The conduct of the syndics with regard to those who had preceded them showed immediately that they did not lose sight of one of the chief objects of their election. A Frenchman, the Seigneur de Montchenu, being at Geneva, caused letters to be sent to three Genevese councillors, Claude Richardet, Claude Savoye, and Michel Sept, in which it was stated that if the Genevese would become subjects of the King of France, he would leave to them their usages and liberties, would fortify their city, and answer for them when attacked. Berne took alarm on hearing this, and cautioned the Genevese to be on their guard. When the councils met they ordered answer to be made to the French agent that Geneva would no more entertain such projects, and decreed that every Frenchman found wandering on the territory of the republic should be expelled. It was not easy to treat the letter which had been written to them as a crime on the part of the three Genevese, especially as the first to whom it was addressed was Claude Richardet, then syndic, the fierce enemy of the ministers and the priests. Nevertheless they found means of employing these letters without taking Richardet into account. He, however, was not only compromised, like the other two, in having received a letter, but there was one grave fact against him. Montchenu having presented himself by night, with some horsemen, at the gates of Geneva, Richardet, syndic at the time, went to them at their request, ordered the great gate to be opened, and introduced the Frenchmen into the city. Montchenu having proposed to Richardet to go to supper with him at the Tête-Noire, he declined. When he was subsequently called upon by Claude Savoye to explain this circumstance in the council, Richardet stated that he had thought that Montchenu was going on an embassy into Germany to bring soldiers for the king. If this adventure had happened to either of the other Genevese who had received the letter, Claude Savoye, for instance, what would not have been said? But Richardet was as innocent as his compatriots. A Genevese does not betray his country. For the rest, he assured the council that he had had no intention but to please it.

Whatever the fact may have been, on the proposition of Monathier, one of the most violent members of the party then in power, the council suspended Claude Savoye and Michel Sept from their functions until this business should be cleared up. It has been remarked that, to take advantage of their ascendency in order to get up any bad case against their antagonists, was a traditional propensity which Genevese parties had too long indulged.[572] Similarly, three of the former syndics and a councillor were suspended on account of charges brought by people of doubtful respectability. In this way the new government secured a majority in the Council of the Two Hundred.[573] A pitiful victory of party spirit! Everyone was eagerly hunting up grievances against the fallen magistrates.

CONFUSION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

It appears that Calvin blamed this proceeding, and, holding it to be contrary to justice and to truth, called it the work of him whom the Scriptures name the father of lies. Hereupon it was determined to warn the preachers that they must not intermeddle with the business of the magistrate, but preach the Gospel.[574] Calvin felt this deeply. Is not justice also in the Gospel? Ought not a minister to demand it? So much hostility was at that time exhibited against the reformers by the majority of the Genevese, that the Bernese themselves, when they came to Geneva to oppose Montchenu, undertook their defence. Farel was accused of having said at Berne, ‘There is strife at Geneva because one party wants the mass and another the Gospel.’—‘Farel never said such a thing,’ said the Bernese to the general council; ‘we beg you to treat him with favor, for he has freely made known the Gospel.’ Certainly Calvin, Farel, and all the pastors ought to set an example of respect for the authorities. But the state and the Church were then so closely united that they were almost confounded with one another; and as the magistrates themselves dealt with religion in their councils, it is not to be wondered at that the ministers should speak of the proceedings of the councils in their sermons. The independence of the temporal and the spiritual was as yet far off. It must not be forgotten that it was for Geneva a creative epoch. Magistrates and reformers were working at the organization of the State and the Church. Moreover, in this business morality was in question, and no wonder that the ministers of God thought that morality was within their province. But the magistrates looked on the matter in another light, and did not intend that anyone should give them a lecture. Calvin was fettered not only in his preaching but still more in the discharge of his pastoral duties. ‘In general,’ he wrote to Bullinger, February 21, ‘we are looked on here as preachers rather than pastors. We cannot have a Church that will stand unless the discipline of the apostles be restored.’ However, he had not lost hope. ‘There is much alteration which we earnestly desire,’ he further wrote to his friend at Zurich, ‘but which can be effected only by our applying ourselves to it with faith, diligence, and perseverance. Oh, that a pure and sincere agreement might at length be established among us! Would there be any obstacle in the way of the meeting of a synod, at which everyone might propose what he believed to be useful to the Churches?’[575]

Having lost all hope in the institutions of the state, the reformer turned his attention to those of the Church. So long as sincere friends of the Reformation had been in power, Farel and Calvin had displayed a spirit of concession even on important points. When the council, for instance, had determined that the supper should not be refused to anyone, they had yielded. But now, when they saw at the head of affairs men who were opposed to order in the Church, they no longer felt it their duty to yield. They will not allow the state authorities to organize the spiritual body at their will. They will contend against notions contrary, as they think, to the Word of God. They will contend against them by their prayers and efforts, and by their resistance. The moment is come for them to say with Luther, I can do no otherwise (Ich kann nicht anders). There was enough in such a resolution to arouse a storm. But other blasts, not less impetuous, and blowing from other quarters, were soon to assail the reformers.

CHAPTER IX.
STRUGGLES AT BERNE.—SYNOD OF LAUSANNE.
(1538.)

The state of affairs at Berne had changed since the synod of September 1537, at which Calvin, appearing on the scene as the messenger of peace, had brought in concord after strife. Megander, Erasmus Ritter, and Rhellican complained of the progress of Bucerism, and their adversaries complained of them as disturbers. Megander, it may be recollected, had agreed at the time of the synod to amend his catechism to a small extent. Now Bucer himself had in his zeal undertaken the task, and the council, without consulting Megander, had printed the revised and amended catechism. This was an act at once imprudent and wanting in respect. The lords of Berne were accustomed to play to some extent the part of autocrats. Megander was deeply wounded; and presenting himself before the council with Erasmus Ritter, he declared that he was fully determined not to become a Lutheran, and that consequently he could not allow the corrections of Bucer. Kunz and Sebastian Meyer on the other hand stoutly defended the catechism as revised by the Strasburg doctor.

STRUGGLES AT BERNE.