§ 102. Calvin's church polity. 469
The Presbyterian Church of Scotland has labored and suffered more than any Protestant Church for the principle of the sole headship of Christ; first against popery, then against prelacy, and last against patronage. In North America this principle is almost universally acknowledged.
2. The parity of the clergy as distinct from a jure divino hierarchy whether papal or prelatical.
Calvin maintained, with Jerome, the original identity of bishops (overseers) and presbyters (elders) ; and in this he has the support of the best modern exegetes and historians.^
But he did not on this account reject all distinctions among ministers, which rest on human right and historical development, nor deny the right of adapting the Church order to varying conditions and circumstances. He was not an exclusive or bigoted Presbyterian. He had no objection to episcopacy in large countries, like Poland and England, provided the evangelical doctrines be preached.^ In his
1 In his Commentary on Phil. 1 : 1, he correctly infers from the plural iiriaKoiroi, that " nomen episcopi omnibus Verbi ministris esse commune, quum plures uni ecclesioe Episcopos attribuat. Sunt igitur synontjma Episcopus et Pastor, Atque hie locus ex iis units est, quos Hieroni/mus ad illud probandiim citat, in Epistola ad Evagrium, et in expositione Epistolce ad Titum." In his Commentary on Acts 20:28 (comp. with verse 17), he says: " Oinnes Ephesinos Prexbi/teros indifferentur a Paulo sic l_episcopi'\ vocantur, unde colligimus secundum Scripturce usum nihil a Presbyteris differre Episcopos, sed vitio et cor ruptela factum, esse, ut qui primas tenebant in singulis civitatibus Episcopi vocari coeperint" Comp. also his commentaries on the relevant passages in the Pastoral Epistles, and his Inst. IV. ch. III. § 8, and ch. IV. § 2 (where he quotes Jerome in full). The Lutheran symbols likewise teach the identity of the episcopate and presbyterate (see the second Appendix to the Smalcaldian Articles, p. 341, ed. J. T. Miiller) ; but the Lutheran Churches in Germany have Superintendents and General Superintendents (called " Bishops " in Prussia, " Prelates " in Wiirttemberg). Sweden, Norway, and Denmark retained or reintroduced episcopacy {jure humano, not jure divino). The church government of the Lutheran Churches in America is a compromise between the Presbyterian and synodical system and congregational independency.
2 Melanchthon in this respect went much further and was willing to submit to a papacy, provided the pope would tolerate the free preaching of the gospel. He subscribed the Smalcaldian Articles with the restriction : " Be pontifice statuo, si evangelium admitteret, posse ei propter pacem et communem tranquillitatem Christianorum . . , superioritatem in episcopos . . . jui-e humano etiam a tiobis permitfi."
470 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
correspondence with Archbishop Cranmer and Protector Somerset, he suggests various improvements, but does not oppose episcopacy. In a long letter to King Sigismund Augustus of Poland, he even approves of it in that kingdom.^
But Presbyterianism and Congregationalism are more congenial to the spirit of Calvinism than prelacy. In the conflict with Anglican prelacy during the seventeenth century, the Calvinistic Churches became exclusively Presbyterian in Scotland, or Independent in England and New England. During the same period, in opposition to the enforced introduction of the Anglican liturgy, the Presbyterians and Congregationalists abandoned liturgical worship ; while Calvin and the Reformed Churches on the Continent approved of forms of devotion in connection with free prayer in public worship.
3, The participation of the Christian laity in Church government and discipline. This is a very important feature.
In the Roman Church the laity are passive, and have no share whatever in legislation. Theirs is simply to obey the priesthood. Luther first effectively proclaimed the doc-
1 He says in this letter, dated Geneva, 5th Dec., 1554: "The ancient Church indeed instituted patriarcliates, and to different provinces assigned certain primacies, that by this bond of concord the bishops might remain more closely united among themselves. Exactly as if, at the present day, one archbishop should have a certain pre-eminence in the illustrious kingdom of Poland, not to lord it over the others, nor arrogate to himself a right of which they were forcibly deprived ; but for the sake of order to occupy the first place in synods, and cherish a holy unity between his colleagues and brethren. Then there might be either provincial or urban bishops, whose functions should be particularly directed to the preservation of order. As nature dictates, one of these should be chosen from each college, to whom this care should be specially confided. But it is one thing to hold a moderate dignity such as is not imcompatible with the abilities of a man, and another to comprise the whole world under one overgrown government. What the Romanists keep .prating about one single head is then altogether nugatory, because neither the sacred commandment of God, nor the established usage of the Cliurch sanctions a second head to be joined with Christ, whom alone the Heavenly Father has set over all." Bonnet-Constable, III. 104. Comp. Inst. IV. ch. IV. §§ 1-4; Henry II. 68, 375; III. 427 sqq. ; Dyer, 283 sqq.; 456 sq.