degree of power to be easily overcome ; and a portion of the people, perverted by their means, wished only for an unbridled freedom. To such worthless men, despisers of the holy law, the A.D. 1546.] CALVIN AND AMEAUX. 57 ruin of the church was a matter of utter indifference, could they but obtain the liberty to do whatever they desired. Many were induced by necessity and hunger, some by ambition or by a shameful desire of gain, to attempt a general overthrow, and to risk their own ruin as well as ours, rather than be subject to the laws. Scarcely a single thing, I believe, was left unattempted by them during this long period which we might not suppose to have been prepared in the workshop of Satan. Their wretched de- signs could only be attended with a shameful disappointment. A melancholy drama was thus presented to me ; for much as they deserved all possible punishment, I should have been rejoiced to see them passing their lives in peace and respectability ; which might have been the case, had they not wholly rejected every kind of prudent admonition." The trial of Ameaux may be especially mentioned as one of those which took place at this period, and as affording a profound view of Calvin's determined conduct. Pierre Ameaux, or Ameaulx, was a member of the council of Two Hundred, whose wife had been already punished for her libertinism. He was now in close alliance with some of its most depraved ministers, and had spoken loudly in a social meeting against both the doctrine and the person of Calvin, whom he called a mean and wicked man.* This was mentioned to the council, which felt itself bound, in remembrance of what Calvin had done for the church and state, to take serious notice of the matter, and having put Ameaux into prison to examine him judicially. It was deemed proper however at the same time to call the council together, that an inquiry might be entered into, whether there was anything in Calvin's conduct deserving of reprehension. Several ministers were summoned on the occasion, and they were desired to state, in the absence of Calvin himself, their candid opinion respecting him. They bore the most honorable testimony to the purity both of his doctrine and his conduct. It was not deemed proper however to inflict on Ameaux any further punishment tlian that of a fine of sixty dollars. He had retracted his complaints against Calvin, and had declared that he was not in his right senses when he uttered the objectionable words, adding still further, that he would for the future show him all becoming respect. But Calvin now appeared before the council, accompanied by * Picot, T. ii. p. 410. In the state-protocol of Jan. 27, 154G, it is said, " On met Pierre Ameaulx en jugement pour avoir dit que Mr. Calvin prechoit une fausse doctrine, 6toit un tres-mechant homrae, etn'etoit qu'un Picard." 58 CALVIN AND THE LIBERTINES. [cHAP. XIII. all the ministers and elders of the church. He complained of the lenity of the judges, and demanded that the sentence should be set aside. The process was accordingly renewed, and the coun- cil condemned Anieaux to the following humiliating punishment : he was to pass through the whole city bareheaded, and with a lighted torch in his hand, and then to kneel down and openly pro- claim his repentance, which was called '■'■faire amende Jionora- ble." Calvin may appear in this to have acted with fanatical se- verity ; but it ought to be considered of what vast importance it was to him, in one respect at least, to secure a perfect purity of doctrine. In the present case he identified himself with his prin- ciples, and he founded his proceedings upon his knowledge of Ameaux and his party, to which Christianity was hateful, and whose aim it was to destroy it. He was fully prepared, the at- tempt having been made against religion itself, to fall with the respectability of the consistory. If we carefully observe that the extension of God's kingdom w^as his only desire, we must admire the grandeur and freedom of spirit which he exhibited under these circumstances, and which was sufficient to raise him above every other consideration, even above the painful feeling, that he might be suspected of indulging personal revenge, and thus be in danger of losing many of his followers. It required moreover no slight degree of courage and determination to proceed in such a manner against a man who occupied so high a position as Ameaux. We cannot for a moment impute to him the vulgar desire of triumphing over an opponent: he had proved how readi- ly he could forgive, in other circumstances, and where he was only personally concerned. Could he have been fairly accused of the love of revenge, or of any dishonorable wish, he must have lost forever the confidence of his party. As this however was far from being the case, we may conclude that it was evident to them that he acted according to higher principles. Could it either be supposed that Ameaux only spoke in jest, we should scarcely be able to account for the earnestness and severity which marked the proceedings of the council. The sentence passed upon Ameaux gave rise to an outbreak of popular fury in one quarter of the city : but Calvin despised the tumultuous shouts of the multitude. Two preachers who had taken the part of Ameaux were deprived of their office : one of them, Henri de la Mar, was kept some days in prison. All the wine-shops were strictly closed, and the whole council pro- ceeded to the disturbed quarter, and ordered a gallows to be A.D. 1546.] CALVIN AND PERRIN. S$ erected in tlie Place de St. Geivais. This threat produced the desired effect : tranquillity was restored, and the sentence was ex- ecuted on Ameaux, April 5, 1546. Calvin's severity increased, and laws of the sternest character were passed against all offences. The consistory summoned a great number of licentious persons to appear before it, and submit to a strict examination of their morals. New edicts were pub- lished by the council against luxury,* and the public representa- tion of a play, ' The Acts of the Apostles,' after having been per- formed ten times with great applause, was forbidden at the re- quest of the clergy. Calvin describes in a letter to Farelt his conflict, under these circumstances, with the tumultuous people. The feeling of popular indignation was still further increased by an order which forbade the naming of children after the Roman catholic saints ; among the most favorite names were those of Claudius and Balthazar, with which the people had associated certain superstitious ideas, t To heap insult on morality and re- ligion was the order of the day. The principal family in the libertine party was that of Faber : Francis Faber had excited many to struggle for freedom. At the head however of the party was a man, Amied Perrini,§ who, without any intellectual endowments, had made himself so con- spicuous by his insolence and extravagant ambition, that Calvin was accustomed to call him the stage-emperor : his wife was the daughter of Faber. A fierce opposer of the strict rule of the church, Perrin stood forth in 1553 with increased force against Calvin, nor was it till two years after that he began to shrink before the reformer. Hav- ing been raised by the voice of the people to the chief military station in the repubhc, he had a great show of worldly distinction to aid him in his struggle with Calvin. The latter had in this respect a more difficult position than Luther, who was protected by the prudent elector, and lived in the midst of a people who understood his heroic daring, and encouraged him by their applause. The laws of the consistory prohibited dancing, the * Regis. 16 Av. 1543, Ep. Ixxvi. Ed. Amst.T. viii. pp. 44-46. + Epis. Ixviii. Ed. L.aus. Amst. p. 43. X Picot, T. ii. pp. 413, 414. Regis. 1546, Av. 21. Chapuis was put in prison for having persisted in naming his child Claude, which the minister did not wish, but de- sired to call hira Abraham. § Perrin is known under various names. In the old history of Servetus he is called Amadeus Gorrius ; and in French, Amy Pierre or Ame Perrin. Calviii gives him the nickname of Caesar Comicus and Ccessn Tragicus. 60 CALVIN AND PERRIN. [CHAP. Xlll. use of ornaments and worldly amusements. But some of the principal families had refused to deny themselves these indul- gences, and having kept a festival at Bellerive, they were sum- moned first before the council and then before the consistory.* The answers which they gave at their examination evinced the lively hatred which they all entertained of the church discipline. Faber was condemned to three weeks' imprisonment. He would not however humble himself before the consistory as Perrin did, but went to prison exclaiming " Freedom, freedom !" Calvin's own words give interest to these circumstances, and show to what lengths he was led on the principle of moral government. In a letter to Farel t he says : " The dance has given us more to do since your departure than I had at first expected. All who were present on the occasion were called before the consistory, and, with two exceptions (Corneus a syndic, and Perrin), blas- phemed God and belied us with daring effrontery. I burned with indignation, and spoke with all my strength against this open contempt of God, declaring at the same time that it was in vain for them to mock at the holy pledge which we had taken. They persevered in their scorn. Having thoroughly considered the matter, I could do no otherwise than adjure them by God to re- pent of such wickedness ; at the same time declaring that, at the peril of my life, I would make the truth known, that they might not for a moment imagine they had gained anything by their lies. Francisca Perrin also greatly abused us, because we are hostile to the Fabers. I answered her as I thought fit, and as she deserved, asking her whether her family was sacred and su- perior to the laws. Her father had been found guilty of one adultery, we were on the point of proving him guilty of another, and there was no little talk of a third : her brother had publicly ridiculed both the council and ourselves. I added lastly that they might if they pleased build a new city, in which they could live as they chose, if they did not like to be governed here by us, as under the yoke of Christ; but that as long as they were in Geneva it was useless for them to strive not to obey the laws. Were there, I further said, as many diadems in the house of Faber as there were phrensied heads, this would not alter the fact that God is the Lord. Perrin himself had in the mean time fled to Lyons, hoping that the business might be buried in * Perrin's wife is thus described by Calvin, " v,xor est prodigiosa furia ;" and, " im- pudenter crbnhium omnium defensionem suscipit." Ep. 70. f Epis.lxxi. 1546. A.D. 1547.] CALVIN AND PERRIN. ^ silence. It was my opinion that they ought to be obliged to take an oath that they would acknowledge the truth. Corneus warned them respecting the danger of taking a false oath : they however not only declared what we desired, but added that they had danced on the same day at the house of the widow Balthazar. All were thrown into prison. The syndic afforded a remarkable instance of coolness ; but having received a severe rebuke on the part of the consistory, he was deprived of his dignity till he should evince sincere repentance. It is reported that Perrin has come back from Lyons : let him do as he may he will not escape punishment. Henri, with our consent, was deposed from his office and committed to prison, but liberated after three days. It is already matter of public observation that the guilty have no hope of escaping punishment ; and this, because the highest have not been spared, and my friends have escaped no better than my enemies. Perrin and his wife are raving in prison : the widow is almost mad ; the others blush and are silent." The two parties became more and more enraged against each other. Calvin's eloquence gave him a decided superiority in the little republic. On the 24th of July 1547 he wrote to Viret :* — "I continue to employ my usual severity while laboring to correct the prevailing vices, and especially those of the young. The right-thinking tell me of the dangers by which I am sur- rounded, but I take no heed of this, lest I should seem too careful for my personal safety. The Lord will provide such means of escape for me as He sees good." The families which belonged to the libertine party took a very formidable position ; but Calvin remained master of the field, and never ceased to avail himself of his office as a preacher to attack his opponents. Somewhat later, that is August 21, 1547, he states in a letter to Farel that " letters were daily brought him from Lyons, from which he learned that he had been killed ten times over." " Amadeus is in France ; his wife is with her father, where she plays the Bacchanal according to her usual fashion. We besought the council that, if she showed true repentance, all the past might be forgotten. But this has not occurred, and she is so far gone as to have cut off all hopes of pardon. I will seek Penthesilea, when the season for administering the Lord's Supper arrives." Still worse signs of confusion appeared soon after, and it be- came more and more evident that the enemies of Calvin, would leave nothing undone to destroy his power. This is shown by * Epist. Ixsx. 62 CALVIN AND PERRIN. [CHAP. XIII. an important letter, addressed at this time to Viret, and in which, not unlike Cicero, he boasts of the courage and eloquence, by which he had restrained the excited mukitude.* Calvin entertained originally very friendly feelings towards the captain-general, but this was before they were properly known to each oiher. Perrin, as a promoter of the reformation, had taken his part in recalling Calvin from Strasburg. At a later period, when they discovered the opposition existing in their principles, their mutual dislike became the fiercer from their former acquaintance. Calvin saw in Perrin only the libertine Genevese citizen, who, rash, active and frivolous, was on the way to become a Catiline. t He tried one means after another, either to win, or at least to bridle this powerful opponent. En- treaty, admonition, threats, all were employed in vain, and he was compelled to resolve on subduing him by force. Whether Perrin's rashness had led him to form any treacherous design against the slate, cannot be sufficiently proved ; but it is evident that he was ready to excite a rising to overturn the existing order of things ; and his conduct appears in the highest degree suspi- cious, when we read that Savoy calculated upon his assistance in its plans against Geneva. As an idol of the people, Perrin was all-powerful with the multitude, and the council itself felt that the pretensions of his family must be humbled. The im- prisonment of his wife and of his father-in-law inflicted a deep wound on his pride, and he appeared before the lesser council, of which he was a member, with bitter complaints and threats. But his insolent words produced no effect on the council : his imprisonment was the more resolutely enforced, and the people suffered it to take place without opposition. He was accused especially of playing the tyrant, and of entertaining designs * Ep. Ixxxii. Sept. 17, 1547. Calvin here describes the tumultuous char.acter of the assembly about the doors of tlie building where the council met. "Fenrful," he says, "was the sight. I cast myself into the thickest of the crowd. I was pulled to and fro by those who wished to save me from harm. 1 called God to witness that I was come to offer myself to their swords, if they thirsted for blood." He next speaks of his conflict in the council, but adds, that the people shrunk from harming him, " as they would from the murder of a father." f Many indications of this appear in his letters. In one addressed to Viret in Jan. 1546, he says, referring to Perrin, " how I fear that he will at length render himself intolerable to this free city !" In addressing Perrin himself, lie speaks to him as a Judas, and uses the words Qam facls, fac citius. Ed. Amst. p. 53. In a letter to Farel, Nov. 27, 1548, Ep. Ixxxviii. MS. Gen., he describes him thus: "Eodem die Cassar Coniicus noster soccos iterum induit. Nunc ferocior aliquanto redditus inter histriones suos se thrasonico suo more jactat." A.D. 1547.] CALVIN AND PERRIN. 63 against the freedom of his fatherland, having formed the inten- tion of introducing a body of two hundred soldiers from France, and quartering them in Geneva.* The whole city busied itself about this trial : many wished his death, others his liberation. The lesser council, after consulting the advocates, acquitted him on the capital charge, but condemned him to lose his offices, and desired tiiat he should pray both God and the state to pardon his treasonable speeches. The office of captain-general was forever abolished. Farel and Viret were twice called to Geneva for the purpose of attempting to reconcile the two parties. They appeared before the council, and we hear Farel thus defending his friend ; — ^" How," he exclaimed, " can you fail to honor Calvin ? Tiiere is not a man in the world who has warred against Antichrist with such vigor as he ; there is no one so learned ; and if he have not spared you, neither has he shrunk from blaming the greatest men, Luther and Melancthon." Tranquillity seemed restored, but the ministers were defeated. Perrin recovered his position, and it was said, indeed, by Calvin's recommendation ; but the consequence was, that the wicked spirit of his party soon reached the height of iniquity. His followers wore a species of cuirass, that they might be known to each other, and they heaped upon the reformer every species of abuse. Farel and Viret, who were obliged to return, again effected a reconciliation between Calvin and Perrin ; but it was only in appearance. A great many of Calvin's enemies had de- clared aloud, that it was their dislike to him which kept them from the Lord's Supper ; but he and iiis brethren put them all to shame by their bold and resolute preaching of the truth. The council took their part, and on the 18th of December, 1548, an amnesty was proposed and settled.! But the events which suc- ceeded show that Perrin had practised deceit, and had nothing else in view but to obtain for himself the first place in the state, and with it the means of accomplishing his designs. In the following year, 1549, he was first syndic. The old syndics, * Regis. 25 Juill. 1555. It is said that when the Duke of Alba was told of Perrin's offer of help, he laughed and replied, that if he had two thousand men under the walls of Geneva, and he found any discord in the city, he would take it without any aid from Ami Perrin. f In a letter to Viret, Nov. 1548 (MS. Gen.), Calvin ascribes the restoration of Perrin, whom he speaks of as Comicus Ccesar, to the small number of the -members of the council present. This, it is observed, does not agree with what is said by Senebier, who states that Calvin assisted in restoring Perrin, and adds, " II eut la Batisfaction chrctienne de voir son ennemi rehabilitc." 64 GRUET THE LIBERTINE. [CHAP. XIII. contrary to the law, allowed him the highest rank. His power was thus firmly established, and he again stood opposed to Calvin as the champion of the evil principle against the good. Anticipating the narrative of other events, I will here state that, after another treasonable movement of Perrin's party, the council at length became calvinistic, and suppressed the worst of the agitators by force. A sound policy had taught them that it was impossible to allow two hostile parties to exist together, without the ruin of the republic. It is possible however that the council may have made use of the disturbances as a pretence. The accusations do not appear of sufficient importance ; and the council, as was too often the case in those times of excitement, seems to have played with the lives of individuals, and not to have shrunk from shedding blood on the slightest suspicion, for the sake of establishing peace. Perrin himself escaped to France, and was only hung in effigy. Bern especially demanded the an- nulling of the sentence ; and thus some degree of obscurity must ever involve the actual criminality of this notorious personage. Immediately after the apprehension of Faber and Perrin, which took place on Monday, June 27, 1547, it was discovered that one of the libertines, the before-named citizen Jacobus Gruet, de- scended from an old and respectable family, had affixed a libel to the pulpit in the high church of St. Peter. This paper contained an expression of hatred against the established discipline, and a threatening intimation that a plan was laid to annihilate the champions of the church party by murder. The judicial proceeding against Gruet is important as a prelude to that of Servetus. It exhibits the principles of the council, the prevailing laws of the city, and at the same time the connec- tion between the spiritual and the political libertines. The ac- cusation brought against Servetus was purely religious, whereas in that against Gruet the religious was mingled with the political, and presented a more awful specimen of unbelief. We will leave Calvin himself to give an account of this affair. Addressing Viret,* he says, "We must now contend in earnest." Then having alluded to the wife of the stage hero, and to her rage against the spiritual rule which had bridled her love of dancing, he continues: — "The council committed her to close confinement. She fled. The next day a paper was found affixed to the pulpit, threatening us with death if we did not remain silent. The council, greatly moved by such proceedings, have * Epi8. Ixxvii. July 11, ISil. A.D. 1547.] GRUET THE LIBERTINE. 65 given command to investigate thoroughly the nature of the con- spiracy. As the suspicion of many rests on Gruet, he has been apprehended, but the handwriting does not agree with his. A searcii however having been made among his papers, several others were found of a not less guilty character, one of which was an intended address to the people on the day of assembly, and in which he endeavored to prove that that only ought to be punished by the laws which might appear injurious to the state. There was the danger, he argued, that whilst the city was under the government of a single melancholy man (Calvin), an insurrection might be excited, and the city might thus be deprived of thousands of its inhabitants. Two sides were written in Latin, and in these he made a mock of Scripture altogether, and abused the Saviour. Immortality he called a dream and a fable, and struck at the very root of all religion. I do not be- lieve that he is the author of this paper, but it is in his hand- writing, and the process therefore is carried on. It is possible that he may have employed his own wit to reduce to a whole that which he has heard from others." Calvin here recognized the doctrine of that satanic association founded by the spiritual libertines. Some circumstances may be mentioned which serve to throw light on the origin of Gruet's wrath. In order to make his freedom of opinion publicly known, he had introduced a part of the Bernese costume, the people of Bern being opposed to Calvin and the council.* This luxurious dress was immediately prohib- ited, and the compulsion thus exercised inspired the great cham- pion of freedom with the most violent indignation. The preachers exhibited little moderation towards their opponents. Cop, a bold energetic minister, had called the Genevese ladies of the libertine party, and who were in the habit of attending theatrical repre- sentations, harlots. Thus too Abel Poupin described Faber as a hound, and Calvin, Gruet as " halaufreP Gruet, who felt his strength, was greatly embittered to see his friends humbled, and obliged to bend the knee before the con- sistory. The words of the libel were,t " You and yours shall gain little by your measures ; if you do not take yourselves away, no one shall save you from destruction ; you shall curse the hour when you forsook your monkhood. Warning should have been given before, that the devil and his legions were come * " Les hauts de chausses chaples aux genoux " f Galiffe, Not. Gen; Art. Gruet. VOL. 11. — 5 66 GRUET THE LIBERTINE. [CHAP. XIII, hither to ruin everything. But though we have been patient for a time, revenge will be had at last. Defend yourselves, or you will share the fate of Verle of Freiburg.* We do not wish to have so many masters here. Mark well v/hat I say." Suspicion must have been already directed towards Gruet ; he would not otherwise have been so immediately accused in the present instance. As a rash, enterprising man, occupying a conspicuous place in bis party, he must have betrayed his anti- christian sentiments in a thousand ways to the eye of an ob- server like Calvin. The process was begun, attended as it seems with some agitation. According to established usage, the ac- cuser was to be imprisoned with the accused ; but in this case the whole council must have gone to prison, the charge being one of high-treason, and as such could be brought by no other body. Gruet however was subjected to the torture morning and evening during a whole month : he bore his sufferings firmly, and without betraying one of his confederates, of whom he must have had many. In a letter to P. de Bourg, he says of Calvin, whom he names " Episcopum Asculanensem," " He is a great hypocrite, who would fain be worshipped himself, while he robs our holy father the pope of the honor due to him. His audacity is so great that he declares he will make even kings and emperors tremble." fin another letter he accuses him of trifling with holy things. Mt is worthy of remark, that a copy of the work against the Ana- baptists and libertines was found in his house : he had written on the margin " toutes foliesy which shows plainly that he had employed himself on the subject, and felt that he was aimed at ■ in thf! passage which he had marked. On the 9th of July he confessed that he had been guilty of affixing the threatening placard to the pulpit. On the 12th he repeated this confession, with some alterations : he also stated that the writings found in his house were his own composition, and prayed with tears that he might be at once led to execution. We cannot repress a sigh, that the rude peiiod which we are contemplating would not allow men to discover, that intolerance is as hateful as blasphemy, and the actual infliction of torture as great a crime as uttering a threat of murder. But in the present case the state was a principal actor : it would therefore be unjust to attribute Gruet's death solely to the religious gov- ernment of Geneva, as if it had been effected simply through » A gentleman who had been murdered. A.D. 1547.J EXECUTION OF GRUET. 67 the hatred of his spiritual opponents. His condemnation must have taken place, had Calvin not been in Geneva. The latter had no doubt rightly judged his character, although it was not till after his death that his worst crime came to light, and that his punishment appeared proportioned to his otfence. But noth- ing can be more ridiculous than the clamor raised at tlie men- tion of Gruet's torture, as if Calvin was the author of its in- fliction. Not the slightest evidence exists in history that such was the case, while it is well known that no important trial took place in those times, in any part of the world, without the appli- cation of the rack. In the proceedings carried on against mere heretics, as in the trials of Servetus and Gentilis, no mention is made of torture ; but it would be contrary to all historical prin- ciples to judge Calvin and his times by the rule of modern opin- ion. With equal right, and with the same consequences, it might be objected against him that he did not wear a peruke a la Louis XIV., or found his decisions according to the Code Napoleon. Calvin speaks on these things with great simplicity and earnestness in his letters, written about this time, to Bour- gogne, and calls the libertines young people whom he must constrain and bridle, and thus do them good against their own will.* Gruet was brought to the scaffold, July 26, 1546. The sentence, which was read aloud to him, purported, that he had insulted re- hgion, and had declared that the laws, both divine and human, were but the invention of man ; that he had written blasphemous and obscene verses, and defended the grossest licentiousness ; and that he had thereby endeavored to overthrow the institutions of the church, and lessen the authority of the consistory. It was further added, that he had threatened the reformers and the clergy, and had spoken with especial disrespect of Calvin ; that he had written letters to excite the French court and the monarch against him ; and lastly, that he had threatened even the council itself. It is to be observed, that his unchristian sentiments and im- morality were first noticed, and that then followed his resist- ance to the consistory, and in the third place his threatening of the council. But in a republic where religion was so closely bound up with the political government, every attempt against the former must have been viewed as equally directed against the latter, which hence must have incurred the charge of intol- * July 14, 1547. 68 CALVIN AND THE LIBERTINES. [CHAP. XIII. p.rance whenever it inflicted temporal punishment. As Gruet's resistance was directed against the moral institutions of the state, ^0 was that of Servetus against its principal doctrine, which, as the foundation of its religion and its power, was of still greater impor- tance, and demanded a sterner sacrifice. With religion must the republic flourish or be overthrown. It is really inspiriting to hear how Calvin stormed in his ser- mons against the opposite party, while at the same time he labored to convert them. '= I am ashamed," says he, " to preach the Word here among you, where such horrible disorders are taking place ; and were I to follow my inclination, I should pray God to take me from this world. I would not live three days amid the vanities by which I am surrounded. And shall we still boast that we have established a reformation ! Not ser- vants of God, our judges might be blind, for they may feel our worthlessness with their hands. I know not indeed whether God may not send the executioner among us, refusing as we do to hear the admonitions of his mouth ; yea, there is reason to fear that he is preparing to raise his armed hand. But this is not said to excite resistance against him, but that we may con- fess our misery, and no longer harden ourselves in sin. He has called us to repentance : let us then embrace both his prom- ises and his threats ; let those who serve the state fulfil their duties now with more faithfulness ; let the clergy labor more diligently to cleanse the churches of their impurity ; let every one look to his own house ; from our houses let us look to our- selves, and sanctify ourselves, that when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we may be more and more established in his grace, and be engrafted into his body, so that we may live in Him and He in us, and that we may be able to boast ourselves the children of God." Still more striking is the deep religious earnestness which breathes in the statement put forth by him in the year 1550, on the vicious proceedings of Gruet :— " Not only did he oppose himself to our holy religion, but he poured forth such blasphe- mies that they make the hair stand on end. These things must tend to bring a curse upon the whole land : all therefore whose consciences are awake will feel the necessity of praying God to forgive this abuse of his name amongst us. The council ought again to declare aloud that this blasphemer has been justly con- demned, that the wrath of God may be averted from the city which has harbored such wickedness ; that the associates of A.D. 1547.] Calvin's troubles. 69 this reprobate and more than deviHsh sect may have an example of vengeance before their eyes, and that thereby the mouths of those may be shut who would treat these crimes with levity." Gruet's book was cast into the fire by the common hangman, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Scriptures lay open before the people, and the ceremony took place at the door of the house, in the Bourg de F'oux, where he had dwelt. The Gospel thus gained a victory over its enemies ; in the same manner as in Germany freedom triumphed when Luther burnt the pope's bull, and the papal decrees. CHAPTER XIV. INSULTS HEAPED ON CALVIN. HIS RESOLUTION, INWARD PEACE, AND CONSOLATION IN FRIENDSHIP. — VIRET. The enemies of Calvin left nothing untried to injure or afflict him : he was exposed to insult, not only in the council, but in the open street. He says, in reference to this period, that he expected to be killed ; and had his enemies succeeded, this would in all probability have been the case. Beza observes, among other things, that they gave the name of Calvin to their dogs ; others converted it into Cain, the fratricide, in allusion to the execution of Gruet.* But *he allowed nothing to rob him of his courage or his peace : he says to Viret, " I awaited tran- quilly what my enemies might do ; they tried every means to overthrow me ; but, on the one side, I would take no notice of their insults ; and, on the other, I let them understand that I regarded all their machhiations with contempt. Had they dis- covered a single indication of fear in me, they would have sup- posed they had conquered. There is certainly nothing better * To Viret, February 12, 1545. "I must continue as ever to fight in. darkness with hypocrisy." And further, December, 1547, he says emphatically, " Nunc redeo ex Senatu. Multa dixi, sed canitur surdis fabula : Doniinus illis mentem restit- uat !" In the same month he again «aitl, '• tiiat he knew not what he should do, but that he certainly could not much longer endure the conduct of such a people." 70 Calvin's inward peace. [chap. xiv. calculated to disappoint their aim, or to encourage the good to persevere, than iny resolution." Even the council was in many instances opposed to Calvin, and acted so as to increase his difficulties : as for example in re- gard to the printing of his works.* The following circumstances however gave rise to a still more serious persecution against him. When the new syndics, and among them his opponent Aniadeus Perrin. were chosen in 1545, Calvin wrote to Viret respecting these persons. The letter was lost, and Viret's ser- vant, into whose hands it fell, gave it to tlie syndics. Troillet translated it into French, and made it public. As the council was at that time unfavorably disposed towards Calvin, it ex- cited complaints against him, and he was accused of having writ- ten, that the Genevese desired to be ruled without God, which was to slander the whole council. It might be well enough for him to assail his opponents in the pulpit, but he had no right to abuse them in his private letters. Calvin wrote hereupon to Fare), August 10, 1548, " As far as 1 can gather from common report, my letters have been given to them. The worst passage in these letters is this : — ' Our people here, under the mask of Christians, wish to govern without Christ.' They regard this as an arrow directed against themselves. But I should readily endure any kind of death if it could tend to the defence of the truth. They are ashamed however to show these letters, of which they have gained possession by cunning, and they know well enough that I am in a position to endure many insults unmoved." (Au- gust 20, 1548.) " Trusting to the testimony of my conscience, I fear no assault, for what can they inflict upon me worse than death ?" His enemies felt confident that they had him now in their power ;t and the affair would have been carried to extremities could they have established the accusation against him. But his resolute and prudent conduct gained the victory. Although he supposed that he had sufficiently explained J the circumstance to the council, showing that he had only passed judgment on his opponents in a private letter, and as a Christian, without inflicting any public injury upon them, yet the council reproved him, and this was (he cause why Farel and Viret came to Geneva to aflford him the support of their influence. It is well for us, after contemplating his struggle with the * To Farel, 1548, MS. Gen. f To Viret, Sept. 20, 1548. J Galiffe, Not. Gen. p. 628. A,D. 1548.] calvin's inward peace. 71 outward world, to penetrate iato the soul of this same man, armed as he was by God, and so living as it were with him, to learn to imitate his firmness. In an age characteristically want- ing in force, it is elevating and strengthening to associate with noble minds • not only to survey with their eagle-like glance the divine plan, but to share with them the higher impulses of the spirit, grounded upon a holier sense of duty. Calvin's life was not rich in great visible circumstances, but the contrary was the case as to his inner conflicts, thoughts, and works. We have not in him the joyous outbreaks and noble instances of proud de- fiance displayed by Luther, but he ever exhibited the persevering | resolution and the truth, even to death, which win the crown of j life. It is important for the display of the fine inner life of Calvin, to read how greatly he was distressed, under present circumstances, at the approach of the season for celebrating the Lord's Supper. He says, " The coming Sunday is the day for administering the sacranient. You can easily imagine with what anxiety I am oppressed. Would that it could be celebrated in my absence, even under the condition that I should come creeping to you on my hands and knees !"* Thus we see Calvin contrasted with men who, according to his conviction, often approached the table of the Lord with hypocrisy ; while he only sought it under the influence of deep feeUng, and an immovable faith in the righteousness of God, and in the presence of Christ in the sacra- ment. He frequently indeed yielded himself to the spirit of the Old Testament, but communion with Christ in the sacra- ment was the middle-point of his life. None of these struggles could aflfect him. During the whole of this turbulent period he was supported by a loftier principle, which kept him firm, and imparted to him that wise, determined will which nothing could bow. A more than human strength and confidence in this re- spect characterized his position. Those who study the lives of men celebrated in the world, will find that such men feel them- selves impelled to action in a manner not to be explained by an ordinary understanding. It was so with Calvin, and it is only by this consideration that we can throw any hght upon his con- duct. He had no self-interest to promote, when he defied those who opposed him, and stood exposed to the hatred of half the world. How gladly would he have retreated and sought re- pose ! What was it which kept him to his post, except the » Ep. 10. To Farel, Sept. 1, 1546. 72 Calvin's inward peace. [chap. xiv. feeling that he had to fulfil a higher will than his own ? What else could have moved him to employ the severest methods to gain his end, but the consciousness that the interests of truth could only be effectually supported by such means ? This con- viction gave him confidence, joy, and untiring patience, even when he saw himself mistaken by his friends and exposed to their cen- sures.* It was from his entire resignation to the divine will that he drew consolation and life, and thus he says, " I bring my heart as an offering and gift to the Lord ; I subject my bound and van- quished soul to the obedience of God." In the same humble spirit he adds, that his sufferings and conflicts were far less than those of other servants of the Lord, — that his struggles were but a jest. " It is not worth the trouble," he says, writing to France, " to vex you. Far different were the anxieties endured by Moses and the prophets, the leaders of God's people. Such trials are necessary for us." A little afterwards he expresses the same joyous feeling. Moses rose to his mind, and rightly, for, like the lawgiver, Calvin led a new people to the Lord, triumphing over a thousand dangers. His address to Farel is very noble. " With respect to your exhortation, that I and my brethren should persevere with unbroken resolution, neither dangers nor troubles lessen my courage. But since I know not sometimes in this confusion where to look for counsel, I wish that God would allow me to depart. I can easily understand that you will say this is a foolish wish. But did not Moses, that glorious example of patience, complain of the burden which seemed to lie too heavily upon him 1 I am indeed assailed to a certain de- gree by such thoughts, but I do not encourage them." Certain it is, that while all his friends trembled more and more for him, and while the whole city was raging against him, he alone en- joyed profound tranquillity of soul. All that he says gives proof of this. At a moment full of disquietude for many, he thus speaks : — " The two hundred are deliberating. I am kept in a state of expectation, that I may look for rest in the Lord alone. If we serve him with a good conscience, we can never avoid the rage of those who would fain involve everything in ruin. But it will always be to us a strong tower that we hold fast by the Lord." At the same time he also says, " I am con- * To Fivrel, Dec, 28,-f847. Ep. 83. " There are some, 1 know, who complain to Viret of my severity ; I am not aware of what Viret himself thinks, but I suspect that he fears 1 am giving too mucli room to my zeaL" If A.D. 1548.] CALVIN AND HIS FRIENDS. 73 vinced, in the first place, that God shields us ; and in the next, j that when it pleases Him to expose us to suffering, to die for Him will be my deliverance. The present time warns us more than ever to be prepared to receive from God whatever He may send us. My apprehensions, as far as they concern my own danger, hinder me not from sleeping tranquilly. While I am pursuing the path which He prescribes me, I learn how to cast the greater part of my cares, if not all, upon Him." Altogether, in this respect, like Luther, God was his strong tower. Like him he exhibited the courage which had faith for its firm foundation ; but he was not so happy as Luther, who, surrounded by powerful friends, could find a refuge in the for- tress of Sickingen, Schaumburg, and others. Geneva had the Savoy and French territory at its very gates, and was connected only by the lake with the Swiss cantons, but half of which had as yet received the reformation. The little republic lay like a rock in the sea, and this rock was occupied by parties and treach- ery. How often might the reformer utter the words of the prophet, those words which he so continually repeated when he was dying, " O that I had the wings of the dove !" His eye rested upon the distant Alps, which stretched before him tran- quilly, eternally glistering ; he remembered the rock of God's strength, and raised his thoughts to Heaven. "1 lift up mine eyes towards the hills," he says, " but my help cometh from the Lord." In contrast to the fierce, hostile commotions of which we have spoken, is the deep affliction of Calvin for his friends, and his lively care for them, comforting and active to the uttermost, even in the midst of those stormy times. The dedications which he wrote at this period show that he sought consolation in friend- ship, and gladly reverted in thought to the tranquil days of his childhood and youth. There is a loftiness of expression in the letters which he addressed to John Sturm in Strasburg. They are those of a man who felt himself safe above the ruins of the world. "Let it even be that entire destruction awaits us, or rather that the Lord, overturning the present system, and estab- hshing his heavenly kingdom, has determined to gather together those who are now unhappily dispersed, and are wandering to and fro, still should we preserve with true constancy that friendship whose band is holy." As Viret was numbered among the friends dearest to his heart, he extended his affection to those who were related to Viret, and 74 CALVIN AND VIRET. [cHAP. XIV. he thus expresses the feehngs of his soul in a letter addressed to him in March, 1545: — "We greet yQU with your wife, whose health we have commended to God. Be assured that we are as anxious about her as if she were our own wife or daughter. May the Lord uphold and strengthen you with the consolations of his spirit !" Again he writes : — " Could you really suppose that I would refuse you anything which you are anxious that I should grant?"* In respect to vigor of mind and habits of business, Calvin seems to have estimated Viret even more highly than Farel. But the heart of the latter was more closely united to Calvin, and their respect for each other increased with their mutual labors. According to the conviction common to both, each v^^as the com- plet7ie7it, the completion of the other. Farel was accustomed to compare Calvin to Moses. Although much older than Calvin, he undertook nothing without consulting him ; and when he himself took the part of an adviser, he jested, and prayed Calvin to suffer this for friendship's sake.t When Viret's wife fell sick, Calvin manifested the most affec- tionate concern, and sent him a physician. After her death, he wrote to him, saying, " Come, not only for the sake of lessening your present grief, but to obtain some respite from all other dis- tresses. Do not fear that I should impose any new burden upon you ; my only care would be to let you be quiet, according to your own wish. If any one should prove troublesome to you, I will come to your relief The brethren promise you what I do. I will even obtain from the citizens what you wish. I know not how sufficiently to execrate the wretches who have spread the report of your death. Nothing could be more opportune than your letter. In spite of what was said respecting your death, mention having been made of poison, I'extor prepared to set off at once for the place on horseback. A great many of the brethren assembled in my house, all in great anxiety and affliction. As soon however as your letter came to sight, such was the storm of joy which succeeded, that we were scarcely masters of ourselves. It is well that we had not had a night of sorrow. I should not have been able to endure the contrast. But why do I detain you, and not rather urge you to hasten hither with all possible speed? Farewell, my brother, and dearest friend !" * March, 154.5, MS. Gen. t Sept. 7, 1555, Ed. Amst. p. 234, Ep. 211, Ed. Laus. Schmidt, Etudes sur Farel, p. 57. A.D. 1548.] CALVIN AND SERVETUS. 7& When Calvin had to endure the same grief, Viret comforted him in his turn. Bucer, who knew Calvin's wife, and was united with them both in the strictest bonds of friendship, ex- pressed at the beginning of the year 1549, his earnest desire for their happiness. It is evident that they all feared that anxiety, and the death of his wife, might break Calvin's strength.* " I fervently pray to God that He may restore your wife, and this I do rather for the church of Christ than for you, that you may be able still to do for it, and with a lighter and more cheerful heart, what you are now doing. My brethren and my -wife unite in praying that you may have all that can be wished for, both in the year just commenced and in all eternity." Calvin's wife was soon after this called to the Lord. He now stood alone in the storm and in the conflict with half the world, but his soul remained firm as ever. Farel and Viret manifested their care for him during his domestic afflictions.! CHAPTER XV. EFFORTS TO RE-ESTABLISH PEACE. — STRUGGLE ON BEHALF OF A GREAT CHURCH UNION. AGREEMENT OF THE ZURICH- ERS ON THE LORD's SUPPER. Notwithstanding his zeal, and the bursts of ardor which he often exhibited, Calvin lost none of the tranquillity and mod- eration proper to his character. As far as possible he avoided strife. This is aliown by his conduct towards Servetus, when they were now again brought into collision. In the midst of the agitation which we have described, Servetus, who had been living in France as a physician, and had taken part in the most fanatical projects of reformation, was desirous of forming a league with Calvin, from the conviction that the support of so great a mind might enable him to accomplish his designs. Calvin had refused him, and at length, when Servetus continued to reproach him, he remained silent. Servetus now attacked Viret. Cal- vin, who thoroughly knew the man, was resolved to have no * Ep. 96, Jan. 9, 1549. f Ep. 102 (Ed. Amst. p. 52), April 10, 1549. 76 CALVIN AND THE SWISS CHURCHES. [CHAP. XV. further communication with him, and was anxious to avoid him. This appears from a passage in a letter to Viret : " I tliink you have aheady seen the answer which I sent Servetus. I have resolved to have no further contest with this perverse, stiff- necked, heretical man. It is certainly right in this case to fol- low the precept of the apostle Paul. He now attacks you, and it behooves you to consider how far it will be prudent for you to oppose his folly : for my part, he shall force nothing further from me." Calvin sought peace : both the office imposed upon him 'by God and his own heart led him to desire to reconcile the jarring spirits of his age, and to secure the permanency of that which he had accomplished. Among all these storms I raging without, his mind was occupied with a great and exten- sive plan, to fix the little repubhc of Geneva on a firm and tran- quil basis. His thoughts were constantly directed to a system of general church polity, and to the establishment of the faith by a common confession. I have already spoken of his efforts to ac- complish this object, and have remarked the desire expressed in his work on the Lord's Supper, to subdue the violence of hostile parties. His soul contemplated the unity of the entire evangelical church in Christ, its head and centre. It was in conformity with these feelings that he now pro- moted, by all the means in his power, the Zurich confederacy, or the union of the French reformed party with that of Switzer- land. This was the first step towards the accomplishment of his greater plan. Calvin, agreeing almost entirely with Melanc- thon, had been recognized even by Luther as a fellow-believer. The last proceeding of the German reformer was a matter of mere private concern, and had no dogmatic importance. Thus even his own immediate followers suffered him to indulge his passion, without mingling in the strife. Calvin could therefore reasonably entertain the hope, after Luther's death, that, with the help of Melancthon, he might mediate successfully in pro- moting a union between Germany and Switzerland. Had this been really accomplished, the church would have formed one great and harmonious whole, and Calvin would have repaired, by his intervention, what Luther's violence had marred. But as an essential to this union, the Swiss must have confessed the spiritual, real, substantial presence of Christ in the sacrament. Most of them indeed had already adopted this doctrine, but from regard to Zwingli they refrained from openly confessing it, and this, though Zwingli himself had latterly represented the sub- A.D. 1548.J CALVIN AND BULLINGER. 77 ject with more force and life than he had done in the earlier part f of his career. Great diversity of opinion however prevailed on this subject in the church at Bern. Viret was involved in a dispute with Sulzer, and opinion fluctuated between the old, one-sided, ab- stract view of the understanding, and the more concrete, living one supported by Calvin. Both he and Viret were accused at Zurich of having, according to report, dissented from the Swiss Confession and inclined to Lutheranism : but the contrary was known to be the case when Farel and Calvin visited Zurich in 1548. The former, greatly beloved there for his zeal and piety, was able to accomplish much. He was still, as ever, a fervent missionary for the things of the Lord, so unwearied that he could even exhort Calvin himself to action. They worked together un- ceasingly to calm the spirit of controversy which had risen among individuals.* The Consensus Tigurinus, which, had it not been for the fool- ish intervention of the Lutheran preacher Westphoal in Ham- burg, and that of other, for the most part vain, followers of Luther, would have effected by degrees a general union in the whole protestant church, was completed in 1549. t Calvin had rightly felt that he must unite with BuUinger, the most power- ful and influential man in that part of the church, and use every means to remove the old distrust. Hence there was commenced a correspondence, characteristic of both parties. That the under- taking which had already engaged so much of Calvin's attention, as his letters to Bullinger from Strasburg show, could not be an easy one, after all that had taken place, appears evident from a letter written to Viret in April, 1548. He there complains that the Zurichers were so perverse, that they were ready to admit the most slanderous reports. His good sense, foresight, and in- tegrity, as well as the difficulties which he had to encounter, will be seen by some extracts which we will give from the letters which he wrote at this period, and in which he speaks openly of the matters in hand. Thus he says to Bullinger, March 1, 1548 : — " Although I am conscious in myself of a more inward union Avith Christ in the sacraments than you express in your * Calvin had shortly before this warned some of the ministers at Bern of .the evils which continued strife would produce : — " Malum procul dubio in dies gliscet et crescet, nisi brevi tollatur." t Salig. Hist. Augs. Confes. T. ii. p. 1076. Plank, Protest. Lehrbegriff, B. vi p. 24. 78 CALVIN AND BULLINGER. [CHAP. XV. words, yet this ought not to prevent our having the same Christ, or our being one in Him, It is only perliaps through this in- ward consensus that we can unite with each other. I have always loved the greatest candor : I cannot endure subtleties, and the praise of clearness is given me by those who object to others on account of their obscurity. Cunning therefore can never be laid to my charge. I have never employed dissimula- tion to please men, and ray mode of teaching is too simple to give rise to suspicion, and too full and explicit to be accused of darkness. If I do not content others by such means, let me be pardoned for honestly seeking to render back, in all simplicity and trutli, that which I have received. I therefore felt no little surprise, when I was lately at Basel, to hear it stated by a friend, that you have complained that I have taught differently in my commentaries to what I promised you. I at once answered, and truly, that I spoke no otherwise at Zurich than at Geneva. But I ascribe all this rather to some error ; for why should I now, without any necessity for so doing, alter my doctrines or prin- ciples ? If however I cannot convince men of this, I will re- main content with knowing myself that God is witness to the truth of what I say." Thus also in the following letter he seeks to win Bullinger by his gentleness : — " We are anxious to come to a friendly under- standing with you. It is no mere theatrical affair, which would be as disagreeable to you as to me, that we propose. I say nothing about Farel, whose mind, as you well know, shrinks with disgust from every kind of ostentation. That which we wish is to speak with you in a friendly way on the subject about which we so little agree. This is the best mode among brethren, and, if I do not greatly err, that which we should find the most prof- itable. In respect to the question of the sacraments, we do not confine the grace of God to them, nor do we commit to them the office and power of the Holy Spirit, or ascribe to them the securing of salvation. We plainly acknowledge that God alone works by the sacraments ; all which is efficacious belongs to the Holy Spirit, and its efhcacy is seen only in the elect. In no other way do we teach that the sacraments can help us, but as they may lead us by the hand to Christ, and that we may seek in Him the fountain of all good things. I do not see indeed what you can wish for more in this doctrine, which shows that salvation is to be sought in Christ alone ; that God only perfects and applies the mystery, and that salvation is enjoyed only by A.D. 1549.] CALVIN AND THE SWISS CHURCHES. 79 the secret working of the Spirit. We teacii that the sacraments are the instruments of the grace of God." This is followed by a remarkably admirable letter, containing a developed view of the Calvinistic doctrine of I he Lord's Supper. Calvin took the middle path, avoiding all the excesses of Luther- anism, but at the same time showing the followers of Zwingli that they could receive no other faith. He declares aloud his reverence both for that reformer and for fficolampadius, but with- out entering into particulars, there being too great an interval be- tween them and him. Bucer's Apology follows. He subscribed the Confession, and Calvin could easily understand him. To the Swiss he says :— " Christ is present with us under every cir- cumstance. If we seek Him in those earthly elements, it is not permitted us to accuse Him of deception ; but this is actually done, if we do not feel that the truth is connected with the sign, it being allowed that the sign by itself is useless. If now, for a brief explanation of the contents of the sacrament, we shortly answer, that we are partakers of Christ, that He may dwell in us and we in Him, and that we may be sharers of all his glory, what is there, I ask, in these words, dark or unreasonable? especially if we distinctly exclude those dreams and fancies which so easily enter the mind. And yet we are censured as if we had fallen from the pure and simple doctrine of the Gospel." We here see that Calvin was thoroughly occupied with the thought of reconciling the Swiss by a method of his own. They had been violently separated from communion with the German protestants by Luther's rough and intolerant treatment, and were thus driven to a still greater one-sidedness of opinion. Calvin hoped to correct this by the inculcation of higher views, which should not only stretch far above their one-sidedness, but bring into clearer display the truth, held partially by both. Everything seemed to promise peace when the year 1549 commenced. The Lord mingled joy and sorrow in Calvin's life this year. At Geneva the faction of the libertines, which had caused him so much distress, was for the moment suppressed. The Saxon churches however were disunited on the question, as to what ought to be the conduct of a Christian in matters indif- ferent, a question which, like many others of a similar kind, had its origin with the Interim. Calvin's opinion was asked, and he gave it freely. Melancthon had been openly accused of 80 SYNOD AT BERN. [CHAP. XV. having acted with too much gentleness or weakness in this mat- ter. Calvin admonished him, but he said at a later period that he had erred, and that injustice had been done this great man. It was not at that time clearly seen with wkat an evil spirit the whole multitude of the Flacianer, who subsequently created such commotion in the church, were possessed. Such was their phrensied conduct, that, as Beza expresses it, they seemed to be bribed by the pope himself. But the deep wounds thus inflicted upon the church in Germany, were healed by the wonder- ful mercy of the Lord, exhibited towards the churches of Switzer- land. A synod was held at Bern, March 19, 1549. All the German and French ministers of the canton were present on the occasion. The Genevese sent a letter to the meeting. Calvin employed this opportunity to win the Bernese by words of reconciliation, and thus to lay the foundation of union on the question of the sacrament. " That we offer, uncalled for, a statement of our views on the sacraments, requires some brief apology, though no particular preface can be needed in addressing you on so important a subject. Since the venerable council has called you together, for other causes indeed, but also to consult for the peace of the church, whose surest bond of union is agree- ment in doctrine, it is very probable that mention may be made of the sacraments, a subject long agitated in Bern. Though no exposition therefore of the doctrine has been asked of us, we have yet considered it our duty to state to you what we all with one spirit acknowledge, and Avith one mouth confess. As it is the same Christ whom we all preach, the same Gospel which we all own, and as we are members of the same body, the church, and exercise the same office, no difference in the tem- poral rule to which we are subject must either disturb the unity of our faith, or mar the blessings of this holy union, established and sanctified under the auspices of Christ. Nor ought the in- fluence of neighborhood, which among the children of this world is so powerful a cause of union, to be of less value among us. We are so mixed up together that locality even ought to keep us united : to this may be added the treaty be- tween the two cities : ministers from among us are employed in the territory of Bern, and we again have pastors in the Geneva churches from your canton. It is of vast importance there- fore, both for you and for us, that you should know what form A.D. 1549.] CALVIN AND BULLINGER. 81 of doctrine we follow. To speak of nothing else, we shall at least free ourselves by this proceeding from no slight degree of suspicion." Twenty articles follow. It was Calvin's main design in these, to show, that the sacraments ought by no means to be regarded as empty signs. He was anxious to give new life to the cold doc-, trine of the Swiss, and to make them see that they could not properly persevere in holding the early opinion of Zwingli, but' ought rather to reconsider it as he himself had done. These arti- cles form the groundwork of the Zurich union, as appears from their twenty-six articles, which exhibit a still fuller development of the same ideas. At the end of May, after the death of his wife, Calvin suddenly roused himself, proceeded to Neuchatel, took his friend Farel with him, and both hastened in the fine spring weather through the beautiful country to Zurich. Thus, rising superior to earthly sor- row, Calvin felt himself strengthened by the thought, that he might now at length hope to establish a union of opinion on the subject of Christ's presence in the sacrament. To BuUinger, who sent him an invitation, he had written : " Nothing could be more agreeable to me : it has also contributed to lighten my domestic sorrow, which so greatly bowed me down." The world ought to be taught how closely united Cliristians are who love the truth. " By prudence and love," Farel had said, '• we shall conquer." And he was not deceived. The conference of the ministers con- tinued several days, in the presence of the civic council ; and the well-known formulary was drawn up, which all the Helvetic and Rhsetian churches with those of the Orisons, subscribed ; and by which BuUinger and Calvin, and the churches of Geneva and Zurich, were united in the strictest alliance. Calvin wrote to BuUinger on the first of August respecting the conference, and sent him the Consensus for his signature. He received it back on the thirtieth, and the hope which Beza then expressed, that the union thus effected might be preserved forever has not been dis- appointed. Great was the joy which this event produced. Calvin in- formed BuUinger that " he had read his writings in company with his brethren, as Viret also had done with his in Lausanne. All were full of delight, and rivalled each other in offering thanks- giving to God." There was therefore some indication of improve- ment. The Bernese wished to delay the publication of the proceed- VOL. II. — 6 82 CONSENSUS TIGURINUS. [cHAP. XV. ings. Calvin however expressed to Viret the joy which he felt at the influence which he knew the Consensus must exercise.* " Tiie hearts of good men will be cheered by that which has taken place; our constancy and resolution will derive new strength from it, and we shall be better able to break the power of the wicked. They who had formed an unworthy opinion of us, will see that we proposed nothing but what is good and right. Many who are still in a state of uncertainty will now know on what they ought to depend ; and those in distant lands who differ from us in opinion, will soon, we hope, offer us their hand. Last- ly, as it may one day happen, posterity will have a witness to our faith, which it could not have derived from parties in a state of strife ; but this we must leave to God." To Farel, whose earnest Christian spirit could not but gain regard, Calvin frequently wrote while these things were in progress. He says indeed, "This unwearied champion of Christ was the originator and leader of the whole." But Calvin himself had still many minds to tranquillize. Thus he sought to satisfy the minister Sulzer in Bern, and left nothing undone to induce one after the other of his opponents to add their signatures to the new formulary.f " By the formulary proposed in the Coiisejisus Tigia'bius" says Planck,+ " couched as it was in the strongest language, and intended to reconcile all ^parties, the union of the Swiss with the Lutheran system, in •the first and main point of dispute, was accomplished, or at least declared. It had hitherto been a matter of doubt whether 'the Swiss, in partaking of the sacrament, recognized the actual frpresence of the body of Christ, according to the substance. But doubt was rendered impossible by the new formulary, and every kind of suspicion on the subject was accordingly re- moved. The formulary set forth the idea of a real presence, and of an actual participation of the body of Christ in this sacra- iment. But it explains, at the same time, the nature and manner ■of this presence. According to Luther's doctrine, the body of ■"Christ was miraculously present in the sacrament, and brought into such a union with the outward sign of the bread and wine, that'll is not only received at the same time with these, but in * MS. Gen. Sept. 23, 1549. f In a letter to Farel, Nov. 18, 1549 (MS. Gen.), he sho-ws how powerfully his per- suasions had wrought with all, and characteristically adds, " Nostra sinceritate ad- • ducti nihil negabunt." :|: See this author's Remarks on the Separation and Reunion of the Protestant ■Churchee. Tubingen, 1803. A.D. 1549.] UNION OP THE CHURCHES. 8^ these, and under these, so that it is therefore partaken of by the mouth by every one who receives the sign, even though he be an unbeliever. According to Calvin's opinion, on the contrary, ' the body of Christ is not brought down into the sacrament, but the soul of him who partakes thereof is raised by faitli towards heaven, and is there brought into contact with the body of Christ, and thus made a partaker of the divine life." Simple, but full of profound meaning, is Calvin's whole reasoning on this subject. The Consensus was forwarded through Bullinger to the various confederate churches, and was everywhere received with the greatest respect.* When the Bernese objected to the printing of the document, some dissatisfied individuals being found among them, Bullinger proposed to alter the preface and conclusion. They now however agreed to its publication, giving only their verbal assent to its contents. In October it appeared in its print- ed form, with a letter addressed by Calvin to the Zurichers, and the answer. The apostolic language of the latter affords a striking contrast to the vulgar and abusive invectives which were soon after spread abroad. This exalted and tranquil tone of feel- ing was the more remarkable, as displayed by a people so of- ten irritated, and only so lately reconciled to Calvin, now the ob- ject of their grateful regard. It was especially a grand mo- ment for the inner life of the church, which, however outward- ly torn, had an inward unity in the Lord, when Melancthon and most of the Lutheran party declared their agreement with Cal- vin's views, and when the French reformed and the Swiss united themselves anew, and expressed the genuine sentiments of a true and primitive brotherhood. A glorious communion was thus established, such as had never yet been known. The epoch was no less noble in respect to the life of Calvin. As the centre of the reformed churches, he had rendered them the most important service, and had led them, by the knowledge of Scripture and brotherly kindness, to truth and concord. There were also many admirable and learned men at a dis- tance, says Lavater, who shared the joy of these churches, and were thereby strengthened in the faith. He relates of Melanc- thon, that he first learnt to understand rightly the doctrine of the Lord's Supper from the Consensus, or that he began from this time to incline towards the Zwinglians, not allowing himself to * See Hess, Leben Bullingers, T. ii. p. 19. 84 THEODORE BEZA. [cHAP. XVI. be induced, even by the most violent attempts to irritate him, to speak or write against them. The Swiss sent a copy of the for- mulary to England, for Bucer, who congratulated the whole church on what had taken place. John a Lasco had also his share in the general delight. Calvin and Farel communicated the intelligence to the faithful in France, who gladly received the good news. There were still some however who expressed their dissatisfaction at the formulary. Melancthon himself seems to have admitted the article on election with some unwillingness. It was objected to the Zurichers that they had falsified Calvin's writing, and to Calvin that he had been guilty of vacillation, and had received the doctrine of Zwingli. But the main attack against the Consensus did not take place till some years later, and therefore belongs to another period of our history. CHAPTER XVI. UNION OF GREAT MINDS. — A PLAN TO EFFECT UNITY OF DOC- TRINE AND DISCIPLINE BY A COMMUNITY OP SPIRIT. HARMONY BETWEEN LUTHER AND CALVIN IN LIVING FAITH. MELANCTHON. While Calvin was occupied with his plan, and with his jour- ney to Zurich, where he hoped also to effect something for his op- pressed fellow-countrymen, eight noblemen arrived at Geneva from France, whence they had been driven by the persecution. One of these strangers was distinguished by his noble form and bearing, by his genius, energy and earnestness. But the love of the world was still unconquered in him. When these gentlemen were presented to Calvin, he immediately recognized in the one referred to an old friend of his youthful years. It was Theo- dore von Beza, of Vezelay in Burgundy. They all asked per- mission of the council to remain in Geneva, and Calvin employed all his zeal and ardor to induce Beza to unite with him in accomplishing the work of the Lord in Switzerland. He had learnt to admire his talents when he met him, a young man, at the house of Melchior Wolraar ; and he saw in him one whom God had sent to share his conflicts, to become, as it were, his A.D. 1549.] THEODORE BEZA. gg light arm, to carry forward the reformation at a later period, and to supply his place in the consistory at Geneva. Thus a friend was sent to Calvin, just as the loss of his wife had rendered one so especially needed. But Beza, rich, full of talent, and worldly, had first to be freed from the vortex of out- ward life. His old instructor, Wolmar, had done his part. Beza adopted the reformed faith, married the lady with whom he had lived in France, and associated himself with Crespin in Ge- neva, in order to establish a learned book-trade, a project which was subsequently productive of great good. Calvin soon after in- duced him to commence his theological career in Lausanne, to which city he had been invited by the council of Bern, as professor of Greek. He soon after his arrival published a poem on the sacrifice of Abraham, which obtained considerable praise. Not long after, the French refugees earnestly requested him to expound the Epistle to the Romans, and he thus laid the foundation for his learned labors on the New Testament. With what zeal Calvin had assailed him appears from his own words.* It is delightful to see how he speaks, in his biography of Calvin, of that period, when he first devoted liimself to the service of the Lord. Beza, who united to earnestness and powerful eloquence a fascinating manner, was admirably adapted to uphold, both by his piety and skill, the now flourishing church. From this time Calvin undertook nothing without him. and in the year 1552 Beza had already begun to appear as the champion of the re- former's great design. To all the other arguments advanced bj' Calvin, he added, that a church divided into sects and opposed to that of Rome, especially in France, could never stand. It is not to be supposed however that he wished to see a single man, acknowledged as the head of the church, and endowed with au- thority above all the rest. He had even much less aflfection for the episcopal element than Calvin, and it is grossly unjust to ascribe his zeal for the church to political ambition, as if he had not, as well as Calvin, been urged forward by the Spirit of God. It surely was not from any earthly motive that he defended the doctrine of predestination, nor was it as a contriver of plots that he could have been employed by Calvin in Switzerland. Both the one and the other soared too high to be inspired by motives of this kind ; and when they contemplated the miseries of the world, they felt the movements of a mightier will conducting * To Vixet, Oct. 1549 (MS. Gea), and MS. GotL 86 PETER MARTYR. [CHAP. XVI. tbem along the path which they had chosen. Beza's enthusiastic admiration for Calvin was founded on their communion in Christ, whom both had learnt to own as their inner life. There has rarely occurred indeed in tlie history of mankind so remarkable a period as this. A number of exalted minds, roused by the great events of the age, felt themselves impelled to extend the hand of friendship to each other, and to establish a living union in the Lord. Calvin formed the shining centre of this circle, while other stars, some small and some great, moved around him, and gath- ered light from his rays. The disputatious spirit of a mean and envious faction, which soon overpowered the voice of faith, and exercised its injurious influence on the age, had not yet been awakened. If we take a single glance of the others who were united with Calvin in spirit, none will appear more fitted to occupy the place next to Beza than Peter Martyr Vermili, whom Calvin \ was accustomed to call miracnlum ItalicB. He was the most ' learned of the reformers, but was far more beloved and admired for his simplicity, his childlike, pious disposition, his modera- tion, so free from all ambition, and his pure love of the truth, which rendered him an enemy to every kind of useless contro- versy. He entertained the highest regard for Calvin. There is a letter of his in which he asked him respecting the mystery of our communion with Christ : the reformer answered him literally according to his fundamental principles. He enter- tained the most entire love for peace and union. " Can there be anything fairer," he said in a letter to Beza, " than brotherly agreement in the church ?" He especially loved all those who hated strife, and thus he cherished the warmest affection for Melancthon. His opinion was in perfect accord with that of Calvin on the subject of the Lord's Supper, and particularly as it was opposed to the doctrine of ubiquity. Christ, he argued, has the two natures united in one person, without any mixture or confusion of their qualities. According to his divine nature, therefore, He is everywhere present ; but according to his body, He must have one place, and can therefore neither realiter nor substantialitcr be present in the sacrament. In the affair of Servetus also he thoroughly agreed with Calvin. He defended the doctrine of election with all its awful deductions, induced to adopt these views by the same profound reverence for God as Calvin. When the dispute on the sacrament commenced at Stiasburg, he declared himself ready to sign the Augsburg Con- A.D. 1549.] BtrCER IN ENGLAND. 87 fession, if it was rightly understood. In this respect also he resembled Calvin, who, although he seemed to have excited an opposition, yet, through his deeper consciousness, the influence of a living faith and his love for union, rose superior to all party considerations. This mention of Peter Martyr brings to our mind the cele- brated Italians of that period, who had found at Ferrara an asylum with the duchess Renata, that noble-hearted protectress of all who were friends of Calvin. The usual tranquil feeling now prevailed in Germany, but the country was still bowed be- neath the storms of the Interim, and had little prospect of per- manent religious peace. Melancthon. who was ever anxious to promote unity, and habitually overlooked the smaller differences of doctrine, was laboring earnestly to accomplish this object. In this he was supported by Cruciger, and by all who were sincerely devoted to tli^ living doctrines which had been taught by Luther. In Zurich the bold and faithful Bullinger, who kept the churches of Zurich together by his watchfulness, and showed how strongly he was moved by the pure and noble spirit of Zwingli ; Pellica- nus, and the fervent, deep-feeling Musculus, who, persecuted on account of God's Word, sought consolation in God alone, and found it ; and lastly Gualter, the nephew of Zwingli and disciple of Bullinger, — all these lived and labored with Calvin, in one spirit and with one aim. If we turn our attention to England, we shall there see Bucer, sometimes indeed vacillating, but always anxious to promote what was good and profitable for the unity of the church ; giving a higher place to the faith than to the formularies which express it, and exercising an important influence on the side of the party j desiring peace. Nor must Fagius be forgotten ; nor the en- • lightened John a Lasco, who had formed a church of true be- lievers in that country ; nor Uttenhoven, who, with the former, was soon to be obliged to flee, on account of his belief; nor the courageous Knox, whose faith also was now to be again proved, that he might become a mightier instrument in the hand of the Lord. In France, queen Margaret, and her heroic daughter Johanna d'Albret, co-operated nobly with Calvin and Beza ; the latter of these ladies had greatly advanced in the knowledge of the truth. On the same side also were Coligni and many other admirable men, all prepared to defend the Gospel. Who could fail to re- joice at this spectacle, or to express delight that this comnn^ 88 Calvin's moderation. [chap. xvi. nion in the Lord had been accomplished by the renewed church ! Christ ruled spiritually in the regenerated congregation. Farel had been long anxious to see this living union and peace secured to the church. In 1545 he wrote to Calvin, expressing his wish that all churches would combine together to annihilate strife. The Augsburg Confession might, he considered, be ac- cepted, and he greatly desired that people would make it the ground of union, with this condition, that the Lord's Supper should be viewed according to the doctrine of Melancthon.* Theological differences and distinctions did not appear to Cal- vin a sufficient cause for separation : his liberality indeed went so far that, where he did not observe a perverse will, he was ready to admit even freethinkers into his society. We may here mention his treatment of some Italian refugees who joined hun at this period, and whom he exhorted with paternal earnest- ness to submit themselves to the teaching of th^ Bible. He entertained the highest regard for Bernardin Ochin of Sienna, whom he described as prcEclarus vir and vir magniis ormiibus modisA Still more interesting was his connection with Leelius Socinus.t He discovered in this excellent man some difference of doctrine, and he warned him accordingly ; but he never per- secuted him, for he saw that he was struggling to find the truth, and was not^ like Servetus, engaged in diffusing blasphemous errors for the sake of destroying the church. Calvin's conduct towards him is worthy of especial notice : it throws new light upon his character, and proves that he was not, as has been so commonly believed, a persecutor ; but that he was, on the con- trary, ready to suffer a variety of opinion, if it did not manifestly tend to the ruin of unity. He even recommended Socinus in the strongest manner to prince Radzivil, when the latter was * His expressions on this subject were very strong : — " Augustanam Confessionem tolerabilem existimo, nee tarn abhorrendam repute ab ea — Quid volunius pro Au- gustana Confessione novam suscitare tragcediam ? Una est controversia de ccena ; si Augustana Confessio de coena contineat quod sana expositione admitti possit, et se- cundum mentem autoris, quid prohibet, quin admittauius et sancte conveniamus ?" — April, 1558. f Commending him to Oswald, a minister at Basel, he spoke of him as a man who had gained a great name in Italy, and deserved to be held in honor every- where. \ Lrclius Socinus was of Vicenza : he appears to have derived his dogmas from the Grecian philosophy. Having fled into Poland, he there taught anti-trinitarianism, explaining allegorically the passages in Scripture which opposed his views. His nephew Faustus inherited his spirit, and completed his work. Calvin answered him. Epis, 359. Ed. Amst. p. 197. Ep. 104. Ed. Amst. p. 57. 7 Idus, December, 1549. A.D. 1549.] LUTHER AND CALVIN. 89 proceeding to Poland, though he was well acquainted with So- cinus's peculiar views. Beza in his life of Calvin says, in refer- ence to these times, that Calvin labored in two very remarkable writings to effect the conversion of this Italian. Socinus however was still hesitating, and put various questions to the reformer, who adhered like a child to Scripture, as the only foundation of a living unity. Calvin had at length accomplished, by means of the Zurich Consensus, that which he had so constantly and resolutely pur- sued. How gladly would he now have ceased from his restless strife ! In the Confession of 1554 he gave full expression to his belief: it was then the same as that of the church in Germany, and could never create any schism among those who were joined together in true communion with the Lord. All who had the genuine spirit and life of religion in their hearts still felt them- selves thus united, even when the church exhibited its growth and development, as it sometimes needs must, by mean of op- posing principles. Calvin, as I have already remarked, was necessarily in contrast with Luther. The peculiarities of his theology, like those of the German reformer, were for a partic- ular purpose ; while the separation of the churches arose only from sin and ignorance. They agreed in faith : their opposition lay in the constitution of their minds ; this gave a different direction to their course ; but instead of contracting their energy, it tended to increase their vigor and activity. Each labored according to his peculiar character. Calvin sought to establish order, to diffuse knowledge, and reconcile hostile parties. With him the understanding was chief; with Luther, energy and ex- citement of spirit. But while the latter possessed also the high- est intellectual powers, so neither did Calvin fail to exhibit, quickened as he was by the spiritual view which he took of the Lord's Supper, and strengthened by the sublime doctrine of election, energy to fulfil the work which he had commenced. The medium by which the two reformers were brought together was Christian sentiment : this it was which secured the growth of what was evangelical in either party ; Avhich lived in the pro- found mind of Melancthon, and is still even in our own day exercising its general influence. It would not be altogether just to contrast Zwingli with Luther, or to suppose that Calvin occu- pied the place between them : it was only in respect to the sacrament that this was the case. In regard to the doctrine of predestination, Zwingli appears equally rough and severe. < 90 DOCTRINE OF THE SACRAMENT.- [CHAP. XVI. Nor does he, even as regards the Lord's Supper, stand imme- diately opposed to Luther. Firmly resisting the catholic doc- trine, but with a too narrow-sighted view, he yet did not set aside a pure and rational exposition of the subject : the worst which he did was to deprive his own system of depth and sub- limity. Reflection ever prevailed with Calvin ; and it was there- fore in harmony with the general operations of his mind, that, when the question was put, how Christ was present in the sacra- ment, he should plainly declare, that, as having a body which was limited, He could be present in one place only, and not in all places and in all times ; and consequently, that the believing soul must raise itself in the sacrament to hold communion with Him. But neither the worthy nor the unworthy, he added, could in, with, or under the bread, receive Him bodily, seeing that, where space has ceased to exist, no body can be properly spoken of. At the same time it was equally clear that Luther, who did not investigate the mystery with such careful thought, contemplated the glorified body of our Lord as diffused through all times and in all places, considering no boundary to exist be- tween this world and heaven. Both, in one sense, were right, and both were wrong : for while it is not given to man to com- prehend the glorified body of Christ, so each ought to have been contented with simply acknowledging his presence in the sacra- ment, without attempting to explain the Iioio. Luther especially erred in this matter ; he insisted on the doctrine of a personal communication, and hence rendered the mystery of the Lord's Supper a subject of long and painful controversy. Calvin, on the other hand, employed his powerful intellect in fathoming, as far as possible, the mighty judgments of God, without feeling the giddiness which seized Luther and Melancthon, when, in the earlier part of their career, they accompanied him on this peril- ous course. They clearly saw, at a subsequent period, the dan- gerous nature of the subject ; and hence their silence respecting it, and the milder character of the expressions employed by Me- lancthon, and after him in the Formula Concordicc. Various opinions were not to be avoided, for it is from various points of view that the truth is to be discovered ; but it is neither neces- sary nor becoming that this should be made a cause of sepa- ration. Tlie two reformers are in this respect worthy of the highest admiration. Though dogmatic differences became too visible in Luther's lifetime, they felt that there was a bond be- ■ tween them, created by the higher species of unity which they A.D. 1549.] DOCTRINE OF THE SACRAMENT. 91 were mutually seeking. Calvin'^ theology was as little as Lu- ther's, the mere product of the understanding : he formally pro- tested against such a notion :* it sprung from a living faith in the holy Scriptures. Thus Luther also felt himself as a believer united with Melancthon, notwithstanding the difiference of their temper. How otherwise could he have administered the com- munion to him? But as soon as the pride of reason obscured and chilled belief, and more weight was given to the power of comprehension than to the life of God in the soul, separation was at hand, for the most violent passions gathered about the understanding ; the feeling of Christ's presence grew daily less, and the feast of love at length became a source of the bitterest hate. It is necessary therefore, in the history of the church, to place in the clearest light the schismatic conduct of the people, who gave such an undue importance to differences of opinion, an- nihilating faith in the true communion of Christ, and converting the blessed unity and love of the Gospel into an apple of discord. But even far more culpable are those who, in the present day, when the opposition between the two churches has ceased, strive to give prominence to opposing sentiments, and thus through their wilfulness stifle the principle of communion, instead of acknowledg- ing with Calvin that the mystery of the Lord's Supper far surpasses our comprehension. The larger portion of the evils of the following century may be traced to the excessive respect which it thus became the habit to render to the decisions of the understanding. Instead of refraining from any interference with the unavoidable difference of opinion existing on the subject of the sacrament, and seeking communion in Christ, each party only hardened itself the more in its one-sidedness, and became fiercer and fiercer against the rest. When we contemplate, in Germany especially, the Fla- cianer, the followers of Heshusius, Brenlius, Westphoal, Blar- bach, and others, treading underfoot the true and living faiih, and giving the tone to after-times, it is impossible not to feel, that no real reformation had as yet been effected, and that the scourge of the thirty years' war was yet needed to excite, through mani- fold afflictions, a higher and better spirit. After that event, indeed, the unchristian hatred which had so long prevailed be- * See instances of this, Institutes, lib. i. c. 18, sec. 4. " Let it be under- Btood," he says, " that it is our duty to embrace with gentleness and docility, and without exception, whatever is delivered to us in holy Scripture." So also Institut lib. iv. c. 17, bee. 24, 25. 92 UNION OF BELIEVERS. [CHAP. XVI. came less conspicuous, and thg bond of union in the church began to be more distinctly felt. But since the well-being of the next generation depends upon whether we hold fast com- munion in Christ, or allow the church to be rent and shattered by division, and thus bring forth a blessing or a curse, so it is our bounden duty, in the present day, to take care, that true believers secure a higher stand than those who are quarrelling about nice distinctions ; that every one may be able to choose whether he will take his part with the destroyers, or with the benefactors of the church. Lutherans and reformed stand side by side in the united church. Opposition has entered with union, but the life of Christ is superior to opposition. Calvin, Luther, and Melancthon exhibited this principle in their own time, and the union therefore of later days has only expressed their sentiment. It shows little candor, consequently, when the most diligent examination is made of the differences existing in the creed of the reformers, and an utter indifference prevails as to their general agreement. The most marvellous zeal appears in the revival of old disputes, but no effort is employed to give a fresh warmth to languishing faith from the noble example of the reformers. Let it be supposed that any one should assert, that Calvin had not the right faith, that he did not abide by God's Word, or that the truth, and that through his own fault, was not clearly known to him, it must then follow as a necessary consequence that Luther also was thus deficient, for he recognized Calvin as his fellow- believer. Attempts have been made to fix upon the reformed the old charge of Nestorianism. This has probably been done to give them the right to make a counter-attack upon the Lu- therans, and to brand them as Eutychians and Monophysites, as if both parties had torn with their hands the glorified body of the Lord. To-day, when the reformation has reached its ob- ject, and the church has been formed, we have to obey a new impulse, and to employ the power of the faith which we have realized in the grand work of converting the people who still lie in the darkness of heathenism. In this respect we are to view the whole reformation as a far-stretching field, from which we are still to press bravely onward. It certainly is not the time to retrace the progress made during three hundred years, for the sake of renewing the controversies of ancient times. Lament- able indeed must be the state of things, if such a profound be- lief in the mystery of the sacrament as that of Calvin should A.D. 1549.] UNION OF BELIEVERS. 93 become the subject of suspicion in a church, where, the former difficulty having been solved, it is now an obvious duty to go forward, and so to consider the still existing controversy with the catholic church, that sooner or later this also may be settled. It is of importance therefore to state, in this part of the work, all those circumstances which tend to exhibit the harmony of opinion, in matters of actual faith, which existed among the founders of the reformed church. We cannot fail to derive a feehng of security from the unity of living faith discernible in all those of whom we have spoken above, and more particularly in Luther and Calvin. That the latter did not exhibit in the Consensus Tigurinus a mere dry product of the understanding, a so-called parchment- pope, must be evident to all who have the witness of the Holy Spirit, the author of unity, in their hearts. The sacrament was the central point of his spiritual life : he lived only for that. Hence his earnestness in defending it against the approach of the unworthy, or whatever might defile its sanctity ; and the profound anxiety which he felt as the seasons came round for its administration. To him it was the medium of a most inti- mate communion with Jesus : it was associated in his mind with the sublimest ideas, — with faith in the divine sacrifice, and in the present and personal being of Him who alone can give us life. According to Calvin, the faithful enjoy the glorified Christ, — the unworthy and the wicked receive Him not. This depends not on the words of consecration : such a notion is contrary to the spirit of Christ : he imparts not himself to the unholy. Thus also Calvin connected with this doctrine the communion of believers, it being in communion only that the sacrament can be properly enjoyed. Even in his catechism for children he speaks of a real and actual union.* The mystical element therefore existed in Calvin in its highest form and energy : he was convinced that the flesh and blood of Christ are partaken of in the sacrament, and his doctrine was in perfect agreement with that of liUther, except that his expressions were more spir- itual, and he rejected from his view of the mystery what is sensual and local. His sound understanding could never com- prehend how that which is divine can be eaten and swallowed in earthly elements; nor how that which is local can be regarded as available for the spirit. The godly and glorified Christ is that * Bossuet found the expressions here alluded to so Lutheran that he remarked it in his Hist, des Variat. t. ii. p. 16. 94 DOCTRINE OP THE SACRAMENT. [cHAP.XVI. alone which penetrates the believer's soul and becomes one with him. The doctrine of predestination was a fruitful cause of oppo- sition, but it did not separate Calvin from all those who formed a somewhat different opinion on the subject. He practically- agreed with Luther in this matter ; and in his last Confession, drawn up in 1562, he speaks more decidedly than ever against those who trusted to predestination, rather than to that which immediately concerned their state.* It is worthy of observation, that his nearest friends, as Farel for example, regarded his teach- ing in respect to this doctrine, and as he imparted it to them, not as repulsive, but full of consolation.! Calvin and Melanc- thon did not, it must be owned, agree in this doctrine at a subse- quent period. The latter, according to Calvin, viewed it too phil- osophically ; but this did not hinder Calvin from editing Melanc- thon's principal work, or from showing the world that he did not view this difference of opinion as of any great importance. In our times it would probably be regarded as a sufficient excuse for separation. i It is well known that both by his system of faith, as seen in the period extending from 1541 to 1554, and by the party con- solidated through the second Consensus, he stood in open oppo- sition to Lutheranism : but nothing was said about division. The churches could not but persevere in those principles, which were subsequently more strongly set forth in the Formula Con- cordifB, and in the Confession of the Synod of Dort. But nei- ther Calvin nor Luther, had he lived in those days, would have allowed a separation to arise from such a cause. A deeper feel- ing would have told them both, that the exaltation of the soul to Christ, or the descent of Christ into the bread in the sacra- ment, can be as little understood as the consistency of election with the free and the moral nature of man : but both are stated in Scripture, and both are realities for the Christian. Many proofs also exist that Melancthon never swerved from the Wit- tenberg Concordate, but lived, by the inlfluence of a genuine faith, in constant friendship with both parties in the church. When he found himself seized with a dangerous sickness, in * "We are not of the number of those fanatics who, under the shade of God's eternal predestination, think not of attaining to the hfe Arhich is promised us by the right way. But regarding ourselves as children of God, we know that it is necessary to believe in Jesus Christ, and that in Him alone we can properly seek salvation." f Schmidt : Etudes sur Farel, p. 45. A.D. 1549.] LUTHER AND CALVIN. 9f 1541, he declared his assent to the established faith. His let- ters to Dietrich, a minister at Nuremberg, sbow that he recog- nized a sacramental presence of Christ, though no inclosing of the body in the bread ; that is, that Christ is actually present when we rightly receive the sym.bols or signs of grace. He thus ex- pressed himself at Ratisbone in 1541. In 1542 and 1543 he remarked in his letters to Dietrich, that they ought to be severely censured who pretend that the body of the Lord is inclosed in the bread as by a sort of magic, at the pronouncing of certain words. He is far however from representing the sacrament as a simple supper : on the contrary, he expresses his conviction, that by the use of the out\vard signs of grace, Christ makes us members of his body, and works mightily in us. It is thus that he represents the doctrine in his Locis as published in 1543. He had even resolved to leave Wittenberg, when Luther renewed the controversy, rather than swerve from the Concordat. That Melancthon agreed in this respect with Calvin, appears , from a letter written by the latter to Farel in 1539. Calvin; also appealed to his example in his second Apology against Westphal in 1556. " Philip will state in a single word if I be not of his opinion, for I will spend no more words on the sub- ject :" and in 1557 he says, " If I be found guilty of rashly using the name of Melancthon, I will submit to any degree of infamy. I have said it a hundred times, that Philip can no more be torn from me in this cause than from his own bowels." And this agreement continued from 1539 onwards, through a period, that is, of seventeen years. Both also were associated with Caspar Cruciger, whom Luther always loved and distin- guished. Melancthon was far from denying this his agreement with Calvin.* But still more surprising, and in our times more important to the evangelical church, is the perfect harmony between Cal- vin and Luther in belief. This can be shown by various facts, sufficiently striking to convince any unprejudiced mind. These two great men were never in actual strife ; and had Luther lived longer, they would probably have learnt to entertain for each other the strictest regard. With respect to the Lord's Supper, it is well known that Calvin's treatise against Pighius De Libera Arhitrio appeared in 1543, that is, before the death of Luther, * See also Melancthon's letters to Calvin in the years 1552, 1554, 1555. Ed. Amst. p. 66. Ed. Lau3. Ep. 137,