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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

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HEIDELBERG AT PRESENT

Famous Places of the
Reformed Churches
A Religious Guidebook to Europe
BY
REV. PROF. JAMES I. GOOD, D.D.
Professor of Reformed Church History in the Central Theological Seminary
of the Reformed Church tnthe U. S., Author of " Famous Women
of the Reformed Church," "Famous Missionaries of the
Reformed Church," "Origin of the Reformed
Church in Germany," "History of
the Reformed Church in
Germany," etc.
Together with a Chapter by
REV. MARCUS A. BROWNSON, D.D.

Heidelberg Press
philadelphia 1910

Copyright 1910
BY
THE HEIDELBERG PRESS

FOREWORD
There is no department of human knowledge
more interesting than history, and none which right
ly used is more conducive to mental and moral de
velopment. History properly written brings the
mind into helpful contact with past generations by
the narration of their achievements, quickens the
imagination by the touch of pure and high senti
ment, appeals to the heroic element of human na
ture by the stimulus of the romantic, exhibits the
unity of the human race alike in its fears and hopes,
and reveals God upon His throne, overuling the
evil for good, causing the wrath of man to praise
Him, and compelling all things to work together
for good for the true welfare of the world.
Among historians some have the gift of popular
presentation of the subjects they describe. They
know what interests the people, and how to interest
them. American Christians holding to the Reform
ed Faith and the Presbyterian Polity, are to be
congratulated that Prof. James I. Good has added
this volume, "Famous Places of the Reformed
Churches," to his other popular historical works.
Possessed of a facile pen, easily a master in the
3

4 Foreword.
history of the Reformed Churches on both sides of
the Atlantic, no one of his productions will be more
generally acceptable. The work not only supplies
an acknowledged vacant place in the bibliography
of church history, but also presents in an attractive
and popular form, the record of men and places of
decided interest to lovers of human progress, and
of great value to loyal Christians of every name.
Wm, Henry Roberts.

PREFACE
Europe is the birthplace of all the Reformed
churches, holding the Presbyterian system, whether
they go back to Zwingli, Calvin or Knox. We
have, therefore, asked Rev. William H. Roberts,
D.D., LL.D., American Secretary of the Reformed
and Presbyterian Alliance, to speak the fore-word
for this book.
This volume aims to show that the various Cal
vinistic churches have many sacred places, which
are full of historic interest. These should be
known by the members of our churches to stimu
late proper denominational pride and also to pro
duce a healthy denominational consciousness. The
author, by his studies in church history and fre
quent visits to Europe, has spent many years in
gathering the materials for this work. It is, how
ever, to be remembered by the reader, that the book
gives but an outline, and is not intended to be ex
haustive. He has also arranged it, so that it may
serve as a religious guidebook to Europe for those
who visit that continent, as it gives as far as pos-
5

6 Preface.
sible the exact locality of these sacred places. The
popular guidebooks, as Baedeker, either ignore the
Protestant places, or, if they notice them, give but
a very brief notice. To the traveller, history is a
wonderful stimulus. There is nothing like reading
the story, right at the place where it occurred.
The author desires to express his gratitude to
Rev. Mr. Szabo, of Buda-Pesth, Rev. Mr. Soucek,
of Prague, Rev. C. Merle DAubigne, of Paris, and
Rev. E. T. Corwin, D.D., of this country, for in
formation given, as well as to Rev. Marcus A.
Brownson, D.D., and Rev. William H. ' Roberts,
D.D., LL.D., for their contributions. He also re
grets that the proof will have to be read by another
after his departure for Europe. But he desires to
express gratefulness to Rev. Lloyd M. Knoll for
reading the proof in his absence. He will add one
or two mo're appendices to the work, one on Er
rata and another on New Sacred Places which he
may find in his travels and researches. Praying
that this work may have an educational and inspi
rational influence on the members of our churches
wherever found he leaves the book to his readers.

CONTENTS.
BOOK I— SWITZERLAND.
Zurich and Zwingli-land  n
Zurich, the Original Church of the Re
formed  27
Zurich since Zwingli's Time,  37
Basle and its Beautiful Cathedral,  55
Bern, the Capitol of Switzerland,  69
The Grisons and the Swiss Rhine,  79
Neuchatel and Farel,  97
Geneva, Calvin's Model City  109
Geneva, since Calvin's Time  123
Lausanne and Canton Vaud,  139
BOOK II— GERMANY.

Chapter r. Strasburg and its Majestic Cathedral, ...151
Chapter 2. Heidelberg and its Reformation  165
Chapter 3. Heidelberg and its Ruined Castle,  185
Chapter 4. The Beautiful Rhineland and the Cologne
Cathedral,  T205
Chapter 5. Northern Germany and Berlin,  233
BOOK III— OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.

Chapter

1.

Chapter

. 2.

Chapter

3-

Chapter

4-

Chapter

5-

Chapter

6.

Chapter

7-

Chapter

8.

Chapter

9.

Chapter

10.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5

Paris and the Huguenots  255
France and the Huguenots,  279
Italy and the Waldenses,  311
Brave Little Holland  333
Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth and the
Blue Danube  365
7

8 Contents.
Chapter 6. Bohemia, Huss and Prague,  383
Chapter 7. England, Wales and Ireland,  403
Chapter 8. Edinburgh. By Rev. Marcus A. Brown-
son, D.D.,  423
Appendix I. The Diaspora or Scattered Churches
of our Faith,  '  449
Appendix II. Reformed and Presbyterian Services on
the Continent of Europe in the Eng
lish language  453

ILLUSTRATIONS.
Heidelberg, at present,  Frontispiece
Einsedeln,  19
Zurich  26
Basle,  54
Bern,  68
Neuchatel,  96
Geneva,  108
Lausanne,  138
Strasburg Cathedral,  150
Cologne Cathedral,  204
The Great Elector of Brandenburg and his wife Louisa
Henrietta,  232
Church of St. Germain 1' Auxerrois,  254
Huguenot Worship in the woods,  278
The Balsille in the Italian Valleys,  310
The Tomb of Prince William of Orange,  332
Buda Pesth,  364
Prague,  ¦  382
The House of Knox at Edinburgh,  422

ERRATA.

Page 58, line 2, "Balse" to be "Basel."
Page 59, line 5, "Augustian" to be Augustinian."
Page 59, line 11, "leader" to be "leaders."
Page 90, line 10, "Schauffhausen" to be "Schaffhausen."
Page 100, line 3, "Rhine" to be "Rhone."
Page 112, line 5, "Tillet at Poictiers" to be "Tillet and
at Poictiers."
Page 120, line 1, "are inscriptions" to read "are to be in
scriptions." Page 126, line 15, "theologican" should read "theological."
Page 139, line 19, "few of Reformed" to read "few of the
Reformed." Page 146, line 7, "originally" to read 'organically."
Page 172, line 8, "of" to read "at."
Page 176, line 16, "many" to read "some."
Page 177, note line 2, "had" to read "has."
Page 194, line 4, "unequality" to read 'inequality."
Page 197, line 3, "tact" to read "tack."
Page 202, line 6, "Ploack" to read "Ploeck."
Page 205, line 5, "wierd" to read "weird."
Page 208, line 7, "article" to read "Articles."
Page 233, line 4, "right in its streets up" should read "in
its streets right up."
Page 236, line 18, "Peucer" should read "Pezel."
Page 2f9, line 15, "equippages" should read "equipages."
Page 271, line 2, "oportunity" should read 'opportunity."
Page 281, line 18, "changed from" should read "changed
them from."
Page 324, line 11, "Waldeses" changed to "Waldenses."
Page 358, line 19, "Kempem" to ' Kampen."
Page 361, line 7, "1740-80" should read "1840-80."
Page 383, line 5, "Praque"' should read "Prague."
Page 386, lines 4-5, "on the slope" should read "in the
square." Page 420, line n, 'prince" should read "princes."
Page 421, line 12, "Marshall" should read "Marshal."

BOOK I.— SWITZERLAND
Chapter I.— ZURICH AXD ZWIXGLI-LAND.
THE famous places of the Reformed
Churches ! Where shall we begin — there
are so many of them, where, but at Zu
rich, the mother of them all? Zurich was the birth
place of all the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches.
The city of Zurich is finely located at the western
end of the picturesque lake of Zurich, at whose
eastern end the snow-capped Alps can be clearly
seen. The city is divided by the swift river Lim-
mat, which, carrying off the water of lake Zurich,
flows westward through the city. To the south of
the city, is a range of hills, the highest of which,
the Utliberg, rises 1,500 feet above the city, com
manding a fine view. To the north of the city the
hills ascend more gradually. It has at present a
population of about 175,000, and is the largest city
of Switzerland. It is also the greatest industrial'
centre of that land. Zurich owes its present pros
perity to the reformation ; for the Italian silk-
weavers, who were driven out of Chiavenna on the
11

12 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
northwestern coast of lake Maggiore, Italy, in 1555,
because they were Protestants, found an asylum in
Zurich and now Zurich is famous for its silk and
cotton factories.
But Zurich is especially interesting to the Chris
tian because of her splendid religious history in
the reformation and since. Looking eastward from
Zurich, over the lake, one can see just north of
the eastern end of the lake, the tall peak of Mount
Sentis, the highest of the northern group of the
Alps, about 8,000 feet high. On its southern slope,
in an upper valley about 4,000 feet above sea-level,
there is a village called Wildhaus, where to-day
can be found a small one-story Swiss chalet. In
that house, was born on New Year's day, 1484, a
babe who was destined to revolutionize his native
land, and be the founder of the Reformed Churches
throughout the world, Ulric Zwingli.* Not
far from the chalet is the little country church in
which he was baptized, with its bare benches and
its only furniture, a pulpit and a font. But on the
"little gallery opposite the pulpit are the words of
a German hymn —

*This house is still kept in a good state of preserva
tion by a Swiss society,- formed for the purpose.

Zurich and Zzvingli-land. 13
"Hold fast on God's Word!
It is your happiness on earth:
And as sure as there is a God
Your happiness also in heaven."
His father, who was the magistrate of the village,
trained his early boyhood and his mother taught
him Bible stories. "I have often thought," said
one of his friends later, "that on those Alpine
heights so near to heaven, he must have imbibed
something heavenly and divine." His father seeing
that he was too bright a boy to become merely a
shepherd boy, like his fellows, sent him away to
school. At the early age of eight he went down to
the valley south of his birthplace, where his uncle
was priest at the little village of Wesen, located at
the western end of that small but exceedingly grand
lake of Wallenstadt* In two years, he had
learned all that was to be taught in that school,
so at the age of ten he was sent far away among
strangers to Basle, in the northwestern corner of
Switzerland. There he studied for three years and

?This lake is located just east of lake Zurich, where
the seven mountains, the Churfursten, rise 6,000 feet
right up from the northern side of the lake.

14 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
first began to reveal his unusual abilities, especially
in oratory and music. Then he was sent to a more
advanced school at Bern, where the new method of
education called Humanism was taught by Lupulus.*
Then because the Dominicans wanted to make him
a monk, his father recalled him and sent him to the
University of Vienna, where he was educated, not
in the newer methods of Humanism, but after the
old methods. He, however, completed his course
in the university too soon to be old enough to enter
the priesthood. So he went back to Basle to spend
a year in study. This was his crucial year. There
he met and studied under Thomas Wyttenbach,
who prepared him to become the great reformer he
afterwards was.
East of Zurich, and just south of the eastern end
of lake Zurich is a. narrow valley, leading south
ward and overlooked at its southern end by the
stately Toedi, the most beautiful of the northern
Alps. In this narrow valley, is the town of Glarus,
closely encircled by mountains rising from 4,000 to
6,000 feet above it. This was the first charge of the

*We shall refer to his stay at Basle and Bern in
the later chapters on those cities.

Zurich and Zwingli-land. 15
young priest Zwingli, where he spent ten years
(1506-1516). As yet he was not a reformer, but
there are several significant signs in his life pointing
that way.
1. He went twice to Italy as chaplain, and in
those trips learned of the great wickedness of Cath
olicism; for the proverb then was "the nearer
Rome, the nearer hell." On one of these trips he
preached to the Swiss soldiers at Monza exhorting
them to bravery.
2. While on these trips he happened to visit
Milan and there discovered that not all the liturgies
of the Catholic Church were alike, for the liturgy
of Milan was different from the other Catholic
liturgies. 3. At Mollis, located just north of Glarus, he
happened to discover a liturgy a century or more
old, which stated that at the Lord's Supper, the
priest gave the wine as well as the wafer to the
communicant. This was different from the usual
Catholic custom, where the priest does not give the
wine to the communicant, but drinks it himself.
4. He strongly opposed the enlistment of the
Swiss in the armies of other nations, because when
they came home they, corrupted the people. As

16 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
the pope was one of the foreign powers who tempt
ed the Swiss into his armies, Zwingli was thus led
to take sides against the pope in secular matters, al
though still submissive to him in spiritual things.
5. Prof. Egli, of Zurich, the publisher of Zwing-
li's works, notes another sign toward the reforma
tion. He says that Zwingli from 15 12 was zealous
in the study of Greek. This led him to compare the
Catholic doctrines with the parts of the New Tes
tament that were in his possession. Zwingli de
clared at that time that he found nothing in the
Bible that taught the doctrine of the intercession
of the saints. "Christ" he says "is the only treas
ure of our souls." But this doctrine of the inter
cession of the saints was one of the cornerstones
of the papacy.
These events began to prepare him for his ulti
mate breach with Rome. At Glarus the church in
which he ministered and which had a chapel named
after him, the Zwingli-chapel, was burned down in
a great conflagration in 186 1. A new church has
since been built, which has "the remarkable peculiar
ity that in it both Catholics and Protestants wor
ship in the same room, though at different hours.
At the end of the church, is the Catholic high altar

Zurich and Zzvingli-land. ly
with its candles and its crosses, and a short distance
ahead of it, but on the side, is the Protestant pul
pit. We doubt whether Zwingli, were he living to
day, would have favored any such compromise with
Rome. But the hostility between the two religions
has passed away at Glarus, and the parish thought
it was more economical, to build one church than to
build two. Another reason for it was the ration
alism that had entered the canton, and made the
Protestants less rigid in their adherence to strict
Protestant principles. But although the church, in
which Zwingli ministered, has been burned down,
there still remains one relic of his ministry there,
the communion-cup, which is in possession of the
congregation. As in his day only the priest drank
the wine, it is certain that he often pressed to his
lips this sacred chalice while ministering to the
people. It is a large silver cup, adorned with fig
ures of the evangelists set in precious stones. Of
the population of Glarus nearly eighty per cent, are
Reformed. From Glarus, Zwingli was called to Einsiedeln,
an abbey in an upper mountain valley, about fifteen
miles west of Glarus and about the same distance
southeast of Zurich. Here he was not parish priest

1 8 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
as at Glarus. There was nothing but the abbey at
Einsiedeln. He was preacher at the abbey, for this
abbey had for centuries been a pilgrimage place
for thousands of pilgrims from Switzerland and
southern Germany. It had been founded by Count
Meinrad in the ninth century in honor of a wonder
working image of the virgin called the "Black Vir-
gin." Einsiedeln was the place where Zwingli's work
as a reformer began. Here he had ample time to
study. Providence set him aside from the world
for a while, as it had Moses in the desert, Paul in
Arabia and Luther in the Wartburg, to prepare
him more fully for his great lifework. While at
Einsiedeln, there came into his hands an epoch-
making book, the Greek New Testament, published
by Erasmus of Basle, in 1516. (Before that time
the New Testament was printed in western Europe
only in Latin, which has always been the sacred
language of the Catholics). Zwingli, as he studied
it, soon saw very clearly, that the Catholic Church
had diverged on many points from the purity and
simplicity of the New Testament. So interested
did he become, that he committed whole Epistles
to memory and thus became a mighty man of the

Zurich and Zwingli-land. 19
Word of God. This knowledge of the Scriptures
became of very great value to him later, when he
entered into public disputations with the Catholics,
and enabled him easily to defeat them out of the

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EINSIEDELN
Word of God. So Einsiedeln became the real birth
place of the Reformed Churches. For in 1523 he
thus describes his preaching at Einsiedeln, "I began
to preach the Gospel of Christ in the year 15 16,
before any one in my locality had so much as heard
the name of Luther; for I never left the pulpit
without taking the words of the Gospel, as used in
the mass service of the day and expounding them
20 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
by means of the Scriptures; although at first I re
lied much upon the Fathers as expositors and ex
plainers."* Tradition has it that Zwingli preached
at Einsiedeln on "Christ, as the ransom for
sin, — that Christ alone saves and saves every
where." This was contrary to Catholicism, and
against the rule of that abbey, over whose door were
inscribed the words, "Here sins are forgiven by the
Virgin Mary." Thus the seed that Wyttenbach
planted in his mind at Basle ten years before, came
to fruitage in making him a reformer. His elo
quent preaching produced great results. Many of
the pilgrims, who came hither filled with the super
stitions of Catholicism, caught the new vision of
truth and went home scattering the glad tidings.
Says one of the pilgrims who heard him : "How
beautiful and profound, how grave and how con
vincing, how moving and agreeable to the Gospel
is that discourse." While he was at Einsiedeln,
Samson, like Tetzel in Germany (against whom

*This would make the origin of the Reformed Church
earlier than the Lutheran, whose origin is generally
dated from October. 31, 1517, when Luther nailed the
theses on the church door at Wittenberg.

Zurich and Zzvingli-land. 21
Luther protested), came to Switzerland selling
indulgences. Zwingli boldly inveighed against
him just as Luther did. The pope tried to bribe
him to keep quiet, by offers of high rank in the
Catholic Church, yes, even of making him a cardi
nal, it is said. The pope threatened Luther by is
suing a bull against him, but Zwingli he tried to
win by flattery. But the brave reformer was above
such temptations and repelled the offer, saying: "By
God's help I mean to preach the Gospel and that
will shake Rome." Thus Einsiedeln became the
birthplace of the Reformed faith.
Although the reformation began at Einsiedeln,
yet at Zwingli's death that abbey fell back to the
Catholic faith owing to the unfortunate defeat of
the Reformed, at the battle of Cappel in 1531,
where Zwingli was killed. And soon the Catholics
made it as great a pilgrim-shrine as ever. To-day
it is said that 160,000 pilgrims go up there annually
from Switzerland and southern Germany, to wor
ship at the shrine of the Black Virgin. The abbey
building, that was there in Zwingli's time, was de
stroyed by fire about two hundred years ago and
the present buildings erected 1704-20. "Here," says
Badecker in his guidebook, "the monks spend their

22 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
time in reading masses for the pilgrims, receiving
their offerings and in raising a fine breed of
horses." From this it is evident that there is need
of some new Zwingli to again preach there against
the errors of Rome and open the eyes of the pil
grims to the truth as it is in Christ. A town of
about four thousand people has grown up around
the abbey, and especially the open place in front
of it is filled with booths and stores, for the sale
of such relics of Romish superstition as rosaries,
crucifixes, wax images and statues of the virgin.
Just in front of the abbey is a fountain, which has
twelve faucets, from which the water pours. These
are named after the twelve apostles, and the pil
grims are expected to take a drink at each of them.
As the water flows forth in a strong stream and
there is no protection against getting wet, this cus
tom often resolves itself into an awkward and
ridiculous sort of a skirt-dance on the part of the
female sex as they try to drink of the sacred water
at each of the faucets without getting their skirts
wet. On one occasion, when the abbey was visited
by 1,500 pilgrims from southern Germany, we saw
at nine P. M. a long and solemn procession of pil
grims walking two and two, each with a lighted

Zurich and Zzvingli-land. 23
candle, up the hill behind the abbey to the statue
of Count Meinrad. It was a weird sight as they
walked through the pines. And when they return
ed to the abbey, they sang beautiful hymns in a
grand chorus, for it is the custom of the Catholics
in many parts of western Germany to have congre
gational singing.
But Zwingli was becoming too prominent for
that little mountain abbey at Einsiedeln. His
preaching had made him famous all over German
Switzerland and he was beginning to shake the can
ton of Zurich. So he was called to the capital of
the canton, Zurich, as priest of the cathedral there,
— the two-towered church on the north of the river
Limmat, in the eastern part of the city, just below
where the Limmat flows out of lake Zurich. Up
in one of the towers of the cathedral is a statue
k
of king Charlemagne with a gilded crown and
sword, for Charlemagne had given important gifts
to the church in his day. Zwingli was now fulfill
ing the spirit of Charlemagne, for in Charlemagne's
age, an attempt was made to get rid of the image-
worship in the Catholic Church*, and Zwingli
was now preparing for a more thorough purging of
the church. Now a greater than Charlemagne, a

24 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
new leader, a spiritual Charlemagne, not a dead
statue as of Charlemagne in the tower, but a living
herald of eternal truth, appeared and began his
great work of reforming the Church.

Xu
s N

Chapter II.— ZURICH, THE ORIGINAL
CHURCH OF THE REFORMED.
ULRICH ZWINGLI came to Zurich in the
latter part of 15 18, and on New Year's
day, 1 5 19, he entered on his duties at the
cathedral. With him there came a New Year
to Zurich, a New Year of Evangelical light
and truth, — a New Year that has lasted ever
since in that city, as it led it to break from
the trammels of the papacy. His first sermon
was the key to all that followed. "It is to Christ
I wish to guide you, to Christ the true spring of
salvation." He announced that he would preach
on the Gospel of Matthew, verse by verse. Such
preaching had never been heard in Zurich, for the
Bible had been little used by their priests, who con
fined themselves in preaching mainly to stories of
the saints. Zwingli brought them back to the Bible,
that was his great boon to them. Great was the de
light of many at his preaching, as their souls were,
now for the first time, fed ; but great also was the
opposition and hatred of others. The market place
at Zurich was not far from the cathedral on the
north side of the Limmat river. To accommodate
27

28 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
the country people, who came to market and who
wanted to hear the new Gospel, Zwingli also preach
ed in the cathedral on Fridays, the market-day.
The country people then carried this new Gospel
throughout the canton, so that the canton received
it as well as the city.
But his labors became so severe that his health
broke down and he went away to the baths. About
fifty miles southeast of Zurich is a famous watering
place, Ragatz Pfaffers, situated at the mouth of a
narrow gorge in the mountains, down which flows
the brawling Tamina. Here he was recuperating
when the news came that the awful plague had
broken out at Zurich. Like a faithful shepherd, he
at once went back to his suffering flock. He was
most faithful in his ministrations and caught the
plague, which brought him to the borders of the
grave. Indeed the rumor had already gone forth
that he had died. But his life was providentially
spared, — spared for great purposes so as to com
plete the reformation. His illness, however, greatly
deepened his spirituality and better prepared him
for his work.* During this illness he wrote his first
hymn:

*Some of his biographers, especially his later ones,
place his conversion at this time.

Zurich — Original Church of Reformed. 29
"Lo, at my door, gaunt death I spy,
Hear, Lord of life, thy creature's cry."
The doctrines of the reformation rapidly gained
power in Zurich. So eloquent was his preaching
and so great became his influence, that its progress
was soon marked by several conferences. The
first conference was held in January 29, 1523, but
before it happened, a controversy took place on the
subject of fasting in Lent. The leaven of the
Gospel was working and many refused to fast in
Lent, because the Bible did not enjoin it. The lead
er of this was Froschauer, the great printer of
Zurich, who declared that he and his workmen
would not fast as their work was too severe. The
great council of the city finally decided (April,
1522) for Zwingli and against fasting. This was
the first open breach with Rome. On August 15,
the ministers of Zurich decided not to preach any
thing that was not contained in the Bible. But the
first great disputation occurred January 29, 1523.
Just as Luther had nailed his theses on the church
door at Wittenberg at the beginning of the reforma
tion, so now Zwingli published 67 articles against
the Catholic doctrines of the papacy, the mass, the
intercession of the saints, fasts, purgatory, etc.

30 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
The disputation was held in the city hall before 600
auditors. At a table in the middle of the room he
sat with the Bible in Latin and also in the original
tongues before him. He claimed that it alone had
supreme authority for their decisions. The result
was a complete victory for Zwingli and the city
council ordered that nothing should be taught in
the churches that was not founded on the Bible.
The second great disputation took place on Oc
tober 26-28, 1523, at the same place before 200
persons. Before it occurred, however, the bolder
spirits of the reform attacked the use of images
in the churches, declaring that it was idolatry. So
the subject of this conference was the use of im
ages and also the observance of the mass. At it,
Zwingli and Leo Juda, the pastor of St. Peters
Church at Zurich, defended the Reformed doc
trines. As a result of this conference, the city
council ordered that by the next year all pictures
and statues should be cast out of the churches; yes,
even the organ, which was looked upon as a relic
of papacy; so that for many years the early Re
formed Church of Zurich had no music, not even
singing. The only thing that was now left remain
ing of the Catholic service was the mass. But that

Zurich — Original Church of Reformed. 31
too, was soon to be changed. Finally on Easter,
April 13, 1525, the reformation was completed at
Zurich as the Lord's Supper was celebrated in the
Protestant mode, by giving the cup as well as the
bread to the church members, which was contrary
to Catholic custom. Zurich thus declared her in
dependence of the bishop of Constance and of the
pope, her Catholic rulers. This Lord's Supper
greatly impressed the people with its severe sim
plicity. Instead of the elaborate service of the mass,
the service was very simple; instead of the costly
chalice, only wooden plates and goblets were used.
The people sat during the communion in contrast
with the kneeling of the Catholics at the commu
nion, which seemed to them idolatry (artolotry or
bread-worship), while the students of the cathedral
school assisted Zwingli in passing the elements.
The Zurich Church still makes use of the sitting
communion, although in the country it was received
standing, as in Germany, by the communicants.*

?Opposite the cathedral on the north side of the
Munster Platz is the parsonage of the antistes or head
of the church, but Zwingli's house was on the Kirch-
gasse just north of the cathedral, where a slab in the
house marks its locality. The room in it, called his

32 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
During the brief remaining life of Zwingli, sev
eral important events occurred, to which we shall
only refer as they will be treated in connection with
their proper localities. In 1 526 a great conference
was held at Baden, in Switzerland, but Zwingli did
not dare go thither, so Ecolampadius, the reformer
of Basle, defended the Protestant views. In Janu
ary, 1528, a great conference was held at Bern,
which he attended and which resulted in making
that canton Protestant. In 1529, Zurich was threat
ened with a war with the five Forest cantons. These
were the five mountain cantons south of her, Zug,
Lucerne, Uri, Schwytz and Unterwalden. In those
days the mountaineers were conservative, retaining
the old faith, while the cities were progressive, ac
cepting the new. But this threatened war was
'brought to an end June, 1529, without bloodshed
by a peace which was called "the milk-soup peace"
because the soldiers of the two armies fraternized
so cordially that they ate milk-soup out of the same
dish. On this occasion Zwingli wrote his second
hymn:

study and the adjoining room, called his bedroom, may
be the same as in his time, but the rest of the house
has been reconstructed.

Zurich — Original Church of Reformed. 33
Do thou direct thy chariot, Lord
And guide it at thy will.
Without thy aid our strength is vain,
And useless all our skill.
Look down upon thy saints brought low
And prostrate laid beneath the foe.
Send down thy peace and banish strife,
Let bitterness depart;
Revive the spirit of the past
In every Switzer's heart;
Then shall the church forever sing
The praises of her heavenly king.
But perhaps the most important event in his life
was the conference at Marburg, in Germany, in
October, 1529, where Zwingli and Ecolampadius,
together with Bucer and Capito of Strassburg, met
Luther and Melancthon, of the Lutheran Church,
in order that, at the suggestion of the Landgrave of
Hesse, the two churches might become united.*
The effort at union unfortunately failed. Zwingli
continued as antistes or head of the Church at Zu
rich until his death October 11, 1531, in the battle
field of Cappel.f

*See in Book II, Chapter 4 of this work.
fThe best way to reach the battlefield of Cappel is
to go to Baar, a station on the fast-line between Zu-

34 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
The five mountain cantons, which had before al
most attacked Zurich during the first Cappel war
in 1529, now suddenly precipitated an army against
Zurich. Zurich was unprepared for the attack but
ordered her soldiers out, Zwingli going along as
chaplain. As he started to mount his horse before
his house, the horse stepped backward, which was
looked upon by many as a bad omen. The Zurich
army marched out through Horgen and over the
mountain to Cappel, where they met their enemies
and were severely defeated. Zwingli was felled
to the ground by a stone, while minis.tering to a
soldier. The Catholic soldiers gathered around
him, one of them asking whether he desired a priest,
that he might confess his sins before he died. He
shook his head, refusing. Then he was recognized
by one of the soldiers and quickly killed. His
body was afterward burned and the ashes scatter
ed to the winds. So died Zwingli, the only one of
the great reformers of Continental Europe to die a

rich and Zug, and there hire a carriage for a short
ride to the town of Cappel, and to the monument about
a mile away from the town. It can also be reached by
carriage from Zug on the south and Mettmenstetten
on the west.

Zurich — Original Church of Reformed. 35
martyr's death. There is now at Cappel a stone
monument about eighteen feet high, of rough
mountain-stone with a bronze tablet in it, on which
is an inscription to his memory. He died under a
pear tree and since his death, whenever the pear
tree dies, another is planted in its place, so that
there is beside the monument a pear tree, which
marks the exact place of his death.
One of the most beautiful sights in Switzerland
is the Alpine-glow at sunset. Then the snow-white
Alps turn gradually to a delicate pink and often
to a bright crimson, then back to pink, and finally
to a ghostly white. In the moonlight they seem
to be a mere shadow of their former selves. Such
an Alpine-glow hung over Zwingli's death. He
died but he died in glory, true to the Reformed doc
trines to the last. His coat of arms is black and old
gold. He went from the blackness of earth to the
eternal glory of God's throne.*

*It is comparatively easy to visit these sacred places
in Zwingli's life from Zurich. By a one day's trip
Glarus, Einsiedeln and Cappel can be reached. An
other day will add Wildhaus, which is best reached
from Buchs in the Rhine valley and on the return trip
the night can be spent at Ragatz or Glarus and the
rest of the Zwingli places mentioned above visited the
next day.

Chapter III.— ZURICH SINCE ZWINGLI'S
TIME.
HENRY Bullinger was Zwingli's successor
as antistes or head-minister of the Zu
rich Church. With the defeat of the Zu
rich army at Cappel in 1531, and the death of
Zwingli, all was confusion at Zurich. Young Bul
linger, who came there as a refugee, with the bold
ness of youth preached so bravely and eloquently
that he was elected antistes. He proved to be the
man for the hour, a fit successor to Zwingli. It
was during his life that Zurich was brought into
such intimate relations with England. Many Eng
lish refugees, fleeing from the persecutions of Queen
Mary, found a cordial welcome here. Some of
them even finding a home in his house. A sem
inary for English theological students under Bul-
linger's patronage existed at Zurich for a short
time, while the English refugees were there. Some
of the ministers who went back to England became
prominent as bishops of the Anglican Church. A
number of English books were published at Zurich
by Froschauer, the great Reformed printer of Zu-
37

38 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
rich,* who printed the first English Bible at
Zurich, while as yet its publication was forbidden
in England. It was called the Matthew Bible, pub
lished in 1550. He also published the first cate
chism of the Anglican Church. For his kindness
Bullinger was thanked by many of the refugees.f
Queen Elizabeth presented a goblet to Bullinger in
1560, which is in the Swiss national museum at Zu
rich. Bullinger was the author of the great creed
of the Swiss Church, adopted by all the cantons,
the Second Helvetic Confession (1566). He died
in 1575-
Bullinger was succeeded by a prominent theo
logian and preacher, Rudolf Gualther, who was
married to Zwingli's daughter, Regula. Bullinger
had taken Zwingli's family into his own home after
Zwingli's death, and he also took into his home
young students for the ministry, among them
young Gualther. What more natural than that
these two young people should fall in love and

*His name is derived from the German word
"Frosch," which means a frog. And in almost all of
his book-plates, a frog is to be seen somewhere.
fTheir letters from England were published in the
"Zurich Letters" about fifty years ago.

Zurich Since Zwingli's Time. 39
marry each other. Gualther was famous for his
published homilies on the Scripture. He was an
elegant, polished writer.
It is not until the seventh antistes that we come
again to a great man, John Jacob Breitinger, who
was antistes 1613-1645. He represented Zurich at
the synod of Dort in Holland (1618-9) and was
greatly respected by that synod because of his abil
ity and because he represented the mother-church
of the Reformed. He introduced singing into the
Church of Zurich. But at first this was not popu
lar, for when the hymn was first sung at the close
of the service, many of the older people went out,
thus protesting against it as a novelty in the church.
One of Breitinger's greatest acts was the founda
tion of the present school system of Zurich. He
also led to the foundation of the city-library, which
is now located in the Water Church.
Many famous men appeared at Zurich in the
seventeenth century as Prof. John Henry Hottinger,
the great Orientalist (1620-1667), and Prof. John
Henry Heidegger, the theologian (1633-1698). He
was one of the theological triumvirate, who drew
up the last great Swiss creed, the Helvetic Con
sensus in 1675, Gernler, of Basle, and F. Turretin,

40 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
of Geneva, being the other two. It was directed
against the supposed departure of the Theological
School of Saumur in France on the doctrines of
predestination, the imputation of Adam's sin and
the inspiration of the Bible.
Another very famous minister appeared at Zu
rich a century and a half later, about the end of the
eighteenth century, John Casper Lavater. He was
one of the greatest literary and religious characters
of his age. He was perhaps the most brilliant mind
that Zurich has produced. He was a pious boy in
his youth, but was led out of his simple faith by the
rationalism then prevailing in the schools, even the
antistes at that time belonging to the rationalistic
party. He was a great lover of liberty, and liberty
of thought possessed a charm for him so that he
was easily led off to rationalism. But after he had
been in the ministry about fifteen years and while
pastor of St. Peter's Church at Zurich, he changed
his faith. His early religious nature reasserted it
self and rose up again against rationalism. He
created a great sensation by attacking rationalism
in the Zurich synod. From that day he had to en
dure persecution and ridicule for being what his
enemies called a Pietist. But he boldly stood his

Zurich Since Zwingli's Time. 41
ground in defence of Evangelical Christianity.
His boldness appears all the greater, when it is re
membered that in his day, the prominent defenders
of Evangelical Christianity in the German lan
guage could be counted on the fingers of one hand,
Claudius, Haman, Stilling and Lavater being the
most prominent. Goethe, the great German poet,
was a very warm friend of Lavater. He said of
Lavater that he was "one, the like of whom has not
been seen and will not be seen again." But Lava-
ter's defence of evangelical religion, lost for him
Goethe's friendship. For his brave defence of
orthodoxy, he was styled by his friends, the second
reformer of Zurich. As Zwingli had led the
church out of Romanism in the 16th century, so
Lavater led it back from rationalism in the 18th
century. He was not only one of the most eloquent preach
ers of his day, but 'also one of the greatest of the
Swiss poets (especially in his "Swiss Hymns").
And he became also famous for his patriotism.
When France took possession of Switzerland, his
voice was almost the only one lifted up publicly in
favor of freedom. He had the daring single-
handedness to throw down a challenge to the

42 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
French government in his "Appeal of a Free
Swiss." He was the "William Tell" of his
age. His zeal for patriotism led to his death.
He was arrested for treason by the French in 1799,
but soon released. However, when the French
captured Zurich from the allies on September,
1799, he was shot by a French soldier and lingered
often in mortal agony for a year and a half, until
he died January 2, 1801. He was a very remark
able man in his appearance, with his sharp face and
keen, piercing eyes. His was a countenance that
at once attracted attention. He acquired a great
reputation as a physiognomist. He published a
large work on that subject and was able to read
faces with remarkable facility. He was also a
fine religious poet, writing 100 hymns, one of which
reads thus: O Jesus Christ grow thou in us,
And all things else recede.
My heart is daily nearer thee
From sin be daily freed.
Make this poor self grow less and less,
Be thou my light and aim.
O make me daily through thy grace,
More worthy of thy name.

Zurich Since Zwingli's Time. 43
With Lavater should be mentioned John Jacob
Hess, who was antistes (1795-1828), the fifth and
last of the great antistes of Zurich, the others being
Zwingli, Bullinger, Gualther and Breitinger. He
was a scholar, and a genius in common sense, just
the man to guide the Church during the stormy pe
riod of the French occupation. His poise of char
acter is revealed by an incident, that when the
French were bombarding Zurich, he calmly wrote
his sermon for the next Sunday. He is famous
for having written the first scholarly life of Christ
(1782), the forerunner of many lives of Christ in
the nineteenth century.
Another famous character of the Reformed of
Zurich was Henry Pestalozzi, who revolutionized
modern education. He was born at Zurich in 1746,
and grew up a dreamy, awkward boy, often ridi
culed by his companions as "Henry Oddity of Fool-
borough." He studied law, but gave it up for farm
ing in which he failed financially. Influenced by
the book "Emile," published by Rosseau, he started
(1775) a school for the poor at Neuhof, which,
however, only brought him into deeper poverty. In
1781 his novel "Leonard and Gertrude" brought
him fame. It is a charming description of Swiss

44 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
village life. In 1798 he was placed in charge of
the orphans left by the French invasion at Stans.
The results of his teaching were surprising. He
then became teacher at Burgdorf in Bern, and in
1802 he embodied his ideas of education in a work
"How Gertrude teaches her Children." Finally, in
1802, he opened a school at Yverdon in the canton
of Vaud. By this time his methods of teaching
had become famous and teachers from all over Eu
rope, yes, even kings and philosophers, came to
visit him and inspect his work. But great as he
was as an educator, he was poor as a financier, and
he was at last compelled to give up his school at
Yverdon. He died 1827, having seen as he sup
posed the apparent failure of his plans. But he
had not failed, for his ideas began to be used every
where, and twenty years after his death, educators
all over Europe bore tribute to him. His educa
tional principles seem briefly to have been the fol
lowing :
1. That education should be education rather
than instruction, a drawing out of the pupil rather
than a pouring of thought into him. Education pre
viously had looked on the child as an automaton
and compelled all children to learn alike through

Zurich Since Zzvingli's Time. 45
set forms. His method adapted the education to
each child, by the teacher drawing out the child
and suiting the instruction to the child's ideas.
2. He was the father of what we call the object
lessons or kindergarten system, — that knowledge
should be taught in the concrete rather than in the
abstract. 3. He laid the foundations for universal educa
tion. In his day only the rich had the opportunity
for education; and then only the boys, for
girls' schools were almost unknown. He, by his
work at Neuhof and Stans showed that all chil
dren, even the poor children, could be educated.
This led to the adoption of universal education.
And it was not long before Prussia adopted his
ideas and made education compulsory, with the ul
timate result that Prussia is now at the head of
Germany. In the early part of the nineteenth century, Zu
rich together with the rest of Switzerland, under
went a political revolution. Switzerland had not
been the land of the free, — a democracy. Univer
sal suffrage was unknown in the larger cities, which
were aristocracies. Hence about 1830 a revolution
took place in the leading cantons of Switzerland,

46 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
which led to universal suffrage. The liberals in
politics were mainly rationalists in religion, op
posing the old regime, where the church was con
nected with the state, and the church, therefore,
suffered with the state. So in 1839 this party, lib
eral in politics and rationalistic in religion, having
gotten control in Zurich, called Frederick Strauss,
the author of the famous rationalistic (Hegelian)
life of Christ, as professor of theology at Zurich.
This created a tremendous revolt and a petition of
40,000 citizens went up to the Zurich council against
his coming. Strauss was kept away by being given
a pension which he continued to receive until his
death. But though Strauss did not come, the ma
jority of the people, who were still pious, had lost
faith in that council, and they feared that an at
tempt would be made to make rationalistic all the
schools as well as the university, so they held a
great meeting at Kloten,-on August, 1839, where
about 15,000 were present. Matters reached a cri
sis on September 6, at Zurich, as the Christian
citizens marched into Zurich and after being fired
upon by the Zurich troops, in which several were
killed, they took control of the city. As the city
council had fled, they ordered a new election, which

Zurich Since Zwingli's Time. 47
resulted against the radicals. An Evangelical pro
fessor was called, who came instead of Strauss,
Lange and Ebrard, both Evangelical, later becom
ing professors.
The Zurich Church, as are most of the Protestant
Churches in Switzerland, is divided into orthodox,
rationalists and mediates, the latter holding views
somewhere between the other two. At the univer
sity the only orthodox professor of theology is
Prof. Schulthess, though the private docent Ruegg
is also of that type. The churches of Fraumun-
ster and Neuminster in the city of Zurich have
Evangelical ministers, while St. Peter's and Enge
do not. There is generally an Evangelical minister
at the cathedral, the last one, Mr. Pestalozzi, hav
ing died but a short time ago. The stronghold of
the Evangelicals in the canton of Zurich is the
Evangelical Society of Zurich (indeed each Protes
tant canton usually has an Evangelical society,
which combats rationalism and aids Evangelical
ism). Another stronghold of the Evangelicals is
the St. Anna chapel, founded by a pious lady of
Zurich, Matilda Escher, in 1864, and devoted to
all kinds of aggressive church-work. The Evan
gelicals also have a school in Zurich. There is need

48 Faomuh Places of Reformed Churches.
for some later Zwingli or Lavater to come to Zu
rich and reclaim her to the true faith, although there ^
are brave defenders of it there.
As a result of all this religious history, Zurich
to-day has a number of very interesting places.
First of all is the cathedral, where Zwingli preach
ed. It is a large building, but in its interior quite
plain. Around it, on three sides, are galleries.
There are no cushions on the seats and carpets
only in the aisle. Everything is very plain and
old-fashioned, except that there is a fine stained
glass window in the choir, containing pictures of
Christ, Peter and Paul. We repeatedly attended
service there and found it carried on thus: The
minister at the communion table * gave out a hymn,
then having ascended the pulpit, he read the Scrip
ture, prayed and read his text. During the reading
of the Scripture, the prayer and the reading of the

*The Swiss churches have no altars, usually not even
a communion table, often nothing but a baptismal font.
This communion table was not placed in the choir
until about the middle of the nineteenth century, as
the church for several centuries after the reformation
was divided, the choir end being shut off by a wall
from the main room and used by the French congrega
tion.

Zurich Since Zzvingli's Time. 49
text, the people remained standing. But as soon
as the minister began to preach, they sat down.
This is an old custom, coming down from reforma
tion times. The people stand to show their rev
erence for the Bible. And they sit down to show
that they consider the minister's words in the ser
mon to be lower than those of the Bible.* This
reverence for God's Word was peculiar to the Re
formed Church.
Another beautiful scene we witnessed there was
a communion service! The Zurich Church is pe
culiar in that among the Reformed Churches,
where the German language is used, it was about
the only one where the communion is received by
the communicants sitting. Elsewhere, even in the
country in Zurich canton, the communicants come
forward to the communion table and receive it
standing. We found that they also used unleaven
ed bread, which is a recent innovation, although it
was riot in the form of wafers and had no cross on
it. And they broke the bread, for bread-breaking
was always emphasized by the Reformed, on which

?Perhaps they also sit down because the sermons
used to be long.

50 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
subject they had a great controversy with the
Lutherans. The two ministers walked from the
communion table down the aisle, carrying the bread
and giving some to the person at the end of the
pew who passed it to others in the pew. The
ministers were followed by the elders, each carry
ing a tankard of wine and a cup, with which they
served the communicants. The ministers waited at
the other end of the church, until all had been serv
ed by the elders, and then they, with the elders,
went back to the communion table. The com
munion is celebrated on Christmas, Easter (togeth
er with Good Friday), Whitsunday and in the fall.
Another interesting place to the student of Swiss
religious history is the city-library in the Water-
church just below the cathedral on the northern
bank of the river Limmat. This library is exceed
ingly rich in works on the Swiss reformation. In
it on the third floor is a Zwingli museum, which
contains a great collection of books and pictures
connected with the life of the great reformer.
There is the portrait of Zwingli by Asper, the artist
of the Swiss reformation; also Zwingli's New
Testament, with his notes in his own handwriting;
also others of his books published by Froschauer.

Zurich Since Zwingli's Time. 51
Here is also the first English Bible (Matthews), of
which we have spoken, and also the first German
Bible published in the reformation (1530), which
was four years before the publication of Luther's
Bible. This so-called Zurich Bible was translated
by Zwingli and his co-laborers as Leo Juda, al
though they incorporated in it parts of the Luther
Bible, which had already been published, but added
translations of their own.* We might remark in
this connection, that the number of editions of
the Bible, published at Zurich in the reforma
tion is amazing. Froschauer was a whole Bible
society in himself, for his day he did as much
work as a Bible society does to-day. In this
museum are also many pictures of the other
reformers and of places interesting in Zwingli's
life. To the student of Reformed Church history
there is no library so full of original information
as this. Only the library of the University of

*A copy of this first edition of the Zurich Bible is
in the hands of General Roller, Harrisonburg, Va. The
writer has a copy of the second edition of 1531, which
is valuable, because it contains the original cuts of
Scripture scenes by Holbein, the great painter of
Basle.

52 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Utrecht can rival it on the history of the Heidel
berg Catechism.
Just east of this Water-church, stands the statue
to Zwingli, erected on the 400th anniversary of his
birth in 1884, and placed on the supposed spot
where he landed when he came to Zurich as its re
former. Another interesting place in Zurich is the
Swiss National Museum, where are Zwingli's arms,
and also his mug and the goblets presented to Bul
linger by Queen Elizabeth of England. St. Peter's
Church contains Lavater's grave and the house in
which he lived is near the church, with an inscrip
tion on it. Pestalozzi has a statue in the Bahnhof
Strasse and there is a Pestalozzi Museum at the
Wollenhof.

Chapter IV.— BASLE AND ITS BEAUTIFUL
CATHEDRAL.
IN the northwestern corner of Switzerland, ma
jestically located on the west side of the blue,
rapidly flowing Rhine, lies the aristocratic,
wealthy city of Basle. It is an old town, having
been originally founded by the Romans as a camp.
Its religious centre is its beautiful cathedral, built
of red sand-stone, covered with a brightly colored
roof and its end being flanked by two towers. The
present building was built in 1365, and is 213 feet
long and 106 wide. In it, before the reformation,
was held one of the great reforming councils of
the Catholic Church (1431-1449), which, however,
did not reform that church. The cloisters that ad
join the cathedral are interesting, for they were
the resort of Erasmus, the oracle of his day, who
prepared the way for the reformation in Europe.
Basle came very nearly being the birth-place of the
reformation instead of Zurich and Wittenberg, for
"Erasmus laid the egg of the reformation and
Luther hatched it," is the old proverb. Erasmus,
though a famous scholar, had not the moral courage
to be a reformer and did not break with Rome. It
55

56 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
was left for Luther and Zwingli to do what he did
not do, so he missed the great opportunity of his
life. However he had an important influence in
the preparation for the reformation as by the pub
lication of his Greek Testament in 1516, which led
Zwingli to become a reformer.*
Before the reformation broke out, several inter
esting scenes occurred there. Hither Zwingli came
as a boy of ten (1494) to study three years at the
parochial school of St. Theodore's Church. Here
he first began to reveal his remarkable abilities, es
pecially in oratory and music. Later, in 1505, he
returned here to complete his education for the
priesthood and spent about a year as a teacher in
the parochial school of St. Martin's Church, and
also in attending the university. It was at this
time that he met the great crisis of his life. Thom
as Wyttenbach was lecturing at the university as
teacher of Greek. He introduced Zwingli to the
study of the New Testament. He planted two seed-
thoughts in the mind of young Zwingli, that made
him the future reformer. One was, that the time
would come, when not the church, but the Bible,

?Erasmus died 1536, in the house of Froebeniu's, the
printer, at 18 Baumleingasse, Basle.

Basic and Its Beautiful Cathedral. 57
would be the ultimate authority in religion. The
other was, that sins are forgiven, not by the Vir
gin Mary, but through the ransom of Christ. Wyt
tenbach later followed his illustrious pupil into
Protestantism, and became the reformer of Biel,
Switzerland. But he has been forgotten in the
greater fame of his illustrious pupil, Zwingli, just
as Ananias, who baptized Saul at Damascus, is for
gotten in his great convert Paul.
But another man than Erasmus or Wyttenbach
was destined to become the reformer of Basle,
Ecolampadius. His real name was Hausschein,
meaning "the light of the house," which, he latin
ized, according to the custom of the day, into Eco
lampadius. He was a mild and gentle reformer,
not having the impetuosity of either Luther or
Zwingli, — more like Melancthon, yet without the
latter's vacillating and compromising spirit; for
though mild, he was yet firm as a rock. His schol
arship was of the highest order, as is shown by the
fact that one of his books, the "Dialogue," influ
enced Melancthon to lower views of the Lord's
Supper. Ecolampadius became the twin reformer
with Zwingli of German Switzerland. As a boy,
he had been disgusted with the immorality and pro-

58 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
fanity of the priests. He attended Basle Univer
sity and later returned again to Balse (1518), to
aid Erasmus publish the second edition of his
Greek New Testament, when he received the de
gree of doctor from the university. But he soon
went away to Augsburg. He finally entered a mon
astery to seek refuge for his soul. But dissatisfied
with it, he soon left it, saying, "I have lost the
monk but I have found the Christian."
In 1522 he came to Basle as assistant priest of
St. Martin's Church. Others as Capito at the
cathedral had before him tried to introduce the doc
trines of the reformation, but there had been no
permanent results. But Ecolampadius' work told.
In 1523 he was elected lecturer on the Bible at the
university. In 1524 William Farel, from France,
visited Basle and had a disputation, which created
a sensation and exerted an influence for Protestant
ism. Ecolampadius began preaching the evangelical
Gospel quietly but clearly. When the conference
was held at Baden (1526) he was the leader for
the Reformed as Zwingli dared not be present. He
there made a great impression by his learning and
piety. This conference made an impression on
Basle, as did the conference at Bern (1528). Fi-

Basle and Its Beautiful Cathedral. 59
nally matters came to a crisis in 1529. Some of the
Protestant party had entered St. Martin's Church,
where Ecolampadius preached, on Good Friday,
1528, and carried away all the images. On Easter
Monday, the same was done at the Augustian
Church. Sermons were preached in St. Martin's
and St. Leonard's against the papistical abomina
tions in the cathedral. The result was that Christ
mas of that year was spent under arms. This di
vided, warlike condition continued until February,
1529. Then the leader of the Catholic party fled
and the Reformed people went to the cathedral and
the other Catholic churches and threw out and
burned the images. On Ash Wednesday some
wags said, "the idols are really keeping Ash Wed
nesday to-day." And Ecolampadius ironically de
clared, "Thus severely did they treat their idols and
the mass died of grief in consequence." The city
council reorganized the government. Ecolampadius
was made preacher at the cathedral and antistes or
head-minister of the church. New professors were
called to the university and the university thus be
came Reformed, the first university to do so, Hei
delberg being the next, about a half a century later.
Ecolampadius lived only a couple of years longer,

60 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
dying of the plague, just one month after Zwingli,
in November, 1531. Although he was so modest
and his name meant only ."the light of the house,"
yet Ecolampadius became "a burning and shining
light," like John the Baptist. He did what Erasmus
could not do. Erasmus laid the egg of the reforma
tion and Ecolampadius hatched it at Basle.*
Connected with the reformation at Basle was a
very celebrated painter, Hans Holbein the younger.
He came from Augsburg, where he was born, to
Basle in 15 16, where he painted the town-hall and
had as his friends Erasmus and the printer Fro-
benius. In 1526 he painted his greatest work, a
Madonna — "the Madonna of the Meier family,"
so-called, because he places in it, the burgomas
ter of Basle and his family. Basle does not
possess this famous picture, but Darmstadt and
Dresden both have what they claim as the original
and it is very difficult to decide between them. He
left Basle in 1533, to become court-painter of the
king of England, and died there 1543. A number
of his pictures are in the picture gallery at Basle

?His portrait, painted by Asper, is found in the pic
ture gallery at Basle and a statue to his memory stands
at the entrance to the cloisters of the cathedral.

Basic and Its Beautiful Cathedral. 61
in the Holbein-room. There is a painting at
Basle called the "Dance of Death," which repre
sents death coming to different persons of differ
ent grades of society. This has been ascribed to
Holbein, but it is older than he and was painted
to represent the plague of 1312. But, though he
did not paint that famous picture, he painted a
"dance of death" for the Dominicans at Bern, 1526.
The original has been destroyed and the picture
exists only in copies, one of which is in the Basle
museum. It consist of 27 designs and reveals his
tendency to Protestantism. Death comes as a skel
eton to pope, king and cardinal, etc. In it the ec
clesiastics are satirized, while the poor people are
tenderly treated. The Scripture texts reveals his
Protestantism. Thus death comes to the cardinal
as he gives forth a letter of indulgence, and under
it are the words, "Woe to them which justify the
wicked for reward and take away the righteous
ness of the righteous from him." He represents
devils as watching for the pope's soul. He ridi
cules the papist clergy in his pictures, — their pre-
sumptuousness, stupidity, laziness and sensuous-
ness. Holbein also executed designs for woodcuts
for the famous scenes of the Bible, which were
published in the Zurich Bible of 1531.

62 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Calvin also visited Basle (1535), but stayed only
a short time under an assumed name. Here he
had printed (1536), at the publishing house of the
Platters' his immortal work the "Institutes of The
ology." This is the great Theology of the reforma
tion and has exerted more influence than any other
book of that period. But Calvin soon left to be
come the reformer of Geneva. Erasmus, Eco
lampadius, Holbein — the three great men of Basle
in the reformation. Since that time, no very great
name appears at Basle until the Thirty Years' war
in Rudolph Wettstein, the great statesman, who at
the peace of Westphalia at the close of the Thirty
Years' war (1648), secured the freedom of Switzer
land from Germany.
During the eighteenth century, Basle was re
markable for the number of mathematicians that
she gave to the world, as Euler and the Bernoullis,
ten of the latter, all famous. Euler was also the
great defender of Evangelical Christianity and
though he lived most of his life at St. Petersburg
and Berlin, never gave up his Swiss citizenship.
The greatest mathematical prize of that time, the
prize of the Paris university, was carried away re
peatedly by these Basle mathematicians during the

Basle and Its Beautiful Cathedral. 63
1 8th century. Basle did not, like Zurich and Ge
neva, fall away into rationalism in the 18th cen
tury. With Bern, she continued orthodox and at
the end of that century and the beginning of the
19th was the home of Pietism. Her Pietism made
her the birthplace of a number of practical Chris
tian activities. Thus the first Young Men's Chris
tian Association was started here, long before
George Williams started his in England. Rev.
Mr. Meyenrock started it in 1765. In 1825, after
the death of its founder, it was reorganized and
when, in 1833, Rev. Mr. Mallet, one of the leading
Reformed preachers of Germany, visited Basle, he
carried it back with him to Bremen. From there
it spread and when George Williams started his
association in London, there were at least seven
of these earlier associations in Germany. The Y.
M. C. A. movement in Europe is a union of these
two movements.
Another important religious institution was
founded at Basle in 1814, the Basle Missionary So
ciety. Next to the Netherlands Missionary So
ciety it is the oldest in Europe, except the Mora
vian. In 171 5, Basle was in great danger of bom
bardment by the hostile armies in the Napoleonic

64 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
war. Just at that time, a minister was holding a
missionary service at which a yoUng man announc
ed himself as a candidate for the foreign field. A
missionary society was then formed as a thank-
offering to God for saving the city from bombard
ment. This society began work in Russia in 1821,
but was later compelled to withdraw. Its present
mission fields are in Africa (along the Gold Coast
and the Cameroons), China and the East Indias.
It is the largest of the continental societies, receiv
ing its moneys mainly from Switzerland and south
ern Germany. It reports in 1909, 386 missionaries,
32,800 heathen converts and receipts amounting to
$417,000. Its mission house is one of the most in
teresting institutions of Basle. This society, like
the other Continental missionary societies, does
not require a college or university diploma for its
missionaries, but generally takes them from the
trades and trains them intellectually and spiritually
for its work. Its missionaries are expected to have
some trade, whether it be that of carpenter or
printer, etc., which may be useful in the work of
the mission in heathen lands where they are ex
pected to partially support themselves. The so
ciety has therefore been enabled to found success-

Basic and Its Beautiful Cathedral. 65
ful industrial missions, where the natives are taught
useful trades as well as Christianity. Thus they
taught the Mangalese the art of weaving and as
a result 45,000 yards of cloth were woven by them
in 1884. Their collection of missionary curios is
very large and interesting, comprising idols, imple
ments of war, household utensils and the costumes
of the natives of the lands where their missions are
located. There is also an interesting set of pictures
depicting missionary life. The society is undenom
inational, but is controlled by the Reformed con
sciousness. Near Basle is another important missionary in
stitution at St. Chrischona. While the former so
ciety aimed especially at foreign missions, this em
phasized home missions. It sent a number of
young ministers to America and is now helping to
provide Germany and Switzerland with city mis
sionaries. There is also another similar institution
in Basle, the Preachers' Seminary, which for many
years has raised up Evangelical ministers and city
missionaries. The present condition of the Reformed Church
at Basle is not so satisfactory as a century ago
when it was filled with Pietism. Rationalism

66 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
gained a foothold here by the coming of DeWette
as professor in the university in 1821. Since that
time, rationalism has come in like a flood and gain
ed control of the university, although there are still
some prominent professors of theology there who
are Evangelical, as Professors Riggenbach and
Orelli, the noted Old Testament scholar. The lat
ter is president of the Swiss Evangelical Union,
which is composed of all the Evangelical Churches
of Switzerland. Switzerland has as many Protes
tant denominations as it' has Protestant cantons.
And the orthodox men in each of them belong to
this Union. It meets annually in the spring. The
late Prof. Rudolph Stahelin, the author of the best
life of Zwingli (in German) was a professor there.
Recently a strong movement has developed in
Basle toward separation of church and state, strong
er than in any of the German cantons, which have
always been unfriendly to such disestablishment.
The great problem in the case, is what to do with
the theological department of the university, if dis
establishment should take place. Time will tell the
result.*

?For a description of Schaffhausen see Chapter 6
of this book, on The Grisons and the Rhine Valley.

Chapter V.— BERN, THE CAPITAL OF
SWITZERLAND.
OF the larger cities of Switzerland, Bern is
perhaps the most picturesquely located.
For it stands on a bluff, whose steep
banks, on three sides, descend into the swift river
Aare, which flows around it in a gorge about a hun
dred feet below it. Bern is the quaintest of the
larger cities of Switzerland, having more medieval
features than any other. This is due largely to its
arcades or covered sidewalks, the second stories of
the buildings projecting over the pavements. This,
it is true, makes the stores dark, but it protects the
pavements from rain and cold and makes it delight
fully cool for promenading on a hot summer day.
Bern has a population of 75,000. The most promi
nent building is the cathedral with its terrace over
looking the river, from which there is a magnificent
view of the distant Bernese Alps, of which the
Yungfrau is the crown. This cathedral was begun
in 142 1 and completed in 1598, later restored in
1850. But it was not till about twenty years ago
that its tower was crowned with a beautiful grace-
69

jo Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
ful spire, 328 feet high. The cathedral is 285 feet
long and 118 feet broad.
To this town Zwingli came as a boy of 13 from
Basle, to continue his education. Here he probab
ly gained his first impulse toward the freer learn
ing. For here a schoolmaster, named Lupulus,
taught according to the new methods of Humanism,
which was a revival of learning in the.i6th cen
tury. But unfortunately, his studies were cut short
by the attempt of the Dominicans, who, seeing his
abilities especially in music, attempted to make a
monk of him. His father, who was not friendly
to the monks, took him home so as to get him away
from them and sent him to the university of Vi
enna. But it is interesting to think, how if he had
become a monk, he would have begun the reforma
tion like Luther, who was a monk. As it is, he
grew up with the larger vision of the scholar, and
the more practical methods of the parish priest and
from that standpoint began the reformation.
When the reformation had broken out at Zurich,
it gradually began to influence Bern. The leading
priest at Bern was Berthold Haller, not as great a
man as either Zwingli or Ecolampadius, but he is
an illustration of an ordinary man becoming great

Bern, the Capital of Switzerland. yi
by making use of his opportunities at a critical
time. The reformation grew with many reverses
at Bern, until in January, 1528, a great conference
was held there in the Franciscan Church. To it
came many distinguished strangers from other can
tons ; yes, even from western Germany, came Bucer
and Capito. At this conference, Zwingli appeared as
the leader. The doctrines of the papacy were dis
cussed, and a very remarkable circumstance occur
red during its session. Zwingli was preaching on
one of the clauses of the Apostles' Creed when a
priest, robed in his vestments, came into the church
to celebrate mass at one of the side altars. But
Zwingli preached with such eloquence, that the
priest's mind was riveted and he lost faith in his
old doctrines. So, in the presence of the assembled
congregation, he stripped himself of his robes and
throwing them aside on the altar, he exclaimed:
"Unless the mass reposes on a more solid founda
tion, I can celebrate it no longer." His conversion
to Protestantism produced a great sensation. The
conference resulted favorably to the reformers. As
a result, the great central canton of Bern now threw
its fortunes with the Reformed.
This was the most important event that had yet

72 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
happened in Switzerland since the reformation
began. For Bern was not only the central canton
but the largest, so large that two centuries after,
two cantons, Aargau and Vaud, could be carved
out of it and still leave it a respectable canton in
size. But its influence for , Protestantism became
still more important outside of itself. For it led
to the opening up to the Gospel of French or
southern Switzerland, which as yet had been un
touched by it. Soon after this Bern acquired the
region lying north of Lake Geneva from the duke
of Savoy and by her league with Geneva she ex
erted so great an influence, that that whole south
ern district of Neuchatel, Geneva and now Vaud
was thrown open to the Gospel.
Bern had no head minister named antistes like
Zurich or Basle. She had superintendents over dis
tricts, who were called dekans and the dekan at the
cathedral at Bern was the head-dekan of the Can
ton. As Bern had no university no very prominent
persons appeared. But at the close of the seven
teenth century, the church had fallen into a sort
of dead orthodoxy and a wave of Pietism appear
ed. The early Pietists as Guldin and Konig, were
compelled to leave, but Pietism remained in the

Bern, the Capital of Szvitzerland. 73
church and found a prominent leader among the
ministers in Rev. Samuel Lutz, or as he latinized
himself in his work "Lucius." He was pastor at
Amsoldingen south of Thun, and held great open-
air meetings in his parish. Indeed the whole re
gion from Thun to Interlaken had many pietists
who desired more religious life in the church and
more religious experience in the individual Chris
tian. No great name, however, appeared in Bern until
in the 18th century, that century of rationalism,
when there arose a great opponent to rationalism
and defender of Christianity in Albert von Haller,
one of the most remarkable men Switzerland has
produced. He was born October 8, 1708, at Bern.
He soon revealed remarkable ability, especially in
the languages, so that at nine years of age, he read
the New Testament in Greek, and was learning
Hebrew. He intended to become a minister, but
after the death of his father, he was influenced by
a physician Neuhaus to change to medicine. Hav
ing finished his studies at Bern, he went at the age
of fifteen to the university of Tubingen in Ger
many. Then he went to the university of Leyden,
where he received the doctor's degree. There he

74 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
sat at the feet of Prof. Boerhave, the great pro
fessor of medicine, who, like him, was providen
tially kept out of the ministry for great purposes.
For Haller, like Boerhave, was destined to exert
a wider influence for religion out of the ministry,
than if he had been in it.
On his return to Switzerland, he became famous
for his poems, for he was the first poet of nature
that Switzerland had produced. "The Alps" was
his most famous poem. His fame as a scientist led
him to be called to the university of Gottingen, in
Germany, in 1736. There he taught the sciences
till 1753, when he returned to Bern, where he
filled several positions in the government. But it
was as a Christian that Haller stands out promi
nently. In an age, when rationalism was prevalent,
Haller was outspoken for Christianity, and the
fact that he was a layman and a scientist, added
force to his testimony. His most important de
fence were his "Letters about the most important
Truths of Revelation," published 1772. He was the
strong opponent of the bald materialism of Voltaire
and La Mettrie, the latter having written "Man as
a Machine." Haller declared that the Bible was
his whole theology, and so greatly did he love his

Bern, the Capital of Szvitzerland. 75
own church, that he was instrumental in the found
ing of a Reformed Church at Gottingen, which was
located in a Lutheran land. He died, calling on .
God to receive his soul, December 12, 1777. If
Switzerland had a Voltaire at that time at Geneva,
she also had a Haller at Bern to defend the old
faith. Bern remained faithful to the old orthodoxy
until about 1830, when with the new liberal politi
cal party, as in Zurich, there came in a new ration
alism. A university was founded at Bern just as
there had been at Zurich and a rationalistic pro
fessor of theology was called (1846) in Edward
Zeller, the Hegelian. Protests were lifted against
this and there was a controversy as in Zurich. But,
unlike Strauss, who did not come to Zurich, Zeller
came to Bern and taught for a short time. But he
did not find his position very comfortable and soon
went back to Germany. Thus Bern at last received
rationalism and it grew in influence until now al
most all of the professors of theology at the uni
versity, except Prof. Barth and the private-docent
Lauterberg, do not belong to the evangelical
wing. However, to offset the entrance of ration
alism, a large, active and influential Evangelical

76 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Society has been formed in the canton, which, when
it has its annual conference in Bern, draws thou
sands to its sessions. And we understand that the
younger ministers are prevailingly Evangelical,
which is hopeful. One of. the leading preachers is
Rev. Mr. Hadorn at the cathedral in Bern, the
author of several important works of Swiss reli
gious history.
Bern, while interesting religiously, is also inter
esting politically. As the capital of Switzerland,
it contains the Federal Palace, where the congress
and house of representatives meet, which is finely
located on the east side of the city, above the gorge
of the river, and commanding a fine view of the
distant Bernese Alps. Switzerland is composed of 22
cantons or states. Three languages are used in the
sessions of the congress arid house of representa
tives, German, French and Italian. Its upper house
has two representatives from each canton ; its lower
house has about 150 members. Switzerland is there
fore like the United States in miniature, or rather
the United States is an enlargement of Switzerland,
or as we shall see when we come to visit Geneva,
Switzerland is the United States of Europe. Be
cause it is the capital, it has a number of national

Bern, the Capital of Szvitzerland. jj
institutions as the Historical Museum, devoted to
the history of all Switzerland. In addition to its
importance as the capital of Switzerland, Bern is
also the seat of various international movements,
which have been located in Switzerland, because it
is neutral ground between the great nations. Thus
the International Postal Union was founded in
1874 and its centre was located at Bern. Bern is
also interesting in itself. It is a great city — for
bears, — the bear being the emblem of the canton.
If all the bears in Bern were alive, it would not be
healthy to stay there, but they are not. There are
wooden bears, bronze bears, stone bears, while at
one place Bruin appears in statue clothed with
sword, hammer and helmet. And there are even live
bears, but the latter are kept safe from harm in a
bear-pit at the east end of the town. Yet so great
was the veneration of the Bernese for these live
bears, that the taking of them away by a hostile
power on one occasion almost resulted in a war.
Bern without its bears would not be Bern any more,
for the bear is Bern's tutelary deity. Perhaps the
most remarkable curiosity is the bear-clock, located
at what was formerly the west-gate of the city, but
is now in the heart of the city. Every hour a pro-

78 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
cession of bears take place in front of this clock.
First a rooster, made to crow by machinery, crows,
and when we first heard him, his voice was as husky
as if he had contracted a dozen pneumonias with
perhaps tuberculosis thrown in. He has evidently
died or something else has happened to him, for
the rooster that now crows is in better voice, —
perhaps he has been taking music lessons from
some great singer, who knows? When he has
delivered himself of his crow, then the wooden
bears, some of them standing, some of them on all
fours, march around a seated figure and a harle
quin strikes the hour. The rooster again crows, the
old man turns the hour-glass to show that a new
hour has begun, while a bear at his side most ri
diculously jerks his head, now to the right and then
to the left. The whole performance is ended by
the rooster crowing the third time. Another quaint
curiosity is the child-eater, a statue of a man, who
is in the act of eating children. He has them in
his pockets and is about putting one in his mouth
to eat. The statue is used to frighten the children
into obedience. Whether it does so or not, we do
not know, but it would take more than that to make
young America obedient.

Chapter VI.— THE GRISONS AND THE
SWISS RHINE.
THE Rhine, the beautiful Rhine; but Swit
zerland has its Rhine as well as Germany.
It has the source of the Rhine in its can
ton of the Grisons. This is the great eastern can
ton of Switzerland, the largest in size, but one of
the smallest in population, for its elevation is too
high to support many people. It has more Alps
and grand mountain scenery than almost any other
part of Switzerland, and it has a mountain that for
beauty rivals if not exceeds the famous Yung-frau,
the Pitz Palu near Pontresina. It contains the
grandest of the Swiss passes, the Splugen whose
northern entrance, the Via Mala at Thusis, is the
grandest entrance to any of the Swiss mountain
passes. While further east is the beautiful Enga-
dine valley, a valley high enough to be on the
tops of the hills, for the altitude of the bottom of
the valley is from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above sea
level. And yet it is surrounded on both sides by
high mountain peaks, that rise like gothic cathedral
spires from 10,000 to 14,000 feet above sea-level
around it. It is the finest large upper valley in the
79

8o Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
country, and has a delightful climate in summer and
a wonderful growth of wild Alpine flowers. Still
another peculiarity of the valley is its use of the
Romansch language by thousands of its people, the
fourth language spoken in Switzerland.
Into this eastern canton of Switzerland, the doc
trines of the reformation began to enter early.
Zwingli had a warm friend and adherent in Com-
ander at Chur, the capital of the canton. The re
sult was that Chur and the Prattigau district to
the east became largely Reformed, while to the west
the Upper-Alp valley remained Catholic. Long
before the Pilgrim Fathers brought religious and
civil liberty to America in the Mayflower, as they
boast, the Catholics and Protestants of this canton
had established the first religious liberty. While
elsewhere the Catholics persecuted Protestants and
Protestants hated Catholics, here at Ilanz on June
25, 1526, Catholics and Protestants agreed to re
spect each others views and live in peace with each
other. This religious liberty would have continued
to the present day, if foreign powers had not, as
we shall see, involved them in internal strife and
foreign war.
A very interesting episode in the introduction of

The Grisons and the Swiss Rhine. 81
the Protestant doctrines occurred at Pontresina in
the Engadine. The little village church there was
without a pastor, when Vergerius, one of the Ital
ian reformers, happened to pass through it. When
the villagers learned that he was a priest, they
asked him to remain and be their priest. He re
plied that perhaps they might not like his doctrine.
But simple-hearted as they were, they declared that
they would be satisfied with it, whatever it might
be. It was not long before his preaching began to
bear fruit. The congregation felt that the use of
images in the church was idolatry. They deter
mined to put them away. But what to do with
them was the question. Some of the congregation
suggested that they be sold to the churches lower
down the valley, which still believed in Catholic
images. Others, however, declared that if images
were wrong in their church, it would be wrong to
put them into the hands of their neighbors to be
worshipped. So, finally they took the images to
the little, stream, that flows past Pontresina, threw
them into its rushing waters, and that was the end
of Catholicism in the Engadine. The Reformed
faith was then introduced into many parts of the
canton.

82 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
The Thirty Years war, that awful war of Eu
rope, brought devastation to the Engadine, al
though it hardly touched any other part of Swit
zerland. But unfortunately this canton was strong
in military strategical points. It had the most di
rect pass between Germany and Italy, the Splugen.
The possession of this pass was coveted by three
great nations, Spain, Austria and France. Besides
this, Austria laid some claim to a sort of sover
eignty over a part of the canton and she sent armies
into it to make good her claim. Then, too, there
were two parties within the canton, the Catholic
and Protestant, the first led by the Plantas, the last
by Von Salis and Jenatsch. First the Protestants
took severe measures against the Catholics. This
led the Catholics to retaliate by a severe massacre,
a second St. Bartholomew's massacre, though small
er, in the Valtellina valley, now in Italy, but then
included in the canton. This valley runs east and
west, ending to the west in the upper end of beauti
ful Lake Como, the most beautiful of the Italian
lakes. The fearful massacre of the Protestants began
July 19, 1620, at Tirano, where the head of the
Reformed pastor on a spike was exposed in his

The Grisons and the Swiss Rhine. 83
pulpit as a warning against heretics. Farther
down the valley was Teglio, where the Reformed
had gathered for prayer in their little church. The
enemy fired in the window, wounding the pastor
while leading in prayer. And when those who
were not killed in the church, fled to the church-
tower, the Catholics set the tower on fire and burn
ed them all up in an awful holocaust. At Sondrio,
further down the valley, the Reformed, hearing of
the danger, united and marched armed through
the city. Most of them contrived to escape over the
Malenco valley into the Engadine. But in all, about
500 Reformed were killed, among them eight min
isters. After this massacre Austria, invited by the Cath
olic party in the canton, sent her army there with
fearful results to the Reformed. The Reformed
pastors were driven out and supplanted by Capuchin
monks. The Reformed people were forced to go
to the Catholic Church by the soldiers and 'their
children forced to attend Catholic schools. The
oppressions of the soldiers became so severe that
many fled to the woods and wilds and lived on roots
and berries, where they were secretly ministered to
by Reformed ministers. Finally, in 1621, their op-

84 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
pressions became so terrible that they rose against
the invaders and drove them out, killing the leader
of the Capuchins, Father Fidelis. But it availed
nothing, for Austria only sent another and a
stronger army into the canton to reduce them to
greater extremities. The condition of the Re
formed was at the lowest ebb, for they had hardly
any pastors and many of their members had emi
grated. Finally France, although a Catholic power, came
to their assistance, because she was jealous of the
growing power of Austria and Spain, and wanted
to check it. She sent in 1635 as their governor, the
great Huguenot general, Duke Henry of Rohan,
"the good duke," as he was affectionately called
by the people. He had been compelled to flee from
France for the sake of his faith. He relieved their
distresses. The canton had peace and the Reform
ed Church again revived. But as he did not re
conquer the Valtellina valley in the south (which
he could not do as France did not support him in
it) the people finally became dissatisfied with the
French control and rose against it in 1639. Dur
ing this time the Reformed regained many of their
churches and their faith was firmly established

The Grisons and the Szu-iss Rhine. 85
again. But they, never forgot these persecutions
of the Catholics, for even in the latter part of the
nineteenth century, when a Catholic chapel was al
lowed to be built at St. Moritz in the Engadine,
now a very fashionable watering-place, there were
a good many murmurs of discontent among the
Romansch people, who shook their heads with
doubt and fear at the return of the Catholics.
It is interesting to notice that along the southern
border of the canton, in the Val Bregaglia as at
Vico Soprano and in the Bernina pass as at Pos-
chiavo, there are still six Reformed congregations
who use the Italian language, — the small remnant
of the Italian Reformed, who were so fearfully per
secuted in the Valtellina massacre. Still the early
liberality of the people of this canton on religious
liberty, as shown in 1526, still exists in the canton,
for we were told some years ago by the pastor of
the Italian Reformed Church at Poschiavo that the
Reformed synod of the Grisons met in his town a
few years before. And they were entertained, not
by the Reformed, but by the town, of which perhaps
four-fifths were Catholics, which showed that a
very kindly feeling had taken the place of the bit
ter hatred of three centuries ago.

86 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Leaving Chur and the source of the Rhine, we
follow it northward, past the canton of Appenzell,
and St. Gall on the west, both places famous for
the making of their exquisite Swiss embroideries.
The canton of Appenzell was greatly divided in the
time of the reformation and there was considerable
friction. But it happened that it was divided main
ly along geographical lines. The mountaineers
around Mt. Sentis on the south remained Catholics,
while the farming people northward toward Ger
many received the new doctrine of the reformation.
They finally very wisely agreed to divide the can
ton in 1597, into two half -cantons, Inner-Rhoden
being Catholic and Outer-Rhoden being Protestant.
They were' always at daggers points politically in
the Swiss diet, and the vote of the one neutralized
the vote of the other, but still they had peace be
tween them ever since.
St. Gall is a city, not a canton, but one of the
largest cities of high altitude in Europe, its alti
tude being 2,200 feet above sea-level, and its pop
ulation 5,000. The city grew up around the abbey,
which had been planted there by Gallus the mis
sionary from the British Isles in the seventh cen
tury. Gallus had introduced the British faith,

The Grisons and the Swiss Rhine. 87
which was simpler and more like the Protestant
than the Romish, and that region never got over it,
for as we have seen in Zwingli's boyhood, the peo
ple were fond of the Bible and its stories, and
Zwingli was told them by his mother in boyhood.
But the Romish faith overcame the British and the
ritual of the abbey became very ornate. The abbey
became famous for its wealth and its library, which
now contains 30,000 volumes, some of them very
rare books and manuscripts.
But, although Catholicism had so strong a citadel
there, the Reformed doctrines early gained an en
trance in the reformation. It happened that one of
Zwingli's schoolmates at the University of Vienna
was Joachim Vadian (von Watt) who was from
St. Gall. After residing at Vienna, where he was
made rector of the university for a number of years,
he returned to St. Gall as a physician and was made
mayor of the city in 1526, just as the reformation
had gained control at Zurich. Feeling the need
of a reformation in the Catholic Church, he intro
duced the new doctrines from Zurich into St. Gall.
In this, he was assisted by another layman, John
Kessler, a saddler, who had studied under Luther
and Melancthon at Wittenberg, and who preached

88 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
very eloquently. By 1528, the council of the city
had ordered all images out of the churches and in
1529 a large synod was held there, attended by
many pastors of neighboring cantons. Of course
all this time the abbot of the abbey, which is sep
arated from the city only by a narrow street, looked
on with great hostility, for the reformation was
robbing him of his constituents. After the unfor
tunate defeat of Zurich in the Second Cappel war
(1531), when Zwingli was killed, there came a
strong Catholic reaction in Switzerland and many
were the brushes between the abbey and the citi
zens. When the Catholics of the abbey thought
themselves strong enough, they would march in
grand processions through the streets of the city.
And then the Protestants would close the gates of
the city against them in order to stop these pro
cessions in a Protestant city. But to-day Protestant
and Catholic, abbey and city, live side by side in
peace. However, the founder of this Reformed
Church, Vadian, was a remarkable illustration of
a prominent Christian layman in reformation times.
He was not only a physician but also a great scien
tist, especially in geography.
Following the Rhine northward as it passes into

The Grisons and the Swiss Rhine. 89
the quiet lake of Constance, we pass the city of
Constance on the northwest side of the lake, but
in Germany. There at the council of Constance
John Huss, the reformer before the reformation
was condemned and burned at the council of Con
stance (1414-8), one of the three great reforming
councils of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages.
In its cathedral, he was condemned and a large
stone slab, with a white mark on it is said to mark
the spot. A large boulder to the west of the town
in the Bruehl, marks the spot where he suffered
martyrdom July 6, .1415. The Dominican mon
astery, where he was imprisoned, is now turned into
the fine Island Hotel. Huss was the prophet of the
coming reformation, and he foretold its coming.
The Rhine now flows westward so as to get around
the mountains of the Black Forest. Passing the
canton of Thurgau to the south, which is mainly
Reformed, it next flows by the city of Schaffhausen.
A mile and a half below that city is the famous
Falls of the Rhine, the "Niagara Falls" of Europe,
not so grand by any means as our Niagara, but still
very picturesque. The falls are about 60 feet high
and 375 feet wide, only about one-half as high as
Niagara, and one-tenth as broad. And yet this

90 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
majestically flowing river (for by this time the lit
tle brawling stream of the Grisons has become a
broad river as the waters of Lake Constance flow
out through it) makes a magnificent fall. And
when it is illuminated at night by electric lights of
many colors, it becomes a vision of beauty as well
as of majesty. As one looks out across the falls
to Switzerland, the falls seem to be set in a beau
tiful frame of distant snow-capped Alps.
Schauffhausen is a quaint old Swiss town of
16,000. Many of its buildings bear inscriptions, —
two or three of them hundreds of years old. The
city hall and the knight's house are especially in
teresting, because of their antiqueness. In the
cathedral is shown the bell, whose inscription gave
Schiller, the great German poet, the suggestion for
his famous poem "The Song of the Bell." The in
scription reads "vivos voco," "mortuos plango,"
"fulgura frango" (I call the living, I lament the
dead, I check the lightnings).
The doctrines of the reformation were intro
duced into Schaffhausen by Sebastian Hoffmeister
in 1522. In April, 1523, he wrote to Zwingli: "By
us is Christ received with great avidity. I preach
with good results. The council has promised me

The Grisons and the Szviss Rhine. 91
protection against the pope." The Catholics be
came alarmed at the progress of the reformation,
and called to their assistance a prominent preacher,
Erasmus Ritter, who preached against Protestant
ism with great power; when, lo, a miracle, the Saul
becomes a Paul, — Ritter becomes a Protestant. But
still the city was greatly divided between the old
and the new faith, the guilds of the fishers and the
vintners being for the reformation, and the other
guilds against it. A reaction took place and it look
ed as if the reformation would be checked here as
it had been at Lucerne. Hoffmeister was compelled
to resign, but Ritter remained to preach the truth
with great prudence. The victory of the Reformed
at the conference at Bern in January, 1528, greatly
affected Schaffhausen and a Protestant mayor was
elected in 1529. From that day Schaffhausen has
been firm in its attachment to the Reformed faith.
But, lying as she did on the borders of Switzer
land, she had yet to pass through many dangers
for it. The Thirty Years war, which so terribly de
vastated Germany, put her into danger. She es
caped the war, but she received the war's awful re
sult, the plague. However, that war in Germany
brought to her also blessings. It drove many Re-

92 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
formed ministers out of Heidelberg and the Pala
tinate, some of whom as Fabricius, the father of
Prof. J. L. Fabricius of Heidelberg University,
came to Schaffhausen as an asylum and taught
there. These refugee ministers spoke so highly of
the Heidelberg catechism, which had been used in
the Reformed Churches of the Palatinate, that the
canton of Schaffhausen set aside the old catechism
of Leo Juda and has ever since used the Heidel
berg. Pietism later appeared in the Church of
Schaffhausen. George Hurter, following the ex
ample of Franke at Halle, Germany, founded an
orphan's asylum, which is still in existence. Pietism
gained a strong hold on this canton, one of its an
tistes going so far as to incline to the Moravians,
Antistes Oschwald (1751).
Perhaps the most illustrious character that
Schaffhausen produced was the great historian of
Switzerland, John von Muller, sometimes called
"the Tacitus of Switzerland." John Muller was
born in 1752 at Schaffhausen. He was a born his
torian, for at the early age of nine he attempted to
write the history of his native city. He was in
tended for the ministry, but after studying in his
native town and then at the University of Gottingen

The Grisons and the Szviss Rhine. 93
in Germany, he decided to devote his life to writ
ing a history of his native land, for which he began
gathering materials about 1772. He travelled over
most of Switzerland gathering facts from original
sources, and his history gradually appeared. He
went to Germany, where the Landgrave of Hesse
appointed him professor of history and librarian at
Cassel. There he wrote his history of the Estab
lishment of the Popes in the Eighth Century. The
Catholics were surprised that a Protestant would
write such a history and thought he was inclining
toward Rome. The Elector of Mayence made him
librarian at Mayence and the Catholics tried to win
him by sending him on a diplomatic deputation to
Rome. He was then called to Vienna and every
effort made to convert him to Rome, but without
success. He then accepted a call to Berlin where
he met Napoleon Bonaparte, who greatly admired
him, made him secretary of state of the kingdom of
Westphalia. He died shortly after (1807) at Cas
sel. His last words were, "Whatever is, is of God
and all com'es from God." In his History of Swit
zerland, which is a monumental work, he reveals
immense research and rare historical judgment as
well as great finish of literary style. Although often

94 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
among royalty, he never lost his love for liberty and
although often tempted by Rome, he never gave up
his early Reformed faith. His brother John George
Muller became a prominent minister at Schaff
hausen. He has been called "The Swiss Herder,"
because like Herder, he bore a bold testimony
against rationalism and with a grace that rivalled
his German master.
In the nineteenth century Schaffhausen again re
vealed a revival of Pietism. A visit of Madame
Krudener, the female evangelist of the early part
of the 19th century, led to a revival in the churches
at Buchs, and Beggingen Spliess, a leading young
minister, attended and used his influence for Piet
ism. Later, in 1844, he was elected antistes. Just
before his election to that position, an unusual thing
for Switzerland happened, — the antistes of Schaff
hausen, Hurter, went over to the Catholic Church.
Frederick Hurter was a scholarly man and had
written a history of Pope Innocent IV. This and
his association with prominent Catholics led him
to be suspected of Catholic leanings." He finally
verified these suspicions June 16, 1844, by becom
ing a Catholic. His change of faith produced a
great sensation. That the head of a great cantonal

The Grisons and the Swiss Rhine. 95
church, an antistes, should go over to Rome, pro
duced a great sensation as nothing of the kind had
happened since the reformation. The canton then
elected a man of a very different stamp to the an
tistes' position, in Spliess the Pietist.
The Church at Schaffhausen has remained very
evangelical. While the neighboring cantons, as
Thurgau cast aside the Apostles' Creed as being
too orthodox, yet Schaffhausen clung to the old
faith, having, it is said, not a rationalist among its
ministers. Her Pietism has shielded her from
rationalism. And although a number of the Swiss
cantons, that formerly used the Heidelberg cate
chism, as St. Gall, Bern and the Grisons, have
given it up, Schaffhausen still retains it. Before
leaving this interesting city, we must not forget
to notice the Munot, a round tower 155 feet in
diameter, with walls sixteen feet thick. A winding
incline ascends the interior, made wide enough to
take up a gun-carriage. It is about 80 feet high
and was begun in 15 15, and completed in 1582.
This strong fort, that has survived the centuries, is
a fine type of steadfastness of Schaffhausen to the
old Evangelical Reformed faith against Romanism
in the reformation and against rationalism in the
last century.

NEUCHATEL

Chapter ATI.— NEUCHATEL AND FAREL.
THE three southwestern cantons of Switzer
land, Neuchatel, Vaud and Geneva, are
French and form an entirely distinct dis
trict from the German cantons, which we have up
to this time been describing. The vivacity of the
people contrasts strongly with the more stolid
phlegmatic German of the northern cantons. But
though French, they are Swiss-French and there is
a firmness about their nature, lacking in the pres
ent inhabitants of France. As many of them are
descended from the Huguenots, here perhaps can
best be seen the marked characteristics of that brave
people, "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-con
trol." The city of Neuchatel is finely located at the foot
of the eastern slope of the Jura mountains on the
western shore of the lake of Neuchatel. It is a
city of about 25,000 inhabitants. The softer green
of the Jura mountains that rise up directly from
the city, contrasts sharply with the cold snow-white
Alps to the east. And often from Neuchatel, when
the atmosphere is unusually clear, the whole range
97

98 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
of the distant Alps from the Yungfrau to Mt. Blanc
can be clearly seen, making a superb panorama.
In the reformation Neuchatel was peculiar among
the districts now included in Switzerland, by hav
ing been under a prince, while the other cantons
were republics, though some of them were aristo
cratic republics, — that is, they were governed not
by the people as in a republic, but by an aristocracy
of leading citizens. The ruler of Neuchatel at the
time of the reformation, belonged to the noble fam
ily of Orleans. This line of princes continued until
in the eighteenth century, when, as the line had died
out, a Protestant prince was chosen as the ruler and
the land was placed under the King of Prussia.
In the nineteenth century, it, however, joined the
Swiss republic. Remembering this, we will be able
better to understand the progress of the reforma
tion. The reformer of Neuchatel was William Farel,
the twin reformer of Calvin, as Ecolampadius
was of Zwingli, and Melancthon of Luther. Truth
is often stranger than fiction and his life is fuller
of real adventure than many of the exciting novels
of our day. He was pre-eminent among the re
formers for his daring, and also for his magnificent

Neuchatel and Farel. 99
voice and eloquence. For this he has been named
"the Elijah of the Alps."
He was a Frenchman by birth, having been born
(1489) at Gap in France, and was, as he declared,
"as superstitious a Catholic as could be found."
But his eyes were opened to his errors by Lefevre,
and then he became as devoted a Protestant as he
had been superstitious a Catholic. For his bold
attack on Catholicism he was driven out of France.
He came to Basle as we saw, where his disputation
caused a sensation. In fact there was generally a
sensation when he was about. But now he was
greatly perplexed. His soul was bursting to
preach the evangelical Gospel, but he did not
know where. Up to this time only the Germans
had received Protestantism and he could not speak
German. And to France, where he might have
evangelized in his own tongue, he could not re
turn. Fortunately providence opened a loophole
through which he could get into French Switzer
land. In our fifth chapter, we spoke of the great
influence of the conversion of Bern to Protestant
ism. This reveals itself now. Bern had just con
quered the northern coast of the Lake Geneva from

ioo Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
the Catholic duke of Savoy. This region was
French and this opened a field for Farel. So he
went secretly to a little village up the Rhine valley,
northeast of Lake Geneva called Aigle. He went
as a schoolmaster, disguising himself still farther
under an assumed name as Ursinus. He quietly
taught against purgatory, invocation of saints and
the pope himself, for several months, and then there
was an explosion, as a part of the village followed
his teachings. He then revealed himself as Farel.
He would have been driven out, but Bern protected
him. A travelling friar crept into town one day
and called Farel the devil. Farel went to him and
demanded his proof for his words, which so scared
the friar that he apologized. Farel was often
threatened and once his pulpit was overturned, but
he kept on preaching and soon the whole Catholic
district north of the lake of Geneva heard about
him. On a December day (1529) he crossed the lake
of Neuchatel in a small boat. If Cassar in his
boat across the Rubicon carried the destinies of the
Roman empire, Farel now carried the future of the
Canton of Neuchatel. He landed at Serrieres, a
few miles south of the city of Neuchatel. For he

Neuchatel and Farel. 101
had heard that the parish priest there had some
liking for the Gospel. The priest received him
gladly, but what could he do! For the Catholic
bishop had forbidden his preaching in any of the
churches. However, the priest found a way. He
suggested that there was no embargo laid on the
rocks or the open air. So Farel mounted a stone
in the cemetery next to the church and, in the open
air, preached the first Gospel sermon in that region.
That rock became the cornerstone of the future Re
formed Church of Neuchatel.* This led_him to
be called to preach at the city of Neuchatel. At
the market cross in the town he preached and some
wanted to throw him into a neighboring fountain,
but he was unmoved by them. He left Neuchatel
for a time, going east of the lake. Everywhere he
found the grossest superstition in the churches. His
soul burned within him against it. In April he en
tered a church a Tavannes, where the priest was
saying mass. He went up into the pulpit. The
astonished priest stopped, and seeing it was Farel,
who began preaching, he fled, and the people tore

?A marble slab has since been placed in the wall of
the church, just above this stone, stating that Farel
preached there.

102 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
away the images in the church. Farel returned to
Neuchatel, and on October 23, 1530, as he was
preaching in the hospital there, the people led him
up the hill to the citadel through a crowd of canons
and adherents of the Catholic Church. He was
placed in the pulpit of the cathedral, located in the
citadel. After he had preached, they cast out the
images, and the traveller, who visits this church
to-day, will see in it an inscription that on October
23> I53°> idolatry was cast out of that church.
Thus the Reformed doctrines gained the victory.
But Farel's boldness nearly cost him his life. In
the valley just west of Neuchatel was located its
sister town Vallangin. Farel went over there on
the great Catholic feast of the Assumption. As the
priest was preparing to chant the mass, Farel en
tered the pulpit and began preaching. The people
were awed by this sudden circumstance, when a
young man rushed up to the priest and snatched the
host from his hands, saying to the people, "This
is not the God you worship, He is above in heaven."
The Evangelicals seemed victorious and the con
gregation listened to Farel. But meanwhile the
Catholics outside were preparing a great crowd.
Farel and the young man were attacked, and drag-

Neuchatel and Farel. 103
ged half-dead to the castle of the princess, who
lived there. They beat Farel (so that the stains
were visible on the walls for six years) and let him
down into the dungeon. But Bern compelled them
to release him. Farel, however, amid his many
hairbreadth escapes never was nearer to death than
at that time.
Soon after, in Lent, 1531, a friar came to the
little village of Orbe, southeast of Neuchatel, sell
ing indulgences in the open square of the town.
Suddenly a man stood up and asked, "Have you
indulgences for a man who has killed his father
and his mother?" The monk was confounded and
before he could recover, this stranger had stepped
on the curb of the fountain there and had begun
to preach. It was Farel. The friar was silenced,
and the reformation was begun there. From Orbe
came Farel's great helper, young Peter Viret.
But Farel was not satisfied with the conversion
of Neuchatel and the neighborhood. His eye rest
ed on larger triumphs than that. He long prayed
that Geneva, the largest city of southern Switzer
land, might receive the Gospel. His work at Gen
eva we will describe in the next chapter. Suffice it
to say that Farel, after being at Geneva for four

104 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
years ( 1 534-8) was, with Calvin, driven out of that
city. He returned to Neuchatel, living there the
rest of his life and dying September 13, 1565.
After Farel's death, no great leader appeared in
Neuchatel for a century and a half, when the "sec
ond reformer of Neuchatel" appeared in John
Frederick Osterwald. He was born at Neuchatel,
November 15, 1663. During his^ education at
Neuchatel he stayed at Zurich for a time, so as to
learn German. He then went to the theological
school of Saumur in France, to study theology.
The liberal views of that school left their impress
on his doctrinal views. He returned to Neuchatel
in 1685 and became an assistant pastor in that city.
During that time he especially excelled as a cate-
chist. Finding that the catechisms in use were not
simple enough, he prepared a new catechism, on a
different plan, which made his name famous. This
catechism is divided into three parts, the first part
giving the Biblical history, the second having the
doctrines of the church, and the third is ethical.
What is remarkable is that, where before the cate
chisms were entirely doctrinal, now, the ethical part
was larger than the two other parts put together.
This catechism was bitterly attacked by the high

Neuchatel and Farel. 105
Calvinists as a departure from the Reformed faith,
because he ignored predestination in it. It was
charged with tending to rationalism because he laid
so much stress on ethics. Its use was forbidden
in the neighboring canton of Bern, for its sup
posed heterodoxy to Calvinism.
His Compendium of Theology was published
1739. His theological views were orthodox on
fundamentals, as the divinity of Christ," but he was
liberal in its statements and revealed that he was
not a Calvinist. He was one of the three theolog
ians of Switzerland, who formed the second theo
logical triumvirate about 1720. The first trium
virate had been the_ theologians. Heidegger of Zu
rich, Gernler of Basle, and Francis Turretin of Gen
eva, who had caused the high Calvinistic creed, the
Helvetic Consensus to be adopted in 1675. Now a
half century later Alphonse Turretin of Geneva,
John Frederick Osterwald of Neuchatel, and an
tistes Samuel Werenfels of Basle, lead in setting
aside that creed, although Zurich and Bern, the
high-Calvinistic cantons, retained it some time long
er. Osterwald also put French Christianity into
his debt by his publication of a new translation of
the Bible into French, excellent for its simplicity

106 Famouh Places of Reformed Churches.
and practical comments. He also published a new
liturgy (171 3) very considerably increasing the
liturgical forms over those of Calvin and Farel,
whose brief liturgies had been in use before. He
died April 14, 1747.
When the rationalism of the eighteenth century
appeared, it gained little power in this canton, whose
church remained evangelical. There was one fea
ture of the government, that had favored this, it
was the only church in Switzerland, separate from
the state. This was due to the fact that when the
Reformed religion was introduced into Neuchatel,
the ruler of the land was Catholic, and therefore
the Protestant faith could not be united with the
government. But in the nineteenth century, the
rationalistic movement entered into the govern
ment, and the state tried to get control of the
church, so as to make it more formal and less evan
gelical. When, however, the state-laws were
changed so that the election of the professors of
theology was, not as before, by the Church, but
by the state, a considerable part of the church-
membership broke away and formed the Free
Church of Neuchatel in 1868. Its membership is
small, only about 6,000, but they are the most active

Neuchatel and Farel. 107
and spiritually minded part of the canton. It
founded a free church university at Neuchatel, so
that there are now two universities there, one of
the state and the other of the Free Church; each
with a theological faculty.
The most prominent theological professor there
in the nineteenth century, and one well-known to
English readers by his works, was Prof. Frederick
Louis Godet. He was born at Neuchatel October
25, 1812. He studied in his native city and then
attended the universities of Bonn and Berlin. He
became the tutor (1838-44) of the crown-prince of
Germany (later the Emperor Frederick), and later
pastor at Neuchatel (1851-66). From 1850 up to
the separation of the Free Church, he was pro
fessor of exegetical theology in the theological
school of the Church. After that, he occupied the
same position in the Free Church theological school.
He died October 29, 1900, having retired three
years before. He was famous as an apologete and
exegete of the New Testament. His contemporary
Prof. A. Gretillat, was professor of theology and
his son George Godet became also professor of sys
tematic theology after the death of Gretillet, but is
now dead.

Chapter VIIL— GENEVA, CALVIN'S MODEL
CITY.
NEXT to Zurich, Geneva is the most beauti
ful city of Switzerland, and is also next
to it in size. It contains about 125,000
inhabitants and is beautifully located at the south
ern end of the lake bearing its name. Through it,
dividing it, into two parts, flows the rapid deep-
blue river Rhone, with its small Rosseau's island
in the centre of the stream. The city east of the
Rhone rises to an elevation on which stands the
Reformed cathedral of St. Peter; while from the
Quay Mt. Blanc, on the west side of the river, a
fine view can be had in pleasant weather of Mt.
Blanc many miles away. Just below the city, the
clear blue waters of the Rhone meet the muddy
waters of the Arve river and they flow side by side
for some time without mingling. It is a city fa
mous for its manufacture of watches and music-
boxes, — the former industry having been brought
here by the refugees, who fled from France on ac
count of persecution for their Protestantism. In
the days of the reformation it became the centre
of the Reformed, as Wittenberg had been the cen-
109 . •

no Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
tre of the Lutherans. Its rigid Reformed doctrines
and laws made it, as even a Lutheran visitor of that
day granted, the "model city" of its age. This was
the city, though much smaller than at present
(about 12,000), that Farel had his eye upon for the
Gospel of Christ.
It happened that just at that time, there was a
movement in the city for civil liberty. The city
had been under the control of the Duke of Savoy,
and Bonnivard, who was the leader for freedom,
had been sent a prisoner in the castle of Chillon,
at the upper end of Lake Geneva. There his foot
prints in the hard stone, as he walked around the
column to which he was chained, are still shown to
the traveller. Byron has immortalized this in his
Childe Harold:
"Chillon, thy prison is a holy place,
And thy sad floor an altar, — for 'twas trod
By Bonnivard, — may none those marks efface.''
Farel first visited the city on his return from a
visit to the Waldensees. But he was brought be
fore the court and expelled. On his departure a
gun was levelled at him but failed to go off, whereat
he courageously replied, "I am not to be shaken by

Geneva, Calvin's Mode! City. in
a pop-gun. Your toy does not alarm me." As he
dared not himself go back to Geneva, he decided
to try the plan he had so successfully tried at Aigle,
to send a school-teacher to Geneva. So he sent
Froment, who opened a school, but in it taught
the Protestant doctrines. He also began holding
meetings in a private house. But one day on New
Year, 1533, in spite of the fact that the council had
forbidden him to preach, the Huguenots came in
such numbers that they forced him to preach in the
open square, east of the Rhone, called the Molard.
And three months later at sunrise, the few believers
celebrated the Lord's Supper in a garden near the
city gate, after the simple manner of the Protest
ants. But Farel had back of him the influence of
the canton of Berne and its officials took Farel to a
conference in Geneva, so that he was permitted to
preach in the Franciscan Church and on Whit
suntide (1534) to administer the communion to a
large number. The work grew on his hands so
greatly that he prayed God to send him a helper.
God answered his prayer.
One day in 1536 a young man arrived at Geneva
named John Calvin. He was a Frenchman, born
at Noyon in Picardy, July 10, 1509. He studied

112 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
at Paris, Bourges and Orleans, and then while in
Paris (1532) he fully united himself with the Re
formed. Driven out of Paris, he wandered for
several years in France as at Angouleme with Du
Tillet, at Poictiers, where he celebrated the Lord's
Supper in a cave. He then fled from France
through Strasburg to Basle, where he published his
epochal book, his "Institutes of the Christian Reli
gion." After visiting northern Italy and returning
to France for a brief season, he was about going to
Germany to study when he stopped at Geneva over
night, in the latter part of July, 1536. Farel,
when he heard that the author of the Institutes of
Theology was in town, decided that Calvin was the
man he had been praying for. He called on Cal
vin and then occurred one of the most dramatic
scenes in all Protestant Church history, — certainly
in Reformed Church history.
Farel urged Calvin to stay and preach the Gos
pel at Geneva. Calvin replied to him with aston
ishment, "I can not stop here more than a night."
Farel pointed out to him how the reformation had
been miraculously established at Geneva, — that if
he did not take up the work, it would probably per
ish and Calvin's refusal would be the cause of the

Geneva, Calvin's Model City. 113
ruin of the Church. But Calvin did not want to
bind himself to any particular church. He wanted
to travel and to study. "Study, leisure," said Farel,
"what, must we never practice, I am sinking under
my task. Pray help me !" Calvin then pled another
excuse that the frail condition of his health re
quired rest. "Rest," answered the fiery Farel,
"death alone permits the soldiers of Christ to rest
from their labors." But still Calvin held back. He
felt he was too weak to undertake the responsibil
ities of reforming so large a city. At this Farel
could no longer restrain his feelings. "Ought a
servant of Christ to be so delicate," he said "as
to be frightened at warfare." This sentence some
what touched Calvin. The thought of preferring
ease to the service of Christ frightened him. His
conscience now became troubled. He became
greatly agitated. Farel was evidently making an
impression on him. But still his retiring disposi
tion and lack of confidence in himself held him
back. "I beg of you," he said to Farel, "to have
pity on me." Farel, seeing that Calvin began to
weaken, now advanced to threatening. He remind
ed Calvin how the Lord had dealt with Jonah, a
case similar to his own. "Jonah also," he said,

114 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
"wanted to flee from the presence of the Lord, but
the Lord cast him into the sea." Calvin now be
came more deeply agitated, Farel's heart was hot
within him. Finally, lifting his hand to heaven,
with his voice of thunder he pronounced the sen
tence, "In the name of Almighty God, I declare that
if you do not answer the summons, he will not bless
your plans. And then fixing his eyes of fire on
the young man and placing his hands as if on the
head of a victim, he cried out, "May God curse
your studies, if in such a great necessity, you with
draw and refuse to give us help and support." At
these words Calvin trembled in every limb. He
asked to be permitted to consider and pray over it
till morning. In the morning he decided to accept
this call of God and stay at Geneva.
Calvin began preaching and lecturing on the
ology. By November he caused the city council to
adopt a confession of faith, which ordered a strict
morality. But this soon proved to be too rigid
for the easy-going pleasure-loving Genevese.
Hence a strong party, called the Libertines, rose
against these reformers. They made use of a pretext
to get rid of them. %Bern, who was then in league
with Geneva, wanted unleavened bread to be used

Geneva, Calvin's Model City. 115
at the communion, while Calvin and Farel used
only leavened bread. The Bernese wanted the
Church at Geneva, which observed only Sunday as
a holy day, to observe also the festival days. These
petty differences the Libertine party used as a pre
text to drive out Calvin and Farel. At Easter,
1538, matters came to a crisis. Farel preached at
St. Gervais and refused to give the communion, as
did Calvin at the cathedral. And when the Liber
tines rushed forward to take it, they were refused.
The city council then banished Calvin and Farel
for disobedience. Calvin went to Strasburg while
Farel, as we have seen, went to Neuchatel.*
But with Calvin absent, Geneva went from bad
to worse until finally something had to be done;
so the city council in despair. resolved to recall him
in 1540. He refused, saying "it would be better to
perish at once than to be tormented in that cham
ber of torture." Three times they asked him to
come back and finally he consented. On September
13, 1541, he returned to spend the remaining twen
ty-three years of his life there.

?Calvin's life at Strasburg will be given in Book 2,
chapter I.

116 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
The first five years (i 541-6) were comparatively
peaceful. Severe laws against evil were enacted,
but Calvin now had his own way, as the city had
begged him to return. Meanwhile he thoroughly
organized the church. For Calvin not only ex
celled as a theologian and commentator, but to his
great mental ability he united rare practical tact.
He also became the great organizer of the Reform
ed Church by giving her the Presbyterial form of
government, although in this respect he frequently
gets some of the glory that belongs to Lasco, es
pecially in the organization of the congregation.
The following ten years (1 546-1 556) were years of
controversy. The Libertines again arose to power.
In 1547 their opposition became so great, that be
fore the city council he declared, "If it is my life,
you desire, I am ready to die. If my banishment,
I shall exile myself." So great was the hatred of
the Libertines towards him that they named their
dogs after him. Fifty shots were fired off before
his bed-chamber. At a communion, where he was
about to refuse it to the Libertines, because their
lives were unworthy, they rushed forward to take
the bread and wine by force, when Calvin covered
the sacred symbols with his hands saying "You may

Geneva, Calvin's Model City. 117
cut off these hands and crush these limbs, but you
shall never force me to give holy things to the pro
fane." His boldness and firmness so impressed the
Libertines that they fell back.
The climax of this controversy came when Serve-
tus came to Geneva. Calvin had him arrested. He
was later burned in 1553, for which Calvin has
been held responsible by history. But it is to be re
membered that at that time Calvin's enemies, the
Libertines, were in control at Geneva, and they,
and not Calvin, were Servetus's judges, who con
demned him. However, there is no denying that
Calvin approved of his death, but in that he was
not alone. All the reformers of that day, even
Lutherans like Melancthon, approved of it, only
one voice, a Reformed layman from Bern, Zurkin-
den, being lifted up against it. Besides it is to be
remembered that Servetus was condemned under
laws made before Calvin came to the city; and also
that the sixteenth century was not the twentieth
century. Civil and religious liberty, such as we
now have, were unknown in that age. Probably
four centuries after this, the world will consider
us very bigoted on some points. Our defense can
only be that we are not living ahead of our day.

118 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Still to lessen these criticisms against Calvin, in
1903 a number of the followers of Calvin especially
among the French, placed an expiatory monument
at Geneva on the spot where Servetus was burned.
On it they declare their high appreciation of Cal
vin and yet condemn his mistake about Servetus.
The last years of his life were spent in com
parative quietness. In 1550 he did what he had
long desired to do, — founded a theological school
in which to train ministers. Over its doorway in
the Place St. Antoine, where it still stands, are the
words "Post tenebras lux" (After darkness light).
This was the germ out of which the present uni
versity of Geneva has since grown. Calvin called
as its rector Theodore Beza, who later became his
successor as reformer at Geneva. But overwork
began to tell on a frame never very strong. His
last sermon was delivered February, 1564. On
Easter he was carried to the church to receive the
communion. On April 30 he bade farewell to the
councillors of Geneva, exhorting them to be stead
fast. On May 19 he bade farewell to the ministers.
Finally, on Sabbath eve, May 27, 1564, he fell
asleep, to open his eyes on an eternal Sabbath with
his Lord. With his characteristic modesty, he or-

Geneva, Calvin's Model City. 119
dered that no monument should be erected to his
memory. But in the cemetery of Geneva, located
on the east side of the Rhone, is a small square
stone marked "J. C," which, tradition says, marks
the place where he was buried. Still he needs no
such monument. Greater than any monument of
marble or granite is the monument that he has
erected in the Reformed and Presbyterian
Churches, now founded all over the globe and num
bering about 25 millions of adherents. At the 400th
anniversary of his birth, July 10, 1909, the corner
stone of the new monument to Calvin was laid on
the Promenade des Bastions. In this monument,
Calvin, Farel, Beza and Knox are to form the cen
tral group, which stands out before the huge in
scription of Geneva's motto, "Post tenebras lux."
On either side are smaller figures of distinguished
Calvinists as Coligny, William of Orange, Crom
well, Roger Williams, Elector Frederick William
of Brandenburg and Prince Stephen Bocaskey of
Hungary. We regret that Roger Williams is the
American representative, as he is a Baptist, which
Calvin was not, and besides a far greater Calvinist
intellectually in America. was Jonathan Edwards,
who should, by all means, have represented Amer-

120 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
ica. On the blocks of granite are inscriptions com
memorating Zwingli, Luther and the forerunners
of the reformation, Waldo, Wyckliffe and Huss.
A noble life, a beautiful death, and a wonderful
influence on the world was Calvin's.
John Knox, the Scotch reformer, was in Geneva
1555-9. The English congregation, of which he
was pastor, worshiped in the new Notre Dame
Church, now the Auditorium of Philosophy. In
the city hall is a book, "The Book of the English,"
giving the names of this English congregation, 212
in number. Among them were English scholars of
first rank, as Whittingham, Gilly and Sampson,
who produced the famous Geneva Bible in 1560.
After the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the
throne of England in 1558, the exiles began leav
ing Geneva for England. Knox left Feb. 7, 1559.
There are in Geneva to-day a number of places
connected with Calvin's life. First and foremost is
his church, the beautiful, cathedral of St. Peter,
with its beautiful side chapel of the Maccabees. In
the church is the pulpit from which Calvin preach
ed, and beneath it stands the chair in which he
sat. The chair appears somewhat stiff and straight,
but a Presbyterian minister, who once saw it with

Geneva, Calvin's Model City. 121
me, remarked that, If that was Calvin's chair, it
was no wonder Presbyterianism was so stiff and
straight. (He also added on seeing the blue river
Rhone flowing through the city, that now he knew
where Presbyterian blue came from.) The cathe
dral, like all Calvinistic churches, is very plain, only
two memorials being allowed in it. The first is
the monument to Duke Henry of Rohan, of whom
we spoke in connection with the canton of the
Grisons. There is also, not a tomb, but a tablet
to the memory of Agrippa d' Aubigne, another
great Huguenot, the confidante of King Henry IV,
of France, a great statesman, a great general, and
a great literary character, being the finest satirist
of his age in French. Driven out of France he
settled in Geneva and died there 1630, leaving 2,000
gulden for the education of students for the min
istry. One of his descendents was Rev. -Prof.
Merle d' Aubigne, the famous author of the His
tory of the Reformation.
Calvin's house is also shown on Calvin street
(Rue Calvin) near the cathedral, but the present
house was built later than Calvin, though doubt
less it occupies the location where Calvin lived. In
the Place St. Antoine is the old theological school

122 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
with its motto over the door, "Post Tenebras lux."
In the Musee Rath is a large painting of Calvin's
farewell to the ministers of Geneva. There is also
a large hall called the Hall of the Reformation
(Salle de la reformation) in Rue de Rhone, which
is dedicated to the churches of the reformation. In
it is a fine museum of relics of the reformation and
Calvin-curios, gathered mainly by Rev. Mr. Choisy,
one of the pastors of Geneva. Here are a number
of rare pictures in connection with Calvin's life
and also of Beza and Viret as well as of later the
ologians of Geneva, the last will of Agrippa d'
Aubigne; also a number of Calvin's books, al
though these can also be found in the library of the
university. In an adjoining room is a collection of
missionary relics of the Paris and Romande Mis
sionary Societies. It is a very respectable Calvin
Museum.

Chapter IX.— GENEVA, SINCE CALVIN'S
TIME.
CALVIN'S successor was Theodore Beza.
Like Calvin, he was a Frenchman by birth,
(born 1 5 19) but he had been a worldly
Frenchman in his early life. Before he became a
Protestant, he had gained fame as one of the great
est of France's poets and literary men. A sickness
in 1568 brought this worldly, thoughtless French
man to seriousness and led him to become a Pro
testant. He went to Geneva to study under Cal
vin. Later he became professor of the Protestant
school at Lausanne; and, when compelled to leave
in 1558, he went to Geneva, and became the head of
the newly founded theological school of Calvin.
After Calvin's death he became his successor as the
leading reformer of Geneva. Though more genial
than Calvin, yet he possessed great scholarship, es
pecially in Biblical criticism, as is shown by his
Codex of the New Testament. He utilized his rare
poetical genius in the writing of Psalms for the
Church, and as a result the French Church became
a great Psalm-singing church. He was a beauti
ful writer and a magnificent orator. He combined
123

124 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
all the polite graces of the French courtier, with the
virtues of a Christian. These qualities placed him
not only at the head of the Genevan Church but
of the Church of France. He, it was, who was
chosen to defend the Huguenot religion before the
King of France at Poissy, of which we shall speak
in connection with Paris. He died in 1605, the last
of the reformers. He developed the theology of
Calvin, higher than Calvin had done, into supra-
lapsarianism. He was a rare combination .of a
scholar, a courtier and a Christian.
Toward the close of Beza's life occurred the Es
calade on December 12, 1602. On a dark and foggy
night several hundred of the soldiers of the Cath
olic Duke of Savoy, who formerly had been the
ruler of Geneva, gained the top of the walls of
Geneva and were about opening the city gate to
several thousand more Savoy troops who were out
side. But just as they were about doing this, they
were discovered by one of the sentry of Geneva,
whom they killed but not until he had fired his
gun, which alarmed the city. At once ' thousands
of armed citizens attacked them. A cannon was
shot on the wall by the Genevese, which was guided
by the hand of providence through the darkness, so

Geneva Since Calvin's Time. 125
that it knocked down all their scaling-ladders.
Those in the city could not escape and were thus
caught like rats in a trap. They were cut to pieces
and thrown over the walls and the city saved. As
soon as the enemy was driven away, the Genevese
streamed to the cathedral for a thanksgiving ser
vice under Beza. Since that time on every Decem
ber 12, a religious service is held in Geneva in
commemoration of that Escalade and there is a
fountain on one of the streets (Rue des Alle-
mands) to commemorate it. As a result of this
attack, the foreign Protestant powers especially
Holland and Berne took greater care for the de
fense of Geneva, the former contributing much to
Geneva's fortification.
After Beza, came a succession of leading the
ologians. John Diodati succeeded Beza. He was
of Italian descent, but his father emigrated to Gen
eva, where he became professor of theology. The
son was a fine -linguist, translating the Bible into
Italian and French. The former version is so fine
that it is still the standard version of the Bible in
Italian. He was one of the delegates of Geneva to
the Synod of Dort, and with Breitinger of Zurich
was the leader of the Swiss delegation. In doc
trine, like Beza, he was a supralapsarian Calvinist.

126 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
After Diodati came another great theologian to
continue the succession, Francis Turretin. He, like
Diodati, was a descendent of an Italian refugee.
He was in his early life sent to Holland to get Hol
land's aid in fortifying Geneva, in which errand he
was very successful. He was not like his prede
cessors, Beza and Diodati, Supralapsarian ; but he
lowered that extreme type of Calvinism to Coc-
ceianism. This was the Biblical school of Calvin
ism founded by Koch or Cocceius and is sometimes
called the Theology of the Covenants, because it
makes prominent the two covenants of works and
of grace. He redacted Calvin's theology according
to this Federal theology. He was one of the the-
ologican triumvirate of Switzerland of his day —
Heidegger of Zurich, and Gernler of Basle, being
the other two, although really a fourth ought to be
added, Hummel of Bern, thus making it a quartette.
These men caused a new Calvinistic creed to be
drawn up, the Helvetic Consensus, and published
in 1675. This creed was so high, that it held that
even the vowel-points of the Old Testament were
inspired. This was the extremest of the Calvinistic
creeds. This creed continued in authority all over Swit-

Geneva Since Calvin's Time. 127
zerland for about fifty years and then another the
ological triumvirate, Werenfels of Basle, Oster
wald of Neuchatel, and J. A. Turretin of Geneva,
the latter the son of Francis Turretin, mentioned
above, united to set it aside.
The Church at Geneva was now on the down
grade theologically. J. A. Turretin was not the
strict Calvinist his father had been, but was a
broad-churchman, who cared nothing for creeds.
His successor, Vernet, went farther; he was a So-
cinian, denying the divinity of Jesus Christ. Thus
by the beginning of the nineteenth century, Geneva
had descended from the strictest Calvinism in the
16th century, to the widest Unitarianism in the
nineteenth. This departure was heralded to the
world by D'Alembert in the eighteenth century.
He was the editor of the infidel encyclopaedia and
he charged the Genevan Church with denying the
divinity of Christ. This caused a great sensation
at Geneva and elsewhere, but it was true.
During this period of rationalism there appeared
at Geneva two prominent literary characters, one
a Genevese by birth, John Jacques Rosseau, the
other a Frenchman, Voltaire. Rosseau was of a
low moral character but of high ideals politically

128 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
and educationally — first a Protestant, then a Cath
olic, then a Protestant, then a deist or infidel (The
last is shown in his creed of the Vicar of Savoy).
Religion sat lightly on him and yet he was a man of
genius. After leaving Geneva, he went to Paris,
but finally on account of the suspicion of the gov
ernments against him, because of his political
views (he was a democrat), he was forced to be
come a wanderer. But he was the apostle of his
age for education and freedom. The first appeared
in his book "Emile" which was written against the
stiff formal artificial method of education in his
day. His political views appeared in his work "The
Social Contract," where he taught that all men were
born free and equal and yet all were slaves. In that
age of monarchies and aristocracies such doctrines
were viewed as very dangerous indeed. Undoubt
edly Rosseau's views led to the French revolution.
Both of these books, "Emile" and "Social Con
tract," were publicly burned at Geneva by the hang
man in 1763 as tending to destroy Christianity and
civil government. Geneva gave to the world the
two great teachers who led to civil liberty, Calvin
and Rosseau. It is to be remembered that we in
the United States owe our republic to Geneva, to

Geneva Since Calvin's Time. 129
Calvin and Rosseau. Calvin has been called the
founder of republics, as of Holland, Switzerland
and the United States. Such is the testimony of
leading historians, as Bancroft, Ranke and Motley.
Perhaps it might better be said that Calvinism was
the founder of republics, for Calvin himself was an
aristocrat, but his principles seem to have led his
torically to republicanism and his followers founded
republics. Rosseau gave utterance to the princi
ples on which the Constitution of the United States
is founded, namely that all men are free and equal.
But he never could have carried that out. It was
Calvinism that created the spirit and gave the
proper poise and strength to carry out the princi
ples of liberty. Rosseauism, without Calvinism to
guide and strengthen it, ran riot in anarchy, as in
the French revolution. But with Calvinism it pro
duced great republics, as the United States.
Voltaire was like Rosseau an infidel, but unlike
him, an aristocrat. He came to Geneva in 1755
and tried to corrupt the simple Genevese by intro
ducing the theatre. But the Genevese government
put the ban on it. So he bought a place at Fer-
ney in France, a few miles north of Geneva. There
he tormented Geneva to his heart's content. He

130 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
built a theatre in which the greatest actors came
to play and to which, in spite of the protests of
their pastors, the people went in throngs. He pub
lished his infidel books and leavened Geneva with
them, although the Genevan Church tried to de
fend herself against them. But what defense could
a church filled full of that Socinianism that denies
the divinity of our Lord make against an infidel,
when she is so near infidelity herself? Voltaire's
books, though forbidden to be circulated by the city
of Geneva, yet found their way everywhere, as at
the doors of the councillors, on the benches in the
parks; yes, in the very catechisms of the catechu
mens, who were thus taught irreligion, when they
were seeking religion. This last effort of Voltaire's
was diabolical. Voltaire boasted that in a century
Christianity would be dead. That might have been
true of the emasculated Christianity that was then
in vogue at Geneva. But even that sort of reli
gion outlived Voltaire's boasts, and continued to
exist, — How much less would evangelical Chris
tianity go down before Voltaire's infidelity. He re
mained at Ferney for about twenty years as the
thorn in the Genevan Church and then went to
Paris where he died. His chateau at Ferney now

Geneva Since Calvin's Time. 131
contains a Voltaire museum and near it is the
church he built, on which are the words "Deo
erexit Voitaire" (Voltaire erected it to God).
There is also a statue of Voltaire at Ferney, Gen
eva, having passed through Socinianism, Rosseau-
ism and Voltairism, had the climax put upon it by
the French revolution, during which she became
temporarily connected with France.
The result of all this was, that not only did Cal
vinism disappear at Geneva but evangelical Chris
tianity was almost extinct in the early part of the
nineteenth century. Then occurred the wonderful
movement called the "Revival." In 181 7 there
came to Geneva a Scotchman, Robert Haldane. A
wonderful story is this revival even before it began.
A British sea-captain named James Haldane in a
naval battle had called up a new squad of men, to
take the place of those swept off the deck by a
broadside. Seeing some signs of cowardice, he
swore at them; when he was politely but firmly
rebuked by one of the sailors. This rebuke led to
his conversion from infidelity. His brother, Rob
ert Haldane, was an unbeliever, who, finding that
his naval brother had become a Christian, ordered
him from his house. As the latter went away, he

132 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
called back, "But I can pray for you." His pray
ers were answered and Robert Haldane became a
Christian. Robert decided to give his life and
great wealth to missionary work, and wanted to go
to India, but the East India Company was opposed
to missionaries and would not take him. So he
went to the continent of Europe seeking a place to
work but could find none. Early in 181 7 he hap
pened to visit Geneva because he had heard the
Church there was very dead and rationalistic. But
he could not find an opening there.
He was about leaving the city, when providence
opened the way. He had made an engagement
with one of the three pastors who were evangelical,
Moulinie, that he should take him to an interesting
place near the city. But Moulinie became sick, and,
in his stead, sent one of the theological students of
the university. That proved to be Haldane's op
portunity. He questioned the young man and
found him utterly ignorant of the evangelical doc
trines of the Bible. As d' Aubigne later said, "St.
Seneca and St. Plato were better known to the stu
dents than St. Paul or St. John." 'But he found the
student not averse to evangelical truth. So he deter
mined to remain at Geneva. He rented a room in the

Geneva Since Calvin's Time. 133
Place de la St. Antoine, No. 19, just south of the
theological school of Geneva. And there he gather
ed the students to a series of lectures on Paul's
Epistle to the Romans. They were much surprised at
his knowledge of the Bible, and more so at his ab
solute child-like faith in its teachings. His lec
tures became so popular with the students that all
attended, while the rationalistic professors of the
theological school were very angry. Cheneviere,
later one of the professors, walked up and down the
Place St. Antoine enraged but unable to prevent
the attendance of the students. Haldane remained
only 'a few weeks but the eyes of the young men
were opened to the Gospel as were Paul's at Da
mascus. After he left, the Church at Geneva re
fused to ordain any student unless he promised not
to preach the evangelical doctrines and not to at
tend prayer-meetings. But in spite of this, Hal
dane sowed for an abundant harvest. These young
men became leaders in the different churches. Thus
Pyt and John Monod went to France to produce
a revival in that church, Merle D' Aubigne labored
at Geneva later as professor, and Felix Neff became
the self-denying evangelist of the high Alps.
Perhaps the most remarkable conversion was

134 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
that of Rev. Caesar Malan, a young minister of the
Genevan Church, who came under Haldane's in
fluence. After his conversion he boldly preached
the doctrine of justification by faith in one of the
churches, which almost resulted in riot. Scowls
and threatening looks were his as he passed out of
the church; only one person greeting him at the
door with praise and that was Haldane, who said,
"Thank God, the Gospel of Calvin is once more
preached in Geneva!"
For preaching such orthodox views Malan was
finally deposed from the ministry and built a chapel
of his own — the Chapel of the Testimony. He
joined the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. A
very beautiful story of his life is his conversion of
Charlotte Elliot. As an evangelist, he often visited
the British Isles, and while in England, he met
Charlotte Elliot and asked her whether, she was a
Christian. She resented the question and went on
with her worldly gayety. But her soul was not at
rest. Finally under conviction, she asked the way
of life and he pointed her to the Lamb of God.
"What," she said, "I, a sinful creature, come to
Him!" "Yes," he replied, "God wants you to
come just as you are." She came to God just as

Geneva Since Calvin's Time. 135
she was and wrote her famous hymn, based on these
words of Malan, —
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidst me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come.
Lasting, yes, eternal are the results of religious
work ! Let us, before we leave it, connect the links
of this remarkable story. A sailor caused the con
version of Haldane, and he, in turn, his brother's
conversion. Haldane at Geneva, led to Malan's
conversion, who in turn brought Charlotte Elliot
to Christ, and God alone knows how many hun
dreds, perhaps thousands of souls have been saved
for Jesus by the words of her hymn. Who can
measure the results of a single testimony for
Christ? That sailor never knew what he was
doing when he rebuked his sea-captain. Eternity
alone will reveal the results. But what a contrast
just here between Voltaire, trying to uproot Chris
tianity at Geneva, and Haldane a half century later,
bringing it back!
As a result of this revival the few evangelicals at
Geneva, were forced out of the national church and

136 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
organized themselves into a church at the Bourg
du Four. Fortunately for them, in the midst of
their persecution, a wealthy Englishman, Mr.
Drummond, came just as Haldane left. He aided
them financially and encouraged them in their pov
erty. The Genevese could not understand this in
vasion of foreigners, for no less than four English
men, of whom Haldane was the second, happened
to come to Geneva, one after the other, and aid this
movement. As a result, the evangelical views grew
in influence. The Free Church of Geneva was
founded by these evangelicals and grew until
in 1832 a Theological Seminary was opened
at Geneva which was evangelical. It called, among
other professors, Merle D'Aubigne as professor of
church history and Gaussen, also an evangelical
pastor, as professor of theology. This seminary
still exists and has exerted a very blessed influence
for the truth at Geneva.
,Finally a reaction began to appear in the national
Church of Geneva, especially through the influence
of the teachings of Vinet of Lausanne. The Ven
erable Company of Pastors became more evangel
ical, until it is said "that now the majority are
evangelical." A young preacher of great power

Geneva Since Calvin's Time. 137
has arisen, named Thomas, who is "Calvin redivi-
vus" (Calvin resurrected). When he preaches, at
the cathedral, it is crowded to the doors. He at
tempted to leaven that church with the Gospel, but
finding the church too inert and slow, he left it,
but kept on preaching. But Geneva in 1908 voted
to separate the Church from the state, and he has
now returned to the old church and will probably
do much to awaken it by his evangelistic preaching
and aggressive methods. As both the National and
the Free Churches of Geneva are now separated
from the state, they are coming closer together.
But it is a sad fact that Geneva, which used to be
the Gibraltar of Protestantism is now becoming
Catholic in population, not by losses from Protest
ants to Catholics, but by the influx of immigrants
from Savoy and Italy. However Catholicism in
Switzerland is more liberal than in other parts of
Europe and Protestantism will remain there as the
safeguard of the city of Calvin.

Chapter X.— LAUSANNE AND CANTON
VAUD.
ONE more famous city remains to be men
tioned in Switzerland, that birth-place of
the Reformation — Lausanne. It is beau
tifully located on rapidly rising ground just above
the northwestern corner of Lake Geneva and about
a mile away from it. It commands a fine view
southward and eastward up and down Lake Gen
eva, and of the snow-capped Alps beyond. It is
an aristocratic city with a population of 60,000,
thus making it one of the large cities of Switzer
land. Its small, but simple, cathedral is very beau
tiful, and is famous as the place of the disputation
in 1536.
In the early part of the reformation, this district
belonged to the Duke of Savoy and was therefore
Catholic. But it was conquered at that time by
Bern, who began filling it with refugees from
France, so as to form a buffer-state against Savoy.
At first there were but a few of Reformed. But
the disputation at Lousanne in 1536, at which Cal
vin greatly distinguished himself by his learning
139

140 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
and eloquence, together with the influx of French
immigrants gradually made it Protestant. The
early reformer of Lausanne was Peter Viret, the
third of the trio of reformers of French Switzer
land, Calvin and Farel being the other two. Viret
may be styled the boy-preacher of the reformation,
for he began preaching so young. He was the
youngest. of the great reformers.
Viret was born (i5ii),ata country town named
Orbe, about twenty miles west of Lausanne. He
went to Paris to study for the priesthood, but there
came into contact with the Protestant doctrines
under Lefevre, the earliest of the reformers. Hav
ing given up his popish views, he also gave up his
purpose to become a priest, and returned to his na
tive Switzerland. Meanwhile a change similar to
his own, had been taking place in his native town.
As we have seen, Farel, that fiery reformer, had
wandered into the town, and put to flight a seller
of indulgences and had begun to organize a little
congregation in the town. When the Catholics op
posed his preaching, the Bern government' protect
ed him. Farel preached in the great church at
Orbe, which holds many hundreds, but there were
only three hearers. Still the number increased

Lausanne and Canton Vaud. 141
gradually and the return of Viret was a great aid.
Farel ordained Viret in 1531, at the age of twenty.
— the youngest of the reformers. Viret went with
Farel to Geneva where the Catholics tried to kill
the reformers by giving them poisoned soup. Al
though Farel fortunately did not eat of it, Viret
did. He became very sick but recovered, although
his thin face attests that he remained a sort of in
valid for the rest of his life.
Soon Lausanne needed a reformer and Farel sent
Viret there in 1536, as Bern was very anxious to
convert Lausanne to Protestantism. For twenty-
two years he was pastor there, and the number of
the Reformed greatly increased. Under his patron
age a Reformed school was started, at which Beza
taught for a time. But there had been considerable
friction between Bern and the Genevan Church, es
pecially about the form of church government. The
Genevese claimed more freedom from the state
than the Bernese would allow. So Viret and Beza,
who sympathized with Calvin and the Genevese
were dismissed. Beza went to Geneva and Viret
went to France, called there by Jeanne D'Albret,
queen of Navarre. There he taught theology and
died at Orthez 1571.

142 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
The school, that Viret founded, grew unto a uni
versity, having among its professors some promi
nent men as Bucanus, professor of theology in the
sixteenth century. But the French population of
the district of Vaud did not always easily assimilate
with the German population of Bern north of them.
The professors of theology were inclined to more
liberal views. While Bern clung to high Calvinism,
this district inclined to the low Calvinism of the-
School of Saumur. Bern, however, compelled the
ministers and students to sign the Helvetic Con
sensus in 1675, although constant efforts were made
to lower the subscription to it as by adding "in
so far as it agrees with the Bible," or by a promise
not to teach publicly anything contrary to the creed.
The efforts of Bern to force subscription caused
the breach between French Vaud and German Bern
to widen, until it culminated in the revolt of Major
Davel in 1723. This revolt was suppressed and
Davel was executed ; but he has ever since been the
idol of the people of that canton. His bronze
statue is in the university-hall at Lausanne and its
cathedral has a tablet to his memory.
One of the most interesting institutions at Lau
sanne was the theological seminary founded there

Lausanne and Canton Vaud. 143
by Antoine Court, the great preacher of the Hugue
not Church of France, when Reformed worship
was forbidden in that land. He was the preacher
to that "Church of the desert," preaching secretly
in woods and caves and quarries. He has been
called the "Savior of the Huguenot Church," the
"second reformer of France," , Calvin being the
first. As the Huguenot ministers of France were
either dying off or being put to death at the stake,
it became necessary to replenish their ranks. To
found a theological seminary in France was out
of the question as the Huguenot faith was pro
scribed. So Court founded it at Lausanne, and
from 1728-1788 it sent out 188 young men. They
went back to France to preach in caves and woods,
many of them to suffer martyrdom. By this the
ological seminary, Lausanne saved the Reformed
Church of France, which it supplied with ministers.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century,
under the French dominion, Vaud was separated
from Bern and became a separate canton, much to
the joy of its inhabitants. In the early part of the
nineteenth century, the Church of Vaud was ortho
dox and looked upon the neighboring Church at
Geneva with suspicion because of its Socinianism.

144 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
But there was a good deal of dead orthodoxy and
opposition to evangelistic movements. ¦ With the
uprising of the worldly party in political matters in
1839, a breach was begun between Church and
state, when the state took away subscription to the
Second Helvetic Confession. From that time the
friction continued up to 1845, when a crisis occur
red. The state, after the old custom, ordered the
ministers to read a proclamation, which was purely
political, from their pulpits. Forty-one of the min
isters refused to do it, as it did not concern reli
gious things. The state ordered their punishment,
while the classes (the religious bodies), to which
they belonged, sustained them in their position. So
the state council proceeded to punish them. As a
result 153 ministers declared their separation from
the National Church and only 89 remained in it.
On March 12, 1847, those who separated founded
the Free Church of Vaud with 35 congregations.
The leading theologian of the Free Church was
Alexander Vinet. He was a native of Ouchy, the
port of Lausanne on Lake Geneva. He was born
in 1797. He had been professor at Basle for many
years where he gained great fame in French litera
ture. As early as 1826, he had written a pamphlet

Lausanne and Canton Vaud. 145
on "Liberty of Worship." He emphasized con
science in all his works, so that all his theological
writings tend to the ethical. He claimed that con
science could not be forced and therefore he taught
its liberty. He was a very stimulating thinker and
exerted a great influence on the French on the
ological questions, — so great, that he has been called
the French Schliermacher. He returned to Lau
sanne from Basle, just before the storm broke, to
become professor there. He then entered the Free
Church of Vaud, but did not live long after its
formation. But his love for religious liberty and
his great influence helped to crystalize this move
ment toward a Free Church.
With these pastors the National Church, lost the
most spiritual and aggressive element of the
Church. The Free Church, though small in num
bers, became a very active body and founded at
Lausanne a new theological school. About thirty
years ago, the Ritschlian theology of Germany
found an entrance into it, especially under Prof.
Astie, which caused a good deal of controversy. It
unfortunately destroyed much of the confidence
that was felt in the Free Church as being a bul
wark against heterodoxy. Still the Free Church

146 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
has been more evangelical than the National Church
of Vaud and has done a fine religious work.
Among the most important movements of the
Free Church of Vaud was the organization of a
Foreign Missionary Society. In Europe, in most
of the churches, the Foreign Missionary Societies
are not originally a part of the church, as with us
in America. They are usually voluntary organiza
tions, independent of the church. So that this act
of the Free Church in organizing its own mission
ary society marked a new step forward. It came
about in this way. In 1869 at the synod held at
Lausanne, a communication was received from
two of the students of its theological school at Lau
sanne, Paul Berthoud and Ernst Creux, asking the
Free Church to start its own mission to the heathen
and offering themselves as missionaries. The
synod was deeply moved by their appeal, but it
felt it was too small a body to undertake so great
a work. So it hesitated. But the Paris Missionary
Society, whose mission was to the Basutoes in
South Africa, sent word that they could use the
young men. So in 1872 these young men went to
South Africa under that society. In 1874 the Free
Church of Vaud decided to undertake the support

Lausanne and Canton Vaud. 147
of its own mission in South Africa at Spelonka,
in the northern part of the Transvaal, and sent
these missionaries there. They found great diffi
culties especially in the language and the morals
of the people. The blacks were under the power
of their medicine-men. But the missionaries push
ed forward their work and soon about one-fortieth
of the people attended worship and a few became
catechumens or seekers. Then, however, the Trans
vaal government turned against the missionaries
and forbade their preaching to the blacks. The
missionaries protested and finally were imprisoned
in 1876 at Marabasted. To make matters worse,
war broke out near Spelonken during their absence
and their wives were left without any protection.
But God took care of them. After a month's im
prisonment the missionaries were released, and a
month after their return had their first baptism, and
in two years,, there were forty converts. In 1883
the Free Churches of the other two French can
tons, Neuchatel and Geneva, united with the Free
Church of Vaud, in the support of this mission,
which enabled them to enlarge its work. It now
took the name of the Mission Romande and its of
fice is at Lausanne.

148 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
An interesting mission of this society is at Dela-
goa Bay, started 1882. Delagoa Bay has often
been called the "White Man's Grave," because of
the deadliness of its climate. This mission was
started by the converted blacks of the mission, and
its expenses born by them. A native missionary
was placed there and Berthoud occasionally visited
it, as he dared not live there on account of the cli
mate. A great revival broke out. By 1888, 300
had united with the Church. At the 25th anniver
sary of this society in 1898, its secretary, Mr.
Grandjean, who had himself been a missionary,
said, "Among the sheaves, we see many remarkable
ones. At the Littoral we see a number of women
whom we call mothers in Israel, a Lois, the living
centre of those at Rikatla and, at Lawrence
Marque's, a Sarah whose house, formerly a house
of infamy, became the first place of worship. We
have seen a great number of men changed from
laziness to activity and regularity. We have seen
heathen chiefs abandoning pagan lives of sensual
ity and becoming Christians, at the risk of loosing
their positions. We have seen a large number of
young men, who, from being pagans have become
evangelists. We have seen transformation in the

Lausanne and Canton Vaud. 149
family, in the individual, in society, in the relation
between the tribes and in the attitude of the gov
ernment." The statistics of this society in 1909 re
port 2,118 communicants, 155 missionaries and
$62,803 income.

STRASBURG CATHEDRAL

BOOK II.— GERMANY
Chapter I.— STRASBURG AND ITS MAJES
TIC CATHEDRAL.
THE first place in Germany where the Re
formed doctrines took root was the city
of Strasburg in western Germany, a few
miles distant from the Rhine. It is to-day a large
city of about 175,000 inhabitants. It was originally
a part of Germany, but was captured by France
under Louis XIV, and recaptured by the Germans
from France in 1870. Under France the city be
came French, and since Germany has acquired it,
they have been trying to make it German, even for
bidding the teaching of French in the public
schools, much to the disgust of the inhabitants.
Still since 1870 a great many Germans have moved
in, and the city by this time has become pretty well
Germanized. Germany always keeps a large gar
rison of soldiers there, as it is the citadel of south
western Germany and she will never permit France
to have any chance to retake it. It has almost im
pregnable fortifications and the German soldiers,

152 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
of whom there are 15,000 in the city, are every
where in evidence.
Strasburg is a qu'aint old-fashioned city, its
houses having steep roofs, meeting at a peak and
surmounted on top by a tall chimney. On many
of the chimneys is a stork's nest, with perhaps one
of these white birds sitting or standing thereon on
one leg. These storks look like the white watchmen
over the city. And while the German soldiers
watch the city below, these birds of peace, like si
lent sentinels watch it above. The storks go away
in winter to warmer climates but return every
spring to the same nest. It is considered good luck
to have a stork's nest on the house.
There are many interesting sights in Strasburg.
Sometimes the visitor in walking along the streets,
will catch a glimpse of a woman with an Alsatian
headdress — a large black bow tied on top of the
head, whose ends flap up and down like kites while
she walks.
The most important edifice in Strasburg is the
cathedral, a large building covering a square of
ground. It has two towers in front, but only one
of them is capped by a spire, which rises up like
a tall gigantic stone needle, piercing the heavens.

Strasburg and Its Majestic Cathedral. 153
It is one of the highest spires in Europe, 465 feet
above the ground. The distance from the roof of
the cathedral to the top of the spire is 200 feet, but
the view from the roof is fine. Over the wedge-
shaped roofs and storks' nests on the chimneys, can
be seen the flat plain around the city, on the east of
which flows the river Rhine. The interior of the
church is imposing. Its nave is 99 feet high, and
the building is 135 feet wide. In it is the famous
Strasburg clock. This is about fifty feet high and
is very old, having been begun in 1352, and its last
improvement having been made in 1842. It is,
therefore, the growth of centuries of inventions
and- has become a wonder in mechanism. On its
first gallery an angel strikes on a bell in his hand,
while a spirit by his side reverses the hour-glass.
Over him is a skeleton who shakes the hours.
Around are allegorical figures, representing youth,
manhood and old age. The clock goes through its
performance only at noon. Then the twelve apos
tles move around the figure of Christ. On the
highest pinnacle is perched a rooster which flaps
his wings, stretches his neck and crows, awakening
the echoes to the remotest part of the cathedral.
The clock in a wonderful way regulates itself,

154 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
adapting itself to the different seasons for an al
most unlimited number of years.
But this cathedral takes us back to the reforma
tion. Though Strasburg is now Catholic, it was
Reformed in the reformation for many years. Its
St. Lawrence chapel was the birth-place of the Re
formed religion in Strasburg. There Matthew Zell,
one of the early reformers of Strasburg began
preaching Protestantism in 1521 by expounding the
epistle to the Romans, that citadel of Protestantism,
which so clearly teaches justification by faith, over
against justification by works as taught by the
Catholics. This side-chapel soon became too small
for the crowds, that gathered to hear the new Gos
pel, so Zell began preaching in the great cathedral.
As the Catholic bishop forbade the preaching of
such doctrines in the pulpit of the cathedral, that
difficulty was easily overcome, for the carpenters
of the neighboring street made a portable pulpit,
which was carried into the church from which Zell
might preach and it was taken out after he was
done. Zell was greatly aided by his wife whom
he married 1525. Under her care his house became
an asylum for all persecuted refugees. On one oc
casion they received as many as eighty into their

Strasburg and Its Majestic Cathedral. 155
house. She was not only a great house-mother,
but also a literary character. She had a large cor
respondence and wrote a book to defend the Re
formed doctrines. Zell was soon joined in 1523
by two other men, who became with him the re
formers of Strasburg, Capito and Bucer, the latter
becoming the leader.
Martin Bucer came to Zell's house as a refugee
and his wife made him welcome. Zell loaned
Bucer his pulpit so he could preach in the cathe
dral. One day when he was preaching in the chapel
of St. Lawrence the monks went into the choir of
the cathedral and began singing their Latin ser
vices, intending to drown his voice in preaching.
It was singing against preaching, Catholicism
against Protestantism. Bucer' s hearers were great
ly enraged at this interruption. After expostulat
ing with the monks, they were about ejecting them
from the choir, when, as a riot threatened, the city
authorities intervened. This crisis, however,
brought the matter before the city council, who de
cided in favor of the Reformed and Bucer was
given the St. Aurelian's Church to preach in, where
he was pastor (1 524-1 531) when he became pastor
of St. Thomas. It happened that the St. Aurelian

156 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Church contained the body of a certain saint, fa
mous for his cures. Bucer preached so strongly
against this superstition that the saint's body was
taken out and by 1529 the reformers had secured
the abolition of the mass.
With Bucer, labored the other Strasburg reform
ers, Capito and Hedio. Bucer was the great peace
maker in the Church of the sixteenth century.
Luther and Zwingli had gotten into a great con
troversy over the doctrine of the Lord's Supper.
Bucer tried to heal the difference. Bucer was there
fore often rated by the Swiss as a follower of"
Luther and by the Lutherans as a follower of
Zwingli. His efforts brought Strasburg into close
political relations with Zurich. When the confer
ence was held at Marburg in 1529, where all the
leading reformers met, Bucer went there as the ad
herent of Zwingli. Zwingli and Ecolampadius
passed through Strasburg on their way to Mar
burg. They stayed twelve days and preached to
great crowds. As a result of this close intimacy of
Bucer with the Swiss, he was not permitted by the
Lutherans to sign the Augsburg Confession, when
it was presented to the Emperor at the German diet
of 1530. So Bucer prepared another Confession,

Strasburg and Its Majestic Cathedral. 157
the Confession of the Four Cities, the other cities
(beside Strasburg) that signed it being Constance,
Lindau and Memmingen. Later Bucer was very
active in the cause of union. He succeeded in get
ting Luther to agree to the Wittenberg Concord
in 1536, and went to Switzerland to try to get the
Swiss to agree to it. He thus hoped to bring the
Lutheran and Reformed Churches together. But
the Swiss did not accept it. And although it pre
vented Luther from controversy for years, the lat
ter finally broke out again against Zwingli. But
Bucer kept the peace for many years.
To the city of Strasburg came also John Calvin
in 1538, driven out of Geneva. He was given
charge of the newly organized French Church
there, composed of refugees from France, for Stras
burg was at that time German. At first his con
gregation worshipped in the Church of the Domin
icans, but afterwards the Church of St. Nicolas
near the 111 river was given to them. Calvin here
revealed his remarkable executive power, for he
thoroughly organized the Church according to the
Presbyterial order. He also introduced a French
liturgy based on Farel's and Bucer's, which after
wards became the model on which the later Gene-

158 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
van liturgy was based. Strange to say the only
copy in existence is said to have been destroyed in
the seige of Strasburg in 1870. But Calvin was
not only a pastor, but also a teacher. He gave
lectures on the different books of the Bible. He
thus became also the great exegete and commenta
tor of the reformation. For this his rare scholar
ship and fine judicial mind thoroughly prepared
him. At Strasburg he also found a wife in Idelette
Van Buren. And in his newly formed home, we
get a new glimpse of this great intellectual genius,
as a man of deep affection, large heart, deep sym
pathy and strong social ties.
Calvin's stay at Strasburg was also important in
another respect. It brought him into contact with
the reformers of Germany. Calvin was a French
man and naturally viewed things from that stand
point. But his vision was broadened here by con
tact with the reformers of Germany. He was thus
prepared to become a universal reformer, with sym
pathies which reached far beyond his city or his
own country. For Calvin, later reveals a grasp and
sympathy as wide as the then known world. Cal
vin became a cosmopolitan as his later correspond
ence shows. His stay at Strasburg was not merely

Strasburg and Its Majestic Cathedral. 159
of very great value to himself, in broadening him
but also of great importance to the reformers of
Germany. For he happened to be there at a criti
cal time for them. The Catholics were making
every effort by conferences and diets to win back
the Protestants. And Melancthon, who seemed to
be the leader of the Protestants, was inclined to be
yielding. Then it was that Calvin appeared to up
hold the Protestants. By his great ability as a
statesman, he commanded attention at these diets
and won respect. In them, too, he formed a very
close friendship for Melancthon. This was the
more remarkable because they represented different
churches which before had been in controversy, and
because they were so different in dispositions. This
friendship continued until the death of Melancthon.
Calvin, however, was recalled from Strasburg to
Geneva in 1541.
After Calvin's departure, a strong Lutheran re
action began in Strasburg under Marbach, one of
the ministers. He insisted on the introduction of
Luther's catechism and of Lutheran doctrines and
rites. Bucer had left for England in 1549, where
he died at Cambridge in 1551. However Prof.
John Sturm, the great teacher of western Germany,

160 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
remained. He was so famous that Melancthon and
he were called the "two eyes of Germany." Sturm
was a strong defender of the Reformed. When
Peter Martyr came back from England, the city
under Marbach's influence demanded of him to
sign the Augsburg Confession, whereas the Con
fession of the Four Cities had previously been
Strasburg's creed. Zanchius the Italian reformer
also was required to do the same thing, when he
entered the service of the Church at Strasburg.
He, however, aided by Prof. Sturm, boldly de
fended the Reformed doctrines. He was a man
of great ability, being one of the leading theolog
ians of his age. He also was compelled to leave.
And finally the Lutherans drove Sturm from the
rectorship of the university, where he had taught
for forty years. Zanchius became professor of
theology at Heidelberg, an assistant to Ursinus,
one of the authors of the Heidelberg catechism.
When Sturm died, the Reformed were forbidden
to worship in Strasburg and compelled to worship
at Wolfisheim (where the fort Prince Bismark
now is located). No Reformed worship was per
mitted in the city for two hundred years, until in
1789 it was again allowed.

Strasburg and Its Majestic Cathedral. 161
But in the meantime not only were the Reformed
driven out, but the Lutherans lost their hold as the
city was taken by the king of France. The great
cathedral was given back to the Catholics and is
Catholic to-day. Through all these changes, the
Reformed Church has continued to exist, not only
in Strasburg but in the neighboring region of Al
sace-Lorraine to which it belongs. The Reformed
church of Alsace-Lorraine now numbers about 50,-
000 adherents. It is being daily increased by Ger
mans moving thither, many of them from the
United or Evangelical church of Germany,
so-called because it is the union of the Luth
eran and Reformed Churches. They have been
trying to get the Reformed Church there to join
it but have not succeeded as yet. The Church is
regularly organized under a consistory, at whose
head is Rev. Mr. Piepenbring. The French Re
formed congregation is still in existence, located
at No. 4 Schildgasse and remains as the memorial
of Calvin. The university also has in it one profes
sor who is Reformed ; at present the Reformed pro
fessor is Prof. Smend.
During the eighteenth century, a very interest
ing character in the Reformed Church, happened

162 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
to study at Strasburg, named Yung Stilling. He
was born in Nassau Siegen in 1740 and studied
medicine at Strasburg 1771. He later became
prominent in German literature, but was also a stiff
adherent of evangelical religion, in an age when
rationalism seemed to have everything under its
sway. When he arrived at Strasburg to study he
had not a dollar in money. He was, however, a
man of great faith in God and he laid his case be
fore the Almighty. Just then he met a merchant
from Frankford, who asked him, "Where do you
get money to study?" He replied, "I have a rich
Father in heaven." "How much money have you?"
"One dollar." "Well, I am one of the Lord's stew
ards," he replied, and handed Stilling thirty-three
dollars. But he had been in Strasburg but a short
time, when his thirty-three dollars had again been
reduced to one. Again he prayed most earnestly
and lo! his room-mate came with thirty dollars in
gold. A few months after this, the time arrived
when he must either pay his fee to his professor,
or have his name stricken off the lecturer's list of
students. The money had to be paid by 6 p. m.
on a Thursday. He spent the day in prayer. Five
o'clock came and still there was no money. His

Strasburg and Its Majestic Cathedral. 163
anxiety made him break out into prespiration, and
his face was wet with tears. Then there came a
knock. It was the gentleman from whom he rent
ed his room, who asked him, how much money he
had. He told him. The gentleman returned with
forty dollars in gold, which was just enough to pay
his fees at the university and continue his studies.
He held that prayer was the secret of success. His
child-like faith in God was a marvel to the sneering
infidels of his day. His most prominent works are
Theobald, the Fanatic and his Autobiography.

Chapter II.— HEIDELBERG AND ITS
REFORMATION.
BUT Heidelberg, not Strasburg, was destined
to be the real birthplace of the Reformed
Church in Germany. Next to Zurich, Hei
delberg is the most sacred place to the German Re
formed, as Geneva is to the French and Edinburgh
to the Scotch. The Reformed doctrines, driven
out of Strasburg, found a permanent home in Hei
delberg. . ; ! if, Itt,
Heidelberg is one of the most picturesquely lo
cated towns in Germany and for beauty its ruined
castle is without a rival on that continent. The
city is located in a long narrow valley along the
Necker river, and consists mainly of two or three
parallel streets, between the river on the north
and the mountain on the south. At the mouth of
this narrow valley, the city spreads out in the
shape of a fan, into the new part of the city on the
south side of the river and into the suburb of Neu-
enheim on the north side of the river. Above the
city on the hill, to the south, perched like an eagle's
nest and overlooking it, is the' grand old ruined
castle, — its red sandstone towers being adorned
165

166 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
with creeping vines. Directly underneath the cas
tle huddled, like chickens under the mother's wings,
are the houses of the eastern end of the city.
The history of Heidelberg goes back to Roman
times. There is a legend that an enchantress,
named Jetta, lived there and that she was killed
by a wolf. Hence there is east of the castle up on
the mountain-side a place called the Wolfs-spring
(Wolfesbrunnen).* The town was originally set
tled by fishermen and sailors, who plied their trade
on the river Neckar. They built their huts along
the river, where they were joined by other trades.
Meanwhile the prince of the land, the Elector of the
Palatinate, attracted by the great strength of the
mountain south of Heidelberg built a castle half
way up the mountain-side. It was originally built
above its present location at the Molkencur. The
town gradually grew up from the river, and the
prince moved his castle down the mountain to its
present location, so that town and castle grew to
gether as they are to-day. In the old part of the
city, there are three Protestant Churches, the Holy

?There is an interesting novel based on this legend
called "Jetta," by Prof. Haus-rath, of the university,
which has been translated into English.

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 167
Ghost Church, which was the old parish Church of
the town, and is located in its centre, and the St.
Peter's Church, which is the university Church.
Both of these became Reformed in the reformation.
There is also a third church, the Providence Church
further west on the main street, which was Luth
eran and was founded during, the Thirty Years
war. All these churches, with others in the new
part of the city, are now in the United or Evangel
ical Church of Baden, of which duchy Heidelberg
is at present a part.
The prince of the Palatinate (whose capital as at
Heidelberg),* was called an Elector, because he,
with six others were the highest princes of the
realm, and had the right to elect a new Emperor,
when an Emperor died. And during the interim,
when there was no Emperor, the empire was ruled
by the Elector of the Palatinate as the senior Elec-

?There were two Palatinates, an Upper and a Lower,
both under this prince. The Upper Palatinate was lo
cated in the northeastern part of Bavaria, and had
Amberg for its capital. But the main part of the
Palatinate was this Lower Palatinate, which is located
along the Rhine from Darmstadt on the northeast to
Zweibrucken on the southwest; indeed, it extended
down the Rhine north of Mayence.

168 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
tor. The other Electors were of two kinds, the
spiritual Electors being the Electors of Mayence,
Treves and Cologne, the temporal Electors being
the Electors of the Palatinate, Saxony, Bradenburg
and later Bohemia. At the reformation all the
temporal Electors became Protestant, while the
spiritual Electors remained Catholic. Therefore
there was a life and death struggle on the part of
the Catholics, to retain the majority in the Elec
torate so as to elect a Catholic Emperor. Three
times the majority was about to pass over into
Protestant hands in the reformation. Twice the
Elector of Cologne became a Protestant, first when
Elector Herman, and later when Elector Gebhard
Truchsess, became Protestant. The third time was
when the Elector of the Palatinate was elected King
of Bohemia, which would make him hold two Elec
torates, one of the Palatinate and one of Bohemia
and thus give him two votes. To prevent this was
one of the causes of the awful Thirty Years war;
for the Catholics were ready to engage in a war
rather than loose their majority in the Electorate.
However, when in 1866 Prussia defeated Austria
on the battle of Sadowa, and in 1870 the German
empire was formed, Prussia came to the front and

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 169
Germany no longer had a Catholic Emperor but
a Protestant. What Protestantism had struggled
for in Germany since the reformation had then
come to pass.
The introduction of the reformation came late at
Heidelberg. True there had been certain signs of
it. Even before the reformation, in the days of
John Huss, his co-laborer Jerome of Prague, in
1406, visited Heidelberg and nailed theses on the
door of the St. Peter's Church just as Luther did
on the Church at Wittenberg in 15 17, as a call to
a disputation about the papacy. But the university
declared him a heretic, so "nobody heard him ex
cept the farmers and old people." A century
passed away and in the early days of the reforma
tion, when Martin Luther was still a member of
the Augustinian order, he visited Heidelberg in
1 5 18. He stayed at the Augustinian cloister.*
There he delivered an address, an eloquent discus
sion of the doctrine of justification by faith, which
produced a great impression on South Germany.
Some students, who heard it, as Bucer, later be
came reformers. But there was no permanent re-

?This was located where the university now stands.

170 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
suit. While other parts of Germany became Prot
estant, — the Palatinate still remained Catholic.
Nevertheless Protestant doctrines began to creep
in. And finally there came a clap of thunder out
of a clear sky. On the Sabbath before Christmas
(1545), just as the priest was about reading mass
in the Church of the Holy Ghost, the congregation
struck up a Protestant hymn. It was the then
celebrated hymn of Paul Speratus "Es ist das Heil
uns kommen her," translated thus :
Salvation hath come down to us
Of freest grace and love.
Works can not stand before God's law,
A broken reed they prove.
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone,
He must for all our sins atone,
He is our one Redeemer.
This hymn had quite a history in the days of the
reformation as it was the hymn sung at a number
of cities as Magdeburg, when Protestantism was
introduced. It is a doctrinal hymn, which empha
sized justification by faith over against justification
by works. The singing of this hymn at Heidel
berg led to the introduction of Protestantism into
the Palatinate. Elector Frederick II then permit-

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 171
ted the congregation to have its worship in the Ger
man language, instead of in the Latin, as is the cus
tom in the Catholic Church. And he also allowed
the priests to marry.
But Protestantism was not fully introduced until
the next Elector, Otto Henry, came to the throne.
He was an ardent Protestant, belonging to the low
or liberal Lutheran wing of the Lutheran Church.
Elector Otto Henry was a great patron of learning
and art, — thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the
Renaissance. He reorganized and enlarged the
University of Heidelberg, which was the oldest
university in Germany, saying he would endow it,
if it took his last dollar. He added to its library
very valuable books, so that the Palatinate library
became famous. He showed his love for art in his
addition to the castle, the Otto-Henry's Building,
which is one of the finest specimens of the Renais
sance in Germany.* The Otto-Henry Building
rises in three stories, richly ornamented with va
rious sculptures of Scripture characters, as Joshua,
Samson, etc., curiously mingled with heathen gods,

?The Renaissance was a revival of the classic lan
guages, art and architecture, and came just before the
reformation.

172 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
as Saturn, Mars and Hercules. There are also
allegorical figures of strength, justice, truth, char
ity and hope adorning the walls. Even in their
ruined condition they are impressive; what must
they have been when the building was new ! But
these improvements were cut short by the early
death of the Elector. He had considered his line
doomed, because his ancestor of the council of Con
stance had led Huss to be burned, notwithstanding
the safe-conduct given by the Emperor to Huss.
The successor of Otto Henry was Frederick III,
of another line, the Simmern line, in the northern
part of the Palatinate. He was one of the most
pious princes of that age of pious princes. If
Elector Frederick the Pious, of Saxony, may be
called the god-father of the Lutheran Church, the
German saint of the early reformation, this Fred
erick III of the Palatinate, may be called the god
father of the Reformed Church, the saint of the
later reformation. He it was, who, finding so much
strife and confusion in his territory on the ques
tion of doctrine, and the use of catechisms, ordered
a new catechism to be written, which is known
from the place of its publication as the Heidelberg
catechism. He found on his accession that the church

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 173
of the Palatinate was much divided. In form, it was
Lutheran, but Otto Henry in enlarging the univer
sity had called several professors, who were Re
formed, as Boquin a professor of theology, and
Erastus professor of medicine. On the other hand,
the superintendent or head of the Church was a
very narrow, headstrong Lutheran named Hess-\
huss. Between these two extremes there was a
middle party, indeed, two middle parties, the Me-
lancthonian which shaded toward the Lutheran,
and the Calvinistic, which shaded toward the Re
formed. The middle parties had the most adher
ents, and it remained to be seen which party would
gain additions. Hesshuss was so violent and
bigoted that he alienated the Melancthonians and
virtually drove them and the Calvinists like Bo
quin, and Zwinglians like Erastus, together. It
was only a question of time when, with so many
parties in the Church, matters would come to a cri
sis. A number of events occurred which revealed
the friction. We will give only one. During a
communion service in the Church of the Holy
Ghost at Heidelberg, Hesshuss snatched the cup
from Klebitz saying that he was unworthy to ad
minister it because he was a Zwinglian (and there-

174 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
fore in his eyes a heretic). The Elector, wearied
of the strife, dismissed them both as the surest way
to peace. But this was a severer blow to the high
Lutherans than to the Reformed, for it deprived
them of their leader; while the leaders of the Re
formed still remained in Erastus and Boquin. Hess
huss went away, but, by his headstrong disposi
tion and polemic temper, was dismissed seven times
and finally died in exile.
In 1560, when the daughter of the Elector Fred
erick III was to be married to the Duke of Saxony,
there was a conference at Heidelberg, at which the
Reformed doctrines were openly defended by Bo
quin and Erastus. In 1561 Frederick went farther
and began reforming the Church by introducing the
simplicity of the Reformed. Altars, baptismal
fonts, wafers, Latin singing and the worship of
pictures were set aside. The final act of Frederick
III in going over to the Reformed was his publica
tion, in 1562, of a book on "Breadbreaking at the
Communion," in which he urged the use of bread
instead of wafers, at the communion. Finally, to
avoid the old disputes and to bring the Church into
harmony, he ordered two of his ministers, Ursinus,
a professor of theology, and Olevianus, the super-

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 175
intendent of the Church, to prepare a catechism,
which they did.* It was published early in 1563,
with the Elector's sanction and is known as the
Heidelberg Catechism, one of the greatest of the
creeds of the Reformed Church.
The authors of this remarkable book deserve spe
cial notice. Zachariah Ursinus was an East-Ger
man. He was born at Breslau (1534) and studied
at the University of Wittenberg under Melancthon.
Even in his student days he had leanings toward
the Reformed, which were deepened by travel.
After his studies at Wittenberg were over he vis
ited Switzerland. But he returned (1558) to Bres
lau as teacher in the parochial school of St. Eliza-
heth's Church. At that time the Lutheran Church
was dividing into two camps, a narrow high-Luth
eran party, led by Flacius, and a liberal or low-
Lutheran party, led by Melancthon. Ursinus as
a pupil of Melancthon, taught Melancthon's views
of doctrine, and soon called down upon his head
the wrath of the high Lutherans of Breslau. In
deed recent investigations reveal that their suspi-

?For full account of Elector Frederick III, Ursinus
and Olevianus, see my Origin of the Reformed Church
of Germany.

176 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
cions of him as departing from the Lutheran faith
were not groundless. For Ursinus' letters reveal
that already at Breslau he was inclining toward the
Reformed view though still claiming to be a fol
lower of Melancthon.* So he resigned at Breslau.
But whither should he go. He went to Wittenberg
where he would have stayed had Melancthon been
living. As Melancthon was now dead, his friends
wanted him to remain. If he had, he would have
become the great theologian of the Melancthonians.
For they greatly needed a theologian, being later
led by a physician, Peucer, the son-in-law of Me
lancthon. But Ursinus foresaw the conflicts before
them, which finally sent Peucer to prison for his
views. So he would not stay, but went to Zurich:
Indeed many years before, when he was on a visit
to Zurich, Fries had said to him, that if he ever
needed an asylum, he would find it in Zurich.
When he got to Zurich he found that Peter Martyr
had come there to aid Bullinger in teaching. Peter
Martyr toned up the Calvinism of the Zurich
Church. Ursinus now restudied the doctrine of
predestination in the light of Scripture and passed

?See article "Ursinus," in Houck's Theological En
cyclopaedia.

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 177
over entirely to the Reformed views, to which he
had been so long inclining. Peter Martyr was
called to Heidelberg as professor, but he declined
and recommended Ursinus, who accepted the call
and went to Pleidelberg in 1561. This added a
powerful theological thinker to the ranks of the
Reformed at Heidelberg. There he taught in the
university and was head of the College of Wisdom,
which was founded on the old Augustinian cloister
for the training of young men for the ministry.
The other author of the Heidelberg Catechism,
Casper Olevianus, was a west-German, born at
Olewig near Treves, from which he Latinized his
name into Olevianus. Treves, then as now, was
the city of the Holy Coat, where the Catholics still
show, what is reputed to be the holy coat of Christ.*

?Treves is interesting for its relics of the Roman
period. It had the basilica of Constantine. The old
Roman gate Porta Nigra or Black Gate, is a three-
storied sandstone structure about 100 feet high, through
which are two entrances. It is so old that its blocks
are fastened together, not by mortar, but by iron bars,
and it is black with age. It was built in the third cen
tury after Christ. The basilica or court-house of
Constantine the Great is there, as are also the ruins
of Roman baths and a Roman amphitheatre half as
large as the Colosseum at Rome and holding 30,000
people.

178 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
He went to France to study law at the University
of Bourges. But while there, a providence turned
his mind to the ministry. While walking along the
banks of the river with the son of Elector Freder
ick III of the Palatinate, the latter was tempted by
some students to get into a boat to cross the river.
But some of the students had been drinking wine.
They began rocking the boat so that it was over
turned and the prince thrown into the water and
drowned. Olevianus saw his danger and rushed
into the water to save him, only to loose his foot
ing in the muddy bottom of the river. As he thus
hung between life and death, he made a vow that
if God would save him, he would enter the min
istry. Just at that time, a servant of the prince
came rushing to the shore and, mistaking Olevianus
for the prince, pulled him out of the water. Ole
vianus, however, completed his studies for law at
Bourges, but then went to Geneva to study the
ology at the feet of Calvin.
While there he became deeply anxious for the
spiritual welfare of his native city Treves, which
was sunk in the grossest superstitions of Romanism.
He tried to get others to go there and, finding no

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 179
one ready, he went back himself. In 1560 he be
came a teacher in an endowed school at Treves.
But he soon began adding to the course some of
Melancthon's teachings. And on a summer day in
1560, he boldly nailed a notice on the city-hall,*
inviting the citizens to a religious disputation in his
school on a Sunday morning. To the crowd, who
came, he preached the Gospel of justification by
faith. This caused a tremendous sensation, but
so many members of the city council inclined to
Protestantism, that the council gave him the use of
a small church.f Nearly half of the citizens in
clined to the Gospel, which is very remarkable,
when we remember what a hot-bed of Catholicism
Treves had been. But the Elector of Treves hear
ing of what was taking place, came back from
Augsburg with an army. The citizens closed the
gates against him but through some of the Catholics
within the city he finally got an entrance into the
city and took possession of it. He threw Olevianus
into prison and ordered the Protestants to leave the
city. Then it Was that Elector Frederick III re-

*Now the Red House in the market.
fT-ie St. Jacob's church in the Fleischgasse, later a
hospital, now used as dwellings.

180 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
membered the friend of his son, who had been
drowned. He had him released and invited him
to Heidelberg, first as professor and then as su
perintendent of his Church.
It happened at Treves, as afterward in France,
that the expulsion of so many of its best citizens
checked the prosperity of the city, so that it is
now only a second-rate city of 45,000. To celebrate
this expulsion of the Protestants, the Catholics held
a procession on Whitmonday, called the "Olevian
Procession," which is still kept up. For 250 years
no Protestant service was allowed in the city.
However Protestantism in the nineteenth century
gained an entrance into Treves and there are now
about 3,500 adherents there, who worship in the
old basilica of Constantine.
These were the young men, the one 26, the other
28 years of age, who wrote the immortal Heidel
berg Catechism. But for publishing this catechism
a great storm began gathering around the head of
Elector Frederick III. The Lutherans conspired
against him, especially the Duke of Wurtemberg.
So a conference was held at Maulbronn in Wurtem
berg near the Palatinate border April 10, 1564, but
it did not bring them together. It rather divided

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 181
them the more, especially the new doctrine of ubi
quity, which was then becoming prominent in the
Lutheran Church, and which the low-Lutherans
and Reformed rejected.
Matters came to a crisis in 1566, as Frederick
III was summoned to appear before the diet at
Augsburg in May, 1566, to answer for the publi
cation of his catechism.* The enemies of Freder
ick looked upon the publication of the Heidelberg
Catechism as an infringement of German law, which
permitted Protestantism only in the Augsburg con
fession and Lutheranism. When Frederick left
Heidelberg to go to the diet, many of his people
expected he would be deposed, indeed many never
expected again to see him alive, and indeed a
rumor of his death reached Heidelberg, which for
tunately proved untrue. When called before the
diet, he entered the room, his son John Casimir
carrying a Bible for him. In a most eloquent ad
dress he declared that if they would prove his cate
chism to be not in accord with the Bible, he would

?The diet met in the palace of the archbishop, per
haps in the very room on the second floor where
Melancthon presented the Augsburg Confession to the
Emperor in 1530.

1 82 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
give it up. But if it was true to the Bible, he was
willing to give up everything for his Saviour, who
had promised, "that whatsoever we lose on earth
for his sake, we should receive a hundredfold in
the life to come." His address made a profound
impression and one of the listening princes said to
him, "Fritz, you are more pious than the rest of
us." So his catechism was permitted to be used,
although it and the Reformed Church did not have
legal standing in Germany, until the end of the
Thirty Years war (1648) when the Reformed by
name were included in the treaty.
The good Elector Frederick III, having caused
the catechism to be composed and having defended
it so ably, lived till 1576, and then was called to
his fathers, leaving a blessed heritage of faith to
those who came after him.* Before leaving the

?For an interesting account of the introduction of
the Reformed faith into the Palatinate, a very instruc
tive novel has appeared in German, entitled "Einer ist
euer Meister," by Sigmund Sturm. The name of the
author is a pseudonym of Prof. J. H. A. Ebrard, the
great theologian and this was the greatest of his
novels. We might also add that there is another
novel translated into English, entitled "Klytia," by
Prof. Hausrath, which describes the period of the

Heidelberg and Its Reformation. 183
Heidelberg Catechism we will give a recent tribute
to it by Rev. Alexander Smellie of Scotland: "It
is warm, spiritual, unctional no less than exact and
convincing. No one thinks of a catechism and a
poem as having any affinity with each other, yet
the Heidelberg catechism has all the characteristics
of prose-poetry. The authors of the Westminster
catechism have chosen the objective method stating
truth in the form of dogma, the writers of the Hei
delberg — the subjective method, telling others the
gladness that has touched and transfigured their
own souls. The books of Geneva and Westminster
are like statues — accurate, well-proportioned, im
pressive but immobile and somewhat cold. The
book of Heidelberg is like a. living man. Some of
the features of the man may not be so unerringly
cut as those of the statue but it has within him that
of which it is destitute — a beating pulse and a quiv
ering heart."

writing of the Heidelberg Catechism. He is unfair
to Olevianus and the Reformed, but still it is inter
esting.

Chapter III.— HEIDELBERG AND ITS RUIN
ED CASTLE.
THE Palatinate was destined to pass through
many changes. At the death of Elector
Frederick III, his son Lewis ascended the
throne. He was a strict Lutheran. As the German
law at that time was "like prince, like people"
Lutheranism was again introduced as the religion
of the land and the Reformed were driven out. But
the .younger brother of Lewis, Count John Casimir,
was strongly Reformed and gave the persecuted
Reformed an asylum in his little territory at Neu-
stadt on the Haardt, southwest of Heidelberg.
There he founded a new Reformed university.*
This university he desired should take the place of
the Heidelberg University, which had now been
made Lutheran. He called to it all the Reformed
professors of Heidelberg except Olevianus. Ur
sinus, Zanchius and Tremellius made this new uni
versity famous. These professors published a Re
formed Bible in German, — the- Neustadt Bible.
There Ursinus died after a useful, laborious life

?The university building is now used as a school-
building and is called the Casimirium. 185

186 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
October 12, 1583, and was buried in the choir of
the old church at Neustadt. Olevianus, when
driven out of Heidelberg, went to Herborn in Nas
sau.* But Elector Lewis died soon (1583) and the Re
formed doctrines were reintroduced by his brother
Count John Casimir, who became regent for the
young prince, who later became Elector Frederick
IV, and who was Reformed. Thus was fulfilled
the prophecy of Elector Frederick III when dying,
as he had said "Lewis will not do it but Fritz will
do it." This prince built for himself a new wing
of the castle at Heidelberg, named after him the
"Frederick's Building." In it was a chapel, and
under it is to-day the famous tun of Heidelberg, an
immense cask, holding 49,000 gallons. Under Fred
erick IV, the university became famous under
Pareus, Tossanus and H. Alting, as professors of
theology. But darker times were to come. The Protestants
led by Frederick IV of the Palatinate, formed the
Protestant Union. This led the Catholics to form
the Catholic League. It was only a question of

?See Chapter IV of this book for Herborn.

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 187
time when matters would come to a crisis between
them. This occurred under the reign of the next
Elector of the Palatinate, Frederick V, the son of
Frederick IV. This young prince married the
daughter of King James I of England. For this
daughter of a king, he built a new wing to the cas
tle at Heidelberg called the "English Building,"
at the west end of the castle, and also laid out at
great expense, a most beautiful park around the
castle, so beautiful that it is said to have rivalled
the gardens at Versailles near Paris. But in an
evil hour, Elector Frederick V accepted the throne
of Bohemia, which brought against him all the
military force of the Emperor Ferdinand of Ger
many, who also claimed the throne of Bohemia.
Then the Catholic League lined up against the
Protestant Union. This conflict started the awful
Thirty Years war (1618-48). After a short reign
. of a year at Prague, Frederick V was defeated at
the battle of White Mountain near Prague.* By
this defeat he lost not only Bohemia, but also his
hereditary land of the Palatinate. He was driven
out of Germany and became an exile in Holland.

?See Book III, Chapter VI.

188 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
His land, the Palatinate, was given by the Em
peror of Germany to the Catholic Duke of Bavaria,
who was made an Elector.
Then began a reign of terror in the Palatinate as
it was overrun by Bavarian and Spanish forces.
Heidelberg was captured in 1622 by the Austrians
under Tilly, whose soldiers plundered the city.
Prof. H. Alting, one of the Reformed professors of
theology, started to flee through the back door of
his house, when an Austrian lieutenant met him
and said "I have killed ten men to-day. If I knew
where Prof. Alting was, he would be the eleventh."
But Prof. Alting succeeded in escaping. The cel
ebrated Palatinate library, which Elector Otto
Henry had done so much to gather and was one of
the finest libraries of its day,* was carried away
and given to the Pope of Rome. So bitter was the
feeling of the inhabitants of Heidelberg against
this robbery, that nobody would help the Austrians
pack it up to be sent away and the Austrians had
to get the material for packing it from Worms and
Spire. The Pope and the Catholic powers howled
together for joy, that this German Geneva-Heidel-

?It was kept in the church of the Holy Ghost.

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 189
berg, the capital of Calvin's doctrines in Germany,
was now under Catholic control. During this war,
the Reformed ministers were driven out and re
placed by Catholic priests. On May 13, 1627, all
the citizens of Heidelberg were summoned to the
city-hall and commanded to return to the Catholic
Church. They refused to do so, declaring they
would rather give up everything than give up their
faith. Many emigrated to other lands.
When Gustavus Adolphus made his triumphal
march over Germany, the Swedish troops recap
tured Heidelberg (1632) and the Reformed Uni
versity was re-opened. But soon the death of
Gustavus Adolphus blasted the hopes of the Re
formed, especially as their prince, Elector Freder
ick V died just after Gustavus Adolphus. In 1635
the Bavarian army again captured Heidelberg.
The Palatinate now became the theatre of opposing
armie's, who lived off of the inhabitants, one army
taking what the other had left. Famine and pesti
lence followed close on war. Many Reformed emi
grated and many who remained had to live in mis
erable huts. The population so decreased that by
the end of the war there were only 200 farmers in
all the rich Palatinate. Indeed it was said, there

190 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
were more wolves than men around Heidelberg.
Finally peace came in 1648, when the Reformed
were legally recognized, and the Palatinate was
given back to its legal line of princes. Then the
son of Elector Frederick V, Elector Charles Lewis
was made the Elector.*
For forty years the Palatinate had peace. Pros
perity returned. The Reformed University was
reopened and prominent professors called to it, as
Hottinger and Fabricius. The Reformed Church
was reorganized and it rapidly recovered itself, es
pecially as many who had emigrated during the
war now returned. Elector Charles Lewis died in
1680 and was succeeded by his son Charles, who
died in 1685. However, during his brief reign, he
thoroughly reorganized the Reformed Church in
its synods and classes. He aimed to be a second
Frederick III, as pious, as Puritanic, as Reformed.
Fortunate it was that the Church was thus prepared
for the awful ordeal before her.
Then began a century of persecutions for the

?A very interesting story of the sufferings of Heidel
berg during the Thirty Years war is given in English
in a novel by Henry James, entitled "Heidelberg."

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 191
Reformed of the Palatinate. With the death of
Charles a double calamity occurred : *
1. The ruling family of the Palatinate now be
came Catholic as Charles had left no heirs and the
succession passed to another branch of the family.
2. Just at that time, because of this change of
rulers, King Louis XIV, of France laid claim to
the Palatinate, because his brother, the Duke of
Orleans, had married Elizabeth Charlotte (often
called Lize-Lotte), the sister of the later Elector
Charles. He suddenly precipitated a large army on
the Palatinate with the terrible command, "Ravage
the Palatinate. If the German Emperor wants the .
land I will carry the torch before him." After cap
turing the Palatinate, the work of destroying it
began in January, 1689. Twelve hundred villages
and towns went up in smoke and forty thousand
people were made homeless in the dead of winter.
Heidelberg was destroyed by the French General
Melac, who set fire to the town, and blew up the
castle March 2, 1689. But in blowing it up, he
made it the most picturesque ruin in Europe. The

?For these persecutions in the Palatinate see my
'History of the Reformed Church of Germany."

192 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
city of Manheim, near Heidelberg, he reduced to
a stone-heap, so that it was difficult afterward to'
locate the position of the streets.
Then five years later, as if all this destruction
were not enough, the French army returned in
1693 to complete the destruction. Heidelberg was
again captured by them. This time they drove the
Reformed people into the great church of the city,
the Church of the Holy Ghost. They then set it
on fire and it looked as if all within would be
burned up in the church in an awful holocaust.
"There was such a wailing and crying," says an
eye-witness, "as would make a stone weep." Fi
nally when the steeple of the church was in flames
and the bell threatened to fall, the French opened
the doors and drove the people into the garden of
the neighboring Capuchin cloister, where many
were killed and many suffered sufferings worse
than death. Some had already died of fright in
the church. The only building that passed safely
through that period unscathed by fire is the beau
tiful Knights Hall,* opposite the Church of the
Holy Ghost, which had been built in 1692 by a

?Now the Riter Hotel.

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 193
Huguenot. The Church of the Holy Ghost was
now in ruins, without a roof, and yet in the ruins
the Reformed people held their worship. And at
Manheim the Reformed pastor preached in the
midst of the ruins and divided his last crust of
bread with his suffering people.*
But when the French had departed and the per
secutions of war were over, then came the perse
cutions of peace. And these were even harder to
bear than those of war. The Elector being a Cath
olic, the Catholics tried in every way to gain power.
Every effort was made to weaken the Reformed
and to strengthen the Catholics. It was the old
fable of the camel who asked the owner of the tent,
first to be permitted to put his nose into the tent,
then his body and then himself, so that finally there
was no room at all for the owner and his family in
the tent. So the Catholics first asked for the use
of the Reformed church-bells to be rung for Cath
olic services, then for the use of Reformed grave
yards. Soon the Elector John . William, declared
that all the Reformed Churches were open to the

?A very interesting novel in German on the period
of these French wars (1688-93) is entitled "The Rose
of Heidelberg," by Robiano.

194 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Catholics to hold their worship in them. He called
this the Simultaneum, holding that this was giving
an equality of rights to both Catholics and Prot
estants in the church-buildings. But the unequality
is shown by the fact that he never opened any of
the Catholic Churches for Reformed worship.
Children of mixed marriages were forced to become
Catholics. When the pyx was carried through the
streets, the Protestants were required to kneel as
it passed. Many escaped this by going down a
neighboring street, when they saw it coming. Prot
estants were forbidden to work on Catholic festival-
days. Matters came to such a pass that finally the
Protestants, in 1703, made an appeal to the Prot
estant states of Germany. These took up their
case and threatened reprisals on the Catholics in
their dominions. The King of Prussia threatened
to take away the Catholic Churches at Halberstadt
and Magdeburg from the* Catholics. This forced
the Elector of the Palatinate to terms and in 1705
he stopped the persecutions. But the Church of
the Holy Ghost at Heidelberg, now rebuilt, was di
vided into two parts by a division wall, the Catho
lics taking the choir for their worship and the Prot
estants taking the nave.

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 195
But this better state of affairs continued only
for a short time. A new Elector, Charles Philip,
came to the throne in 171 6. He was more bigoted
than the former Elector, having been educated by
the Jesuits. By 1719 the persecutions became un
bearable again. Soon after his accession, he for
bade the use of the Heidelberg Catechism, because
its eightieth answer called the mass "an accursed
idolatry." He was especially angered at this be
cause its title-page bore the coat of arms of the
Palatinate, having been put there by Elector Fred
erick III when the catechism was first printed.
Then he went farther and took the Church of the
Holy Ghost at Heidelberg from the Reformed,
breaking down the partition wall in it and taking
not only the choir as before, but the whole church,
for Catholic worship. This occurred September 4,
1719. The Reformed now had no place of worship
as their churches were all taken from them. So
they had to worship in the open air at Monchhof,
then an open square east of the Church of the Holy
Ghost. Finally the Reformed, driven to despera
tion, again appealed to the Protestant states of
Germany for aid. These took up their case and
finally ordered reprisals. The King of Prussia or-

196 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
dered the Catholic Church at Minden to be closed,
the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel ordered the Catho
lic Church at St. Goar to be closed and King
George of Hanover (and of England) closed the
Catholic Church at Celle. These were to remain
closed as long as the Holy Ghost Church at Heidel
berg was closed to the Reformed.
This brought the Elector and the Catholics to
terms. But the Elector uttered the threat that
if he were compelled to give back the Church of the
Holy Ghost to the Reformed, he would leave Hei
delberg and make his- capital at Manheim. He
prophesied that Heidelberg would degenerate into
a mere village. So the Church of the Holy Ghost
was given back to the Reformed, the partition wall
in it was rebuilt, the Catholics taking the choir and
the Reformed the nave as before.* The Heidelberg
Catechism was again allowed to be used by the
Elector, but without the Electoral coat-of-arms on
the title-page. And the Elector removed his capital
to Manheim, but Heidelberg did not degenerate into

?Since the organization of the Old Catholic Church
in 1871, the choir has been given to them. But they
have become almost Evangelical in doctrine, although
their worship is modeled after the Catholics.

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 197
a village. When the next Elector, Charles Theo
dore, came to the throne the Catholics pursued an
other tact. As they had found they could not de
stroy the Reformed by persecutions from without
their church, so now they attempted to destroy the
church by corruption within, — by corrupting the
consistory if possible and by introducing the prac
tice of simony, by which places in the Church were
bought and sold. Against this the Reformed
classes protested. For this the Elector then for
bade the classes to meet. The Church appealed
again to the Protestant states of Germany. But by
that time the Protestant states had grown tired of
controversy and so the Reformed got no help.
Finally that Catholic line of princes died out in
1799 and another line came to the throne. The
new Elector, Max Joseph, was a Catholic, but was
a liberal Catholic, like Emperor Joseph of Austria.
On June 25, 1799, he issued an edict of toleration
giving the Reformed equal rights. This prince re-
founded (1803) the University of Heidelberg, mak
ing it a union university, at which both Lutherans
and Reformed occupied chairs. It was not, how
ever, till 1812 that the land again fell to a Prot
estant prince, when it was given to the Duke of

198 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Baden. Thus the Reformed suffered for a century
and more the greatest oppressions. The wonder
was that, after all they had suffered, there was any
church left there. Nevertheless in 1783, there were
240 Reformed parishes in the Palatinate and 140,-
000 members over against 90,000 Catholics and 50,-
000 Lutherans.
A new era now began to dawn on the Reformed
Church. The university having been made union
Baden was prepared to follow the move of Prussia
in 1817 in uniting the Lutheran and Reformed
Churches, so that now there is only one state church
in the Palatinate, the Evangelical or United Church,
made up of Lutherans and Reformed. But as the
majority of them are Reformed, they have af
fected the consciousness of that Church more than
the Lutheran. Hence the form of worship is sim
pler than in the Lutheran parts of Germany. There
is rarely a crucifix found on the communion table.
Instead of using wafers as the Lutherans do at the
Lord's Supper, bread is used after the custom of
the Reformed. And although many of the Luth
erans still bow when they receive the elements at
the Lord's Supper, the Reformed do not. The
Presbyterial form of government has been intro-

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 199
duced, so that even the Lutheran Churches are now
Presbyterial. Over the classes and synods is a
consistory appointed by the state. This Palatinate
Church underwent a severe controversy with ra
tionalism about the middle of the nineteenth cen
tury, about a new hymn-book. Dr. Ebrard, the lead
er of the Evangelicals, was compelled to resign.
Since then the Church has been mainly under the
control of the rationalists, although there is a
strong Evangelical minority.
The university reflected the changes in the
Church. It had some very strong professors, —
Charles Daub was made professor (1 795-1 836), a
brilliant mind, the Talleyrand of philosophy, be
cause he changed so often, — first a Kantian, then
a follower of Schelling, and finally an adherent of
Hegel. Daub was the honored teacher of Presi
dent F. A. Rauch of Marshall College, Mercers-
burg, Pa. Later came Prof. Paulus, the great
rationalist, and also Prof. Schenkel, originally
Evangelical in Switzerland, but at Heidelberg he
became a very partisan rationalist. Charles Ull-
man was professor from 1821 to 53. He was more
orthodox than Daub. Yet he did not represent the
old Calvinism of this university, which gradually

200 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
died out during the eighteenth century as ration
alism came in. The university for two centuries
was Calvinistic as were Ursinus Pareus and Junius
in reformation times. But Ullman represented the
new theology of Germany, called the Mediating
Theology, founded by Schliermacher, which aimed
to mediate between orthodoxy and pantheism.
True he represented the orthodox tendency of that
mediating school, but he was not fully Reformed,
but occupied a general evangelical position. He
founded a great German theological Review called
the "Studien and Kritiken." He was made head
of the Church of Baden and later died (1865) with
the words of the famous German hymn on his
lips, "O Sacred head, now wounded." He was a
defender of mild orthodoxy. But since his day the
university has swung over strongly to rationalism,
so that now, out of the nine professors of theology
only one is evangelical. And he is not Reformed
but a mild Lutheran or evangelical by birth, Prof.
Lewis Lemme. But he is a valiant defender of or
thodoxy, having been especially noted in his con
troversy with the new school of rationalistic Ger
man theology, the Ritschlian School.
The history of the re-establishment of evangel-

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 201
ical worship in Heidelberg is a sad but interesting
illustration of the condition of religion in many
cities in Germany, due especially to the seculariz
ing of religion by its union with the state. The
rationalists, having gained control of the univer
sity, soon gained control of the city and would not
permit a Positive or Evangelical minister to be
elected. Twice the Evangelicals tried to elect an
Evangelical pastor, but were defeated especially
through the influence of the rationalistic Prof.
Schenkel. The few Evangelicals longed for the
old Gospel and starved on the miserable husks of
rationalism. In 1867, a princess of Oldenburg hap
pened to live at Heidelberg for the education of
her sons. Not satisfied with the rationalistic
preaching in the churches, she had private worship,
to which the Evangelicals came, so that gradually
a small congregation gathered. But she left the
next year, and then they asked the city authorities
that a weekly Bible-lecture be granted them in the
St. Peter's church on Wednesday afternoons. They
were refused. This led them to form their own
Evangelical Society and in 1869 to begin religious
services of their own. Although their room was
small and the seats uncomfortable yet prominent

202 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
visitors who avoided rationalistic worship would
attend, as the Queen of Sweden, the Prince of
Mecklenberg and Field Marshall Manteuffel. In
1 87 1 they again tried to have an Evangelical pastor
elected but were defeated. So in 1876, they built
their own chapel on the Ploack street and started
a Sunday school. They were ignored at first by the
rationalistic pastors and ridiculed by outspoken ra
tionalists, but they kept on doing a good work
having now their own pastor. Quite a large con
gregation has formed itself at this city mission.
Meanwhile, the rationalists, finding that they could
not keep Evangelical religion out of Heidelberg,
finally allowed the election of an assistant pastor,
*who was an Evangelical. And now one of the pas
tors is Evangelical, Rev. Mr. Goetz, at the Holy
Ghost church. Where twenty years ago in the
Holy Ghost church at a service, the only Evangel
ical part was the hymn as we heard them sing,
"Jesus receiveth sinners" ("Jesus nimmt die Sun
der an"), last winter we heard in the same church
a very strong outspoken eloquent sermon by Rev.
Mr. Goetz, on "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of
Christ." It seems strange that Evangelical Chris
tianity must fight for its very existence in Chris-

Heidelberg and Its Ruined Castle. 203
tian lands, but this case at Heidelberg could be du
plicated in many places abroad. Rationalism is
often illiberal, very illiberal. And its inconsistency
is all the more glaring, because it so loudly pro
fesses such liberality.*

?To the tourist who visits Heidelberg, the interesting
places in its church history are the castle, the uni
versity, the Holy Ghost church and St. Peter's church,
in whose choir, are some interesting tombs, among them
that of Olympia Morata the great female Greek schol
ar of the reformation. On the Haupt-strasse is the
Museum, which used to be in the castle, containing
many fine pictures of the different Electors and also
of prominent professors in the university; also a fine
collection of Frankenthal porcelain, etc. It contains
a third edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, published
IS63.

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL

Chapter IV.— THE BEAUTIFUL RHINE-
LAND AND THE COLOGNE
CATHEDRAL.
THE Rhine, the beautiful Rhine, is the most
picturesque river in Europe, its sides being
castled crags, covered with rich vineyards.
These, with their legends, make the Rhine very
wierd and romantic. The Rhine is not so large and
grand as our Hudson, yet it is doubly interesting
when to the natural scenery is added the religious
history. The Rhine region in many parts was Re
formed land. For the Reformed doctrines spread
northward from Heidelberg.
Indeed before the Reformed doctrines had en
tered Heidelberg, two places had already heard
them. One was Marburg, which lies east of the
Rhine district, about 70 miles northeast of Frank-
ford on the Main. Marburg is beautifully located
in the narrow valley of the Lahn, the town rising
like steps around the hill, until it culminates in the
picturesque castle on the hill-top. In this castle
occurred the conference to which we referred in
the life of Zwingli, when Luther and Zwingli were
brought together. The ruler of that district of
Germany in the reformation was Landgrave
205

206 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Philip of Hesse, a brave statesmen and aggressive
prince. He determined to unite the Reformed and
Lutheran Churches if possible, so that they might
present a united front to Catholicism. So he in
vited Luther and Melancthon to come from Wit
tenberg; and the Reformed leaders, Zwingli from
Zurich, Ecolampadius from Basle and Bucer and
Capito from Strassburg. Luther came unwillingly
and when climbing the hill to the castle, tradition
says, he kept repeating the words about the Lord's
Supper, "This is my body." They met on Octo
ber I, 1529. The first day was spent in private
conference, the Landgrave putting the aggressive
Luther with the mild Ecolampadius and the ardent
Zwingli with the more mediating Melancthon.
These conferences prepared the way for the pub
lic conference held the next day, when all the re
formers gathered before the two princes, the Land
grave of Hesse and the Duke of Wurtemberg, and
discussed the Lord's Supper. Luther wrote in
chalk on the table before him the words, "This is
my body," so as to prevent himself from making
any concessions. Zwingli held that the meaning of
those words was to be taken figuratively. Luther
held that it was literal, not figurative.
On the next day, unfortunately, the English

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 207
plague broke out in the crowded town, which broke
up the conference. But before the reformers sep
arated, the landgrave tried to get them to unite.
Zwingli held out his hand for union. But Luther
refused, saying "You have another spirit." Finally
fifteen articles of faith were drawn up, called the
"Marburg Articles," to which, they all agreed, ex
cept to the article about the Lord's Supper, where
the Lutherans and the Reformed differed. So the
two Churches were not united and the reformers
went to their respective homes. But the effect of
the conference was to open the eyes of Germany
to what Zwinglianism or the Reformed doctrines
really were. The Lutherans had thought that the
Reformed were Arians and held to heretical doc
trines. They were surprised to find, that, except
on the Lord's Supper, the Reformed agreed with
them. It can not be said, who was victorious in the
debate at Marburg, Luther or Zwingli. But Lam
bert of Avignon, the reformer of Hesse, declared
he went into the conference with his mind like a
sheet of white paper, waiting for impressions. He
afterwards accepted the Reformed doctrines, which
shows the effect of the conference, although he un
fortunately died very soon after the conference.
In the castle is still shown the beautiful Gothic

208 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
room, in which tradition says the conference took
place, although it is probable that it took place in
another part of the castle, in the east wing. But
there is no room in the castle so suitable for it as
the Gothic room. The room next to it contains a
fine museum of Hessian documents, among them
is the original Marburg article, and also the orig
inal of the Protest of Spire, 1529, signed by the
German nobles, who were Protestants.
Just south of the castle on the hill-side is the
Lutheran church, which was the scene of a riot
against the Reformed in 1605. The year before
(1604) the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Maurice,
the grandson of Landgrave Philip, introduced the
Reformed faith into Hesse-Cassel, which had been
low-Lutheran. The people of Marburg, who were
high-Lutheran strongly resented this. And when
the Reformed ministers attempted to preach in the
Lutheran church, they threw one of the ministers
out of the church. Another fled to the parsonage
for a refuge, but the former minister's wife, an
gered at the introduction of the Reformed faith,
refused to let him in and he fled through the streets,
now pursued by a woman with a washing bottle,
now by a laborer with a flail. Marburg has re
mained Lutheran to this day, but a Reformed con-

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 209
gregation was established and is to-day the church
of the university.
The finest church building in Marburg is the
Lutheran church of St. Elizabeth, named after the
holy Elizabeth, one of the saints of the Catholic
Church. She was the daughter of the King of
Hungary and lived in the thirteenth century. She
gave herself up entirely to works of charity. After
she was buried in this church, she was canonized
by the pope a few years after her death. Even
to-day the Catholics are very bitter because they
lost her church and are ever scheming to get it
back, which is not likely. Marburg is to-day a
quiet university town, the university having about
2,000 students, a large number for so small a place.
The university was Reformed from 1604-1822, ex
cept during part of the Thirty Years war, when it
reverted back to the Lutherans. Since 1822 it has
been union, that is, having both Reformed and
Lutheran professors of theology.*
The other place, that received the Reformed

*A fine painting connected with the Marburg con
ference is on the wall of the aula of the university,
representing the Landgrave receiving the reformers at
the gate of his castle. A painting of the conference
itself is found in the picture-gallery at the ducal palace
at Darmstadt.

210 Famous Places of Reformed. Churches.
doctrines before Heidelberg was Frankford, about
fifty miles north of Heidelberg, located on a tribu
tary of the Rhine, the Main. It is a very large city
of 350,000 inhabitants, of whom 13,000 are Jews,
among them the wealthy Rothchilds. Frankford
became Lutheran in the reformation. But in 1554,
when the refugees fled from England and Holland,
they came to Frankford and at first worshipped in
the Church of our Lady, but afterwards in the
All Saints church. John Knox was pastor of the
English church (November, 1554, to March, 1555).
In this English congregation occurred the first
quarrel between the ritualists and low churchmen
of the Episcopal or Anglican Church, — the proph
ecy of many later church controversies in England
between Prelatists and Puritans. Here John Knox
published his famous blast against the divine right
of women to rule nations which was directed
against Bloody Queen Mary, but greatly angered
Queen Elizabeth.* When the Lutherans began to

?A copy of this "Godly Admonition" is in the splen
did City Library of Frankford, of which Dr. Ebrard,
son of the theologian, the late J. H. A. Ebrard, is
librarian. He is an elder in the French Reformed
church at Frankford.

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 211
oppress the Reformed in Frankford, Calvin visited
Frankford September, 1556. In 1562 the Reform
ed were entirely driven out of the city by the Luth
eran authorities. They then attended worship at
Bockenheim northwest of Frankford, and Offen
bach or Sachsenhausen, on the other side of the
Main, which were in the territory of Reformed
princes. Many of them removed to the city of
Hanau, east of Frankford, which became a great
Reformed stronghold. Reformed worship was not
permitted in Frankford until 1702 and then on
condition that the Reformed church, if erected,
would not look like a church, but like an ordinary
dwelling. As a result, the two Reformed churches
there now, the German and the French, have no
steeples or anything to show that they are church
buildings — they look like ordinary houses.
East of the Rhine and north of Frankford is a
large district called Nassau or the Wetterau dis
trict, named after the river Wetter. It was divided
into several counties, some of which were Re
formed. The most notable of them was Nassau-
Dillenburg, whose prince had his capital at Dillen-
burg. His land was originally Lutheran but the
Reformed doctrines were introduced by Pezel, the

212 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Melancthonian, when he fled from Wittenberg
(1577). And later Olevianus, one of the authors
of the Heidelberg catechism, when he fled from
Heidelberg, after briefly staying at Berleberg with
the Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein, found a perma
nent home at Herborn in Nassau-Dillenburg.
There Count John of Nassau-Dillenburg founded
for him a Reformed university, to which he donated
his castle.* Those Nassau princes were great
founders of educational institutions, Count John's
two brothers, William of Orange, and Lewis of
Nassau, each founded a university in Holland —
the first, at Leyden, the second, at Franeker. Ole
vianus taught at Herborn until his death (1587).
Just before he died his colleague, Prof, Alsted,
asked him if he was certain of his salvation. He
replied in one Latin word "Certissimus," meaning
"I am most certain." Thus the first answer of his
Heidelberg Catechism, which so beautifully speaks
of the comfort in life and death was his consola
tion in the moment of death. His successor as head
of the university was Piscator, a very learned man,

?The building is still in use as the Theological Sem
inary of the Nassau church, under the presidency of
Prof. E. Knodt, who is Reformed.

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 213
who published a German translation of the Bible,
which is truer to the original than the Lutheran
version, and so high was its merit that the Luth
erans were at first afraid it might ' supplant the
Lutheran version. This it never did, although it
was introduced later into the canton of Bern in
Switzerland. This university of Herborn exerted a wide in
fluence for the Reformed. Later it became Cocce-
ian in its Calvinistic theology and pietistic in its
spirit. From it came in 1752, five young men to
aid in founding the German Reformed Church in
the United States, the most prominent of whom was
Otterbein. In the little parish church at Herborn
are the tombs of Olevianus and Piscator. The Ger
man Reformed Church in the United States has
erected a slab to the former in the church.
Passing still further northward along the Rhine,
we come to Cologne, the city with the matchless
cathedral, — a poem in stone, magnificently great in
its simplicity, symmetry, delicacy and beauty. It
has only recently been completed by the Emperor
of Germany. Its two spires are among the highest
in Europe, 512 feet high, and the nave of the church
is 148 feet high. The effect of the exterior is won-

214 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
derfully beautiful and harmonious, the effect of its
interior is deeply impressive. It is an interesting
fact to notice that on two occasions in its history,
this great cathedral, so sacred to the Catholic faith,
had Reformed doctrines preached in it. Indeed
the whole history of the Reformed Church in
Cologne is exceedingly interesting.
For although Cologne has always been a great
centre of Catholicism, yet the Reformed doctrines
began entering there. And suddenly no less a per
sonage than the ruler of the place, the Elector of
Cologne, Elector Herman, about 1540, became Re
formed and tried to introduce the Reformed doc
trines into that region, even calling in Bucer and
Melancthon to draw up a form of worship for him.
He was driven out, and a Catholic was elected in his
stead. But not all the Reformed went away with
him, for a secret Reformed congregation gathered,
which was called, as were all the secret and op
pressed Reformed churches of that day; the "Church
under the Cross."
In 1582, a similar event occurred in Cologne as
another of the Electors of Cologne went over to the
Reformed faith, Gebhard Truchsess. Indeed, at
this time, a large part of the city seems to have

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 215
become Protestant. For although Reformed wor
ship was forbidden in the city, the neighboring
Count of Neuenar held Reformed religious services
at Mechtern, just outside one of the city gates, to
which the people streamed by thousands. This so
angered the authorities that they threatened to
bombard the place of worship. But the Protestant
nobles prevented it. Gebhard Truchsess was de
posed and a Catholic elected in his place, so the
cathedral again reverted to the Catholics.
Secret worship, however, was still held by the
Reformed. Reformed ministers, disguised as mer
chants, would slip into the city and hold worship
at some house.* When this secret Reformed wor
ship was being held, an elder watched outside the
door and a deacon inside the door. Still, although
a secret church, the Reformed congregation was
thoroughly organized. The city was divided into
the districts and each district was assigned to an
elder, whose duty it was to visit the sick and to
give notice of religious services. At the birth of
a child, it was quite customary for the Reformed

?When these ministers went to meetings of classis,
they had their reports made out in a mercantile form,
for fear of being discovered by the Catholics.

216 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
family to go to one of the neighboring villages for
a stay of a few weeks, so that the child would not
be baptized in Cologne and so be claimed by the
Catholics. This "Church under the Cross" contin
ued its worship, until in 1609 the Catholics drove
them out. They then founded a city on the east side
of the Rhine, now called Muehlheim on the Rhine.
For many years the Reformed were not permitted
to worship in Cologne, but had to go either to
Muehlheim on the other side of the Rhine or to
some neighboring Reformed village west of the
Rhine. Later the inhabitants of Cologne attacked
Muehlheim by night and razed its buildings to the
ground. But it has since been rebuilt. However,
by the nineteenth century, liberty was granted and
there is now a large Protestant congregation in
Cologne, mainly Reformed, having about 26,000
adherents. Gradually as the Reformed doctrines were more
and more fully introduced until finally a synod was
organized in the district around Cologne, called,
after the four main counties in it, the synod of
Juliers-Cleve-Berg and Mark.* A large part of

?Juliers and Cleve were west of the Rhine, and Berg
and Mark east of it.

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 217
its congregations up to 16 10, belonged to the Dutch
synod of Holland, but in 161 1 the synod was or
ganized. It has a very interesting history because
it was the only synod in Germany separate from
the state and therefore the only part of the Re
formed Church of Germany to have a purely pres-
byterial organization. Certain other districts in
that neighborhood also had their own organization
as the counties of Tecklenberg and Bentheim.
But there is no place in Germany to-day, which
is so great a centre of the Reformed Church, as
Elberfeld, located between thirty and forty miles
north of Cologne and about fifteen miles east of
Diisseldorf. In a narrow valley not a mile wide,
whose sides rise steeply and through which flows
in a serpentine course the Wupper creek, are the
twin cities of Elberfeld and Barmen, each having
a population of about 100,000. This valley is a
perfect hive of industry and throbs with factories
of all kinds. This is due to the Reformed Church.
For the ruler of this land was a Catholic and for
bade the Protestants to take places in political life,
so they went into business with such success that
these cities have become some of the great indus
trial centres of Germany.

218 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
In fact there is an interesting historical fact con
nected with this land. When in the seventeenth
century, the Count of Juliers-Cleve-Mark and Berg
died, two princes aspired to be his successor, the
Elector of Brandenburg and the Count of Pfalz-
Neuburg. They had agreed to compromise, when
the former in a fit of passion, gave the latter a box
on the ear. The latter vowed vengeance for this
insult, and, to gain the support of the Catholics, he
went over to the Catholic faith. This was very
unfortunate for the Protestants in that land, for
because of it, they had to suffer many persecutions.
Thus the Reformed church at Elberfeld was taken
from them and given to the Catholics, although all
the population except six families were Reformed.
In 1629 that Reformed church was broken into by
force, the communion table carried away and its
books burned. The Reformed church at Solingen
also suffered. It had a faithful pastor in Lunen-
schloss. Many were his and their persecutions.
The Reformed church was taken from them and
during the cold winter they had to worship in the
open air. He was finally arrested and taken away
to Dusseldorf, when on the way thither his accu
sers met the wife of his prince, who was herself

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 219
a member of the Reformed Church. Through her
intercessions he was freed and returned to his
congregation. There is a story told of one of these
congregations that the Duke of Pfalz-Neuberg had
ordered them to give up their church, to the Cath
olics on a certain Sunday, and his soldiers were
waiting outside to take it as the Reformed held
their last service in it. Determined to prolong their
occupancy as long as possible, the Reformed sang
the longest Psalm, the 119th Psalm, for in those
days in that region they were Psalm-singers. And
before they had finished that long Psalm, lo, an
order arrived from their prince allowing them to
keep the church. Such were some of the persecu
tions from their Catholic prince. But in spite of
it the Reformed grew in numbers and influence.
This whole region in the northern Rhine became
the home of Pietism in the Reformed Church. The
prophecyings begun in the reformation at Zurich,
Geneva and London by Zwingli, Calvin and Lasco,
developed later into prayer-meetings. This Pietistic
movement was introduced into the Lutheran Church
by Spener. Spener got it from the Reformed, for
he attended Labadie's services at Geneva. But
five years before Spener began his prayer-meetings

220 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
at Frankford, the Reformed had them in Germany.
Theredore Untereyck, a Reformed minister at
Miihlheim on the Ruhr, 15 miles northwest of
Elberfeld, began them in 1665. And he had got
ten them from the Reformed Church of Holland
which had been pietistic from the days of the ref
ormation. Untereyck went to Bremen in 1670
where he introduced Pietism. After him there
came into this northern Rhine region, Joachim
Neander, rector of the Reformed school at Diissel-
dorf in 1674.
In the eighteenth century, there arose the great
est pietist of this district, Gerhard Tersteegem*
He was born at Meurs (1697). He wanted to
study for the ministry but was not able financially
to do so. As a layman, he probably exerted a
wider influence than he would have done as a min
ister. He became an apprentice at Miihlheim on
the Ruhr and there came under such deep convic
tion of sin that lasted for five years. When he
found peace at last, he wrote his dedication to God
in his own blood. He became a silk-and ribbon-

*For an account of his life see my "History of the
Reformed Church of Germany," pages 447-470.

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 221
weaver, and later a physician. While in business
he had already begun to hold religious services and
finally gave up everything to labor only in spiritual
things. His home at Miihlheim is not very far from
Essen where the Krupp factories turn out the guns
that shake the world. But a greater and better in
fluence than theirs went forth from Tersteegen's
house to shake the world, for he influenced not
merely all western Germany, but his books were
sold in America. People would come long dis
tances to converse with him on religious subjects.
Sometimes as many as twenty or thirty would be
waiting in the outer room in order to speak with
him about their souls' interests. Sick people would
send for him and he would go and spend hours,
yes, whole nights, with them in prayer. At his
services, his house would become so crowded in
the stairs and entries, that ladders would be put
up to the windows outside and on them, people
would stand to hear him speak. Sometimes when
he was travelling, as when he went to Holland, he
would be waylaid by the roadside and carried off
to some barn, where the people would insist on
hearing him preach. His religious works found
quick reading and ready sale.

222 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
He is the author of a number of hymns, of which
two have become popular in the English. One is :
"Lo, God is here — let us adore,
And own how dreadful is this place.
Let all within us feel his power,
And, silent, bow before his face."
This hymn gives the clue to his Christian life.
He always lived as in God's presence. The other
hymn is :
"God calling yet! shall I not hear?
Earth's pleasure shall I still hold dear?
Shall life's swift passing years all fly
And still my soul in slumber fly?"
The last verse of this hymn was his dedication to
God: God calling yet, I cannot stay,
My heart I yield without delay,
Vain world! farewell, from thee I part,
The voice of God hath reached my heart.
His preaching resulted in great awakenings in
that district. Some of his followers founded
"Brothers Houses" or "Pilgrims Cottages at Miihl
heim, and Otterbeck near by. He died April 3,

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 223
1769, but his influence has ever remained through
out that district. In Miihlheim, beside the Reform-"
ed church is a statue to his memory. His cottage,
a plain wooden building, with an antiquated roof,
is also shown. Next door to it lives a relative of
his, who has some relics of him as his knife and
spoon. Although the town of Siegen is rather far south
for this district (for it really belongs to the Nassau
district of which we spoke before), yet it became
thoroughly imbued with this spirit of the northern
Rhine. The country around Siegen is Reformed-
land. One of its rulers, Count John Maurice of
Nassau-Siegen, came to America in the seventeenth
century, where he was ruler over the Dutch col
ony at Pernambuco, Brazil. He was, therefore,
always called the American — the Brazilian.
Siegen greatly felt the pietistic movement of
Miihlheim. A later follower of Tersteegen lived
there, named Christian Stahlschmidt. He came
to America just before the American revolution,
and became a Reformed minister in Pennsylvania,
but owing to the privations of the war, he soon
went back to Germany and lived at Siegen till 1824.
He took Tersteegen's place and by his meetings

224 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
produced great revivals all through that district.
His earnest spirit was continued by a great nephew,
named Siebel, who lived at Freudenberg near Sie
gen, and who died 1875.
These revival movements gave a freshness and
strength to the Reformed church of the northern
Rhine. Rationalism was largely kept out by them,
and Elberfeld produced a number of prominent
ministers of the Reformed faith. Perhaps no fam
ily of preachers in Germany has been so prominent
as the Krummacher family, all of whom were
from this district or labored here. Frederick Adolf
Krummacher was professor of theology at the Re
formed University at Duisburg (now incorporated
in the University of Bonn) about the beginning of
the nineteenth century. His brother, Gottfried
Daniel Krummacher, though not so scholarly was
a greater orator. He was called by the people "the
bone and marrow preacher," for his preaching, like
the Word of God pierced even to the bone and mar
row. He was pastor at Baerl and then at Elber
feld in 1816. He died in 1837. His preaching led
to great awakenings in that region.
But the most polished flower of the Krummacher
family was the son of Frederick Adolph Krum-

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 225
macher, Frederick William Krummacher.* He
was probably the greatest pulpit orator of Ger
many in his time. In 1825 he became pastor at
Barmen where he preached his famous sermons on
Elijah and Elisha, which have been translated into
English. Thorwaldsen, the great sculptor, once
asked him at Frankford, where he was attracted
to him by his noble forehead and appearance, "Are
you an artist?" "No, a theologian," was the reply.
"How can one by only a theologian?" responded
Thorwaldsen. But though Krummacher was only
a theologian, yet he proved how a theologian could
also be an artist; for his sermons were classics,
abounding in images and Gospel fervor. Later he
was called to Potsdam, near Berlin, as the court
preacher of the King of Prussia, where he died
1868. At present the Reformed church at Elberfeld
has between 30,000 and 40,000 adherents and the
Reformed church at Barmen between 15,000 and
20,000. The congregations in each city form a
collegiate church. Also a Netherlands Reformed

?For his life see his Autobiography; also my "His
tory of the Reformed Church of Germany, also his
Autobiography which has been translated into English.

226 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
church was organized there about 1834, when Rev.
Herman F. Kohlbriigge, D.D., was called from
Holland. He became a very prominent preacher
and theologian, being a high Calvinist. He ~died
1875. Owing to the Pietism at Elberfeld, no ra
tionalism ever was allowed in its pulpit. The con
gregations are still strongly Reformed. One of
its members, on finding that the writer was an
American Reformed minister, put as his first ques
tion to him: "Do you believe in the election of
grace?" Where but in Scotland would, such a
question have been -the first to be asked. And we
doubt whether in the Scotch church of to-day it
would be asked at all. But to the Reformed of
Elberfeld, that doctrine of election, as it is taught
in their Heidelberg catechism, was synonymous
with God's grace rather than with God's sovereign
ty; and that belief in grace, — "grace, nothing but
grace, all grace," was to them the antidote against
all rationalism. Hence this good Reformed was only
trying to find out whether the writer was a ra
tionalist by asking if he believed in the election of
grace. For there they have great faith in God and
in the Bible. The members of the Reformed
church there frequently hold a prayer-meeting after

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 227
the service to discuss and pray over the sermon.
And they have also catechism prayer-meetings
where they take a question of the Heidelberg cate
chism, talk over it and pray over it. And it used
to be the custom, we know not whether it still is,
for the minister to preach on the catechism on
Sunday afternoons, — this was the old method of
the Dutch and German churches.
Pietism produced a number of religious insti-
tions in this district which need to be noted before
we leave it. Barmen is the seat of the Rhenish
Foreign Missionary Society. This society is hot
denominational but it is largely controlled by the
Reformed consciousness, more so than any other
of the Foreign Missionary Societies of Germany.
It was founded in 1828 through the efforts of the
Pietist Siebel. It has its missions in South Africa,
Borneo, New Guinea and Sumatra. Laterly this
mission has been very successful among the Mo
hammedans of Sumatra, indeed the only place in
the world where Christian work has been remark
ably successful among the followers of that fanat
ical religion. It has a fine missionary museum at
Barmen and reported for 1909, 388 missionaries,
63,562 communicants and an income of $265,000.

228 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Another institution at Barmen, though not dis
tinctively Reformed, yet finds its most natural
home among Reformed surroundings, is the Jo-
hanneum. This institution was founded at Bonn
by the late Prof. Christlieb, of the University of
Bonn, in 1886, for the training of evangelists and
city missionaries. It has done a good work; but
was removed about ten years ago to Barmen,
where its methods, which are more distinctively Re
formed than Lutheran, find a congenial home.
The Reformed also a few years ago founded a
Reformed seminary for training ministers at El
berfeld. As the Reformed Church has lost its uni
versities at Heidelberg, Marburg, Duisburg and
Frankford on the Oder, and has now only an occa
sional professor of theology as Professors Goebel
at the University of Bonn; Achelis at the Univer
sity of Marburg; Carl Muller at the University of
Erlangen, and Smend at the University of Stras
burg, it endeavors to indoctrinate its young men
in the Reformed faith by such theological sem
inaries which are located at Elberfeld and Halle.
Before we leave this northern Rhine district, we
must not forget to notice another remarkable in
stitution, the product of a Reformed minister's

The Beautiful Rhine-Land. 229
work, namely the great Deaconess movement 01
Germany. In 1822 a young minister came to the
small Reformed church at Kaiserwerth, near Diis-
seldorf named Theodore Fliedner. As Kaiserwerth
was mainly Catholic, he had little to do and he
began charitable work. He began preaching among
the prisoners at Diisseldorf, then an almost un
known line of Christian work. One day one of the
prisoners, a fallen woman, came to his home be
cause no one would receive her. He gave her an
outbuilding in his garden in which to live until a
home could be found for her. Out of this grew
his great work. He soon began to train Christian
nurses and also Christian teachers, and called them
Deaconesses. One day he astonished the town by
buying the largest building in it which happened
to be for sale. His work rapidly grew. One build
ing was added to another. His Christian nurses
are found all over the world, there being deaconess'
houses in Constantinople, Smyrna and the far east.
These Protestant deaconesses are not nuns, for
they can marry, provided they give to their deacon
ess house a sufficient notice of their resignation.
In addition to his work for deaconesses, he also
founded other institutions, as a lunatic asylum, a

230 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Magdelene home, a home for the aged as well as
hospitals, where his deaconesses can be trained.
Fliedner should have all honor, for he has redis
covered the value of consecrated womanhood to the
Protestant Church.

THE GREAT ELECTOR OF BRANDENBURG AND HIS WIFE LOUISA HENRIETTA

Chapter V.— NORTHERN GERMANY AND
BERLIN.
THE first Reformed church, founded in Ger
many, was founded at Emden, in the
northwestern corner of Germany. With
its canals and vessels right in its streets up against
the buildings, it reminds one of a Dutch city in
Germany. It is the capital of East Friesland. Those
Frisians were early known as a simple hardy race
and they showed their natural inclinations by tak
ing to the Reformed rather than the Lutheran
faith. As early as 1526, when there was no other
Reformed church in Germany except Strasburg,
far away, Aportanus, a monk, preached the doc
trines of Zwingli here, much to the scandal of the
Lutherans round about. This congregation con
tinued its existence until in 1540 there came to it,
the great Polish reformer, John A'Lasco.
John of Lask, for such his name me*ans, was one
of the most beautiful characters of the reformation.
A Pole by birth, he was destined to high honors
in the Catholic Church. But through travel in Re
formed lands, he became a Humanist. Finally,
after having returned to Poland, where he was in
233

234 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
fair way to the highest rank as a spiritual noble, he
gave it all up, sacrificing home, country, rank and
friends to become a wanderer for the reformation.
He became a reformer in three countries, a fact
true of no other reformer, — in Germany, England
and Poland. He proved to be an organizer equal
with Calvin, indeed he was a better organizer of
the congregation than Calvin as we shall see.
When he came to Emden, he reorganized (1543)
the Reformed church thoroughly. He gave it a
catechism, which with Calvin's afterwards became
the progenitor of the Heidelberg catechism. In
1549 he went to England and became pastor of the
foreign Reformed church there. This he thorough
ly organized, so that this Dutch Reformed church
of Austins Friars in London, was the first church
of the Presbyterian order in the reformation.* But
when bloody Queen Mary came to the throne of
England, Lasco and his refugee congregation had
to flee. Sad was their sailing from Gravesend
September 17, 1553. They expected to land at
Copenhagen, but the Danes would not permit them
to do so (because they were Reformed) and drove

?See Book III, Chapter VII.

Northern Germany and Berlin. 235
them out into the ocean in midwinter and storm.
They finally were permitted to land at Lubeck,
Rostock and Wismar, but they were not permitted
to stay anywhere, because Westphal, the Lutheran
zealot of Hamburg, was incensing the Lutherans
everywhere against the Reformed. So after long
and severe journeyings in winter, snow and storm,
they arrived at Emden, and later at Frankford.
Lasco soon went to Frankford and from there went
back to Poland (1556) where he died (1560),
founding there the Reformed Church of Poland.
Lasco was called by Erasmus, "a soul without a
stain," so beautiful was his character. From
Lasco's time to this, the Reformed church of Em
den had clung faithfully to the faith once delivered
to the saints. And the Coetus, which Lasco found
ed in 1544 as a sort of a quasi-synod, still has its
annual meetings. It, with the Synod of Zurich and
the Venerable Company of Geneva, is the oldest
organization of the Reformed Church, that has
come down to us.
Following the northern coast of Germany east
ward, we come to Bremen, the largest seaport of
Germany save Hamburg. Though a modern city,
it has a most antique, interesting city-hail, an ob-

236 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
ject of beauty. Bremen and Emden were the two
Reformed cities on the north coast of Germany,
the two Reformed lighthouses along that coast.
Bremen was at first a Lutheran city in the reforma
tion. But when the Lutherans began to split into
high and low-Lutherans or Melancthonians, there
came to Bremen in 1547 a Melancthonian preacher
named Albert Hardenberg, who preached to great
crowds in the cathedral. The high-Lutheran min
isters bitterly attacked him as departing from the
Lutheran faith and there was a great controversy.
He gained Melancthon's approval, but was finally
compelled to leave in 1561, although amid the tears
of the people. But his departure produced a re
action and his friend and supporter, Van Buren,
was elected mayor of the city. The low-Luther
ans continued gaining influence until in 1580
Peucer was called as pastor of one of the largest
congregations, the church of St. Ansgar. Pezel
had been a Melancthonian and had been driven out
of Saxony for it. But by the time he got to Bre-
man he was a good Reformed. He drew up the
Bremen confession of faith in 1595, which commits
the church to Calvinism.
The next important period in the Reformed

Northern Germany and Berlin. 237
church of Bremen was the introduction of Pietism
in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The
odore Untereyck, to whom we referred in connec
tion with Miihlheim, came to Bremen in 1670, as
pastor of St. Martin's church, and introduced
prayer-meetings. His wife also introduced reli
gious meetings for girls and women. Untereyck
paid special attention to the catechization of the
young; indeed he thoroughly revolutionized cate
chization. His was a very blessed influence in that
worldly city. While he was preaching his earnest
pietistic sermons, a young student at the Reformed
university came to hear him one Sunday, named
Joachim Neander. He came to mock (for he did
not believe in Pietism) but he remained to pray.
Untereyck's earnest words so completely subdued
him that he melted into tears at the prayer after
the sermon. And after the service, although ridi
culed by his companions, he went to Untereyck's
house to find the way of life. He became an ad
herent of Untereyck and after graduating at the
university became rector of the Reformed gymna
sium at Diisseldorf. In 1679 he returned to
Bremen as assistant pastor to Untereyck. Unfor
tunately he died the next year at the early age of

238 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
30, but not until he had given promise of becom
ing one of the greatest of the German hymn-wri
ters. He published one of the first and hest of the
Reformed hymn-books, the "Hymns of the Cove
nant," for he aimed to popularize the Federal the
ology in music. One of his hymns is among the
greatest in the German language, "Lobe den Herrn,
den machtigen Konig der Ehren." It has been
thus translated:
Praise ye the Lord. He is King over all creation,
Praise ye the Lord, O my soul, as the God of salvation,
Join in the song, psaltry and harp roll along,
Praise in your solemn vibration.
It is somewhat difficult to translate the German, es
pecially the metre and rythm of this hymn, but it
ranks among German hymns with "Nun danket alle
Gott" (Now thank we all the Lord), of Rinkart,
for these two are the two Te Deums among the
German hymns.
Bremen also had a Reformed gymnasium, which
grew into a university, at which some prominent
professors of theology taught. Thus its professor
Martinius was a delegate to the synod of Dort.
Later came Prof. John Koch (Latinized into

Northern Germany and Berlin. 239
Cocceius) who founded the Cocceian or Federal
Theology, taught here (.1629-36). Koch rear
ranged the theology of Calvin according to the idea
of the covenants. One of his great pupils was
Prof. Frederick A. Lampe, who has been called
by Goebel the greatest theologian of the Reformed
Church of Germany. He was pastor of St.
Stephen's church at Bremen and professor in its
university (1709-20) and also 1727-9 when he
died. He not merely published a number of the
ological works, but also the first Theological Re
view in 1 71 8, and a popular catechism based on the
Heidelberg Catechism, called the "Milk of Truth."
Lampe, though a theologian, was also a Pietist and
to profoundity of doctrine added practicalness of
method. He introduced into the Cocceians of Hol
land, where he was professor at Utrecht, the school
of practical Cocceians.
Bremen of to-day has very little of the Reformed
consciousness. Its churches have gone into the
union with the Lutherans in Germany. And some
of its pulpits have been filled by even blatant ration
alists. But it has had a fine Evangelical preacher
in Funcke, many of whose works have been trans
lated into English.

240 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
There are several districts in central Germany,
that may be briefly referred to as being Reformed.
The little principality in the northern part of cen
tral Germany, Lippe, is strongly Reformed. Near
its capital on a hill, surrounded by fine forests, is
a statue to Arminius, or as the Germans call him,
Herman, the great German general, who in the
days of the Romans defeated them. Cassel, the
capital of Hesse-Cassel, is in a largely Reformed
district, where the Reformed Church had, early in
the nineteenth century, 380,000 adherents. Near
Cassel is the beautiful park, Wilhelmshohe, laid
out by a Huguenot. In the St. Martin's church at
Cassel is the tomb of Landgrave Phillip, the Mag
nanimous, who held the Marburg conference in
1529. His grandson, Landgrave Maurice, intro
duced the Reformed faith into Hesse-Cassel in
1604. In 1666 a Conference was held at Cassel,
as there had been at Leipsic in 1631, to try to unite
the Lutherans and Reformed. It was a very satis
factory conference, because of the kindly and fair
spirit shown by both the Reformed and Lutheran
theologians, but it failed to unite them. The times
were not ripe for it yet. In Bavaria, southern
Germany, is Nuremberg, with its Reformed church.

Northern Germany and Berlin. 241
It was the home of the great Reformed painter of
the Reformation, Albert Diirer; and also Erlangen,
where at the university is a Reformed professor,
formerly Herzog and Ebrard and now Carl Muller.
Leaving central Germany for eastern Germany,
we come to Magdeburg, where there are three Re
formed churches, a German, French and Walloon,
the latter made up of refugees originally from
Belgium but later from the Palatinate. Halle also
has a Reformed congregation in the cathedral. And
there was formerly a Reformed gymnasium or the
ological school there. There is now a Reformed
theological seminary there one of whose teachers
(who is also one of the pastors at the cathedral)
has become prominent as a historian of Calvin,
Prof. A. Lang. He is also the author of an excel
lent work in German on the sources of the Heidel
berg catechism. We pass over the feeble attempt
to introduce Crypto-Calvinism (secret-Calvinism)
into Saxony in 1574. By this, the University of
Wittenberg, which had been Luther's university,
came very nearly becoming Reformed. But Crell,
the Crypto-Calvinistic chancellor of Saxony, paid
forfeit for his faith by his life, as he was put to
death by Lutheran Saxony. And Peucer, Melanc-

242 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
thon's son-in-law, a physician, who was the head of
the University of Wittenberg, was imprisoned for
being a Crypto-Calvinist in the Pleissenburg prison
at Leipsic and the Reformed were driven out of
Saxony. The neighboring county of Anhalt also
became Reformed, but owing to the union with the
Lutherans in the nineteenth century, has now large
ly lost its Reformed consciousness.
We now come to Berlin, the last but most im
portant place in Germany. It is one of the great
capitals of Europe, but located on an uninteresting,
flat plain. But what nature has failed to give,
man's art has tried to atone for. Berlin is filled
with great buildings, fine museums and splendid
statues. It is, however, of the religious history of Berlin,
of which we wish to speak. The last of the great
princes of Germany to become Reformed was the
Elector of Brandenburg, who lived at Berlin, and
who was the ancestor of the present Emperor of
Germany. For half a century (1562-1613) the
doctrines of the Reformed Church had been spread
ing in Germany. And as in those days "like prince,
like people" was the law, they spread from one
land to another as the princes became Reformed.

Northern Germany and Berlin. 243
We have watched their spread northward along the
Rhine from Strassburg and Heidelberg through
the Nassau district to the northern Rhine district,
and then eastward through Bremen Lippe and
Hesse-Cassel to Anhalt and Berlin.
The last great victory for the Reformed was the
conversion of Elector John Sigismund of Branden
burg to the Lutheran faith. Although his father
had made him promise in early life never to leave
the Lutheran Church, yet on the week before
Christmas (1613) he, in the palace at Berlin, in
the White Room (which has since become famous
for its spectre, that always appears just before a
member of the royal family dies) — in that room,
he announced to his council that on the coming
Christmas, he would observe the Lord's Supper
after the Reformed fashion in his cathedral.* This
meant that he would use broken bread at the com
munion instead of wafers as the Lutherans did.
And this act signified that he had "gone over to the
Reformed faith.
His conversion caused a great sensation, for in

?The cathedral then stood in the open square just
south of tne palace. Now it stands north of the palace.

244 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
those days the religion of the people was supposed
to be determined by the religion of their ruler. His
people, who were strongly Lutheran, were bitterly
opposed to going over to the Reformed, whom they
considered heretics. But the Elector set one of the
first examples of religious liberty,* by proclaiming
that though he and his family were Reformed, his
subjects could remain Lutheran. But as they were
still somewhat suspicious of him, a riot occurred,
in which the Reformed minister, Fink, had to flee.
The court churches became Reformed while the
great mass of the people remained Lutheran.
But greater than Elector John Sigismund was
his grandson, Elector Frederick William, who
ruled (1640-88) and has been called "the Great
Elector." He advocated the same principles of
religious liberty. There is a false story going the
rounds in English, that he persecuted Paul Ger-
hardt the famous German hymn-writer and author
of the hymn "O* sacred Head, now wounded," and
drove him from Berlin. The departure of Paul

?Religious liberty was not born in the Mayflower by
the Pilgrims, but existed in Holland where they learn
ed it. Holland, the Canton of Grisons in Switzerland
and Brandenburg, had it before the Mayflower sailed.

Northern Germany and Berlin. 245
Gerhardt was due to his own Lutheran bigotry, for
he refused to obey the Electors order not to preach
polemics against the Reformed. No, the Elector
was broad in his sympathies, for when the Luth
eran Pietists were driven out of Saxony by the
Lutherans, he received them, though they were of
another denomination, into Brandenburg. He
gave Spener one of their largest churches at Ber
lin and founded the University of Halle for them.
This does not look like bigotry. The Elector was
also a great defender of the Reformed everywhere.
When King Louis XIV, of France, issued the
Edict of Nantes (1685) driving out the Reformed,
the Elector answered it by offering to all them an
¦ asylum in his land. And they came by thousands,
filling up Halle and Magdeburg and a large part
of Berlin, greatly increasing the number of the
Reformed. At Berlin these Huguenots, 5,000 in
number, settled in a waste district along the river
Spree, called Moabit, which they soon made to blos
som as the rose. He had the greatest confidence
in their integrity. On one occasion he surprised
his wife as she gave her crown-jewels into the
hands of a stranger. He asked her, who the man
was. She replied, "I don't know, but he is a Hu-

246 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
guenot." That was enough. A Huguenot's word
was as good as a bond.
The great Elector was married to one of the most
beautiful of the Reformed princesses, Louisa Hen
rietta, the daughter of Prince Frederick Henry of
Holland. She was as beautiful in character as in
face, — a Christian saint. She cared nothing for
fashion, only for charity and religion. It is said
she did not look into her looking-glass before going
to church. She is reputed, although it is now de
nied, to be the authoress of the popular German
Easter hymn, "Jesus meine Zuversicht," . which
translated, reads thus: *
Jesus, my Redeemer, lives.
Christ, my trust, is dead no more.
In the strength this knowledge gives,
Shall not all our fears be o'er.
Calm, though death's long night be fraught,
Still with many an anxious thought.
This hymn has become a sacred one to the royal
family of Prussia and Germany. Queen Louise of
Prussia, the good angel of Prussia in the Napol-

?For her life see my "Famous Women of the Re
formed Church, page 221.

Northern Germany and Berlin. 247
eonic wars, as she looked at the picture of Electress
Louisa Henrietta at Charlottenburg, spoke most
beautifully and feelingly about this hymn that it
had won such popularity among the Germans. And
having praised it, she then sat down to the piano
and sang it with her clear, beautiful voice. The
oldest born of Queen Louise, King Frederick Wil
liam IV, named the bell, which he gave to Oranien-
burg in 1850 (where Louisa Henrietta had lived),
"Jesus meine Zuversicht."
About . the end of the seventeenth century, the
Electorate of Brandenburg became the kingdom of
Prussia. Of its kings, Frederick II, or as he is
generally called, "Frederick the Great," is the
greatest. He was a splendid statesman and fine
general, defeating three nations, each larger than
his own. But he had lost the faith of his fathers,
in which he had been confirmed at Magdeburg.
But though he denied his Reformed faith and be
came a flippant unbeliever like Voltaire, there were
witnesses for the truth in his court, some of them
Reformed. Prince Charles of Hesse, said of him,
"I dined with the king and after dinner had a con
versation with him. He could not speak of reli
gion without blaspheming and finally asked me,

248 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
"Tell me dear prince, do you believe these things."
I replied in a firm voice, "Sir, I am not more sure
of having the honor of seeing you than I am that
Jesus lived and died on the cross for us." "Well,"
he said, "as he grasped my right arm, "you are the
first man of spirit, who has ever declared such a
faith in my hearing." As the prince went out he
met one of the generals of the court, who put his
hands on his shoulders and burst into tears, saying,
"Now God be praised, I have lived to see one hon
est man acknowledge Christ before the king's face."
On another occasion at the battle of Leuthen, the
soldiers of Frederick the Great went into battle
singing the German hymns. "Shall I stop them?"
asked one of his officers. But Frederick forbade
him to do it, saying, "With men like these, don't
you think I will have victory to-day." And his
pious soldiers gained it for him in spite of his in
fidelity. Prussia suffered greatly during the Napoleonic
wars. But when they were over, on the third ter
centenary of the reformation, in 1817, the King of
Prussia decided to unite the Lutheran and Reform
ed churches in his dominions. This union, together
with his liturgy, was accepted by Prussia and after-

Northern Germany and Berlin. 249
wards by a number of other states in Germany.
But the states who came into Prussia after 1866,
as Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Alsace-Lorraine,
still retained the separation of the Reformed and
Lutheran churches. And many of the Reformed
churches within the union, as at Elberfeld, retain
their own Reformed consciousness, catechism and
rites.* Gradually in course of time, three kinds of Re
formed congregations grew up in Berlin. The first
first were the German congregations, at the head of
which was the cathedral of the king. Before the
union in 1817, there were a number of Reformed
churches in Berlin and some of the Lutheran
churches had a Reformed pastor stationed at them
for preaching, catechizing and visitation of the
Reformed in their neighorhood. Thus some of the
most prominent preachers of Berlin have been Re
formed, as Theremim, Schleiermacher, and now
Dryander the court-preacher. The second class of
Reformed congregations were the French congre
gations, who have had some very eloquent preach
ers as Ancillon, Beausobre, Naude and others.

?See "The Union," in my History of the Reformed
Church of Germany, pages 560-585.

250 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
When Napoleon came to Berlin, they remained true
to Prussia, the land of their adoption, rather than
to the land of their fathers, France. One of them,
Erman, a gray-haired pastor of Berlin, had the
courage to rebuke Napoleon for aspersing the char
acter of Queen Louise of Prussia. He seized Na
poleon's arm that had shaken the world and said,
"Sir, this arm is powerful, let it also be gracious.
Do not attack the reputation of the queen. She is
an excellent woman." Still a third type of Reform
ed congregations is the Bohemian Reformed
Church, composed of refugees from the land of
Huss. They built a union church, which they
named after Huss' chapel at Prague, the Bethlehem
church. This Bethlehem Reformed congregation
still exists in the southwestern part of the city, not
very far from the Thiergarten park.
We can not leave Berlin without calling atten
tion to the fact that Prussia probably owes her
greatness to her Reformed elements. The blood
of Coligny came into the veins of her rulers
through Electress Louisa Henrietta, and they have
been far-seeing statesmen. Prussia learned from
the Huguenots who came, economy and integrity,
self-control and bravery, for which the Huguenots

Northern Germany and Berlin. 251
were distinguished and which they brought with
them to strengthen that kingdom. And from a
Swiss Reformed schoolmaster, Pestalozzi, Prussia
got an idea of public education, which has put her
in the fore-front of German states. Compulsory
education was made possible by Pestalozzi's sys
tem which the King of Prussia adopted. And
when the educated troops of Prussia came into
battle with the Austrians, many of them illiterate
because from a Catholic land there was no question
who would win and Prussia deposed Austria from
the headship of Germany. This prepared the way
for her to become the ruler of all Germany. So
she has our Reformed faith much to thank, even
though most of her subjects were Lutheran.
Before leaving this description of Germany, we
may state that there are still found scattered
through Germany between a million and a million
and a half of adherents of the Reformed Church.
Many of them are in the United church but there
still exist some Reformed synods independent of it.
They are the Confederation of Lower Saxony (in
cluding Magdeburg and Halle) the synod of Ba
varia (including Nuremberg and Erlangen), the
synod of Hanover and the Consistory of Alsace-

252 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Lorraine (at Strasburg). The synod of Hesse-
Cassel has never been formally united with the
Lutheran, although its university at Marburg has
become united. There also exists a small denom
ination on the borders of Holland, called the Old
Reformed church of Bentheim and East Friesland.
There is also a Reformed organization in Ger
many, which aims to gather together all these
synods and also the various Reformed congrega
tions within the United church into an Alliance.
It is called the "Reformirte Bund." or Reformed
Alliance. Of it, Rev. Dr. Brandes of Biickeburg
is president, and Rev. Mr. Calaminus of Elberfeld is
secretary. It was organized in 1884 at Marburg
on the 400th anniversary of the birth of Zwingli,
the founder of the Reformed Church. It holds its
meetings every other year and has raised funds to
aid weak Reformed churches and been the means
of starting several new congregations as at Osna-
bruck. It also aids the Reformed theological sem
inaries at Halle and Elberfeld. Its organ is the
Reformite Kirchenzeitung.*

?We have not in this book referred to the sacrsd
places of the Lutheran Church, which is the larger
church of Germany, as this book is devoted only to

Northern Germany and Berlin. 253
the Reformed Church. But the true Reformed is in
terested beyond his own denomination. He is or
ought to place the word "Christian" before the name
of his denomination and be interested in all Evan
gelical churches. So we incidentally refer here to the
sacred places of the Lutheran Church. They are
Eisleben, where Luther was born November 10, 1483;
Mansfield, where he spent his boyhood. He went to
Magdeburg and Eisenach to school, where he sang
hymns on the streets to gain money for his education.
Erfurt is where he attended the university and where
he found the Bible in its library. Wittenberg is the
place where he preached and nailed the theses on the
church-door, October 31, 1517, and burned the pope's
bull. The castle of Wartburg, near Eisenach, is the
place where he translated the German Bible. At Co-
burg he remained during the diet of Augsburg (1530).
Worms, in western Germany, is the place where he de
fended his doctrines before the Emperor and where is
a great Luther-monument. Nor should it be forgotten,
that Spire, in western Germany, is the place of the
famous Protest (1529), which has given us the name of
Protestants, and where a fine new Protestant church
has recently be«n erected to commemorate that event.

CHURCH OF ST. GERMAIN L' AUXERROIS

BOOK III.— OTHER EUROPEAN
COUNTRIES
Chapter I.— PARIS AND THE HUGUENOTS.
PARIS the beautiful, — the queen of European
cities, made so by Louis Napoleon, the city
of splendor, gayety, and vice. Of Paris it
self there is much to be said, but a guidebook, like
Baedekers will do that. But the religious places in
Paris, especially those of the Huguenot church, are
not particularly noted in any guide-book and we
desire to give them. But Paris is Catholic, says an
objector, has Protestantism anything there? We
can reply with the apostle, "Much every way."
But again it is objected that Paris is the city of
vice. Yes, but it has also much of virtue in it, es
pecially as heralded by the influence of the Hugue
not church.
Paris and its vicinity was the cradle of the
French reformation. The Evangelical doctrines
were first taught at Meaux.* There Lefevre, as
early as 1512, five years before Luther, taught the

*It is 28 miles east of Paris. 255

256 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
doctrine of justification by faith and later converted
Farel from his papist superstitions. In 1529 Bish
op Briconnet of Meaux, sent the translation of the
Bible, made by Lefevre and Farel, to Queen Mar
garet of' Navarre. In 1533 Queen Margaret open
ed the pulpits of Paris to those preachers, who in
clined to Protestantism, such as Rosseau and Cour-
alt. Even the bishop of Paris was not unfavorable,
although the Sorbonne, the stronghold of the
papacy, opposed the act. The churches of Paris
were crowded to hear the new doctrines.
It was about this time (1533) that Calvin preach
ed in Paris, but was compelled to leave, because
of his part in the oration of the rector of the uni
versity, Cop. Then came the unfortunate affair
of the placards in 1534, which, by their attacks
against the Catholics, angered the king against the
Evangelicals. Queen Margaret withdrew to Beam,
where those who were inclined to the Evangelical
doctrines followed her. Later the persecutions be
came less as the king desired to gain political favor
with the Germans. During this period Protestant
ism again won many adherents in Paris. But Cal
vin was compelled to leave France, and thus France
lost her greatest reformer. Still the reformation

Paris and the Huguenots. 257
had by this time become too great a movement to
depend on one man.
In 1540 the king issued an edict from Fontain-
bleau, in whose palace he lived,* against the Hu
guenots. By 1547 the fourteen martyrs at Meaux
were taken to the market-place and burned. Thus
Meaux, the early home of the Reformed doctrines,
blotted them out. On December, 1547, the king
issued an edict from Fountainbleau against all
Protestant books. However, in the next decade,
the times were more favorable to the Huguenots,
for in 1555 the Huguenots organized a congrega
tion in Paris with all the church-officers. This or
ganization was copied all over France as congre
gations were organized at Poitiers, Bourges and
elsewhere. Finally they dared even call a synod
of these churches at Paris, which met March 25,
1559. In the face of the gibbets, then reared in
public places against Protestants, and in the face
of laws that hung like the "sword of Damocles"
over them, eleven congregations organized this first
French synod, which adopted as its creed the
Gallic confession. Thus Paris was not merely the

?It is situated about 37 miles southeast of Paris.

258 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
cradle of the French reformation, but also the place
of its first organization.
But this rapid growth of the Huguenots alarmed
the Catholics and violence was attempted. In 1557
they made an open attack on the Huguenots. The
latter were gathered early in September in a house
on the Rue St. Jacques under the shadow of the
Sorbonne. There were three or four hundred
present to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Most of
them were of the upper classes and the ladies with
five exceptions were of noble families. When they
attempted to leave the house at midnight, they were
greeted by a shower of stones and driven back.
The street was filled with armed adversaries. The
gentlemen cut their way through the crowd; but
the rest, mainly women, remained in the house till
morning. Then they were arrested and thrown
into prison. Three of them were put to death and
four immolated. Among those put to death was
Phillipine of Luns. After being imprisoned for a
year, she was led out to die. A priest asked her if
she wanted to confess. She replied, "I continually
confess in my heart to my Lord and am certain of
forgiveness of sin-" Just before her tongue was
cut out, she bravely said, "I care not if my body

Paris and the Huguenots. 259 •
suffer, why should I care for my tongue?" Then
she was strangled before being burned.
But these persecutions did not stop the progress
of Protestantism. On the southern side of the
Seine were the public grounds of the Pre aux
Clercs — a favorite promenade for the upper classes.
One afternoon in May, 1558, a few voices in the
crowd began singing psalms.* At this, the walks
and the games were forsaken. The Psalms were
caught up by a vast concourse of people. This
singing of the Psalms was repeated many succes
sive evenings. The number of persons present in
creased to 5-6000 persons, many from the upper
classes as the king and queen of Navarre. The
neighboring Sorbonne looked on all this as an open
avowal of heresy. This happened, however, at a
time when the king was absent from Paris.
A remarkable scene occurred at Fontainbleau,
August 21, 1560. The young King, Francis II,
there opened the French assembly by taking his
seat in the great throne-room of the palace. Sud-

?Psalm-singing was peculiar to the Huguenots.
Later the French government forbade the singing of
Psalms because they feared their power among the
Protestants.

260 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
*
denly Admiral Coligny, the leader of the Hugue
nots, rose, approached the throne and presented a
petition to the king. All present were surprised
at his daring in doing so, for the death-penalty
was even then hanging over the Huguenots as
heretics. His petition was a declaration of the reli
gious views of the Huguenots and contained a re
quest that they be permitted to hold public wor
ship. When attention was called to the fact that
his petition had no signatures, he replied, "Give us
permission to meet together and I will bring you
50,000 signatures from the province of Normandy
alone." "And I," interrupted the great enemy of
the Reformed, the Duke of Guise, "will find 100,-
000 to sign the opposite with their blood.".
Coligny's daring here gained for him what timid
ity would have lost. The Catholic Bishop Montluc
aided Coligny by a speech in which he inveighed
against the bishops, priests and cardinals as being
avaricious and practising usury, simony, etc. Over
against this, he contrasted the morals and courage
of the Huguenots and their great study of Scrip
ture. He urged that a council be called to rectify
the papal abuses. On the next day Coligny again
pled that the Reformed be given the privilege of

Paris and the Huguenots. 261
having churches, or as these have come to be called
in France, "temples," a name the Catholics forced
them to use, as if Protestant churches were pagan
and not Christian. The situation of the Reformed
was becoming very critical when the young king
died after reigning seventeen months and the next
king, Charles IX, was also a boy. So the Re
formed had a breathing spell in their persecutions,
during which they grew rapidly in numbers and in
fluence. So popular did Evangelical preaching be
come that it is said Catharine de Medici threw open
the pulpit of the palace at Fontainbleau to Bishop
Montluc. He preached to a crowd, while the monk
Lebet preached to an empty church. A Jesuit,
writing at the time, says, "Although it is Lent,
meat is sold and served at all the tables, — the au
thority of the pope and the worship of the saints
is laughed at and indulgences and other ceremonies
of the church are treated as superstitions."
And now came to pass the greatest political scene
in the history of the French church, the Coloquy at
Poissy.* To this colloquy was summoned as the

?It is located about seventeen miles west or a little
northwest of Paris, just beyond the famous beautiful
forest of St. Germain, whose terrace along the Seine
overlooks Paris from the distance.

262 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
chief speaker of the Reformed, the great reformer,
Beza of Geneva. No one could have been better
suited than he, for he was of commanding pres
ence, extensive learning, quick wit, with the elegant
manner of a courtier, yet with the solemnity of a
reformer. The colloquy was opened September 9,
1561. Charles IX, the child-king of nine years of
age, sat on the throne. On two sides of the room
were the cardinals and below them, -the Catholic
bishops and doctors. Beza entered, together with
ten Reformed pastors and twenty-two lay deputies.
They were not, however, permitted to take their
seats aside of the Catholic doctors, but were made
to stand before the bar like criminals.
As they came in, one of the cardinals exclaimed:
"Here come the Genevese curs !" Beza, who heard
it, with unruffled composure replied, "Faithful dogs
are much needed in the Lord's sheepfold to bark at
the wolves." He came forward to the rail and,
after briefly addressing the king, knelt on the floor
and began to repeat the beautiful confession of
sin of Calvin's liturgy. His colleagues knelt to the
right and left of him. Their example was so con
tagious that even the queen-mother, though a Cath
olic, fell on her knees and the bishops were solemn-

Paris and the Huguenots. 263
ized with awe. Beza, having prayed, rose from his
knees and made a most elegant and eloquent ad
dress to the king. He was the one man of his day
who could do this for he was a rare combination of
a courtier, a literateur and a theologian. He clearly
stated the faith of the Huguenots, so that the king
might know what it was. He then presented the
king with the Huguenot confession of faith. When
speaking on the sacraments, he declared that
Christ's body was as far removed from the bread
and wine of the supper as the highest heaven from
earth. At this cries of "He has blasphemed," arose.
The last part of his address was on the government
of the church. He closed with a petition that the
church should be restored to its pristine purity.
When he was through, there was a strong demon
stration by the cardinals, against what he said, but
the queen-mother stopped it and ordered them to
reply. Cardinal Tournon, the leader, declined to
do so off-hand and the conference adjourned to
meet another day. Beza's speech was a master
piece. "Would to God," said the Cardinal of Lor
raine, "that he had been dumb or we deaf."
Later on, September 16, the colloquy was again
opened in the same hall, before the same assembly,

264 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
except that in the meantime Peter Martyr, the dis
tinguished reformer of England and next to Calvin,
the leading theologian of the Reformed, had ar
rived and was present. The Cardinal of Lorraine
delivered the reply for the Catholics defending the
infallibility of the church, and the doctrine of the
real presence of Christ's body in the Lord's Sup
per. Beza asked for an opportunity to reply pub
licly but it was not granted. He had, however, a
private discussion with several of the Catholic
leaders on the subjects at issue, in which he was
greatly aided by Peter Martyr. But the conference
failed to bring peace or recognition of the Re
formed by the Catholic authorities. Still the Re
formed religion increased in numbers and influence.
In 1561 Huguenot assemblies of eight, ten and,
some say, of forty thousand met. To avoid con
fusion, these were held outside of the city of Paris.
Beza was one of the preachers. One assembly
worshipped outside of the gate St. Antoine at Po-
pincourt, the other in the faubourg St. Marceau.
Often the audiences were so large that several
ministers preached at the same time. In these as
semblies the women were placed in the centre, then
the men on foot and around the edge of the crowd

Paris and the Huguenots. 265
the armed men on horseback. At Treves 8-9000
assembled to partake of the Lord's Supper and the
number was so large that all could not partake of
the elements in one day.
But the saddest day of Paris was August 24,
1572, when the massacre of St. Bartholomew took
place. The time of the massacre was shrewdly
chosen as most of the Huguenot nobles were gath
ered at Paris to the marriage of Henry of Navarre.
Four days before it occurred, Coligny had been
wounded by a shot which broke a finger. The sig
nal for the massacre was the ringing of the bell
of the church of St. Germain L' Auxerrois, just
east of the palace of the Louvre. Then the bell of
the Palace of Justice pealed out and the massacre
became general. Bodies of Huguenots were drag
ged from all quarters to the square in front of the
Louvre. Coligny was assassinated, the king finally
giving his consent, but with the words, "Then the
massacre must not stop till every other Huguenot
is dead lest they accuse me. As the soldiers burst
into his house, Admiral Coligny asked what was
the cause of the disturbance. One of his attendants
replied, "My lord, it is God that is calling us to him
self. The house has been forced and we have no

266 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
means of resistance." Coligny nobly replied, "For
a long time I have kept myself in readiness for
death- As for you, save yourselves if you can."
They fled and escaped. He added: "My soul I
commend to the mercy of God." When the soldiers
entered his room, he was quickly killed and his
body thrown into the street. For four days, the
massacre continued, until the streets ran red with
blood. Among the victims were a number of Hu
guenots of high rank, who were lodged in the
Louvre palace and who were put to death, the only
ones spared being Henry of Navarre and the Prince
of Conde. Great was the rejoicing of the Catholics
at this massacre. They celebrated a great jubilee,
their pulpits echoed with thanksgivings. They had
a medal struck to commemorate it. At Rome the
pope offered Te Deums and had the cannon fired
in honor of it. The king of France has a jubilee
procession on August 28, Thursday, 1572. It is
a remarkable fact that almost all the actors of this
massacre died violent deaths, and the king died in
great remorse. When the Duke of Anjou passed
through Germany the next year, he visited the
Elector of the Palatinate at Heidelberg. The lat
ter showed him a portrait of Coligny in his castle,

Paris and the Huguenots. 267
"You know that man?" asked the Elector, "you
have put to death the greatest captain in Christen
dom. You ought not to have done so, for he has
done you and your king great service." The duke
made a confused reply and shrugged his shoulders
at the rebuke."
But persecution could not destroy the Huguenot
church, it only roused her to greater life and activ
ity. Then came the period of the Huguenot wars
between the Catholics and the Protestants, the lat
ter led by the Prince of Conde and later by King
Henry of Navarre. Little by little the Huguenots
gained on their enemies, until in 1589 the army of
the weak King of France was beaten, and the
Huguenot forces 42,000 strong were at the very
gates of Paris. Then came the death of King
Henry III. The next step was the accession of
Henry of Navarre to the French throne as Henry
IV- And then came his perversion to Catholicism.
But he became a liberal Catholic and hoped to se
cure toleration to the Huguenots by granting to
them the Edict of Nantes in 1597. Under it the
Reformed felt secure and there was Protestant
worship in 760 churches.
On May 4, 1600, a conference was held at Fon-

268 Famous. Places of Reformed Churches.
tainbleau between Duplessis Mornay, a leading
Huguenot, and Duperron. The former, in his
work on the Lord's Supper had collected 5-6000
passages from the early Church-Fathers against the
Catholic doctrine of trans-substantiation. Henry
IV was displeased at it and so told Mornay, who
replied, "I have always regulated my service first
to God, next to my king and then to my friends.
Duperron, bishop of Evreux, declared that he had
found in Mornay's book, 500 enormous errors. So
the king ordered a conference, but was careful to
select as judges four ultra-Catholics, two doubtful
ones, and no Huguenots. Besides Mornay was
placed at a disadvantage, for he was not told till
the day of the conference at 1 a. m., the particular
passages that would be called in question. He,
therefore, had little time to prepare. As a result
he made a poor showing at the conference. Mor
nay got sick that night and the conference was call
ed off. Out of several thousand passages
against the Catholics in his book, the judges con
demned nine. Later, however, Mornay published
a new edition of his work on the Lord's Supper and
in it verified his quotations.
In 1606 the Reformed congregation at Paris was

Paris and the Huguenots. 269
allowed to have its own church building. They had
never been allowed to worship in Paris by the
French government. They had first been obliged
to worship in the little village of Ablon, nine and a
half miles south of Paris. The Huguenot nobles
then complained that they could not on the same
day perform their duties to their God and to their
king. The poor also complained of the distance,
and some infants carried to the church for baptism
died on the way. So the king, in 1606, granted
them permission to build a temple at Charenton,
now the southeastern suburb of Paris- There they
built an enormous church holding eight thousand
people. And as they went to and fro to church,
they, by the elegance of their equippages, excited
the envy of the Catholics. Several of the national
synods of the French Reformed church were held
at Charenton.
But in 1610, Henry IV was assassinated, and
what he did for the Huguenots, it was left for his
successors to undo. Gradually the oppressions be
came greater until about 1680 the dragonades be
come prominent. And in 1685 King Louis XIV is
sued his Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which
forbade Protestantism in France. One of the first

270 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
acts that marked this edict was the utter demolition
of the Huguenot temple at Charenton. When this
church was destroyed, in the French Academy
(which strange to say was originally founded by a
Huguenot), there was an address, in which Abbe
Tallemand said: "Happy ruins, the finest trophy
France ever held." As the members of this con
gregation did not obey the king's order to become
Catholics, one hundred of the leaders were locked
up by the police, and not left out until they had
signed an act of union with the Catholics. But
later the Reformed there were treated with pecu
liar leniency so as to spare King Louis XIV .dis
agreeable thoughts. Their presence was ignored.
About five miles north of Paris is St. Denis,
long the burial-place of the French kings. And
there King Louis XIV was buried. But there oc
curred one of the revenges of history. On Oc
tober 12, 1793, his tomb was desecrated in the
days of the French revolution by order of the
French Convention, just a century to the very day,
after he had caused the tombs of the German kings
to be similarly deserated in the cathedral of Spire
in Germany. Strange to say, the man who dese
crated his tomb was named Hentz, a namesake of
the man who did the same at Spire. When in 1787

Paris and the Huguenots. 271
the Edict of Toleration became a law, the Prot
estants in Paris again had the oportunity to organ
ize, which they did. There are now in Paris nine
French Reformed or Huguenot churches. Of the
five Huguenot churches in Paris the most promi
nent is the Oratoire, just north of the Louvre pal
ace. Its buildings originally belonged to the Catho
lics, having been erected 1621-30. In its rear on the
street Rue de Rivoli is the statue of Coligny, placed
not far from where he was assassinated. There
are also in Paris five congregations of the Free
Reformed Church of France.
Two interesting undenominational organizations
exist in Paris, which are mainly controlled by the
Reformed or mainly aid them. The first is the
Paris Missionary Society. This was organized in
1824 after the revival at Geneva had touched
France. This society founded a mission among the
Basutoes, in South Africa and this led later to the
foundation of a mission among the Barotsis of
eastern Africa. As France gained more colonies
this society^ enlarged its missionary work in those
colonies as Madegascar, etc.* The greatest of their
early missionaries was Casalis, who went to South

?Its office is in southern Paris at 102 Boulevard
Arago.

272 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Africa in 1832, just as a heathen chief, Moshesh,
1,206 miles in the interior, had sent to Cape-town
for a teacher. He located in Moshesh's tribe, the
Basutoes, and founded the first mission station
named Moriah. Moshesh was one of the most
prominent and progressive chiefs of South Africa,
and finally became a Christian just before his death.
Casalis was followed by Mabille and others. By
1888, out of a population of 200,000, 25,000 were
adherents of this mission. This Basuto mission has
proved an important political factor, although that
was not originally intended. When the Basuto
tribe found, that for their own protection, they
must place themselves under a foreign power, nat
urally they would have turned to France. But
these missionaries did not trust France, as France
was the favorite daughter of the pope at that time,
and they feared France would send the Jesuits
among the Basutoes. So, through their influence,
the Basutoes went under the British control, as
they were afraid France would make them Catho
lic. Thus England gained one of the finest races
in South Africa through this mission.
But the greatest missionary of this Paris So
ciety, was Francis Coillard, who went to Africa
in 1857. He labored at first among the Basutoes.

Paris and the Huguenots. 273
The Christian Basutoes heard that there was a tribe
north of them, who spoke the same language. And
they determined ¦ that, as they had found such a
great blessing in Christianity, it was their duty to
make it known to that tribe, especially as they spoke
their language- So they started their own foreign
mission and in 1884, Coillard and his wife started
far to the north, one thousand miles to the region
of the Zambesi. There Coillard founded a mission
among the Barotsis whose king, Lewanika, at first
received him in a friendly way, but then for years
ridiculed and hindered his work. But the king's
son and heir to the throne, Litia, became a Chris
tian. The heavenly death of Mrs. Coillard pro
duced a profound impression on the natives and the
mission has steadily grown. The Barotsis followed
the Basutos in placing themselves under the British
crown. _ And at_the_recent coronation of King Ed
ward VII of England, one of the foreign kings,
who attracted great attention was Lewanika, the
king of this tribe. Though not yet a Christian, he
declared that "the Gospel was the power of God."
Coillard died a few years ago.* When Madegascar

?For the lives of these remarkable missionaries see
"Famous Missionaries of the Reformed Church," by
the author of this work.

274 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
came under French control, the missions of the
London Missionary Society were transferred to it.
But there has been great oppression by the French
governors of that island, which has seriously inter
fered with the missionary work of the Paris so
ciety. The other undenominational movement is the
McAll Mission, founded by Rev. Robert McAll, a
Congregationalist minister of England, who had oc
casion to visit Paris just after the Commune in
August, 1871, when he went to Belleville, the part
of Paris that had been, the home of Commune.
While distributing tracts at the door of a res
taurant, a workman grasped his hand and asked
him to come and tell them the true religion, one
without forms and ceremonies. Those words were
his call. He went to Paris in January, 1872, and
opened his first Gospel hall. At first he was look
ed upon with suspicion by the French authorities,
who stationed policemen at his hall, that nothing
might be said against the government. But often
it happened that the policeman, who came to watch,
was converted. The French government later rec
ognized the value of the Mc'All movement to pub
lic morals by conferring on him the cross of the

Paris and the Huguenots. 275
Legion of Honor in 1892. At first the McAll meet
ings had only singing and an address, but no prayer,
for fear there might be a disturbance as the French
were not accustomed to have any one pray but the
priests. But gradually a free prayer was intro
duced, and many other halls were opened- As the
work grew, the utter simplicity of the service and
the plainness of the halls proved attractive to the
French, wearied with the pomp of the Catholic cer
emonial. The work spread to other cities, being
liberally supported from the British Isles and
America. It prospered greatly till the death of Mr.
McAll in 1893. Since then it has still been con
tinued although the number of halls has somewhat
diminished; but it has added to its work a Gospel-
boat, on the river Seine, which goes from place to
place and holds religious services.
The McAll Mission has done an excellent work,
attracting many to the Gospel who never would
otherwise have heard it. The main difficulty with it
has been to connect it with churches. A few of the
halls were connected with some particular church,
and an attempt was made to hold the converts of
the others in Brotherhoods. But Mr. McAll had
to confess that this link with the church was the

276 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
weakest part of the movement. A few went into
the Baptist church ; a few went into the Methodist.
Probably the most went into some Reformed
church, but the great body did not identify them
selves with any church, and so conserve their in
fluence for Christ. One of the leading ministers
of the French Reformed church, while not criti
cizing the movement, yet said that if the same
amount of money, which had been spent in the
McAll Mission, had been given to the different
Home Missionary Societies of the French Re
formed church, it would have produced far greater
and more permanent results, in the formation of
new congregations, etc. But then it is possible
that so much money could not otherwise have been
raised in Britain and America, for the McAll
Movement seemed especially to appeal to these
lands.* There has been a continued and growing drift
out of the Catholic Church in France. Perhaps
the most important has been the recent movement
of the priests out of that Church, some because
they have lost faith in Catholicism, some because,

?McAll Mission stations can be found at 23 Rue
Royale, 8 Boulevard Nouvelle and 104 Rue St. Antoine.

Paris and the Huguenots. 277
with the wane of Catholicism, fewer priests were
needed. Two Homes have been established by
Protestants for them because their education has
fitted them only for the priesthood and they would
starve until they could find work of some kind.
One of these homes is connected with the Hugue
nots, the other, under the former Abbe Bourrier,
is independent. But both are doing an important
work.* We thus see that even gay Paris yet yields much
of interest to the Christian and the follower of
Calvin. The memory of the Huguenots should be
a spiritual tonic to the visitor to Paris or to the
reader of ,these pages. Not all of Paris is bad, —
there is much good, and there will be more in the
future, as more and more the true spiritual reli
gion of the Huguenots gains greater power there.

?A very interesting memorial of the Huguenots is
the valuable library of the Huguenot Society, 54 Rue
des Saint Peres VII, where the learned librarian, Rev.
N. Weiss, welcomes and aids any one interested in
Huguenot researches. The Protestant book-store is
near the Palais Royal at 4 Place du Theatre Francais,
where English is spoken, and any information about
the Huguenots will be gladly given.

HUGUENOT WORSHIP IN THE WOODS

Chapter II.— FRANCE AND THE HUGUE
NOTS.
BUT while Paris and its vicinity was the
birthplace of the Huguenots, it did not
represent the whole movement. The ref
ormation was a spontaneous movement in many
parts of France, a revulsion against the supersti
tions and abuses of the papacy. There was a great
desire for the Gospel liberty of Protestantism.
France is full of sacred places in Huguenot history.
We can give but a brief outline of the history of
the Huguenots and a brief reference to the most
important of their sacred places.
The history of the Huguenots may be divided
into three main periods :
i. The Rise of the Huguenots.
2- The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and
their persecution.
3. Their condition after the Edict of Tolera
tion. 1. The Rise of the Huguenots.
With the organization, of the Huguenot Church
at Paris in 1559, the Huguenot movement became
279

280 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
a formidable one to the Catholics. A large part
of the best citizens of France had become identi
fied with them, especially those of the industrious
artizan class, and also the best of the nobility.
Their numbers were so great that it looked as if
France, like Germany, was about to revolt from
the pope. Nothing but the continued adherence of
the king to Catholicism saved France to the papacy.
The death of King Francis I in 1559, caused two
children in succession to be placed on the throne.
During that time the Reformed doctrines spread
amazingly. In 1561 occurred, as we have seen, the
colloquy at Poissy. In that year also, Peter Viret
the reformer of French Switzerland, and the com
panion of Calvin and Farel, in that work, came to
southern France to live. He greatly strengthened
the French Protestants, by his preaching. He be
came professor of theology at Orthez and died
there. He was a great reformer. Although he
had not the profundity of Calvin, or the vehemence
of Farel, yet he had an unction of his own (a
sweetness), so that the people never tired of hear
ing him.
The Huguenot movement had grown to such
proportions as to alarm the Catholics, and the Duke

France and the Huguenots. 281
of Guise and the queen-mother determined its prog
ress must be stopped. Suddenly there came a thun
derclap out of a clear sky — the grim prophecy of
future bloodshed for many years. In 1562, while
1,200 Huguenots were worshipping at Vassy in a
barn, the Duke of Guise fell on them with his
troops and killed sixty and wounded two hundred.
This high-handed act greatly^ alarmed the Hugue
nots, and the Consistory of the Paris congregation
sent Beza to complain to the court, where the reply
was made that the Duke of Guise,. having been in
sulted by the Huguenots, could not restrain his
troops- But the Huguenots now felt that their
cause was endangered. This massacre might be re
peated at any time. Hence, driven to desperation,
they finally had recourse to arms. Then occurred
what have been called the eight wars of the Hugue
nots, which changed from being a religious organi
zation (out of self-defense) into a political one.
There is no time to speak of all these wars, only
of the most important. Suffice it to say that they
were battles for the toleration of the Huguenot
worship. The first war occurred 1562-3. During this war,
Rouen, in the north of France, was beseiged by the

282 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Catholic armies. The Queen of England allied
herself with the Huguenots. But after a brave de
fence of five weeks, the city fell. The Huguenots
were destroyed and some of them hung, among
them their pastor, Marlorat. Toulouse, too, in
southern France had to undergo the baptism of
fire. There were 25,000 Huguenots in that dis
trict. The Reformed' were beseiged in the city hall
and were finally compelled to surrender. They cel
ebrated the Lord's Supper, then marched out, when
3,500 were killed and 700 put to death. But when
the war closed, the Huguenots gained the privilege
of having the right to worship in the cities then in
the hands of the Huguenots.
In the second Huguenot war (1567), the Hugue
nots rose everywhere against the Catholic authori
ties. They were strong enough to beseige Paris,
and fought the battle of St. Denis, just north of
Paris, where the French lost their great leader,
Montmorency. The third war occurred, 1568. It
was during this war that Jeanne D'Albret, Queen
of Navarre, allied herself with the Huguenots-
Her little kingdom of Navarre was located south
west of France on the borders of the Pyrenees.
The reformation early appeared there, but she did

France and the Huguenots. 283
not profess the Reformed faith until 1560, when
she called Viret to her land. What Joan of Arc
had been to the French before, Jeanne D' Albret
now became to the Huguenots. The Huguenot
leaders during this war had thrown themselves into
the city of Rochelle in southwestern France, on the
coast. When she joined them at Rochelle with her
army of 4,000 men, they were besides themselves
with joy. The Prince of Conde in the Huguenot
assembly, arose and resigned the command of the
Huguenot army in favor of her son, Henry of
Navarre. But she declined that honor for her son,
saying "I and my children are here to promote the
cause or to share in its disaster. The cause of God
is dearer to me than the aggrandizement of my
son." Rochelle from this time became the citadel
of the Huguenots. During this war, occurred the
. terrible battle of Jarnac, where the prince of Conde,
the leader of the Huguenots, was killed. This so
paralyzed the Huguenot army that even Coligny
could not raise their courage. In despair, the Hu
guenots leaders sent to Rochelle for Jeanne D'
Albret to come to the army. She came and made
such an eloquent appeal to the soldiers that tre
mendous enthusiasm was aroused and her son,

284 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Henry, was made leader of the army. The tide of
battle turned, and the Huguenot army pushed to
ward Paris, with the result that when peace was
declared, it was still more favorable to the Re
formed, as it gave them twelve places where Re
formed worship might be enjoyed, although it ex
cluded their worship from Paris by ten leagues.
Four places were given outright to them, Rochelle,
Montauban, Charente and Cognac. The Huguenot
faith had so spread that in 1571 there were 2,150
churches. Between the third and fourth wars occurred the
awful massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, to
which we have already referred. For six weeks it
continued through the provinces. Massacres took
place at Meaux, Orleans, Rouen, Toulouse, Bor
deaux, Lyons and many other places. The severity
of this massacre varied in different places- Where
the Huguenots were numerous and influential, its
severity was checked. It was the cities more es
pecially that suffered, the massacre not being so
general in the country districts. Seventy thousand
Huguenots lost their lives in this massacre. This
massacre thoroughly alarmed the Huguenots. They
now fully realized that the Catholics had no other

France and the Huguenots. 285
object but their destruction. It led to the fourth
war in 1573-4. The Huguenots threw themselves
into Rochelle whose seige began Dec. 4, 1572. They
defended themselves with the greatest bravery, even
the women signalizing themselves as warriors. The
English tried to relieve the city with food but failed.
Gaunt famine soon became terrible, so that horses,
cats and dogs were eaten. Pestilence came, but they
battled on through the following summer and did
not surrender. Finally the war closed, for Henry of
Anjou (one of the Catholic leaders) was made
king of Poland. France now gave liberty of wor
ship to the Reformed religion in three places,
Rochelle, Montauban and Nismes, and in the houses
of the Reformed nobles.
The fifth war (1575-6) was not important in its
battles, but important in its results, for by it free
dom of worship was given the Huguenots through
out France, except in Paris and places of royal
residence. The next king, Henry III, disapproved
of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and repealed
the sentence against Coligny and the Huguenot
leaders. The sixth war (1577) led to the defeat
of the Huguenots and reduced their places of wor
ship to certain places where the Huguenot nobles

286 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
lived. By this time both parties were sick of the
wars, so that when the seventh war (1580) oc
curred, most of the Huguenots did not take part,
and the French army was successful, though its
peace gave the same rights to the Huguenots as
the sixth war. Meanwhile the death of the Duke
of Anjou made Henry of Navarre the apparent
heir to the French throne.
The eighth war, called "the War of the three
Henrys," broke out in 1587, during which Henry
of Navarre steadily gained the victory. During
this war was fought the celebrated battle of
Courtras where 5-6000 Huguenots were pitted
against 10-12000 French soldiers. But the former
were veterans while the latter were many of them
only gay cavaliers. As the battle was about to
begin the Reformed knelt and chanted the 118th
Psalm. The French soldiers, seeing them kneel,
cried out, "They are afraid, the cowards, they are
confessing." "No," said an old soldier among them,
"when the Huguenots do this, they will fight well."
And they did, for they completely routed their ene
mies. Meanwhile the King of France was driven
out of Paris by a revolt, so that finally he had to
call to his aid his old enemy Henry of Navarre.

France and the Huguenots. 287
They beseiged Paris but during the seige the King
of France was assassinated.
The death of the King of France threw every
thing into confusion. The heir to the throne was
the Protestant King of Navarre. Finally, on July
25, 1593, Henry of Navarre abjured his Protestant
faith and became king of France, and in 1594 en
tered Paris. He proved a liberal ruler, giving to
the Huguenots toleration. He endeavored to make
permanent their liberty of worship in the Edict of
Nantes, which was promulgated April 13, 1598.
He thus hoped to atone to them for his perversion
to Rome. But it did not occur to him that after
his time, some other king might undo what he did,
as his successor Louis XIV did in 1685. Still this
edict gave the Huguenots much liberty for nearly
a century. His life was cut short by assassination
in 1610.
2. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (Octo
ber 18, 1685).
The assassination of King Henry IV, caused the
Huguenots to lose their protector. They had by
this time become greatly weakened- Their greatest
leaders had either died or become perverts to Cath-

288 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
olicism like the king. Besides, in the progress of
events, they had become a political movement, rath
er than a religious one. So that when the foxy
cardinal Richelieu became prime minister, he paved
the way for their destruction. He determined to
destroy their power by capturing their citadel,
Rochelle. Even before this happened, in 1620,
persecutions broke out in Beam in southwestern
France, which with Navarre had been added to
France by Henry IV. The Catholic soldiers burst
into the Reformed churches, breaking down their
walls, tearing up their books, forcing the Reformed
to kneel, when the host was carried through the
streets, and also to make the sign of the cross.
They drove away the Reformed ministers. This
was the first of the dragonades, the percursor of
all the rest that afterwards came with such terrible
results to the Huguenots. Richelieu's seige of
Rochelle soon led to a famine. The British fleet
tried to send relief but failed. By June, 1628, the
inhabitants were dying at the rate of three hundred
a day. When the famished people demanded sur
render, the brave mayor declared that if a single
inhabitant be left, it would be his duty to close the
gates. Finally, when two-thirds of the people had

France and the Huguenots. 289
perished, and the living had neither strength to bury
the dead or to carry arms, the city surrendered,
October 28, 1628.
The fall of Rochelle meant the fall of the Re
formed faith ultimately. The walls of Rochelle
and of all Huguenot forts were razed to the ground.
Only one church was left to them there, the rest
being made Catholic. Gradually in many places
the rights of the Reformed were curtailed. Their
last synod was held at Loudon in 1659. After that
no synods were permitted. Conversions to Prot
estantism were forbidden. No church service was
allowed outside of the Reformed churches. Sick
Huguenots were not allowed to be received into
the houses, but must go to the hospitals to be
worked upon by nuns and priests before they died.
All this culminated ultimately in the Revocation of
the Edict of Nantes, by which all the rights which
King Henry IV gave to them by the Edict of
Nantes were taken away. This edict forbade the
Reformed religion and ordered all the Reformed to
return to the Catholic Church. Their pastors were
ordered to leave the land. Forbidden to worship,
the Huguenots were also forbidden to flee to other
lands. They were thus shut up with no escape but

290 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
into the Catholic Church. A Protestant could now
neither be born, live or die within the bounds of
France. Many, however, fled, either by land or
sea. Some fled by sea, cooped up in barrels with
holes in them, for breathing or as stowaways' in the
holds of vessels. Many fled by land to Switzerland
and Germany.
Meanwhile the awful dragonades began and
proved wonderfully successful in converting the
Huguenots to Catholicism. The French army was
sent among the Huguenots, and the dragoons were
assigned to live in the homes of the Huguenots and
to be supported by them, four to ten in each family.
They were not to kill the inmates, but to do almost
everything short of that, so as to force them to
become Catholics. In Beam, they entered the
houses of the Reformed with drawn swords and
gave them the alternative of becoming Catholics or
death. They ate all the food, broke up all the fur
niture and took or sold all they could. They would
take turns in keeping the inmates awake, pinch
them, prick them, etc. The result was that many
of the Bearnese recanted in order to escape these
indignities. Scarcely a thirtieth of the Huguenot
population held out. This success led to the same

France and the Huguenots. 291
method being tried elsewhere as at Languedoc,
Saintonge, Viverais, Dauphiny, the Cevennes and
Provence. It is said that 60,000 converts were made
in Bordeaux, 20,000 in Montauban, so that the
Catholics boasted of 500,000 conversions in three
months. It looked as if the Huguenots would be
absolutely wiped out.
But forced conversions do not amount to much.
For those who became perverts from Protestant
ism, found that even after that act, they had to suf
fer many indignities. As a result many of them em
igrated, and as soon as they gained a foreign land,
they confessed their sin in joining the Catholics and
again connected themselves with the Huguenots.
And while the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
seemed to be the death-blow to the Huguenots, yet
that date was one of the most unlucky days of
France. For it deprived the King of France of all
his Protestant allies, whom he greatly needed to
offset the growing power of Austria and Spain.
Besides in spite of his prohibition, the emigration
out of France began assuming enormous propor
tions. By the edict France had lost 500,000 in
habitants and 100 millions in money, 9,000 sailors,
12,000 soldiers (many of them her bravest), 600

292 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
officers and her most flourishing manufactures.
Many branches of trade were ruined and many
parts of the kingdom became depopulated. From
that day the fortunes of Louis XIV declined. De
feat after defeat came until he finally had to sue
for peace. While all this strength and wealth,
which he lost, went to build up his rival nations, as
Germany, Holland and England, which were Prot
estant. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the
French Reformed church came into greatest ex
tremity, so that she was called "the Church of the
Desert." She had no pastors, for they had been
ordered out of the land and a reward of 5,500
livres was promised to any one who would capture
a pastor or cause him to be taken. And yet they
had pastors who risked their lives to feed the
flock. In spite of the edict, the Huguenots would
meet for worship with or without pastors. They
would meet in woods or groves or caves or quarries.
Often they would be surprised by French soldiers,
who shot into the assembly, killing and wounding
or hanging them on neighboring trees, or taking
them to prison, to die or to be sent to the galleys
as slaves. We may perhaps take time to give an

France and the Huguenots. 293
illustration of this. When young Rey, one of the
first pastors to become a martyr, after being cap
tured, was informed that his punishment was death,
he replied, "My life is not of value to me, pro
vided I gain Christ." When put to torture, he said,
"I am treated more mildly than my Saviour." It
was supposed that such martyrdom would stop the
Huguenot worship, but they seemed to have the op
posite effect. The Huguenots held services in many
districts, especially in southeastern France. From
1686-98, seventeen pastors were martyred, three at
Nismes, ten at St. Hyppolite in the Cevennes, and
12 at the Peyrou at Montpelier, where most of
the Protestants were executed.
In the history of the Church of the Desert, three
men stand out prominently in saving the Huguenot
faith. The first of these Huguenot preachers was
Claude Brousson. He was at first a lawyer at
Nismes in southeastern France. In the courts, he
had been an able defender of the rights of the
Huguenots. When the dragonades began, he was
forced to leave France and he began the practice
of law at Lausanne in Switzerland. But his heart
was in France. He urged that ministers be sent to
France and finally he went himself, taking with

294 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
him a number of Huguenots, who promised to aid
him. He secretly gathered them together. They
called him to be their pastor and he was ordained.
As he went about among the congregations, he was
continually tracked by Jesuit spies. He was hunted
from one place to another by the dragoons. One
by. one his companions were captured and put to
death. A large price was set on his head. But
in spite of all this, he preached in Languedoc and
in the Cevennes- He dared even preach in Nismes,
his old home. Any of the Protestants could have
gotten 5,000 livres for his betrayal, but they proved
true. Once while preaching in a garden, the sol
diers ambushed them. Forty were taken prisoners
and sent to the galleys and the women to the Tower
of Constance. But he escaped although the sol
diers were at his very heels. He then preached
at Sommieres, eight miles west of Nismes, where
the soldiers arrived just too late. Often in his
wanderings he almost perished for want of food,
and was often nearly ready to die for want of rest,
yet his constant thought was of the people commit
ted to him. To write out his sermons, he carried
a small board which he called his "wilderness
table." This he placed on his knees and he wrote

France and the Huguenots. 295
his sermons in the woods and caves. He published
some of them (1595) and sent them to King Louis
XIV, to show that he preached only the pure Word
of God.
Finally with health broken by his constant labors
and dangers, he returned to Lausanne in 1693, a
physical wreck, after his labors of more than four
years. He was so changed, that even his wife did
not recognize him. He remained fifteen months in
Switzerland and then travelled through Protestant
countries, pleading the cause of the Huguenots.
He was called as pastor of the Walloon church at
the Hague in Holland. It was an easy place, but
he was not at ease. His heart was in France with
the abandoned Huguenots of the desert. So after
a four-months pastorate, he resigned and went
back to France to preach. On August, 1695, he
re-entered France near Sedan, held a meeting there
and was almost captured. He visited many places,
as Picardy, Normandy, Burgundy, even the neigh
borhood of Paris and by the end of the year he re
turned to Switzerland. But in August, 1697, he
again entered France for a third and last time. He
went through the high-Alps, Dauphiny, Languedoc
and Orange. By August, 1698, he had entered

296 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Nismes, though a large reward of 600 louis d'or,
was offered for him. Once he hid himself in a well
and the soldiers were lowered into it, but did not
find him. Finally at Oloron he fell, into the hands
of a spy and was arrested and sent to Montpelier,
where on the Peyrou he was executed November 4,
1698, in the presence of 20,000 people. He tried
to speak from the scaffold, but his voice was
drowned by drums.
The workers die, but God's work goes on. The
successor of Brousson was Antoine Court, who was
not merely a preacher like Brousson, but became
the organizer of the church and thus its savior
in the midst of persecution. He was born at Vil-
leneuve de Berg in Viverais in 1696. As a boy, he
was compelled to go to the Jesuit school, but he
hated the mass. One day when his mother set out
to attend a secret Huguenot service, she found him
following her. She urged him to return, but he
begged to be allowed to go with her. She shed
tears at his words but granted his request. At that
time he was too little and too weak to walk all
the way to the meeting, so others took him on their
shoulders and carried him. He thus early showed
that he was a born Huguenot in spirit. At the age

France and the Huguenots. 297
of seventeen he began to read the Bible to the secret
assemblies and then began to preach. His mother
was greatly troubled at his desire to become a
preacher. He replied "whoso loves father and
mother more than me is not worthy of me." He
went to Nismes and even to Marseilles, where
among the galleys he organized a system of secret
worship by the Huguenots. Then he preached at
Nismes and in the Cevennes and Viverais districts.
By this time, the synods and the consistories of
the church had all become forgotten owing to the
persecutions, — the church had become disintegra
ted. But in an abandoned quarry near Nismes on
the very month when King Louis XIV breathed
his last, he organized the first synod of the desert,
August 21, 1715. It consisted of three laymen and
about six ministers. He, after preaching to many
assemblies, often in the greatest danger, was or
dained November 21, 17 18. He greatly desired to
get ministers for the church and thus began the
training of young men. "I have often pitched my
professor's chair," he says, "underneath a rock.
The sky was our roof and the leafy branches
thrown out from the crevices of the rock was our
canopy. There I and my students would remain

298 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
for eight days." There he trained them in the
Bible and in the preparation of sermons. And
when they preached before him, it would be from
a rock. This was a sort of wandering theological
seminary, the students following him from place
to place.
But though many young men sought the danger
ous occupation of the ministry, yet there were not
preachers enough. For as the persecutions would
sometimes have a lull at different places, the num
ber of the Huguenots began increasing again. So
finally Court went to Switzerland and there found
ed (1726) a theological seminary at Lausanne.
Court returned to France after having founded the
seminary. Many were his hair-breadth escapes.
Once near Nismes, while seated under a tree, com
posing a sermon, the soldiers came in sight. He
climbed up into the tree and concealed by the
branches escaped. Once the house in which he was
staying was surrounded by soldiers. He made his
friend, the owner of the house, go to bed as if sick
and he hid between the bed and the wall and es
caped their search.
But in 1729 he left France to spend the rest of
his life at Lausanne, having by that time organized

France and the Huguenots. 299
112 churches and in the district of Langusdoc, there
were now 200,000 Huguenots. In 1742, when the
French soldiers were called away by war, the Hu
guenots increased rapidly. The congregations often
called Court to come back, and when he did not,
he was even charged by some with cowardice, as
if he had lost his old Huguenot courage to face
persecutions, But Court seems to have felt he was
doing a greater work by educating the young men
at Lausanne than by preaching himself. In 1744
he again visited France, preaching almost daily to
immense audiences. At Nismes, he preached in
the old quarry, about three miles from the town
to an audience of 20,000. But when the war was
over and the French troops returned, then severe
persecution began again. In spite of it, the Re
formed increased in numbers. In 1756 there were
48 pastors and 22 probationers and students; in
1763, 62 pastors, 35 preachers and 15 students at
work. Court died at Lausanne, 1760.
But when one worker dies, there is another to
take his place. Court had passed away, but then
came Paul Rabout, the most prominent of the grad
uates of Court's theological seminary, at Lausanne,
and the greatest preacher of the "Church of the

300 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Desert" in his day. He was born January 9, 1718,
near Montpelier. At the age of sixteen, he became
the companion of the pastors in their labors and
dangers. In 1740 he went to Lausanne to study
under Court, where Court early recognized his
ability. He returned, 1743, as pastor at Nismes,
and at once became the leader of the church. His
study, which was often a hut of stones in the re
cesses of a wood, became the centre of the Hugue
not Church. For more than thirty years, his only
dwelling places were caves, huts and out-buildings.
He was not only an eloquent preacher but a wise
organizer. His moderation won the respect even
of many Catholics. On one occasion the door of
the house, in which a meeting was held, was sud
denly thrown open, and a muffled man threw open
his cape, revealing the military commander of the
town, who said, "My friends, you have Paul Ra-
baut. In a quarter of an hour I shall be here with
soldiers, accompanied by father  , who has
lodged information against you." Rabaut, of
course, left and when the soldiers came, he was not
to be found. Many were his disguises — as a baker,
a trader, a laborer. Once when changing horses
at a post-house between Nismes and Montpelier,

France and the Huguenots. 301
the French minister of war happened to be there.
And Rabaut dared to introduce himself by name
and present a petition. The marquis might have
arrested and hanged him on the spot. But impress
ed by Rabaut's noble bearing, he accepted the pe
tition and promised to lay it before the king. Ra
baut's enthusiasm is shown by the following ex
tract of a letter to a friend at Geneva : "When I
fix my attention upon the divine fire, with which
I will not say Jesus and the Apostles, but the Re
formed and their immediate successes, burned for
the salvation of souls, it seems to me that in com
parison with them, we are ice. Their immense
works astound me and at the same time cover me
with confusion. What could I give to resemble
them in everything laudable." Such modesty only
reveals his greatness. Court was the reorganizer
of the Huguenot Church. Rabaut made his or
ganization permanent. It is a very remarkable fact,
that one of the many revenges in French religious
history, was that when religious liberty was first
ordered in 1789 by the National Assembly of
France in the time of the French Revolution, it be
came the duty of the president of that body to an
nounce it. The president happened to be no less

302 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
a person than the son of Rabaut, Rabaut St.
Etienne. 3. The Condition of the Huguenots after the Edict
of Toleration.
In 1783 King Louis XVI issued an Edict of Tol
eration, but it was not effective. Napoleon Bona
parte granted the church an organization. But
alas, by that time the church had become honey
combed with rationalism. As one writer says:
"The Word of God began with a small letter and
Napoleon with a large letter, and when in a ser
mon the Messiah was preached, it was on Corsica
that their minds rested and not at Bethlehem."
Voltaire with his infidelity had injured the church
more than the persecutions. Still the church woke
to life. In 1807 there were 78 Reformed temples-
Then came the revival in France after the revival
at Geneva under Haldane, when Pyt and the
Monods became the leaders of the French Church.
The Evangelization Society of France was founded
in 1833, whose aim was to evangelize France. This
was followed in 1847 by the Central Society of
Protestant Evangelization. The church was wak
ing up. These societies have now grown to large
size and great influence.

France and the Huguenots. 303
In 1 87 1 occurred a most momentous events-
France became a republic. This was very signifi
cant. France had cast out Calvanism by the Edict
of Nantes. But now she takes refuge in political
Calvinism, for was not Calvinism the founder of
republics? So Calvin, although he was driven out
of France, was ultimately the victor politically.
And what was most significant, the prime minister
of the French republic was a Calvinist, Guizot.
Without doubt he was one of the greatest states
men France has produced. He was also a histor
ian and the main-stay of the Reformed church in
France. He reformed the educational system of
France from top to bottom. He died 1874. Not
withstanding the number of Huguenots in France
has been small, yet the number of prominent men
in public office is all out of proportion to the small-
ness of their numbers. The National Church of
France, the Huguenot Church, held its first synod
since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in
1872. It, however, split into two parties, the ortho
dox, which desired to be true to the old Gallic
confession and the rationalistic or liberal. As no
succeeding national synod was held the orthodox
party organized itself into an unofficial synod in
1879. This synod has met regularly and by its

304 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
fine organization and aggressive spirit has grown
more rapidly than the liberals. The Free Reform
ed Church was organized 1849, when Frederic
Monod seceded.
In 1905 France voted to disestablish the church.
Though this was aimed at the Catholic Church,
yet by it the Huguenot Church was also separated
from the state. It was feared she might have to
pass through a severe financial crisis in doing so.
But that noble church, which has so nobly sur
mounted so many crises, has surmounted this one
within a few years. It has, however, revealed a
peculiar condition of affairs in France. Where
there used to be thirty millions of Catholics there
are now, on the authority of Prof. Sabatier, only
four or five millions who go to mass once a year —
a drop of twenty-five millions. No such exodus
out of the Catholic Church has occurred since the
reformation. The most of the French people seem
to be infidels or indifferent to religion. At present
the Catholic church in France is bitterly attack
ing the public schools as godless and thus widening
the breach between Rome and France, once the
most faithful daughter of the papacy. France is
peculiarly ripe for Gospel work, since so many are
unbelievers, for she is passing through a great cri-

France and the Huguenots. 305
sis in infidelity. There are in France between 600,-
000 and 700,000 Protestants, most of whom belong
to the Huguenot Church. The Free Reformed
Church also reports 4,000 communicants. Had
there been no Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
and had the Hugenots been permitted to remain in
France, there would have been, by natural issue
alone, five to six millions of Huguenots, to say
nothing of the increase by conversions from Rome.
Had Napoleon had such brave true soldiers as the
Huguenots, he would have conquered all Europe
and France would be the leading nation of the con
tinent of Europe.
From this brief review of the history of the Hu
guenots it is evident there are still many places very
sacred in Huguenot history in France, outside of
Paris. Probably Rochelle is the most important, in
whose public square can still be seen the marks of
the ruin of the Reformed church raised by the
French king- Southwestern France has many sa
cred places in Beam and Navarre, as Pau and
Montauban, the seat of the Reformed theological
seminary. Southern France is especially rich in
these Huguenot shrines. At Montpelier is the Pey
rou, where hundreds of Huguenots sealed their
faith with their blood as did Brousson. It is a

306 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
broad platform, elevated high above the rest of the
town and commanding extensive views. It is now
a famous promenade, laid out in terraced walks
and shady groves with gay parterres of flowers, the
famous promenade of the town and one of the finest
in Europe. Nismes has a quarry three miles away
from it, whose stones are red with Huguenot blood.
It is called the "Echo," and was once a Roman ex
cavation. Around its craggy sides the Huguenot
congregation would range themselves while the
pulpit was in the narrow pass leading to the quarry.
Two miles from Nismes is the bed of a mountain
torrent, which was used for services. The worship
pers ranged themselves on the slopes of the grassy
valley, the pastor preaching from the grassy level
in the hollow, while sentinels were posted on ad
joining heights, who could give warning if neces
sary. Even after the clays of the persecutions, the
Protestants of Nismes still frequented these meet
ing-places; sometimes in audiences of 5-6000, and
at the celebration of the Lord's Supper double that
number. Before the Hotel de Ville at Nismes,
there occurred a great burning of Protestant books.
The whole region of the Cevennes, Languedoc and
Dauphiny is full of memories of the Huguenots.

France and the Huguenots. 307
Marseilles and Toulon, in the south, with Dunkirk
in the north, were the places where the Huguenots
rowed and died as galley-slaves. Perhaps one of
the most interesting of these places is the Tower of
Constance, located on the shores of the Mediter
ranean at Aiguesmortes, in the province of Guard.
It is a tower sixty-six feet in diameter and ninety
feet high, surmounted by a light-house turret thirty-
four feet high. It contains two chambers. Here
the Huguenot women were imprisoned. It was
terribly unhealthy. In 1686 sixteen of them died
in five months. Isabeau Menet was imprisoned
there fifteen years and lost her reason. Marie Du-
rand was put there at the age of fifteen and im
prisoned till fifty-three. One of the woman had
her foot partly eaten by a rat. Their sufferings
were very great.
Flung to the heedless winds,
Or on the waters cast,
The martyr's ashes, watched,
Shall gathered be at last:
And from that scattered dust,
Around us and abroad,
Shall spring a plenteous seed
Of witnesses for God.

308 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
The Father hath received
Their latest living breath:
And vain is Satan boast
Of victory in their death:
Still, still, though dead, they speak,
And, trumpet-tongued, proclaim
To many a waking land
The one availing Name.
— Luther, translated by Fox.

THE BALSILLE IN THE ITALIAN VALLEYS

Chapter III.— ITALY AND THE WAL-
DENSES.
THE Waldenses, — the Israel of the Alps, —
the Protestants before the reformation, —
this is an exceedingly interesting history
to every Protestant. They are the connecting link
between the early Christian Church of the New
Testament and modern Protestantism, doctrinally,
if not historically, as was believed some years ago.
They were Reformed before the Reformation. Re
formed because they tried to reform the Catholic
Church of its abuses. And they formally united
with the Reformed in the reformation through the
efforts of William Farel the reformer. We can
join with them in their song:
For the strength of the hills we bless thee, our God,
our Father's God.
Thou hast made thy children mighty, by the touch of
the mountains sod;
Thou hast fixed our ark of refuge, where the spoilers
feet ne'er trod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee, our God,
our Father's God. 3"

312 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
For the stern defiles of battle, bearing record of our
dead;
For the shadow of thy presence round our camp of
rock outspread,
For the snows and for the torrents, for the free heart's
burial sod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee, our God,
our Father's God.
We are watchers of the beacon, whose light must never
die;
We are guardians of an altar, midst the silence of the
sky.
The rocks yield founts of courage, struck forth as by
the rod,
For the strength of the hills, we bless thee, our God,
our Father's God. — Hemans.
The Waldensians were the followers of Peter
Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, France, about
1 1 50 A. D. Suddenly, when one of his friends fell
dead at his side, he was stricken by the thought,
"What would have become of me, if death had
stricken me that moment." On another occasion he
heard a ballad singer, surrounded by a crowd in a
public square, reciting the story of St. Alexis, who
left his wealth and his bride and took the vow of

Italy and the Waldenses. 313
poverty. Deeply impressed he took the singer to
his own home. During the night his soul was trou
bled. The next morning he went to a learned the
ologian for advice. This theologian had as many
roads to heaven as Waldo had to the different mar
kets. He spoke very learnedly, so much so that
Waldo, who longed for the simple Gospel, finally
cut matters short by asking, "Of all the roads that
lead to heaven, which is the surest. I desire the
perfect way-" "Ah !" the theologian replied, "here
is the precept of Christ, If thou wilt be perfect, sell
all that thou hast arid give to the poor and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven and come, take up thy
cross and follow me." This answer settled his
mind. He would give up all his property to the
poor. His friends thought him mad, but he did it.
Then seeing that there were so many, who, like him
self, were longing for the simple Gospel, he began
reading the Bible to the people. Unable to under
stand Latin in which the Bible was then printed,
his heart was greatly fed by a translation into his
own tongue (the French) which was so comforting
to him that he began reading it to others. He
found it was very gladly received and so he trained
others to read the Bible to the people.

314 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
This was the beginning of the Waldensian
church. But opposition began. The Catholic
Church would permit a man to give his money to
the poor. But that he should read the Word of
God (which was the property of the church and the
priests), to the people, seemed to them a sacrilege —
"a casting of pearls before swine" — So he was for
bidden to do it. But Waldo felt he was not doing
anything wrong. He was not teaching or preaching
to the people, only "talking" to them. Preaching
belonged to the priests but certainly it was not
wrong to only talk. When he found it forbidden,
he believed in his simple-heartedness that the pope
would take his side and permit it. So to the pope
he went. All ! he did not know the popes. He
pled with the pope for permission simply to read
the Bible to the people. The decision was that the
Waldenses could do this, but only with the permis
sion of the clergy. That generally meant a refusal,
as the bishops were usually opposed to this new
method of evangelization. Waldo returned to
Lyons. But in bis soul was now born a reformer.
"We must obey God rather than men," he said, "for
God commands us to preach the Gospel to every
creature." The movement spread rapidly among

Italy and the Waldenses. 315
the people, who heard the Gospel gladly. The
bishop of Lyons forbade all such preaching. Eight
thousand went into exile for his doctrines. But
where should they go that they might have liberty
to do as they desired? The truth was they went
everywhere. Persecution, instead of suppressing
the movement, only scattered it; for it spread into
Italy, Switzerland, Bohemia and Germany, where
Waldensian colonies were formed, and before the
reformation, they had done a great work in leaven
ing society with Evangelical truth. When Luther
published his translation of the Bible, there had
already been published nineteen German editions
of the Bible. Of these one of the most important
was the Waldensian, the Codex Teplensis, so called
because discovered at Tepel in Bohemia. But the
Waldenses found their home mainly in the
southern high Alps, having crossed from Dauphiny
in France over the high Alps to the northwestern
valleys in Italy. There they located themselves in
several valleys running west and northwest from
the town of La Tour (their capital), not very far
from Turin. The northern valley is the valley of
the Perouse, the southern the valley of Lucerna,
each with branch valleys. In persecution they gen-

316 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
erally fled to the northern valley, because it had
the almost impregnable citadels of Pra del Tor and
the Balsille. Persecution after persecution raged
over them. When Italy persecuted them they would
flee to the high Alps or over the Alps to France.
When France persecuted them they would flee to
Italy. In i486 came their first great persecution, as
the pope tried to exterminate them by sending
18,000 troops into their valleys. But they defend
ed themselves so bravely that their enemies were
defeated and in disgust withdrew. But a Walden
sian colony, which had been formed in the province
of Calabria in southern Italy, about 1500 A. D.
was terribly persecuted by the Catholic Church,
which introduced the Inquisition and crushed it
out in the latter part of the sixteenth century.
When the reformation broke out the Waldenses
early came into contact with it. Farel, that mis
sionary reformer, visited them in 1532 accompan
ied by Saunier and prevailed upon them to official
ly join the Reformed. This alliance with the Re
formed stood them in good stead later, as we shall
see. As the first great persecution had been in i486,
the second great persecution was in 1560. The

Italy and the Waldenses. 317
Waldenses fled up their valley to Pra del Tor, their
stronghold.* The Catholic prince marched up the
valley to Rochemalan. The enemy encamped for
the night expecting to attack the Waldenses the next
morning. But during the night a Waldensian boy
got hold of a drum and began beating it in a ravine
near by. The soldiers thought a hostile army was
approaching. The Waldenses, seeing this and
thinking an attack was to be made on them, rushed
forward to repel it, and so surprised their enemies,
that most of them threw down their arms and fled.
When the Catholic general, irritated at this dis
graceful retreat of 1,200 soldiers before 200 peas
ants, advanced a second time, they were defeated
by the little band of heroes, who charged his troops
with "Viva Jesu Christo," and drove them in confu
sion down the valley. The Catholic general again
attacked them from three sides, expecting to gain
a victory. But the three bodies of his soldiers
were driven back in succession. He then beseiged

?This was a little amphitheatre surrounded by rug
ged and almost inaccessible mountains at the head of
the valley of Angrogna. In it in the last century the
Waldenses had their college for the education of their
ministers.

318 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
them for four days and on the fifth his soldiers re
fused to obey his orders to attack. The count is
said to have wept as he sat on a rock and looked at
so many of his dead, the soldiers themselves ex
claiming, "God fights for these people and we do
them wrong."
Another century passed away and on Easter,
1655, came the third great persecution — an awful
massacre in the Waldensian valleys, that sent a
thrill of horror through Europe and brought Crom
well to their relief. On Palm Sunday, 1655, the
army of Savoy suddenly advanced to La Tour and
for a week committed the most terrible brutalities.
Not a cottage was left standing and those who were
not able to flee to the upper valleys were put to the
sword. On June 15, 1655, four different bodies of
troops attacked Angrogna where the Waldensian
army of three hundred had assembled, led by the
heroic Janevel. He fought them for four hours,
and then, seeing signs of impatience and hesitancy
in their ranks, he gave the command, "Forward,
my friends," and rushed down hill like an ava
lanche, the three hundred driving the 3,000 before
them. Cromwell now came forward as their pro
tector. He offered them an asylum in Ireland, but

Italy and the Waldenses. 319
it was too far away. The Waldenses, however,
asked him to aid them in some other way. So he
addressed letters of intercession, through his Sec
retary, John Milton, to the leading European pow
ers, asking them to join with him in stopping these
barbarities. Milton himself wrote his noble sonnet
on them:
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold.
Ev'n them, who kept thy truth, so pu're of old;
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones,
Forget not in thy book: record their groans
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient folds,
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that roll'd
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moan
The vales redoubled to the hills and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple Tyrant: that from these may grow
A hundred fold, who having learn'd thy way
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.
Cromwell sent them $10,000 out of his own
purse. He also appointed a day of prayer for them,
together with a general collection all over England,

320 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
by which $190,000 was raised for them.* He sent
an ambassador to the Duke of Savoy to expostulate
with him. And as a treaty was about being made
between England and France, he refused to sign
it, until Cardinal Mazzarin of France, had under
taken to bring pressure on the" Duke of Savoy, to
stop the persecutions of the Waldenses. So the
Waldenses were permitted to return to their val
leys. This permission was observed as long as
Cromwell lived, and for about thirty years they en
joyed peace, rebuilding their villages and cultivat
ing their vineyards.
But after Cromwell's death, they no longer had
a protector and persecutions again began. This it
seems was brought about by King Louis XIV of
France. He issued the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes in 1685, forbidding all Protestantism in his
iand. He then brought pressure to bear on his
neighbor the Duke of Savoy to do the same in his

?In the village of Bobbio can be found to-day "Crom
well's Rampart," built to ward off disastrous floods, built
by the money he sent them. Part of the money raised
by Cromwell was kept in England and invested and its in
terest paid regularly by the English government until the
Boer war, when it was paid in a lump sum to the Wal
densian church.

Italy and the Waldenses. 321
land, and even threatened to attack him if he did
not. As a result, on January 31, 1686, the duke
forbade the Waldenses their worship. He ordered
that their churches should be demolished, their pas
tors should leave his dominions, and their children
should be educated as Catholics. As they would
not agree to this, the combined armies of France
and Savoy attacked them on Easter Monday, 1680.
Attacked now on both sides by France and Savoy,
their condition was very grave. But they happened
to have among them a great general, Henry Ar-
naud. He was born in the High Alps in 1641,
studied theology at Basle and then learned the art
of war under those masters of arms, the Princes of
Orange in Holland. He went back to the Walden
sian valleys in 1670 as pastor, being thus prepared
to mingle the art of war with the Gospel of peace if
necessary. Fortunate was it for the Waldenses that
they had such a man. He became head of their
army. The Waldenses of the St. Martin's valley
submitted to the Catholic army. But Arnaud de
fended the Pra del Tor bravely. When, however,
they learned that their brethren in the St. Martin's
valley had submitted, they did the same, provided
they would be given liberty to depart. In this war

322 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
it is said 11,000 were killed or died 6,000
were taken prisoners, of whom the greater
number died in prison. When the prisons
were opened and they were ordered to leave_ the
country only 2,600 struggled over the St. Bernard
pass to Switzerland. Switzerland now became
their asylum. But Switzerland was too full of in
habitants, for the refugees from France and Italy
had been crowding in there for a century. So
arrangements were made for these Waldenses to
go farther and many of them settled in Germany,
especially in the Lutheran duchy of Wurtenberg.
The Waldenses seemed extirpated and their val
leys deserted. But they were not extirpated.
"Truth crushed to earth will rise again," and this.
is truer of lovers of truth, than of truth itself. For
the Waldenses began to get the homesickness (pe
culiar to the Swiss) for their native Alps. So they
planned what is called the "Glorious Return."
Henry Arnaud went to Holland and got money and
aid there. They laid their plans in secret. Secret
ly the different bands met in southwestern Switzer
land, only one of them having been arrested on the
way as it passed through the Catholic canton of
Schwytz. They met August 16, 1689, in the forest

Italy and the JValdenses. 323
at Prangins, near Nyon, on the western shore of
Lake Geneva.
After a fervent prayer for Arnaud, who was their
leader, they pushed off in fifteen boats, and as the
lake is there at its narrowest, they soon landed near
the town of Yvoire in Savoy on the eastern side of
the lake. There were 800 of them. The news of
their departure was soon made known and troops
were dispatched to intercept them but in vain. For
they did not take the ordinary roads. They crossed
over the Col Bonhomme and Mt. Cenis passes.*
They passed between Susa and Exiles. There
they found 2,500 soldiers in wait. They resolved

* *They went up the valley of the Arve through St.
Joire and encamped for the night at the bare hill of
Carmen. They marched the next day through Clusis
and Sallanches, where they found the bridge defended
by soldiers, but they soon put them to flight. They
passed over the mountain of Lez Pras and Haute Luce.
They climbed the pass of Col Bonhomme, west of the
Alps. Then down the valley of the IseTe and through
St. Germain, Seez and Laval. Then they climbed the
steep slopes of Mount Iseran and went toward Mt.
Cenis, descending to Bonneval and Bessant. Then they
climbed Mt. Cenis with great difficulty, as the snow
was deep, descending the mountain on the other side
to Tourliers by a precipice rather than by a road, and
finally came to the valley of Gaillon.

324 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
immediately to attack them. They cut them in
two, defeated them and blew up their camp. They
then climbed the mountain of Sci. And on the
ninth day of their jonrney, a Sabbath morning, they
reached the crest of the mountain overlooking
Fenestrelles. There they knelt down and thanked
God that they were again in sight of their native
valleys. They then descended the valley of Pragela
and rested at the village of Traverse.*
But the valleys were full of troops of the Duke
of Savoy. The Waldeses threw themselves into
their famous citadel, the Balsille. This is situated
in front of the narrow defile of Macel, which leads
to the valley of St. Martin. Its only approach is
by a deep gorge from the valley of St. Martin-.
And in this narrow gorge a few men could hold at
bay a whole army. For six months through the
winter they beat back an army of 22,000 French

?A remarkable story of God's providence is told in
connection with their return. When they reached their
valleys, they were in' danger of dying with hunger.
But one night, a sudden thaw removed a mass of snow
from the fields, when they discovered a considerable
quantity of wheat standing in the earth ready for the
sickle. It had been suddenly covered with snow. On
this they lived until other sources of food were found.

Italy and the Waldenses. 325
and Sardinians, defeating every army sent against
them. -On Sunday morning, April 30, 1690, while
Arnaud was preaching, the sentinels discovered the
enemy advancing and investing the Balsille. On
May 2 a general assault was made by the enemy,
but in vain. On May 12 another assault, but in
vain. However, by May 14, the Waldenses had
been driven out of their lower entrenchments.
They, therefore, finally decided to evacuate the
Balsille, which they did during a thick mist that
happened to come up in the night. They gained by
a long detour of mountain crests, the northern slope
of Mount Guin evert. When morning broke the
French saw them afar off, looking like ants as they
climbed the distant snow-capped Alps. For three
days they wandered southward so as to take up
their position in the Pra del Tor.
But before they could reach this citadel, a most
unexpected thing occurred — Savoy had declared
war against France because of the exactions of
King Louis XIV upon her. Both parties now sued
the Waldenses to join their armies. But true to
their own land, they pledged their word to their
former persecutor, the Duke of Savoy. And when
the latter was forced by the war to become a fugi-

326 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
tive, where did he find shelter and safety? — where,
but in the valleys of those whom he had so severely
persecuted. He was hidden by them in a secluded
spot in the village of Rora, behind the Pelice among
the Waldenses whose fathers he had hunted and
condemned to death. After the war the Waldenses
were permitted to return and many, who had gone
to Switzerland, Holland and Germany, returned,
and the valleys again became filled with settlers.
In 1698 persecutions began again and many of them
went to Switzerland and Wurtemberg, among them
Arnaud, who died as pastor at Durmenz, Wurtem
berg, 1721. They then lived there in peace, having
now at last gained the right to worship; but they
were not permitted to live beyond their valleys.
When Napoleon became ruler of Savoy, they en
joyed freedom of worship for a season. He even
erected a church for them at St. Giovanni, near
Torre Pelice. He once said to one of their pas
tors, "I have read your history and will aid you."
He gave toward the salary of the pastor $200 out
of his own purse. But after he was deposed, they
were still shut up in their valleys.
However, later in 1848, their emancipation was
finally granted by the King of Sardinia, and they

Italy and the Waldenses. 327
were given the same liberties as the other subjects
of Victor Emanuel. When he became king of
Italy in 1870, the Waldenses no longer clung to
their valleys, but as soon as Italy was thrown open,
they scattered their missionaries all over the land.
And in Florence, where the Madiai had been ar
rested in 1 85 1 for their Protestantism, and on June,
1852, condemned to the galleys, they founded their
theological seminary. They now number 20,644
communicants, 100 ministers and their receipts for
1908-9 were $47,000 for church-support and benev
olences. Their evangelization work, which extends
all over Italy, proves that the saying of Erasmus,
"that all Italians were atheists," is not true, for
many have been found hungering for the bread of
life. The centre of their movement is Torre Pelice,
located 34 miles from Turin at the foot of the Cot-
tian Alps at the entrance to the valleys, where they
have endured in all about thirty persecutions. Here
is their college and here their synod meets in the
Waldensian House on the first Monday in Septem
ber, generally continuing in session for four days.
Here is also their library and museum in which is
the rifle of Janevel, two copies of Olivetans trans
lation of the French Bible published 1535, by order

328 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
of their synod, also many weapons and valuable
historical documents.*
If Milton has used his pen so beautifully for
them on the other side of the water, Whittier has
also embalmed them in one of his poems. It refers
to the early method of the Waldensians in scatter
ing the Gospel —
"O lady fair these silks of mine are beautiful and rare:
The richest web of Indian loom, which beauty's queen
might wear,
And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with
whose radiant light they vie:
I have brought them with me a weary way, — will my
gentle lady buy?
The lady smiled on the worn old man through the
dark and clu'stering curls,
Which veiled her brow, as she bent to view his silks
and glittering pearls:
And she placed their price in the old man's hand and
lightly turned away,
But she paused at the wanderer's earnest call, — "My
gentle lady stay:"

?These valleys are well worth a visit.

Italy and the Waldenses. 329
"O lady fair, I have yet a gem, which a purer lustre
flings,
Than the diamond flash of the jewelled crown on the
lofty brow of kings,
A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue
shall not decay,
Whose light shall be a spell to thee and a blessing on
thy way."
The lady glanced at the mirroring steel, where her
form of grace was seen,
Where her eye shone clear, and her dark locks waved
their clasping pearls between:
"Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou trav
eller gray and old,
And name the price of thy precious gem and my page
shall count thy gold."
The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow, as a smalt
and meagre book,
Unchased with gold or gem of cost, from his folding
robe he took,
"Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove
as such to thee:
Nay, keep thy gold, — I ask it not, for the Word of
God is free."
The hoary traveller went his way, but the gift he left
behind
Hath had its pure and perfect work on that highborn
maiden's mind,

330 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
And she hath turned from the pride of sin to the low
liness of truth
And given her human heart to God in its beautiful
hour of youth.
And she hath left the gray old walls, where an evil
faith hath power,
The courtly knights of her father's train and the maid
ens of her bower:
And she hath gone to the Vaudois vales by lordly feet
untrod,
Where the poor and needy of earth are rich in the
perfect love of God.*
There is also another denomination in Italy, be
longing to the Alliance of the Reformed churches,
holding to the Presbyterian system called the Evan
gelical Italian Church, founded in 1870 by Gavazzi.
It has about forty congregations and numbers about
2,000 communicants.

?This poem was translated into French, and be
came familiar to the Waldenses, but its author was un
known to them until Mr. Fletcher, who had studied
at Geneva in 1850, and found its French translation
there, finally notified the Waldenses in 1875 that Whit
tier was the author. The Waldensian synod wrote in
their name a letter of thanks to the Quaker poet of
America.

TOMB OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE

Chapter IV.— ByRAVE LITTLE HOLLAND.
HOLLAND,* the quaintest country in Eu
rope, with its dykes, its windmills and
its canals, is a prosperous land, because
of its Calvinism. It was the Calvinistic doctrine of
the perseverance of the saints, that made the Hol
landers persevere, until they had crowded out the
sea by their dykes and the Spaniards by their arms.
It was the first nation that gave religious liberty
and hence became the asylum of thousands of the
Reformed driven out of other lands. The spirit of
liberty, begotten of Calvinism, gave her an inspira
tion to great things, so that she became during part
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the
mistress of the seas and gained world-wide domin
ion. Holland was not aj first Reformed as it is now.
There was a question, whether it would be Luth
eran, Anabaptist or Reformed. The first influence

?The proper name of this country is not Holland,
but the Netherlands. Strictly speaking, Holland is
only one of the provinces of the Netherlands, but it
is one of the leading provinces as it includes the larg
est cities. 333

334 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
seems to have come from Luther, as his doctrines
gained access to Antwerp, for at 'that time Belgium
was linked to Holland. But in 1521, two of the
Hollanders visited Luther, Hinne Rode, rector of
the Brothers, school at Utrecht and Sylvanus.
Luther, it is said, would not agree with their views
about the Lord's Supper that it was merely a
memorial. In Switzerland they met Ecolampadius
at Basle and Zwingli at Zurich, and were present
when the latter defended his theses at the great
conference at Zurich, January 29, 1523. Thus the
Netherlands early began to join hands with the
Swiss, a prophecy of what took place later. Soon
martyrdoms began to occur in the Netherlands for
the new faith. Thus in 1525 William Dirks was
martyred at Utrecht.
Then came the Anabaptist movement (1530-61).
The Anabaptists were not Baptists, that is, they did
not emphasize immersion as the mode of baptism
as the Baptists do now. Some of them were for
immersion, but others for sprinkling. They were
peculiar, however, in their opposition to infant bap
tism, holding that a person should not be baptized,
until he came to years of discretion. Menno Simon,
their leader, was a man of ability, but he held er-

Brave Little Holland. 335
ratic views as "that Christ's birth was not real, —
that Christ brought his flesh from heaven and did
not receive it from Mary." This Mennonite move
ment threatened to sweep Holland into the sects,
but severe persecutions came on them. These,
however, seemed to give Protestantism a new start.
And this time, the new movement was not Lutheran
or Mennonite as before, but Reformed. It came
from the western or Flemish end of the Nether
lands, which was more nearly allied to the French.
And it was thus that the views of Calvin, the
Frenchman, were introduced and became popular.
If any can be named as the reformer of Holland
(although Holland had no great reformer to rival
Luther, Zwingli or Calvin) it was Guido de Bres.
He was born at Mons in 1522, but before he was
25 years of age he had become a Protestant, in spite
of the teachings of his strict Catholic mother. When
the persecutions broke out in 1528, he fled to Eng
land, where he spent four years under the Polish
Reformer Lasco, then pastor of the church of the
foreigners in London. In that church he became
acquainted with the Calvinistic doctrine and gov
ernment. Returning to Liege, he won great popu
larity by his preaching, but was again compelled to

336 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
flee and went to Switzerland. In 1559 he return
ed to the southern Netherlands, living at Tournai,
but doing missionary work at Valenciennes and
even visiting Antwerp in disguise. In 1561, to
show the authorities that he and his friends were
not revolutionary Anabaptists, he drew up the Bel-
gic Confession of 37 articles, modelled after the
Gallic Confession of the French Church. This
Confession he sent to his ruler, the King of Spain,
that he might know the views of his Protestant sub
jects. This creed soon became popular and later
was adopted as the creed of the Dutch Reformed
Church. In 1564 he was at Brussels at a conference
with Prince William of Orange, and also took
part at Metz in negotiations to unite the Lutherans
and the Reformed. In 1566 he returned to Valen
ciennes, where he was arrested and imprisoned in
the castle of Tournai. There a lady, who visited
him, said to him, "she wondered how he could eat
or drink or sleep in quiet." "Madam," he replied,
"my chains do not terrify me or break my sleep.
dn the contrary I glory and take delight in them,
esteeming them at a higher rate than chains and
rings of gold or jewels of any price whatsoever.
The rattling of my chains is like the effect of

Brave Little Holland. 337
musical instruments on my ears : not that this effect
comes merely from the chains, but because I am
bound therewith in maintaining the truth of the
Gospel." He was martyred in 1567 in front of the
town hall at Valenciennes.
With de Bres came the Calvinistic influence. Cal
vin's pupils began gathering congregations. This
was aided, when in 1565 the Heidelberg Catechism
was translated into Dutch. In 1566 the Psalms,
which were sung by the Calvinists, were trans
lated into Dutch by Dathenus. All these committed
the Dutch more and more to the Reformed faith.
But before the church was fully organized, the
Protestants were driven out of their land by per
secution and found an asylum in northwestern Ger
many. The result was that the Dutch church was
organized on German soil and at first belonged to
the "Churches under the Cross," as the churches
in persecution were then named. Two synods were
held, one at Wesel in 1568, and another at Emden
in 1 571. In these the German Reformed Elector
of the Palatinate was represented, thus uniting the
Dutch and Germans. The synod at Wesel adopted
the Heidelberg and Calvin's catechisms, the Psalms
of Dathenus and also a church constitution. At

338 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
the Emden synod the Belgic Confession was adopt
ed and the church organization was completed by
dividing the church into classes. Then the persecu
tions having lessened, the Dutch went back to Hol
land, where the church was thoroughly organized
by the synods at Dort in 1574 and 1578, and at
Middleburg in 1581.
While the church was thus being organized, the
Netherlands were preparing for a tremendous politi
cal struggle, which lasted with some intermissions
for eighty years (1 568-1648). And back of this
struggle for civil liberty with Spain, who ruled
Holland at that time, was also the struggle for reli
gious liberty. The King of Spain was determined
to destroy the Reformed and introduced the In
quisition into the Netherlands. This the Dutch
could not bear, and they rose against Spain in a
war, that for perseverance has never been equaled.
It began, when the King of Spain in 1567 ap-
' pointed the cruel Duke of Alva governor-general
of the Netherlands. The next year came the trum
pet-call to freedom, when the Duke of Alva ar
rested and executed two of the leading nobles of
Holland, Counts Egmont and Horn; but failed to
catch Prince William of Orange. The latter had

Brave Little Holland. 339
been put on his guard by an incident many years
before. For while hunting with King Henry II
of France in the forest at Vincennes, the French
king told him of the plan of King Philip of Spain,
to massacre all the Protestants in the Netherlands.
William was at that time a Catholic, but his noble
nature revolted against such cruelty. He gained
the name of William the Silent, because he never
told this news. He, however, though he kept it
to himself, determined to get rid of the Spanish
garrisons in the Netherlands as fast as possible.
The Duke of Alva, having paralyzed the country
by his execution of Egment and Horn, seemed to
have gotten control of the whole land; when sud
denly an important event occurred. The cloud was
only as big as a man's hand; but it betokened a
coming storm, that never ceased until it drew away
the Netherlands from Spanish control. This event
was the news that the Beggars had captured Briel
in 1572. The Beggars were the Dutch patriots,
who driven out of the land, had taken to the sea,
and because of their poverty were nicknamed
"Beggars," a name which they adopted and made
famous. Having taken Briel, they then took Flush
ing in western Holland. With this, almost all the

340 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
cities of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland threw
off the Spanish yoke, because of the oppressions
of the Duke of Alva. The duke gathered an army
and beseiged Haarlem (1572-3) and finally cap
tured it after a brave defence of seven months.
Then he revealed to them what Spanish mercy was.
He took the Dutch citizens, tied them two and two,
and threw them into the lake of Haarlem. Two
thousand, to whom he had promised mercy, were
thus put to death. In 1572 the States General of
Holland met at Dort, and Prince William of
Orange, was made governor-general. This was
their formal declaration of independence, in mak
ing William of Orange instead of the Duke of
Alva, their ruler.
Then the war began in earnest. One of the first
acts of William of Orange, who had been a Cath
olic, was to publicly join the Reformed Church, Oc
tober 23, 1573. This occurred just after the citi
zens of Alkmaar had repulsed the Spaniards after
a seven weeks seige. And now came Leyden's
turn. Leyden was, next to Amsterdam, the largest
city in the province of Holland, having 50,000 in
habitants. When the Spaniards found it was too
strongly fortified to be taken by assault, they plant-

Brave Little Holland. 341
ed themselves down before it for a long seige, so
as to starve it into surrender. But the inhabitants,
mindful of the "Spanish mercy" at Haarlem, de
termined they would rather die than surrender.
The famine became terrific. Dogs, cats, rats, and
finally the leaves of the trees and the grass in the
streets was eaten, but still they would not sur
render. "You call us rat-and dog-eaters," said
the inhabitants to the Spaniards outside the city.
"But as long as a dog barks and a cat mews, you
may rest assured that you will not get the city.
And when all is gone, we will eat our left arm and
with the right arm defend our wife and children,
our religion and our liberty." Finally, when all
seemed hopeless, help came. William of Orange,
having cut the dykes, filled the country around with
water, so that his vessels could sail in. And after
a seige of about five months, it was lifted, October
3, 1574. The deliverers brought food for the starv
ing. And immediately with thankful hearts, they
streamed to the Great Reformed church there to
thank God for their deliverance. Then as a thank-
offering to God they founded a university, the
great University of Leyden, in 1575. The relief
of Leyden seemed to be the turning-point in the

342 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
fight for freedom, for the peace of Ghent came in
1576, which united the seventeen provinces of the
Netherlands against Spanish tyranny.
Meanwhile the Reformed doctrines spread every
where. Thus in Antwerp Feb. 17, 1577, the monks
were forbidden to preach and the Reformed had
twelve places of worship. The Cathedral was used
by the Reformed, the Catholics only using the choir.
The Jesuits and Franciscans were driven out of
Utrecht. During all this time, while the southern
and western part of the Netherlands had become
free from Spain, Amsterdam remained in the hands
of the Spaniards. The Dutch, in 1577,. blockaded
Amsterdam, and at last, in February, 1578, Am
sterdam also accepted the peace of Ghent, and
joined the Dutch. At first, however, the Reformed
worship was allowed only outside of the city. But
in the city there were 18,000 Reformed to 2,000
Catholics. The result was that William Bardes
formed a plan to overthrow the authorities and get
the Reformed worship introduced. On Sunday,
May 25, 1578, as the Reformed held their fifth
church-service outside of the city, they gathered at
St. Anthony's dyke, under the leadership of Thom
as Van Til, the only Dutch minister who was also

Brave Little Holland. 343
a noble. As they returned to the city, their plan
was laid. The next day, Bardes and four others
went to the city-hall to find out the position of the
magistrates toward the Reformed. When he gain
ed nothing from them, one of his companions left
the council chamber and went to the free steps of
the palace and waved his broad hat as a signal.
This was a market-day and the Dam (the open
place before the palace) was crowded with people.
Suddenly a sailor unrolled a large flag and waving
it cried out, "Every one who loves the Prince of
Orange follow me." Bardes and his armed men
captured the whole council, while outside the people
began to clear the Dam and to" arrest the Franciscan
monks and the priests. On May 28 a new council
was elected and Bardes was made mayor. The Re
formed faith was now introduced into the city,
although the Lutheran and Mennonite worship was
allowed and even the Catholics were allowed to
have worship in private houses. On May 29
Haarlem followed Amsterdam and thus all the
province of Jrlolland was lost to the Spaniards. On
July 26, 1578, came the formal declaration of the
independence of the Dutch from Spain.
But with prosperity came danger. The Spanish

344 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
government, finding it could not get rid of Prince
William of Orange by fair means, determined to
get rid of him by foul. If it could not conquer
him, it would try to have him assassinated, and in
all nine dastardly attempts were made on his life.
In 1580 the Spanish government offered 25,000
gold crowns for any one who would assassinate
him. Two main attempts were made on his life.
The first was on Sunday, March 18, 1582, as he was
leaving his dining hall, a young man stepped for
ward with a petition. The prince took it, when the
man drew a pistol and shot him. The bullet passed
under his right ear, through his mouth and other
jaw. It, however, did not prove fatal, and on May
2 the prince went to the cathedral at Antwerp to
offer thanksgiving for his deliverance. But though
he lived, his wife died. For his wife, Charlotte de
Bourbon, collapsed because of the alarm and anx
iety and died a few days later. She was buried in
the cathedral at Antwerp.* The Prince of Orange
the next year married Louisa Teligny, the daughter
of Admiral Coligny.

?For her life, see my "Famous Women of the- Re
formed Church.''

Brave Little Holland. 345
The last attempt on the life of the Prince of
Orange was made at Delft, July 10, 1584, where
a man named Gerard appeared, wanting a passport.
He held the passport in his hand, waiting for
Prince William to sign it. The moment the prince's
eyes were turned from him, he sent three bullets
through him. The prince staggered, crying out,
"O my God, have mercy on my soul and on this
poor people." In a few moments he was dead. So
passed away one of the greatest statesmen and
generals the Reformed Church has ever produced.
Indeed one of the greatest men Europe has pro
duced. He is buried in the new church at Delft,
where is a magnificent monument. Beneath a can
opy supported by marble pillars and columns, lies
the effigy of the prince. It is of white marble and
lies on a black marble sarcophagus. At the head
of the statue is a bronze statue of the prince, in
military uniform. A dog sustains the feet of the
recumbent figure in memory of his favorite dog,
who saved his life from assassination in 1572 at
Malines. The year 1584 brought to the Netherlands not
only the loss of the Prince of Orange, but also the
loss of Antwerp. The Spaniards captured Ant-

346 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
werp August 17, 1584. But that proved to be the
destruction of Antwerp's prosperity, for, with the
departure of the Protestants, its industry and cap
ital went to Amsterdam. Only toward the end of
the nineteenth century did Antwerp begin to re
gain the importance as a great seaport which, by
her location, she ought to have. From this time the
Flemish part of the Netherlands, of which Brussels
and Antwerp were the leading cities, fell back to
the Catholics, while the Reformed religion became
limited to the Dutch provinces.
But though Prince William of Orange was dead,
he left a remarkable line of princes after him.
His two sons, though not such broad-minded states
men as himself, yet proved themselves very able
as generals and diplomats. His second son, Mau
rice,* rose to take his father's place. He early
revealed remarkable military genius by his vic
tories (1590-4) so that he drove Spain away
from the Rhine river, whose mouths now came
under Dutch control. It was during his life, that
the Dutch began to develop their remarkable com-

?His oldest son had been kept by Spain as a hostage
since his youth and had been educated as a Catholic.
He therefore was counted out by the Dutch.

Brave Little Holland. 347
merce to the ends of the earth, by the formation of
their East and West India companies. This pre
pared the way for their great naval supremacy.
Holland's victories now pass from the land to the
sea. Holland had four great admirals, all good
members of the Reformed Church. Of these, Ad
miral Jacob Van Heemskerk was the first, who
(1596) tried to find the northwestern passage
around North America, which has just been discov
ered a few years before by Amundsen. Van Heems
kerk defeated the Spanish fleet under the very guns
of the Spanish garrison at Gibraltar, but he was
killed in the battle. His body was brought home
and buried in the Old church at Amsterdam, where
his tomb bears the inscription:
"Here lies Heemskerk.
Heemskerk! who dared through polar ice, and iron
hail to steer,
Left to his country fame: at strong Gibraltar, life: his
honored body here."
The most important religious event during Prince
Maurice's reign as Governor-General was the fa
mous synod of Dort (1618-19). Calvinism had
become so high in its development into supra lap-

348 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
sarianism * that a reaction came about. Arminius,
who was elected professor of theology at Leyden
in 1603, taught lower views of predestination and
of the fall of man. A storm was gathering around
his head when he died in 1609. But his followers
continued to spread Arminian doctrines. The Ar-
minians were also called Remonstrants, because
they presented (1610) to the two states of Holland
and Friesland, an address consisting of five arti
cles called a Remonstrance, which was directed
against Calvinism. The Calvinists then prepared
(1611) a Counter-remonstrance which has become
known as the "Five points of Calvinism." So
finally to decide the controversy, it was determined
to hold a synod at Dort, November 13, 1618. To
it the Dutch invited the Reformed churches of
France, Switzerland, Germany and England to send
delegates. All came, except the delegates of France,
who were prevented from coming by their king.
The opening and closing services of the synod
were held in the Great church at Dort, the first

?The supra lapsarians held that the decree of elec
tion came before the decree of creation. The Infra-
lapsarians were lower and held that it came after the
decree of creation.

Braze Little Holland. 349
being held in Latin; but the sessions of the synod
were held elsewhere. At this synod the Supra-
lapsarians tried to gain the control. They gained
the president, Bogerman, but the ultimate decisions
of the synod, as given in the Canons of Dort, are
lower than supralapsarianism. The synod con
demned Arminianism and formulated its doctrinal
decisions in the Canons of Dort, which have since
become one of the creeds of the Dutch church. The
synod continued six months, ending May 25, 1619.
The Arminians were .then banished from the Neth
erlands by Prince Maurice. But the Arminians
soon degenerated into Socinians, so that all the
Remonstrant churches of Holland are now practi
cally Unitarian.
During the religious controversy between the Cal-
vinists and Arminians, there arose also a political
controversy between the two parties in the Nether
lands. Prince Maurice led the aristocratic party
and the great statesman, Barnevelt, led the repub
lican party. Maurice championed the centralization
of the government in the States-General. Barne
velt, the state's rights over against the central gov
ernment. This controversy unfortunately became
mixed with the religious controversy, Maurice

350 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
championing the Calvinists and Barnevelt the Re
monstrants. The controversy finally led to the un
fortunate execution of Barnevelt on the charge of
conspiracy against the unity of the government.
He was executed May 13, 1619, on a scaffold in the
Binnenhof at the Hague. Grotius, who sympa
thized with Barnevelt politically, was imprisoned in
the fortress of Loevenstein, near Gorcum, but by
the aid of his wife he escaped (1621) by being car
ried out in a book-chest in which he was covered
over by soiled linen for the laundry. He finally
died in Sweden.
Prince Maurice died 1625 and the Orange fam
ily presented' another statesman to Holland to lead
her fortunes in his place, Prince Frederick Henry,
the step-brother of Maurice and the son of Lpuisa
Teligny, the daughter of Admiral Coligny. Under
him the unity of the states became more consoli
dated and the prosperity of the Netherlands reached
its climax. He was of a broader spirit than Mau
rice and permitted the Arminians to return to Hol
land. Holland took part in the Thirty Years war
(1621-1647) and in 1648, after eighty years of
struggle for independence, it at last gained separa
tion from Spain, being at last recognized by Spain.

Brave Little Holland. 351
During that war, the Dutch did much to protect
the Reformed in the northern Rhine-region, espe
cially, when they had possession of Wesel*
During the reign of Prince Frederick Henry,
Holland spread her influence far and wide. It was
at that time that Admiral Peter Hein gained his
wonderful victory over the Spaniards, by capturing
their Silver Fleet in 1628, at Matanzas, Cuba. He
had already captured the sugar-fleet of the Span
iards and now crowned it with this victory. The
value of the silver captured was 14 millions sterling
florins ($5,600,000) but really worth much more
than that. No wonder Holland went wild with
joy, for so much money meant great prosperity.
Hein was a remarkable combination of great daring
and yet of great prudence. He was killed in a
battle with the Spanish pirate at Dunkirk June 30,
1629, and buried at Delft, in the Old Reformed
church. The Latin inscription there calls him, "a
new Argonaut, who brought home the golden fleece
of the King of Spain," referring to his victory
over the "silver fleet."

?The close of the war occurred after Prince Henry's
death.

352 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Admiral Hein was succeeded by Admiral Martin
Tromp, whose victory over the Spanish fleet in
the English channel in 1629 gave him great fame.
As a result of the prosperity, brought about by the
successes under Prince Frederick Henry, the coun
try became prosperous, but the church became
worldly and luxury prevailed. In 1677 occurred the
tulip craze. For one bulb 2,500 florins were paid,
for another 4,600 and a coach with a span of horses
was given for still another tulip. The craze soon
subsided, but strange to say about a century later
was followed by a similar hyacinth craze. For the
Dutch are great lovers of flowers and magnificent
are the beds of hyacinths and narcissus around
Haarlem. Art also flourished and the famous
Dutch School of Painting arose, of which Rem
brandt is the most famous. Rembrandt, Durer and
Holbein compose the great trio of Reformed paint
ers. He was born about 1607 at Leyden, but went
to Amsterdam in 1631, where he died, 1669. His
skill lay in his art of lights and shadows. His
greatest painting is at the Ryks Museum, Amster
dam, and is named "The Night-watch," although
his paintings at the Hague, as "The Anatomy," and
"Simeon in the Temple," are famous.

Brave Little Holland. 353
After the death of Prince Frederick Henry
(1647) nis son William, by his beautiful wife,
Princess Amalia of Solms,* ruled for but a brief
period. After his death dissensions arose between
the states of Holland, and the Governor-General.
No Governor-General was elected, but the govern
ment was entrusted to a Pensionary named John
De Witt, who proved to be a great statesman.
During his term of office, Holland gained great
fame with her navy, Admiral Tromp being her
leader. By this time the rising navy of England
began to be jealous of the prominence of the Dutch
navy. In a battle, Admiral Tromp defeated the
English navy under Blake (1653), but Tromp was
killed in battle, brought home and buried in the
Old church at Delft. He was the victor of 32
naval battles. On his tomb is an inscription which
translated freely runs thus:
"His image deeply graved on each true patriot's heart,
Shall far outlast the marble wrought by'hutnan art."
Tromp was succeeded by Admiral de Ruyter. He
was born at Flushing, where St. James' church was

?Her portrait is in the picture-gallery of the Hague.

354 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
the scene of his boyish escapade. At ten years of
age he climbed to the pinnacle of its steeple, and
got down safely, although all the town held its
breath to see him do it. The child was father of
the man. He was a sailor-born and ran away to
become a sailor. He soon gained great fame for
his skill in navigation and for his ability in war.
He was the only foreigner who dared sail up the
Thames river toward London (1667) and humble
England by gaining a victory over the combined
English and French fleets. He was the last great
naval hero of Holland. He died April 29, 1676,
and is buried in the New Church at Amsterdam.
After his victory over the combined fleets, these
lines were found everywhere in Holland:
Behold the hero, Holland's strong, right hand.
The Savior of the imperilled fatherland
Who. three times forced two kingdoms in one year
To strike the flag and- filled their lands with fear;
The fleet's true soul, the arms by which God wrought
The victory that peace and honor brought.
We have referred to these naval heroes in order
to complete the list of great Reformed generals,
admirals and statesmen that Holland has given to
the Reformed Church. These admirals were godly

Brave Little Holland. 355
men and De Ruyter was perhaps the greatest of
all the admirals and statesmen that Holland has
given. When Emperor William I of Germany
visited Amsterdam in 1891, he laid a wreath on the
tomb of De Ruyter. And Flushing in 1841 erected
a fine bronze statue to his honor.
The Dutch, however, were not as fortunate on
land as on sea. Against the designs of King Louis
XIV of France to incorporate Holland in France,
they formed a triple-alliance in 1668-72, with Eng
land and Sweden. But after the alliance fell,
France threw its armies into Holland. Conde and
Turenne conquered the provinces of Guelders,
Overyssel and Utrecht. Amsterdam was saved
only by the Dutch breaking the dykes and inun
dating their country. However, the people believed
that in this war they had been betrayed by Pension
ary De Witt. They rose against him and put him
to death in 1672, at the Hague in the prison (the
Gefangenpoort). A theological controversy, only less bitter than
that of Dort, arose in the latter part of the seven
teenth century. The Hollanders were ever stren
uous for the faith once delivered to the saints.'
They became divided into two parties, the Voetians

356 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
and Cocceians. In 1685 Maresius attacked Coc
ceius for his lax views on the Sabbath and Voetius
attacked him for his doctrine of forgiveness of sin.
This controversy entered politics as in the days of
Dort. The Cocceians favored the state's interfer
ence in the church affairs, while the Voetians op
posed it. The Cocceians also opposed William III
succeeding his father William II, as Governor-
General, while the Voetians opposed it. And when
the Cocceians gained the omission of the prayer
for the Prince of Orange from the Sabbath wor
ship, the Voetians were greatly incensed. When
William III finally became Governor-General in
1672 the Cocceians went under. They demanded a
synod like that of Dort, so as to settle the differ
ences in the church, but it was refused. In addi
tion to this division, both Voetians and Cocceians
finally split into parties. The former divided into
old or dead and new or living. The Cocceians di
vided into the green and serious, the former em
phasizing Biblical interpretation, the latter practi
cal religion, the latter being led by F. A. Lampe,
professor of theology at Utrecht. Finally, peace
was brought about by the election in the theological
department of each of the universities of a repre-

Brave Little Holland. 357
sentative from each type : thus a Voetian for the
chair of systematic theology, a Cocceian for the
chair of exegesis and a Lampean for the chair of
practical theology. But the distinctions between
them were carried to somewhat ridiculous ex
tremes. The Voetians wore their hair short, the
Cocceians long. The Voetians called Sunday "the
day of rest," the Cocceians, "the Lord's day." The
A'oetians lived plainly and dressed moderately, the
Cocceians dressed fashionably and lived luxurious
ly. The former was composed of the common peo
ple, the latter of the aristocracy.
The line of Orange produced another of its great
statesmen to become Governor-General (which of
fice was now revived) in William III, 1672-1702.
He, aided by Brandenburg and Spain, defeated
France. In 1688 he was made King of England,
as his wife, Mary, was the daughter of the deposed
King James II, of England. He gained the victory
of the battle of the Boyne and became the defender
of liberty and of Protestantism.
During all this time, the Reformed church of the
Netherlands adhered closely to its Calvinistic
standards. In the seventeenth century, it did a
great foreign missionary work in Java, Amboyna

358 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
and Formosa, especially in the East Indias, and had
for a time a small missionary seminary at Leyden
under Prof. Walaus (1622-32). In the seventeenth
century, two great philosophers lived in Holland,
Descartes and Spinoza, whose influence was not
for orthodoxy. The former led to the philosophy
of doubt, the latter developed pantheism.
Still Holland did not really depart from her
creeds until the French revolution had come and
the infidel thought of the nineteenth century had
crept in until it gained control of her universities.
Later Biblical criticism through Kuenen swept away
much of the faith. But within the last few years
there has been a strong tide in the State church
toward Evangelical theology. In 1816 the church
and state were united and in 1834 the free or
Christian Reformed church was organized as a pro
test against the control of the state over the church.
It founded a theological seminary at Kempen
(1854). In 1886 there was another secession from
the state church by the "Doleerenden," who in 1892
united with the Christian Reformed denomination,
bringing with it the Free University of Amsterdam
as its school. So that the Christian Reformed
church now has a seminary at Kampen and a uni-

Brave Little Holland. 359
versity at Amsterdam. The late prime minister of
Holland, Dr. Kuyper, is a minister in this united
church. Prof. Bavinck, formerly of the theological
seminary at Kampen, is now a distinguished profes
sor of theology at the Free University at Amster
dam. There are about two millions of adherents
of the National Reformed Church. The Free
Church has about 82,000 members.
A very interesting institution in Holland is the
Netherlands Missionary Society, located at Rotter
dam, the oldest and largest of the Dutch Foreign
Missionary Societies. In 1791 an infidel physician
of Rotterdam named Theodosius Vanderkemp, was
saved from drowning at Dort, by a providence,
when a water-spout struck his boat, overturning it
and drowning his wife and daughter before his eyes.
He was dragged a mile down stream but was finally
saved by some sailors on a boat. His infidelity
went to the winds in the face of death. He became
a Christian and decided to be a missionary.* He
offered his services to the London Missionary So
ciety and was sent by them, iri 1798, to South Af-

?For an account of the life of Vanderkemp see my
"Famous Missionaries of the Reformed Church."

360 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
rica. But before he left, he organized a mission
ary society at Rotterdam, which has since grown
into the Netherlands Missionary Society, the other
foreign missionary societies of Holland being off
shoots from it. This Society has had a long and
useful work in the Dutch East Indias. It had one
of the greatest of missionaries and also one of the
greatest of mission-fields. Rev. Jan Kam, "the
apostle of the Moluccas," was not really a mis
sionary but went out as a Dutch chaplain. But
from 1815-1833, he did a great missionary work
among the heathen in the fields of this society in
the Spice Islands. With his own hand he baptized
8,000 people. He founded a teachers seminary at
Amboyna, his home, and died there greatly honor
ed, in 1833. Pie was a modern Apostle Paul, "in
journeyings often, in perils of water and of rob
bers, in perils by the heathen in the wilderness and
in the sea." His self-denying labors, which short
ened his life, have gone up before God as a sweet
smelling savor, sweeter than the delicious odor
from those Spice Islands.
The great mission-field of this society was in
the island of Celebes, at the promontory of Mina-
hassa. This mission was begun in 1822 and made

Brave Little Holland. 361
rapid progress. The people flocked to the churches.
One of the missionaries, Riedel, baptized over 9,000
and received into the church 3,800. His compan
ions, Schwarz baptized 13,068, and Wilken, 7,000.
By 1873, out of a population of 110,000 Alikures,
80,000 had become adherents of Christianity and
14,000 were communicants. From 1740-80, 77,571
Alikures were baptized. In 1893 there were 200
congregations and 125 schools. The whole district
was changed in its appearance. Prof. Wallace, the
great English scientist, says "Forty years ago the
land was a wilderness, the people, a multitude of
naked barbarians, who decorated their roughly
made huts with human skulls. The land is now a
garden, the villages, are now all model villages.
The streets are covered with beautiful strips of
green sward and bordered by ever blooming hedges
of roses."
In this brief religious history of the Netherlands,
it is easy to see that there are many sacred places
in the Reformed Church of the Netherlands. Ant
werp, now in Belgium, was at one time strongly
Protestant, even its beautiful cathedral. Going
eastward, Flushing was the birthplace of DeRuyter,
and has his monument. Then comes Dort, where

362 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
the synods met in 1574, 1578, and 1618. The great
synod of Dort (1618-9) held its sessions in the city
Doelen, or town-armory, which is now used as a
female prison. It is on a narrow street, a block or
two from the main thoroughfare, and not far from
the St. Augustine's church. But it is difficult to
get admission to it because it is now used as a
prison. And besides, the whole interior has been
altered since the synod. The opening and closing
services of the synod were held in the Great church.
Rotterdam has the office of the Netherland's
Mission Society. Delft has the tomb of Prince
William of Orange, in the New Church, and also
of Admirals. Hein and Tromp in the Old Church.
The Hague has the Dutch parliament hall, which
was the cradle of religious liberty for Europe.
Leyden has its relic of its awful seige in its fa
mous university, and Amsterdam has the tomb of
Van Heemskerk in the Old Church and of De
Ruyter in the New Church. An interesting place in
Amsterdam is the English Reformed Church, just
off Calvin street in the Bagynhof. This quaint
chapel was originally Catholic, having been built
in 1400, but in 1607 was given to the English for
their worship. It is situated in the midst of a

Brave Little Holland. 363
Catholic Women's-home, who look askance on this
worship of the heretics in their midst. One of its
pastors, Rev. David Thomson, greatly aided the
Pennsylvania Germans by the organization of a
Society in England (1752-63) to help them. The
General Assembly of the Scotch church donated
about $6,000 to this fund. The university library
at Utrecht is also very interesting to the historical
student. It contains the first edition of the Heidel
berg Catechism, probably the only copy, and is
rich in works on that catechism, mainly through the
efforts of the late Prof. Doudes.

Chapter V. — HUNGARY, PICTURESQUE
BUDA-PESTH AND THE BLUE DANUBE.
BUDA-PESTH is without doubt, one of the
most beautifully located cities in Europe.
It is picturesquely situated on both sides
of the broad majestic Danube river, with its cita
del of Buda overlooking the river from west, being
230 feet above it. It is a city of about 750,000, —
the second in the Austrian empire. To the beauty
of its location, is added the beauty of its public
buildings, especially of its symmetrical Parliament
House, one of the most attractive buildings in Eu
rope. Just north of Buda-Pesth, about an hour's
ride distant, are the ruins of an old fortress, Vis-
igrad, one of the most impressive ruined castles in
Europe. Hungary is Catholic. Of its populaton of near
ly twenty millions, nearly nine millions are Hun
garians and of these about two millions are Re
formed. Protestantism in Hungary did not, as in
Bohemia, go back before the reformation. But, in
the reformation when the new doctrines entered,
the question was whether it would become Luth
eran or Reformed. Geographically it was equi-
365

366 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
distant from the centre of each of these Protestant
churches, Wittenberg and Geneva. At first it in
clined toward Lutheranism. But the Magyars are
a very peculiar people among the peoples of Eu
rope. They are the only Semitic race in Europe,
the rest being of Aryan or Indo-Germanic stock.
The Semitic races, like the Jews, always magnified
God's sovereignty. So these Magyars found more
satisfaction in the Calvinistic doctrines than in the
Lutheran. The great reformer of Hungary was Devay, or
as he is more correctly named Matthew Biro of
Devay, Devay being his birth-place. Devay studied
under Luther in 1529 and came back to Buaa,
which already had quite a number of adherents of
Protestantism. He was imprisoned for preaching
Lutheranism but was set free. He continued
preaching the Gospel and again visited Germany and
Wittenberg in 154 1. But later he came under the
influence of the Swiss reformers and left Lutheran
ism to follow Calvin. For no one did Luther grieve
more than at the loss of Devay to the Reformed.
Devay carried Hungary with him over to the Re
formed. In his later life he labored at Debreczin,
where he died about 1545.

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 367
With Devay labored another reformer, who is
known among English readers as Szegedin, but
whose name really was John Kiss of Szegedin,
Szegedin being his birthplace. He, too, at first,
came into contact with the Lutheran reformation
and visited Wittenberg in 1543. He returned to
Szegled where he introduced Protestantism, es
pecially the mild form of Lutheranism known as
Melancthonianism. Compelled to flee, he was im
prisoned, but released and removed to Raczkeve,
where he became the head of 35 congregations. He
was the most learned of the Hungarian reformers,
being a writer of poetry, and also of their largest
work on theology produced in the reformation, his
"Loci Communes" or Theology, published in 1585.
This work is Calvinistic, for like Devay he passed
from Lutheranism, especially the mild form of it
(Melancthonianism), which he imbibed in Ger
many, over to the Calvinistic views.
Still a third reformer needs to be mentioned,
Melius. He, too, went first to Wittenberg in 1556,
but by 1559 he embraced the Reformed doctrines.
He had been called the Calvin of Debreczin, and
Debreczin has been called the Calvinistic Rome of
Hungary, for it has been the centre of the Re-

368 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
formed Church of Hungary ever since the reforma
tion.* He, together with Szegedin, prepared the
first Reformed Confession of Hungary in 1561.
He labored at Debreczin and led even the young
king to become Reformed. Devay having died,
Melius, together with Kalmanesch, were the great
defenders of the Reformed against Lutheranism.
The publication of the high Lutheran creed, the
Formula of Concord, in 1580, with its anathemas
on the Reformed and its narrow Lutheranism, com
pleted the breach of Hungary with the Lutherans,
they were entirely too liberal to accept' any such
creed as that. Before that, many Hungarians had
gone to Wittenberg to study, but now they went to
Heidelberg. At that time Socinianism or Uni-
tarianism, with its denial of the divinity of Christ,
caused great trouble in Poland and Transylvania,
but the Reformed doctrines were successfully de
fended by Melius. By the middle of the seven
teenth century the Second Helvetic Confession of
the Swiss was adopted as the creed of the church,
which became known as the "Church of the Hel
vetic confession."

?It is located about 130 miles east of Buda-Pesth.

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 369
This Hungarian church had to suffer great perse
cutions and belongs to the martyr churches. But
fortunately after 1526 three-fourths of Hungary
was held by the Turks until 1686, their pasha re
sided at Buda. And the Turks were more liberal
in their treatment of Protestants than were the
Catholics. So Protestantism flourished in south
eastern and eastern Hungary. Still great were the
persecutions of the Reformed. But there arose a
brave defender for their liberties in Stephen Bocs-
kay, a noble, who was able, June 23, 1606, to secure
the liberties of Hungary from the king. But un
fortunately he was poisoned December 22, 1606,
by his secretary, who was massacred by the in
furiated populace. He was an excellent soldier,
a wise diplomat and an humble Christian. At the
beginning of the Thirty Years war, Ferdinand II
was made King of Hungary. As Bocskay had
fought the first war for the liberty of the Hunga
rians, Bethlen Gabor fought the second. Twice he
took up arms to defend the Protestants. He seems
to have been a much maligned character by Eng
lish and German historians, who speak of him as
an uncivilized boor and only half a Christian. But
according to Hungarian historians like Balogh, he

370 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
was a great Christian. He was victorious 44 times.
He read his Bible through 26 times in his life-time.
He died in 1629 his last words being "If God
be for us who can be against us ? No one ! Cer
tainly, no one." A third war, however, was neces
sary before the Hungarian church gained its rights.
In this the leader was George Rakocsi, a wise and
energetic prince of great zeal and rare piety. His
motto was Romans 9 : 16, "So then it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy." He so defeated Ferdinand
III, that Protestantism was given entire freedom by
1646. He died 1648.
But later, Protestantism had to struggle for its
existence. The church of the Magyars had been
truly the church of the martyrs. In the first half
of the seventeenth century, 400 churches were
taken from them, though the diet of 1647 caused 90
to be returned. But still there was a great loss.
The Jesuits in 1674 decided to direct their fury
especially against the Protestant pastors. They
seemed to have in mind the Bible verse, "I will
smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered."
In that year the Catholic archbishop cited 250
Lutheran ministers and 95 Reformed to appear be-

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 371
fore him. The number of Reformed is smaller be
cause many of them were still under Turkish con
trol and therefore free from such persecutions.
Those who would not deny their faith, were cast
into various prisons. Most of the Reformed were
quartered at Pressburg, on the Danube, where they
were tempted to become perverts to Rome by the
Jesuits. They were cast into three prisons at
Leopoldstadt, Komorn and Berensch.
After an imprisonment of a year, forty-two were
sent on a Via Dolorosa, truly a journey of weep
ing, to the galleys at Naples. As they were gath
ered from these different prisons March 18, 1675,
for the journey, the Reformed superintendent, in
meeting the others, declared, "O God, for what
times hast thou preserved us. Grant that we, sus
tained by thee, may overcome the sufferings that
yet remain." Their journey lasted fifty days.
Chained by both feet, they travelled to Trieste on
the Adriatic Sea. Here they were robbed of their
clothing and so shaved in the face and head, that
they only knew each other by their tone of voice.
Their daily fare was a quarter of a biscuit, with a
bit of cheese and a glass of water. They had
quarters in jails and filthy places, and so insuf-

372 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
ficiently fed that at Triests many became sick and
four died in prison, while on the journey two had
died of their privations. They were taken across
the Adriatic sea to Pescara, and then marched over
Italy in the same way, lodged in dirty prisons until
they came to Naples, May 7, 1675, thirty in num
ber. There they were sold to the galleys for 50
Spanish piastres cash, and were chained to the
benches. The following year, others were sent
thither. Their sufferings in the galleys from insuf
ficient food, filthy water and terrible beatings were
so great that six died.
But there happened to be in Naples a wealthy
merchant, George Weltz, who aided them much
with food and money and who made their condition
known to the Reformed churches in Europe, es
pecially through a physician at Venice named Zas-
sius, who wrote letters about them to Switzerland,
Germany, Holland and England. King Charles II
of England, caused a collection to be taken up for
them and the Elector of Saxony interceded for
them, but in vain. But in their darkest hour God
brought them deliverance, proving his promise, "I
will redeem thee and not forget mine own," saith
the Lord, "your Saviour." On December 1, 1675,

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 373
the Dutch fleet under Vice-admiral Hein, appeared
at Naples, but, as he was about gaining their de
liverance, he was called away by the French war.
However, in going away, he met on the way Ad
miral de Ruyter, the Dutch admiral. The latter
arrived at Naples Feb. 1, 1676, and on February
11 he freed them. They sang Psalms 46, 114 and
125 as they left the galleys. On the Dutch ves
sels, they were given food and drink and sang
Psalm 116 as their song of Thanksgiving for free
dom after about nine months imprisonment. Ad
miral de Ruyter declared that none of all his vic
tories had given him so much joy as the deliver
ance of these servants of Christ, and at his own ex
pense he clothed them, 26 in number. They then
departed, being taken by an English ship to Venice.
They then travelled to Geneva. They also visited
Zurich. For Switzerland had raised $6,400 for
them and they desired to thank the Swiss who had
done so much for them when enslaved. There they
were cordially welcomed and kept at the public
expense and then they went on to Holland. Half
of them returned to Hungary, but the rest found
work elsewhere principally in Holland. In memory
of these martyrs, a Reformed church was recently

374 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
erected at Pressburg, on the Danube, where they
were tried. And a monument has recently, through
the efforts of Rev. Prof. Balogh, been erected at
Debreczin in their memory.
Later the oppressions of the Reformed continued,
especially under the Austrian Empress Maria The
resa. But finally came the Edict of Toleration in
1 781 by Emperor Joseph, which affected Hungary
as well as Bohemia. This greatly aided their con
dition, although it gave them only toleration. They
did not gain full religious liberty until 1844. From
that time, they have been growing and more thor
oughly organizing themselves so that there is now a
General Synod, formed out of the five districts of
Hungary. The church holds the" Second Helvetic
Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism as its
creeds. Two places are especially interesting in connec
tion with this Hungarian church, Buda-Pesth is
the most interesting to the tourist, but the old
capital of the Reformed in Hungary has always
been Debreczin. It is a city of about 75,000, and
lies in the midst of a flat alluvial plain, for Hun
gary is a vast farming region like our western prai
ries. The most prominent building in the town is

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 375
the great Reformed church. There are a number of
church-buildings, belonging to this congregation,
which has a number of pastors and a board of near
ly a hundred elders in its Presbyterium ; for in
Hungary, as in Germany, the Presbyterium is in
the congregation (composed of the eldership) and
not above it, as in the Presbyterian churches in
America. It was quite significant that when the
movement for liberty under Kossuth in the middle
of the nineteenth century broke out in Austria, it
should find its centre at Debreczin. For although
Kossuth himself was a Lutheran, yet his movement
was Reformed in principle. For has not Calvinism
been called the mother of republics like Holland and
America. It was from the pulpit of the Great Re
formed church at Debreczin that Kossuth, April 14,
1849, read the deposition of the Hapsburg dynasty
from the throne of Hungary, thus declaring the
freedom of Hungary from Austria. And it was
in the aula or hall of the Reformed University at
Debreczin, that the legislature of Kossuth held its
sessions. After the defeat of Kossuth, the Re
formed pastor of the Great Church at Debreczin
was forbidden to exercise his ministerial functions
for some time as a punishment for allowing Kos-

376 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
suth to read his proclamation from that pulpit. Al
though the revolution of Kossuth was unsuccess
ful, yet it is to be noticed that the Hungarians have
since gained by peace what they then fought for in
war. They have become the stronger end of that
dual monarchy of Austro-Hungary. And in Hun
gary, although the Reformed are in the minority,
yet they have supplied many- prominent public men
(out of all proportion to the smallness of their
numbers), thus, as prime ministers, the late Mr.
Tizsa and Count Bannffy.
But in Hungary, it is Buda-Pesth the capital,
that interests the traveller, because of its beauty.
It too, is becoming more and more a Reformed cen
tre as the city grows. It has a Reformed univer
sity. There are five Reformed universities in Hun
gary, at Debreczin, Buda-Pesth, Papa, Kolosvar and
Saros-Patak. Of these, Debreczin and Papa are
orthodox and Calvinistic, Kolosvar and Saros-
Patak are rationalistic and Buda-Pesth, formerly
rationalistic, has been inclining to the Evangelical
side. If Debreczin represents the past of the Hun
garian church, Buda-Pesth represents its future.
In this rapidly growing city the Reformed have
been increasing and number 30,000, and they are

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 377
building churches until they now have at present
six, some of them fine specimens of architecture.
A tower of strength in all the forward movements
of the church is Rev. Mr. Szabo, formerly professor
of philosophy in the theological school of Buda-
Pesth, but now one of the pastors of the Calvin
church there. The Reformed church of Hungary
is peculiar among the other Reformed churches in
having bishops, but they are of equal rank with the
other ministers, being only superintendents. It is
also peculiar in practising pouring (affusion) in
baptism instead of sprinkling, which custom the
Reformed church of Bohemia has copied from
them. The Hungarian church there has 2,452,000
adherents. In 1838 there came a new Protestant force into
Buda-Pesth to greatly aid the Evangelicals in the
Hungarian Church. This was the establishment of
a mission to the Jews by the Free Church of Scot
land.*' It seems that that church sent several min
isters to Palestine to get information about starting.
a Jewish mission there. On their return home, one

?The Scotch churches have seve.ral successful mis
sions to the Jews on the continent as at Hamburg,
Germany.

378 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
of them fell very sick at Buda-Pesth. It happened
that the Viceroy of Hungary at that time had a
Protestant wife, who from her palace on the hill
top of Buda looked down on a city sunk in Romish
superstitions and prayed God to send more light to
illuminate the people with the Gospel. She hap
pened to hear of the illness of this Scotch mission
ary. She had him cared for so that he recovered.
To these ministers she confided the. burden of her
heart as she yearned for the spiritual uplift of her
people. They became so impressed that with her
appeal, that they went home to Scotland to recom
mend the starting of a mission to the Jews in Buda-
Pesth instead of in Palestine. Time proved the
wisdom of their choice, for the Jews of Palestine
have always proved exceedingly hard to reach, while
Buda-Pesth has proved an open door of entrance
to Israel.
Out of this Jewish mission have come some con
verts who have become famous in the church.
Hardly had the mission been opened when a little
boy, Adolph Saphir,* created a sensation in his

?See my "Famous Missionaries of the Reformed
Church," for a fuller account of this Mission to the
Jews.

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 379
Jewish home by saying grace at the table in the
name of Jesus. He had been a pupil in the school
of the mission. The result was that both he and
his father joined the Christians. But how could
they be received into the Protestant church. The
Austrian law did not recognize the Presbyterian
church as it was a foreign (Scotch) church. So
these converts united with its sister-church of the
same ecclesiastical family, the Reformed Church of
Hungary, a church which was recognized by law
in Hungary. They were confirmed by Rev. Mr.
Torok, the Reformed superintendent at Buda-
Pesth. This boy afterward became one of the most
prominent of the Presbyterian ministers in London.
Another very prominent convert was Alfred Eder-
sheim, whose tutor, though a Jew, left him in the
care of this mission. He soon found Jesus as the
fulfillment of the Jewish hopes and was also bap
tized in the Reformed church at Buda-Pesth. Af
terwards he went to England and joined the Epis
copal church. He was probably the only Hebrew-
Christian ever asked by Dean Stanley to preach
in Westminster Abbey. Pie became the author of
the best and most scholarly Life of Christ in the
English language. It was a noble tribute of a

380 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
converted Jew to "Jesus the Jew," and in it he uses
all his peculiar Jewish genius to prove that Jesus
was the Messiah expected of the Jews. What
Matthew was among the first Evangelists the He
brew-Christian writer, that Edersheim has been in
our day among the writers of the lives of Christ.
Another of the converts of this Jewish mission
was a man, less widely known in America, but de
stined to exert a wide influence for Christianity
in Jewish evangelization, Rev. Mr. Schonberger.
For it was he, who converted Rev. Mr. Venetianer
from Judaism, and the latter, about twenty years
ago, became pastor of a Reformed church near
Odessa in southern Russia. It happened that just
at that time a Jewish rabbi named Rabinowitsch
had been preaching about our "brother Jesus." Al
though Rabinowitsch was baptized in Berlin, yet
when he wanted the members of his synagogue,
who became Christians, to be baptized, he turned
to Mr. Venetianer, who was in the neighborhood
and the latter baptized his synagogue and made its
members Christian, thus starting a new movement
among the Jews of Russia toward Christianity.
This Presbyterian mission to the Jews at Buda-
Pesth has thus not merely brought converts into

Hungary, Picturesque Buda-Pesth. 381
the Reformed church of Hungary, but it has also
considerably influenced the thought and work of
that church. It has strengthened the Evangelical
part of that church and has acquainted them with
the aggressive practical movements of the western
Anglo-saxon churches. It has also led to the form
ation of a German church at Buda-Pesth of over
1,200 adherents. As a result of this contact with
the Scotch Mission, the Reformed church at Buda-
Pesth has become more aggressive and practical and
the Young Men's Christian Association and Chris
tian Endeavor movements have entered there with
power. A Sunday evening prayer-meeting has
been held for a number of years by the Hungarians
there, the writer having had the privilege of speak
ing on one occasion to them. This Hungarian
Church, if revived by God's Spirit, and filled with
Evangelical and evangelistic zeal, will be a mighty
power for the evangelization of southeastern Eu
rope.

filii^

Chapter VI.— BOHEMIA, HUSS AND
PRAGUE.
BOHEMIA was the last country in Europe to
submit to the yoke of Rome and the first
to attempt to throw it off under'Huss. It
has over six millions of inhabitants. Its capital,
Prague, "the hundred-towered, golden Praque," is
most picturesquely located on both sides of the
Moldau river. It is sometimes called "the city of
a hundred spires" and is an ancient city, for it
contains the monuments and trophies of nearly a
thousand years. Its population, including the sub
urbs, is about 400,000. Its ancient buildings find
their crown and climax in the Hradschin, the cita
del on the west side of the river, in which is the
cathedral and the palace.
Prague is very interesting because of its religious
history. One of its prominent buildings is the
Teyn church, the church that for more than two
hundred years, was the church of the Hussites. It
has two towers each crowned by graceful turrets.
The old Bohemian church used to have as its sym
bol the cup and the book, because those were the
two things that the Hussites demanded from the
3«3

384 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Romish church, — the use of the Bible and also of
the wine at the Lord's Supper. The old Bohemians
demanded this, because they had had it originally.
For before they became Catholics, they had be
longed to the Greek Church, which allowed such
things to its members. This old Teyn church used
to have on its front a gigantic cup and beneath it
the statue of one of the Hussite kings, George
Podiebrad. But when the Catholics gained con
trol of Bohemia (1622) they took it down and put
in its place a statue of the virgin and now use the
church for their services.
The Protestant history of Prague begins with
John Huss, one of the reformers before the ref
ormation. John Huss was born in 1369 at Husinec,
and attended the University of Prague (1393-6).
In 1402 he became curate of the Bethlehem chapel
at Prague and began that popular style of preach
ing, which, so stirred the hearts of the Bohemians
to new life.* Wycklif's works were burned in the
court of the palace of the archbishop in the Hrad-
schin in 1410.' But Huss, who followed Wycklif,

?The site of the Bethlehem chapel is still shown in
the Bethlehem's Platz and his house was No. 7, Beth
lehem's Platz.

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 385
and the papists came into conflict. In 1414 he was
summoned to appear before the Council at Con
stance, having been given a safe conduct by the
Emperor Sigismund. But the safe conduct was
violated, for he was thrown into prison and pub
licly burned at the stake there on July 6, 141 5, as
was his young follower, Jerome of Prague, the year
later. John Huss was put to death, but he still lived in
the hearts of his people. Bohemia was filled with
his doctrines and the Bohemians rushed to war
for their rights. They divided into two parties, the
Calixtines or Utraquists (who were concessive to
the Catholics),* and the Taborites, later the Breth
ren, who were more radical in their reforms of
Catholicism. The Taborites produced a great gen
eral named Ziska, at first blind in one eye, then
perfectly blind; but, who in spite of his blindness,
was never defeated and, though blind, defeated his
enemies. For safety the Taborites built the town
of Tabor about fifty miles south of Prague (1420)
on the top of a hill and made it practically impreg-

?They gradually conformed to the Catholic cere
monies, only retaining the communion in two kinds.

386 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
nable. As long as Ziska lived, it never was taken,
but after his death it was captured and is mainly
Catholic, although there is a Bohemian Reformed
church there now. A monument to Ziska is on the
slope of its Ringplatz. He is represented with his
helmet on his bent head, with a heavy mustache
over his plate armor, a shirt of mail, a terrible
morning-star in his right hand and a great sword
in his left. In the large open Ringplatz were
placed twenty or thirty stone tables (one of them
still remains and looks like a low bench) at which
the Hussites celebrated their communion. Tabor
is still a very interesting place, so interesting from
a military point of view that army officers, espe
cially Austrians, still come to it and marvel at its
fortifications. Ziska's soldiers were often armed
with flails and they were so victorious that their
enemies became very much afraid of their flailings.
Ziska led his troops to battle singing the Hussite
war song, "Ye warriors of the Lord our God,"
which sfe-uck terror into the hearts of the enemy.
A strange fact about Tabor at present is, that it
has a fine city museum, which is filled with curiosi
ties of the Hussites, for they had nothing else to
fill it with, as the only history, of the town was

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 387
Hussite. And yet all its directors are Catholics ex
cept one, the pastor of the Reformed church there.
But after Ziska's death the Hussites had to un
dergo many persecutions. Many were put to death
or driven out of the country. Perhaps the most
awful was the persecution at Kuttenberg, famous
for its silver mines, located about forty miles south
east of Prague. Here, in 1419, the miners, who
were mainly bigoted Catholics, persecuted the
Hussites severely. A reward of 15 dollars having
been offered for each lay-Hussite and 75 dollars
for each minister, a man-hunt was organized and
many were captured. They were lashed in gangs
and pushed over the edge of a mine, dragging
others with them as they fell, until their bruised
corpses lay in a heap at the pit's bottom. One of
the mines at Kuttenberg, the St. Martin's, about
300 feet deep, had 5,496 hurled down into it.
Thus John Huss lived in the Hussite movement,
especially in the stricter Taborites or Brethren.
The 'Catholic church, however, found that John
Huss had become a national idol of the Bohemians
and so they tried to displace him by introducing
another saint, a new one, St. John of Nepomuc.
This is the legend they got up to make him the

388 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
saint over against John Huss. When King Wen-
zel IV, of Bohemia,, in 1383 commanded John of
Nepomuc, who was a priest, to betray the secret
of the confessional he refused. For this he was
thrown from the Charles-bridge (Carlsbriicke) at
Prague into the rapid waters of the river Moldau.
His body, says their tradition, in spite of the cur
rents, floated under the arch of the bridge with
five brilliant stars hovering over his head. For
this faithfulness to the Romish confessional, he
has been made the Catholic saint of Bohemia. But
the Catholics have never been able by this legend
to displace John Huss in the affections of the Bo
hemians. Indeed many a statue of John of Nepo
muc is only John Htiss's statue with a halo and
five stars about his head. The Catholics with all
their wiles have not been able to draw the affections
of the Bohemians as a race from John Huss.
Though the most of them are Catholics in reli
gion they are Hussites politically.
Although John Huss lived before the Reformed
Church was founded, yet we have placed him here,
because his life is the key to the religious history
of Bohemia. And, indeed, we believe that if he
had lived in reformation times he would have joined

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 389
the Reformed, for he was a believer in predestina
tion.* But in the reformation, the Hussites were
at first especially drawn to Luther. This was nat
ural as Luther's reformation was near to them,
while the Reformed were far away. They rejoiced
to find that a successor of John Huss, of whom
Huss had prophesied, had now arisen in Luther.
Their students began going to Wittenberg to study.
But gradually the Brethren began to be dissatisfied
with Luther and his reformation, especially because
of their lack of church discipline, on which the
Brethren laid particular stress. As a result they
began to incline more and more toward the Re
formed as they learned to know more about them.
They were especially pleased with the importance
that Bucer and Calvin laid on church-discipline.
Hence their students later attended the Reformed
universities as Heidelberg and Geneva. The sim
plicity of the Reformed worship also appealed to
them more than the Lutheran mode of worship with
its altars and crucifixes. But they never joined the
Reformed church as did the Waldenses. Indeed
they dared not join any foreign church; for

?See "Alte und Neue Bohmische Briider," Vol. Ill;
Kurtz also grants this point.

390 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
even for coming into friendly relations with for
eign churches like the Lutheran and Reformed, they
had to endure religious persecutions.
There came a time, however, when the Hussites
came into direct contact with the Reformed Church.
This occurred when in 1619, the Bohemians, after
throwing the two royal councilors out of a window
of the palace at Prague, into a garden fifty feet
below, where they escaped death by falling on a
dung-heap, elected Elector Frederick V of the
Palatinate, as their king. He was only twenty-
four years of age, but then he was the son-in-law
of the King of England, James I. He accepted
and entered Prague in pomp October 21, 1619. He
introduced Reformed worship in Prague alongside
of the Hussite worship. -Frederick's court preacher,
Scultetus, cleansed the cathedral at Prague of its
Catholic crucifixes, altars, pictures and statues. His
puritanic reforms were so radical as to cause op
position. He wanted also to put away the great
crucifix on the Carls-briicke, which had been sacred
to the Bohemians for centuries, — a sort of national
emblem, but he was prevented.* But Frederick

?A carved wooden board in the chapel of St. Wences-
laus shows Scultetus cleansing the cathedral.

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 391
reigned only about a year and was named the "Win
ter-king." For his rival to the Bohemian' throne
and also his emperor, Ferdinand, marched an army
against him. They met in decisive battle November
8, 1620, at the White Mountain, a few miles west of
Prague. Frederick with his family was compelled
to flee.* With Frederick fell the Reformed church
of all that region.
On June 21, 1621, occurred the final tragedy of
that defeat of the White Mountain. In front of-
the city hall at Prague at 5 A. M., twenty-seven of
the leading Protestants of Bohemia were led out
and beheaded. Some were Hussites, others Luth
erans, others Reformed. They had spent the night
in exhortation and prayer. Relying on Psalm 86:
17 "Thou wilt show me a token of good," they had
prayed that God would give them some sign that
they had not displeased him. To their great joy,
as the sun rose, a most beautiful rainbow appeared.
Some fell on their knees, some clapped their hands
and some shouted for joy. One bade them think of
Noah's rainbow, another of the rainbow of the

?Frederick's flight over the bridge and through the
streets of Prague is represented in a quaint wood carv
ing in the cathedral at Prague.

392 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
book of Revelations around God's throne as the
sure sigh of the Lord's coming to judge the quick
and the dead. The' heads and hands of twelve of
them were nailed on the east tower of the Carls
briicke at Prague as a warning to all Protestant
heretics. For ten years those ghastly weather-
beaten bones hung on that tower until the Saxon
army captured Prague in 1632 and reverently took
them down. Strange to say the sword which was
•used to cut off the heads of those martyrs turned
up 257 years later (1878) in distant Edinburgh.
On it was found engraved, the names of the victims
and on the hilt the initials of the executioner.
And now began a reign of terror in Bohemia — a
killing time. The Emperor Ferdinand ordered all
to become Catholics or leave the country. Thirty
thousand of the best families left the country and
found homes elsewhere mainly in Prussia. The
population of which, in 1618, only one-fortieth was
Catholic, was reduced from three million to one
hundred thousand. As the Protestant pastors left,
the Catholic priests came in, especially the Jesuits,
those great missionaries of the Catholic Church.
The Protestant churches were changed to Catholic.
The Protestants were driven to Catholic worship

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 393
and their children were forced to Catholic schools.
None but Catholic baptisms or marriages were rec
ognized. The Catholics took away the Bibles and
burned the Protestant books. One Jesuit boasted
that with his own hand he had burned 60,000 Prot
estant books. To preserve their Bibles, they hid
them in coffins and in hollow trees ; yes, in the
sheets of mothers lying in child-birth. A number
of baked Bibles have come down to our time.
These Bibles, when the Catholic officials came to
the house, the Protestants put into the dough of a
loaf of bread and thrust it into the oven for bak
ing. In that way the book was preserved, though
like Daniel, it often came out of a fiery furnace.
The loss of a Bible, says Dusek, one of their present
ministers, was counted one of their heaviest af
flictions, because as there were no Protestant min
isters, their Bibles were their only comforters. No
one needed to pay bills to Protestants and there
was no place to bury them, as their bodies were
not permitted in the graveyards. Perhaps the most
awful story of their dragonades was when the
soldiers made all manners of noises at the birth of
a Protestant child so as to torment the mother;
or when, having bound her' to a stake, they

394 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
laid her babe at her feet, refusing to give it to her
(though its cries for food must have almost broken
her mother-heart) unless she became a Catholic and
had it baptized a Catholic. The extirpation of
Protestantism was pursued with as much keenness
as the extirpation of wolves in England, in the days
of the Tudors. Each Jesuit's fame depended on
the number of his converts.
Such were the awful persecutions for a century
and a half. Comenius, the great educator of the
Brethren, was driven out (1627). A party of the
Moravians, driven out, settled in a part of Saxony,
where Count Zinzendorf gave them an asylum.
They there accepted his creed, the Augsburg Con
fession and he in turn accepted their faith and be
came the regenerator of the Moravians. Their new
founder impressed on them a somewhat new char
acter as in pietism and missions.*

?The Hussites in Germany split into several parties.
The first was the Moravians of Zinzendorf's, land.
These, by having lived so long in Germany, have be
come more German than Bohemian in type, and do not
represent the old Bohemian spirit. The second party
in Germany became Reformed as in Poland, Silesia
and eastern Germany, where a number of Reformed
churches are made up of these former Hussites. The

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 395
Such was the night of darkness that hung over
Bohemia until the Edict of Toleration, October 13,
1781, by Emperor Joseph II. It was supposed that
Protestantism had been entirely suppressed in Bo
hemia, certainly the severity and length of the per
secutions were enough to have entirely destroyed it.
And yet when the Edict of Toleration was issued,
a wonderful event occurred. Thousands of secret
Protestants appeared. Within two years 90,000
left the church of Rome, 66,000 of whom became
Reformed. The Protestant church of Bohemia,
like her Lord, had a resurrection, and by the end of
1783 thirty-three congregations had been already
organized. A touching story is told of Bishop Haj of Konig-
gratz, to whom a peasant came to ask back the
Bible taken from him years before. The bishop,
greatly touched by the peasant's conversation, not
only gave him back his Bible, but asked for his
blessing. The peasant, laying his hands on the
bishop's head, besought that God would give him
all the gifts of the Holy Ghost. The bishop declar-

third consists of a number of congregations in Ger
many that became neither Reformed nor Lutheran
nor Moravian, but remained simply Hussites.

396 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
ed he was more greatly moved by this than even by
his ordination.
At the Edict of Toleration, Emperor Joseph II
stipulated that those who became Protestants must
become either Lutheran or Reformed. Having
been without ministers, for so long, the Protestants
had to look to other denominations for ministers.
At first Lutheran ministers came among them, but
their priestly manners and their crucifixes and or
nate form of service did not suit the taste of these
simple-hearted peasants, who wanted no relics of
Catholicism. A few Reformed ministers came
over from Hungary, but they had great difficulty
with the language, for there was as great a differ
ence between the Bohemian and the Hungarian lan
guages as between the French and the German.
Their method of preparing their sermons was at
first very laborious and unsatisfactory. They would
prepare their sermons in Latin and then by means
of a Latin-Bohemian dictionary translate them into
Bohemian. But the Bohemians were so hungry for
Gospel truth, that they were glad to get it even by
that sort of preaching. And of course in a few
years these Hungarians became proficient in Bo
hemian and began raising up a native Bohemian

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 397
ministry. But the Bohemian Reformed church has
never forgotten this self-sacrifice of these early
Hungarian pastors. A number of their descendents
are now in the ministry and are highly honored for
their father's sake. They are spoken of as "of the
House of Aaron," as Szalatney, Nagy and others.
As the result of this work of these early pastors,
three-fourths of the Bohemians, who became Prot
estant, entered the Reformed church, the rest be
coming Lutheran.
Since the Edict of Toleration the growth of the
Reformed in Bohemia has been slow but steady.
They had gotten only toleration not religious lib
erty and labored under many disadvantages. At
first tlfey were refused the right of burial or the
right to have schools, but progress in these direc
tions has been made, although much yet remains to
be done. For Catholic hymns and prayers are still
used in the schools, which many of the Protestants
have to attend. The whole school system is permea
ted with Catholicism. When we were in Prague, at
tending the Reformed Conference in the summer of
1906, we found that Protestants were still compelled
to take off their hats when the Pyx was carried
through the streets. If the Edict of Toleration

398 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
brought toleration in 1781, a further step was
gained in 1849, when Protestants were given civil
equality with the Catholics. This led to greater
progress on the part of the Protestants. Before,
under toleration, only two new congregations had
been added to the fifty-five at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. Since 1851, thirty congrega
tions have been added, together with fourteen filial
congregations. In 1866 occurred a very significant event in the
history of Europe. Prussia defeated Austria and
transferred the balance of power in Germany from
Catholic Austria to Protestant Prussia, which has
since raised herself to be the head of the great
German empire. Thus Catholicism lost its Control
ling power in Germany for which she had fought
for more than three centuries. And where did that
defeat of Catholicism take place? Ah, here is one
of the strange revenges of history. Just as in
France where Sedan and Metz (former Reformed
strongholds, but where the Reformed had been
driven out) marked the place of France's defeats,
so here, right in Bohemia, at Sadowa, the seat of
her greatest persecutions, Protestantism gained her
great victory and broke the Catholic power. Among

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 399
the soldiers who fought Austria, were many de-
scendents of Bohemians, who had been driven out
of their land. They were "Daniels come to judg
ment." And it is said a Protestant church sprung
up at Sadowa from the tombstone of a Protestant,
whose family had inscribed on it some Bible pas
sages. To-day there is in Bohemia, one of the most
Evangelical of the Reformed churches on the con
tinent. Formerly there was some rationalism among
its ministry but there is none now. She has adopt
ed the Heidelberg Catechism. She now numbers
87 congregations and 120,000 adherents. In
Prague, there are now two Reformed churches, St.
Clements, of which Rev. Mr. Soucek is pastor.
Over the pulpit of this St. Clement's church is the
Hussite emblem of the cup and the book, referring
to the use of the Bible and the wine at the Lord's
Supper, which were the points claimed by the Huss
ites. The other church is in the Crown street of
the Royal Vineyard, a suburb of Prague. Much
of the money raised by the Presbyterian and Re
formed Alliance between 1880-90 went into this
church, as the pastor of the St. Clement's church
was at that time a rationalist; so that there might

400 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
be one Evangelical Reformed church in Prague.
But since that time the rationalist has died, and
all the Reformed ministers in the denomination
are now Evangelical.
One of the early pastors of the St. Clement's
church was named Kossuth. Under "him the
church grew so rapidly so that in five years be
tween eight and nine hundred had left the Cath
olic church. For his activity he was arrested
and imprisoned in the Hradschin in 1852, for
about a year, and then compelled to go into
exile in Germany. If this noble church of the
martyrs, which in spirit as Bohemian nobly repre
sents the old Hussite movement, were better sup
ported by the larger, richer Reformed churches, she
would be able to do a far greater work. She espe
cially needs assistance financially and educationally.
She needs a theological seminary for the training
of ministers, her university being far away at
Vienna. And for years there has been no Reform
ed professor of theology at this university.*
Thus there are many sacred places in Prague.

?There is a Free Reformed church in Bohemia found
ed by the American Board, but it is Congregational,
not Presbyterian and Reformed.

Bohemia, Huss and Prague. 401
The memorials of the Hussites are the Bethlehem
Platz and Huss house, the Teyn church and the
picture of Huss before the council at Constance in
the city hall; also the place in front of the city
hall where the martyrs were put to death in 1621,
— the east tower of the Charles-bridge, where their
heads and hands were nailed. One of the most in
teresting places is the splendid Bohemian Museum
in which there is a magnificent collection of manu
scripts and books of Huss, Ziska, Comenius and
others. We were quite surprised at the art dis
played by the Hussites as we had supposed them a
plain country-folk. They evidently were of the
best classes of society. The cathedral and palace
at the Hradschin where the Winter-king lived, are
worth a visit, as is also the Deer park, west of
Prague, in which is the castle, shaped like a six-
rayed star, from which a fine view can be had over
the battle field of White Mountain. A visit to
Tabor and Kuttenberg repays the time taken for it.

Chapter VIL— ENGLAND, WALES AND IRE
LAND.
THERE are sacred places in the British Isles
as well as on the Continent of Europe.
The doctrines of Calvin gained great in
fluence there, conquering large parts of them. Even
before the reformation, in the early history of
Christianity there, British Christianity was simpler,
more spiritual and evangelistic than the Romish
type of Christianity, as was shown by the Culdees
and Columba at Oban in Scotland and Patrick in
Ireland. These British races were liberty-loving
by nature and were thus prepared ultimately to rise
against the despotism of Rome. Wicklif, the morn
ing star of the reformation, might be called Re
formed in his emphasis on the Bible as the rule of
faith, which was the great peculiarity of the doc
trines of the Reformed churches. If so, then Ox
ford, where he taught, and Lutterworth, where he
was buried, become sacred places.
But it was in the clays of the reformation that
the doctrines of the Reformed gained power there.
Indeed, so great was its power, that the Episcopal
or Anglican Church of England received the name,
403

404 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
"The Reformed Church of England," which is even
to this day its legal name, though discounted as
much as possible by its ritualists, as the name is a
perpetual protest against Catholicism. The refor
mation in England produced few leading theolog
ians, as it was at first political rather than reli
gious, so prominent continental theologians were
invited to England, as Bucer to Cambridge, and
Peter Martyr to Oxford. These in their contro
versies for low-church views of doctrine and of
rites prepared the way for the future influence of
the Reformed. Cranmer, though he came first into
association with Lutheranism in Germany, even
marrying the niece of Osiander, yet became a Cal-
vinist in his doctrine of the sacraments. And Rid
ley and Hooper with him were. Calvinists in. their
views. When the Forty-two Articles of Faith, the
original of the present creed of the Church of
England, the Thirty-nine Articles, was adopted, it
was Calvinistic, not only on the sacraments but
also on election, which it mentions, though it does
not refer to reprobation. But Cranmer and Rid
ley and Latimer, were burned at Oxford by Bloody
Queen Mary, 1556. Though they were Episco
palians in their views of church government, yet

England, Wales and Ireland. 405
they were Calvinists in doctrine. And so the "Mar
tyrs Memorial," at Oxford, which marks the place
of their burning, becomes a sacred place to the Re
formed as indeed to all Protestants. In that per
secution Bucer's body, which had been buried at
Cambridge, was exhumed and burned.
But just before the Marian persecution there oc
curred an event at London, which marks one of the
most important of the sacred places of the Re
formed. It was the organization of the Church of
Austin Friars. The first congregation to have fully
developed Presbyterian church-government was
this Dutch Reformed church. This church, how
ever, was composed of people of many languages,
of Dutch, Germans, Walloons and Italians who
were refugees for. Protestantism's sake from the
continent of Europe. To them, in 1550, was given
the church of the Augustinian Friars, later called
the church of Austin Friars, located behind Dra
per's Hall, in the very heart of the old city of Lon
don. If Zurich and Geneva were the birth-place
of the Reformed doctrinally, this was their birth
place in complete local organization. The first con
gregation formed along purely Presbyterial lines
was founded here by John A'Lasco, the Polish

406 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
reformer. This congregation was not under a bish
op and so Lasco had a free hand in organizing it
according to Biblical lines. The church officers
were elders, deacons and doctors, the duty of the
latter being to foster the study of the Bible. He
introduced the distinction between ruling and teach
ing elders, the elders being equal with the minister.
The congregation elected these officers. Lasco im
proved on Calvin in church-government ; his was
democratic Presbyterianism, Calvin's aristocratic
Presbyterianism. Calvin's did not aim directly at
separation of church and state, Lasco's was sep
arate from the state. Calvin often gets credit for
what Lasco has done for our present presbyterial
church government. Lasco was really the founder
of Presbyterial government in the congregation.
Lasco also introduced the simple Reformed wor
ship, drawing up a liturgy which is especially no
ticeable by its departures from the Prayerbook of
the Anglican church. He set aside pictures, can
dles, altars, bells, the organ and kneeling at the
communion, the latter as savoring of idolatry. The
minister wore no robes or vestments. Another pe
culiarity of this congregation was its prophesying,
or prayer-meeting, thus laying the basis for future

England, Wales and Ireland. 407
Puritanism in England. But he and his congrega
tion were driven out when Bloody Queen Mary
came to the throne and they sailed from Grave
send September 17, 1553, for Copenhagen, and Ger
many. Later, when Queen Elizabeth came to the
throne, the church was again given to the foreign
refugees and is now the Dutch Reformed church
of Austin Friars, and Dutch worship is held there
on Sunday mornings.
The Marian persecution threw the English re
formers into the hands of the Reformed on the
continent. It drove the leaders of the reformation
to the continent where they found an asylum, as at
Zurich with Bullinger. He took some of them into
his own family and opened an English theological
seminary for their young students. They also
found an asylum at Geneva where Calvin gladly
welcomed them. The result of their stay on the
continent was that when they came back to Eng
land, most of them had become deeply imbued with
Reformed views. The "Zurich Letters," which
contain the correspondence, reveal that they had
low views of episcopacy.' They even granted the
validity of Presbyterial ordination. The influence
especially of Bullinger, became very great. In Eng-

408 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
land his works were circulated and translated. His
theological works being used as a text-book on the
ology at Oxford University for many years. But
gradually the stricter theology of Calvin became
more influential than Bullinger's. And his works
both Latin and English, had a large circulation.
The Anglican church divided into two parties, Pre
latists and Puritans, high-churchmen and low-
churchmen. The low-church part in the Anglican
church, or the Puritans, as they were called, gath
ered around the continental Reformed doctrines of
Bullinger and Calvin.
But some of the Puritans finally became wearied
at their failure to gain greater purity of doctrine
and worship in the Anglican church. It was led by
Thomas Cartwright. They organized the first
Presbytery at Wandsworth, in 1572, then a few
miles southwest of London, but now one of the
suburbs of London, so that Wandsworth becomes
another sacred place for the Reformed.
Thomas Cartwright, the founder of Presbyteri
anism in England, was born 1535, and studied at
Cambridge, becoming later professor of theology
there in 1569. But his lectures on the Acts be
came so popular that he attacked the prelatic party

England, Wales and Ireland. 409
(who upheld the Episcopacy), which was led by
Whitgift. He was therefore dismissed from his
professorship the next year. He went to the conti
nent where he conferred with Beza, but returned
in 1572. He now contended that as there had been
a reformation in the church in doctrine, there was
need also of a reformation in government and dis
cipline, so as to make it conform to the New Testa
ment ideal. Threatened with arrest he went to the
Netherlands. In 1585 he had returned to London
without royal permission and was cast into prison,
but powerful friends as the Earl of Leicester, gain
ed his release, and he was made master of a hos
pital at Warwick. There he introduced free pray
er into the worship by using it before the sermon.
In 1590 the book of Discipline drawn up by him, had
been subscribed by 500 ministers and in 1588 adopt
ed by a provincial synod at Cambridge, after being
approved by all the classes (as they then called
their presbyteries), in Warwickshire. He was
again imprisoned but released in 1592 and went to
the island of Guernsey, where he died in 1603.
Cartwright's connection with Cambridge calls
attention to the fact that Cambridge has been a
sacred place for Puritanism and Calvinism. Cam-

410 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
bridge was the university that stood in the main for
low-churchism and Puritanism, while Oxford has
stood in the main for ritualism. There is a saying in
England that "Cambridge bred the founders of the
English reformation and Oxford burned them."
Cambridge was especially the Puritan university.
Two of its colleges were founded especially for the
promotion of Puritanism, Emanuel and Sidney.
When Emanuel was founded by Sir Walter Mild-
may, Queen Elizabeth charged him with founding
it as a Puritan foundation. In 1603 a writer states
the Puritan peculiarities, that while the other col
leges use the prayerbook, Emanuel has its own ser
vice — its scholars did not wear surplice and hoods
like the rest of the colleges, and they did not fast
Fridays and they sat at communion. No wonder
it was called a Puritan college! It was from this
college that many of the leaders of Puritanism in
New England came, as John Cotton and Harvard,
who founded Harvard University; for it is to be
remembered that while the Pilgrims were Congre-
gationalists, the Puritans of New England were
Presbyterian in their form of church government.
The Calvinistic doctrines were taught at Cam
bridge. Such being the association of Puritanism

England, JVales and Ireland. 411
and Presbyterianism with Cambridge it is very
proper that the Theological School of the present
Presbyterian Church of England is now located at
Cambridge. The next prominent Reformed place is West
minster Abbey, where the Westminster Assembly
was held 1643. It was composed of 151 members,
of whom only six were Scotch. Rev. Dr. Twisse
opened it by a sermon in Westminster Abbey on
July 1. The business then proceeded in the chapel
of Henry VII, in Westminster Abbey. There were
three parties in that Assembly, the Erastians, who
held that the church should be joined to the state
and the state have power of discipline. The sec
ond party were the Congregationalists, the third
were the Presbyterians. The problem was which
would control the Assembly. The Assembly had
1,163 sessions and the Presbyterian party gained
the victory.
An interesting tradition of this Assembly is that
the committee charged to prepare a catechism
paused when it came to preparing an answer to
the question, What is God ? and the youngest mem
ber of it, but one of the ablest, Gillespie, replied in
the beautiful and comprehensive answer of the

412 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Shorter Catechism. But recent investigations seem
to show that this tradition is not true as several
of its phrases were embodied in a catechism of 1645,
yes, some going back to the Swiss reformer and
catechism writer, Leo Juda.
But although the Erastians were defeated in the
Westminster Assembly, they were victorious in par
liament. The Westminster Confessions were never
adopted in England as the official creed of the
church, as in Scotland, although parliament
ordered (1646) that elders be appointed in
every congregation. As a result Presbyterian
ism swept over England. In 1648 all parishes,
except chapels of the king and of the peers,
were under Presbyterian government and Lon
don was divided into twelve presbyteries. It
was then "Presbyterian London." The first pro
vincial synod met at the convocation house of St.
Paul, 1647, and other synods were organized.
Presbyterianism for seventeen years, 1646-1663, be
came the established religion of England.
But the revolution under Cromwell put an end
to this, for the Presbyterians protested against the
execution of the king. Finally the Act of Uni
formity forced 2,000 ministers, of whom 1,500
were Presbyterians, out of the church on St. Bar-

England, JVales and Ireland. 413
tholomew's day, 1662. And for 23 years Puritan
ism and Presbyterianism were illegal in England.
Among those who were thus driven out of the
church were some of the strongest ministers, as
Baxter, Howe, the Calamys and the Henrys.
Richard Baxter was minister at Kidderminster
(eighteen miles southwest of Birmingham) and
transformed the whole community. In 1660 he
left Kidderminster for London, preaching before
the House of Commons at St. Margaret's church,
Westminster, April 30, 1660, and before the Lord
Mayor and aldermen at St. Paul's, May 10, of that
year. He welcomed Charles II back and the latter
offered him the bishopric of Hereford, which he
declined. After being driven out of the Anglican
church in 1662, as he persisted in preaching, he was
imprisoned twice, Judge Jeffreys treating him with
great brutality at his second imprisonment. Philip
Henry, the father of Matthew Henry the Commen
tator, was also one of the ministers driven out and
imprisoned at Chester castle. His son, distinguish
ed for his commentary on the Bible, was pastor of
the Presbyterian church at Chester in 1687, remain
ing there 25 years, then removing to Hackney, Lon
don, 1712, and dying two years later.
Then came the Toleration Edict of 1689, when

414 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
William and Mary had become king and queen of
England. There were then 800 Presbyterian con
gregations in England, 40 in London alone. The
¦ eighteenth century brought to the church the blight
of rationalism, because subscription to the West
minster standards was not enforced. The result
was that especially in southern .England, Presby
terianism and Unitarianism became synonymous.
This laxity of doctrine led to laxity of discipline
and government. At a meeting at Salter's Hall,
London, the Calvinists and Evangelicals were out
voted by the Unitarians by a vote of 57-53. As a
result most of the denomination went over into
Unitarianism. In 1850 there were 217 Unitarian
congregations. And to-day in the religious adver
tisements in the London newspapers, one will often
see a "Presbyterian (Unitarian) church." These
are the old Presbyterian churches, who have gone
• off into Unitarianism. But the Northumberland
Presbytery, in the north, remained faithful and ex
cluded Unitarianism.
The present Presbyterian Church of England is
composed of Scotch settlers in England, to whom
the relics of the old Presbyterian congregations of
England joined themselves. In 1876 the different

England, ll'alcs and Ireland. 415
branches of the Presbyterian churches organized
into a synod at Liverpool, though the Established
Church of Scotland still retains about a dozen con
gregations in England. The Presbyterian Church
of England has 356 ministers, 350 churches and
85,000 communicants, and is a well-organized, ag
gressive and influential church.
Wales has its Calvinistic Methodist Church, at
once Calvinistic and yet Methodist. In its congre
gational organization, it is Methodist, but in its
representative upper church-government and in its
doctrinal standards it is Calvinistic. It grew out
of a great revival in Wales beginning 1735-6,
through Howell Harris, a layman, and Daniel Row
lands and Howell Davies, curates of the Anglican
church. It was really a movement within the Es
tablished Church of England for more spirituality,
a new development in the Puritanism of that
church, as Presbyterianism had been a century and
more before! Its first society was organized at
Erwood, in Brecknock County, in 1736, and its
first General Assembly at Watford, County of Gla
morgan, January 5-6, 1642. If John Wesley led
to the formation of the Methodist Church, Whit
field, the great evangelist of the eighteenth century,

416 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
led to the formation of this Welsh Calvinistic
church. He was made moderator of the Watford
Association. Whitfieldism left its impress on this
church as Wesley did on the Methodists. The
Church, like him, has been Calvinistic and adopted
a creed like the Westminster Confession and the
Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England,
which is Calvinistic in its statements. Another
great revival in 1762-3 added to its prosperity.
But it was the coming into that church of Rev.
Thomas Charles of Bala, that gave new vigor to the
church. He made long preaching tours over all
of North Wales, instituted circulating schools and
Sunday schools and at his own expense he trained
teachers. Bala is the great sacred place of this Calvinistic
Methodist church. Here Rev. Mr. Charles lived,
and it is now the seat of their college and theolog
ical school. It was here that occurred that incident,
that led to the founding of the British' and Foreign
Bible Society. Mary Jones, born 1782, was the
daughter of a poor weaver, living at the foot of
Cader Idris. As she attended Sunday school, the
longing to possess a Bible of her own greatly took
hold of her, for Bibles were scarce and expensive

England, Wales and Ireland. 417
in Wales in those days, the nearest one being two
miles off. She determined to save money enough
to buy one, and after years of saving had enough
gathered to purchase a Bible. She then, sixteen
years old, walked all the way to Bala, twenty-five
miles away, bare-footed, carrying her boots, to put
them on just as she arrived outside of Bala. She
called on Rev. Mr. Charles and told her story. Re
gretfully he told her that all the Bibles had been
sold except one or two copies that he had retained
for friends. She wept bitterly at this disappoint
ment. He could not withstand her tears and gave
her one of the promised Bibles. She went home,
lived to a great age and had the Bible she bought
at Bala at her bedside when she passed away. On
December, 1802, Rev. Mr. Charles told the story
of Mary Jones to the Religious Tract Society, at
London, to show the great hunger of Wales for 'the
Word of God. On hearing him the secretary of the
society said, "Surely a society might be formed to
provide Bibles for Wales, and if for Wales, why
not for the world?" This led to the foundation iri
1804, of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the
earliest and greatest of the world's Bible Societies.
It began its work by printing the Bible for Wales.

418 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
When the first wagon-load of Bibles, in 1806, came
to Wales, it was received as the Israelites received
the Ark of the Covenant. The people, with shouts
of joy, dragged it into the city. Wales has ever been
the land of the Bible and it has been said that there
is not an infidel book in their language. Thus it
has been true to one of the cardinal doctrines of the
Calvinists, the supremacy of Scripture. The Cal
vinistic Methodist Church of Wales now numbers
1,442 congregations, 955 ministers and 186,000
communicants. Ireland, too, has its representatives of the Re
formed faith in the Irish Presbyterian Church.
Northern Ireland was settled by Scotland, who
brought their Presbyterianism with them. The
first presbytery was formed at Carrickfergus in
1642, and by 1647 there were thirty ministers in
the province of Ulster. When King Charles II
was restored, many of the Presbyterian ministers
were ejected from their parishes. The "Solemn
League and Covenant of the Church" was burned
in the principal towns by hangman. Persecution
continued until William and Mary became rulers
of England.
As far as we are able to see, the main sacred

England, Wales and Ireland. 419
places of the Irish church are Carrickfergus, where
the first presbytery was organized, Derry or Lon-
denderry and the battlefield of the Boyne. Derry
became the centre of the church, although it is now
surpassed in size by Belfast. But the seige of Lon
donderry has made it a sacred place to the Irish
Protestants. On December 7, 1688, a few appren
tice boys at Derry seized the keys of the city and
shut the gates, because of a report that the Cath
olics would rise and murder the Protestants. Derry
thus became the refuge for the Protestants of the
province. It was beseiged (1689) by King James
with his Catholic army and made a brave defense
for 105 days against an overwhelming force. A
British frigate broke the boom that was stretched
across the river Foyle, and two vessels, laden with
provisions, entered the city and saved it from fam
ine. The following night, October 31, the army of
King James retreated. In consideration of their
gallant conduct, King William ordered $60,000 to
be paid annually to the Presbyterian ministers as a
royal gift, which was continued to be done until
1870. The battle of the Boyne, July 1, 1690, was the
great final contest between Protestantism and Cath-

420 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
olicism in the British Isles; indeed not in Britain
alone, but for all Europe. For the Catholic powers
of Europe, led especially by King Louis XIV, of
France, were getting ready to do what they had
tried to, do in the Thirty Years war, namely, to
crush out Protestantism. But the battle of the
Boyne was the first thunderclap in the shape of a
defeat, to their plans and, except in western Ger
many, they never went any farther. But if the ,
Protestants had been defeated at the Boyne the
Catholic prince would have moved' toward the in
troduction of interims in Europe as they had done
in the Thirty Years war, which were only the pre
lude to the utter destruction of Protestantism.
This battle of the Boyne is also significant be
cause in it occurred one of the striking revenges
of history that have so often appeared against
France for her driving out of the Huguenots in
1685, by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.,
At the battle of the Boyne France's troops, who
formed part of King James' army, were defeated
by one of those Huguenots, whom France had cast
out. Louis the Great had put into the hands of his
enemies his greatest general, Marshal Frederick of
Schomberg. When William, Prince of Orange,

England, Jl'ales and Ireland. 421
went to England to assume the throne, he asked the
Elector of Bradenburg at Berlin to loan him his
general-in-chief, which he did, and Schomberg went
to England as commander. The battle was very
fiercely waged. And in it, just as Schomberg called
the attention of the Huguenot troops of his army
to the French corps in the Catholic army, and had
said, "You see there your persecutors," he was
wounded and shortly after killed. The Irish army
was completely defeated and James sailed for
France, giving up the struggle for the English
throne. A Huguenot saved the day. Marshall
Schomberg is buried in St. Patrick's cathedral,
Dublin, In 1690 a General Synod of Ulster was organized
at Belfast, making Belfast the fourth sacred place
of this church. Belfast, with its many congrega-
tions,"now is the great centre of the Irish church.
That Irish Presbyterian church now has 105,000
communicants, the Reformed Presbyterian, 3,800,
and the Original Seceders, 1,200. These make up
the Presbyterian, strength of Ireland.

KNOX HOUSE AT EDINBURGH

Chapter VIIL— EDINBURGH.
THIS picturesque, romantic city of the Scots
has been so often described, in the beauti
ful language of both prose and verse, that
one would be presumptive who should attempt the
task anew, without reference to the glowing sen
tences already penned and printed.
Dr. Thomas Guthrie, of eloquent utterance,
whose home and pulpit were in Edinburgh, for the
latter half of his life, found daily enjoyment in
the craggy heights and classic beauty of the "Grey
Metropolis of the North." When visitors from
other lands were his guests, he delighted to point
out to them the unique features of the scene.
His own words were these :
"Ere the heat of the day has cast a misty veil
upon the scene, I take a stranger, and, conducting
his steps to yonder rocky rampart, I bid him look.
Gothic towers, Grecian temples, palaces, spires,
domes, monuments and verdant gardens, pictur
esquely mingled, are spread out before his eye:
wherever he turns he finds a point of view to claim
his admiration. What rare variety of hill
and hollow!' What happy combination of mod-
423

424 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
ern and ancient architecture ! Two distant ages
gaze at each other across the intervening valley."
The Castle rock is the point of vantage which is
indicated. Lord Macaulay suggests a comparison
between Edinburgh and Florence, in the generation
preceding the Protestant Reformation and in his
own time, and finds the reason for the incomparable
progress and development of the northern city,
"owing less to climate, soil and the fostering care
of rulers," in the enthronement of Protestant prin
ciples in the hearts and lives of her people.
Professor Wilson, "Christopher North," sings
the picturesque beauty of the "Scots' City of the
Seven Hills" in noble verse :
"Queen of the unconquered North !
Stately thou sittest on thy mountain throne,
Thy towers and temples like a cloudy sky;
And scarce can tell what fabrics are thine own,
Hung 'mid the air-built phantoms floating by."
But upon no stranger or son has the charm of
Edinburgh's solemn yet seductive beauty exercised
so strong a spell as upon the sympathetic soul of
Sir Walter Scott, whose passion was to praise her
in story and in song. It was "a ruling passion
strong in death." Even in "his last illness, when

Edinburgh. 425
the great intellect was already under eclipse, he
constantly recalled sights and scenes in the 'High
Street and Canongate,' every ancient building of
which he knew so well."
His "Marmion" brings back the Poet's vision
from Blackford Hill, of the fair scene immediately
at hand and the outlook to
"Where the huge castle holds its state,
And all the steep slope down,
Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky
Piled deep and massy, close and high,
Mine oivn romantic town.''
His romance of Midlothian has invested the
heart-shaped chiselling in the pavement near St.
Giles and the grave of John Knox, where the Old
Tolbooth used to stand, with an immortal interest,
and, none the less, do the Castle, the Cathedral,
and Holyrood where "his Mary Stuart haunts all
the rooms" and still seems "to go up and down
those worn, stony stairways," and Heriot's hos
pital and many another show spot of the old town
hold the attention and imagination of the tourist,
because interpreted by the fascinating pages of the
"Wizard of the North."
As in the country beyond, "the lochs and raoun-

426 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
tains, bracken and heathery moors all give back to
us the echo of the one name," — so Margaret J.
Preston, the American poetess, tells us; and she
exclaims "what were beautiful Scotland without
Sir Walter as the interpreter of her legends and
her history, of her sufferings and her glory !" —
so the ancient city is alive again, after the fashion
of her long gone years, when Sir Walter is one's
guide. Your cab-driver will fill you with wonder by
minute knowledge of his works and of his associa
tions with the city. He will let you "follow the
limping boy to the high school" and take you in
his company to the Grass-market and up and down
the Canongate. He will take you to Castle street
and to the house marked by Sir Walter's bust
above the door, where, "with only a patch of shabby
sky visible," he wrote the best of his novels; to
Davie Dean's cottage, and if you wish, away be
yond the limits of the city to Reuben Butler's
school-room and the spot where Effie was wont to
meet her lover; and if "the Heart of Midlothian"
is in your mind, on your return, you will all but
see grave yet gentle Jeanie walking down High
street toward Douce Davie's humble home.

Edinburgh. 427
Before you part with Sir Walter you will wish to
see the monument erected to his memory by a grate
ful city, forever proud of her illustrious son, in
the new town, on the far-famed Princes street. It
resembles "a Gothic spire, surmounted by many
pinnacles, among which are niched some thirty of
the principal characters of Scott's novels. Under
the dome sits Sir Walter, wrapped in his plaid, in
a brooding attitude, while Maida, his favorite dog,
lies at his feet."
It is said that the architect of this noble pile,
when a lad of twelve years, had been picked up by
Sir Walter, as the great writer was driving one day
among the Pentland Hills. Trudging along the
road beneath a heavy burden, the boy was taken up
into the carriage and was led into a kindly con
versation which drew out his hopes and plans, and
when he left the great man at his journey's end it
was with a crown in his hand and a glow in his
heart. From that hour his admiration for his ben
efactor became a passion. He studied architecture,
and, when designs for the monument were sub
mitted, his drawing was chosen. The pathetic part
of the story is that he did not live to see completed
the work into which he had put all his heart. Mrs.

428 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Preston recalls this tale, as thus recited, and other
facts and fancies I have given, in a charming lit
tle travel sketch, entitled "A Handful of Mono
graphs." The history of Edinburgh — Edwinsburgh, the
named derived from Edwin of Deira, Saxon King,
from its beginnings "amidst the mists of a hoary
antiquity," to the present time is a thrilling story,
In barest outline some of the outstanding features
may be mentioned : Its association with Kirig
Arthur, the hero of romance, "the blameless King"
of the Tennyson "Idylls," whose "head" was cut
out in profile against the rocks of Salisbury Crags,
and whom tradition pictures as worn out by pro
tracted struggle with the Saxons, and as sitting to
rest on the hill, on the spot still known as "Ar
thur's Seat," and witnessing the battle that checked
the enemy's advance; the coming of Edwin and
the founding of a village about the rock fortress;
the union of Picts and Scotts and their stand against
Angles and Britons ; the reign of Malcolm II (1005-
1034) ; the reign of Malcolm III and of his beauti
ful and pious Queen Margaret, who sought to in
troduce culture and civilization among the rude
people of the little realm and whose memory is pre-

Edinburgh. 429
served in the early Norman Chapel, near by the
Castle, where she spent much time in prayer; the
reign of King David I, whose deliverance from
an infuriated stag on the day of the Holy Rood
led to the establishment of the Abbey of the Holy-
rood, which in times of peace shared the honor of
a royal residence with the Castle; the .succession
down to the age of Edward I of England, who took
the castle in 1291, the capture of the castle under
Robert Bruce; and the reigns of the kings, includ
ing that of David II, whose death in 1370 termi
nated the direct line of the Bruce, — all this must
be passed by with merest mention.
Likewise, the better known story of the Stuarts,
"a gay, accomplished, improvident race," who made
the city Royal Edinburgh indeed, extending and
beautifying the town and raising it in the scale of
national importance. A concise but clear outline of
this history down to the fascinating narrative of
the pathetic but guilty "Mary, Queen of Scots" and
the "Union of the Crowns," in her son, James VI,
of Scotland, I of England, may be read in "Edin
burgh" of "the Mediaeval Towns Series," by Oli-
phant Smeaton, or in "Edinburgh — a Historical
and Topographical Account of the City," by M. G

430 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
Williamson, both of which little volumes are beau
tifully illustrated.
In these books, too, the subsequent history of the
Union of the Parliaments will be found — that bit
ter cup for many loyal Scots — the formal dissolu
tion of the "Scots Estates" taking place in Edin
burgh on the 25th of March, 1707, when the Earl
of Seafield, the1 Chancellor, as he descended from
his official chair, assuming a jocular air to veil his
emotion, exclaimed : "Thus endeth an auld sang."
It meant the sinking of Edinburgh to the level of
a provincial city in the kingdom of Great Britain.
And for fifty years, her people passed through a
period of profound depression and gloom. Not
until the glory of her university arose, and "the
brilliant coterie of literary men resident there had
made her famous throughout the world, did she
again lift up her head and seat herself once more
on her throne, as the grey metropolis of the north."
In 1794, Thomas Jefferson reported to the legis
lature of Virginia that "the Colleges of Geneva and
Edinburgh were the two eyes of Europe in matters
of science."
The still later history of the city, from the union
of the kingdoms to the rebellion of 1745, under
"Bonnie Prince Charlie," of Scott's song, which

Edinburgh. 431
came to an end on the bloody field of Culloden,
where the hopes of the Stuarts of re-possessing the
throne of Great Britain were forever annihilated;
and from the rebellion to the present time, may also
be found in the volumes I have named, which,
being inexpensive and portable, the visitor to Edin
burgh will do well to have in his possession. I
have used them freely in writing this sketch.
The literary associations of Edinburgh are of
intense interest. In this respect, "Sir Walter," as
his admirers love to call him, is pre-eminent. But
the list of men of mind whose pens and tongues
made the city enduringly famous is long and im
posing. Edinburgh is a "city of song," and a city of
Story, a city of philosophers, historians and essay
ists, from the days of William Dunbar, the Loure-
ate of the reign of James IV (1473-1513), to our
own days, when Robert Louis Stevenson, poet,
novelist and essayist (whose birth and early life
belong to Edinburgh, though lonely Samoa gave
him his grave, after the heroism of his suffering
years), wrote his fascinating pages, men of genius
added the lustre of literary brilliancy to the glory
of the city. Among the poets, Scotchmen rate
high, after Dunbar, Alevander Scott, whose lyrics

432 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
"are still read with delight," Sir David Lyndsay,
who occupied the place of the "people's poet,"
which Burns afterwards held, and whose satires
against the vices and frivolities of the priests are
said (who can quite believe this?) to have "done
more for the reformation than all the sermons of
John Knox," and Allan Ramsay, author of "The
Gentle Shepherd," a poem "so true to nature and
its simplicity that it found its way at once to the
hearts of the people and few lowland homes in
earlier days were without a copy of it.
Better known to us, of America, beside Scott and
Stevenson, are Thomas Campbell, whose "Pleasures
of Hope," James Graham, whose beautiful poem on
"The Sabbath," and Robert Pollock, whose "Course
of Time," our fathers and mothers read and quoted
oft. Of the philosophers, David Hume was a bril
liant figure in the 18th century — often called "the
Augustan Age of Scotland." He too was a great
historian, as his well-known History of England
shows. He lived in Riddle's Court, where most of his
history was written; also in what was known as
Jack's Land, in the Canongate, and in James' Court,
where he often regaled his friends with supper,

Edinburgh. 433
among them Adam Smith, author of "The Wealth
of Nations," "Father of Political Economy," Adam
Ferguson, Chaplain of the 42d or Black Watch
Regiment, whose military service "gave great clear
ness to his account of battles in his History of
Rome, and Dr. Hugh Blair, a clergyman of the
High Church and professor of rhetoric in the uni
versity, the admiration of people of position and
rank, to whom King George III, who read and ad
mired his published sermons, gave a pension of 200
pounds a year." Hume was a sceptic, but not an
atheist, and wrote his books of attack on revealed
religion — so one of his brilliant contemporaries
said, "from affectation and love of vainglory." The
house in St. James' Court is now occupied by the
Department of Foreign Missions, in the United
Free Church offices.
Hume built a new house, near St. Andrew's
Square, in the "New Town," and on the street,
leading to Princes street, which had not then been
named. One of the daughters of the chief baron
got a workman to paint on the cornerstone of
Hume's house, "St. David's Street." Hume laugh
ed, when his attention was called to it, and said,
"Never heed: many a better man has been made
a saint before now."

434 Famous Place sof Reformed Churches.
Dugald Stewart, whose philosophy was formerly
taught in nearly every college of the United States
of America, to "defend the great truths of natural,
and so supply evidence of revealed religion," was
an Edinburgh man, and lived in a part of the old
Whitefoorde House, not far from Holyrood.
Thomas Chalmers, one of the "three mighties" in
the Free Church (Candlish and Cunningham com
pleting the trio), was "the first to bring the phil
osophy of Scotland into harmony with the evan
gelical faith of the nation." He was one of the
most potent spiritual forces of his age.
Great historians lived and labored in the city.
In the days of Queen Mary's reign, there was
her reader and tutor, George Buchanan, the eminent
Latin scholar, the "scholar of the reformation,"
"Scotland's Greatest Scholar," who admired the
queen's ability and celebrated her marriage to
Darnley, in verse, but afterwards, in his History,
"condemned the unhappy queen in no measured
terms." • He had expanded the cause of the refor
mation. In 1567, shortly after Mary was imprisoned in
Lochleven, Buchanan, though a layman, was made
Moderator of the General Assembly.

Edinburgh. , 435
John Knox wrote history as strenuously as he
preached in the pulpit of St. Giles, where he said,
"I am in the place where I must speak the truth,
and the truth I will speak, impugn it who so list."
William Robertson, elected principal of Edin
burgh University, at forty-one, "took the reading
world by storm with his "History of Scotland," his
"History of America," and his "Charles V," to
which was prefixed his "View of the State of So
ciety in Europe to the Beginning of the Sixteenth
Century," "the most valuable of all his works."
He died in 1792. Dr. Thomas McCrie, the eminent
ecclesiastical historian, was one of Edinburgh's
great men of letters.
The "Old Edinburgh" of the middle of the 18th
century was the centre of a brilliant literary world.
It was the picturesque city of the wynds and closes,
"of snug familiarity, when you could shake hands
with your friends from your respective windows, on
opposite sides of the closes," "when conviviality
was a cardinal virtue" and so prolonged were the
dinners of these men of letters that "one was apt
to forget whether he was sitting at yesterday's din
ner or to-day's."
Having taken these glances at romantic Edin-

436 ' Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
burgh, the Edinburgh of history and the Edin
burgh of letters, let us conclude our hasty survey
of the enchanting city of the north with a view of
ecclesiastical Edinburgh.
To the heart of the Scot the dearest institution
has ever been the Kirk, and all that it represents.
Space to write or time to read will not permit us
to go back of that age when, as Mrs. Oliphant puts
it, "Mary reigned at Holyrood and John Knox in
St. Giles." The chief interest of the palace and
Abbey of Holyrood centres in Mary, Queen of
Scots, and her controversy with the Reformed
Church, as represented by Knox.
Originally, Holyrood formed no part of Edin
burgh, but was connected with the neighboring
burgh of Canongate. Edinburgh clustered round
the castle for protection, and Canongate-burgh
about Holyrood, but, as time passed, the two burghs
grew together and became one. At the Reforma
tion, John Knox, preacher and pastor of St. Giles,
was summoned to Holyrood for the famous inter
views with the Catholic queen, in which she tried
her best to intimidate and awe him, but in vain;
and plied her exquisite art to flatter him to no bet
ter purpose. In a torrent of tears and tempest of

Edinburgh. 437
passion the beautiful queen stormed and railed at
him, only to receive the undaunted answer, "I am
neither earl, lord nor baron, in the kingdom, yet,
madam, it appertains to me no less to forewarn of
such things as may hurt it, if I foresee them, than
it cloth to any of the nobility." To the great preach
er, "the prophet of the reformation," "one mass
was worse for Scotland than a hostile army." Par
liament was plastic in the hands of the queen, the
nobles were ready to compromise. Yet Mary
learned, to her bitter regret and chagrin, as Knox's
acquittal, upon trial for treason, based on his bold
utterances in St. Giles and his famous circular au
thorized by the general assembly of the church,
proved. His brave and able defence won the day.
The proposed assassination of the Protestants in
her realm, as in France, by which she hoped to be
freed from her enemy, was thwarted by "the jeal
ousy which arose between Mary and her husband;
and the consequent murder of Rizzio turned the
fierce currents of history into other channels, and
Scotland was saved from the horrors of a massa
cre such as that of St. Bartholomew." The thrill
ing story takes on intensity of interest when one
goes through the palace and sees Lord Darnley's

438 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
suit of rooms, the bed chamber with its pictures of
Darnley, Queen Mary and John Knox, and the
queen's apartments, the secret stairway, the passage
at the entrance to her rooms where a brass plate
marks the spot of Rizzio's death, the audience
chamber where Mary had her historic "wars of
words" with John Knox.
Within and without palace and abbey, the visi
tor will find much to hold his attention, — within,
tapestries, pictures, armorial bearings, carvings and
historic furniture; without, the king's park, the
king's drive, St. Leonard's Hill, Jeanie Dean's cot
tage, with its fine view of Salisbury Crags, and the
Dumbiedykes, long ranges of walls stretching to
ward Holyrood.
St. Giles cathedral stands in Parliament Square.
Of all churches in Edinburgh it is the best known
to citizens and visitors alike. Its location, its an
tiquity, its architecture and its inseparable asso
ciation with the entire history of the city make it
so. The original building was replaced in 1120
by a church of early Norman architecture, and this,
in course of time, by frequent changes and addi
tions, became the present gothic edifice. "In 1466,
St. Giles was transformed from an ordinary parish

Edinburgh. 439
church into a collegiate charge, with a chapter to
consist of provost, curate, sixteen prebendaries, a
minister of the choir, four choristers, a sacristan
and a beadle, in addition to the chaplains who serv
ed the various altars." The pope granted a bull
placing it under his own jurisdiction.
The reformation swept away much that was in
separably connected with it. It was cleared of
images, the famous image of St. Giles being thrown
into the Nor' Loch, where it was customary to
duck witches. Knox described the drastic meas
ures : "Down go the crosses, off go the surplices,
round caps and cornets, with crowns. The Grey
Friars gaped, the Black Friars blew, the priests
panted and fled, and happy was he that got first
to the house, for such a sudden fray came never
among the generation of Anti-Christ within this
realm before."
"Melancholy as was its aspect, it was never de
serted as long as Knox preached." His congrega
tion numbered 3,000. There were no seats in the
"choir" reserved for worshippers. Those who de
sired brought their own stools, — among them, at a
later date, Jenny Geddes, who, on Sunday, July 23,
1637, when the attempt was made to establish the

440 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
English liturgy by the dean of Edinburgh, under
the advice of Archbishop Laud, hurled her stool at
the head of the dean and raised a riot and an out
burst of popular indignation, not confined to Edin
burgh, which outburst forced the withdrawal of
the liturgy. Episcopacy was abolished and St.
Giles became again a parish church. On the floor
of the Moray Aisle is a brass tablet on which is
inscribed: "Near this spot a brave Scotch woman,
Janet Geddes, struck the first blow in the great
struggle for freedom and conscience."
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, more
parish churches being required, the idea was adopt
ed of cutting up St. Giles into sections and utiliz
ing each as a parish church. The choir was con
verted into the High Church, frequented by those
of "dignified, aristocratic flavor approaching some
what to prelacy, sound church-and-state men who
did not care so much for the sermon as for the
gratification of sitting in the same place as his
majesty's lords of council and session and the mag
istrates of Edinburgh." The old church in the cen
tre was frequented by "people who wished to have
a sermon of good divinity about three-quarters of
an hour long, and who did not care for the darkness

Edinburgh. 441
and dreariness of their temple." The Tolbooth
church (taking its name from the Tolbooth or city
jail near by was the peculiar resort of "rigid Cal
vinists who loved nothing but extempore evangelical
sermons and would have considered it sufficient to
bring the house down about their ears if the pre
centor has ceased for one verse the old hillside
fashion of reciting the lines of the psalm before
singing them." (Traditions of Edinburgh). In
1829, a partial restoration was accomplished, but
not until 1871 was the project to effect the altera
tions which transformed the church into its present
condition taken up, and this was accomplished, in
full, in 1879. As it stands to-day, St. Giles is dear
to all Scotchmen, recalling as it does so much that
is great and glorious in the country's history.
Within are tablets in memory of three ministers:
James Balfour (1 589-1613), who "refused to ac
cept Episcopacy," John Craig, the Ex-Dominican,
and Alexander Henderson, who "framed the sol
emn league and covenant," sat in the Assembly of
Divines at Westminster, and had prominent part
in framing the Confession of Faith, and especially
the Shorter Catechism. Choice memorial windows
have been placed in position, ten of which portray

442 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
scenes in the life of Christ, one representing the
assassination of the good regent (Moray) and
Knox preaching his funeral sermon. The oriel
contains the royal arms and the incident of "David
I and the Stag." And the great west window has
for its subject "The Prophets." This display of
regimental colors, "frayed with age and discolored
in many a hard fought battle," excites deep interest.
St. Giles is still "the Soldiers' Church," troopers
from the castle garrison, clad in Highland costume,
attending the early morning service. But then, and
throughout the Lord's Day, the Gospel of peace
and love is preached.
Outside St. Giles, in the middle of the paved
street, upon a square stone, inscribed:
J. K.
1572.
is the humble monument of him "who never feared
the face of man."
There are other old ecclesiastical edifices of per
petual interest to denizens of Edinburgh and to the
stranger within her gates. Among these, is Mag
dalene Chapel, at the west end of the Cowgate,
founded in 1503. In this chapel, John Craig, a
Dominican monk, who had become a Protestant,

Edinburgh. 443
and was a colleague of Knox, preached in the
Latin tongue in 1560, having entirely forgotten, or
at least was unable to speak fluently, his native
language because of long residence at Bologna and
Vienna. The General Assembly of 1578 met here,
and, in this chapel, the National Covenant was pre
pared, to be signed at a later time, in Grey Friars
Church. The chapel is now used by the Edinburgh
Medical Mission.
Grey Friars Church Yard is sacred ground. It
occupies a site adjoining the Grass market, where,
in the awful days of Graham of Claverhouse, whose
residence (still standing at the northwest corner of
the square) was nearby, so many of the Cove
nanters were executed, often after a mere mockery
of a trial, or without any at all. Here, on the 25th
of February, 1638, the National Covenant was
signed, within the Church of Greyfriars (built in
1624). But the signers were not content to sign
it with ink. "The parchment was carried out to
the open air, and laid upon a flat gravestone, sur
rounded by a moved and mighty multitude." Said
Dr. Guthrie, in a speech describing the scene, "Ah !
there were men in those days : they were seen to
open a vein in their arms and fill their pens with

444 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
blood, to mark how they would shed that blood
when the battle day came, and nobly did they re
deem their pledges." In 1679, a detached portion
of the churchyard was used as a prison, for five
weary months, for 1,200 Covenanters taken after
Bothwell Bridge. Many distinguished men lie bur
ied in the churchyard. The "Martyrs' Monument"
attracts visitors from many lands to visit the spot.
Of the 18,000 faithful to the covenant even unto
death, there were executed at Edinburgh, as the
inscription recites, "about a hundred noblemen and
gentlemen, ministers and others."
Wrote Hugh Miller, the great geologist, "How
ever deep the snow may be in Greyfriars church
yard, there is one path where it is always beaten
down, and that leads to the monument of the Cove
nanters." West Kirk, or St. Cuthbert's, of special interest
to recent visitors because of the eloquent sermons
of Dr. Macgregor, is very ancient, by many held to
be the oldest church in Edinburgh, rich and power
ful in the reign of David I, and representing the
Culdee Church of that day.
It was never anything but a parish church, but
in that capacity was influential in the extreme.

Edinburgh. 445
Says a recent writer: "It is a significant fact, at
the present day, that on investigating the origin of
Edinburgh churches, in nine cases out of ten, the
answer will be, "A quoad sacra (ecclesiastical par
ish) taken off St. Cuthbert's."
The present church edifice was opened for wor
ship on July 11, 1894, after extensive alterations
had been made in the structure erected in 1775.
Many famous men are buried in the churchyard,
among these, Napier, the inventer of logarithms,
and Thomas DeQuincy.
Of a multitudinous number of objects of interest
in Edinburgh, but few could find mention in this
short sketch. Courts, closes, houses and sites of
historic events and associations in old Edinburg,
have been passed by. The more modern buildings
connected with scenes of more recent times will
readily be found by the visitor. He will seek out
the university, the assembly halls and the theologi
cal schools. He will discover the Church of St.
Andrews, George Street, where the disruption of
1843, resulting in the formation of the Free Church
of Scotland, occurred, on which occasion Dr.
Welsh, Moderator of the General Assembly, read
a dignified protest against the decision of the law

446 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
courts to the effect that congregations could not be
permitted to choose their own ministers but must
accept the appointee of the government, and, bow
ing to the Lord High Commissioner, left St. An
drew's, followed by Dr. Chalmers and 400 minis
ters. A procession was formed in which were
found the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glas
gow, the sheriff of Midlothian, two principals of
universities, four theological professors, eight ex-
moderators of the Church of Scotland and many
men of learning, who, with following hundreds,
slowly wended their way to Tanfield Hall and form
ally constituted the Free Church of Scotland, as
distinguished from the Established Church. The
four hundred ministers had relinquished their "liv
ings." The New Edinburgh, with its magnificent Princes
street, "the noblest street in Europe," and all its
imposing buildings, the other beautiful streets, and
gardens and churches, and dwellings will delight
and charm the most exacting and critical.
"To see Naples and die," has long been a proverb.
But one would better hold on to himself, if he
lands on the shore of the southern sea, at least until
he has seen the many beautiful cities which lie to

Edinburgh. 447
the north of the Vesuvian Bay, and far north,
among the splendid cities of the European world,
lies romantic, historic, literary, ecclesiastical Edin
burgh.
Marcus A. Brownson.

APPENDIX I.
DIASPORA OR SCATTERED CHURCHES
OF THE REFORMED FAITH.
In addition to those mentioned in the body of
this book, there are some scattered Reformed
churches in different parts of Europe. Thus Scan
dinavia,, though almost entirely Lutheran, yet has
a few congregations. Denmark has a few Reform
ed church made up of descendants from French
refugees as at Copenhagen and Fredericia. In
Sweden there is a French Reformed church at
Stockholm, made up of descendents of Huguenots.
Belgium has two Reformed denominations. . One
is the old national Walloon church, numbering
about ten thousand, composed of descendents of
the Walloons of the sixteenth century. The other
is the Evangelical church of Belgium, a new or
ganization of the nineteenth century, which has
adopted the Belgic confession. It has about seven
thousand communicants and is aggressive and
evangelistic. Russia, though mainly Greek in religion, yet has
several million Lutherans, especially in Finland,
449

450 Famous Places of Reformed Churches.
and perhaps over fifty thousand Reformed, al
though it is difficult to get figures on account of
recent changes. It was divided into three groups,
Polish, Lithuanian and the central consistory at
Petersburg. The Polish church in the reformation
became strong and influential, many of the nobles
joining it and A'Lasco, the Polish reformer, or
ganized it. But Jesuits came in like a flood and
crushed out Protestantism. It numbers now per
haps 7,000 adherents and its most prominent church
is at Warsaw. Had Poland become Reformed in
stead of Jesuit, the words "Finis Poloniae" would
not have been spoken. The Reformed Church of
Lithuania has about 14 congregations and 5,000
adherents and a Reformed gymnasium at Wilna.
The rest are under the consistory at Petersburg.
Thus there is a French, German and a Dutch Re
formed congregation at St. Petersburg, the Ger
mans having a splendid building and being wealthy.
At Moscow there is a German Reformed church.
At Odessa, in southern Russia and near it, there is
a large German colony, with a strong Reformed
church. There used to be large Reformed congre
gations along the Volga, but many of them have
recently emigrated to the Dakotas in the United

Diaspora or Scattered Churches. 451
States, so that it is difficult to ' get at figures for
Russia. There is also one branch of the Molokarii,
a large Russian sect that is Presbyterian, and there
are still some Stundists, a movement that grew out
of the Reformed Church in Russia.
Spain has a Presbyterian church, but what is
there called the Reformed church of Spain is Epis
copal. Greece also has a small Presbyterian mis
sion. In addition to these there are scattered all
over Europe, in the main cities, churches or halls
for English worship, after the Presbyterian and
Reformed order, of which we give a list in the next
appendix.

APPENDIX II.
'REFORMED AND PRESBYTERIAN SERVICES ON THE EUROPEAN CONTI
NENT CONDUCTED IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Places. Localities. Seasons. Hours.
Aix-le-Bains  Asile H/vangelique,  May and June,  10.30 and 5.
Algiers,  Presbyterian Church,  November to April, — 10,30.
Amsterdam,  English Reformed Church, Begynhof
132 Kalverstraat,  AU the year,  10.30 and 7.30.
Berlin  American Church, Nollerdorf Place, . . All the year,  n-3o,
^ Biarretz,  French Protestant Church,  November to May, ....11. 15 and 5-3°-
Go Brussels,  22 Rue de Bodenbroeck,  All the year  1 r and 5.
Buda-Pesth,  Hold Uteza,  September to June, — 1 1 .30.
Carlsbad,  July and August, 
Cannes,  St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, ...November to April, ....n and 3.
Constantinople,  Dutch Embassy Chapel,  All the year,  11.
Courtrai,  96 Faubourg du Grand,  All the year, 
Dresden,  2 Bernhard Strasse,  All the year,  11 and 6.
Florence,  Lung Arno Guicciardini,  September to June, .... 11 and 4.
Flushing,  St. Jacob's Church, Oude Markt,  All the year,  10.
Frankford on the
Main,  Imperial Hotel,  All the year,  11.
Genoa  4 Via Peschiera,  All the year,  11 and 7. 30.
Geneva  Cathedral, Chapel of Maccabees, ..... July to September, .... 10.

Places. Localities. Seasons Hours. -£*¦
c_n -^
Gibraltar,  St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, . . . All the year,  g and 6.30.
Hague,  June to September, ....11. *T}
Hamburg,  Presbyterian Church Kcenigstrasse,  S
Homburg  Castle Church,  Summer,  ^
Huelva,  Rio Tinto Co's Chapel,  All the year,'  11.
Interlaken,  Castle Chapel,  June to September, .... 10.30 and 5.
Lausanne,  Presbyterian Church, Avenue de ^
Rumine,  All the year,  n. »
Leghorn,  3 via degli Elisi,  All the year,  1 1 and evening.
Leipsic,  First Citizens School,  All the year, .....  5.
Lisbon,  7 Rua da Arriaza,  All the year,  11 and 7. *^
Lucerne,  German Reformed Church,  July to September, ...11 and 4. .
Madeira,  Presbyterian Church, Funchal,  All the year,  11 and 3. £*
Malta,  Strada Messodi Valetta,  All the year,  10.30 and 6. *-h
Mentone,  Presbyterian Church, rue de la Re- ^
publique,  November to May, .-. . . 10.30 and 5.30. §
Middleburg,  Reformed Church, S impel huisstraat, . . All the year,  10.30. §^
Montreux,  Scotch Church,  October to May,  10,30 and 4.
Munich,  July and August

<o

<o

5r-

Naples,  2 Capella Vecchia,  All the year,  . . . 1 1 and 8. g
Nauheim,  Summer,  ^
Nice,  18 Avenue Victor Hugo,  November to May  10.30 and 3. ^
Paris,  17 Rue Bayard  All the year,  '. . . 10.30. fo
Paris,  American Chapel Rue de Berri,  All the year, 
Pau,  Avenue du Grand Hotel,  October to June,  11 and 3.
Pontresina,  Reformed Church,  July and August,  11.15 and 5.

"s

p.

a

Places. Localities. Seasons. Hours.
Prague  Hotel Victoria  Winter,  li.
Rome  7 Via Venti Settembre  October to June, 
Rotterdam,  Scotch Church, Vasteland  All the year  u and 3. K)
Roulers  Presbyterian Church,   All the year, . .' 
San Remo  Scotch Church  November to April,  11 and 3.
St. Muritz, Engadine, Reformed Church  July and August,  11. 15.
Varengeville  August 
Venice  95 Piazza St. Marco 
Vienna  9 Eschenbach Gasse  September to June 
Wiesbaden  Citizens-hall,  The whole year 

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