Chapter XIII.
Calvin's Ecclesiastical Polity.
Calvin dreaded responsibility and warfare from afar and beforehand, but as soon as he had entered the arena all irresolution disappeared; he felt his own strength and did not scruple to use it. Two days after his arrival in Geneva, as soon as he had paid an official visit to the magistrates, he requested them, without any further delay, to nominate a commission which should have power to prepare the necessary reforms in the constitution and government of the Church. Six members were at once appointed, and a fortnight later, with the help of Calvin and his colleagues, they had drawn up a hundred and sixty-eight articles, which contained a complete scheme of ecclesiastical polity. This scheme was presented to the Council on the 26th of September, 1541. It was discussed during a whole month, and modified on many points in which the civil magistrates thought it too severe. It was adopted on the 9th of November by the Two Hundred, and was received on the 20th by the General Assembly. Several slight modifications were, however, made at the request of some of the citizens, and it was not until the 2d of January, 1542, that the Ecclesiastical Ordinances were definitely accepted by the General Assembly, consisting of 2,000 citizens. On the 14th of March, 1542, Calvin wrote: 'We have now a kind of ecclesiastical tribunal, and such a form of religious discipline as these troublous times will allow of. But do not think that we have obtained it without great effort. [Footnote 88]
[Footnote 88: Transcriber's note—No footnote appears.]
I will not attempt to give a detailed account of the internal organization of the Church of Geneva, nor of the peculiar nature of its relation to the State, which was the result of that organization. But I am anxious to define its first principles and to state its essential results with accuracy; not only because of the importance of the problems then solved, but also because the solution accepted at Geneva was so widely received. The religious system established by Calvin in the Church of Geneva was adopted by the reformed churches, and by Protestantism, properly so called, in France, Holland, Switzerland, and several of the United States of America. A local work does not spread in this manner unless it responds to some great instinct of humanity, to the general condition of men's minds, and to the wants of the time. Calvin's ideas were larger than he himself knew, and whilst he was laboriously discussing the Ecclesiastical Ordinances with the syndics of Geneva, he was in reality working for much greater states, although the foundations of some of them were not so much as laid at that time.
There were two principles to which Calvin attached the highest importance; I might almost call them his two supreme passions, for they were as pre-eminent in his religious system as they were in his life.
I. The distinction between religious and civil society; that is, between Church and State. I say distinction, not separation; it was an alliance between two societies, two powers, each independent of the other in its own domain, but combining in action, and giving each other mutual support.
II. The amendment and religious discipline of the life and morals of all members of the Church, who were to be placed under the inspection of the ecclesiastical powers, and subjected to their authority, with recourse, in extreme cases, to the civil power.
In speaking of Church and State, I use the language of the nineteenth century and not that of the sixteenth, and I do not explain Calvin's aims. He spoke only of the Christian Church and the Christian State. His Ordinances of 1542 were devised and framed for the Christian church of the little Christian republic of Geneva. They were, in fact, quite practicable in Geneva, which was a free and independent city, and had just solemnly embraced the reformed religion. Its two thousand citizens had been called together and consulted, and they had bound themselves to the Reformation by oath. Those who opposed this step had been bidden to seek a home in some other country. Thus both Church and State in Geneva had openly proclaimed themselves Christian. It only remained, therefore, to organize the Christian Church in accordance with the instructions given in Holy Scripture, and to connect the religious with the civil administration of this Christian State.