CENT. writers were succeeded by others, who still threw SECT. III. farther light on this important science.

XVI.

'The con

PART II. XXXVIII. The Reformed church was less disturbed, during this century, by sects, divisions, tests of Cal- and theological disputes, than the Lutheran, vin with the which was often a prey to the most unhappy disSpiritual Libertines. sensions. This circumstance is looked upon by

the former as a matter of triumph, though it may be very easily accounted for by all such as are acquainted with the History of the Reformed Church [r]. We have, however, in the writings of Calvin, an account, and also a refutation, of a most pernicious sect that sprung up in that church, and produced troubles of a more deplorable kind than any that happened in our community [s]. This odious sect, which assumed the denominations of Libertines and Spiritual Brethren and Sisters, arose in Flanders, was headed by Pockesius, Ruffus, and Quintin, got a certain footing in France through the favour and protection of Margaret, queen of Navarre, and sister to Francis I. and found patrons in several of the Reformed

that an excessive zeal for doctrine had produced an unhappy neglect of morality," Quod hæc pars prophetiæ (i. e. morality) hactenus minus fuerit exculta, hoc inde fuit, quod primipilares nostri perpetuo in acie adversus hostes pugnare, fidem propugnare, et aream ecclesiæ purgare, necessitate quadam cogebantur, ita ut agros et vineas plantare et rigare non potuerint ex voto, sicut bello fervente usu venire solet." The address to the students of Franeker, which is subjoined to this book, under the title of Parænesis ad Studiosos, &c. deserves to be perused, as it confirms farther what has been already observed with respect to the neglect of the science of morality. "Theologi (says he) præclare se instructos putant ad omnes officii sui partes, si dogmata tantum intelligant.-Neque tamen omnia dogmata scrutantur, sed illa sola, quæ præcipue solent agitari et in controversiam vocari."

[r] Dr Mosheim ought to have given us a hint of his manner of accounting for this, to avoid the suspicion of having been somewhat at a loss for a favourable solution.

IP [] Why all these comparisons? Our author seems, on some occasions, to tinge his historical relation with the spirit of party.

XVI.

SECT.

Reformed churches [t]. Their doctrine, as far CENT. as it can be known by the writings of Calvin and ser. III. its other antagonists, for these fanatics published PART II. no account of their tenets that is come to my knowledge), amounted to the following propositions: "That the Deity was the sole operating "cause in the mind of man, and the immediate "author of all human actions; that, consequently, "the distinctions of good and evil, that had been

46

established with respect to these actions, were "false and groundless, and that men could not, properly speaking, commit sin; that religion "consisted in the union of the spirit, or rational soul, with the Supreme Being; that all those "who had attained this happy union, by sublime contemplation and elevation of mind, were "then allowed to indulge, without exception or "restraint, their appetites and passions; that all "their actions and pursuits were then perfectly "innocent; and that, after the death of the body,

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they were to be united to the Deity." These extravagant tenets resemble, in such a striking manner, the opinions of the Beghards, or Brethren of the Free Spirit, that it appears to me, beyond all doubt, that the Libertines, or Spirituals, now under consideration, were no more than a remnant of that ancient sect. The place of their origin confirms this hypothesis; since it is well known, that, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Flanders almost swarmed with licentious fanatics of this kind.

XXXIX. We must not confound, as is fre- And with quently done, wth these fanatics, another kind the Liberof Libertines, whom Calvin had to combat, and tines of Gewho gave him much trouble and perplexity during the whole course of his life and ministry, I mean

the

[] See Calvini Instructio adversus fanaticum et furiosam sectam Libertinorum, qui se spirituales vocant, in Tractatibus ejus Theologicis.

neva.

CENT. the Libertines of Geneva. These were rather a XVI. cabal of rakes than a sect of fanatics. For they PART II. made no pretences to any religious system, but

SECT. III.

pleaded only for the liberty of leading voluptuous and immoral lives. This cabal was composed of a certain number of licentious citizens, who could not bear the severe discipline of Calvin, who punished with rigour not only dissolute manners, but also whatever carried the aspect of irreligion and impiety. This irregular troop stood forth in defence of the licentiousness and dissipation that had reigned in their city before the Reformation, pleaded for the continuance of those brothels, banquetings and other entertainments of a sensual kind, which the regulations of Calvin were designed to abolish, and employed all the bitterness of reproach and invective, all the resources of fraud and violence, all the powers of faction, to accomplish their purpose [u]. In this turbulent cabal there were several persons, who were not only notorious for their dissolute and scandalous manner of living, but also for their atheistical impiety and contempt of all religion. Of this odious class was Gruet, who attacked Calvin with the utmost animosity and fury, calling him bishop Asculanensis, the new pope, and branding him with other contumelious denominations of a like nature. This Gruet denied the divinity of the Christian religion, the immortality of the soul, the difference between moral good and evil, and rejected, with disdain, the doctrines that are held the most sacred among Christians; for which impieties he was at last brought before the civil tribunals, in the year 1550, and was condemned to death [w].

XL. The

[] Spon's Histoire de Geneve, tom. ii. p. 44. in the Notes of the editor, in the edition in 12mo, published at Geneva in

[w] Id. tom. ii. p. 47, in the Notes.

XVA.

XL. The opposition that was made to Calvin CENT. did not end here. He had contests of another sc T. III: kind to sustain against those who could not relish PART II. his theological system, and, more especially, his Calvin's melancholy and discouraging doctrine in relation disputes to eternal and absolute Decrees. These adversaries with Cas talio; felt, by a disagreeable experience, the warmth and violence of his haughty temper, and that impatience of contradiction that arose from an overjealous concern for his honour, or rather for his unrivalled supremacy. He would not suffer them to remain at Geneva; nay, in the heat of the controversy, being carried away by the impetuosity of his passions, he accused them of crimes, from which they have been fully absolved by the impartial judgment of unprejudiced posterity [x]. Among these victims of Calvin's unlimited power and excessive zeal, we may reckon Sebastian Castalio, master of the public school at Geneva, who, though not exempt from failings [y], was nevertheless a man of probity, and was also remarkable for the extent of his learning, and the elegance of his taste. As this learned man could not approve of all the measures that were followed nor indeed of all the opinions that were entertained by Calvin and his colleagues, and particularly that of absolute and unconditional predestination, he was deposed from his affice in the VOL. IV. Ff year

[x] At this day, we may venture to speak thus freely of the rash decisions of Calvin, since even the doctors of Geneva, as well as those of the other Reformed churches, ingenuously acknowledge that the eminent talents and excellent qualities of that great man were accompanied with great defects, for which, however, they plead indulgence, in consideration of his services and virtues. See the Notes to Spon's Histoire de Geneve, tom. ii. p. 110, as also the Preface to Calvin's Letters to Jaques de Bourgogne, p. 19.

[y] See Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Castalio, in which the merit and demerit of that learned man seem to be impartially and accurately examined.

XVI.

CEN T. year 1544, and banished the city. The magiSECT. III. Strate of Basil received, nevertheless, this ingePART II. nious exile, and gave him the Greek professorship in their university [z].

XLI. A like fate happened to Jerom Bolsec, a French monk of the Carmelite order, who, though much inferior to Castalio in genius and learning, was nevertheless judged worthy of esteem, on account of the motive that brought him to Geneva; for it was a conviction of the ex cellence of the protestant religion that engaged him to abandon the monastic retreats of superstition, and to repair to this city, where he followed the profession of physic. His imprudence, however, was great, and was the principal cause of the misfortunes that befel him. It led him, in the year 1551, to lift up his voice in the full congregation, after the conclusion of divine worship, and to declaim, in the most indecent manner, against the doctrine of absolute Decrees; for which he was cast into prison, and, soon after, sent into banishment. He then returned to the place of his nativity, and to the communion of Rome, and published the most bitter and slanderous libels, in which the reputation, conduct, and morals of Calvin and Beza were cruelly attacked [a]. From this treatment of Bolsec arose the misunderstanding between Calvin and Jaques de Bourgogne, a man illustrious by his descent from the duke of Burgundy, who was Calvin's great patron and intimate friend, and who had settled at Geneva with no other view than to enjoy the pleasure

[x] See Uytenbogard's Ecclesiastical History, written in Dutch, part II. p. 70-73, where that author endeavours to defend the inocence of Castalio. See also Colomesii Italia Orientalis, p. 99-Bayle's Dict. tom. i. p. 792.

[a] See Bayle's Dict. at the article Bolsec.-Spon's Hist. de Geneve, tom. ii. p. 55. in the Notes.-Biblioth. Raisonnée tom. xxxii. p. 446, tom. xxxiv. p. 409.