Calvin. ‘It is needful only to concede what the Lord concedes and commands. Why does man refuse this?’
The Pope. ‘If these things were allowed, the consequence would be a breach in the unity of the Church; for such changes would never be accepted in France, nor in Spain, nor in Italy, nor in the other provinces of Christendom.’
Unity And Diversity.
Calvin. ‘Let the free and sincere preaching of the Gospel be everywhere restored, and there will be no more diversity among the faithful in Christ Jesus; for we ask only for the truth which the Lord has proclaimed for the salvation of his people. With respect to diversities of practice the churches must be left at liberty.[[61]] The unity of the Church does not consist in sameness of rites but in sameness of faith. In the ages of the apostles and of the martyrs a sincere unity was maintained among the Christians, notwithstanding differences of ritual observances. But since the several churches of different countries received under the Roman pontiff the same rites, the sole foundations of salvation have been miserably shifted. The just lives by faith, not by ceremonies. No church may insist on any thing which is not of faith as indispensable to Christian communion. There is therefore nothing on the part of the Protestants which makes it difficult, much less impossible, to establish a pious and solid agreement amongst all the churches.’[[62]]
The Pope. ‘And if the general council should not approve these changes, and should possibly establish the contrary, what hope would there be of then bringing back unity to Germany, which would have had time to grow strong in its new opinions?’
Calvin. ‘What! a council would not only not approve what has been established by the word of Christ himself, but would publicly abrogate it! Good God! what a monster of a council! Such are the fine hopes held out to us by the Roman see. Why should we still wait for this assembly, since if it were held, we should have to repudiate it?’
The Pope. ‘There would be danger, moreover, lest the Protestants, while making some concessions, should attain in return their chief desire, the separation of Catholics from the apostolic see!’
Calvin. ‘From the Roman see, if you please, but not from the apostolic see. The Catholic Protestants[[63]] have no other wish but to get the see of Satan overthrown, and the true see of Christ set up in its place—that see on which rest the apostles and not the Antichrists. Now the point supremely insisted on by the papists is their will to reign in the Church, to be masters of every thing in it, and to leave nothing to Jesus Christ.’
The Pope. ‘We can easily conceive what sort of peace we may have with those Protestants who, sometimes by letters, sometimes by threatening speeches, and sometimes by artful practices, daily lead astray men of all ranks.’
Calvin. ‘These illicit methods are as unusual among us as they are familiar to the Roman bishops. It is not merely a few individuals in Germany that the Protestants wish to enlighten, but the whole world, if the Lord permit, in order that all may enjoy together the true and sole religion of Jesus Christ.[[64]]