A good understanding seemed impossible. The leaders on both sides were angry and provoked each other. The vessel of concord, built by the careful toil of the pastors of Strasburg, was violently tossed and was going to founder in the Helvetic waters. Disagreeing in doctrine, said one of those who were present on this occasion, there was nothing between them but debate, a deadly plague in a Church. Where were they to find the last plank, the desperate resource for escape from shipwreck? They must founder, or be saved as if by miracle. A young man, of only eight-and-twenty, but known for his love of the Holy Scriptures and his slight respect for tradition, was sorrowfully contemplating these discussions. It was John Calvin, he who called the discussions ‘a deadly plague’ for the Church. His convictions were free and spontaneous. They did not proceed, as with others, from a desire for compromise, but from a perception of what is the essence of the faith. He would not at any price have sought some expedient for the union of minds by a sacrifice of truth. But he knew by experience the power of the Holy Spirit; and he was the man called to stand between the two armies, to get the sword returned to its sheath, and to found unity and peace.
INTERVENTION OF CALVIN.
We almost hesitate to report his words, because they will be difficult to comprehend. He spoke, for the faithful, of a complete union with Christ, even with his flesh and his blood, and nevertheless of a union which is effected only by the Spirit. Calvin’s speech was of so much importance that we cannot think of suppressing it. Vulgar minds insist on comprehending everything as they do the working of a steam-engine; but the greatest minds have acknowledged the reality of the incomprehensible. Descartes said that ‘in order to attain a true idea of the infinite, it is not in any sense to be comprehended, inasmuch as incomprehensibility itself is contained in the formal definition of the infinite.’ ‘Infinity is everywhere, and consequently incomprehensibility likewise,’ said Nicole.[533] The Christian however comprehends to a certain extent the mystery which we are now considering, and above all he experiences its reality. ‘If, as the Scriptures clearly testify,’ said Calvin at the synod of Berne (1537), ‘the flesh of Christ is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, it follows that if we seek life in Christ, we must be thereby veritably fed. The spiritual life which Christ gives us consists not only in his making us alive by his Spirit, but in his rendering us, by the power of his Spirit, partakers of his life-giving flesh, and by means of this participation, nourishing us for eternal life.[534] Therefore, when we speak of the communion which the faithful have with Christ, we teach that they receive the communication of his body and his blood, no less than that of his Spirit, so that they possess Christ wholly.
‘It is true that our Lord has gone up on high, and that his local presence has thus been withdrawn from us. But this fact does not invalidate our assertion, and that local presence is by no means necessary here. So long as we are pilgrims on the earth, we are not contained in the same place with him. But there is no obstacle to the efficacy of the Spirit; he can collect and unite elements existing in far separated places. The Spirit is the means by which we are partakers of Christ. That Spirit nourishes us with the flesh and the blood of the Lord, and thus quickens us for immortality. Christ offers this communion under the symbols of bread and wine to all those who celebrate the supper aright and in accordance with his institution.’
Such was Calvin’s speech. ‘I embrace as orthodox,’ said Bucer, ‘this view of our excellent brothers Calvin, Farel, and Viret. I never held that Christ was locally present in the holy supper.[535] He has a real finite body, and that body remains in the celestial glory. But in raising us by faith to heaven, the bread which we eat and the cup which we drink are for us the communication of his body and his blood.’
Calvin wrote down his view. Bucer appended to it the words last reported. Capito signed them. Bucer even succeeded, by dint of moderation and kindliness, in taming Kunz; and the latter showed in this instance some goodwill. ‘But,’ said Calvin at a later time, ‘that single moment was soon past, and he became worse than himself.’ The synod acknowledged the Strasburgers as justified, as faithful, as Christians, and their confession of faith as not in any respect contrary to the Helvetic confessions. Megander was invited to modify his catechism to a small extent so far as it treated of the doctrine of the supper, and this he agreed to do. The deputies of the pastors of the canton went to the hostelry where Bucer and Capito lodged, and requested their co-operation in putting an end to the difficulties which existed between the ministers of the city. The council itself exhorted these pastors to concord and peace. Such was the force of the speech of a single man, that at the moment when the waves were in stormiest agitation, there was suddenly a great calm.
God was in the midst of us, said one of the attendants. The divine power had employed the speech of the reformer to appease the tumult and establish agreement and unity.[536]