This exclusion proposed to the senate is one of the gravest facts in the reformation of Geneva, and it kept up excitement in the city for nearly a whole generation. Wherein then were the reformers right, and wherein were they wrong? A society is a collection of men who, while differing on some matters, are in agreement on the subject which is the very essence of their union. A society of financiers is not composed of people who know nothing of money matters. It is not the unlearned who are admitted to a learned faculty. A regiment is not recruited with one-armed men. Men who know nothing of French are not elected to form the Forty of the Academy. It is just the same with Christian society. Its members may differ in many respects—political, literary, social, etc.—but Christian faith must actuate them all. A Jew or a Mohammedan does not belong to the Church of Jesus Christ; and a man who rejects the facts, the doctrines, and the duties of Christianity is not a Christian. ‘Birds of a feather flock together,’ says a common proverb. Ought the reformers to ignore such an elementary truth? There were still some Roman Catholics at Geneva; there were the so-called Spirituals, many of whom did not believe even in the immateriality of the soul; there were also a great number of citizens who did not consent to the faith as set forth in the confession made at St. Peter’s. Should such a confused mass, in which it would be impossible to know where one was, form the Church of Geneva? Should that Church be
‘De tant d’objets divers le bizarre assemblage?’[561]
Would it not in such a case remind one of certain monsters, which are spoken of by the ancients, possessing a conformation which was against nature? The reformers were with the truth when they answered No. But where they were wrong was in requiring all the citizens to take an oath to their confession. Was it possible for them to fancy that the act by which Geneva had broken with the pope had transformed, as by the stroke of the enchanter’s wand, all the Genevese, so that from that moment they all believed heartily, and ought all to make confession with their lips? Nascitur homo, fit Christianus, said Tertullian in the second century. One is born a man, but one becomes a Christian. To pretend that all those who belonged to the state belonged at the same time to the Church was irrational. To decree that those who would not take the oath to the confession should depart from the city and go elsewhither was iniquitous. What, drive from Geneva the men to whom Geneva owed her independence! Such an enormity could not fail to lead to a revolution. The fusion of the Church and the state in a single society is the origin of those blemishes which in some instances disfigured the otherwise glorious work of the Reformation. But how to settle the dilemma? how admit two contradictory propositions? How to exclude and to keep at the same time?
The early Church accomplished this. It had its ἀκροώμενοι, audientes, hearers. Instead of excluding those whose faith was not yet formed, it invited them lovingly to hear the preaching of the Word. They attended the service and joined in the prayers, without taking part in the mysteries of the Lord’s supper, which they shrank timidly from approaching. And when in their experience that great process of the Christian life was accomplished of which St. Paul speaks—Faith cometh by hearing—they shared the communion at the sacred feast. Perhaps Geneva was not yet ripe for this order of things.[562]
The council assembled the Two Hundred to consider what answer should be made to the reformers. Since the scenes which had taken place in the council of November 25, the syndics had become more timid. They dreaded whatever might provoke the people and drive them on to any rash proceeding, and they felt less inclined to support the reformers. A letter was read from Berne which bore approving testimony to the confession, and exhorted to concord. Three of the members who had not sworn the confession—De Lesclefs, Manlich, and Ameaux—were urged to do as others had done. The first two took the oath required; Ameaux alone refused. The council then believing that they had gone far enough, recoiled from a measure which might have grave consequences, and determined ‘not to refuse the supper to any one.’[563]
Thus did the magistrates give a flat refusal to the ministers. It was a lesson for Calvin and his friends. This decision was contrary to their convictions; but as they knew that the council was at heart friendly to the Reformation, they did not feel bound to oppose its will. They gave proof of moderation, conciliation, and patience. Some will perhaps say that they pushed these virtues too far. They yielded. That is not the crime of which they are commonly accused. The supper was celebrated, and there was no disturbance.
DISORDERS.
But although the communion passed off in an orderly manner, troubles arose afterwards. The opposition party looked on this general admission as a triumph for them; and as they saw that the representations of the ministers were no longer listened to by the councils, their audacity increased. Again were seen bands of men, consisting of the least respectable classes of the people, parading the city with green flowers in their hats. They indulged in acts of violence; they annoyed those who had sworn to the Reformation; ‘they drew their swords and terrified others into flight.’ The taverns were thronged with these people, who ate and drank to excess. Puns and sarcasms were showered on all sides. Even holy things were turned into ridicule. Just as St. Paul addressed his Epistles to his brethren in Christ, so the evangelical Christians of the Reformation gave each other that title. The wags had noticed it, and did not fail to laugh at it. ‘A party of drunken men,’ say the Registers of January 16, ‘went in the night through the town and to the wine-shops, mocking the preachers and saying to each other, ‘Thou art one of the brethren in Christ,’ and other things of the like kind. These mockers having come to the Lord’s supper, to which all were admitted by order of the Council, gave themselves in jest the name of brethren. Jean d’Orbe said to Claude Jaccard, ‘Art thou of the brethren in Christ?’ and swearing a great oath, he added, ‘Thou wilt repent of it.’ Many persons, alarmed at these disorderly proceedings, trembled for the general council which was to be held fifteen days later. ‘Many a sword-thrust will be given there,’ they said, ‘so that we shall not wish to go.’ The discord which prevailed in Geneva agitated also the neighboring country districts. The Council of the Two Hundred was deeply affected by all these reports, and determined to have inquiry made and to punish the guilty. The measure which the council adopted in order to prevent disturbances was precisely that which actually gave rise to them.[564]
All these things greatly afflicted Calvin, and he had at the same time other sorrows to bear. A man of mild disposition, with a spirit given to contemplation, on which the incessantly renewed struggles to which the reformer was called made a most painful impression, was at that time living in intimate friendship with him. Louis du Tillet, canon and archdeacon of Angoulême, had been first won to the Gospel by the lively piety of Calvin, whom he had followed to Switzerland, to Italy, and to Geneva. But by slow degrees a perceptible difference grew up between the master and the disciple. In Du Tillet’s view the doctrine of the Church was the essential matter, and the re-establishment of the apostolic Church ought to be the aim of the Reformation. ‘Let us protest,’ said he, ‘against the abuses of the Roman Church, but let us re-establish the Catholicism of the first centuries. It is there that lies hidden the Christian germ; let us beware of arresting its developments. The Reformation, unless it is to disappoint the fair hopes which it has excited, must re-establish in the world the one holy, universal Church. The only way open to us for accomplishing the work which the state of Christendom claims at our hands, is to go back to the beginning, and to re-establish the Church of the first ages. Alas! fatal discords are already threatening to make division in the new Church. May the hand of God recall her from this error, and establish her on the foundation of the apostles and the fathers. The Reformation must not, while highly exalting Jesus Christ, too much abase the Church. Let us take care that the torrent which we turn into the stables to cleanse them do not carry away the walls and the foundation. The reform of the Church must not become its annihilation. Assuredly the Catholic Church is the pillar of the truth, and the consent of this Church is the infallible support and the full assurance of the truth.’[565]