Calvinism in history
 * *" • •••■• >>- « • • • fc V V Weitoott a Tbombok, Beneii/pen <md Eteetrolffpen, Phikida, TO THE Rev. WILLIAM C. CATTELL, D.D., LL.D., Pkesidbnt of Lafatkttb Colubgb, WHOSE INSTRUCTION IT WAS MY PRIVILBGE TO BECEIV^ WHOSE FRIENDSHIP IT IS MY HONOR TO SHARE, THIS IiITTLB BOOK |0 ^Suiiavaddg ^thkiSLitb. TO THE READER. This little book is made up of six Lectares which were delivered in the Wakefield Presby- terian Church, Germantown, and of whose pub- lication I had, at the time, no thought. The Lectures were the result of my leisure reading on the subject during several years of a busy pastorate. On leaving the theological school at Allegheny, I hardly knew whether I was a Cal- vinist or an Arminian, or a nameless compound of both, although I had had the benefit of Dr. A. A. Hodge's matchless teaching, which I now , regard as one of the greatest blessings of my life. In that very uncomfortable — ^yet very nat- ural — state of mind I set myself to a course of reading, doctrinal and historical, as opportunity offered. One of the results of that reading was these Lectures. My main object in these discourses was to look into the workings of the system of doctrines called " Calvinistic," and by 6 - TO THE READER. its effects upon those who most heartily adopted it to form some definite estimate of its character. Therefore it is that I have brought forward the testimony of a large number of accepted author- ities, many of whom are not Calvinists, and con- sequently not prejudiced in favor of Calvinism. One diiBculty with which I constantly met in writing these Lectures was that of getting so large a subject within limits so narrow. And although I have gone over the ground enthusiastically, I have endeavored to examine the subject honesUy, my own peculiar state of mind precluding all controversial designs. Certainly, I can say that not one unfair statement has been intended; and I trust that the cast of the language employed will not lead any one to infer the opposite. Hoping, then, that this little book, which to me has been a labor of love, will be of some use, and that it may speak a word in favor of a system of doctrine which, however regarded, is based on the truths of God's word and the facts of human experience, I send it forth into the great world of letters. N. S. McFETRIDGE. GEBMAin^OWN, PHILADEIiFHIAy Jan. S, 1882, CONTENTS. I. PAOB. Galtinssh as ▲ PouncAL FOBCX 7 IL Calvinismc as a Poutigal Fobge in the Histobt of THE United States 59 III. Calvinism as a Moral Fobge 103 IV, Calvinism as an Evangeuzino Force 182 r Calvinism in History. I CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. rriHERE is nothing which so oonstantlj controls ■^ the mind of a man, and so intensely affects his character, as the views which he entertains of the Deity. These take up their abode in the inmost sanctuary of the heart, aixd give tone to all its powers and coloring to all its actions. Whatever the forms and activities of the outward life, as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." Men do, undoubtedly, liken Grod, in a measure, to themselves, and transfer to him somewhat of their own passions and predominating moral qualities, and determine the choice of their religion by the prevailing senti- ments of their hearts and the habits in which they have been trained;* but it is also true that their conceptions of God have a controlling influence in forming their character and regulating their con- * See McCosh, Divine OovemTnentj p. 463. 9 10 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. duct. The unfaithful servant in the parable of the Talents gave as the reason for his idleness his conception of the master as a hard and ex- acting man. He shaped his conduct not by what the master was, but by what he believed him to be. And if that divine parable have a world- wide application, it discloses the secret spring of a man's life in the conceptions which he has of God. As these are true or false, so his character and life will be. "As long as we look upon God as an exactor, not a giver, exactors, and not givers, shall we be." "All the value of service rendered,*' says Dr. Arnot, "by intellectual and moral beings depends on the thoughts of God which they en- tertain." Hence no sincerity of purpose and no intensity of zeal can atone for a false creed or save a man from the fatal consequences of wrong principles. There can be, therefore, no better criterion of the character of a man's belief than the effects which that belief produces. "Grapes do not grow on bramble-bushes. Illustrious natures do not form themselves on narrow and cruel theories. . . . The practical effect of a belief is the real test of its fionndness. Where we find an heroic life appear- ing as the uniform fruit of a particular mode of CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 11 opinion, it is childish to argue in the face of fact that the result ought to have been different/'* "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit/' It is by this test that I would now subject Calvinism to a brief historical criticism. Let its works wit^ ness to it, and be its justification or condemnation. What, then, do we mean by Calvinism ? It is foreign to my purpose to enter into any minute detail of the distinctive doctrines of Calvinism or to give in any way a controversial cast to these Lectures; for while I believe Calvinism to be the system of doctrine set forth in the word and works of God, and therefore most favorable to all godli- ness, I am free cordially to allow to all who differ from us the right of private judgment, and sin- cerely to rejoice in all that they are able to accom- plish for the well-being of men and the glory of God. It is the right and privilege of every man and of every body of men to give a reason for the hope that is in them, and to maintain by all lawful means what they conceive to be the truth. Intol- erance is no part of our creed, unless it be the in- tolerance of all shams and lies and hypocrisies. Of such things we all are, I trust, intolerant. * Froude, Cahinimif p. 8. 12 CALVINISM IN HISTORY, Bat as regards the sacred rights and privileges of men^ Calvinism is one of the most tolerant and liberal of all systems of belief. Its adherents are ever found ready to recognize the brotherhood and equality of all evangelical churches, and to unite with them in all liberal ideas and Christian en- terprises. What, then, do we mean by Calvinism ? I will let one answer who has gained the right to answer, and than whom no one is better qualified to answer — the Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander Hodge. He says: "^Calvinism' is a term used to desig- nate, not the opinions of an individual, but a mode of religious thought or a system of religious doc- trines of which the person whose name it bears was an eminent expounder. There have been from the beginning only three generically distinct sys- tems of doctrine, or modes of conceiving and ad- justing the facts and principles understood to be revealed in the Scriptures: the Pelagian, which denies the guilt, corruption and moral impotence of man, and makes him independent of the super- natural assistance of God. At the opposite pole is the Calvinistic, which emphasizes the guilt and moral impotence of man, exalts the justice and sovereignty of God, and refers salvation absolutely CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 18 to the undeserved favor and new creative energy of God. Between these comes the manifold and elastic system of compromise once known as Semi- Pelagianism^ and in modern times as Arminianism, which admits man's original corruption, but denies bis guilt; regards redemption as a compensation for innate, and consequently irresponsible, disabil- ities; and refers the moral restoration of the indi- Tidual to the co-operation of the human with the divine energy, the determining factor being the human will."* We have here, in succinct form, an accurate def- inition of the two systems of theology which are in active operation to-day, and which. Dr. Pusey says, " are now, and probably for the last time, in conflict" t — Calvinism and Arminianism, the former taking its name from John Calvin, a Frenchman, born in 1619, and the latter taking its name from James Herman or (in Latin dress) Arminius, a Dutchman, bom in 1560. These men did not originate the systems of doctrine which bear their names, but only expounded them more fully and developed them into a more perfect form. The same views were maintained at least as early as *John80iC9 OyclopoBdia, art. "Calvinism." + His Letter to the Archbishop of Oanterhury 14 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. the fourth century, when Augustine and Pelagius stood in much the same attitude to each other as Calvin and Arminius in the sixteenth century. Hence Calvinism is frequently and correctly called Augnstinianism ; and Arminianism, Semi- Pelagian- ism. These are the two systems which are now most extensively held, and with the one or the other of them all other Christian theological sys- tems have organic sympathies. Out of Arianism grew Socinianism, and out of that modern Unitarianism, which makes Christ neither a man nor God, but a created being some- where above angels and between humanity and Deity.* And while Arminianism is neither Arian nor Socinian nor Unitarian, these all are Armin- ian. As the writer of the article "Arminianism'' in the Ainerican Oydopcedia says, "Every new phase of Arianism, to this day, is infallibly Ar- minian, though the organic connection of the two is not so manifest from the distinctively Arminian side, at least in modern times." Their organic connection might be easily traced, and their natural affinity easily shown, did it come within our present purpose. But there are other *See Channing's Works, and Joseph Cook's ezposition of them io The Independent, March, 1880. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 15 OHinections and affinities of these doctrines which demand our present consideration. Each of these two systems^ Calvinism and Arminianism, has an organic connection and a natural affinity with a distinct form of church government — ^the C&lvin- istic with the presbyterial or independent form, and the Arminian with the prelatical or episcopal form. As a matter of fact, this has always been so. The Soman Episcopal Church has always been, as a Church, Arminian in doctrine; the Protestant Episcopal Church soon became, as a Church, Arminian in doctrine, although her Thir- ty-nine Articles of Faith are Calviuistic. I once asked a learned Episcopal rector how it came that while his Confession of Faith is Calvinistic his Church is Arminian. Smiling, he replied, ''The Calvinism in the Articles is so weak that you could drive a horse and cart through it at some points.^^ That, I presume, accounts for it. It is not strong enough to hold the Church up to it or to resist the powerful tendency of Episcopacy to Arminian doctrines. The Methodist Episcopal Church also is, as a Church, Arminian. The fact, then, is that Arminianism and Episcopacy do nat- ;urally sympathize and affiliate. There is that in the Arminian doctrines of emotions and worka 16 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. which leads directly to the external forms and ceremonies of Prelacy or Episcopacy. On the other hand^ the Reformed chorohes which took the Presbyterian form of government have always been CaJvinistic. As the Rev. Albert Barnes says, "There are no permanent Arminian, Pelagian, Socinian presbyteries, synods, general as- semblies on earth. There are no permanent in- stances where these forms of belief or unbelief take on the presbyterial form. There are no Presbyterian forms of ecclesiastical administration where they would be long retained."* This connection between the doctrine and the fomi of worship is not superficial or accidental, but inherent. A system of doctrine, as Pelagian- ism, which teaches salvation by our own good works, or, as Arminianism, which teaches salvation partly by works and partly by grace, of necessity sympathizes and affiliates with rites and ceremonies, and lays, in the very spirit of it, the foundation for a ritualistic service. Romanism, which is rigid Arminianism, and Presbyterianism, which is strict Calvinism, are the very antipodes of each other, and have always been in the most uncompromis- * A& quoted by Breed, Presbyterianism Three Hundred Years AgOf p. 11. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 17 ing hostility. Hence the historical fact that the higher the "Churchman" the more intensely Ar- minian he is. " It is a conspicuous fact of Eng- lish history," says Dr. Hodge, "that high views as to the prerogatives of the ministry have always antagonized Calvinistic doctrines."* Hence also the simple republican form of worship in the Calvinistic churches. Buckle, who, himself a fatalist, cannot be charged with partiality toward any Church, says : " It is an interesting fact that the doctrines which in England are called Calvinistic have always been connected with a democratic spirit, while those of Arminian- isra have found most favor among the aristocratic, or protective, party. In the republics of Switzer- land, of North America and of Holland, Calvinism was always the popular creed. On the other hand, in those evil days immediately after the death of Elizabeth, when our libertiJBs were in imminent peril, when the Church of England, aided by the Crown, attempted to sulgugate the consciences of men, and when tlie monstrous claim of the divine right of Episcopacy was first put forward, — then it was that Arminianism became the cherished doctrine of the ablest and most ambitious of the ecclesiastio- * Jokruion's Cydopadia^ art. " Galvinism." 18 CALVINISM IN HISTORY: al party. And in that sharp retribution which followed, the Puritans and Independents, by whom the punishment was inflicted, were, with scarcely an exception, Calvinists ; nor should we forget that the first open movement against Charles proceeded from Scotland, where the principles of Calvin had long been in the ascendant." * Thus we see how Arminianism, taking to an aris- tocratic form of church government, tends toward a monarchy in civil affairs, while Calvinism, taking to a republican form of church government, tends toward a democracy in civil affairs. Allow me to quote again from this eminent Eng- lish author. He says : " The first circumstance by which we must be struck is, that Calvinism is a doctrine for the poor and Arminianism for the rich. A creed which insists upon the necessity of faith must be less costly than one which insists upon the necessity of works. In the former case the sinner seeks salvation by the strength of his belief; in the latter case he seeks it by the fullness of his con- tributions " . . . " This is the first great practical divergence of the two creeds.'^ . . . "It is also observable that the Church of Home, whose wor- ship is addressed mainly to the senses, and which * History of (XviUmtUm^ i. 611. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 1» delights in splendid cathedrals and pompous cere- monies^ has always displayed against the Calvinists an animosity far greater than she has done against any other Protestant sect/^ Continuing in this strain, he observes what he calls "the aristocratic tendency of Arminianism and the democi'atic tend- ency of Calvinism/' and says: "The more any society tends to equality, the more likely it is that its theological opinions will be Calvinistic; while the more a society tends toward inequality, the greater the probability of those opinions beiug Arminian,'' * These views of this writer are abundantly con- firmed by the history bearing upon the subject. The historical fact is that Arminianism tends to beget and to foster classes and castes in society, and to build up a gorgeous ritual wherever it gains a foothold. And so it comes to be true, on the other hand, what the historian Bancroft observes, that "a richlv-endowed Church alwavs leads to Arminian- ism and justification by works." f Now let us glance at the explanation of this his- torical fact. The prelatical or episcopal form of church gov- ♦ History English OiviL, I pp. 612, 613. t JSist4)ry United SUUeSf ix. p. 503. 20 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. ernment, which has always been connected with Arminian doctrines, asserts that all church power is vested in the clergy ; while the republican form, which has always accompanied Calvinistic doc- trines, asserts that all church power is vested in the Church; that is, in the people. This is a radical difference, and " touches the very essence of things." If all the power be in the clergy, then the people are practically bound to passive obedi- ence in all matters of faith and practice ; but if all power be in the Church, then the people have a right to participate in all matters pertaining to questions of faith and practice. Thus the one system subjects the people to the autocratic orders of a superior, the centre principle of monarchy and despotism; while the other system elevates the people to an equality in authority, the centre principle of democracy. On this point I will quote a few sentences from the late Dr. Charles Hodge. "The theory," he observes, " that all church power vests in a divine- ly-constituted hierarchy begets the theory that all civil power vests, of divine right, in kings and nobles. And the theory that church power vests in the Church itself, and all church officers are servants of the Church, of necessity begets the CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 21 theory that civil power vests in the people, and that civil magistrates are servants of the people. These theories God has joined together, and no man can put them asunder. It was therefore by an infallible, instinct that the unfortunate Charles of England said, * No bishop, no king ; ' by which he meant that if there is no despotic power in the Church, there can be no despotic power in the State, or if there be liberty in the Church, there will be liberty in the State."* We find, then, these three propositions proved by historical fact and logical sequence : First, Ar- minianism associates itself with an episcopal form of church government, and Calvinism with a re- publican form of church government; second, Episcopacy fosters ideas of inequality in society and of monarchy and one-man power in civil affairs; and, third, Arminianism is unfavorable to civil liberty, and Calvinism is unfavorable to des- potism. The despotic rulers of former days were not slow to observe the correctness of these prop- ositions, and, claiming the divine right of kings, feared Calvinism as republicanism itself. Now, consider, for a moment, some of the rea- sons which lie in the system of Calvinism for its * Whai is Presbyterianism f p. 11. 22 cA ^jVinism in history. strong hostility to all despotism and its powerful influence in favor of civil liberty. One reason for this may be found in the bound- ary-line which it draws between Church and State. It gives to each its distinct sphere, and demands that the one shall not assume the prerogatives of the other. In this it differs from Lutheranism, "which soon settled down at peace with princes, while Calvinism was ever advancing and ever con- tending with the rulers of this world;"* and from the Anglican system, which began with Henry VIII. as its head in place of the pope. This distinction between Church and State is, as the eminent Yale professor, Dr. Fisher, remarks, "the first step, the necessary condition, in the develop- ment of religious liberty, without which civil lib- erty is an impossibility." t Another reason is found in ihe repvhlioan diar^ aeter of Us polity. Its clergy are on a perfect equality. No one of them stands higher in au- thority than another. They are all alike bishops. Its laymen ghare equally with its clergymen in all official acts — in the discussion and decision of all matters of doctrine and practice. They have * Dr. Henry B. Smith, Faith and Philosophy, f Hist. R^ormaium. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 23 a most important part given them in the right of choosing and calling their own pastor. By being thus rulers in the Church they are taught to claim and exercise the same liberty in the State. It is this feature of the Calvinistic system which has, from the first, exalted the layman. It constitutes, not the clergy, but the Christian people, the in- terpreter of the divine will. To it the voice of the majority is the voice of God, and the issue, therefore, is, as Bancroft observes, "popular sov- ereignty." * Another reason why Calvinism is favorable to liberty lies in its theology. "The sense of the exaltation of the Almighty Ruler," says Dr. Fisher, "and of his intimate connection with the minutest incidents and obligations of human life, which is fostered by this theology, dwarfs all earthly potentates. An intense spirituality, a con- scionsness that this life is but an infinitesimal frac- tion of human existence, dissipates the feeling of personal homage for men, however high their sta- tion, and dulls the lustre of all earthly grandeur," . . . "The Calvinist, unlike the Romanist, dis- penses with a human priesthood, which has not only often proved a powerful direct auxiliary to * HwL U. &, i. pp. 44, 461. 24 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. temporal rulers, but has educated the sentiments to a habit of subjection^ which renders submission to such rulers more facile and less easy to shake off." * Its doctrine of predestination also is calculated to have a tremendous influence on the political character of its adherents. This has not escaped the notice of historians. Bancroft, who, while adopting another religious creed, has awarded to Calvinism the palm for its influence in favor of religious and civil liberty, remarks that "the po- litical character of Calvinism, which, with one consent and with instinctive judgment, the mon- archs of that day feared as republicanism, is ex- pressed in a single word — predestination. Did a proud aristocracy trace its lineage through gener- ations of a highborn ancestry, the republican Re- formers, with a loftier pride, invaded the invisible world, and from the book of life brought down the record of the noblest enfranchisement, decreed from eternity by the King of kings. . . . They went forth in confidence, . . . and, standing surely amidst the crumbling fabrics of centuries of super- stition, they had faith in one another; and the martyrdoms of Cambray, the fires of Smithfield, * See Fisher^s Hist, Reformation. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 28 the surrender of benefices by two thousand non-con- forming Presbyterians, attest their perseverance." * This doctrine " inspires a resolute, almost defiant, I freedom in those who deem themselves the subjects of God's electing grace : in all things they are more than conquerors through the confidence that nothing shall be able to separate them from the love of God. No doctrine of the dignity of human nature, of the rights of man, of national liberty, of social equal- ity, can create such a resolve for the freedom of the aoul as this personal conviction of God's favoring and protecting sovereignty. He who has this faith feels that he is compassed about with everlasting love, guided with everlasting strength ; his will is the tempered steel that no fire can melt, no force can break. Such faith is freedom; and this spiritual freedom is the source and strength of all other freedom ."t Having thus briefly traced the spirit and tendency of Calvinism in relation to liberty, I will now indi- cate, from the testimony of those most capable of giving impartial judgment, what Calvinism has done for civil liberty, * Hut, U, S., vol. ii. p. 461. f The United States as a Naiionj p. 30, by Rev. Joseph Thomp- son, D. D., LL.D. 28 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. And here let it be remarked that events follow principles ; that mind rules the world ; that thought is more powerful than cannon ; that " all history is in its inmost nature religious ;" * and that, as John von MuUer says, " Christ is the key to the history • of the world," and, as Carlyle says, " the spiritual will always body itself forth in the temporal history of men." In the formation of the modern nations religion performed a principal part. The great movements out of which the present civilized na- tions sprung were religious through and through. What part, then, had Calvinism in begetting and shaping and controlling those movements? What has it to show as the result of its labors? A rich possession indeed. A glorious record be- longs to it in the history of modern civilization. Be it remembered that Luther was an Augustin- ian or Calvinistic monk, and that it was from this rigorous theology that he learned the great truth, the pivot of the Reformation and the kindling flame of civilization — salvation, not by works, but by faith (done. True, indeed, that truth was first laid down in the word of God. We can accept as com- plimentary the sneering remark of Ernest Renan, that Paul begat Augustine, and Augustine begat * Dr. H. B. Smith's FaUh and PhiUmphy. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 27 Calvin, and Calvin begat the Jansenists and their brethren. We glory in the lineal descent. And we stand willing also to acknowledge the kindness of Matthew Arnold, when, in his vain attempts to cut Calvinism out of the New Testament and fling it away, he declares Paul to have been the author of it, but excuses the great apostle for being guilty of it by saying that he allowed himself "to fall into it" through mistake and through the specu- lative bent of his intellect.* But one might be tempted to ask Mr. Arnold, How could Paul have ^ fallen into it " unless it had been already in exist- ence ? And from what ground did the great apostle fall ? Truly the Church is in a sad plight if the doctrines of the apostles are the errors which they " fell into " ! It is pleasing, however, to some of us to find such men as these attributing the paternity of Calvinism to St. Paul, and to find them driven to such extremities in their efibrts to explain it away as to be compelled to say that Paul was mad, or, as an Arminian clergyman of our own city has said, that " Paul was not converted when he wrote the book of Romans." So, then, enemies themselves being witness, Paul had laid down the grand truth which Luther found * St Paxd arid PiiritanMm, 28 CALVINISM IN HISTORY, in his study of the Augustinian theology and of the Bible. The Arminianism of the Church of Rome had so perverted that truth, and so wrapped it over with its "works of righteousness," as to make it practically unknown. It was not till Luther had grasped it clearly and firmly in his intellect and heart that it became again a living thing and a mighty force. Henceforth the secret power and stirring watchword of the Reformation was jvsti/l' cation by faith alone. It was this cleanly-cut and strong theology which began the Reformation, and which carried it on through fire and flood, through all opposition and terror and persecution and mis- ery, to its glorious consummation. Hence it was that almost everywhere the Ref- ormation assumed the Calvinistic type, supplanting or absorbing all other reforming ideas. Even in the lands, such as Germany and Switzerland, where the peculiarly Lutheran ideas had first found ac- ceptance, it was " through the influence of Calvin- istic principles that the Protestantism of those lands assumed an external form and organization, and at- tained to definite dimensions in the history of the world."* In this system only were found that vigor and that earnestness which are essential to the highest success. Even Luther himself, when the splendor of Calvin's name was outshining his own, withheld not his admiration and praise from the strict discipline which prevailed in the Cal- vinistic churches, and from that lofty earnestness which pervades the whole Calvinistic system of reform, and which gave it more and more of that steady consistency that was requisite in its conflict with opposing powers, and without which no vic- tory is ever attained.f "The Lutheran congregations were but half emancipated from superstition, and shrank from * Hagenbach's Hi^L B^., vol. ii. p. 350. f Hagenbach. 30 CALVINISM IN HISTORY, pressing the struggle to extremities; and half measures meant half-heartedness, convictions which were but half convictions, and truth with an alloy of falsehood. Half measures, however, would not quench the bonfires of Philip of Spain or raise men in France or Scotland who would meet crest to crest the princes of the house of Lorraine. The Reformers required a position more sharply defined and a sterner leader, and that leader they found in John Calvin. . . . For hard times hard men are needed, and intellects which can pierce to the roota where truth and lies part company. It fares ill with the soldiers of religion when ^the accursed thing' is in the camp; And this is to be said of Calvin, that, so far as the state of knowledge per- mitted, no eye could have detected more keenly the unsound spots in the creed of the Church, nor was there a Reformer in Europe so resolute to exercise, tear out and destroy what was distinctly seen to be false — so resolute to establish what was true in its place, and make truth, to the last fibre of it, the rule of practical life.''* This is the testimony of a man who has no par- ticular love for Calvinism, but who from the high ground of learned investigation looks at it and * Froude, Calvinism^ p. 42. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 31 the man whose Dame it bears through the light of historical fact. And in further explication of this thought allow me to quote again from the same authority : " Was it not written long ago, ^He thdt will save his soul shall lose it'? If we think of religion only as a means of escaping what we call the wrath to come, we shall not escape it; we are already under it; we are under the burden of death, for we care only for ourselves. This was not the religion of your fathers; this was not the Calvinism which over-, threw spiritual wickedness, and hurled kings from their thrones, and purged England and Scotland, for a time at least, of lies and charlatanry. Cal- vinism was the spirit which rises in revolt against untruth — the spirit which, as I have shown you, has appeared and reappeared, and in due time will appear again unless God be a delusion and man be as the beasts that perish. For it is but the inflash- ing upon the conscience of the nature and origin of the laws by which mankind are governed — laws which exist whether we acknowledge them or whether we deny them, and will have their way, to our own weal or woe, according to the attitude in which we place ourselves toward them — inher- ent, like the laws of gravity, in the nature of S2 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. things ; not made by us, not to be altered by us, but to be discerned and obeyed by us at our ever- lasting peril."* This was the Calvinism which flashed forth in the great Reforming days — the spirit which, when Romanists and despots claimed the right to burn all who differed from them, inspired men and women and youth to go forth, Bible and sword in hand, to the greatest daring, appealing for the justice of their cause and the victory of their arms to the Lord of hosts. This was the spirit which acted in those men "who attracted to their ranks almost every man in Western Europe who hated a lie;" who when they were crushed down rose again; who "abhorred as no body of men ever more abhorred all conscious mendacity, all impur- ity, all moral wrong of every kind, so far as they could recognize it ;" who, though they did not ut- terly destroy Romanism, "drew its fangs, and forced it to abandon that detestable principle that it was entitled to murder those who dissented from it." This was the spirit out of which came, and by which was nourished, the religious and civil lib- erties of Christendom; of which Bancroft says, "More truly benevolent to the human race than * Froude's Calvinismf pp. 46, 47, CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE, 33 Solon, more self-denying than Lyciirgus, the genius of Calvin infused enduring elements into the in- stitutions of Greneva, and made it for the modern world the impregnable fortress of popular liberty, the fertile seed-plot of democracy." * That religious and civil liberty have an organic connection and a natural affinity is quite obvious. They hold together as root and branch. " By the side of every religion is to be found a political opinion connected with it by affinity. If the hu- man mind be left to follow its own bent, it will regulate the temporal and spiritual institutions of society in a uniform manner, and man will en- deavor, if I may so speak, to harmonize earth with heaven." t But other influences may be powerful enough to interfere with this natural con- nection of the religious and political belief. The Komanist may choose to be a republican rather than a monarchist, because of the greater advantages which a republic confers, or because he finds him- self in the midst of republican institutions which he cannot hope to alter ; but when a man is free to follow his own inclinations, he will body forth his religion in his political beliefs. Hence it comes that the influence on our republican insti- * Essays, f De Tocqueville, Democracy ^ i. 383. 3 34 CALVINISM IN HISTORY, tutions of a rigid Arminianism^ which has always been wedded to an aristocratic form of church gov- ernment, is unfavorable to their perpetuity. Its whole tendency, politically, is to educate the sen- timents of the people to a spirit of subjection to the rich and powerful, and thus to prepare them for the monarchic form of civil government. Charles I, of England gave as the reason why his father, James I., had subverted the republican form of government of the Scottish Church, that the presbyterial and monarchical forms of govern- ment do not harmonize.* And De Tocqueville, admitting the same, calls Calvinism " a democratic and republican religion." f This is the historical fact, that, while Calvinism can live and do its divine work under any form of civil government, its natural aflBnities are not with a monarchy, but with a republic. This is the reason that it has made so splendid a record in the history of human freedom. Where it flourishes despotism cannot abide. This, says the historian D'Aubign^, ^^ chiefly distinguishes the Reformation of Calvin from that of Luther, that wherever it was established it brought with it not only tndh, but liberty, and all the great develop- * Buckle, ii. 206, note 5. f Democracy^ i. 384. CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 35 ments which these two fertile principles carry with them." * Now, if we ask what Calvinism did for the cause of civil and religious liberty in France and the Netherlands, we have but to turn to the glowing pages of D'Aubign6 and to the enchanting his- tories of our own Motley. It created, under God, the Dutch Republic, and made it "the first free nation to put a girdle of empire around the world." Account for it as one will, the fact is, that until Calvinism took possession of the Netherlanders and gained the ascendency over all other religious be- liefs, the people made but little headway against the powerful empire of Spain ; but from that mo- ment they never faltered for wellnigh a hundred years, until their independence was triumphantly established. Their great leader, William the Si- lent, prince of Orange, was, as it would appear, forced logically, consistently and necessarily to give up first his Romanism and next his Luther- anism, and to become a sincere and rigid Calvin- ist while fighting for his country's independence. Then it was that he began to exhibit such vigor and enthusiasm and perseverance as he had never before exhibited. Then it was that he began to * History Ref. Time of Calvin^ i. 3. 36 CALVINISM IN HISTORY, make those bleak fields of the North to be the light and hope of the Protestant world and the terror of the proud and powerful Philip of Spain. "It would certainly be unjust and futile/' says Motley, "to detract from the vast debt which that republic owed to the Genevan Church. The Reformation had entered the Netherlands by the Walloon gate (that is, through the Calvinists). The earliest and most eloquent preachers, the most im- passioned converts, the subliraest martyrs, had lived, preached, fought, suffered and died with the precepts of Calvin in their hearts. The fire which had consumed the last vestige of royal and sacer- dotal despotism throughout the independent re- public had been lighted by the hands of Calvin- ists. "Throughout the blood-stained soil of France, too, the men who were fighting the same great battle as were the Netherlanders against Philip II. and the Inquisition, the valiant cavaliers of Dauphiny and Provence, knelt on the ground be- fore the battle, smote their iron breasts with their mailed hands, uttered a Calvinistic prayer, sang a psalm of Marot, and then charged upon Guise or upon Joyeuse under the white plume of the Boarnese. And it was on the Calvinistic weavers CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 37 and clothiers of Rochelle that the Great Prince relied in the hour of danger, as much as on his mounted chivalry. In England, too, the seeds of liberty, wrapped up in Calvinism and hoarded through many trying years, were at last destined to float over land and sea, and to bear largest harvests of temperate freedom for great common- wealths that were still unborn."* To the Cal- vinists, "more than to any other class of men, the political liberties of Holland, England and America are due."t Such language might be mistaken for a mere panegyric of an intense Calvinist, did we not know that it is the historical testimony of one who was not a Calvinist, but who, with the fire of freedom burning brightly in his heart, and with a perfect knowledge of what he is saying, pays such lofty tributes to the men who dared maintain the cause of liberty in the earth. This is sufficient to indicate, as I here can only do, what was the influence and what the worth of Calvinism on the liberties of France and the Netherlands. Now let us cross the English Channel and see what Calvinism was as a political force on the * Netherlands ill. 120, 121. t Ibid., iv. 547. 38 CALVINISM IN HISTORY. green soil of England and on the heathered hills of Scotland. It will be borne in mind that we make no such absurd claim as that every one who fought for re- ligious and civil liberty in those days was a Cal- vinist. We claim only that almost all of them were Calvinists and that their great leaders were Calvinists. This is the historical fact, that it was the Calvinists who did the reforming work, rough and sore as it was, in England, Ireland and Scot- land. Henry YIII. only transformed the Church ; he did not reform it. The Anglican Church was established not from the convictions of the people, but by the decree of the king, who became its supreme pontiff. I would not care to say what Lamartine says about the laying of its founda- tions, lest I might be taken as uncharitable toward a Church which I greatly venerate, excepting only that wherein she has been unfaithful to herself and to Protestantism in her High-Churchism, by which she has given occasion to Romanists to call her *^a bulwark against the aggressiveness of the non-con- forming churches," and to plead for her continu- ance on that ground. But all understand how she came into existence — not by the faith of the people, but by the will of the sovereign. Yet no royal CALVINISM AS A POLITICAL FORCE. 39 decree can reform a Church or people. Reforma- tion must be the work of the individual conscience. 