History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 6 (of 8)

by J. H. Merle d'Aubigné

GENEVA.—THE CONFESSION OF FAITH SWORN AT ST. PETER’S.

(End of 1537.)

GENEVA.

It was not only in his relations with those Christian men, Megander and Bucer, or with the wretched Caroli, that Calvin’s efforts were crowned with success. Happy presages seemed to announce to him a blessed and powerful ministry at Geneva. His reformation, as we have seen, was not only doctrinal but moral, a fact of the highest importance for the Church and for the people. But, as happens in all human affairs, a few spots sullied this beautiful aspect of his work. Rules were introduced which were too circumstantial, and a mode of repression which was too legal. Calvin found at the time a sympathy on the part of the magistrates which was pleasant to him, but which at the same time intruded the civil power into matters for which the moral influence of the Church ought to have sufficed. All his requests were complied with. He asked, together with Farel, for four preachers and two deacons, and they were granted. He represented that there was a preacher, a good man from Provence, who would fain retire to Geneva; and they gave him a place.[537] One of the most violent politicians, Janin, surnamed Colony, a great lover of novelties, after ardently embracing the Reformation, had thrown himself with his natural impetuosity into the notions of the Spirituals or Anabaptists, and was uttering everywhere audacious speeches on matters of faith. The council requested him ‘not to grieve the preachers,’ and added grave menaces in case he should refuse to be corrected.[538] Another citizen, a hosier, who was suspected of holding the same views, having been exhorted by the pastors and the magistrates, declared that his doubts about baptism had vanished, and took an oath, says the Register, ‘to live as we do.’[539] On October 5, Farel and Calvin announced that they would administer the supper, but ‘that there were some who kept aloof, holding the opinions of Benoît and Herman; and others who still kept their beads, which are implements of idolatry.’ Thereupon the council determined ‘to take away all the beads.’ That was far easier than to take away the faith of which the beads were a sign.

PARTIES AT GENEVA.

Nothing could check the zeal of Calvin. On October 30 he presented himself to the council, and set forth various grievances. ‘The hospital,’ he said, ‘is very poorly furnished, and the sick are suffering in consequence. Geneva has a Christian school, and nevertheless some children go to the school of the papacy. Lastly it is to be feared that dissensions will arise between the citizens, for while some have taken the oath as to the manner of living, others have not done so.’ The sick, the young, and peace among the citizens, these were the matters which occupied the mind of the reformer, subjects well worthy of his attention. The council decreed—‘The hospital shall be supplied; all children shall be bound to go to the Christian school, and not to the papistical; and the confession shall be required of all who have not yet made it.’ This last point must inevitably be the most difficult. A conflict was about to begin, and what would be its result? We have just seen that there were in Geneva two parties, more or less considerable, who set themselves in opposition to the evangelical Reformation—the Roman Catholics and the Spirituals or Anabaptists. But there was yet a third party, more respectable and therefore more formidable. The Genevese people were naturally restless, and delighted in freedom and in pleasure. At first they had warmly embraced the Reformation, merely thinking that they should thereby be delivered from their bishop and from the practices which they disliked. But as soon as the Reformation demanded a Christian faith and life, the ardor of the Genevese rapidly diminished. The severity of Calvin and his colleagues chilled the violent ebullition of their zeal. They felt the ordinances imposed on them to be troublesome and exorbitant. Moreover, it was not only the jolly fellows, the lovers of pleasure and the libertines as they are called, who were refractory. It would be a great mistake not to acknowledge that in the ranks of the opposition there were other motives and other men.

We have already related the heroic struggles which had restored to Geneva her freedom and her independence.[540] We did so, less on account of their intrinsic interest than because they exercised a powerful influence, whether for good or for evil, on the Reformation. We have seen how political emancipation permitted and was favorable to religious emancipation. We have now to observe the obstacles raised up by those who, while they rejected popery, did not embrace the Gospel. The Huguenots (that is, as our readers will recollect, the name which was given to the partisans of the alliance with the Swiss Confederation) were divided after Calvin’s arrival. Some of them were friendly to and supported the Reformation; others pronounced themselves against him, and opposed his work. The opposition did not consist merely of men of the lowest rank, vulgar and dissolute. There were on both sides, in the great national party, some generous characters, some honorable citizens. Unfortunately, as the State and the Church were at that time not only united but blended with each other, these two parties were at the same time both right and wrong. The political Huguenots were right with respect to the State, and in error respecting the Church; and the evangelical Christians were right with respect to the Church, and in error with respect to the State. To make the confusion greater still, the true principles of Church and State were at that period very little understood. Many of the eminent citizens who had exposed themselves to famine, pillage, and death for the sake of being free, who had resolved not to have for their master either their bishop, or the Duke of Savoy, or the King of France, or even Berne; who had marched in the van for the political emancipation of Geneva; now asserted their right to enjoy in peace the liberty for which they had so long fought. We have admired them in their heroical struggles. We will not brand them in this new opposition. Politically they were right. In a certain sense they were also right religiously. The religion of Jesus Christ will not be imposed by force, and it rejects all compulsion. In the attempt to establish itself in any town, it refuses alike the intervention of the martyr-fires of the Holy Office and the decrees of a council of state. Jesus Christ said, Wilt thou be made whole? This is not the place for an inquiry into the aids which this will of man receives from on high: we hold simply to the declarations of the Saviour, and we say that man ought to feel the want of the Gospel, and if he does not want it, no one has any right to impose it on him. To act as the syndics then did was to ignore the divine spirituality of the kingdom of God, and to make of it a human institution. Another motive may possibly have contributed to arouse opposition. Farel, Calvin, Courault, Saunier, Froment, and Mathurin Cordier were foreigners, Frenchmen. They had drawn around them their brothers, their cousins, and some of their friends. These foreigners appeared to be taking the upper hand in Geneva, and this hurt the feelings of the old citizens. They wished that Geneva should belong to the Genevese, as France did to the French and Germany to the Germans.

FAITH BY COMPULSION.

Calvin having pointed out to the council, October 30, the danger to which the republic was exposed by the existence within it of two opposing parties, it was decreed that those citizens who had abstained, on July 29, from swearing to the evangelical confession, should be called upon to do so without delay; and November 12 was appointed for that purpose. Calvin, Farel, and their friends, who assuredly knew the worth of a voluntary adhesion, did what they could to induce opponents to receive the Gospel with all their heart, and not to separate themselves from their fellow-citizens in a matter of such moment. They urged them with kindness to listen to the good tidings of salvation, and affectionately exhorted them to peace and union.[541] There were indeed some vexatious proceedings. A tithing man (dizenier) having in his district two young lads who refused obstinately to answer to the summons, gave them legal notice of the order of the council, and cited them to obey it. Thereupon these two opponents flew into a rage and assaulted him, and for this they were imprisoned. But this was the only case of the kind. Kindliness, however, had little more effect than violence. In vain mild persuasion flowed from the lips of the ministers and their friends; it repelled instead of attracting.

At length November 12 arrived. Each tithing man having called together those of his quarter who had not yet taken the oath, they were conducted to St. Peter’s in groups, tithing by tithing. The looks of the people were fixed on these late comers. They were counted, but the whole number was not large. Many did not come at all; ‘and likewise, of those who lived in the Rue des Allemands, not one came.’[542] This was a blow for the friends of the Reformation. The Rue des Allemands (of the German Swiss) was chiefly inhabited by those who had early declared themselves for liberty, and afterwards for the Reformation, and who had adhered to the Helvetic confessions. When the Genevese Catholics, March 28, 1533, had attacked this party by force of arms, it was in the Rue des Allemands that the reformed were drawn up in order of battle, five in a row. It was there that the most pious had said, ‘There is not one single drop of comfort assured to us except in God alone.’ It was there that all had exclaimed, ‘Rather die than give way a single step.’[543] And now, of all those who inhabited that street, not a single man came! Doubtless some of them had already sworn to the confession. But there were probably some also who objected to the doctrine, and others who, like Desclefs, felt the divine commandments too hard for them to pledge themselves to keep them. But what chiefly repelled these Huguenots was the fact that an act was commanded which they knew they were free to do or not to do. They were determined not to bend under that yoke. After having dared all kinds of hardship for the sake of winning their freedom, they did not intend that, when they had gained it in the state, it should be snatched away from them in the Church. They were more in the right perhaps than they imagined; for it is hardly likely that they fully understood this great principle, ‘The power of the magistrate ends at the point at which that of conscience begins.’ The difficulty was still more increased by the circumstance that ‘those who had refused to swear to the confession, whether Catholics or Huguenots, were among the most influential persons in the city.’ Such is the testimony of Rozet, the secretary of state, who is assuredly a witness above suspicion. But the syndics and their council were no more disposed to give way than their adversaries. They thought that they had as much right to impose that act as to order a military review. On the same day the council decreed ‘that those who will not take the oath to the Reformation must go and dwell in some other place, where they may live according to their fancy.’ Two days later the Two Hundred confirmed the decree, expressing themselves somewhat bluntly, ‘that they must quit the city, since they will not obey.’[544] The bow was tightly bent, and no one was willing to unbend it. The crisis became more violent; a shock and a catastrophe were inevitable. The only question was, who would be the victims.