OLEVIANUS
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OLEVIANUS
limited knowledge of his scholars, he could make but poor progress by teaching in Latin ; but he began, with more success, in the German language to tcacli them from the catechism. Although not then an ecclesiastic, but only a layman, he ventured even publicly in liis schoolroom to deliver an earnest and decidedly evan- gelical sermon on justification by faith alone, in which he indulged in strictures especially upon the prominence given to saints, and also in reference to the mass and processions. In this he met with the approbation of many in the town ; yet there were also numerous and strong voices raised against it. He was immediatelj' forbidden to preach in his school, but he neverthe- less continued to preach in the Jacob's church, with ever increasing attendance upon his discourses ; and before long nearly half of the town declared themselves decidedly in favor of the Keformation. The elector Frederick, of the Palatinate, and the count palatine Wolfgang, of Zweibriicken, sent superintendent Freis- berg, of Zweibriicken, to Tours for a short time to sus- tain Olevianus, and assist in carrying forward the quick- ly formed young congregation ; but very soon the arch- bishop of Treves succeeded in forcing the inhabitants into submission. The Lutheran citizens, as thej' were called, were glad to escape punishment, in body and soul, as " seditious traitors, instigators of incendiary movements and murder," and to obtain permission to emigrate to the nearest evangelical Palatinate districts, Trarbach and Beldenz, on the Mosel. The twelve principal movers in reformatory interests, among them Olevianus, were sent to prison, from which they were only delivered, after a confinement of ten weeks, through the influence of the neighboring evangelical princes and the city of Strasburg, under the condition of a heavy fine and immediate banishment from the city. Still there were left in Treves, after the first emigration and banishment, three hundred evangelical Christians. These, however, refusing to recant, were also soon after driven from the town. Not until 1817 (consequently only after a space of 248 years) was an evangelical service held in Treves. Latterly its popu- lation has somewhat increased, though there is little probability that it will ever recover its ancient fame and importance.
Olevianus, of course, did not find it very diflScult to occupy his time elsewhere. He was asked for from man}' quarters, but he preferred the university town of Heidelberg, whither he went as court preacher and professor of philosophy, and where he rendered, in 1560 and in the following years, great services to the Reformed theology. Li connection with Ursinus, he prepared the Heidelberg Catechism, and afterwards the Palatinate Liturgy. Indeed, Olevianus labored with the greatest zeal for the complete organization of the Church in the Palatinate, entertaining well-grounded hopes that it might become a nursery of pure doctrine for the whole of Germany. He turned his attention especially to the calling of competent preachers and teachers, of whom there was yet a pressing need ; and scarcely was he a quarter of a year in Heidelberg when he wrote to Calvin, requesting him to send over the Order and Discipline of the Church at Geneva, that he might lay them before the consistory for examination and adoption, which, in regard to Church government, favored his views. Calvin with great chccrfidness sent him the outlines of the Genevan Church polity, to- gether with many valuable suggestions in regard to it. The (ienevan Reformer especially recommended to Olevianus the temperate and prudent introduction of this Church order, l)ecanse he as well as IJeza feared the impetuosity and enthusiasm of this spirited youth. Olevianus, however, did not at once succeed in intro- ducing a fully self-sustaining order of discipline, en- tirely independent of the civil power. Rather, he had to be satisfied with constituting synods of ministers, without elders, and arranging matters so that — agreea- bly to the questions eighty-one to eighty-five of the
Heidelberg Catechism, and in accordance with the Pa- latinate Church, of which lie was, without doubt, the principal author — the necessity of ecclesiastical Chris- tian discipline, to be administered by the congregation, or those ordained and authorized for that purpose, was meantime at least acknowledged ; while as yet, how- ever, no independent presbyters or boards of elders were actually established for the administration of discipline. The power of discipline, for the time being, remained entirely in the hands of the civil authorities, as a kind of politico-moral regulation. In 1567 a circumstance occurred which became the occasion of materially ad- vancing into favor the views of Olevianus in regard to Church government. A man of the name of Withers, an Englishman, and a rigid Calvinist, excited a discus- sion about the necessity of the exercise of Church dis- cipline by the ministry and presbytery, " even against the prince," and thus occasioned a vehement controversy on this vital question of the Reformed Church. In this discussion Olevianus took sides against his dear friend, professor Erastus, a learned and pious Swiss physician, who adhered to the Zwinglian doctrine of the union of Church and State. Still, after a while, the views and demands of Olevianus prevailed with the elector; and in 1570, though not without violent protest from the opposing party, the elector instituted presbyters in every congregation, intrusting to them expressly and indepen- dently the administration of the Church government and exercise of discipline, in which arrangement, how- ever, the individual members of the presbj-terj-, who, from their principal vocation, were called censors, were in no case to be elected by single congregations, but were appointed for life by the higher judicatories. Thus were the desires of Olevianus in regard to this important matter realized, and his labors crowned with success. The fruits which this arrangement yielded are thus stated in a funeral sermon by Tossanus: "Every one must acknowledge that there now exists in Heidel- berg and in the entire Palatinate order, quietness, and a Christian-like state of things very different from what has been prevailing during several years past." After the death of the elector (1576), and the immediate rein- statement into the Palatinate, b_v force, of the Lutheran doctrine and customs by his son Ludwig, Olevianus was suspended from his office of pastor and professor, for- bidden all conversation and correspondence with the ^ learned, and prohibited from holding any private as- semblies in his own house, and was put under arrest. The great reformer now removed to Berleburg, and in 1584 took up his abode at Herborn. Yet these years, spent away from the centres of theological controversy and discussion, were by no means years of recreation and rest to the hoary Christian. Most earnestly and zeal- ously was he all these years occupied in the propagation of the Reformed doctrine, especially in Wittgenstein and Nassau, until death put an end to his labors of love, March 15, 1587. As a reformer, the efficiency of Olevi- anus consisted principally in his successful preaching, and in the excellent and well-adapted order and gov- ernment which he introduced into the Church. His talents and his taste indicated that his vocation was rather in this sphere than in that of author, or even theological professor. It was his labor and influence that accomplished the introduction of the presbytcrian form of Church government and discipline into the Pa- latinate, first applied by Calvin to the Church in Ge- neva; extending and perfecting the system, however, so as to include the government of the Church by syn- ods. Thus Olevianus exerted a most important influ- ence in giving shape and character to the Reformation; receiving and introducing ideas of government which have not only since been widely adopted by Scotch, English, and Irish Presbyterians, but which have con- fessedly entered into the peculiar republican principles of our American civil government. What writings he has left belong principally to preparations for the Ileidel- berr/ Catichism (q. v.), anil such as were published in its