2. In French Switzerland, the reformatory movement began in 1526 in the French parts of the cantons Berne ami Biel, where the Gospel was preached by William Farel, a native of France. In 1530 be established the Reformation in Neufchatel. In Geneva a beginning was made as early as 1528; in 1534, after a religious conference held at the suggestion of the Bernese, in which Farel defended the Reformation, public worship was allowed to the Reformed ; rapid progress was then made through the zeal of Farel, Froment, and Yiret; and in 1535, after another disputation, the papacy was abolished by the council and the Reformation adopted. In 1536 John Calvin [see Calvin] arrived in Geneva, and was induced by Farel to remain in the city and to aid him in his struggle against a party of freethinkers who called themselves Spiri/itels. In October of the same year he took part with Farel and Yiret in a re- ligious disputation held at Lausanne, which resulted in the adhesion of the Pays-de-Vaud to the cause of the Reformation. In 1538 both Calvin and Farel were ban- ished by the council, which had taken offence at the strict Church discipline introduced by the Reformers. Soon, however, the friends of the Reformation regained the ascendency, and Calvin was recalled in 1541. while Farel remained in Neufchatel. For several years Cal- vin had to sustain a desperate struggle against his op- ponents, but in 1555 they were finally subdued in an insurrection set on foot by Ami Perrin. From that time the reformatory ideas of Calvin were carried through in both Church and State with iron consist- ency, and Geneva became a centre whence reformatory influences spread to the remotest parts of Europe. By an extensive correspondence and numerous religious writings, he exerted a strong personal influence far be- yond the boundaries of Switzerland. The theological academy of Geneva, founded in 1588, supplied the churches of many foreign countries, especially France, with preachers trained in the spirit of Calvin. When Calvin died, in 1564, the continuation of his work de- volved upon the learned Theodore Beza. Calvin dis- agreed in man}' points with Zwingli, whose views grad- ually lost ground as those of Calvin advanced. The
REFORMATION
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UK FORMATION
Second Helvetic Confession, the most important among the symbolical books of the Reformed Church, which was compiled by Bullinger in Zurich, published in 1566, and recognised in all Reformed countries, completed the superiority of < lalvin's principles over those of Zwingli.
;:. Although the majority of the German Protestant churches remained in connection with the Lutheran Reformation, a German Reformed Church which wore in ie tic aspeel sprang up in several pari- of Germany. In 1560 the elector Frederick III dl the Palatinate embraced the Reformed creed, and organized the Church of his dominions according to Reformed principles. By his authority, Ursinus and Olevianus composed the Heidelberg Catechism, which soon came to be regarded no) only as the standard symbolical book of the German Reformed Church, bu< was highly esteemed throughoul the Reformed world. Maurice, the learned landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, after several fruitless attempts to reconcile the Lutheran and Reformed churches, joined the latter in 1564, and compelled the Lutheran Church of his dominion to enier into communion with Calvinism. In Anhalt, Calvinism was introduced chiefly from attachment to Melancthon, and Nassau introduced the Heidelberg Catechism in consequence of its relation to the house • ■I Orange. The most important accession to the Re- formed Church of Germany was that of John Sigis- mund, elector of Brandenburg, who on Christmas daw 1613, received the Lord's supper in the court church of Berlin according to the Calvinistic ritual. Although he tried, as all princes of these times did. to induce the people to follow his example, the overwhelming ma- jority of the country continued to remain Lutheran. Among the free imperial cities, it was especially Bremen which adopted the Reformed creel.
IV. //)■ English Reformation. — In England the writ- ings of Luther were warmly welcomed by many, espe- cially by those who secretly adhered to the doctrines of Wycliffe. King Henry VIII, who was a great admirer of St. Thomas a Becket, wrote against Luther (1521) the work Adsertio VII Sacramenlorum, for which he re- ceived from the pope the title Defensor Fidei. He also wrote the emperor of Germany a letter in which he called lor the extirpation of the heretics. But Luther- anism found zealous adherents even at the English universities, and an English translation of the Bible ( 1526 i by Frith and Tyndale, members of the universi- ty ot Cambridge, had a decisive effect. Soon the king tell out with the pope, because the latter refused to annul Henry's marriage with Catharine of Aragon, the niece of the emperor ( 'harles V. The kin--, who repn sented that his marriage with Catharine, his brother's widow, was open to objections, laid the matter, by advice of Thomas < Iranmer, before the < Shristian universities: ami when replies were received declaring the marriage with a brother's wife as null and void, the king separated from Catharine, married Anne Boleyn, and fell under the papal han. The English Parliament sundered the
connection between England and Rome, and r< gnised
the king as the head of the Church. Henry was de- Birous of destroj ing the influence of the pope over the Church of England, to which, in other respects, he wished to preserve the continuity of its < latholic character. The cloisters were subjected to a visitation in L535, and to- tally abolished in 1536; and the Bible was diffused in the mother tongue 1 1538) as the only source of doctrine; but the statute of 1539 imposed distinct limits upon the Reformation, and, in particular, confirmed transubstan- tiation, priestly celibacy, masses lor the dead, and au- ricular confi ion. \ considerable number of those who refused to comply with the religious changes introduced into England were executed. A powerful party. headed by Thomas Cranmer, after 1533 archbishop of Canter- bury, and Thomas Cromwell, after 1534 royal vicar- general for ecclesiastic affaii , exerted a silent influence in behalf of a nearer approach towards the Reformed churches of continental Europe. They met with little