COUNTER-REFORMATION.
CALVIN.--Second in reputation to Luther only, among the founders of
Protestantism, is _John Calvin_. He was a Frenchman, born in 1509,
and was consequently a child when the Saxon Reformation began. He was
keen and logical in his mental habit, with a great organizing capacity,
naturally of a retiring temper, yet fearless, and endued with
extraordinary intensity and firmness of will. A more finished scholar
than Luther, he lacked his geniality and tenderness, and his
imaginative power. Calvin first studied for the priesthood at
_Paris_; but when his father determined to make him a jurist, he
studied law at _Orleans_ and _Bourges_. Espousing the
Protestant doctrines, he was obliged to fly from _Paris_, and,
when still young, published his _Institutes of the Christian
Religion_, in which he expounded the Protestant creed in a
systematic although fervid way. In his type of theology, he laid much
stress on the sovereignty of God, and predestination; and taught a view
of the Lord's Supper not so far from that of the old Church as the
doctrine of _Zwingli_, but farther removed from it than was the
doctrine of Luther.
THE GENEVAN GOVERNMENT.--In 1536, reluctantly yielding to the
exhortations of _Farel_, a French preacher of the Protestant
doctrine at _Geneva, Calvin_ established himself in that
city. _Geneva_ was a fragment of the old kingdom of
_Burgundy_. The dukes of _Savoy_ claimed a temporal authority
in the city, which was subject to its bishop. The authority of the
dukes was overthrown by a revolution, and power passed from the bishop
into the hands of the people (1533). The change was effected with the
aid of _Berne_ and _Freiburg_. There had been two parties in
_Geneva_,--the party of the "Confederates," who were for striking
hands with the Swiss, and the party of the "Mamelukes," adherents of
the dukes. The civil was followed by an ecclesiastical
revolution. Protestantism, with the aid of _Berne_, was legally
established (1535). _Geneva_ was a prosperous, gay, and dissolute
city. _Farel_, a popular orator of striking power, unsparing in
denunciation, found the people impatient of the restraints that the new
religious system which they had adopted laid upon them. The regulations
as to doctrine, worship, and discipline, which _Calvin_ and his
associates proceeded to introduce, were so distasteful, that the
preachers were expelled by the _Council_ and by the _Assembly of
Citizens_ from the place. After he had been absent three years,
Calvin, in consequence of the increase of disorder and vice, and the
distraction occasioned by contending factions, was recalled, and
remained in Geneva until his death. He became the virtual lawgiver of
the city. He framed a system of ecclesiastical and civil government. It
was an ecclesiastical state, in which orthodoxy of belief, and purity
of conduct, were not only inculcated by systematic teaching, but
enforced by stringent enactments. Offenses comparatively trivial were
punished by strict and severe penalties. To the system of church
discipline, stretching over the life of every individual, and carried
out by the civil magistrates in alliance with the pastors, there was
much opposition, which led to outbreakings of violent resistance. But
the supporters of Calvin were reinforced by numerous Protestant
refugees from _France_. The improvement of the city in morals and
in public order was signal. In the end, _Calvin_, who was as firm
as a rock, triumphed over all opposition. _Geneva_ became a place
of resort for exiles and students from various countries. By his
writings and correspondence, Calvin's influence spread far and wide. In
the affairs of the French Protestants, in particular, his influence was
predominant.
SERVETUS.--The Reformers were not, any more than their adversaries,
advocates of liberty in religious beliefs and professions. A
melancholy example of the prevailing idea, that it was the duty of the
civil authority to inflict penalties upon heresy, is the case of
_Michael Servetus_. A Spaniard by birth, with a remarkable
aptitude for natural science and medicine, adventurous and fickle, he
had published books in which doctrines received by both the great
divisions of the Church, especially the doctrine of the Trinity, were
assailed. He escaped out of the hands of the Catholics, and came to
_Geneva_. There he was tried for heresy and blasphemy, and was
burned at the stake (1553). This was at a time when Calvin was in the
midst of his contest with the "Libertines," the party actuated by
hostility to him. They appear to have stood behind _Servetus_ in
his defiant attitude towards the Genevan authorities.
INFLUENCE OF CALVINISM.--The personal influence of _Calvin_ was
directly exerted upon the more cultured and educated. His religious
system has wielded a great power, not only on this class, but also over
the common people in different countries. Calvinism was never awed by
monarchical authority. Like the Church of Rome, it always refused to
subordinate the Church and religion to the civil power. It numbered
among its votaries many men of dauntless courage and of unbending
fidelity to their principles.
THE CATHOLIC REACTION.--The first effectual resistance to the spread
of Protestant opinions was made in _Italy_. In that country,
there was opposition to the papacy from those who saw in it an
instrument of political disunion, and also from some who were
aggrieved by ecclesiastical abuses. The prevailing feeling, however,
was that of pride in the papacy, which, in other countries, was
attacked as an Italian institution. The humanist learning had done
much to undermine belief in the old religious system. In the train of
the new studies, came much indifference and infidelity. The books of
the Protestant leaders, however, were widely circulated. There were
not a few sincere converts to the new doctrine in the cities; but they
were chiefly confined to the educated class, and to persons in high
station. It took no root among the common people. After the time of
the Medici popes, a new spirit of faith and devotion awoke in circles
earnestly devoted to the papacy and to the Church. There was at Rome
an "Oratory of Divine Love,"--a group of persons who met together for
mutual edification. In this class were some, like _Contarini_,
afterwards a cardinal, who were not wholly without sympathy with the
Lutheran doctrine as to faith and justification; but out of the same
class came others who led in the great _Catholic Reaction_,
which, while it aimed at a rigid reform in morals, was inflexibly
hostile to all innovations in doctrine, and was bent on regaining for
the Church the ground that had been lost.
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT: CARAFFA.--The Council of Trent was governed in
its conclusions by this Catholic reactionary and reforming party. It
allowed no curtailing of the prerogatives of the Pope. On points of
doctrine in dispute within the pale of the Church, it adopted formulas
which the different schools might accept. Practical reforms, for
example in respect to the education of the clergy, were adopted; but
dogma and teaching were to remain unaltered. Cardinal _Caraffa_,
the most energetic mover in the Catholic reform and restoration, became
Pope, under the name of _Paul IV._ (1555-1559).
THE ORDER OF JESUS.--The Council of Trent, by providing a clear
definition of doctrine, cemented unity, and was the first great bulwark
raised against Protestantism. Another means of defense, and of attack
as well, was provided in new orders, especially the order of
_Jesuits_. This was founded by _Ignatius Loyola_, a Spanish
soldier of noble birth, who mingled with the spirit of chivalry a
strong devotional sentiment. It was the temper of mediæval knighthood,
which still lingered in Spain. Wounded at the siege of
_Pampeluna_, and disabled from war, he had visions of a spiritual
knighthood; out of which grew the _Society of Jesus_, which was
sanctioned by Pope _Paul III._ in 1540. Its members took the
monastic vows. They went through a rigorous spiritual drill. They were
bound to unquestioning obedience to the Pope. The organization was
strict, like that of an army; each province having a provincial at its
head, with a general over all. To him all the members were absolutely
subject. All other ties were renounced: to serve the Church and the
order, was the one supreme obligation.
INFLUENCE OF THE JESUITS.--The influence of the Jesuit order was
manifold. It was active in preaching, and in hearing confessions. It
made the education of youth a great part of its business. Its members
found their way into high stations in Church and State: they were in
the cabinets of princes. From the beginning, they showed an ardent zeal
in missionary labors among the heathen in distant lands, and for the
reconquest of countries won by the Protestants.
THE INQUISITION.--Under the auspices of Cardinal Caraffa (_Paul
IV._), the Inquisition was introduced into Italy (1542), and exerted
the utmost vigilance and severity in crushing out the new faith. One of
its instruments was the censorship of the press. So thorough was this
work, that of the little book on the _Benefits of Christ's Death_,
which had an immense circulation, it has been possible in recent years
to find but two or three copies. The "Index" of prohibited books was
established. The result of these measures was, that Protestantism was
suppressed in Italy, and the type of Catholicism that was partially
sympathetic with certain doctrinal features of the Saxon Reform
likewise vanished.