Meanwhile Luther's doctrines spread into Scandinavian lands. The rulers of
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden closed the monasteries and compelled the Roman
Catholic bishops to surrender ecclesiastical property to the crown.
Lutheranism became henceforth the official religion of these three
countries.
232. THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND; ZWINGLI AND CALVIN
HULDREICH ZWINGLI, 1484-1531 A.D.
The Reformation in Switzerland began with the work of Zwingli. He was the contemporary but not the disciple of Luther. From his pulpit in the cathedral of Zurich, Zwingli proclaimed the Scriptures as the sole guide of faith and denied the supremacy of the pope. Many of the Swiss cantons accepted his teaching and broke away from obedience to Rome. Civil war soon followed between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and Zwingli fell in the struggle. After his death the two parties made a peace which allowed each canton to determine its own religion. Switzerland has continued to this day to be part Roman Catholic and part Protestant.
JOHN CALVIN 1509-1564 A.D.
The Protestants in Switzerland did not remain long without a leader. To Geneva came in 1536 A.D. a young Frenchman named Calvin. He had just published his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a work which set forth in an orderly, logical manner the main principles of Protestant theology. Calvin also translated the Bible into French and wrote valuable commentaries on nearly all the Scriptural books.
CALVIN AT GENEVA
Calvin at Geneva was sometimes called the Protestant pope. During his long residence there he governed the people with a rod of iron. There were no more festivals, no more theaters, no more dancing, music, and masquerades. All the citizens had to attend two sermons on Sunday and to yield at least a lip-assent to the reformer's doctrines. On a few occasions Calvin proceeded to terrible extremities, as when he caused the Spanish physician, Michael Servetus, to be burned to death, because of heretical views concerning the Trinity. Nevertheless, Geneva prospered under Calvin's rule and became a Christian commonwealth, sober and industrious. The city still reveres the memory of the man who founded her university and made her, as it were, the sanctuary of the Reformation.
[Illustration: JOHN CALVIN, after an old print.]