William Farel.
Calvin In Geneva.
When Calvin reached Geneva towards the end of August 1536, with
the intention of resuming his journey on the following day,
another reformer, a man who was earnest, eloquent, and fearless,
was living there. This was William Farel, also a Frenchman, and
one who, like Calvin, after having tried to propagate reform in
France, had left it, as he had done, and travelled in
Switzerland, to Basle, Berne, and Neufchatel, teaching and
preaching with great fervour. Farel had now lived for some time
at Geneva, where he was working with his whole soul to ensure the
triumph of reform over all its adversaries, whether Genevese or
strangers, whilst they opposed him with equal zeal. After more
than two years of alternate success and reverses, of public
discussion and civil war, Farel succeeded in getting the whole
question stated in the following terms to the inhabitants of
Geneva, who were assembled in the church of St. Peter:--'By a
decree of the Council of Two Hundred you are assembled here, that
it may be known if there are any among you who have anything to
say against the Word of God, and the doctrine which is preached
to us in this city. ...
{213}
If so, let them speak, so that we may know if there are any who
are not willing to live according to the Gospel which has been
proclaimed to us since the abolition of the mass and of the papal
sacrifice.' 'Upon which,' says the Register, 'without one single
opposing voice, it was unanimously agreed to, and carried by the
holding up of hands; and a promise, and an oath taken to God that
all the people would live according to this holy evangelical law
and the Word of God which has been made known to them, forsaking
all masses and other papal ceremonies and frauds, images and
idols, and living together in unity and in obedience to the law.'
The latest and most accurate historian of the Church of Geneva,
says: 'That day, the 21st of May, 1536, is the true date of the
Reformation at Geneva. From that time the citizens, pressing to
their hearts a faith which was sanctified by misfortune, prepared
themselves for the sacrifices and glory of the future, and, like
the Hebrews on the frontiers of Canaan, they repeated Joshua's
oath, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."' [Footnote
70]
[Footnote 70: Gaberel, ancien Pasteur. _Histoire de
l'Église de Genève_, vol. i. p. 261.]
Farel had conquered, but his victory gave him great uneasiness
and apprehension. He was as conscientious as he was courageous,
and did not deceive himself as to the defects of his work; the
reformed faith was triumphant at Geneva, but the foundations of
the reformed Church were not laid, nor did Farel feel that he was
capable of establishing a church: he lacked the knowledge and
authority, the intellect and judicious tact which are necessary
for such a task; his vocation was religious warfare, not the
organization of a new religious society.
{214}
In the midst of his perplexity, a French refugee at Geneva, the
canon Louis du Tillet,--who was, as we have seen, a lukewarm
reformer, and had formerly received Calvin at Angoulême, leaving
France with him afterwards,--hurried to Farel's house and told
him that Calvin, the author of the 'Institutes of the Christian
Religion,' had just arrived; that he had been driven out of
Italy, where he had gained great renown teaching and preaching
the reformed religion; but that he was only passing through
Geneva, and was on his way to Basle or Strasburg. Farel
immediately hurried to Calvin, implored him to stay at Geneva, to
establish himself there, and work with him to secure the complete
triumph of the reformed religion. Calvin refused, pleading the
studies he had commenced, his desire of pursuing them, and his
dislike to a public and stormy life. Farel pressed him eagerly;
Calvin persisted in his refusal. 'When he saw,' says Calvin,
'that he could gain nothing by prayer, he tried imprecation,
demanding that it might please God to curse my retirement and the
tranquillity which I was seeking for my studies, if I held back
and refused to give succour and aid at a time of such urgent
need. And these words terrified and shook me as if God from on
high had stretched out his hand upon me to stop me, so that I
renounced the journey which I had undertaken; but conscious of my
diffidence and timidity, I refused to bind myself to undertake
any definite office.' [Footnote 71]
[Footnote 71: Calvin's Preface to the _Commentaries on the
Psalms_.]
{215}
At first he only engaged to give instruction, in St. Peter's
church, in the Holy Scriptures; he began to do so on the 1st of
September, and with such success that, on the 5th of the month,
Farel said at a meeting of the Council of State, that 'the
lectures which had been commenced in the cathedral by _the
Frenchman_ were absolutely necessary, and he entreated the
Council to retain that minister and provide for his maintenance.'
The Council consented, but they did not assign Calvin any
official function, and merely spoke of him as _the
Frenchman_. [Footnote 72]
[Footnote 72: 'Iste Gallus.']
Calvin's powers were almost immediately manifested on a very
solemn occasion. A conference had been arranged at which
Catholics and Reformers should meet and freely discuss their
differences of faith and ecclesiastical discipline, and it was
held at Lausanne, towards the close of September 1536. Both Farel
and Calvin were present, Farel as the chief representative of
Geneva, Calvin as his ally and auxiliary. The conference lasted
seven days, and until the 5th Farel took the lead in the debate;
Calvin was silent. At length he took up the question of the real
presence of Christ at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and
after expressing his ideas as to the nature of the debate itself,
he protested strongly against the reproach of the Catholics
against the Reformers that they despised the Fathers of the
Church, their belief and traditions: 'We read them, and learn
more from them than you do,' said Calvin; 'but we cannot submit
unreservedly to their judgment, because the Word of God forbids
us to do so. How can you dare to assert that whoever does not
acknowledge the absolute authority of the Fathers thereby rejects
all authority whatsoever, even that of the law and the rulers of
his country?'
{216}
And here he referred to all the principal Fathers of the Church,
especially Tertullian, St. Augustine, and Chrysostom; he traced
back all their thoughts to the New Testament itself, to the
Epistles of St. Paul, and that with so much learning and
eloquence that Joseph Jandy, a monk who was present at the
conference, suddenly started up and called out 'that at length he
had found the truth and could understand the teaching of the
Gospel; that if he did not receive it he should commit the sin
against the Holy Ghost; that he now confessed his errors, and
prayed God to grant the same grace to his brethren that they
might also confess theirs.'
Calvin's arguments and eloquence produced so deep an impression,
both in the conference and elsewhere, that the reformed religion
was formally adopted and proclaimed at Lausanne and throughout
the Pays de Vaud, as it had formerly been at Geneva, and Calvin
returned to the latter city towards the middle of October with
greatly augmented fame and influence.
He had need of it; for the task which awaited him and which he
imposed upon himself was indescribably complicated and arduous.
He desired to establish and promote Christian faith in accordance
with his own views;--to secure to the religious society which had
been founded in virtue of that faith, on the one hand religious
independence from state control, and on the other due authority
and power in matters of religion over its members and faithful
adherents; to reform public and private morality both in civil
and religious society, in the name of the allied powers of Church
and State, and by their mutual help.
{217}
Such was the threefold design which Calvin hoped to accomplish.
No doubt he had not set it very distinctly before him, nor had he
fully realized all that it involved and all its difficulties, but
he commenced the struggle with a stout heart and resolute mind.
He returned to Geneva with Farel in October 1536, was elected
pastor and, under this title, solemnly installed in the church of
St. Peter. The first time that he preached there the crowd
thronged around him with loud expressions of satisfaction, and he
was obliged to promise those who had been unable to hear him that
he would preach again on the following day. He and Farel together
drew up a confession of faith: 'a brief formula of belief and
doctrine,' says Beza, 'to give some shape to the newly
established Church. Calvin also wrote a catechism, not that which
we have at the present time, arranged in questions and answers,
but one which consisted of brief summaries of all the principal
tenets of our religion.' On the 10th of November in the same
year, Farel submitted the confession to the Council of Two
Hundred, who ordained 'that the articles should be regularly
observed by the citizens,' but did not definitely adopt them, and
adjourned the discussion of them to another day.
This first confession of faith by the reformed Church in France
was simple in form, moderate in tone, and free from many of the
theological controversies which afterwards arose among the
reformers; its principal object was to separate the reformed
faith clearly and entirely from the Church of Rome, its
traditions, its priestcraft, and its worship; at the same time it
was entirely in harmony with the facts, dogmas, and precepts
contained in the Scriptures, the authority of which it asserted
as the fixed basis and law of Christian faith.
{218}
The confession is divided into twenty-one articles. The
starting-point of the three first is the word and law of God 'as
they are contained in the Holy Scriptures,' and at their close
all the Ten Commandments are inserted according to the version
given in the Book of Exodus. The ten subsequent articles
enumerate and announce the fundamental doctrines of evangelical
orthodoxy; namely, the natural depravity of man, the redemption
by our Lord Jesus Christ, the necessity of faith in Christ for
regeneration and salvation, and they end with the insertion of
the whole of the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer, together
with this previous declaration: 'All that Jesus Christ did and
suffered for our redemption, we believe truly and without doubt
as it is stated in the creed which is recited in the Church.' The
eight remaining articles treat of the sacraments of the Church,
which they reduce to two, baptism and the Lord's Supper; they
very briefly indicate the essential principles of ecclesiastical
organization, the duties of the pastor to his flock, and of
believers to the civil powers: 'By which we mean that every
Christian is bound to pray to God for the prosperity of the
rulers and governors of the country in which he lives, to obey
the statutes and decrees which are not in opposition to the
commandments of God, to strive to promote the public welfare,
peace, and profit, and to take no part in schemes which may
provoke danger and dissension.'
{219}
At the same time in the hands of the Church, and to be exercised
by its authority, these articles formally establish 'the
punishment of excommunication which we hold to be a sacred and
salutary weapon in the hands of believers, so that the wicked by
their evil conversation may not corrupt the good and dishonour
Christ. We hold that it is expedient and according to the
ordinance of God, that all open idolaters, blasphemers,
murderers, thieves, adulterers and false witnesses, all seditious
and quarrelsome persons, slanderers, pugilists, drunkards, and
spendthrifts, if they do not amend their lives after they have
been duly admonished, shall be cut off from communion with
believers until they have given satisfactory proof of
repentance.' [Footnote 73]
[Footnote 73: Gaberel, vol. i. _Pièces Justificatives_,
p. 120.]
Objections and complaints broke out, before long, against a rule
of such religious and moral austerity: the bold innovators, who
in their struggles with dukes and bishops had recently
established the political independence of their country, were as
much accustomed to licence in their manner of life as to freedom
of thought. They accused Calvin of exceeding the duties of his
office: 'It was his place,' they said, 'to explain the
Scriptures; what right had he to meddle with other things, to
talk about morals and find fault? He was to show that they were
right in not having anything more to do with mass, and the Pope,
and confession, and all the rest of it; was he going to revive an
office which they had abolished, and make himself confessor to,
and inflict penance on the whole city?' Calvin did not deceive
himself as to the danger of these attacks: 'We are exposed to the
most serious difficulties,' he wrote to his friend Bullinger,
'for the people in breaking off the yoke of the priests think
that they have shaken off all authority in this world.
{220}
Many of the citizens say, "The knowledge of the Gospel is enough
for us; we know how to read it, and our actions are nothing to
you." The greater number are inclined to look upon us as
preachers rather than pastors. Oh, what a difficult thing the
rebuilding of the Church will be! We shall have to struggle
against all the worst passions of flesh and blood!'
But Calvin and Farel were of the number of those who gain
strength and courage in the face of danger; they addressed a long
memorial to the Council, in which they demanded that the
provisional vote of the previous 10th of November on the
organization of the Church, should be replaced by a decisive
vote; and they pointed out the measures which they looked upon as
essential in a Christian government,--monthly celebration of the
Lord's Supper, excommunication to be put in force, the
introduction of psalm-singing in public worship, instruction of
children in Christian doctrine, and the regulation of marriages.
The Council adjourned the consideration of, or discarded some of
these measures, and accepted others; although they were partisans
of Calvin and Farel, the magistrates were disposed to try
conciliation and patience. The two reformers, on their side,
showed their moderation by consenting to the modifications which
the magistrates desired, and on the 16th of January, 1537, the
Council definitely accepted the confession of faith, and all the
most important resolutions in the scheme of moral and religious
discipline which Calvin and Farel had drawn up.
{221}
Their scheme was put into execution at once; and although it was
not carried out in what the two reformers considered a complete
and satisfactory manner, still the attempt was bold and dangerous
enough in the state of men's minds at that time. One of the
magistrates entrusted with executive power, the syndic Ami
Portal, was a fearless and devoted friend of Calvin's; he
unhesitatingly applied the measures for the promotion of moral
and religious discipline; gaming-houses were closed; gamblers
were seized with loaded dice,--one of them was condemned to sit
for an hour at St. Gervais, with his cards suspended round his
neck; a convicted adulterer was led through the streets with his
accomplice and then expelled from the town; and all masquerades
and immodest dances were prohibited, 'I do not condemn amusements
as such,' said Calvin; 'dances and cards are not in themselves
evil, but how easily these pleasures succeed in making slaves of
those who are addicted to them! Wherever wrong-doing has become
an old-established custom we must avoid every risk of falling
back into it.'
This moral police force was at first well received; rich and
poor, great and small, were alike subject to it, and neither
family influence nor political merit could ensure exemption. A
man of some distinction, who was found guilty of offence, urged
in extenuation of it the services which he had rendered to Geneva
in the hour of peril when her national independence was at stake.
Calvin, to whom he had appealed, answered: 'It is the act of a
disloyal citizen to claim the right of doing evil and setting a
bad example, as a recompense for the blood which he has shed for
his country.' Moral instinct as well as secret jealousy causes
men to take pleasure in the contemplation of virtuous and
impartial severity, but they are none the less influenced by the
clamour of discontented men, and assertions of the right of
liberty.
{222}
There was a violent outbreak at Geneva. Two Anabaptists arrived
there, and were favourably received by the adversaries of the two
reformers; they were members of a sect which was at that time in
great disrepute, both on account of the profligacy which it was
supposed to sanction, and of the mystical doctrines, immoral or
anarchical, held by its members, or attributed to them. Calvin
and Farel were uneasy at this introduction of a new element of
disorder, and were always ready to take part in the intellectual
contest which was kept up on both sides. They demanded a public
conference, at which the two Anabaptists could be openly heard
and refuted. At first the magistrates refused their request: 'It
would be dangerous,' they said, 'on account of the
_tenderness_ of the public mind; it would be better to hear
these men in the council.' Farel persisted; the magistrates gave
way: 'The usual conditions of these theological tournaments were
proposed to the strangers,' says the historian of Geneva,
[Footnote 74] and they consented to submit to banishment or death
in case of defeat.
[Footnote 74: Gaberel, vol. i. p. 281.]
{223}
The discussion lasted for three days. The subjects of the most
important debates were, the sacrament of baptism and the nature
of the soul. Philosophy can show no more luminous demonstration
of the immortality of the soul than that uttered by Calvin. The
reasoning of his opponents does not seem to have been very
conclusive. There were many, however, who took their part; for
those who were secretly vicious were delighted to find that the
words of the Anabaptists made excuses for them; therefore they
held their reasons to be good and valid, and refused to examine
those of the ministers. At the end of three days the Council
seeing that the breach was widening daily, and that the faith of
many began to totter, commanded that the discussion should cease,
and summoned the Anabaptists before them: 'You see,' said the
first syndic, 'that we listen to each one, and that when we have
heard your arguments you cannot prove them to be valid by the
Scriptures. Since therefore you will not retract your errors and
turn to God, we banish you for ever from our land.' The two
Anabaptists left Geneva.
Calvin and Farel were victorious, but they were keenly alive to
the incompleteness of their victory, and the necessity of making
some powerful impression upon the minds of the people. They had
recourse to the two most legitimate and efficacious plans which
they could have adopted: they increased their intimacy with the
citizens, multiplied their visits and the religious instruction
given in private houses, and, acting with the magistrates, they
caused the confession to be printed and distributed among the
people. They thus placed their doctrines and precepts within the
reach of all, and they took great pains to find out the opinions
of the citizens, to strengthen and encourage believers, and to
enlighten and confirm those who hesitated. There was another
French refugee at Geneva, Courault, formerly a monk, then a
preacher of reform, received with favour by the Queen of Navarre,
now old and blind, but eloquent, impetuous, and indefatigable; he
became their colleague in the ministry, and their most popular
agent.
{224}
The assiduous labours of the reformers had the effect which is
invariably produced in the early and violent stages of moral and
social disturbances. Men's passions on both sides became equally
excited; the two parties were sharply divided and hopelessly
separated: the Libertines, as they were already called, became
more turbulent and aggressive; the orthodox believers more harsh
and exclusive. Calvin and Farel demanded that one of the syndics,
accompanied by certain officers, should enter every house, in
order to obtain the adhesion of the inmates to the confession.
The Council consented to take this step, but to the demand for
religious observance of the confession they added the following
restriction, 'as far as may be.' The result of these domiciliary
visits was to show the complete separation and mutual opposition
of the two parties; many of the citizens, some of them men of
good position, others humble and obscure, refused their adhesion
to the confession; one of the first of these sent word to the
Council that 'as to him and his servant there were certain
articles of the confession of faith which they were quite ready
to agree to, but that they could not take any oath about the ten
commandments of God, because they were exceedingly difficult to
keep.' Similar declarations, and the immorality of those who made
them, filled the pastors and their allies with alarm and anger;
in September 1537, when they were about to celebrate the Lord's
Supper, Calvin and Farel demanded that the abettors of the
Anabaptists should be censured before they were allowed to
partake of it; once again the magistrates consented, but they
implored the pastors to be careful and 'to exhort the people
without casting them out of the right path.'
{225}
Both pastors and magistrates felt that they were on the verge of
a crisis; the magistrates, although they did not in theory
acknowledge liberty of conscience, yet in point of fact respected
it, fearing that, unless they did so, public order would be
seriously disturbed, and the city depopulated; the pastors were
afraid that the civil powers would attack the independence and
rights of the Church, and were more and more anxious to assert
and use them so that they might be secured. The commencement of
the year 1538 was at hand, the time when the magistrates were to
be re-elected by the citizens; the pastors insisted on the
acknowledgment of their right of excommunication before they
would consent to celebrate the Lord's Supper; the Council
considered this threat too dangerous, and declared that communion
must be refused to no one. The pastors gave way for the moment,
for they were themselves anxious as to the sentiments of the
people and the result of the approaching elections, and as we
have seen already, Calvin was not incapable either of prudence or
patience. The elections were unfavourable to him; three at least
of the four new syndics were taken from the ranks of his enemies.
The pastors restrained themselves for some weeks longer, and were
content to do no more than call the attention of the Council to
'certain immoralities in the city both by night and day, as well
as indecent songs and language.'
{226}
The new magistrates, on their side, received these complaints
with due consideration, and 'sent criers round the town to
announce, to the sound of trumpets, that no one should dare to
sing indecent songs, or to go out after nine o'clock at night, or
to cause any disturbance or altercation in the city, on pain of
condemnation to bread and water for three days.' Both sides now
hesitated at the prospect of the contest towards which their own
passions, and those of their party, had been hurrying them for
the last eighteen months.
It was an external incident that brought about the explosion. The
canton of Berne and its magistrates had more than once taken up
arms in defence of Geneva, and had always been its faithful
allies; they now tried to induce the Genevese to lay aside their
internal dissensions, and regulate the celebration of the Lord's
Supper according to the same rules, customs, and conditions that
had been adopted in Berne. There were differences of more or less
importance between the Genevese ceremonial and that of Berne, but
they related to matters which clearly affected the authority of
the Church, and Calvin and his colleagues refused to accept the
rules and customs of Berne. Their adversaries were all the more
anxious to conform to them, and desired the magistrates to
enforce them upon the pastors. In March 1538, the difficulty was
submitted to a synod held at Lausanne, a city which was at that
time under the dominion of Berne, and the decision was
unfavourable to Calvin and Farel. They demanded that the question
should be referred to another synod which was about to meet at
Zurich, a city perfectly independent both of Berne and Geneva.
This was peremptorily refused, and the magistrates commanded them
to celebrate the Lord's Supper according to the Bernese custom,
and without refusing it to anyone.
{227}
They declared that they would not submit to commands which were
opposed to the rights of religious authority and to their own
consciences. 'There is,' said Calvin, 'a manifest distinction
between spiritual government and political or civil government.
Christ drew a distinction between the spiritual kingdom of God
and the kingdom of this world. If, therefore, princes usurp
something of the authority of God, we must not obey them, except
in so far as may be done without offending God. Is it any better
to submit to Berne than to Rome?'
But the 'Libertines' opposed Calvin with other weapons than
arguments; popular violence was joined to the injunctions of the
magistrates; 'tumultuous crowds assembled at night, uttering
threats of death against the ministers, discharging arquebuses at
their houses and crying, "To the Rhone with the pastors who will
not accept the Bernese rite!"' The most fiery of the pastors, old
Courault, responded to these threats by insults: 'You gentlemen
who are at the head of the government,' said he from the pulpit,
'you are like Daniel's idol; you have feet of wax. ... Perhaps
you think that the kingdom of heaven is like that of the frogs,
where those who are inside make more noise than the rest. You are
like rats among straw. ... Your flock consists of a troop of
drunkards, without any conscience.' After this attack the
magistrates forbade Courault to enter the pulpit, threatening him
with imprisonment if he did not obey. He made no answer, but a
few days later he preached again, 'using many abusive words
against the magistrates.' He was arrested and imprisoned.
{228}
The irritation which this step produced was extreme, and was
felt, not only by the pastors, but also by their pious and
austere partisans; they resolved to lay their complaint solemnly
before the Council. Calvin and Farel appeared before them,
accompanied by fourteen pious burgesses of note. [Footnote 75]
[Footnote 75: April 20, 1538.]
Farel began abruptly, 'You have acted badly, wickedly,
iniquitously,' said he, 'in putting Courault in prison. I demand
that the matter be brought before the Council of Two Hundred. Ah,
sirs, you should remember that without me you would not be here
now.'
_A Burgess_. 'Yes, sirs, the pastors shall preach in spite
of you.'
_The Syndics_. 'Courault has been imprisoned for abusive
language to the magistrates; he will stay in prison until justice
is done. And you, sirs, the preachers, will you obey the decree
of Berne touching the Lord's Supper?'
_The Pastors_. 'We will only do what God commands us.'
_The Burgesses_. 'Set Courault at liberty. We will give bail
for him.'
_The Syndics_. 'It is not the custom, seeing that he is
imprisoned for contempt of justice.'
_A Burgess_. 'You have imprisoned him on the testimony of
false witnesses; there are traitors here, and I know very well
which they are.'
They separated, the magistrates surprised and provoked, the
pastors and their friends more than ever resolved upon
resistance. That same evening the magistrates sent a messenger to
ask Calvin and Farel: 'Will you preach to-morrow, Easter Sunday,
and administer the Communion according to the tenor of the
letters from Berne?'
{229}
Calvin was alone, and he refused to give any answer: 'Then,' said
the messenger, 'on the part of the magistrates I forbid you to
preach to-morrow; they will find some one else.'
After having taken counsel together during the evening, Calvin
and Farel resolved to preach on the morrow, not in order that
they might administer the Lord's Supper, but in order to reproach
their enemies, magistrates and citizens, with their conduct
towards the defenders of the Reformation. The report spread
rapidly that the pastors intended to preach in spite of the
prohibition of the Council. Early on the morrow a dense crowd,
friends and enemies, filled the churches of St. Peter and St.
Gervais. Farel entered the pulpit at St. Gervais: 'I shall not
administer the Sacrament,' said he, 'but I tell you that it is
not from dislike to the Bernese rite, it is because your own
dispositions render all communion with Jesus Christ impossible.
There must be faith in order to hold communion with him, but you
revile the Gospel! There must be charity, but you are here with
swords and with sticks! There must be repentance; how have you
spent the night that is past?' and he launched into a description
of excesses which were familiar enough to the Libertines. Angry
exclamations were heard on all sides; swords were drawn at no
great distance from Farel; his friends surrounded him; he
descended from the pulpit, and left the church walking slowly,
his head thrown back, fiercely threatened but not attacked.
Similar scenes took place around Calvin in St. Peter's church.
{230}
On the following day [Footnote 76] the Council resolved to adopt
the Bernese rite definitely, and to depose the preachers who
showed such contempt for the law, 'allowing them to remain in
Geneva until others had been found to take their places.' The
next day these two resolutions were confirmed by the general
assembly, convened for that purpose, and an order to Farel and
Calvin was added to 'leave the town in three days.'
[Footnote 76: April 22, 1538.]
The Genevese populace was undoubtedly hostile to the two
reformers, to the supremacy of their faith, and the severity of
their discipline and morality; their hostility was not without a
confused sense of the right to liberty in matters of belief,
although it also arose from vulgar antipathy to the moral results
of the Christian faith and law.
Bonnivard, an old and valued friend of Geneva, often imprisoned
and persecuted for the Genevese cause, and at that time living at
Berne, had predicted this revolutionary violence: 'You hated the
priests,' he said to the Genevese, 'for being a great deal too
much like yourselves; you will hate the preachers for being a
great deal too unlike yourselves; you will not have had them two
years before you will wish them with the priests, and you will
send them off with no other wages for their work than good blows
with a cudgel. The same thing will happen in Geneva which happens
among any people who have groaned for a long time beneath a hard
and tyrannical power; delighted to feel themselves free, their
love of liberty is changed to a love of licence; every man will
be his own master and will live as he pleases.'
{231}
When Calvin received, the order to leave Geneva within three
days: 'Well,' said he, 'so be it; if we had served man this would
be a bad return, but we serve a great master who will reward us.'
Calvin was not presumptuous, but he was proud, and he distrusted
men almost as much as he trusted God; he left Geneva dejected and
sad, and yet with a feeling of relief: 'Whenever I think how
wretched I was in Geneva,' he wrote a little later, 'I tremble
throughout my whole being; when I had to administer the
sacrament, I was tortured by anxiety for the state of the souls
of those for whom I should one day have to render an account
before God; there were many whose faith seemed to me uncertain,
nay doubtful, and yet they all thronged to the table of the Lord
without distinction. I cannot tell you with what torments my
conscience was beset, day and night.' [Footnote 77]
[Footnote 77: Stähelin, 1860, vol. i. p. 157.]
Calvin did not know that he had sown seeds in Geneva which would
soon spring up and bear fruit.
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