RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Calvin
minor offices, and fix the price of wine. But nothing might be discussed in this meeting which had not been previously determined upon in the Council of Two Hundred; nor in the latter which the Council of Sixty did not approve of; nor could this council take up anything n<->t previously agreed to in the highest council, which thus practically governed the State. (The General Council became in this way a superfluity, without the power of initiative. It had, however, accomplished its mission — accepted the Reformation^
(Most prominent among the irfeaffls Calvin used to reform the city was preaching. Every other week he preached every day in plain, direct, convincingfashion, without eloquence, but still irresistiblyj and the life that the preacher led constitutea his strongest claim to attention. The reports of his sermons are probably from notes made by his hearers; which was the easier done, because, being asthmatic, he spoke very slowly. FJEvery Friday the so-called " Congregation " was Tield, in which questions were answered, and debates even carried on. Minors were carefully instructed in a catechism originally prepared by Calvin in French and Latin) 1545. In 1537 he had issued a French, and in 1538 a Latin catechism, which was a mere abridgment or syllabus of his " Institutes," and was not in the form of question and answer; but the catechism of 1545 was in the usual form.
^Calvin has the credit of first introducing congregational singing into the worship of the Reformed Church in GenevaJ The (first songs"~wefe) some of Qis_own metrical renderings of the Psalmsj [Like Zwingli and Luther, Calvin had his difficulties with the Anabaptists] He met them in public debate Mar. 16-17, 1537, and in the opinion of\jthe Council of Two Hundredj effectually disposed of their arguments. So on Mar. 19 it (passed a sentence of perpetual banishment against themj i_Bit he had personal controversies, the chief of which were — (1) first with Pierre Caroli, a French refugee and pastor in Lausanne, a religious chameleon, whose latest hue was that of a stickler for orthodoxy. Calvin was very indif-
13. His ferent to the terminology of theology, Opponents, so long as the truth was expressed. In discussing the nature of the Godhead during his first residence in Geneva, he avoided using the words " Trinity " and " Person," although he had no particular objection to them; and so they did not occur in the Confession of Faith which he drew up, and to which the citizens of Geneva were compelled to assent; rior did the Geneva Church subscribe formally to the Athanasian Creed. Caroli accused Calvin and his fellow divines of Arianism and Sabellianism; and so plausible was the charge, that Calvin was greatly troubled. However, in the synod of 1537, held in Bern, the Genevan divines fully cleared themselves, and Caroli was deposed and banished./ ((2) Philibert Berthelier, the son of a martyr for freedom, was forbidden the communion (1553) by the consistory. The council absolved? the ban. Calvin from the pulpit, two days before the
September Communion (one of the four yearly occasions), declared that he would die sooner than give the Lord's holy things to one under condemnation for despising God. Perrin, who was then syndic for the second time, ordered Berthelier to stay away from communion, and so ended a dispute from which the enemies of Calvin had hoped a great deal/ (3) ^Jerome Hermes Bolsec (q.v.), whose presumption in denying predestination, and abusing the ministers at a " Congregation," drew upon him, not only Calvin's indignant reply at the #rne,but also imprisonment andbanishment](1551). '(4)_ Sebastian Castellio (q.v.), a learned but arrogant man, won Calvin's opposition because of his denial of the inspiration of the Canticles and of the descent of Christ into hell.1: (5^But by far the most famous of all Calvin's opponents was Michael bervetus (q.v.), who seems to have been a rather flippant person. It is said he desired Calvin's banishment in order that he might be installed in his place. To this end he accused Calvin of perfidious, tyrannical, and unchristian conduct. It is no wonder, therefore, that Calvin treated him harshly. It is idle to shield Calvin from the charge of bringing about Servetus's death, although it is true that the mode adopted (burning) did not meet with his approval — he wished to have him beheaded; but at the same time it is easy to excuse him on the ground of the persecuting spirit of his age. ] The Protestants who had felt the persecution of Rome were ready to persecute all who did not follow them. The burning of Servetus (Oct. 27, 1553) for the crime of heresy, specifically antitrinitarianism, was approved by the Helvetic Church, and, what is more remarkable, by the mild Melanchthon; but it failed even then to win universal approval, and now it is usually considered a sad, ineffaceable blot upon Calvin's character. Many who know nothing else of either Calvin or Servetus are very indignant over the tragedy, and apparently reject Calvinism because of it. We ought rather to mourn than to censure. Servetus knew the danger he braved in coming to Geneva. He had as early as 1534 been in debate with Calvin, although they did not meet personally. On his intimating an intention to visit Geneva, Calvin gave him fair warning, that, if he came, he would prosecute him to the death.1 While, therefore, Calvin may be held responsible for Servetus's death, he must be cleared of the charges of having allured Servetus to Geneva, and of rejoicing in his death on personal grounds.
No good came of the execution, only evil — ridicule from the Roman Catholics, and the adverse criticism from many friends. It likewise failed to check the antitrinitarian heresy. Calvin defended himself, and Beza aided him; but no defense could excuse the facts. In 1903 a penitential monument was erected on the place of his burning.
.By his lectures Calvin attracted students from every quarter. He often had as many as a thou-
1 "Nam si modo valeat mea auctoritas vivum exire nunquam patiar (I shall never permit him to depart alive if my authority is great enough)." Calvin to Farel, Feb. 13, 1546 (cf. Calvin's Letters, Eng. transl., ii. 33).
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