The discussion lasted for three days. The subjects of the most important debates were, the sacrament of baptism and the nature of the soul. Philosophy can show no more luminous demonstration of the immortality of the soul than that uttered by Calvin. The reasoning of his opponents does not seem to have been very conclusive. There were many, however, who took their part; for those who were secretly vicious were delighted to find that the words of the Anabaptists made excuses for them; therefore they held their reasons to be good and valid, and refused to examine those of the ministers. At the end of three days the Council seeing that the breach was widening daily, and that the faith of many began to totter, commanded that the discussion should cease, and summoned the Anabaptists before them: 'You see,' said the first syndic, 'that we listen to each one, and that when we have heard your arguments you cannot prove them to be valid by the Scriptures. Since therefore you will not retract your errors and turn to God, we banish you for ever from our land.' The two Anabaptists left Geneva.
Calvin and Farel were victorious, but they were keenly alive to the incompleteness of their victory, and the necessity of making some powerful impression upon the minds of the people. They had recourse to the two most legitimate and efficacious plans which they could have adopted: they increased their intimacy with the citizens, multiplied their visits and the religious instruction given in private houses, and, acting with the magistrates, they caused the confession to be printed and distributed among the people. They thus placed their doctrines and precepts within the reach of all, and they took great pains to find out the opinions of the citizens, to strengthen and encourage believers, and to enlighten and confirm those who hesitated. There was another French refugee at Geneva, Courault, formerly a monk, then a preacher of reform, received with favour by the Queen of Navarre, now old and blind, but eloquent, impetuous, and indefatigable; he became their colleague in the ministry, and their most popular agent. The assiduous labours of the reformers had the effect which is invariably produced in the early and violent stages of moral and social disturbances. Men's passions on both sides became equally excited; the two parties were sharply divided and hopelessly separated: the Libertines, as they were already called, became more turbulent and aggressive; the orthodox believers more harsh and exclusive. Calvin and Farel demanded that one of the syndics, accompanied by certain officers, should enter every house, in order to obtain the adhesion of the inmates to the confession. The Council consented to take this step, but to the demand for religious observance of the confession they added the following restriction, 'as far as may be.' The result of these domiciliary visits was to show the complete separation and mutual opposition of the two parties; many of the citizens, some of them men of good position, others humble and obscure, refused their adhesion to the confession; one of the first of these sent word to the Council that 'as to him and his servant there were certain articles of the confession of faith which they were quite ready to agree to, but that they could not take any oath about the ten commandments of God, because they were exceedingly difficult to keep.' Similar declarations, and the immorality of those who made them, filled the pastors and their allies with alarm and anger; in September 1537, when they were about to celebrate the Lord's Supper, Calvin and Farel demanded that the abettors of the Anabaptists should be censured before they were allowed to partake of it; once again the magistrates consented, but they implored the pastors to be careful and 'to exhort the people without casting them out of the right path.' Both pastors and magistrates felt that they were on the verge of a crisis; the magistrates, although they did not in theory acknowledge liberty of conscience, yet in point of fact respected it, fearing that, unless they did so, public order would be seriously disturbed, and the city depopulated; the pastors were afraid that the civil powers would attack the independence and rights of the Church, and were more and more anxious to assert and use them so that they might be secured. The commencement of the year 1538 was at hand, the time when the magistrates were to be re-elected by the citizens; the pastors insisted on the acknowledgment of their right of excommunication before they would consent to celebrate the Lord's Supper; the Council considered this threat too dangerous, and declared that communion must be refused to no one. The pastors gave way for the moment, for they were themselves anxious as to the sentiments of the people and the result of the approaching elections, and as we have seen already, Calvin was not incapable either of prudence or patience. The elections were unfavourable to him; three at least of the four new syndics were taken from the ranks of his enemies. The pastors restrained themselves for some weeks longer, and were content to do no more than call the attention of the Council to 'certain immoralities in the city both by night and day, as well as indecent songs and language.' The new magistrates, on their side, received these complaints with due consideration, and 'sent criers round the town to announce, to the sound of trumpets, that no one should dare to sing indecent songs, or to go out after nine o'clock at night, or to cause any disturbance or altercation in the city, on pain of condemnation to bread and water for three days.' Both sides now hesitated at the prospect of the contest towards which their own passions, and those of their party, had been hurrying them for the last eighteen months.
It was an external incident that brought about the explosion. The canton of Berne and its magistrates had more than once taken up arms in defence of Geneva, and had always been its faithful allies; they now tried to induce the Genevese to lay aside their internal dissensions, and regulate the celebration of the Lord's Supper according to the same rules, customs, and conditions that had been adopted in Berne. There were differences of more or less importance between the Genevese ceremonial and that of Berne, but they related to matters which clearly affected the authority of the Church, and Calvin and his colleagues refused to accept the rules and customs of Berne. Their adversaries were all the more anxious to conform to them, and desired the magistrates to enforce them upon the pastors. In March 1538, the difficulty was submitted to a synod held at Lausanne, a city which was at that time under the dominion of Berne, and the decision was unfavourable to Calvin and Farel. They demanded that the question should be referred to another synod which was about to meet at Zurich, a city perfectly independent both of Berne and Geneva. This was peremptorily refused, and the magistrates commanded them to celebrate the Lord's Supper according to the Bernese custom, and without refusing it to anyone. They declared that they would not submit to commands which were opposed to the rights of religious authority and to their own consciences. 'There is,' said Calvin, 'a manifest distinction between spiritual government and political or civil government. Christ drew a distinction between the spiritual kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. If, therefore, princes usurp something of the authority of God, we must not obey them, except in so far as may be done without offending God. Is it any better to submit to Berne than to Rome?'
But the 'Libertines' opposed Calvin with other weapons than arguments; popular violence was joined to the injunctions of the magistrates; 'tumultuous crowds assembled at night, uttering threats of death against the ministers, discharging arquebuses at their houses and crying, "To the Rhone with the pastors who will not accept the Bernese rite!"' The most fiery of the pastors, old Courault, responded to these threats by insults: 'You gentlemen who are at the head of the government,' said he from the pulpit, 'you are like Daniel's idol; you have feet of wax. … Perhaps you think that the kingdom of heaven is like that of the frogs, where those who are inside make more noise than the rest. You are like rats among straw. … Your flock consists of a troop of drunkards, without any conscience.' After this attack the magistrates forbade Courault to enter the pulpit, threatening him with imprisonment if he did not obey. He made no answer, but a few days later he preached again, 'using many abusive words against the magistrates.' He was arrested and imprisoned.
The irritation which this step produced was extreme, and was felt, not only by the pastors, but also by their pious and austere partisans; they resolved to lay their complaint solemnly before the Council. Calvin and Farel appeared before them, accompanied by fourteen pious burgesses of note. [Footnote 75]
[Footnote 75: April 20, 1538.]
Farel began abruptly, 'You have acted badly, wickedly, iniquitously,' said he, 'in putting Courault in prison. I demand that the matter be brought before the Council of Two Hundred. Ah, sirs, you should remember that without me you would not be here now.'
A Burgess. 'Yes, sirs, the pastors shall preach in spite of you.'
The Syndics. 'Courault has been imprisoned for abusive language to the magistrates; he will stay in prison until justice is done. And you, sirs, the preachers, will you obey the decree of Berne touching the Lord's Supper?'