§ 99. CALVIN'S IDEA OF THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. 455
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these' (Jer. 7:4). 'Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes ? ' (Jer. 7:11).
"In like manner, the unity of the Church, such as Paul describes it, we protest we hold sacred, and we denounce anathema against all who in any way violate it. The principle from which Paul derives unity is, that there is ' one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,' who hath called us into one hope (Eph. 4:4-6). Therefore, we are one body and one spirit, as is here enjoined, if we adhere to God only, i.e. be bound to each other by the tie of faith. We ought, moreover, to remember what is said in another passage, 'that faith cometh by the word of God.' Let it, therefore, be a fixed point, that a holy unity exists amongst us, when, consenting in pure doctrine, we are united in Christ alone. And, indeed, if concurrence in any kind of doctrine were sufficient, in what possible way could the Church of God be distinguished from the impious factions of the wicked ? Wherefore, the Apostle shortly after adds, that the ministry was instituted 'for the edifying of the body of Christ : till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God : that we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the Head, even Christ' (Eph. 4:12-15). Could he more plainly comprise the whole unity of the Church in a holy agreement in true doctrine, than when he calls us back to Christ and to faith, which is included in the knowledge of him, and to obedience to the truth ? Nor is any lengthened demonstration of this needed by those who believe the Church to be that sheepfold of which Christ alone is the Shepherd, and where his voice only is heard, and distinguished from the voice of strangers. And this is confirmed by Paul, when he prays for the Romans, 'The God of patience and consolation grant you to be of the same mind one with another, according to Christ Jesus ; that ye may with one accord and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Rom. 15: 5, 6).
"Let our opponents, then, in the first instance, draw near to Christ, and then let them convict us of schism, in daring to dissent from them in doctrine. But, since I have made it plain that Christ is banished from their society, and the doctrine of his gospel exterminated, their charge against us simply amounts to this, that we adhere to Christ in preference to them. For what man, pray, will believe that those who refuse to be led away from Christ and his truth, in order to deliver themselves into the power of men, are thereby schismatics, and deserters from the communion of the Church?
" I certainly admit that respect is to be shown to priests, and that there is great danger in despising ordinary authority. If, then, they were to say, that we are not at our own hand to resist ordinary authority, we should have no difiiculty in subscribing to the sentiment. For we are not so rude as not to see what confusion must arise when the authority of rulers is not respected. Let pastors, then, have their due honor — an honor, however, not derogatory in any degree to the supreme authority of Christ, to whom it behooves them and every man to be subject. For God declares, by Malachi, that the gov-
456 THE KEFOKMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
ernment of the Israelitish Church was committed to the priests, under the condition that they should faithfully fulfil the covenant made with them, viz. that ' their lips should keep knowledge,' and expound the law to the people (Mai. 2 : 7). When the priests altogether failed in this condition, he declares, that, by their perfidy, the covenant was abrogated and made null. Pastors are mistaken if they imagine that they are invested with the government of the Church on any other terms than that of being ministers and witnesses of the truth of God. As long, therefore, as, in opposition to the law and to the nature of their office, they eagerly wage war with the truth of God, let them not arrogate to themselves a power which God never bestowed, either formerly on priests, or now on bishops, on any other terms than those which have been mentioned."
When the Romanists demanded miracles from the Reformers as a test of their innovations, Calvin replied that this was " unreasonable ; for we forge no new gospel, but retain the very same, whose truth was confirmed by all the miracles ever wrought by Christ and the Apostles. The opponents have this advantage over us, that they confirm their faith by continual miracles even to this day. But they allege miracles which are calculated to unsettle a mind otherwise well established; for they are frivolous and ridiculous, or vain and false. Nor, if they were ever so preternatural, ought they to have any weight in opposition to the truth of God, since the name of God ought to be sanctified in all places and at all times, whether by miraculous events or by the common order of nature." ^
Luther had the same Catholic Church feeling, and gave strong expression to it in his writings against the radicals, and in a letter to the Margrave of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia (1532), in which he says : " It is dangerous and terrible to hear or believe anything against the unanimous testimony of the entire holy Christian Church as held from the beginning for now over fifteen hundred years in all the world." ^ And yet he asserted the right of conscience and
1 Dedication of his Institutes to Francis I.
2 Briefe, De Wett's ed. IV. 354. Still more striking is Luther's judgment on the Roman Church (in his book against the Anabaptists) : " Ich sage, dass unter clem Papst die ivahre Christenheit ist ; ja der rechte Ausbimd der Christen-