SECT. III. his CENT. ments [c]. But the credit and influence of CalXVI. vin were so great at Geneva, that he accomplished PART II. purpose, even in the face of a formidable opposition from various quarters. He established the severest rules of discipline to correct the licentious manners of the times, by which he exposed himself to innumerable perils from the malignity and resentment of the dissolute, and to perpetual contests with the patrons of voluptuousness and immorality. He executed, moreover, these rules of discipline with the utmost rigour, had them strengthened and supported by the authority of the state, excluded obstinate offenders from the communion of the church, by the judicial sentence of the Consistory, and even went so far as to procure their banishment from the city; not to mention other kinds of punishment, of no mild nature, which, at his desire, were inflicted upon men of loose principles and irregular lives [d]. The [c] See a remarkable letter of Rud. Gualtieri, in Fueslin's' Centuria I. Epistolarum à Reformatoribus Helveticis scriptarum, p. 478, where he expresses himself thus: "Excommunicationem neque Zuinglius... neque Bullingerus umquam probarunt, et... obstiterunt iis qui eam aliquando voluerunt introducere... Basileæ quidem Oecolampadius, multum dissuadente Zuinglio, instituerat... sed adeo non durabilis fuit illa constitutio, ut Oecolampadius illam abrogarit," &c. See also p. 90. [d] Of all the undertakings of Calvin, there was none that involved him in so much trouble, or exposed him to such imminent danger, as the plan he had formed, with such resolution and fortitude, of purging the church, by the exclusion of obstinate and scandalous offenders, and inflicting severe punishments on all such as violated the laws, enacted by the church, or by the Consistory, which was its representative. See The Life of Calvin," composed by Beza, and prefixed to his Letters. Spon's Histoire de Geneve, and particularly the notes, tom. ii. p. 45, 65.-Calvin's Letters, and more especially those addressed to Jaques de Bourgogne, published at Amster dam, in 8vo, in the year 1744, p. 126, 127, 132, 153, 157.The party at Geneva, which Calvin called the sect of Liber tines (because they defended the licentious customs of ancient times, the erection of stews, and such like matters, not only by their discourse and their actions, but even by force of arms), ་ SECT. III. The clergy in Switzerland were highly pleased CENT. with the form of church-government that had XVI. been established at Geneva, and ardently desirous of a greater degree of power to restrain the insolence of obstinate sinners, and a larger share of authority in the church, than they were intrusted with by the ecclesiastical constitution of Zuingle. They devoutly wished that the discipline of Calvin, might be followed in their Cantons, and even made some attempts for that purpose. But their desires and their endeavours were equally vain; for the Cantons of Bern, Zurich, and Basil, distinguished themselves among the others in opposing this change, and would by no means permit the bounds, that Zuingle had set to the jurisdiction of the church, to be removed, nor its power and authority to be augmented, in any respect [e]. among the XXXIV. All the various branches of learning, The state whether sacred or profane, flourished among the of learning Reformed during this century, as appears evi- Reformed. dently by the great number of excellent productions which have been transmitted to our times. Zuingle, indeed, seemed disposed to exclude philosophy from the pale of the church [f]; but in this inconsiderate purpose he had few followers, and the succeeding doctors of the Helvetic church was both numerous and powerful. But the courage and reso, lution of this great reformer gained the ascendant, and triumphed over the opposition of his enemies. [e] See the account of the tumults and commotions of Lausanne, in the Museum Helveticum. tom. ii. p. 119.-The dise putes that were carried on upon this occasion, in the Palatinate, which adopted the ecclesiastical discipline of Geneva, are recorded by Altingius, in his Hist. Eccles. Palat, and by Struvius, in his Hist. Eccles. Palat. German. p. 212. [f] Zuingle, in the dedication of his book, De vera et falsa Religione, to Francis I. king of France, expresses him, self in the following terms: "Philosophiæ interdictum est a Christi Scholis at isti (Sorbonistæ) fecerunt eam cœlestia verbi magistram," XVI. CENT. were soon persuaded of the necessity of philosoSECT. III. Phical knowledge, more especially in controverPART II. sies, and researches of a theological kind. Hence The interpreters and it was, that in the year 1588, an academy was founded at Geneva by Calvin, whose first care was to place in this new seminary a professor of philosophy for the instruction of youth in the principles of reasoning. It is true, indeed, that this professor had a very limited province assigned him, being obliged to confine his instructions to a mere interpretation of the precepts of Aristotle, who at this time was the oracle of all the public schools [g], and whose philosophical principles and method were exclusively adopted by all the other Reformed academies; though it is cer tain, that the philosophy of Ramus was, for some time, preferred by many of the doctors of Basil to that of the Stagirite [h]. XXXV. The Reformed church, from its very commenta infancy, produced a great number of expositors tors of of scripture, whose learned and excellent com. scripture. mentaries deserve a memorable place [i] in the history of theological science. The exposition that Zuingle has given of the greatest part of the books of the New Testament is far from being destitute [g] Beza, in his Epistolæ Theologica (ep. xxxvi. p. 156), speak thus: "Certam nobis ac constitutum est, et in ipsis tradendis logicis et in ceteris explicandis disciplinis ab Aristotelis sententia ne tantillum quidem deflectere." [h] See Casp. Brandtii Vita Jacobi Arminii, p. 12, 13, 22, [] Dr. Mosheim pays a tribute to these great men of the Reformed church, that seems to be extorted by justice, with a kind of effort, from the spirit of party. He says, that Zuingle's labours are not contemptible; that Calvin attempt. ed an illustration of the sacred writings; that the New Tes tament of Beza has not, even at this day, entirely lost the reputation it formerly enjoyed. This is faint praise; and therefore the translator has, without departing from the tenor of the author's phraseology, animated a little the coldness of his panegyric, XVI. PART II. destitute of merit [k]. He was succeeded by CENT. Bullinger, Oecolampadius, and Musculus, and also by others, who, though inferior to these SECT. III. great men in erudition and genius, deserve nevertheless a certain degree of approbation and esteem. But the two divines who shone with a superior and unrivalled lustre in this learned list of sacred expositors, were John Calvin, and Theodore Beza. The former composed an excellent commentary on almost all the books of Holy Writ; and the latter published a Latin Version of the New Testament, enriched with theological and critical observations, which has passed through many editions, and enjoys, at this day, a considerable part of the reputation and applause with which it was crowned at its first appearance. It must be acknowledged, to the honour of the greatest part of these commentators, that, wisely neglecting those allegorical significations and mystical meanings that the irregular fancies of former expositors had attributed to the terms of Holy Writ, they employed their whole diligence and industry in investigating the literal sense, the full energy of the words of scripture, in order to find out the true intention of the sacred writer. It must, however, be observed, on the other hand, that some of these interpreters, and more especially Calvin, have been sharply censured for applying to the temporal state and circumstances of the Jews, several prophecies that point to the Messiah, and to the Christian dispensation in the most evident and palpable manner, and thus removing some of the [k] It was not only on the books of the New Testa ment that Zuingle employed his very learned and excellent labours. He expounded the book of Gensis, together with the twenty-four first chapters of Exodus, and gave new ver sions of the Book of Psalms, of the Prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, CENT. the most striking arguments in favour of the divi XVI. nity of the gospel [7]. trine of the church. SECT. III. XXXVI. The state of theology, and the revo PART II. lutions it underwent among the Helvetic and Thetheolo- the other Reformed churches, were pretty much gical doc- the same with what it met with among the LuReformed therans. Zuingle was one of the first reformed doctors who reduced that sacred science into a certain sort of order, in his book Concerning true and false Religion, which contained a brief exposition of the principal doctors of Christianity. This production was followed by one much more comprehensive in its contents, and perfect in its kind, composed by Calvin, and entitled, Institutes of the Christian Religion, which held in the Reformed churches the same rank, authority, and credit, that the Loci Communes of Melanc thon obtained among us [m]. The example of Calvin animated the doctors of his Communion, and produced a great number of writers of Common Place Divinity, some more, others less voluminous, among which Musculus, Peter Martyr, and Piscator particularly excelled. The most ancient of these writers are, generally speaking, the best, on account of their simplicity and clearness, being untainted with that affectation of subtilty, and that scholastic spirit, that have eclipsed the merit of many a good genius. Calvin was a model in this respect, more especially in his Institutes; a work remarkable for the finest elegance of style, and the greatest ease and perspicuity of expression, together with the most perfect simplicity of me, thod, and clearness of argument. But this sim plicity was soon effaced by the intricate science of the [] See Egidii Hunnii Calvinus Judaizans, published at Wittemberg, in 8vo, in the year 1595, which was refuted by David Pareus, in a book published the same year, under the title of Calvinus Orthodoxus. [m] The reader must not forget that the learned aus thor of this History is a Lutheran, |