810 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
were destroyed, the women outraged, and about four thousand persons shxtightered.
Great numbers of the Waldenses sought refuge in flight. The noble and humane Bishop Sadolet of Carpentras, received them kindly, and interceded for them with the King. Four thousand went to Geneva. Calvin started a subscription for them, provided them with lodging and employment at the fortifications, and made every effort to get the Swiss Cantons to intercede with King Francis in behalf of those Waldenses who remained in France. He travelled to Bern, Ziirich, and Aarau for this purpose. He even intended to go to Paris, but was prevented by sickness. The Cantons actually wrote to the king in the strongest terms, but he rebuked them for meddling with his affairs. Viret visited the French court with letters of recommendation from the Swiss Cantons and the Smalkaldian League, but likewise without result.^
Since that time there has been a fraternal intercourse between the Waldenses and the French Swiss, and many of their most useful pastors were educated at Geneva and Lausanne. The Waldensian Confession of 1655 is Calvinistic and based upon the Gallican Confession of 1559.^ After many persecutions in their mountain homes in Piedmont, the Waldenses obtained freedom in 1848, and since that time, and especially since 1870, they have become zealous evangelists in the united kingdom of Italy, with a church even in Rome and a flourishing theological college in Florence.
Calvin in Germany.
Calvin labored three years in Germany ; he felt closely allied to the Lutheran Church ; he had the profoundest regard for Luther, in sj^ite of his infirmities ; he was the intimate friend of Melanchthon; he attended three colloquies
1 Baum, Beza, I. 240 sqq. ; Stahelin, I. 509-512 ; Dyer, 193-198.
2 Creeds of Christendom, III. 757-770 (French and English).
§ 162. CALVIN'S INFLUENCE UPON THE CHURCHES. 811
between Lutheran and Roman Catholic divines; he once signed the Augsburg Confession (1541), as understood, exphiined, and improved by its author. He followed the progress of the Reformation in Germany step by step with the warmest interest, as is shown in his correspondence and various writings.
He did not labor for a separate Reformed Church in Germany, but for a free confederation of the Swiss and Lutheran Churches. But the fanatical bigotry of such men as Flacius, Westphal, and Heshusius produced a reaction and drove a large part of the moderate or Melanchthonian Lutherans into the Reformed communion.
The Reformed Church in the Electoral Palatinate was the result of a co-operation of Melanchthonian and Calvinistic influences under the pious Elector, Frederick IIL The Heidelberg Catechism is the joint work of Ursinus, a pupil of Melanchthon, and Olevianus, a pupil of Calvin. It appeared in 1563, three years after Melanchthon's death, one year before Calvin's death, and became the leading symbol of the Palatinate and the Reformed Churches in Germany and Holland.^ It gives the best expression to Calvin's views on the Lord's Supper, and on Election, but wisely omits all reference to an eternal decree of reprobation and preterition ; following in this respect Calvin's own catechism. The wellknown first question is a gem and presents the bright and comforting side of the doctrine of Election : —
" What is thy only comfort in life and in death 1 "
" That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him."
1 See Schaff , Creeds of Christendom, vol. I. pp. 529 sqq.