LAND. fluence. will. Nor was the dogmatism of Calvin limited to the SWITZER minute republic of the Genevese. His rugged spirit chafed and the vastcontinually amid the controversies that distracted western ness of his inChristendom; and foreign states, in admiration of his wondrous power and learning, did not scruple to receive direction from his lips. Although he found himself unable to compose the scandalous contest of the Lutheran and Zwinglian doctors, he at length succeeded in establishing a theological concordat between the French and German cantons of Switzerland; and thus, with the cooperation of the mild and moderate Bullinger, consolidated the Helvetic reformation. The document by which this The Consensus union was achieved is known as the Consensus Tigurinus7 1549; (1549). It is devoted chiefly to the question of the sacraments, and must have tended to invest those institutions with a somewhat higher dignity in the opinion of the Swiss reformers. Calvin viewed them not as merely are now called the principles of toleration were not generally understood by any of the great religious parties. Beza on this occasion put forth an elaborate treatise De Hæreticis a civili Magistratu puniendis, to shew that such punishment ought in certain cases to be capital. 5 See, for instance, his Antidoton adversus Articulos Facultatis theologica Sorbonica, in reply to twentyfiveArticles of doctrine issued in 1542; or his Defensio sance et orthodoxa Doctrina de Servitute et Liberatione humani Arbitrii, directed against a work of Pighius on this subject, and published at Geneva, 1543. He also levelled tracts at Anabaptists, Libertines, and finally at Nicodemites' (temporizing Frenchmen, who although reformers at heart, complied with Romish rites and customs, thus going to Christ secretly, and in the spirit of Nicodemus). In addition to these struggles he had numerous controversies more personal in their nature, e. g. with Sebastian Castellio R. P. (Dyer, pp. 168 sq.), who adopted 6 Hooker, Eccl. Pol. Pref. ch. II. 7 Printed in Niemeyer, pp. 191 sq. On its history and composition, see the editor's Præf. pp. XLI-XLV. K Tigurinus, LAND. by which the Swiss doctrine of the Sacra ments is modi jied. SWITZER Outward badges of Christianity, but 'organs" in the hands of God Himself, by which it often pleases Him to operate with saving efficacy on the spirit of the faithful recipients, or by which at least He certifies them that they really belong to Him. But Calvin's rigorous doctrine of predestination, and the absolute inamissibility of regenerating grace, compelled him always to restrict the possible benefits of the sacraments to one peculiar class of subjects; other Christians, or the non-elected, being, in his view, partakers of no more than the material element. His doctrine of the Eucharist is particularly observable, because it rises far above the low and frigid theories of his predecessor, Zwingli. While contending no less strenuously that Christ, as to His natural Presence, is in heaven, he taught that there is, notwithstanding, in the Eucharist, a mystical Presence of the Lord, His glorified humanity, though locally absent, being virtually, and in effect, communicated for the sustenance of the faithful, simultaneously with the participation of the outward elements". 1 In § VII. they are called 'notæ ac tessera Christianæ professionis et societatis,' but in § XIII. it is added, 'Organa quidem sunt, quibus efficaciter, ubi visum est, agit Deus; sed ita, ut totum salutis nostræ opus Ipsi uni acceptum ferri debeat.' In § XVII. the Consensus' repudiates illud Sophistarum commentum, quod docet, Sacramenta novæ Legis conferre gratiam omnibus non ponentibus obicem peccati mortalis:' thus alluding to a phrase which afterwards entered largely into discussions on this subject. Calvin's own favourite mode of representing the sacrament of baptism in particular was to view it as obsignatory of blessings which already appertained to the recipient as a child of grace: e.g. 'Semper tenendum hoc principium est, non conferri baptismum infantibus, ut filii Dei fiant et hæredes; sed quia jam eo loco et gradu censentur apud Deum, adoptionis gratiam baptismo obsignari in eorum carne.' See other passages in Schenkel, Das Wesen des Protestantismus, I. 466, 467, Schaffhausen, 1846. 2 Utilitas porro, quam ex Sacramentis percipimus, ad tempus, quo ea nobis administrantur, minime restringi debet' etc. § xx. 3 Nam reprobis peræque ut electis signa administrantur; veritas autem signorum ad hos solos pervenit:' § XVII. The same idea is stated in § XVI: Nam quemadmodum non alios in fidem illuminat quam quos præordinavit ad vitam ; ita arcana Spiritus sui virtute efficit, ut percipiant electi quæ offerunt Sacramenta.' 4 On the transition from the Zwinglian to the Calvinistic doctrine, compare the Formula Concordia (of the Lutherans): Part II. cap. VII. §4. 6 This view is not so positively LAND. Calvin's death. The physical and intellectual activity of Calvin only SWITZERterminated with his death (May 27, 1564). The mantle of his office, and to some extent his autocratic spirit, then descended upon Theodore de Bèze, or Beza, under whom" Geneva for a while continued to preserve its high celebrity Geneva after as one stronghold of the Reformation. Thither fled a multitude of refugees from Italy and other countries, where the champion of the new opinions could no longer hold his ground. Its influence also was peculiarly felt in France, with whom it was united in close relationship, not only by the ties of language and geographical position, but still more in virtue of the Gallican sympathies which it derived from Farel, Calvin, Beza, Viret, and their coadjutors. It appears, however, that if we except a small accession to their numbers which the Swiss reformers gained from Savoy 10, Calvin's death may be regarded as the culminating point of the religious system he had founded. The great Commencecounter-movement, of which traces were discerned in other tion: countries11, penetrated almost every canton of the Helvetic confederacy. Its leader in this region was Carlo Borromeo 12, stated in the 'Consensus' as in Calvin's Institutio, lib. IV. c. 17, passim. It reappeared in all the later Calvinistic confessions, e. g. the 'Helvetica posterior,' the French (see especially Art. XXXVI: Niemeyer, p. 325), the Belgic and the Scotch, and was also very emphatically advanced in the Consensus Sendomiriensis (above, p. 93, n. 8). 7 The best modern life of him is Schlosser's Leben des Theod. de Beza. After a youth spent in dissipation he visited Geneva and came under the mighty influences of Calvin, by whose exertions he was made professor of Greek at Lausanne (Nov. 6, 1549). He afterwards (see below, pp. 138,139) took an active part in the struggles of the French Protestants, returning to Geneva not long before Calvin's death. He kept up a correspondence with the Puritans in ment of reac SWITZER archbishop of Milan (1569-1584), who combined, as it LAND. under Bor romeo (d. 1584), would seem, a spirit of profound devotion with abhorrence of the Calvinist, and of all other adversaries of the Roman pontiff'. Under his patronage2, the Order of the Jesuits was established in Lucerne and Freyburg, bands of Capuchines began to wander in the districts where the reformation was but half-established; and a college3, organized at Milan for the purpose, constantly supplied them with a higher class of priests than could be trained in Switzerland itself. The spirited reaction thus commenced was afterwards promoted by the formation of the Golden League of 1586, in which the Romish cantons bound themselves to stand by each other in defending their position against the Calvinistic party: while at the commencement of the following century, the Genevese and their immediate neighbours had to tremble for their lives and liberties no less than their religion, owing to the and François inroads of the duke of Savoy and the titular bishop of Geneva, the ascetic François de Sales". de Sales (d. 1622). FRANCE. THE patriarch of the reformers in this country was Jacques Lefèvre, also born in Picardy, at Estaples. When Luther was arraigned before the Diet of Worms, Lefèvre was already verging on the age of seventy. He Borromeus, Augsb. 1823. His writ- 1 The Case of a Minorite Friar Gibbings (Dublin, 1853) from 'Re- 3 The difficulties he found in realizing this project (1579) are described by the continuator of Fleury, Hist. Eccles. liv. LXXV. ss. 33 sq. 4 Hottinger, III. 931 8q. 5 See De Marsollier, Vie de S. François de Sales, Paris, 1747. 6 De Félice, Hist. of the Protestants of France, I. 2 sq. Lond. 1853: Ranke, Civil Wars, &c. I. 189 sq. had travelled far and wide, especially in Italy, where he experienced the fresh impulses that followed the revival of ancient literature. As early as 1512 he was persuaded by his study of St Paul's Epistles that received opinions touching human merit were at variance with the genuine form of Christianity; and his friend Briçonnet, bishop of Meaux, arriving at the same conclusion, ventured for a while to undertake the reformation of that diocese. But although the monarch, Francis I., was not originally adverse either to the Lutheran movement or the kindred agitation that sprang up in his own dominions, the ancient dogmas, in so far as they are separable from the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiffs, found a number of unflinching advocates in the college of the Sorbonne, which constituted the theological faculty of Paris. Luther's Prelude on the Babylonish Captivity when submitted 10 to these doctors in 1521 had been proscribed as blasphemous and heretical; and two years later the proceedings of Briçonnet having been exposed before the same tribunal, vigorous measures were instituted in the hope of strangling the new 7 Besides enlisting Lefèvre ('Jacobus Faber Stapulensis) in this work, he made use of the services of William Farel (above, p. 123), Gérard Ruffi or le Roux (see Schmidt's Gérard Roussel), and for a short time of Calvin himself (Dyer, p. 20). At length, however, when the storm increased, Briçonnet 'took shelter in his mystic obscurity:' Ranke, as before, p. 194. 8 Ranke, Ibid. pp. 195, 196. He declared in negociating with the Lutherans (above, p. 61, n. 5) that he had only put to death a few fanatics, who were bent on exciting a sedition in his capital: Smedley, Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France, 1. 33, 34, Lond. 1832. Melancthon, whom Francis invited (1535) to assist in the direction of ecclesiastical affairs, had already (in 1534) corresponded with Guillaume du Bellay, and drawn up a Consilium 9 While repudiating the ultra- nas. 10 On his probable motives in allowing his dispute with Eck to be referred to them, see above, p. 22, n. 3. Melancthon (as we have seen, p. 31) defended him against their Determinatio. 11 On the earlier executions, see De Félice, 1. 10 sq. The noblest victim of the Sorbonne was Louis de Berquin, who was a friend of FRANCE. |