FROM THE LIBRARY OF
REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D.
BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO
THE LIBRARY OF
PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
WWataa SCO
SectU. / 0 I O U-
In the year 1913, Dr. Good rounded out the series of
Refonned histories by publishing a History of the Swiss Re-
formed Church since the Reformation. Here he presents in
the compass of a single volume the complicated history of the
Reformed Church in the various Reformed cantons of Swit-
zerland. He adopts the biographical method of presentation,
which enables him to make the main events revolve around
important leaders. It is the only book in English which at-
tempts such a broad survey, through five successive periods,
down to the present time. The task is well done and it was
well worth the effort to gather together the many scattered
facts into a unified record.
A MAR 24 1932 ^
& <$*
History of the Swiss Reformed
Church Since the
Reformation
BY
REV. PROF. JAMES I. GOOD, D. D., LL. D.
PROFESSOR OF REFORMED CHURCH HISTORY IN THE
CENTRAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, DAYTON, O.
AUTHOR OF
"ORIGIN OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF GERMANY," "HISTORY
OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF GERMANY," "HISTORY OF
THE REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES." "HIS-
TORY OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED
STATES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY," "FAMOUS
WOMEN OF THE REFORMED CHURCH," "FAMOUS
MISSIONARIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCH,"
"FAMOUS PLACES OF THE REFORMED
CHURCHES," &c.
PHILADELPHIA
PUBLICATION AND SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD
of the Reformed Church in the United States
19 13
Entered, according: to the Act of Congress, in the year 1913
By REV. JAMES I. GOOD, D. D., LL. D.
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington
PRESS OF BERGER BROS., PHILADELPHIA
PREFACE
Switzerland has always occupied a prominent place
in the history of Protestant Europe. Switzerland is a
monument of the reformation. Students of Church his-
tory have diligently studied the influence of the reformers
Zwingli and Calvin in other lands, as France, Holland,
Scotland, etc., but the results of their work in their own
little land, Switzerland, have been largely unnoted. On
the period covered by this volume there is no book in
the English language. The reformation has been ably
and thoroughly described in the works of Schaff, Fisher,
Hagenbach, D'Aubigne and others, but of this period
only a biography or two, as of Haldane, Malan and
Vinet, have appeared in English. Yet the history of
Switzerland, since the reformation, is only second in im-
portance to the history of Switzerland in the reforma-
tion. This volume will, therefore, fill a gap among
church histories in the English language.
The book may also be said to be a tribute by the
author to the beautiful and grand little country in which
he has so often summered. And it also completes a set
of histories written on the Reformed Churches of Ger-
many, the United States, and now Switzerland.
In writing it the biographical method rather than the
topical has been used, so as to make it more intelligible
to the English readers, who, living so far away, are
comparatively unacquainted with many of the characters
who have made the history of the Church of Switzerland
important and grand. The author would also ask that
Swiss readers remember that in English-speaking lands
VI
PREFACE
the word "Evangelical" is used in a narrower sense than
in Switzerland. There "Evangelical" often includes those
whom we consider rationalists, as they are members of
the state or Evangelical Churches, but it never has that
meaning with us. The word "Evangelical" as used in
this book corresponds to the word "positive" as used in
Germany, referring to those who hold to the old tradi-
tional faith. The author also has to confess that in a
number of dates he has been somewhat in doubt, as two
and ever more are sometimes given by different authori-
ties for the same event. He desires also to express his
gratitude to a number of friends in Switzerland who
have aided him by their suggestions, as the late Prof. H.
C. von Orelli, of Basle; the late Prof. F. Barth, of Bern;
Rev. Eugene Choisy, Prof. Lucien Gautier and Prof.
Aloys Berthoud, of Geneva ; Prof. G. von Schulthess-
Rechberg and Dr. Herman Escher, of Zurich ; Rev. G.
Kirchhofer, of Schaffhausen, and others, although he
would not wish them to be held at all responsible for any
conclusions of his. Trusting that this book will interest
English readers in that beautiful little land to which Re-
formed Protestantism owes its birth, this book is sent
forth by the author.
James I. Good.
Philadelphia, April 15, 1913.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BOOK I
THE PERIOD OF CONSOLIDATION
Introduction 3
Part I. The Early Centres of the Reformed Church 7
Chapter I. Zurich 7
Section 1. Antistes Rudolph Gualther 7
" 2. Antistes Lewis Lavater 12
" 3. Antistes John Rudolph Stumpf 14
" 4. Antistes Burkhard Leeman 16
" 5. Antistes John Jacob Breitinger 18
Chapter II. Geneva 32
Section 1. Prof. John Diodati 32
Part II. The Efforts to Introduce Lutheranism 37
Chapter I. Bern 37
Section 1. The Megander-Bucer Controversy 37
" 2. The Reorganization of the Bern Church.. 42
" 3. The Huber Controversy 46
4. The District of Vaud 55
Chapter II. Basle.. t 57
Section 1. Antistes Simon Sulzer 57
" 2. Antistes John Jacob Grynaeus 64
" 3. Prof. Amandus Polanus 66
Chapter III. Schaffhausen 69
Section 1. Antistes Conrad Ulmer 69
Part III. Dangers to the Reformed from the Catholics. 71
Chapter I. The Dangers just after the Reformation... 73
Section 1. Appenzell 74
2. Basle 75
" 3. Geneva and the Escalade 76
4. Valais 79
viii CONTENTS
Chapter II. The Dangers during the Thirty Years' War. 81
Section 1. Thurgau and the Case of Kesselring 82
2. The Massacre of the Valtellina 84
3. Duke Henry of Rohan 90
" 4. The Freedom of Switzerland and John
Rudolph Wettstein 97
Chapter III. The Dangers after the Thirty Y«ars' War 99
Section 1. The Two Battles of Vilmergen 99
2. The Succession in Neuchatel 102
Part IV. The Refugees in Switzerland 105
Chapter I. The Refugees from the Catholic Cantons of
Switzerland 107
Section 1. The Refugees from Locarno 107
2. The Nicodemites 109
Chapter II. The Foreign Refugees 112
Section 1. The Refugees from France 112
" 2. Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigne 116
" 3. The Theological Seminary of Antoine
Court at Lausanne 121
" 4. The Waldensian Refugees from Italy 125
5. The Hungarian Refugees 127
BOOK II
THE PERIOD OF SCHOLASTIC CALVINISM
Part I. The Rise of Scholastic Calvinism 133
Chapter I. Zurich 137
Section 1. Antistes John Jacob Irminger and John
Jacob Ulrich 137
2. Prof. John Henry Hottinger 140
" 3. Antistes Casper Waser 143
" 4. Prof. John Henry Heidegger 144
Chapter II. Basle 146
Section 1. Antistes John Wolleb 146
" 2. Antistes Theodore Zwinger 147
" 3. Antistes Luke Gernler 149
4. The Professors Buxdorf 150
Chapter III. Bern 153
Section 1. Dekan John Henry Hummel 153
" 2. The Adoption of the Piscator Bible by
Bern 151
" 3. The Amended Heidelberg Catechism in
Bern 156
CONTENTS ix
Chapter IV. Geneva 159
Section 1. The Early Orthodoxy under Spanheim and
Turretin 159
2. The Entrance of the Doctrines of Saumur
into Geneva 160
Chapter V. The Formulation and Adoption of the Hel-
vetic Consensus 164
Section 1. The Formulation of the Consensus 164
" 2. Its Adoption by the Swiss Cantons 166
Part II. The Disavowal of the Helvetic Consensus 169
Chapter I. The Influences that Led to its Disavowal. 169
Section 1. The Intervention of Foreign Princes 169
2. Werenfels and its Rejection at Basle 171
3. J. xMphonse Turretin and its Disavowal at
Geneva 173
4. Osterwald and its Disavowal at Neuchatel. 178
Part III. The Retention of the Helvetic Consensus 185
Chapter I. Its Retention at Zurich 185
Section 1. Antistes Antonius Klingler 185
" 2. Antistes Peter Zeller and Antistes Louis
Nuschler 187
Chapter II. Its Retention by Bern 190
Section 1. Prof. John Rudolph Rudolph 190
" 2. The Difficulties of Creed Subscription at
Lausanne 191
BOOK III
THE PERIOD OF RATIONALISM
Chapter I. Zurich 201
Section 1. Antistes John Conrad Wirz 201
" 2. Prof. John Jacob Zimmerman 202
3. Antistes John Rudolph Ulrich 206
" 4. Rev. John Casper Lavater 209
" 5. Antistes John Jacob Hess 236
6. John Henry Pestalozzi 243
Chapter II. Basle 249
Section 1. Prof. John Jacob Wettstein 249
2. Prof. Leonard Euler 252
3. Prof. John Christopher Beck 255
x CONTENTS
Chapter III. Bern 258
Section 1. The Stapfer Family 258
2. Prof. Albert Von Haller 262
Chapter IV. Geneva 278
Section 1. The Downgrade at Geneva 278
2. Prof. Jacob Vernet 282
" 3. Voltaire and the Genevan Church 285
" 4. Rosseau and the Genevan Church 2!»2
5. Prof. Charles Bonnet 301
BOOK IV
PIETISM OR THE REVIVAL
Part I. German Switzerland 307
Chapter I. Bern 311
Section 1. Its Early Pietism 311
2. Rev. Samuel Lutz 320
Chapter II. Basle 330
Section 1. Rev. Jerome D'Annoni 330
2. The Religious Activity of Basle 330
Chapter III. Schaffhausen 344
Section 1. Its Early Pietism 344
2. Its Later Pietism 347
Part II. French Switzerland 353
Chapter IV. Geneva 353
Section 1. The Preparation for the Revival 353
2. The Visit of Haldane 361
3. The Conversion and Testimony of Malan. . 371
4. The Church of the Bourg du Four 375
5. Malan and His Chapel of the Testimony.. 385
6. Felix Neff 396
BOOK V
THE RELIGIOUS EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY
Part I. The German Cantons 403
Chapter I. Introductory 403
CONTENTS
XI
Section 1. Secular Events 403
" 2. The Controversy between Catholics and
Protestants 404
" 3. The Conflict between Rationalists and
Evangelicals 40G
" 4. The United Religious Movements of the
Cantons 408
Chapter II. Basle 410
Section 1. The Call of Prof. De Wette 410
2. Prof. Charles Rudolph Hagenbach 412
" 3. The Later Religious Situation at Basle.. 414
" 4. The Basle Missionary Society 419
" 5. The Other Religious Institutions of Basle. 422
Chapter III. Zurich 425
Section 1. The Preparation for the Strauss Contro-
versy 425
2. The Call of Strauss 426
" 3. The Biederman Controversy 434
" 4. The Later Controversies between Ration-
alists and Evangelicals 438
Chapter IV. Bern 443
Section 1. The Founding of the University 443
2. The Call of Prof. Edward Zeller 445
" 3. The Controversies since Zeller's Depar-
ture 448
" 4. The Evangelical Society of Bern 451
Chapter V. Schaffhausen 456
Section 1. The Defection of Antistes Hurter 456
Part II. The French Cantons 461
Chapter I. Geneva 461
Section 1. The Evangelical Church of Geneva 461
2. The Evangelical School of Theology 463
3. The National Church of Geneva 467
" 4. The Later Events in the National Church
of Geneva 469
Chapter II. Vaud 473
xii CONTENTS
Section 1. The Pietistic Events in the Early Part of
the Nineteenth Century 473
" 2. The Secession of the Free Church of Vaud 476
3. Prof. Alexander Rudolph Vinet 480
4. History of the Free Church of Vaud 487
" 5. The Mission Romande 491
Chapter III. Neuchatel 494
Section 1. Its History in the Early Part of the Nine-
teenth Century 494
" 2. The Free Church of Neuchatel 496
3. Profs. Frederick Godet and A. Gretillat.. 497
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Escalade at Geneva Frontispiece
The Uprising of the Reformed at Schiers 91
Prominent Zurich Theologians— Gualther, Breitinger,
HOTTINGER AND HeSS 142
The Theologians of the Helvetic Consensus — Heidegger,
Gernler, F. Turretin, J. A. Turretin, Werenfels and
Osterwald 168
John Henry Pestalozzi and His Protege 244
Prominent Ministers — Lavater, Malan, Finsler 432
Prominent Theologians — Pictet, Vinet, Godet 477
BOOK I
THE PERIOD OF CONSOLIDATION
History of the Swiss Reformed Church
Since the Reformation*
INTRODUCTION
The age of the Reformers closed with Bullinger
( 1575) and Beza (1605) in German and French Switz-
erland, respectively. At their death, the Protestant
Church entered upon a new era. Their mission had been
to originate the Reformed faith, it remained for their
successors to make it permanent. The period imme-
diately following the reformation may, therefore, be
called the period of consolidation.
For two movements appeared to interfere with the
Reformed faith. The first was an enemy, Catholicism
which hoped to regain the Protestant cantons. The dis-
astrous defeat of Zurich at Cappel ( 1531 ), when
Zwingli lost his life, had been a terrible blow, from
which Protestantism did not recover for a century. It
had taken all the courage and remarkable wisdom of
Bullinger to guide the Church against any reaction to
Romanism. And after his death the Catholic Church
was ever as watchful as a lynx to gain any advantage.
The second movement was not by an enemy, but by
a rival, Lutheranism. The great controversy between
Luther and Zwingli on the Lord's Supper had so far
* The best general religious history of Switzerland is
Bloesch, "Geschichte der Schweizerisch-reformirten Kirchen" (2
vols.). A more popular work is Hadorn, "Kirchengeschichte
der reformirten Schweiz."
3
4 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
been forgotten, that Lutheranism began making inroads
into German Switzerland. The Lutherans of Germany
had not forgotten their disappointment when the Ger-
man and French Swiss had become united by the Ti-
gurine Confession (1549), for they had hoped to cap-
ture German Switzerland. And the Lutheran party in
Switzerland used every effort to Lutheranize the Protes-
tant cantons.
Over against these movements it took the Reformed
Church about three-quarters of a century to perma-
nently consolidate herself, indeed some of the Catholic
controversies were not settled until the nineteenth cen-
tury. But by the end of the Thirty Years War (1648),
it may be said that Protestant Switzerland became con-
solidated into a Reformed Church, uniform in doctrine,
worship and custom.
Before entering into the religious history of Switz-
erland, it may be well to pause a moment on the political
situation in that land. At the reformation, of about a
dozen cantons, Protestantism had four, but they were
the larger ones containing the large cities, Bern, Zurich,
Basle and Schaffhausen. Catholicism had seven, Lu-
cerne, Zug, Uri, Unterwalden, Schwyz, Freiburg and
Solothurn. Appenzell was divided in religion and soon
became a divided canton. Geneva tried to join the Swiss
confederacy in 1557, but the jealousy of the Catholics
against any increase of Protestant power in the Swiss
diet prevented.* These cantons were controlled by a
* This arrangement of the cantons continued until 1803, when
the Act of Mediation added six more, St. Gall, Grisons, Aargau,
Ticino, Thurgau and Vaud. Since the fall of Napoleon, three or
four more have been added, Geneva, Glarus, Valais, and later
Neuchatel. Just after the reformation, the districts east and
northeast of Zurich, as Glarus, Grisons, St. Gall (the Protestant
part) and Thurgau, were loosely connected with Zurich, es-
pecially religiously, though not politically included in her; and
Bern was so large at that time as to include within herself the
later cantons of Vaud and Aargau.
INTRODUCTION 5
diet. The four Protestant cantons were also under the
control of a diet. The first diet we will call the Swiss
diet, the last the Evangelical diet.* Over against the
Evangelical diet the Catholic cantons formed the Cath-
olic League. It is very evident that the bond that
bound the cantons was very loose, because they often
made alliances independently of each other and some-
times went to war with each other. It was not until
the Napoleonic wars had thoroughly overturned the old
regime that these cantons finally coalesced into the pres-
ent government of Switzerland.
We will first study the two great centers of the Re-
formed Church, Zurich and Geneva, which never
swerved in their loyalty to the Reformed faith ; then we
will take up those cantons in which Lutheran tendencies
began to appear, and, finally, we will watch those can-
tons and districts which Catholicism made a determined
effort to regain.
* This distinction between the Swiss diet and the Evangelical
diet should be carefully kept in mind in reading this work.
PART I
THE EARLY CENTRES OF THE REFORMED CHURCH
These were Zurich and Geneva. These cities not only
never swerved from the Reformed faith, but they also
exerted a predominating influence, for they had been
respectively the cities of the two great reformers, Zwingli
and Calvin.
CHAPTER I
Zurich*
The religious history of Zurich, in this period, can be
best revealed by studying her antistes.f The antistes
was not a bishop or even a superintendent as in the
Lutheran Church, but an equal, the first among equals;
for the Swiss Church, in government, was essentially
Presbyterian, like the rest of the Reformed Churches.
Section i
ANTISTES RUDOLPH GU AETHER (l575'85)
It is remarkable that Zurich in the reformation had
such a succession of able men as leaders. From 1519-
1585, nearly three-quarters of a century, her leadership
was in the hands of men of the highest ability. God
* The best history of the Zurich Church is "Die Zurcher
Kirche," by Zimmermann.
t The antistes was the head-minister of the Church. Other
cantons, as Basle, Schaffhausen and St. Gall, also called their
head-minister antistes; but it is now generally given up, except
in Basle.
7
8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
always provides great leaders for great eras. It is re-
markable that Zwingli should be followed by so able
and wise a leader as Bullinger, and now the third
antistes, Gualther, is almost as great as either of his
predecessors.
Gualther was born at Zurich, November 9, 15 19.
He was a poor boy whom Bullinger took into his family
and taught languages. For Bullinger not only welcomed
the refugees who came to Zurich from other lands, as
England, but he also took into his own family promising
young Swiss, whom he trained up for the ministry. After
completing his studies at Zurich, Gualther, as was then
the custom of the times, visited foreign universities at
the expense of his native city.* Gualther went to Basle
(1538), and to Lausanne (1539), so as to learn French.
In 1540 he went to Germany to the universities of Stras-
burg and Marburg. While at Marburg he went, at the
expense of the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, to the diet
of Ratisbon, where he saw Calvin and Melancthon. In
1541, he returned to Zurich. In that year he married
Regula Zwingli, the daughter of the Reformer. For
Bullinger, in his large-heartedness, had taken into his
family the wife and children of Zwingli, and cared for
them as his own. What was more natural than that the
two young people should become enamored with each
other and finally marry.
In 1542, Gualther was called as the pastor of one
of the most important of the churches of the city of
Zurich — St. Peter's — the church which had had for its
pastor Leo Juda.f His sermons soon caused a sensa-
* Zurich considered herself honored in thus honoring her
sons, and for this she was abundantly repaid, as she raised up
for herself men who became her future leaders.
f Zurich had four churches, the Cathedral and the Preacher's
Church on the northeastern side of the Linmat river; the
Fraumunster and St. Peter's on the southwestern side, to which
was later added the Orphanage Church.
ZURICH 9
tion, especially his sermon on the pope as Antichrist.
It happened that while preaching on the gospel of
Matthew (for he, like the other Reformed reformers,
preached on a book of the Bible, verse by verse), when
he came to the 24th chapter, he spoke of the pope as
Antichrist and of the monks as the modern representa-
tives of the Pharisees. This would not have been no-
ticed had not his friends demanded that his sermons
should be published, and they proved so popular that
they were translated into Latin, French, English, Span-
ish, Italian and Polish. They were praised by the
Protestant world as the leading work of their day against
the papacy. But the Catholics, ever on the watch,
brought charges against them at the Swiss diet, for ever
since the defeat of Cappel (1531), the Catholics were
on the offensive, so as to reveal, if possible the weak-
ness of Protestantism. The Swiss diet ordered Zurich
to punish Gualther. When called before the city council,
he defended himself eloquently. He declared that it
had not been his purpose to disturb the peace between
the Protestants and Catholics by preaching thus. But
he said he wondered at the complaint, when Luther and
Zwingli had both spoken in the same severity against
the pope; yes, even Catholics, as Petrarch and Bernard,
had said severer things against the papacy. The Zurich
council decided not to punish him; but the Catholics
brought it up at the next diet, and they kept agitating
against him, even as late as 1586.
The Catholics, finding that they could not thus si-
lence him, then tried to put him out of the way secretly ;
but God preserved him.
There is a story that on a Friday, the usual market
day, as he was going to hear Bullinger preach at the
early service on the prophet Jonah, a man met and ad-
dressed him, "Gualther, out of my great love to you, I can
not refuse to tell you of your great danger. For next
week, three young men of medium stature clothed in
I0 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
white like the Italians, will knock at your door. If they
are left in they will greet you in a friendly way. Beware
that you do not receive them under your roof without a
companion. And if they are left in by your servant, do
not read their letters in their presence ; but do something
else lest you be harmed by them." When Gualther asked
him his name, he replied he should not trouble himself
about it, but be careful to mind the warning. As they
talked he went with Gualther into the church. Later,
Gualther began thinking about this, whether it was an
angel that appeared to him or not. For he asked many
of the citizens who were present when he talked with the
man, whither he went or if they had seen him. But they
declared they had not. And when they sought for such
a man at the hotels he was not to be found. Gualther,
therefore, felt it was a warning sent from God. He con-
sulted with Bullinger and put the people of his house on
their guard, ordering that they should not allow any one
with letters to come into the house, but should take the
letters from them and leave them standing at the door.
Sure enough, fifteen days after this warning, three
young men dressed as the old man said, appeared.
They said they were students and had letters for him and
wished to speak to him. Joshua Petonus, who was carry-
ing food from the kitchen to the table, happened to open
the door. They came quickly into the room. When
Gualther, who was about eating his dinner, saw them,
he rose quickly from the table and approached them with
a brave heart. For he had in his right hand the knife he
used at dinner and in his left hand a dagger. When they
saw Gualther thus armed and that he had at his table
several students, who were also armed with daggers, they
lost courage. When Gualther asked them whence they
came they replied that they were from Basle and brought
letters from Peter Peruna. He asked them where they
lodged at Zurich and they told him at the Sword Hotel.
He answered "That is well, go back there. After dinner
I will read your letters and answer them and will call
on you." They left trembling, not daring to lift a finger
against him. As soon as they were gone, he sent a boy to
the hotel, but found all their statements were false. And
when he inquired further, he learned that they had horses
in a neighboring village with which, when they had
ZURICH II
murdered him, they hoped to escape. So God spared his
life.*
His ministry at St. Peter's was so successful and in-
fluential that when Bullinger died there was no question
who would succeed him. So Gualther was elected an-
tistes in 1575. As head of the Church, he introduced
a number of reforms. He set aside the observance of
fastnacht, a custom that has come down from the Cath-
olic Church, and which led to revelry and dissipation.
He introduced evening services into the cathedral.f
These services became so popular that by 1583 the min-
isters of the other congregations had begun them. He
died December 25, 1586.
Gualther was a man of mark. "Zwingli," says Zim-
merman, "excelled in his fiery reforms, Bullinger in his
excellent commentaries and interpretation of the Church
Fathers, Gualther in his elegant sermons and homilies."
He published a number of homilies on different books
of the Bible. He also did the Church a great service in
publishing the works of his father-in-law, Zwingli. His
style was elegant and he was a fine combination of a
scholarly, Biblical, and yet popular, teacher.
Two men deserve to be mentioned as associates of
Gualther in giving the theological school at Zurich its
fame.
Josiah Simler, the son-in-law of Bullinger, was born
November 6, 1530, at Cappel. He became the assistant
at the St. Peter's Church, Zurich (1557-60). When
Bibliander retired (1560), and Peter Martyr died (1562),
he was made professor of theology. He was also fa-
* He narrated all this to Francis Rambuletre, a French
nobleman; to Arnold Westerwald, a Frieslander ; to Dyonisius
Melander and Frederick Conders, the mayor of the republic of
Groningen, who happened to be guests at his table, October 1,
1561.
t The cathedral is the parish church of the antistes.
12 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
mous in mathematics, astronomy and history. He is
well known by his work, "The Helvetic Republic." He
was greatly beloved as a teacher by the English refugees
at Zurich. He was prominent as a polemist against
Stancar and as an apologist for orthodoxy. He died
July 2, 1576.
Rudolph Collin was born in canton Lucerne, but fled
from that canton because threatened with death for his
Protestantism. He came to Zurich, where he became
professor of Greek. He was Zwingli's companion to
the conference at Marburg in 1529. He died in 1578.
Section 2
antistes lewis lavater ( 1 585-86)
The Lavater family was one of the noblest of the
Zurich families, and as pious as noble. It had given
many prominent men to Zurich. His father was one of
the most ardent supporters of Zwingli in his reforms.
He was a brave soldier, and was sent to the pope, in
1524, about the unpaid salaries of the Swiss soldiers.
There, while Werdmiller kissed the foot of the pope,
Lavater remained standing, in spite of their order that
he should follow his companion's example. When the
pope charged that his masters in Switzerland were here-
tics who ought to be driven off of the face of the earth,
he boldly replied that his masters clung to the religion
of the Old and New Testaments, and were obedient to
God, a reply which was greeted with ridicule by the
bystanders. Thus, even to the pope's face, he dared
bear witness for the truth. He was the leader of the
Swiss soldiers at the defeat of Cappel, and though cen-
sured, was exonerated, and remained magistrate till 1544.
It was very fitting that this prominent and staunch
Protestant family should be represented in the antistes'
chair.
ZURICH 13
Lewis Lavater was born March 1, 1527. As a boy, at
Kilchberg (where his father was magistrate), while
playing with his sister in a room of the castle, he sud-
denly tore himself away, and the next moment the light-
ning, so fearful in Switzerland, struck the room. Pre-
served thus for great purposes, he studied at Zurich and
then went abroad to study. At Strasburg, he met Bucer
and Sturm. After returning through Paris and Italy,
he became pastor at Horgen and then of the Fraumunster
at Zurich. He married Margaret Bullinger, the daugh-
ter of the reformer. After Simler's death, because of
his recognized scholarship, he was elected professor of
theology, but declined. When Bullinger became old he
did much to aid him, especially in preaching. He was
a faithful pastor, and, like his father-in-law, when he
found a promising lad he aided him to an education.
One of his proteges was Baumler, later the composer
of the Zurich catechism.
He was also active in the introduction of singing
into the churches of Zurich ; for Zurich, in its opposition
to papal rites, had gone to the other extreme, and had
cast out the organ and abolished singing in the church
service. Basle, however, retained singing, as did Win-
terthur and Stein on the Rhine, both in the canton of
Zurich. But Lavater was too early to succeed in its in-
troduction into the church service. When Gualther be-
came incapacitated, he was chosen antistes December
29, 1585 ; but his antisteship was very brief, for he died
July 15, 1586. His term was too short to accomplish
anything. He, however, left behind him, as a relic of his
scholarship, one of the most important books on early
Reformed Church history— a small work on the rites of
the Church.* It was published 1539, later, 1702, by
Ott, with some additions. It gives a clear view of the
*"De Ritibus et Institutis Ecclesiae Tigurinae."
I4 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
early customs of the Reformed Church. This book and
the later work of Herrliberger,* the latter having pic-
tures of the religious customs, give a quite complete
view of the rites and customs of the Zurich Church and
are invaluable to the student of Reformed worship.
Lavater also wrote a doctrinal work on the origin and
progress of the controversy between Luther and Zwingli.
Like Zwingli, he published commentaries on many of the
books of the Bible. So excellent an exegete was he
that he is still referred to as by Zockler in his recent
work on Chronicles.
Section 3
antistes john rudolph stumpf (1586-92)
After Lavater's brief antistesship, the office was held
open for a month in the hope that Gualther, who was
still living, might be able to fill it; but when this was
found impossible, Stumpf was elected, August 24, 1586.
His father, like Lavater's, had been a strong adherent
of the Reformation, having been one of the delegates
from Zurich to the Bern conference in 1528. He then
published a "History of the Council of Constance," and
later wrote one of the most important historical works
of that period — the largest work of the day, "The Swiss
Chronicles," 1547.
John Rudolph, his son, later the antistes, was born
August 27, 1550, and was educated at Zurich. When
seventeen years of age he was sent to deliver his father's
"Swiss Chronicles" to some of the thirteen cities, to
which he presented it. At the close of his studies at
Zurich he went to England with Bishop Hooper, where
he was most cordially received by Cranmer, to whom
Bullinger had given him a letter of introduction. In
* "Heilige Ceremonien gottesdienstliche Kircheniibungen und
Gewohnheiten der reformirten Stadt Zurich," 1750.
ZURICH
15
1584, he became pastor at the Preacher's Church, at
Zurich, and in 1586 he was elected antistes. He did
not reveal the ability of his predecessors in this office,
perhaps because he did not have the opportunity. By
this time the aim of the Zurich Church was not to
progress, but to conserve. His mission, therefore, seems
to have been to preserve the traditions handed down to
him. He, however, reveals the growing tendency of
Zurich to high-Calvinism. Zurich, under Zwingli and
Bullinger, had held to a broader and lower Calvinism, —
that is, while they held to election, yet it was not the
formative principle of their theology as of Calvin's, and
they both held to universal rather than to limited atone-
ment, thus emphasizing redemption rather than elec-
tion. Of the prominent theologians of Zurich, the only
one who, up to this time, had been a high-Calvinist, had
been Peter Martyr, and he had come there as a stranger.
Zurich had stood for low-Calvinism. But now, how-
ever, high-Calvinism came to the front. For when the
controversy broke out in Bern between the Calvinists
and their opponent, Huber, Stumpf took a strong stand
for high-Calvinism. In the name of the Zurich Church,
he wrote its instructions to that council at Bern, which
was to decide that controversy.
With this strictness of doctrine came in also strict-
ness of morals. In 1586, a law was enacted that, dur-
ing the early Church service on Sunday, all shops must
close ; that in towns, one person in each family must
go to church, and that the service must not last longer
than three-quarters of an hour. He urged Switzerland
to become united in its Reformed faith, and to this end
tried hard to get Basle to adopt the Second Helvetic
Confession, but in vain. Zurich also aided the Protes-
tants of the canton of Appenzell to become separated
from the Catholic part of that canton. He died Jan-
uary 19, 1592.
t6 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Section 4
antistes burkhard leeman (1592-1613)
The year of Zwingli's death was the year of his
birth (1531). After studying at Zurich, he visited Bern
and Marburg, where, in 1554, he received the degree
of master.* He was, therefore, called Master Leeman.
In 1560, he became assistant at the cathedral at Zurich
and professor of Hebrew; in 1571, pastor of the
Preachers' Church, and in 1584, of the Fraumunster.
In 1592, he was elected antistes.
His most important work was his Catechism, which
met a felt want in the Church. Leo Juda had written
his excellent catechisms, a larger in 1534, and a smaller
in 1 54 1. But they ultimately proved unsatisfactory, the
former being too abstract for the youth, and the latter
too brief. So, in 1594, Leeman published a catechism
which became so popular that it ran through three edi-
tions by 1606. It followed the Heidelberg Catechism
in its threefold division of misery, redemption and
thankfulness. It mediated between Juda's catechism be-
fore him and Baumler's "Zurich Catechism" after him.
He was also active in the moral history of Zurich.
He became greatly alarmed at the increase of luxury
which threatened to imperil the peculiar simplicity of
Swiss life. As the state did nothing about it, he and
the ministers of Zurich went before the city council
and gave them the alternative of either punishing the
guilty, or the Church would take it out of their hands
and announce them publicly from the pulpit. f This
alarmed the state, as it forboded a conflict between
* The Swiss rarely received these honorary titles from uni-
versities. Zwingli, when he received the master's degree, only
replied: "One is your Master, Christ." This set a prejudice in
Switzerland against such degrees as ministering to pride.
t Zwingli and Zurich never gave the autonomy to the Church
ZURICH 17
Church and state, and if the former were victorious,
might lead to the introduction of Calvinistic Church dis-
cipline. In 1601, the city council, alarmed at the sharp
preaching of the ministers, called them before it, when
Leeman strongly defended himself and his brethren.
But it was found impossible to carry out the strict laws
demanded by the clergy. Leeman even went farther and
advocated the introduction of Church discipline by the
Church. We here see how Calvinistic Church govern-
ment as well as Calvinistic doctrine was strongly affect-
ing the Zurich Church. Leeman also urged the intro-
duction of singing into the service, and the city council
finally gave permission (1698), but on condition that
the hymns should be sung without the use of the organ.
He died September 12, 1613.
Two important professors, in this period, need to
be noted.
Prof. John William Stucki was born 1542. He
studied at Zurich, and then went to Lausanne, Stras-
burg and Paris. While there, at the request of Peter
Martyr, he accompanied the latter to the famous Con-
ference of Poissy, near Paris, 1561, where Beza so elo-
quently defended the Huguenots. Then he went to
Italy, staying over a year at Venice, studying, especially
Chaldee and Syriac, with a learned Jew. In 1568, he
returned home and was elected in Bibliander's place as
professor of the Old Testament. He represented Zurich
at the Bern Conference, in 1588, where Huber attacked
Beza's doctrine of election as being foreign to the early
Reformed Church. Stucki there revealed his high-Cal-
vinism by taking sides against Huber and for Beza. He
and antistes Stump f committed the Zurich Church to
that Calvin did. To the Church was given the function of
teaching religion, and to the State that of disciplining its mem-
bers. Hence those who were censured and excommunicated by
the Church were arrested and put in prison.
2
t8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
high-Calvinism. He also supported the antistes when
he favored the introduction of the Calvinistic. views of
church discipline into the Zurich Church. The publi-
cation of the Lutheran "Formula of Concord" drove the
Reformed closer together, and, therefore, Switzerland
tried to get nearer the Reformed of Germany. He was,
therefore, sent by the Evangelical Diet (1580), to Prince
Casimir of the Palatinate to get him to use his influence
at the diet at Augsburg for a more favorable attitude
toward the Reformed. He died 1667.
Another prominent professor was Marx Baumler.
He was as prominent in practical theology as Stucki was
in dogmatics. Born 1555, his talents were early recog-
nized by Lewis Lavater, who aided him in his studies.
He studied at Zurich, Geneva and Heidelberg, and then
spent considerable time in the Palatinate Church, where
he became inspector of Alzheim. Recalled to Zurich
1594, he became professor of catechetics, and in 1607
professor of theology. As a theologian he was a Cal-
vinist, and was attacked by Kauffman for introducing
the doctrine of election of grace. He made a defence
before the city council (1597) in which he quoted
Zwingli, Bullinger, Gualther and Lavater as holding that
doctrine. But his most important work was the Zurich
catechism (1609). It was a combination of the Heidel-
berg Catechism with Leo Juda's, and continued in use
until the last century. He died 161 1.
Section 5
antistes john jacob breitinger (1613-45)*
At last the glory of the early Zurich Church seemed
to return again in Breitinger. As long as Zwingli, Bul-
linger and Gualther lived, Zurich occupied the front rank
* See Zimmermann's "Die Zurcher Kirche," pages 143-184.
Also Morikofer's "J. J. Breitinger."
ZURICH 19
in the Reformed Church in learning and influence. They
were followed by lesser lights. Breitinger was the
brightest light among the antistes after the reformation.
Indeed, Zurich, in all her history, has had only five an-
tistes of the first rank, Zwingli, Bullinger, Gualther,
then, after a quarter of a century, Breitinger, and a
century and a half later, Hess, at the end of the eigh-
teenth century. Breitinger gave the Zurich Church the
stamp it bore until in the nineteenth century.
Fortunate was it for Zurich that she had such a
leader just at that time. For great conflicts then arose:
theological controversies as between the Calvinists and
Arminians, into which the Swiss were drawn, and
also political dangers owing to the Thirty Years War.
A man of profound sagacity, far-seeing vision, com-
manding influence and strong faith was needed to guide
the Church on the troubled seas. Breitinger proved to
be the man for the hour. He made Bullinger his model
and had ability and wisdom enough to make himself
worthy of him. He combined, in a remarkable degree,
learning, eloquence and common sense.
The year of Bullinger's death was the year of his
birth, April 19, 1575. His father dying when he was
but six years old, he had the good fortune to be reared
by a great uncle as his own son. While attending the
Latin school at Zurich, Antistes Lavater, his teacher,
once laid his hand on him and gave utterance to the
wish that he might follow his footsteps and ultimately
become antistes. But, for a long time, he was dull and
slow in his studies, so that in 1592 he felt like giving
up the ministry and going to a trade. It was especially
the tears of his mother that prevailed on him to con-
tinue his studies. From that time he was a changed young
man and began to reveal unusual diligence and aptitude
for study. After studying at Zurich he went abroad
(1593-96). First he went to the university of Herborn,
20 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
in Germany, to hear Professor Piscator. After a year's
diligent study there he went to Marburg, where he
studied philosophy under Professor Goclenius. Then, in
1594, he went to the university of Franeker, in Holland.
Everywhere he gained the special friendship of his pro-
fessors by his diligence and force of character.
His student life in Holland seemed a prophecy of his
later relations to the Dutch in the synod of Dort. At
Franeker he studied with many who afterwards became
his fellow-members of that synod. Thus Bogerman, later
the president of the synod, sat at the same table with
him. Then he went to Heidelberg, but the plague broke
up the university, and he went to Basle, where Grynaeus
and Polanus were named "the two beautiful lights of
learning." Wherever he went he was given unusual ad-
vantages and shown special honor. At Herborn, he
lived with a son of the author of the Heidelberg Cate-
chism, Olevianus, and at Basle, with Castelin, the pro-
fessor of eloquence.
In 1597, he returned to Zurich and became pastor at
Zumikon.* In 1610, he became assistant at the Latin
school of the cathedral at Zurich; in 1605, professor of
logic in the new college of humanities at the Frau-
munster Church there. At that time he felt like giving
up the ministry on account of ill health. Once, while
preaching in the Fraumunster, suddenly, to the horror
of his hearers, his mind became a blank. He recovered
himself and closed the service. But he never after as-
cended the pulpit without fear.f In 1609, without his
* His biographer notes a strange coincidence here. When
Breitinger was a babe, his mother, accompanied by a servant
who carried him in a cradle on her head, sought shelter there in a
hotel from a sudden rain-storm. And now this babe grown to
manhood became their pastor. This coincidence, together with
his unusual ability, greatly endeared him to this congregation.
t In this he fulfilled the Latin motto, "qui ascendit cum hor-
rore, descendit cum honore." (He who ascends it with fear de-
scends it with honor.)
ZURICH 21
knowledge, he was appointed assistant to the antistes.
The weekly services at the cathedral were turned over
to him, and his preaching became very popular. In 1611,
he was called as assistant to the St. Peter's Church, and,
soon after, a strange event occurred. Without inform-
ing his friends, he accepted an invitation to a vacation
trip to Geneva. Hardly had he departed when the plague
broke out in Zurich which caused 4,500 deaths. The
rumor spread abroad that he had fled because of the
plague. So great was the feeling against him that the
city council considered how they might punish him for
leaving his post at such a critical time, and his wife
feared to go out into the street. Of all this he knew
nothing until he returned after a journey which lasted
several weeks. He at once disabused the minds of the
Zurich people by becoming the most active in the visi-
tation of the sick. He was busy from morning till
night and often at night a half a dozen persons would
be waiting at his house with lanterns to take him to
the sick. Fortunately, God's providence watched over
his life, so that he did not catch the dread disease. As a
result from being the most unpopular minister of the
city he became the most popular. No wonder, then, that
when, two years later, the position of antistes became
vacant, he was elected to it, September 30, 1613, at the
age of thirty-eight. He came to this position in full
vigor of age, health and strength. It was soon evident
that a vigorous hand had hold of the helm of the
Church. His preaching at the cathedral became so popu-
lar that eighty new seats had to be placed in the Church,
and these were not sufficient to accommodate the people,
some of whom came from Catholic districts. Like
Zwingli, he preached on Friday as well as Sunday, so that
the country people coming in to market might attend.
In 1614, he was elected inspector of the schools of
Zurich, and so became the founder of the public schools
22 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
of that canton.
One of the most important events in his life was the
Synod of Dort, in Holland (November, 1618-March,
1619). The Dutch invited the Swiss, together with the
Reformed of other countries, to that synod, so as to
get a consensus of all the Reformed Churches in regard
to doctrine, in order that they might know how to deal
with the new Arminian views that had come up. When,
in the summer of 1618, the Swiss first received their
invitation to the Synod, there was a tendency to decline
it. The Arminian controversy was looked upon as
rather a local controversy which concerned the church
of the Netherlands and not Switzerland. They did not
realize that underneath it was a general revulsion against
high supralapsarian Calvinism. Breitinger at first was
unfavorable to the acceptance of the invitation to Dort,
because such conferences often only embittered the strife,
as at Marburg in 1529. He suggested that instead of
sending delegates to Dort, Switzerland might send a
judgment on the points at issue.
But the Dutch were not satisfied with this. Special
pressure was brought to bear on Breitinger by the Dutch
ambassador in Switzerland and by Bogerman, his for-
mer fellow-student at Franeker. For the Arminians had
been quoting the Swiss, especially Bullinger, as being
on their side. The Dutch Calvinists, therefore, were
very anxious to have the Swiss present, so as to prove
that, from Zwingli down, the Swiss sympathized with
them. The matter was finally disposed of by the Evan-
gelical Diet at Aarau, September 17, 1618. Letters were
there read from the Prince of Orange and from the
Elector of the Palatinate, who exerted a great deal of
influence among the Swiss, urging their acceptance of
the invitation to send delegates to Dort. So Breitinger
finally acceded and gave his reasons for doing so, — that
the Dutch Church looked up to the Swiss Church as the
ZURICH
23
mother church of the Reformer, — that their refusal
would be apt to be misconstrued by the Arminians into
indifference or opposition to the Calvinists. So the
Diet appointed Breitinger, of Zurich ; Rutimeyer, of
Bern; Koch, of Schaffhausen, and Beck and Meyer, of
Basle, as the Swiss delegates. Geneva also appointed
delegates, but they were not included in this list, as
Geneva was not a part of the Swiss confederacy at that
time. The delegates from Geneva were Diodati and
Theodore Tronchin.
But, although the Swiss sent delegates, they were
careful to guard them by instructions. The delegates
were not to allow any revision of the Swiss confessions
and to approve only what was in harmony with these
confessions. They were to limit themselves in their de-
cisions only to the five articles of the Arminians around
which the controversy gathered. Before going any far-
ther, they must first get advice from the churches at
home. Breitinger also laid before the diet a number of
aphorisms which stated the views of the Diet on the
topics before the synod. These were later approved by
Bern and Schaffhausen. But they were not strong
enough for Basle, which drew up its own propositions
sharply antithetic to the Arminians and introducing
some other points of the controversy. But Breitinger's
aphorisms proved very influential at the synod, for they
were incorporated almost verbally into the canons
adopted by the synod.
Through the great liberality of the Dutch, the Swiss
delegates travelled to Dort in great comfort, Breitinger
being especially favored by being allowed to have his
own secretary and private physician, and also an out-
rider for protection. When he arrived at Dort, he was
received with special honor as the representative of the
mother-church of the Reformed and the seventh suc-
cessor of Zwingli. With the Bishop of Llandaff, of
24 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
England, he was the most distinguished foreigner at the
synod.
The Swiss delegates soon revealed their attitude as
against the Arminians. Breitinger defended his prede-
cessor, Bullinger, against the claim of the Arminians
that he favored their views. Though usually so cir-
cumspect in his language, he became quite severe against
the Arminians. So strongly did the Swiss champion the
cause of the Calvinists that the Dutch were accustomed
to call them their "strong bulwark." He was one of the
committee to draw up the canons of the synod,* which
accounts for his aphorisms becoming a part of the canons.
When the canons were adopted, he declared it was the
happiest day of his life.
While he was at Dort the centenary of the reforma-
tion at Zurich occurred, on January i, 1619. He ar-
ranged a celebration of that event, and invited to it the
deputies of the States-General of Holland, Bogerman,
the president of the synod, the Bishop of Llandaff, the
delegates from the Palatinate, and the Swiss delegates.!
At the close of the synod, the Dutch government
presented the Swiss with 4,000 gulden for their return
expenses, but they especially honored Breitinger by or-
dering that out of it he was to receive 100 gulden more
than any of the others. The Dutch also gave him the
title of Doctor of Divinity, but he refused it, as such
titles were uncommon among the Swiss. While of the
other Swiss delegates Rutimeyer went to Marburg, and
the Basle delegates to England, Breitinger returned to
* See Morikofer "J- J- Breitinger," page 33. Also Finsler
in Meili's "Theologische Zeitschrift," 1895, page 185.
t At Zurich also, in Breitinger's absence, the centenary of
the reformation was observed. On January 1, 1619, a festival
sermon was preached in the morning, and there were Latin ad-
dresses on the progress of the reformation by prominent pro-
fessors.
ZURICH
25
Zurich. His return, through the canton of Zurich, was
like a triumphal entry. Sixty-four outriders, repre-
senting the civil and religious authorities of Zurich,
went as far as the Rhine to escort him back to Zu-
rich. The roads and streets as he passed through
were filled with people gathered to show him honor.
When he placed before the city council of Zurich the
seventy-three gulden which remained of the money that
the council had given him for his expenses, the council,
to show their appreciation of the way he had honored
his native city at Dort, presented him with a gold and
a silver cup, each worth fifty crowns. One of them had
the inscription:
"Double strength has the pulpit when bound to the city
hall.
Double strength has the city council when in harmony
with the pulpit."
Breitinger then reported to the council the canons of
Dort. But they were not officially adopted by Zurich,
or by any of the Swiss cantons or districts except
Geneva; and Breitinger, strange to say, in his synodical
address for that year, does not call attention to them,
But we shall later see that, in the days of the Helvetic
Consensus these canons, though never officially adopted
by Zurich, were yet virtually the standard by which the
doctrine of the Church was judged. Thus, in the heresy
case of Zink, as we shall see, the canons of Dort were
regarded as authoritative. There seems to be little doubt
that the Zurich Church, in the days of Heidegger and
Klingler, looked on the canons of Dort as being the au-
thoritative interpretation of the Helvetic Confession.
During the awful Thirty Years War, Breitinger
stood bravely at the head of the Church. He was es-
pecially active for the Reformed in persecution. Thus,
after the terrible massacre of the Reformed in the
Valtellina Valley in the canton of the Grisons, he and
26 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Zurich took special care of the refugees. When the
Reformed of Germany were so terribly persecuted in
the Thirty Years War and driven out, he was their
refuge. His house was always open to young students
coming from Bohemia and the Palatinate, so that they
might be able to continue their studies. Thus, one of
them, the famous scholar, John Henry Ott, declared
that he learned more in Breitinger's house than in the
university. Between 1624 and 1642, not less than
twenty-seven collections were taken for the persecuted
in Germany, amounting to 35,000 gulden. His health,
however, began to fail, and after several strokes he died,
April 1, 1645, nearly seventy years of age. His last
words were: "Whether we live or die, we are the
Lord's." His library he left to the descendants of the
Breitinger family, hoping that it would stimulate their
young men to become students. The result has been an
almost unbroken succession of prominent men in that
family.
Breitinger was great in many ways:
1. As a preacher. We have already seen how he
crowded the cathedral at his preaching. His published
synodical addresses sustain his reputation. His ser-
mons on the Lord's Prayer (published 1616), reveal
clearness of thought and are full of unction.
2. As a polemist. He was strong in his polemics
against the Catholics and the Lutherans. But, though
they were very decided, they were yet kindly in tone.
The Catholics were then accustomed to argue that Prot-
estantism was a sect, and they declared no sect con-
tinued to exist a hundred years. Breitinger, in 1610,
published a reply, showing that the Reformed Church
was not a sect, but had the marks of a true church. And
he also proved that its history would not end with its
centenary. Against the Catholics he repeatedly lifted
his warning voice. Once when a pervert to Catholicism,
ZURICH 27
who had become a monk, through Breitinger's influence
returned to Protestantism, the anger of the Catholics in
the city of Baden, near Zurich, was so great that Zurich
became alarmed for his safety, and sent three hundred
armed citizens to Baden to guard him back to Zurich.
But he rode boldly through Baden back to Zurich. It
had been arranged that some of the school children
should go out to meet and welcome him. When he
heard their shouts of joy at his safety he was greatly
moved, even to tears.
3. As a statesman. No antistes since the days of
Bullinger exerted so great an influence on the state as
he. When the Reformed were so terribly persecuted
in the Grisons, he and the other ministers went to the
city council, asking them to succor them. It used to
be supposed that he was very cautious in politics, but
recently, Professor Egli has shown that he was the
leader of the Swedish party at Zurich. Zurich was, at
that time, divided into two parties : a conservative party,
which opposed all foreign alliances, for fear they would
bring trouble on the canton ; and a religious party, which
wanted to join with the Swedes against the Catholics.
Breitinger was the leader of the latter, and as Egli
says, it was not his fault that Zurich was not involved
in the Thirty Years War. As a mark of friendship to
Breitinger, the Swedish ambassador presented him with
a portrait of the great Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus.
Breitinger also urged the fortification of Zurich and the
city finally decided to follow his advice, although the
fortifications were not begun till 1642.
4. As an ecclesiastical administrator. He introduced
many reforms into the Church, as the closing of the
cathedral, except during the hours of church services.
He had a religious census made of the city (1634), and
it was repeated every three years. He introduced the
"day of prayer and fasting" into the Church in 1619.
28 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
This, after 1638, was held yearly, in the autumn. He
tried to have that day introduced all over Switzerland,
but failed, though later it came into general use, and
is now universally observed in Switzerland as the annual
day of thanksgiving, repentance and prayer. He intro-
duced the custom of catechizing the children on Sunday
morning after the church service, a custom still kept up
by the Zurich Church. One of the greatest of his re-
forms was the introduction of singing into the church
services. In the latter part of the previous century the
inhabitants of the Toggenburg had been forbidden by
their ruler, the Catholic Abbot of St. Gall, to sing
psalms, and they appealed to Zurich to aid them in their
rights as Protestants, which she did. But it involved
her in an inconsistency, — that she helped others to sing
and yet opposed singing herself. So singing was or-
dered to be introduced January 25, 1598. But the people
looked upon it as a novelty, and many of them left the
church after the sermon and before the hymn was sung
at the close of the service. It was due to Breitinger that
singing was generally introduced. In 1640, he sent a
pastoral letter to the ministers urging the introduction
of singing. Before the publication of a hymn-book for
Zurich, in 1615, only the young people sang, but after
1619 the whole congregation took part in the singing,
and even four-part music was introduced. To offset the
introduction of theatrical plays, he led to the founding
of a library. This led, in 1631, to the foundation of
the present valuable city library at Zurich in the Water
Church. He also led in the issuing of a new edition of
the Zurich Bible. For Zurich had had the honor of
publishing the first Protestant Bible* in 1530, four years
before the first Luther Bible was published. In it,
Luther's translation was utilized as far as it had ap-
* For a full description see Mezger "Geschichte der
deutschen Bibelubersetzung in der schweizer-reformirten Kirche."
ZURICH 29
peared, but Zwingli and Juda added translations of other
books, as the Prophetical Books and Apocrypha. It was
not so popular in style as the Lutheran Bible, but was
a more literal translation, and being in the Swiss dialect
of the German language, it soon became popular with the
Swiss. It was frequently reprinted in the sixteenth
century by that indomitable Zurich printer, Christopher
Froschouer, who was a veritable Bible society in himself,
because he published so many editions. His book-mark
on the title-page, a frog (his name, Froschauer, was from
frosch, a frog), is to be seen in many editions. This
Bible was generally introduced into the districts in-
fluenced by Zurich as the Toggenburg, Glarus, Thurgau,
Grisons and SchafFhausen. But Appenzell used the Lu-
ther Bible, as did Basle, whose liturgy of 1666 officially
recognized it.*
5. As a pastor. In this he excelled. Theologian,
polemist and preacher as he was, he was yet far from
scholastic subtleties and emphasized practical Christianity.
We have already noted his power in the visitation of the
sick during the plague. He always revealed the great-
est tact.
In those days it was believed that persons could be
literally possessed with a devil. A story is told of Breit-
inger, that he was called on one occasion to see a fisher-
man, who had called his family together and told them
that that night when the clock struck twelve he would
be torn by evil spirits and carried away by them. As he
continued in this belief up to eleven o'clock and was in
great agony, the family sent for Breitinger. As the clock
approached the hour of twelve, one by one the family left
the room. Breitinger remained and continually com-
forted him by assuring him that God would give the
needed help. He prayed with the man, referring in the
prayer to God's grace and strength against evil spirits.
The man became very weak. As the clock struck twelve,
* In 1679 the Bible was translated into the Romansch lan-
guage, the language of the Engadine.
30
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the man declared he had conquered and fell asleep and
slept till morning.
Breitinger was, therefore, a remarkable antistes.
Tholuck, though not Reformed, yet bears his witness
to Breitinger's greatness, for he says that Breitinger was
the greatest ecclesiastical character of the Reformed
Church in the seventeenth century. Breitinger reminded
Zurich of her position as the mother church of the Evan-
gelical gospel in Switzerland, — that she must, therefore,
be a beacon light to other cantons and other lands. He
thus roused her religious self-consciousness, so that she
regained her foremost position in Switzerland and
elsewhere.
During Breitinger's time several theologians appeared
at Zurich, but he overshadowed them all by his great per-
sonality. We have already referred to Stucki and
Baumler. Another ought to be added. If Stucki ex-
celled as the dogmatician and Baumler as the catechist,
Hospinian was the historian of Zurich in that age.
Rudolph Hospinian was born November 7, 1547.
Educated at Zurich, he studied at Marburg and Heidel-
berg, where he received the master's degree. In 1576
he became rector of the theological school at Zurich — the
Carolinum. During Breitinger's absence at Dort he took
his place as president of the synod. His special field was
history and polemics. He was the great historical pole-
mist against the Catholics. After many years researcr
he published a number of works; in 1585, a work on the
"Origin of Christian Rites"; in 1587, a work on th#
Temple; in 1588, on the Monks; in 1592, a work or
Christian Festivals and the origin of rites, and in 1619,
"The History of the Jesuits," all directed against the
Catholics. This led him into controversy with Bellar-
min, the great Catholic historian. Professor Ludbertus,
of Holland, declared that among the many polemics
against the Catholics, none had the influence of Hos-
ZURICH
31
pinian. He also wrote polemical works against the Lu-
therans. In his "History of the Sacraments" (1598-
1603), he treated of the controversies between the Lu-
therans and Reformed. And also in his "Concordia
Discors" (1607), published after the publication of the
Formula of Concord of the Lutheran Church, he showed
that that Formula, instead of being a formula of concord,
was a formula of discord within the Lutheran Church
and between the Lutherans and Reformed. He thus ac-
quired a great reputation all over Protestant Europe as
an apologist. He died March 11, 1626.
CHAPTER II
Geneva
The Genevan Church, like that of Zurich, failed to
keep up the succession of prominent men like its re-
formers, Calvin and Beza. And yet she had a continued
succession of able men. Her leading theologian, after
Beza, was John Diodati, and with him was associated
Benedict Turretin, the founder of a line of theologians
for Geneva whose influence lasted for almost a century
and a half.
Section i
PROF. JOHN DIODATI*
With Breitinger, he was the most prominent repre-
sentative of Swiss Protestantism in the age immediately
after the Reformation. He was descended from an
Italian refugee from Lucca, Italy, who had fled to Geneva
because of his Protestantism. He was born there July
3, 1576. He studied at Geneva under Beza, and made
such rapid progress that by his nineteenth year, he was
made doctor of theology. Beza had early noted his
ability, and in 1597 wanted to turn over to him the in-
struction in Hebrew. He taught in Beza's place when
Beza was sick and aged. At the early age of twenty-
seven, in 1603, he undertook the translation of the Bible
into Italian, and in 1607 he presented to the Venerable
Company of Pastorsf with his Italian version of the
* See "Vie de Jean Diodati," by Bude.
t This was the body founded by Calvin that ruled the Church
of Geneva.
32
GENEVA
33
Scriptures, which is, as we shall see, a remarkable trans-
lation, especially for so young a man. In 1606, though
the Genevese pastors desired him to be ordained, yet he
held back because of his sense of the great responsibility
of the ministry. He was convinced that in order to be
a spiritual leader one must have something that neither
Greek nor Hebrew could give him. But he employed
his years before ordination well, for having published
the Italian version of the Bible, he now became active
in Italian evangelization. Venice, at that time, seemed
to be falling away from the papacy. It was then a re-
public, and had been excommunicated by the pope, and
the feeling against him was very bitter. Paul Sarpi,
of Venice, declared that from two thousand to fifteen
thousand persons were inclined to leave the Church of
Rome. It happened that just at that time England had
a prominent Protestant ambassador at Venice, Sir Henry
Wotton. The latter invited Diodati to come to Venice
and evangelize. Diodati went there under an assumed
name. But while he found the people violently opposed
to the pope politically, there was little that was religious
in their movement away from Rome. So he returned
to Geneva, where Beza soon after died. Then Sir Henry
Wotton* again wrote to him, urging him to come to
Venice, as the way was open for the introduction of
Protestantism into that republic. So he again visited
Venice in 1608. There he labored, greatly aided by
Sarpi and Wotton. But the assassination of King Henry
IV of France and the recall of Wotton destroyed the
hope of making Venice Protestant, so he returned to
Geneva. Still, during his whole life, he was deeply in-
terested in the evangelization of Italy. He was called
* Sir Henry Wotton was the man of whom a Catholic asked
the question, "Where was your religion before Luther?" His
apt reply was, "My religion before Luther was where yours is
not now to be found, in the Word of God."
3
34
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
as professor to the theological seminary at Saumur,
France. But, just then,, Geneva was greatly threatened
by the neighboring Duke of Savoy. So he was sent by
Geneva (1611) among the churches of France to raise
money for her fortification and also to gain military aid.
He was very successful, and by his journey France and
Geneva were brought still closer together. He so well
pleased the churches of France that some of them tried
to retain him as their pastor, as Nismes, which called him
four times. But his life-work was at Geneva as pro-
fessor of theology.
He appeared prominently in connection with the synod
of Dort (1618-19). Geneva, unlike Zurich and the
German cantons, did not try to avoid entering the con-
troversy between the Calvinists and Arminians in Hol-
land, but had early sided against the Arminians. She
at once appointed delegates to the synod at Dort — Dio-
dati and Tronchin — and she gave them explicit instruc-
tions against the Arminians. They obeyed her instruc-
tions and strongly supported the Calvinists at the synod.
On March 8, Diodati delivered an address before the
synod on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
The president of the synod was so pleased with it that
he declared it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. He
also read at the synod the memorial of Du Moulin, one
of the French delegates (for France did not permit the
delegates from the Huguenot Church to come to the
synod), which was severe against the Arminians. When
the Arminians were condemned, the Bremen and Eng-
lish delegates were against the use of political force
against the Arminians, but the Genevese joined hands
strongly with the Dutch in advocating severe measures
against them, and, as a result, the Hollanders drove the
Arminians into exile. It is said he was one of the com-
mittee to draw up the canons of the synod.
After the synod he travelled through England before
GENEVA 35
returning to Geneva. It was largely through his influ-
ence and through the sympathy that Geneva had for the
high-Calvinism of Holland as well as the gratitude of
the Genevese to Holland for political and financial help
in fortifying and protecting their city against the Duke
of Savoy, that Geneva officially adopted the canons of
Dort in 1620, the only Swiss canton to do so. He was
not only professor of theology, but a bold preacher of
the Gospel. Once he threw a bomb-shell into the papal
camp in one of his sermons. Preaching on Paul's words,
"it is not permitted a woman to teach or to rule over
man," he publicly declared that Pope Innocent X was
ruled by his mistress, Olympia. It happened that the
papal nuncio, who was passing through Geneva, was
present at the service and heard him. He carried the
news of it to his master at Rome, and it led the pope
to put away his mistress. On another occasion, after
King Charles I of England had been put to death, the
city council forbade any of the pastors to make allusion
to it, as they wanted to retain the friendship of England.
But Diodati boldly declaimed against the murderers of
the king, and for this was censured by his city. He
continued teaching theology till 1644, when he retired
on account of ill-health. He died October 13, 1649. He
was severe in doctrine, and for his severity has been
called the "Cato of Geneva." But with it all he was
very kind and charitable, for, in the famine of 1630, he
advanced large sums of money to the government for
the purchase of corn.
But his greatest work was his fine translation of the
Bible into the Italian language in 1607. During his life-
time he prepared three editions of this version. It is
remarkable for its faithfulness, clearness, elegance of
style and valuable notes. So excellent was it that it
has continued in use in Italy even down to the present
time, though some words in it have become obsolete. To
36 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
not many men is given the honor of translating the
Bible into two languages, as few are able to translate
it into one acceptably. But Diodati not only translated
the Bible into Italian, but he also published a transla-
tion of it into French in 1644; but his French translation
was inferior to his Italian version. Nevertheless, they
reveal his remarkable linguistic skill. His French ver-
sion has since been superseded by Martin's and, later,
by Osterwald's.
PART II
THE EFFORTS TO INTRODUCE LUTHERANISM
CHAPTER I
Bern*
Section i
the megander-bucer controversy
The canton of Bern had been Zwinglian as long as
Berthold Haller, its reformer, lived. But when he died
(1536), strong tendencies toward Lutheranism ap-
peared.! In place of Haller and his assistant, Kolb,
there were now elected Kunz and Meyer, both favorable
to Luther. Among the ministers of the city of Bern
only Erasmus Ritter was a Zwinglian. Bern did not
have antistes like the other German cantons, but each
classis had a dekan, and the dekan of the classis of the
city of Bern was considered the head-dekan of the
Church. This position was held by Ritter. But the
ablest adherent of Zwinglianism was Casper Grossman,
whose name was Latinized into Megander. He had been
born at Zurich, 1495, and while pastor at Zurich, had
* See Hundeshagen "Die Conflict des Zwinglianismus, Lu-
therthums und Calvinismus in der Bernischen Kirche." Also
Guder "Der Berner Catechismus," in "Die Kirche der Gegen-
nart," 1850.
f Indeed, it will be remembered that even as early as the
Bern Conference (1528) a voice or two were heard at the con-
ference favoring Luther.
37
38 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
come to the Bern Conference (1528), where he was
known as a prominent Zwinglian, and as such he had
been called to Bern. His friends called him the Delphic
oracle, but his enemies of the Lutheran party nicknamed
him "Zwingli's monkey or ape," because he so closely
imitated Zwingli. While the city of Bern now inclined
toward Lutheranism, the country pastors generally sup-
ported Megander.
The first outbreak in favor of Lutheranism occurred
in connection with the Wittenberg Concord, published
1536, the compromise creed of Germany which even Lu-
ther accepted. An attempt was made by the Lutheran-
izers, aided by Bucer and Capito of the Reformed of
Strasburg, to get Bern to accept this German creed.
But though Meyer and Kunz urged it, the synod of Oc-
tober, 1536, refused to adopt it. Megander and Ritter
then (May 14, 1537) denounced Meyer for his Lutheran
and Romish tendencies before the classes of Buren and
Thunstetten. His case was then carried up to the Bern
synod, which forbade any novelties. The council of Bern
was inclined to Lutheranism because its members wanted
to get into more intimacy with Germany, but the majority
of the synod was the other way. Then Bucer wrote
from Strasburg that he would come to Bern, and he and
Capito arrived at Bern in September, 1537, to aid the
efforts of the Lutheranizing party in getting Bern to
adopt, if possible, the Wittenberg Concord. Bucer made
an address to the Bern synod, in which he declared that
the great hinderance to union between the Protestant
churches was the Megander catechism with its Zwinglian
doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Megander had, at the
request of the council, prepared this catechism, which
closely followed Leo Juda's catechism. It had been pub-
lished in 1536, and was soon widely introduced in the can-
ton. Bucer, especially through the aid of Meyer and
Kunz, quite won the synod and the council. And the lat-
BERN 39
ter ordered Megander, together with Bucer, to modify the
statements of the catechism about the Lord's Supper,
so as to bring it nearer the Lutheran views. But Bucer
did not wait for Megander to do this. Without Megan-
der's aid, he altered the catechism and published this
modified catechism, and the council approved this Bucer
catechism on November 6, 1537, and ordered it to be
introduced in the canton. It was but natural that
Megander should protest against such a high-handed pro-
ceeding, because he felt it was treason to the doctrines
of the old Bern church, which had always followed
Zwingli. He, therefore, entered complaint against Bu-
cer's conduct, but Kunz and M;eyer defended Bucer. The
other Swiss cantons, as Zurich and Geneva, opposed the
introduction of this catechism. Megander, in anger, re-
signed, and left Bern at the end of 1537 and went to
Zurich, where he became canon, and died 1545.
The Bucer catechism differed from the Megander
catechism mainly in its arrangement and on the sacra-
ments.* The arrangement of Megander's catechism was,
decalogue, creed, Lord's Prayer and sacraments. Bucer
reversed this, making it, Lord's Prayer, creed, decalogue.
The difference on the sacraments was also marked, es-
pecially on the Lord's Supper. Bucer made them more
than signs, he made them grace-bearing. In Bucer's,
baptism was the sign by which we were born again, and
in the Lord's Supper Christ gives himself with the bread
in invisible heavenly ways, and the communicant received
the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
* It is quite difficult to say much about this catechism of
Bucer's, because the only copy of it, which was in the cantonal
library at Aarau, has become lost and could not be found when
we visited the library some years ago. There was also a French
translation of the Catechism made to counteract Calvin's influ-
ence in the French part of the canton of Bern, of which there
may be a copy.
40
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
But though the Bucer catechism was published under
the authority of the council, there was a great deal of
opposition to its introduction. The French ministers of
the- Vaud district in the south, being Calvinists, would
not receive it. The ministers of the Aargau district in
the north, the district of Bern nearest Zurich, and which,
therefore, most heartily sympathized with Zwingli, also
the classes of Buren and Nydau, sent a memorial to the
little council of Bern against it. They objected to the
autocratic procedure of the government in adopting and
introducing it, and they also objected to the catechism
because it contained equivocal phrases and ambiguous
terms contrary to the teachings of the Bern conference
(1528) and the Bern synod (1532).
Finally, the council at Bern judged it wise to compro-
mise. After allowing a change in two passages, it de-
clared, February 2, 1538, that the Bucer catechism did
not abrogate the Megander catechism, but was only an
interpretation of it. As a result, both catechisms could
be officially used, and were so used side by side. But
the Megander catechism, more and more, gained the
upper hand as time rolled by. In 1542, the council or-
dered that hereafter the catechisms be interpreted ac-
cording to the decisions of the Bern Conference of 1528.
This was a blow at Lutheranism. The two parties,
Lutheran and Reformed, continued to exist, especially
in the city of Bern, so that, finally, in 1545, the council
ordered that the sacraments should not be treated in
catechization, but should be left for preaching. Thus,
the Megander catechism, and with it the Reformed views,
retained their place in the canton.
When Megander and Rhellican resigned on account
of Bucer's actions, in their places came two Lutherans,
Thomas Grynaeus and Simon Sulzer. Sulzer was one
of the ablest men that Bern had produced, for he was
a Bernese by birth. His influence soon began to tell.
BERN
41
He began, especially after he became professor of the-
ology, in 1540, to introduce slight modifications of the
worship and customs favorable to Lutheranism, as a
sort of confessional before the communion, the holding
back of the unworthy from the Lord's Supper, and the
preservation of the elements of the communion after
the Lord's Supper as especially holy. He also attempted
to introduce lay-baptism and the communion of the sick,
the former a Lutheran custom which the Reformed have
always opposed, and the latter contrary to the universal
custom of the Bern church, even down to the nineteenth
century.
Meanwhile, the Lutheran party began to feel itself
so strong as to become aggressive. After Bucer's de-
parture, Kunz made an attack on the use of bread at
the Lord's Supper instead of wafers, which had been
the custom of the Bern church. Farel had been the
apostle of bread-breaking as the most farthest removed
from all superstitious magic of the wafer. And the
French churches, as in the French district of Vaud, had
followed him. Kunz gained sympathy for his views, for
the civil authorities of Bern had, all through the reforma-
tion, opposed the Calvinistic church government and cus-
toms. For nowhere were Zwingli's Erastian views of the
relations of Church and state so fully developed as in Bern,
where not only were church and state united, but the
Church was merely an arm of the state. In giving up the
rule by bishops in the reformation, the state had taken the
bishop's place and ruled with his authority. So the Bern
council, on account of this controversy about the the use
of bread, called a synod at Lauasanne, March, 1538. It
decided against the introduction of bread into the can-
ton and so bread was not introduced until 1605.
By 1 541, Meyer felt his party was so strong that he
began to attack the Zwinglian doctrines. The matter
was brought before the city council, but it ordered that
42 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
nothing be preached contrary to the Bern Conference
(1528). As a result, Meyer, feeling that the Lutheran
party was losing ground, resigned and left (1541). The
reaction against Lutheranism now began to get full
swing. While the ministers of the city of Bern had been
inclined, with some exceptions, toward Lutheranism, the
country ministers now rose against the Lutheran inno-
vations. Ritter, feeling their support, became more ag-
gressive. The council of Bern also changed and became
more conservative. Their eyes had been opened to the
fact that the nearer they got to Germany, the farther they
got from their Swiss neighbors. And as Protestantism in
Germany had been weakened by the introduction of the
Interim, Bern felt the necessity of the Swiss cantons
coming closer together. Then Kunz died, February 11,
1544. This left Sulzer alone as the leader of the Lu-
theranizing party, though Grynaeus still remained. In
the place of Kunz came Textor, a Zwinglian. When
Ritter died (1546), Sulzer made a desperate effort to re-
coup the fortunes of his party by getting a Lutheran
elected in his place, but he failed. Kilchmeyer, a Zwing-
lian, was elected and also made dekan or head of the
Church. He caused an investigation of the schools to
be made, which revealed that most of the students sym-
pathized with Lutheranism. This brought matters to a
crisis. Grynaeus was dismissed (1547), and the next
year, Sulzer, with his two Lutheran sympathizers, was
dismissed. Thus, by 1548, the Lutheran movement came
to an end and Bern returned to its earlier Zwinglianism
or, rather, advanced from that, as we shall see, to
Calvinism.
Section 2
the reorganization of the bern church
The Lutheran minority having disappeared, the time
BERN 43
had come for the reorganization of the church and
school of Bern. To do this work, Bern called three men
— John Haller, Wolfang Musculus and Benedict Aretius.
John Haller was the first legitimate son of a Bernese
priest. He was born January 18, 1525. His father,
for thus marrying, was compelled to flee, and went to
Zurich, where the son was educated. He became pas-
tor at Augsburg, in Germany, and was, in 1547, called
to Zurich as the helper of Bullinger. He had hardly en-
tered on this position when Bern called him to take Sul-
zer's place. So Zurich loaned him to Bern for a year,
but he stayed at Bern till his death (1575). He came
to Bern May 10, 1548. In 1552, though not yet twenty-
seven years of age, he was made dekan or head of the
Bern Church in Kilchmeyer's place. In doctrine he was
a Zwinglian. He was a fine executive, a man of great
wisdom and common sense, a rare combination of mild-
ness and firmness. He ruled the church wisely. He
introduced (1569) singing into the church services, for
Bern, like Zurich, had entirely set aside singing. But
he had learned to love music in the church services dur-
ing his stay in Germany. It was due in a large degree
to his wisdom that the difficulties between Calvin and
the Bernese were adjusted. Haller died September 2,
1575.
His first effort was to build up the school at Bern,
which had suffered from the recent theological contro-
versies. He aimed to get men of ability and reputation
as professors. To this end Wolfgang Musculus was called
from Augsburg, where he had been the colleague of
Haller. By the introduction of the Interim in Germany
he had been driven out of Augsburg and was glad to
come to Bern. Though a German by birth, he fitted into
the Swiss admirably. He came April 25, 1549. He
was a fine exegete. So great was his reputation that
he was called to Heidelberg in 1560, but declined. Haller
44
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
and himself were so united in friendship that both
had vowed to live and die together. His reputation led
him, at the suggestion of Bucer, to be called to Oxford,
England, in 1551, but he refused because of Bern's great
kindness to him and his large family. He also had calls
to Strasburg and Marburg, but declined. The Bernese
learned to love him and called him "venerable old man/'
and Haller looked up to him as a father. When Haller
died he would have been chosen dekan, but Bern chose
only Bernese by birth for that position, and Musculus
was a German, having been born in Lorraine, 1497. He
published a work of dogmatics (1554), which was early
translated into English (1563). Though he had be-
longed to the mediating party in Germany that tried to
mediate between the Lutherans and Reformed, yet, in
this work, he reveals himself as thoroughly Reformed
on election and the Lord's Supper. He was the first
great theologian of Bern. He aided Haller in the in-
troduction of singing, for he had brought from Germany
his love of music and was the author of some hymns.
He labored for the consolidation of the Church of Bern.
He died August 30, 1563.
Benedict Aretius, or, as he was called "Marti," was
also a Bernese by birth, having been born at Batter-
kirchen, 1505. He studied at Bern and then went abroad
to Strasburg and Marburg. Though still young, he was
appointed professor of logic at Marburg University
(1548). Bern called him home that year, but at his re-
quest he was permitted to stay, till 1553, at Marburg.
When he returned to Bern as professor in the Latin
school, he found himself suspected of Lutheran leanings,
because he had stayed so long at a Lutheran university
(for Marburg was then Lutheran, though low in its
Lutheranism, and did not become Reformed until early
in the next century). But he revealed in his theological
teachings (he became professor of theology, 1564, after
BERN 45
Musculus' death), that he was thoroughly Reformed.
Aretius died March 22, 1574. He was a very learned
man, not only in philosophy and theology, but also in the
sciences, especially mathematics, astronomy and botany.
He wrote two leading works on theology. The first was
a compendium of theology (1557) which passed through
six editions in fourteen years, and in all passed through
twelve editions. His main work was a handbook of dog-
matics (1573), which passed through five editions and
was influential in Reformed dogmatics. What made them
so popular was his clearness of thought and logical ar-
rangement. He also gained fame as a commentator. Sev-
eral of his commentaries were published by two of his
students after his death. These met with such a wide cir-
culation that additional volumes were published, the last
one thirty years after his death. They cover the New
Testament, Pentateuch and Psalms.
It was during his professorship that Bern had its
Servetus' case. John Valentine Gentilis had been
driven out of Naples for his heresies. He fled to Lyons,
where he attacked Calvin's doctrine of the trinity. Then
he fled to Bern, where he wrote a paper which he dedi-
cated to a Bernese magistrate, Wurstenberger, who, be-
cause it compromised him with a heretic, became very
angry. Gentilis went to Poland, but, after Calvin's death,
thought it was safe for him to return to Switzerland.
But he had forgotten Wurstenberger and, as soon as he
entered the canton of Bern, he was arrested. He was
brought to Bern July 19, 1566. During the long civil
process, Haller, Aretius and Beza, who happened to be
in Bern at that time, tried to lead him from his heresies,
but in vain. So he was beheaded by the Bernese au-
thorities in 1567. This act of Bern, though contrary to
our ideas of religious liberty to-day, was commended by
the leading theologians and princes of different churches
and lands. But Bern seems to have felt some criticism
46 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
against her for this act, for she appointed Aretius to
write a pamphlet in its vindication. He did so (1567),
and in it gives the life of Gentilis, but says compara-
tively little in vindication of Bern, though he defends
the doctrine of the trinity against Gentilis. The execu-
tion of Servetus and Gentilis were the products of that
age rather than of individual men. It has taken the
world several centuries to learn religious liberty.
This whole period of Haller, Musculus and Aretius
was not only a reaction against Lutheranism, but re-
vealed a tendency from Zwinglianism up to Calvinism.
Haller had prepared the way for this by checking the
friction between Calvin and Bern. Beza gained more
and more influence in Bern. The increasing number of
French who were settling in the southern district of
Bern, the Vaud district, increased the influence of Cal-
vinism, so that we will not be surprised to find that, in
the next period, Bern has gone clear over to high-
Calvinism.
Section 3
the huber controversy
Although Lutheranism has been crushed in Bern, yet
a remaining remnant of it appeared in the Huber con-
troversy. This was not so much an attempt to introduce
Lutheranism as a protest against the growing tendency
in Bern from the lower Zwinglianism to the higher
Calvinism.
The first sign of it was a controversy about the in-
troduction of bread instead of wafers, in 1581. The
southern, or Vaud, district had been using bread be-
cause Calvinistic, and some of the congregations in the
Aargau district also used bread probably through the
influence of neighboring Zurich. So the Bern synod,
led by Muslin, the son of Wolfgang Musculus, who was
BERN 47
the dekan of the Bern Church, proposed to the authori-
ties that bread be used at the communion instead of
wafers, in order that there might be uniformity in the
churches, and also because it was more Scriptural and
less open to abuse and superstition. Then it was that
Samuel Huber, the pastor at Burgdorf and vice-dekan
of his classis, who sympathized with the Lutherans doc-
trinally, opposed it. And he had influence enough so
that the council decided that nothing new should be in-
troduced. So bread was not introduced till 1605.
Huber, always watchful against the Calvinists, then
took advantage of the publication of a work by Beza,
in 1580, about the plague. Beza took the ground that
the segregation of the sick was necessary, and that one
had a right to flee from the plague. But Beza was
ahead of his times in suggesting this. The book caused
a sensation, especially in Vaud, as this was looked upon
as going against God's will, for He it was who sent
the plague; and, besides, some of the pastors might be
tempted by the book to flee from their congregations
during the plague, just when their services were most
required. So Beza, at the advice of his friends, tried
to withdraw the book ; but this was not possible, as some
copies had already been sold. Huber, who hated Beza
for his doctrine of predestination, took advantage of this
and, without asking permission of the city authorities,
he published a severe attack on it in 1583.
But his best opportunity against the Calvinists came
in connection with the Conference at Montbeliard, in
1586.* The Duke of Montbeliard was a Lutheran, but
he had married Anna Coligny, who was Reformed. He
was, therefore, anxious to bring the Lutherans and the
* Montbeliard lays west-northwest of Switzerland, on the
borders of the canton of Basle. It belonged to Wurtemberg,
which was Lutheran, but had been converted from Catholicism
mainly by the Reformed.
48 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Reformed together, especially as he was so surrounded
by Catholics. He, therefore, arranged this conference
between the Lutherans and the Reformed. Andrea and
Luke Osiander appeared for the Lutherans, and for the
Reformed, Beza and Fay, from Geneva; Muslin and
Hubner (professor of Greek), from Bern and Auberry
(professor of philosophy), from Lausanne. For four
days they debated the doctrine of the Lord's Supper.
On the fifth day Andrea shrewdly turned attention to
predestination. He hoped this doctrine would divide the
conservative Swiss, who held to the older ideas of the
reformation before predestination had become so promi-
nent, from the latter Reformed, like Beza, who so em-
phasized the doctrine. As a result, the conference broke
up without a union of the Lutherans and Reformed.
Both sides claimed the victory and published reports of
the conference. It happened that a copy of Andrea's
report fell into the hands of Huber. It was water on
his mill. Here was the opportunity long sought for to
strike at both Beza and Muslin. So he published the
predestination views of Beza, putting them as sharply
as possible, so as to stir up Bern against Muslin. He
charged Muslin that he taught a doctrine new to Bern
and had subscribed to it at Montbeliard. Huber's pub-
lication found a favorable hearing among some of the
country pastors.
The Bern authorities then cited him to appear before
them September 17, 1587. He there complained against
the new doctrine of predestination and asked that he
would not be forced to subscribe to this new doctrine.
The authorities granted his request, but asked him not
to stir up the ministers any further by his publications.
But he soon made another charge against Muslin and
on November 20, both parties were cited to appear be-
fore the council. Huber wanted to make his complaint
before the council. Muslin refused, as he declared he
BERN 49
was not prepared to answer, but he said that if Huber
would put his complaints into writing he would answer
in writing. To this the council agreed, but both parties
were to hold their peace. Muslin laid his reply to Huber
before the council on December 12.
But Huber, a born polemist, could not hold his peace.
So it was decided to call together a large and repre-
sentative council, April 15, 1588, to decide the matter.
To this conference was invited a prominent representa-
tive from each of the other three Evangelical cantons of
Switzerland — Basle, Zurich and Schaffhausen. Huber
submitted a bill of four complaints, saying that Muslin
held limited atonement and election and that the elect
could not fall from grace. His charges were in no ways
verbally like the doctrines of the council of Montbeliard,
but he stated them thus so as to put predestination in
its most objectionable form.
Muslin was not greatly embarrassed by these charges.
It is true predestination had not appeared in the early
Bern confessions. Indeed, in those early days, contro-
versies on the subject had been forbidden in the Vaud
district, where Calvin's doctrines were most closely fol-
lowed. But Muslin could say, as Calvin had once said,
that if predestination was not mentioned in the Bern
confession, there was nothing to show that the confession
was against it. He could also call up the earlier theo-
logians of Bern, Berthold Haller, Wolfang Musculus and
Aretius, in whose books predestination and reprobation
were plainly stated; also that since the adoption of the
Second Helvetic Confession this doctrine had become
well-nigh universal among the Swiss. And Beza and
himself, after their return from Montbeliard, had sub-
mitted their theological statements there to the theological
professors at Basle, Zurich and Heidelberg, without a
word of opposition from them.
50 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
The conference* met April 15, 1588, at Bern. Three
foreign delegates were present, Antistes J. J. Grynseus,
from Basle; Prof. J. W. Stucki, from Zurich, and
Antistes Jezeler, from Schaffhausen. The delegates
from Geneva to Montbeliard, Beza and La Fay, were
also present. Stucki came, bringing the judgment of
Antistes Stumpf, of Zurich, that the doctrine of Beza
and Muslin was not new, but was the old Reformed doc-
trine. Of the foreign delegates the most influential was
Antistes Grynaeus: (1) because he had been born at
Bern, where, as we have seen, his father had been pro-
fessor, and had been dismissed, with Sulzer, for his
Lutheranism, and (2) because he had left Lutheranism
for the Reformed faith.
Of the delegates from Bern, two, Metzger and Iselin,
were outspoken for Huber and two others sympathized
with him less openly.
When the conference opened, Stucki, Grynaeus and
Jezeler made introductory addresses. Beza and Muslin
then declared that they had not introduced new doc-
trines at Montbeliard. Huber then began to debate on
his articles of complaint. Here Beza interrupted him
and compelled him to admit that his articles were not
word for word the same as those of the Montbeliard
conference. Huber then tried to show that Muslin had
also contradicted himself, for, in a Christmas sermon, he
had declared that Christ died for all men, and yet, at
the Montbeliard conference, he held that Christ had died
only for the elect. Muslin arose to reply, when he was
interrupted by Huber in German. The foreign dele-
gates, who were presiding, objected to this, as it had
been agreed upon, much to Huber's chagrin, that Latin
and not German was to be the language of the confer-
* For a full account of this conference see Berner "Taschen-
buch," 1854, pages 171-230, and Schweitzer's "Die Central-Dogmen
der reformirten Kirche," Vol. I, page 544.
BERN 51
ence. Huber became angry at their interruption and
complained to the audience against them, declaring that
there was a plot against him. Musculus then replied that
Christ's death was sufficient for all but efficient only for
the elect, and showed that the Scriptures, the Helvetic
Confession, the Bern liturgy, the reformer Berthold Hal-
ler and others, were against Huber.
The next day the conference met again. Huber en-
deavored to reply to Muslin from Scripture. Grynseus
then appealed to Huber to give arguments and not merely
opinions. Huber appealed to the audience against this
and said the interference of the foreign delegates had
confused the disputation. In the afternoon the for-
eign delegates wanted to go to the other articles.
Huber, as long as he was on the offensive, revealed
strength, but when he was put on the defensive he be-
came confused, as when Stucki asked him what he un-
derstood to be the Biblical conception of election. Huber
then went on to denounce Calvin's doctrine of election
as a horrible blasphemy. The foreign delegates de-
manded that he take that back, which he finally did
evasively.
The next day the three foreign delegates appeared
before the council and declared that they did not wish
to spend any more time in the disputation or be any
more humiliated by Huber's attacks on them. They de-
clared that Huber had not in any way proved his first
charge against Muslin. Their desire was that a com-
promise might be reached. Muslin and Beza both de-
clared that they were willing to leave the matter in the
hands of the foreign delegates and, finally, even Huber
agreed to do so if the authorities so desired. The for-
eign delegates spent the whole of the next day in try-
ing to bring about harmony. Grynseus was especially
solicitous for it, for he had promised that if unity could
be secured in Bern he would get Basle to subscribe to
52
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the Second Helvetic Confession. They finally suggested
articles of agreement, which were adopted by the coun-
cil, only Metzger and Iselin voting against them. These
articles decided against Huber and for Beza and Muslin.
Huber now refused to submit to this decision. On April
22, the foreign delegates reported to the council of the
two hundred, the highest court, that Huber's points of
complaint were not those of the Montbeliard confer-
ence either in word or in meaning, but that Huber had
been led astray by Andrea. They declared that Beza's
and Muslin's doctrine was not new in Bern, but had
been Berthold Haller's, and was in accord with that of
the Reformed Churches of Zurich, Basle, Schaffhausen
and the Palatinate. The council adopted the report.
But then it disagreed as to Huber's punishment, whether
he should be banished or imprisoned, and, finally, only or-
dered him to keep silence.
Before the foreign delegates left, they had to decide,
April 23, on the case of Prof. Claude Auberry, professor
of philosophy at Lausanne, and the third of the dele-
gates to Montbeliard. He was charged with having pub-
lished erroneous views on justification — that the right-
eousness of God was not reckoned over to us as in justi-
fication by faith, but was infused or flowed as a new
quality into us. He made sanctification in contrast with
sin a part of justification. But this was more easily ad-
justed than Huber's case, for Auberry was not a pole-
mist like Huber and subscribed to a formula prepared by
them. Yet, five years later, he was dismissed from Lau-
sanne for this heresy.
The foreign delegates were then dismissed with the
thanks of the conference, and they departed April 24.
Huber also went back to Burgdorf. But he could not
keep quiet, especially as the friends of Muslin openly
declared their victory and preached the doctrines he
hated. So he determined to state his side of the contro-
BERN 53
versy. He began to write down the proceedings of the
conference, and to do this he had to employ an amanu-
ensis. The news of this came to Bern, and the authori-
ties feared a new polemic. They feared he would send
an account of the Bern conference to Tubingen, where
Andrea could pervert its meaning, as they felt he had
done the proceedings of the Montbeliard conference, and
then publish it. So they sent a councilor to Burgdorf,
June 20, to examine Huber's papers. Huber was absent,
but they found nothing. In the evening, he brought two
sheets of his writing, but his declaration did not agree
with that of his amanuensis. The authorities were,
therefore, all the more suspicious of his correspondence
with Andrea. So they took his keys, searched his papers,
and arrested and brought him to Bern, June 25. On
June 28, he had a hearing before the council. He finally
found it best to give up the rest of what he had written,
which was found to contain attacks on both the living
and the dead. The council then asked him whether
he was willing to abide by the decision of the late con-
ference. He asked for time to consider. But the coun-
cil became weary of waiting for him and, finally, decided
he must leave the canton within fourteen days.
Huber, however, did not wait that long. On June
30 he left, and by July 8 he had arrived at Tubingen, in
Wurtemberg, and asked protection there. The Duke
of Wurtemberg tried, through his ambassador, to have
him restored to Bern, but in vain. He subscribed to
the Lutheran Formula of Concord and received a par-
ish near Tubingen, where he published the proceedings
of the Bern conference and made it appear that both
the conference and the council had declared that An-
drea's publication of the Montbeliard Conference was
false. Andrea, therefore, took the matter up, and an
embassy was sent to Bern to complain against such a
slander. The embassy consisted of Andrea and three
54
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
political ambassadors. On September 5, 1588, they met
the council at Bern. They suggested a conference of
the Reformed and the Lutherans to compare the two
published acts of Montbeliard and consider the points
at issue. Lindau was selected as the place, but the
plague broke out there. In the meanwhile Bern had
sounded the other Evangelical cantons whether they
would go into such a conference. Basle and Schaffhausen
refused, because they were weary of the controversy.
Then Andrea wanted to have the conference with Bern
alone. But Bern refused to separate herself from the
other cantons, and declined, glad to get rid of the trou-
blesome case.
During these negotiations Huber was quiet. But
soon his polemical nature rose again and he wrote a
Latin work, dedicated to the Bern council, and sent it
to them. In it he especially attacked Grynseus and the
foreign delegates for their support of Beza and Muslin.
His attack angered the Swiss, and the matter was brought
before their Evangelical Diet (1594). Bern was or-
dered to reply. And Muslin prepared the reply, giv-
ing a full account of the whole process against Huber,
ending it with a quotation from Luther on determinism
which, of course, was against Huber. Then Wurtem-
berg again urged a conference. But Zurich declared
it unnecessary, as Muslin was dead, and Huber was not
worthy of an answer.
But Huber's polemical nature soon brought him into
controversy with the Lutherans as it had done with the
Reformed. He found them at Tubingen not universal-
istic enough, and he charged them with holding a sort
of predestination. Then he was called to Saxony (1592),
which was just recovering from its tendency to Crypto-
Calvinism. And he was looked upon as just the man
for the time, because he had had experience in attack-
ing the Reformed. But there he got into controversy
BERN 55
with Professor Leyser about baptism and election, and
was dismissed and banished, 1595. He became a wan-
derer and died 1624.
Thus, Bern, after having passed through an era of
Lutheranizing, finally landed in strict Calvinism. This
conference at Bern finally committed her to it. One
would hardly have thought that Calvin, against whose
views Bern had so strongly protested in the early reforma-
tion would thus become supreme at Bern. But it was
only in doctrine that Calvin triumphed and not in church
government, for Bern remained Erastian, the church be-
ing only an arm of the state.
Section 4
the district of vaud
In this district there were no tendencies toward Lu-
theranism but rather to Calvinism, for it was French in
language. Yet this district needs to be noted as a bul-
wark against Lutheranism. The Academy at Lausanne,
opened (1540) under Viret, had flourished under Beza.
When he left (1558) it almost collapsed. The Bern
authorities tried hard to bring it up again as by the
calling of prominent professors from abroad as Hyperius,
from Marburg, and Ursinus, from Heidelberg, but they
failed. It, however, continued its work quietly, but it
was not until the end of the sixteenth century that it
had a professor prominent enough to deserve mention.
William Bucanus was of French origin, but was
early called to Switzerland. He became pastor at Yver-
don, in Vaud, in 1572. In 1591, he was called as pro-
fessor of theology at Lausanne. At that time, as we
have already noted at the Bern Conference, the
Academy had been greatly agitated by a controversy
about justification and sanctification, between Professors
Aubrey and Lescaille. Bucanus was a strong Calvinist.
56 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
He was learned and exact in his statements ; but there
was not much originality about him. Still his dogmatics
(published 1602) gave him fame and exerted consider-
able influence. It was early translated into English. A
curious event came out of this work. It was publicly
burned both at Oxford and London. For it seemed a
young theologian of London, named Knight, had quoted
from it in a public address to prove that, in time of dan-
ger, citizens were justified in taking up arms, even
against their ruler. Knight, when arrested, referred to
the works of Pareus and Junius, together with Bucanus'
dogmatics.* So all the extant copies of Bucanus in Eng-
land were destroyed. There does not seem to be any-
thing dangerous in the book, and only an unusual occur-
ence like this would have led to such a result. Bucanus
died of apoplexy, August 16, 1603.
* He referred to pages 788-89 of the dogmatics.
CHAPTER II
Basle
Basle followed Bern in inclining toward Lutheranism.
The successor of the first antistes, Ecolampadius (who
died 1531), was Oswald Myconius (1531-52). He gave
Basle her first confession, the First Helvetic Confession.
He was suspected by some of leanings toward Luther-
anism, but he seems to have been Reformed, though
liberal in his views. Still, in the strife between creeds
and about the Lord's Supper, he generally took a some-
what mediating position. This is shown in the Second
Basle or First Helvetic Confession, which was drawn
up by Bullinger, Leo Juda and himself (1536). When
the Tigurine Confession was adopted (1549), which
bound Zurich and Geneva together on the Lord's Sup-
per, he complained that Basle had not been consulted.
When the Second Helvetic Confession was adopted by
the Swiss, Basle was the only church that held out
against it, holding only to the First Helvetic Confession.
When Myconius died, Ambrose Blaarer, who had been
the reformer of Constance, but then living at Biel, was
elected antistes. When he declined Sulzer was chosen.
Section i
antistes simon sulzer (l553~85)*
We have already noted Sulzer's tendency to Luther-
* See Hagenbach "Kritische Geschichte der Entstehung und
der Schicksale der ersten Basler Confession," Basle, 1827, pages
87-137; also Linder "Simon Sulzer," 1890.
57
58 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
anism at Bern. He was born September 23, 1508, near
Interlaken, in Bern. His father dying, he had to give
up study and become a barber's apprentice. But
Berthold Haller noticed his abilities and recommended
him to the Bern Church for support. Sulzer studied at
Basle and then at Strasburg, where he proved an apt
scholar of the unionist Bucer, only he carried his prin-
ciples farther by becoming a unionist with distinctively
Lutheran leanings. This tendency was strengthened by
a visit he made (1536-38) to Wittenberg, where he met
Luther, whose personality greatly impressed him. He
returned to Bern, 1538, and remained there ten years,
until compelled to resign because of his Lutheranism.
He then went to Basle, where he became (1549) pastor
of St. Peter's Church and (1552) professor of the Old
Testament.* In 1554, he was transferred to the New
Testament, but, after he became antistes, he returned
to the Old Testament (1575). His recognized ability
led him to be elected antistes in 1553.
As antistes he early began revealing Lutheran ten-
dencies, just as he had done at Bern. He tried to in-
troduce the Lutheran confessional before the Lord's
Supper instead of the preparatory service of the Re-
formed. He also urged the excommunication or hold-
ing back of the unworthy from the Lord's table, and
treated the unused elements of the communion as spe-
cially holy, which was contrary to Reformed ideas.
Still he aimed to be circumspect and discreet in doing
all this. He was in close correspondence with the
leaders of the Lutheran Church, as Andrea, of Wurtem-
berg, and Marbach, of Strasburg. He tried to bring in
Lutheranism by weakening the Reformed position in
* At the Basle University there were originally only two
professors of theology, one of the Old Testament, the other of
the New. The occupant of the first was generally promoted to
the second when there was a vacancy.
BASLE 59
Basle. Strong influences had been brought to bear on
Basle to get it to adopt the Second Helvetic Confession.
But Sulzer felt that the adoption of that confession
would be another tie binding Basle to the Reformed, and
so opposed it, giving as a reason that Basle already had
her own confession, the Second Basle or First Helvetic,
with which she was satisfied and she did not, therefore,
need another creed. He not only weakened the Re-
formed position there by thus opposing the Second Hel-
vetic Confession, but he tried to weaken the Basle Con-
fession itself. This First Helvetic Confession had been
published with marginal notes which gave it a more
distinctly Reformed significance. In the reprinting of
that confession, he caused the marginal notes to be
omitted, because they were decidedly against the Lu-
theran doctrine of the presence of Christ's body at the
Lord's Supper. He then went farther and claimed that
this Basle confession agreed virtually with the Augs-
burg Confession of the Lutherans. Seeing, as he did,
no difference between them, he, the antistes of Reformed
Basle, also became the superintendent of the Lutheran
Church of neighboring Baden, in 1556, hoping thus
he might the more readily bring about a union of the
two churches.
Gradually he introduced more and more of Lutheran-
ism into Basle. Thus he introduced lay-baptism, a dis-
tinctively Lutheran custom and not at all Reformed.
He also introduced communion of the sick, which many
of the Reformed, especially in Switzerland, opposed at
that time. On Palm Sunday, 1558, he introduced four-
part music in the cathedral at Passion week and had
the organ played, assisted by flute and kettle-drum. All
this was regarded with suspicion by the Reformed. For,
although Basle had, unlike Zurich, kept up singing since
the reformation, four-part music instead of singing in
one part was an innovation, as was the use of the organ,
60 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
which had been closed up to that time. On high fes-
tival days, he had the people called together by a bell
called "the pope's bell," which had been given to the
city by Pope Felix I, and had always been regarded as
a papal relic. In these Lutheran innovations he did not
stand alone, but was supported by Fuglin, pastor of St.
Leonard's Church, and by his brother-in-law, Koch, pas-
tor of St. Peter's. Indeed, the greater part of the
clergy of the city of Basle* sympathized with Sulzer.
In those days it was not customary to print Lutheran
books in Reformed cities or vice versa, but he allowed
the Augsburg Confession to be published at Basle in
1567. Still, such radical changes must, sooner or later,
cause a breach, and this crisis came in 1571, when the
Basle Church was on the point of going over to
Lutheranism.
Two men rose to prevent this, Erzberger and Brand-
muller. Erzberger was one of the youngest ministers,
only the third assistant at St. Elizabeth's Church; but
Brandmuller, pastor of St. Theodore's Church, was
older and had influence in the city. Erzberger began
the controversy in a sermon on Christmas (1570), when
he openly attacked the introduction of the Lutheran doc-
trines and customs and closed with an eloquent appeal,
thus: "O Ecolampadius, did your teaching live in
our pulpits and hearts as your pictures live in the dance
of death,f how earnestly would I then preach. But in
vain do I wish it. I fear we will soon sing another
tune." For this the head minister of his church, Koch,
called him before him that same day, and the next day
* Basle had two districts, Basle-city and Basle-land.
t There is a famous painting at Basle called the "Dance of
Death," in which death is represented as coming to all classes of
men from the pope down. It has been supposed to reveal Prot-
estant tendencies, and if so, the Protestant teachings of Ecolam-
padius might be said to be living in it.
BASLE 61
the deputies of the city did so. Three days later the
upper council, the council of thirteen, took up the mat-
ter. He boldly defended himself, and in it was se-
conded by Brandmuller.
Thus the year 1570 closed, but not so the strife. On
January 4, 1571, the city council met, and Erzberger
was again examined. He stated that he agreed to the
Basle Confession and liturgy. Sulzer, Koch and Fuglin
spoke amicable words, but charged Erzberger with being
the cause of all the strife. As a result, all the ministers
were called together, January 9, and asked if they were
true to the Basle confession. All replied in the affirma-
tive. But, at this time, Brandmuller boldly took up
Erzberger's case. He explained the old historic mean-
ing of the Basle Confession and showed how it was
misused by the efforts to introduce Lutheranism.
Meanwhile Sulzer had been influencing the council
to get the ministers to subscribe to the Wittenberg Con-
cord of 1536, that compromise creed between the Lu-
therans and Reformed. He thus hoped to prepare the
way for the full introduction of Lutheranism later. On
February 1, 1571, the ministers were called together and
asked if they would subscribe to this Wittenberg Con-
cord. Brandmuller was the only one who refused. In
his refusal, given in writing, he said he did not reject
the Wittenberg Concord, but he preferred the old Con-
fession of Basle. He expressed fear that if the Witten-
berg Concord were once introduced, the next step would
be the introduction of the Augsburg Confession of the
Lutherans. The council decided that, on February 19,
the Wittenberg Concord should be accepted by the min-
isters. Strange to say, on that day there was an earth-
quake. Earthquakes and comets, in those days, were
considered portentous signs, and the members of the
council, alarmed, asked, "What does this mean ?" On Feb-
ruary 21, all the ministers, except Erzberger and Brand-
62 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
muller, appeared before the city council, the former hav-
ing been forbidden to preach. They gave their sub-
scription to the Wittenberg Concord as well as the Basle
Confession. Brandmuller was then called before the
council, March I. They toned down the meaning of the
subscription to him by saying that if he subscribed he
would not be bound by it, but only by the Basle con-
fession as before. So he finally was induced to sign it.
Erzberger, however, stood out. It now became evident
that he must do one of two things — either subscribe or
lose his place. He was finally dismissed, went to Paris
to study, but fled after the massacre of St. Bartholomew,
to Miihlhausen, then in canton of Basle, where he became
pastor and published (1575) his views on the Lord's
Supper. He then returned to Basle and died there 1576,
before he was thirty years old. His life was short,
but he saved Basle to the Reformed.*
The city ministers having subscribed the Wittenberg
Concord, now came the turn of the country ministers
of Basle-land. But while the city ministers subscribed,
the country ministers emphatically declared that they
did not want the Wittenberg Concord. On March 15,
1571, the deputies of Basle went to their synod at Lies-
thai. But the country ministers refused to sign be-
cause, they said, they were satisfied with the Basle Con-
fession. Finally, nine of them were constrained to sign,
and that influenced the rest so that all but four signed.
One of these signed and the remaining three, when they
came to the city and found that they could not fight it
out alone, signed, too, under force of circumstances.
Sulzer now seemed to have everything his own way. He
now openly declared for the Lutheran doctrine of the
Lord's Supper. He wrote to Marbach, of Strasburg,
* He also prevented Miihlhausen from accepting the Lutheran
Formula of Concord.
BASLE 63
that he expected to take a step farther than the Witten-
berg Concord. He was evidently prepared to introduce
the new creed of the Lutherans that was being prepared
— the Formula of Concord. So hopeful was he that
when Bullinger died (1575), he said, "The pillar of
Zwingli has now fallen," and he, therefore, expected an
easier victory for Lutheranism in Switzerland because
of Bullinger's death.
But though he hoped so much, all his hopes went
to the winds. For when the Formula of Concord was
published (1580), the city authorities appointed a com-
mittee to express a judgment on it. Among the three
appointed Sulzer was not named, perhaps because he
was old and sick. The truth was that the extreme state-
ments of the Formula of Concord and its excommunica-
tion of the Reformed had turned Basle against it. And
also a new leader had arisen in the Basle Church, in
Grynaeus, who was Reformed. So the synod of 1581,
under the leadership of Grynaeus, forbade subscription
to the Formula of Concord. Sulzer had outlived his
hopes. He had to be content to use the Formula of
Concord only in his own family and with his servants.
He died June 22, 1585, and with him Lutheranism died
in Basle. The Formula of Concord killed it.
We have looked at his character mainly as a pole-
mist; yet there was a kindlier side. He did much for
the refugees who came to Switzerland, among them
Horn, Bishop of Winchester, who wrote him a letter
of thanks. He was very kind to the Italian refugees
from Locarno, of whom nearly a hundred settled in
Basle. He also was energetic against the Catholics, who,
in Basle-land, were aggressive. He was a scholarly man,
and once published a dogmatics based on the articles
of the Bern synod in 1532.
64 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Section 2
antistes john jacob gryn^us (1585-1618)
The Basle Church had, at last, become alarmed at the
position into which it had been incautiously led by Sul-
zer. The man to swing it back to its old Reformed
moorings was the next antistes. John Jacob Grynaeus
was born at Bern, October I, 1540. When he was six
years of age his father was dismissed from Bern be-
cause of his Lutheranism and went to Basle. There the
son studied under Sulzer, and so became Lutheran in
his views. He began his ministry as assistant to his
father, at Roteln, in the Lutheran Church of Baden.
It happened that there was a religious disputation at
the castle of Roteln, where he so won the favor of the
Margrave of Baden, that the latter gave him one hun-
dred florins to continue his studies. So he went to
Tubingen (1563), and studied under Andrea, after which
he returned as his father's successor at Roteln. So
thoroughly educated in the Lutheran Church, he was the
last man who would be expected to go over to the Re-
formed. Yet, in 1573, two years before he left Roteln,
he became satisfied that the Lutheran doctrine of ubiquity
was untenable. Why he changed to the Reformed is a
question. Hottinger says it was due to the influence
of his brother-in-law, Erastus, who was Reformed.
Others say it was due to a more careful study of the
Church Fathers. In 1575, he was called to Basle
to take Sulzer's place as professor of Old Testament.
He there tried to prevent the introduction of the new
Lutheran creed — the Formula of Concord. To escape
the opposition of Sulzer he went to Heidelberg (1584)
at the request of Count John Casimir of the Palatinate, to
aid in restoring that university, which had declined un-
der the Lutheran reign of the deceased Elector Lewis, to
its former position in the Reformed Church. He wanted
BASLE 65
to stay at Heidelberg, but was given to understand by
Basle, that if he returned he would be elected the next
antistes. So he returned (1586) as professor of New
Testament and soon after was elected antistes. He had
hardly entered the antistes' chair when he was hurried
off to the Huber conference, as we have seen.
Grynaeus' great aim was to restore the Basle Con-
fession to its original high position in the Church and
to bring that Church back to full fellowship with the
Reformed. He had reprinted (1590) a new edition
of the Basle Confession which contained its original
marginal notes omitted by Sulzer. Although he had
not then been able to get the Basle Church to go as far
as to adopt the Second Helvetic Confession, yet, in the
preface to this edition of the Basle Confession, it was as-
serted that that confession entirely agreed with the Se-
cond Helvetic Confession.
His greatest act was the adoption of the Second
Helvetic Confession by the Basle synod. This occurred
at the synod, March 23-24, 1598, at Liesthal. There Gry-
naeus and Polanus explained the doctrinal position of that
confession. The doctrine of the Lord's Supper caused
some discussion, in which Grynaeus publicly acknowl-
edged his previous error in holding the Lutheran view
and his reasons for accepting the Reformed. Only one
minister clung to ubiquity, Gugger, but he later gave up
his adherence to the Formula of Concord. So the synod
adopted the Second Helvetic Confession, and Reformed
doctrines became victorious at Basle. At the next
synod, 1599, it was evident that quiet was restored to
the Basle Church after a controversy of over a quarter
of a century. However, it is not exactly correct to say
that Basle adopted the Second Helvetic Confession un-
der Grynaeus, in 1598. The proper statement is, that
the synod adopted that confession then, but the council
of Basle did not adopt it until later, under antistes
66 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Zwinger.
Grynaeus was so highly honored by his canton that
he was frequently sent on foreign deputations. On one
occasion he was sent as the representative of all the
Protestant cantons of Switzerland to the coronation of
Elector Frederick IV of the Palatinate. Five years be-
fore he died he became blind. He died August 13, 1617.
His tomb has the beautiful inscription : "Simple of heart,
sincere in doctrine and of integrity of character."
Section 3
prof. amandus polanus
In connection with Grynaeus, another man looms up
at Basle. Amandus Polanus was one of the most promi-
nent of the Reformed theologians of the age just after
the reformation. He was east-German by birth, hav-
ing been born at Polansdorf, in Silesia, December 16,
1561. He studied at Breslau and Tubingen. But, at
the gymnasium at Breslau, he had as teacher a Melanc-
thonian, so he became low-Lutheran, especially through
the study of Romans, Chapter IX. Like Grynaeus, he left
Lutheranism for the Reformed, but the objection of
Grynaeus was against the Lutheran doctrine of ubiquity
and the Lord's Supper, while the objection of Polanus
was to the Lutheran doctrine about election. Even
while at Tubingen he criticized Andrea's views of uni-
versal grace, as he, like the Reformed, held to particu-
lar grace. So he left Tubingen, 1583, and came to Basle.
Then he went to Geneva, where he conceived the high-
est regard for Beza and called him the "Irenaeus of that
century." He returned to Basle (1590), and received
the degree of doctor from the university there. He then
went among the Bohemian Brethren for two years, and
returned to Basle as private tutor in a noble family. In
1596 he was elected in Brandmuller's place as professor of
BASLE 67
the Old Testament. He was the author of a new transla-
tion of the Bible, which gave him considerable fame.
In 1606 the Landgrave of Hesse tried to win him for
Marburg University, when he was changing that uni-
versity from Lutheranism to the Reformed ; but Polanus
refused. He died July 17, 1610, of the plague.
Polanus excelled both in philosophy and theology.
He was professor of theology at a critical time for
Basle just as she was again arraying herself fully on
the Calvinistic side. He was, therefore, called upon to
defend strict Calvinism, and, in doing so, gave some of-
fense to the milder Calvinists of Basle. Indeed, a ru-
mor spread abroad than Polanus and the professors
at the university taught doctrines which they would not
dare preach in their pulpits. He, therefore, was led to
publish a defence in 1610. For his Calvinism he ap-
pealed to Beza, who supported him in his positions. Of
course, Beza could do so, for he was the highest
kind of a Calvinist. But Polanus also appealed to Lu-
ther, who, in his work against Erasmus, taught deter-
minism, and philosophical determinism and theological
predestination were about the same. Polanus showed
that, in his day, they were considered the best Lutherans
who most departed in this doctrine from Luther. He,
however, denied that the professors taught anything they
could not preach. He claimed that he taught predesti-
nation as contained in the first article of the Basle Con-
fession. He thus logically followed Calvin, but without
Calvin's originality. Indeed, he has been charged with
bringing in an era of scholastic Calvinism, although that
charge was made against Peter Martyr before him, and
also against Szegedin, of the Hungarian Reformed
Church, as well as himself. But, while agreeing with
Calvin, he yet differed. Before his time the strength of
his predecessors lay in their exegesis. He made promi-
nent the philosophical. He aimed to introduce philo-
68 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
sophical statements which would prepare the way for
scholastic dogma. He was the most philosophical of
the Basle theologians. In philosophy, he tried to medi-
ate between Aristotelianism and the philosophy of
Ramus, who claimed that Aristotelianism must be cast
aside, because Catholicism was founded on Aristotelian-
ism, and Protestantism must be based on a new philos-
ophy. But, though so strong on dogmatics, he was not
professor of dogmatics, for, as yet, no such chair ex-
isted at Basle. But, on the day of his death, such a
chair was established, thus increasing the professorships
of theology there from two to three. Polanus, with
Wolleb, or Wollebius, of whom we shall speak later,
were the two great theologians of Basle just after the
Reformation.
CHAPTER III
SCHAFFHAUSEN
Schaffhausen, too, revealed a slight tinge of Luther-
anism, but not so generally as did Basle. It appeared in
only one individual, but he as antistes and dekan exerted
considerable influence.
Section i
antistes conrad ulmer
Conrad of Ulm, or Ulmer, as he was called, was
born 1 5 19 and studied at Schaffhausen, Basle and Wit-
tenberg. At the latter university he was the pupil of
Luther and Melancthon. There he received his master's
degree and for a time delivered lectures. After serving
a charge in Germany he returned to Schaffhausen. He
was, however, compelled to pass a severe examination
before the ministers because he was suspected of Luth-
eran tendencies, but he was admitted to the ministry in
the canton. In spite of his suspected Lutheranism he
soon rose to prominence, for at that time the difficulty
with the Schaffhausen church was that she had no
leader and no minister his equal in ability. As a result
he was elected antistes 1569. But the next year he was
made dekan because of his suspected Lutheranism. He
early revealed this by the publication of his catechism
in 1562. Before that time Leo Juda's catechism had
been used in the canton. His catechism, notwithstanding
the fact that Bullinger expressed himself pleased with
69
jo THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
it, caused a great strife in the canton. This was:
(i) Because of some Lutheranizing statements in it;
also
(2) Because it was written in the German dialect
and not in the Swiss dialect.
(3) Because its Scripture quotations were taken
from the Bible of Luther, and not from the Zurich Bible,
then used in Schaffhausen. The strife in the church
became so severe that Bullinger was called upon to act
as a mediator. The result was a new catechism based
on Leo Juda's, but containing some answers of Ulmer's
and also the twenty-first answer of the Heidelberg Cate-
chism on faith. This catechism used the Swiss dialect.
Thus, instead of using the German word for cup (kelch),
it used the Swiss word (geschirr). The Bible quotations
were also from the Swiss Bible, thus making it a Swiss
book, and it was, therefore, welcomed by the Swiss of
Schaffhausen. It continued in use until 1663, when the
Heidelberg Catechism was introduced through the efforts
of dekan Melchoir Hurter, and later became the doctrinal
standard of the canton.
Ulmer made a similar attempt in 1592 to introduce
a liturgy. It was based mainly on the Zurich liturgy,
though its formula for the Lord's Supper was taken
from the Bern liturgy. But it, too, proved objectionable
because it used the German dialect instead of the Swiss
dialect, which was generally used in the services. The
conflict between the old Schaffhausen liturgy and it con-
tinued down to the seventeenth century. Ulmer died,
1642.
Schaffhausen, in adopting the Second Helvetic Con-
fession, sealed her adherence to the Reformed faith. So
strongly Reformed was she that she was suspicious of
Sulzer at Basle. In 1581, she, with the other Evangelical
cantons, wrote to Strasburg that she could not accept
the Formula of Concord.
PART III
DANGERS TO THE REFORMED FROM THE CATHOLICS
Here the strife as not merely rivalry, as with the
Lutherans, but bitter enmity. The Church of Rome
is ever vigilant; she never sleeps. And she never was
more active than in the period just after the Reformation,
for she was anxious to win back the large districts she
had lost. The Jesuit order arose to aid her in doing this.
The signal to the counter-reformation was the council
of Trent, 1545-63. A great advantage that Rome had
was that she was united, whereas Protestantism was
divided and thus weakened. This topic may be divided
into three periods :
1. The dangers just after the Reformation.
2. The dangers during the Thirty Years' War (1618-
1648).
3. The dangers after the Thirty Years' War.
71
CHAPTER I
The Dangers Just After the Reformation
The defeat of Zurich at Cappel, as we have seen, gave
the Protestants a great blow and the Catholics great
prestige. The Catholics became much more aggressive,
forming alliances with Catholics much as they pleased. In
1560, the five Catholic cantons, Lucerne, Zug, Uri, Schwyz
and Unterwalden, formed a political alliance with Savoy,
the Catholic duchy lying south of Switzerland, and in
1565 they formed a political alliance with the pope, in
which they swore that Catholicism would be retained in
Switzerland.
All this was threatening, but more threatening than
this was the Golden Alliance (bund). This was named
after Cardinal Borromeo, of Milan, a nephew of the
pope, the Borromean Alliance. The southern part of
Switzerland, Ticino and Valtellina, was a part of his
diocese. He not only visited every part of his diocese,
but travelled on foot all over Switerland, gathering the
scattered flocks either by persuasion or by force into
the Catholic Church. In 1574 he founded a Jesuit college
at Freiburg, one of the Catholic cantons, at which the
celebrated Canisius, the author of the Catholic catechism,
taught. In 1579 he founded the Helvetic college at
Milan, in which forty Swiss were educated at his expense.
In 1584 he introduced the Capuchins into Lugano. To
the Jesuits he committed education, to the Capuchins
preaching. In 1574 the Jesuits were called to Lucerne,
and later he caused the other orders to be introduced.
In 1579 he sent a papal nuncio to Lucerne, which
was very distasteful to the Protestants, who feared his
73
74 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
influence. This is shown by an incident. On Decem-
ber 10, 1580, the nuncio had occasion, in order to go
from Lucerne to Freiburg, to travel through the Protest-
ant canton of Bern. His clerical clothing led him to be
recognized as he rode through the streets of Bern on a
market day, and the children threw snowballs at him.
As a result, a perfect avalanche of complaints poured
into the next Swiss diet, so that a war almost resulted.
This nuncio finally brought the Catholic cantons of
Switzerland into a league called the Golden or Borro-
mean Alliance, October 5, 1586. In it the five original
Catholic cantons were increased by the addition of Frei-
burg and Solothurn. This alliance, on May 12, 1587,
formed an alliance with Spain, a foreign Catholic power.
Out of this movement arose what were really two con-
federacies within Switzerland, the Protestant Diet, whose
capital was at Aarau, and the Catholic Alliance, whose
capital was at Lucerne. This arraying of organized
Protestantism and Catholicism against each other was
a menace, forboding war.
There is not space to enter into the methods by which
the Catholics harassed the Protestants.* Suffice it to say
that there was not a canton that did not suffer, and the
Protestants were entirely driven out of the Catholic
cantons.
Section i
appenzexl
This little district in northeastern Switzerland was
greatly divided on the subject of religion. It was divided
racially. The mountain inhabitants of Inner Rhoden
were Romansch in blood and speech. Like the five
* See BIoe=ch "Geschichte der Schweizerischen Kirche,"
Vol. I, pages 307-381.
APPENZELL 75
Catholic mountain cantons, Lucerne, etc., they were non-
progressive and remained Catholic. On the other hand,
the inhabitants of the outer region (Outer Rhoden), the
district lying toward Lake Constance, were of Frankish
or German descent and language. They were progressive
and became Protestants. When the Borromean Alliance
came into existence, the few Protestants in Inner Rhoden,
the Catholic district, were forbidden to worship. In
1584 the government introduced the Gregorian calendar,
which would have caused a war between the two parts
if the Swiss Diet had not intervened and allowed the
Protestants to observe the old calendar. In 1585 the
Capuchin monks were called thither, and this heightened
the opposition. The Catholic district tried to suppress
the Protestants within its borders. Matters came to a
crisis in the last decade of the sixteenth century, when
the Catholic part, without the consent of the Protestant
part, tried to league itself with Spain. Then the Protest-
ants tried to league themselves with Zurich. Finally the
matter came before the Swiss Diet (1597), which wisely
decided that as the canton divided itself geographically
about religion, the two parts of the canton should sepa-
rate into half -cantons. Each was given a vote in the
Swiss Diet, but, as they always voted against each other,
they only nullified their influence. But they made up
for this by the extravagant style in which their ambas-
sadors lived at foreign courts. Inner Rhoden, in 1600,
joined the Borromean Alliance.
Section 2
BASLE
This canton, though Protestant, yet had a strong
Catholic population in the southwestern corner, in the
beautiful valley of the Munster, in the Jura mountains.
In this part the Catholic bishop of Basle, who had been
76 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
driven out of Basle-city, was continually intriguing to re-
gain power. In 1579 the bishop, then Blarer of Warten-
see, became aggressive. He formed a league with the seven
Catholic cantons, and, against the will of his Protestant
subjects, brought in the Jesuits and began a systematic
destruction of Protestantism in that territory. In 1581
he forced Catholic services in the Reformed churches
of Birseck, LaufTenthal and Paffeningen, although those
districts were mainly Protestant. In 1589 he dedicated
the Reformed Church at Birseck to Catholic worship.
The year before this he ordered all the Protestants there
either to become Catholics or leave. Complaint was made
to Basle, but nothing was done. One by one the Re-
formed ministers were driven away. The reason why
Basle did not do anything was because she feared a
civil war if she did. This aggressive bishop died, 1608.
Muhlhausen, then in the northern part of the canton,
was also threatened by the Catholics. The town was
Protestant. But two of its citizens, being unsuccessful
in a suit against the town, went to the Borromean Alliance
for support. The result was a revolution in the town,
and the government was overthrown. Had they contin-
ued in power, the whole town would have become
Catholic. But Basle and the Swiss sent an army, which,
in 1587, captured the town and restored it to its rightful
rulers. But Muhlhausen afterwards was incorporated
in Germany. Constance also drove out the Protestants
and became later incorporated in Germany.
Section 3
geneva and the escalade
The danger of Geneva lay in her geographical posi-
tion. Although the centre of the Reformed Church,
yet geographically she was located on the edge of Protest-
antism. Rome and Geneva stood over against each other
GENEVA yy
and not very far apart geographically. Indeed, Geneva
was in a measure separated from the rest of Protestant-
ism, and at the same time almost completely surrounded
by Catholic powers, as France and Savoy. Only a narrow
strip of land three or four miles wide, along the west
shore of lake Geneva, connected Geneva with Switzer-
land and the Protestant states. A few soldiers could
have quickly cut this off. Of course, she could have
had connection up the lake of Geneva, but this was often
uncertain. To make her situation still more dangerous,
the neighboring duke of Savoy, her former ruler, had
never given up his claim to the city, and was always on
the watch, ready to intrigue with any dissatisfied element
in the city, so as to gain an entrance and reconquer her.
Judged by these facts, the preservation of Geneva to
Protestantism during the centuries since the reformation
has been one of the historical miracles of Europe.
Nothing but the providence of God and the watchfulness
of the Protestant powers, Bern, Zurich and Holland, ever
preserved Geneva to Protestantism. Geneva, feeling her
isolation, tried to join the Swiss confederacy in 1557, but
the Catholics had the majority in the Swiss Diet and she
was refused. The Catholics, in this refusal, expressed
a wish for the utter extermination of the city of Calvin.
Meanwhile the Catholics, especially under Francis De
Sales, the titular bishop of Geneva, who was mystically
inclined, made many converts in the immediate neighbor-
hood of Geneva, no less than 6,000 persons between
1591-96.
The Catholics of Savoy, emboldened by the refusal
of the Swiss Diet to allow Geneva to become a canton,
thus finding out how much enmity and power there was
in Switzerland against Geneva, projected fresh schemes
against her. But they were baffled, although Geneva
would have been subject to the attacks of the duke of
Savoy had not King Henry IV of France volunteered
78 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
to protect the city. About the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, a "league of the spoon" was started in
Savoy against Geneva. Its members boasted that they
would sup up the Huguenots as if they were spoon- food
like soup.* The president of this league of the spoon
undertook to ride through Geneva with an escort, to show
how easily it could be done. But he was chased till he
sought refuge in a house on the wall with whose occu-
pants he was secretly in league. There he was killed
by the mob. In spite of this, the league of the spoon
continued and chose another leader. But all this revealed
the danger gathering around Geneva.
The crisis came in the Escalade.f Two thousand
Savoyards secretly approached the walls one dark night,
December 12, 1602, and 350 climbed up to the top of
the walls by ladders. They were incited as they climbed
by the words of the Jesuit priests : "Mount courageously,
for every round into the city is a step toward heaven."
They were about to admit their associates outside, and
were so sure of success that they dispatched a messenger
to their commander announcing their success, and cour-
iers were sent already to Rome, Turin and Madrid with
the news that Geneva was captured. But suddenly a
Genevese sentinel, hearing a noise as he went the rounds,
came upon them. They killed him, but not till he had
discharged his gun. This gave the alarm. The citizens
were roused to the danger. One of the Genevese fired
a cannonball in the darkness at random along the city
wall. Providence guided it, for it destroyed all the
ladders on which the Savoyards had ascended into the
city. At the same time, the portcullis was dropped, and
the Savoyards in the city were imprisoned like rats in a
* Men took the spoon as crusaders took the cross, says a
writer.
t The word escalade meant ladder, and it was named thus, as
ladders were used.
GENEVA 79
trap. They were attacked and surrounded by thousands
of armed citizens. Cannonballs swept the streets and
cut through their ranks until they retreated to the ladders,
only to find them gone. They were driven over the wall,
to fall into the fosse below. Out of the 360 who entered
the city, only yy escaped death by surrender. They were
all hung from the ramparts as a warning to the Savoy-
ards, and their bodies afterwards cast into the river
Rhone. Of these, 13 were nobles of Savoy. When
the Escalade was over, the citizens of Geneva gathered
in a great crowd at the cathedral for a thanksgiving
service, at which Beza gave out the 124th Psalm to be
sung. Since then, annually on December 12, there is a
religious service in Geneva commemorative of the Esca-
lade, at which this Psalm is sung. There is a monument
in Geneva commemorating the Escalade which has bas-
reliefs, one of which represents Beza giving out the
124th Psalm at the door of the cathedral.
This attack on Geneva thoroughly alarmed the Pro-
testant states to the danger which threatened Geneva.
The Evangelical states of Switzerland sent troops to
protect the city. But a general war was only averted by
the combined efforts of France, Spain and the pope. In
1630 a treaty of peace was made which prohibited the
advance of the army of Savoy within sixteen miles of
the city. This was a great protection to Geneva, and pre-
vented any further attempts like the Escalade. Later
the city, by the aid of the Dutch, was more completely
fortified.
Section 4
VALAIS
The district of Valais, situated northeast of the lake
of Geneva, in the Rhone valley, though strongly Catholic,
yet had a number of Protestants, especially among the
8o THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
leading families. The pastor at Visp Kaufman was
Evangelical, and Protestant services were held under the
governor-general of Brigue. Strong Reformed congre-
gations were organized at Sion and Leuk. In 1560
Haller wrote to Bullinger from Bern that one might hope
that Valais might become Evangelical. There was a
political reason for this, for Valais feared its neighbor,
Savoy, and Savoy was Catholic. The result was that
at Sion and Leuk Protestants were tolerated for many
years. But in 1591 came the change. The Protestants
were ordered to leave or become Catholic. The Capuchins
and Jesuits were left in about 1600. The influence of
Henry IV of France caused some toleration for a time,
but after his death severe persecutions broke out. And yet,
when Breitinger visited them on his return from Geneva
in 161 1, he was encouraged at finding so many Protest-
ants, and his influence led six or seven of them to come
to Zurich to study in 1614. But by 1630 the Jesuits had
swept away the last vestige of Protestantism, those who
remained Protestants having fled over the high Gemmi
pass to the canton of Bern.
CHAPTER II
The Dangers during the Thirty Years' War
(1618-1648)
The Thirty Years' War was pre-eminently a war in
Germany and Austria, but Switzerland was greatly con-
cerned in it, and certain districts suffered severely by it.
There were two things, one external, the other internal,
that made the war threatening. The first was the claim
of the Catholic powers over Switzerland. The Emperor
of Germany still claimed a sort of suzerainty over
Switzerland, which was not given up until the end of
this war. As Archduke of Austria, he also laid special
claim to a part of the canton of the Grisons called the
ten Jurisdictions. As a result, Switzerland became in-
volved in a terrible war in that canton in the east. She
was also touched by the war in Thurgau, in the north.
The Catholic Church as well as its princes threatened
Switzerland. In 1629, when the Interim was introduced
into Germany, the Catholic princes ordered it to be intro-
duced into Switzerland, for the property of the Protest-
ant churches in Constance, St. Gall and Basle was ordered
to be returned to the Catholics. The bishop of Basle
became aggressive and hoped by the aid of the German
Emperor even to get back the Basle cathedral from the
Reformed. Indeed, the German Emperor wanted to gain
Basle for Germany, as he had Miihlhausen, and as Arch-
duke of Austria he wanted to gain the canton of the
Grisons for Austria. These hopes were dashed by the
coming of Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish king, and
his victories.
The second danger of the war was internal, due to
6 81
82 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the jealousy between the Catholic and Protestant cantons.
Thus Zurich was inclined, during the early part of the
war, to support the Protestants in the hope of winning
back Constance from Germany to Switzerland again, for
by getting the votes of Constance in the Swiss diet the
majority would be Protestant instead of Catholic. Breit-
inger was the leader of this so-called Swedish party at
Zurich. But, though this found some support in Bern,
Basle and Schaffhausen held back. Repeatedy, how-
ever, the Catholic and Protestant cantons were on the
verge of war, owing to complications produced by it.
Section i
thurgau and the case oe kesselring
The border cantons on the north, as Schaffhausen
and Thurgau, were repeatedly threatened by the war.
This came to a crisis in September, 1633, when the
Swedish army under General Horn boldly marched past
Stein, on the Rhine, through Thurgau, so as to get on
the southern and most vulnerable side of the city of
Constance, which they proposed to besiege. This viola-
tion of the neutrality of Switzerland led the Austrians
to do the same thing, for they marched through the terri-
tory of Schaffhausen to Rhinefelden. This passage of
the Swedes produced a tremendous uproar in Switzer-
land. Within two weeks after the passage, 3,000 soldiers
of the Catholic cantons were in Protestant Thurgau.
Fortunately, the Swedes withdrew early in October. This
passage of the Swedes led the Catholic cantons to believe
that Zurich had formed an alliance with the Swedes, and
they used it as a pretext the next year, when they entered
into a secret treaty with Austria and Spain, so as to give
them the right to march through their territory.
Out of this passage of the Swedes through Thurgau
grew a circumstance that nearly led Switzerland to the
THURGAU 83
verge of civil war. The leader of the troops of the canton
of Thurgau at that time was Kilian Kesselring, born
at Zurich, but a citizen of Thurgau.* The Catholics
brought charges of treason against him because he had
not stopped the Swedes from entering Switzerland. That
at heart he may have wished well to the Swedes is prob-
ably true, for he was a zealous Reformed. But recent
investigation seems to show that he was guiltless of
treason. But the Catholic cantons were determined to
have revenge, and they arrested him October 5, 1633,
and threw him into prison in Wyl. Zurich interceded
for his release, but in vain. He was charged with treason,
and from October 24 to November 7 he was frequently
put to torture, so as to get him to confess his guilt, which
he persisted in denying. On November 8 he was removed
to the town of Schwyz, where he was safer from any
rescue by the Protestants. There from December to
January, 1635, he was closely confined in the thieves'
tower and frequently tortured. In one of these tortures,
his arm was torn from its ligaments in the shoulder, and,
as it was not attended to by a physician, he lay in agony
for sixteen weeks. Zurich, assisted by Bern, tried to
gain his freedom. The matter came before a Swiss diet
February 26, 1634, but the Catholic cantons refused to
set him free and made an alliance with Austria and
Spain, which made the Protestant cantons afraid to press
the case further for fear of war. On September 4, 1634,
he was tortured by being hung up for two hours, the
second hour with twenty pounds of stone hanging from
his feet to make the pain greater. The ground beneath
him was wet with the sweat-drops of his suffering. The
news of this barbarity at Zurich almost drove that canton
to the verge of war. Finally the verdict was rendered,
January 29, 1635. He was condemned for treason and
* See Keller's "Der kriegsgerichtliche Process gegen Kilian
Kesselring," 1884.
84 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
found worthy of death. But, on account of the inter-
cession of France, Zurich and others, his life was spared.
But a fine of 5,000 gulden was placed on him, which, with
the costs, made a total of 13,856 gulden. This Zurich
promptly paid, and he was at length set at freedom after
a sixteen months' imprisonment. Great was the joy of
the Protestants at this, for he was looked upon as a martyr
for their cause. He died in 1650, protesting to the end
his innocence of the charge of treason.
Section 2
the massacre oe the valtellina
But the district of Switzerland that most suffered in
the Thirty Years' War was the large eastern canton of
the Grisons. Here, at the beginning of the war, an awful
massacre of the Protestants occurred.
Before describing this, it is necessary to note the com-
plex nature of the canton of the Grisons. It contained
within it three races, the Germans in the north, the Ro-
mansch in the center and the Italians in the south. Its
government consisted of three different parties loosely
joined together, the Graybands, the League of God's
House and the ten Jurisdictions. To make matters still
more complex, these were still further divided between
the Protestants and the Catholics. The Prattigau and
Engadine districts were Protestant, the Italian and Ober-
alp, Catholic. In the days of the Reformation, the Catho-
lics and Protestants had come to an understanding by
which each respected the other's rights. This occurred
at Ilanz, January 7, 1526, and was the first illustration
of religious liberty after the Reformation, occuring long
before the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock in 1620.*
* Still the Catholics of the Italian part of the canton always
resisted any aggressive movements of the Protestants. Thus an
Evangelical school for training Italian Reformed ministers was
founded at Sondrio, in 1582, but had to be given up, 1585.
THE GRISONS 85
When, therefore, the bitter feelings stirred up by the
Thirty Years' War came on, it became impossible to con-
tinue this toleration of each other, and Protestants and
Catholics were ready to fly at each other's throats. What
made matters the more threatening to the Protestants
was that there was a strong party favorable to Austria,
for Austria still claimed a sort of authority over a part
of the canton. She was also anxious to get control of
the canton, because it contained the one pass by which
the armies of Europe could most easily pass between
Germany and Italy, the Splugen pass. So this canton
became during this war the bone of contention between
foreign powers, Austria and Spain on the one side and
France and Venice on the other, and the inhabitants were
the terrible sufferers from both sides.
At the beginning of the war, there were two hostile
parties in the canton, the Catholic, led by the Plantas,
and the Protestants, led by Salis and Jenatsch, a pictur-
esque adventurer of that day. The former wanted the
canton to join the league of the five Catholic cantons,
which, of course, the Protestants greatly opposed. It
happened that at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War
the Protestants did a very unwise thing. Jenatsch led
to the establishment of a court at Thusis (1618), which
condemned many of the Catholic party to imprisonment
and death. This tribunal arrested the chief priest of
Sondrio, in the Valtellina valley, Alexander, and put him
to death. Roused by the intrigues of the Plantas with
the pope and with Spain, it condemned the two brothers
Planta to banishment and the confiscation of their estates.
The Plantas then determined on revenge. It was Robus-
tello, Planta's cousin, who planned the massacre of the
Valtellina.* Then occurred the St. Bartholomew massa-
cre of the Thirty Years' War.
* This region, located south of the Alps, is now in Italy,
though then it was included in the Grisons.
86 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Rumors of such a proposed massacre of the Protest-
ants had become rife, so Robustello, rinding that the
secret was out, started with a band of men from Milan
on his awful work. They arrived at Tirano, at the upper
or eastern end of the valley, where four shots on the
morning of July 19, 1620, before the city hall, were the
signal to begin. One of the first to fall was the magis-
trate Enderlin, who, finding his room attacked, defended
himself until his powder gave out. Then they tore up
the roof and shot him. His bloody body was thrown into
the street and then into the river Adda. Several leading
members of the Reformed church tried to hide, but were
dragged out and killed. The pastor of the Reformed
church, Basso, had fled with some of his members to the
church to gain strength by prayer. Their enemies rushed
in, drove out all the women and killed the men. They
cut off the minister's head, and, putting it on a stick,
stood it up in the pulpit. One of the magistrates, Capol,
was in the court-house when it was surrounded by the
Catholic populace. As they could not break in, they
threatened to burn it down, so he finally threw himself
from it into the river, but was found by them. '"Give
up your faith and your life is safe," they said to him.
"Why should I deny my Lord when He has done so
much for me?" was his reply as they killed him. Sixty
were killed at Tirano.
Then the tide of massacre proceeded down the valley,
led by Robustello and his band. They came to Teglio
as the Catholics were holding their worship. Besta went
in to the congregation and made an address, falsely
charging that the Reformed had planned a massacre of
the Catholics the next month, and that 6,000 Dutch sol-
diers would be at hand. This so angered the Catholic
congregation that they en masse followed Robustello
against the Reformed. The Reformed in the meanwhile
had fled to their church. Besta opened the door as the
THE GRISONS 87
minister in the pulpit was praying and fired. The Re-
formed barricaded the door, and then the Catholics shot
in through the windows, wounding and killing. The min-
ister, Dauz, already wounded in the pulpit, urged his
hearers to fortitude until he was shot down. When the
door was broken open, the rest fled to the church-tower.
Then the enemies brought benches into its lower floor and
set them on fire, till the woodwork was consumed and the
rest burned up in an awful holocaust. Forty or fifty
were killed in the church and seventeen in the tower.
Sondrio, at the lower or western end of the valley
of the Valtellina, was the next place. Here the Reformed
were more numerous. When the news of the massacre
up the valley came there, the Catholic chancellor, Para-
vicini, took grounds against Robustello and tried to keep
peace between Catholics and Reformed. But chancellor
Mingardini urged his Reformed brethren to take up arms,
and seventeen men joined him. They fortified themselves
in the house next to the city-hall. During the night, the
priests went about inciting the Catholics, and when morn-
ing came some dead Reformed were found in the streets.
Then Mingardini gathered his little band, placed the
women and children in the middle and marched them
through the streets, calling on the other Reformed to
join them as they departed from the city. Their number
increased finally to 73. The Catholics were so surprised
at this bravery that they did not attempt to attack them.
The Protestants went to the mountain above the town,
spent a short time there in a service of prayer and thanks-
giving for their deliverance with their pastor, and then
escaped through the Malenco valley over the Muretto
pass to the Engadine. Soon after Robustello (his band
of 300 when he left Teglio having grown to 800 on the
way) arrived at Sondrio. For three days they murdered
not only the Reformed, but any Catholics who seemed
friendly to them. One of them was a butcher, indeed,
88 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
for he claimed to have killed 18 Protestants. At Ber-
benno many of the Protestants fled to wells, but, at the
assurance by the priest of safety, they went back, only
to fall into Robustello's hands and be murdered. Robus-
tello, finding that a number were escaping over the Ma-
lenco valley, garrisoned it and closed it against flight,
and then killed them as he wanted.
The testimony of some of these martyrs is very beau-
tiful. Anna of Libe, who had fled from Italy because
she had become Protestant, had a baby two months old.
They threatened to kill her and make her child Catholic.
She replied, "God, who cares for the birds, will care for
it." She said to them, "You may kill my body. Here
it is. But my soul, which you cannot kill, I commit into
the hands of my heavenly Father." But this bravery
only made them the more angry. She was killed and her
child raised a Catholic. Paolo Beretta, of Venice, who
also had fled from Italy to Sondrio for her faith, and was
of noble family, was also a martyr. She refused to pray
to Mary and the saints. "I place," she said, "my trust
in no creature, but only in the Lord Jesus Christ. I
hold Mary for the holiest virgin on earth, but she does
not know my needs and is not almighty. She needs the
redemption of Jesus Christ. So I cannot pray to her
or give her the honor which alone is given to God and
to our Saviour." They terribly maltreated her, though
eighty years of age, led her about with a devil's cap on
her head. But when suffering she said, "I suffer gladly.
I do not want to have it better than Jesus and his apos-
tles." She was sent to Milan, where she was burned
by the inquisition a year later. Dominic Salvetto, who
would not give up his faith, was thrown out for dead
into a ditch. But he lifted himself up and called to the
murderers, "Complete your work, so that I can by it the
quicker give my soul to the heavenly Father."
There were about 140 martyrs in Sondrio. In all
THE GRISONS 89
there were about 400 martyred in the Valtellina valley,
of whom seven were Reformed ministers. This massacre
of the Valtellina caused a thrill of horror and indigna-
tion in Protestant Switzerland. On the other side, Rome
granted indulgences to all who had taken part in it. The
greater part of those who escaped went to Zurich, where
Breitinger and the citizens gladly cared for them. Zurich
and Bern sent 3,000 troops into the Valtellina, but they
were defeated at Tirano, September 11, 1620. The next
year the Reformed troops defeated the Catholics and
drove them into the canton of Uri. The result was that
Spain took the valley from the Grisons and Protestantism
was entirely suppressed.
Later Robustello marched up the valley of Valtellina
into the Bernina pass against Poschiavo to attack the
Reformed. But they had heard of his coming and pre-
pared themselves. At Brusio, on the way, he killed 30
Reformed and burned their houses. But as he approached
Poschiavo he found he had to do not with defenseless
men, women and children, as before. So he went into
camp. The Protestants received reinforcements of 200
from the Engadine, who came over the Bernina pass.
Then the Catholics fled.
On April 25, 1623, the Catholics made a second
attempt to massacre the Reformed at Poschiavo. Twenty-
three Reformed were killed and the rest fled up the
Bernina pass. It was almost impassable so early in the
year. About 300 got over the pass into the Engadine,
but the old and weak were captured. These refused to
give up their Reformed faith. Their blood reddened the
snows, about 20 men and 3 women. The Catholics re-
turned to Poschiavo, burned all Bibles and Protestant
books in a public fire in the square. The inhabitants prom-
ised not to tolerate Protestants again, but Protestants
again appeared there. But till 1627 the Reformed did not
dare to meet for worship except in the hills and woods.
90 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
They were not allowed to bury their dead. They were
served by ministers from the Engadine, and on one occa-
sion the newborn babe of one of them was baptized not
far from the Bernina glaciers, at Cavaglia. It is inter-
esting to note that today there are still six Italian Re-
formed congregations in Switzerland, in the valleys
Bregaglia and Bernina, on the borders of Italy, the rem-
nant of the Italian Reformed who once lived in those
valleys.
Section 3
duke henry of rohan
A massacre only rouses the blood-thirsty passions, and
there was retaliation, not, indeed, in the Valtellina valley,
where there were no Protestants left to retaliate, but in
the Grisons. In the spring of 1621, Pompeius Planta,
the leader of the Catholic party, having returned to his
castle at Reitburg, was assassinated there by Jenatsch.
Jenatsch led the Reformed against the five Catholic can-
tons and Spain, whom Planta had brought into the canton,
and drove them out. But he failed to retake the Valtellina
valley.
Then it was that Austria, who had all along laid some
claim to part of the Grisons, determined to enter the
canton. The Duke of Austria said, "Since you want war,
you shall have it." In the fall of 162 1, he sent an army
of 16,000, under his general, Balderon. Jenatsch was de-
feated. Balderon proved a second Holofernes, burning
and destroying everything. The Reformed ministers
were driven out and Capuchin monks brought in to fill
their places and convert the people back to Rome. Sev-
enty-five Reformed churches were thus made pastorless.
The reading of the Bible and of Protestant books was
forbidden. The people were driven by force to hear the
Capuchins. The Reformed said, "If we must lose our
THE GRISONS 91
liberty, let us not lose our souls," and they fled to the
woods and ate hay and grass in milk and water, and
many died of hunger. Those who did not flee were made
slaves to the soldiers. Four thousand Reformed left the
canton.
Finally the persecutions became so severe that the
inhabitants of the Prattigau district, in the northeastern
part of the canton, became desperate and rose against the
invaders. They had been driven to the woods. As their
arms had been taken from them, they now cut heavy clubs
and drove large nails into their heads. They made dag-
gers out of their knives and spears out of their scythes.
At Schiers, on Palm Sunday, April 24, 1622, they sud-
denly rose, burst upon the Austrians, drove them into a
church and defeated them, killing 400, and arming
themselves with the weapons of the dead. The hated
leader of the Capuchins, Pater Fidelis, was killed. They
began a victorious career, until finally their general,
Salis, captured Chur, June 17, 1622. The Austrians,
driven to their last defense in one of the passes, declared,
"The people of the Grisons are like chamois." In all
about 4,000 Austrians were killed and the rest driven out.
But there was relief for only a short time, for Austria
sent a larger army. Brave was the resistance of the
people. A band of 30 patriots, like the heroes of Ther-
mopylae, fought the Austrians and died fighting one by
one. But the Austrians burned all the villages in the
Prattigau district, which was mainly Protestant. They
utterly stripped the country of the necessities of life.
In the lower Engadine, as the Austrians had burned their
villages, the inhabitants lived in cellars, sleeping on straw.
They had to be very watchful lest the little food remain-
ing for the winter would be eaten by mice and rats, who
ran over their faces while they slept, at times gnawing
at their noses and ears. As a result of this starvation
came the plague. The winter 1622-23 was named Hun-
92 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
ger-winter because of the suffering. But the orders of
the Austrians were, "Any one who does not go to the
confessional at Easter must leave the land." As a result,
many of the Reformed left the country. These conditions
lasted several years.
But when everything was darkest then relief appeared.
A new friend arose, and, strange to say, a Catholic power,
France. For France had not been unmindful of the vic-
tories that Austria had been gaining in the early part
of the Thirty Years' War. Fearing, therefore, lest Austria
would become all-powerful in Europe, France now
started movements against her. As early as 1623 there
had been an alliance between France, Venice and Savoy,
and a French army had entered the Grisons, capturing
Sondrio and Tirano and driving out the Austrians. But
suddenly, in 1626, France made peace with Austria, and
the Valtellina was given back to the Grisons, but on con-
dition that the Reformed faith be not reintroduced. For
France, though politically friendly, was still Catholic,
and it seemed as if friend and foe thus combined to keep
out the Protestants. Meanwhile the Emperor of Germany
had triumphed in Germany in 1629. He now sent a third
army against the Grisons. All liberty vanished. The
sword was the only law. The Reformed pastors, driven
out, bade farewell to their flocks with tears in their eyes,
for they were going to poverty, they knew not where.
Vulpius, one of them, remained in the neighborhood of
Zuz, and from time to time came and baptized, married
and preached, but always in the darkness of night. Plague
came and carried off 20,000, one-fourth of the population.
But when Gustavus Adolphus triumphed in Germany, the
inhabitants took heart again. France by that time began
to take a lively interest. In 1631 a French ambassador
appeared at Chur, the capital of the canton, and made a
treaty with them, offering them subsidies and French
soldiers to garrison their land.
THE GRISONS 93
Then came the problem for France — to find a suitable
governor for the canton. A Catholic governor would
have been looked upon with suspicion by the Protestants,
while the Catholics knew their rights would be protected
by France, which was a Catholic land. Fortunately there
was one of the Huguenot generals still in connection with
France, the Duke of Rohan. He was appointed and
proved the man for the hour.
Duke Henry of Rohan was a great military genius
and also a devoted adherent of the Reformed Church of
France. He was born in Brittany, August 23, 1579. He
soon became one of the great leaders of the Huguenot
army. But when Henry IV died he paid the price for
being a Huguenot by being exiled from France, for
France would not allow so great an enemy to Catholicism
within her borders. So he had to leave, and he went to
Venice, whose senate made him commander of its army.
In 1 63 1 he was appointed French ambassador to Switzer-
land, and ordered (1633) to go to the Grisons. He
inspired so much confidence that he was elected com-
mander of their army. But Cardinal Richelieu, that Jes-
uitical fox, though he had appointed Rohan to this posi-
tion, proposed to destroy him by not giving him aid as
he needed it. Rohan soon gained great confidence in
Switzerland, both among the Catholics because he repre-
sented a Catholic land, France, and among the Protestants
because he was a Protestant. It is said that it was at
his suggestion that the Swedish general Horn marched
over Swiss territory against Constance. But this made
his Catholic subjects lose confidence in him. They de-
clared that Rohan only wanted to make himself general
of the Protestant cantons, and for this purpose had called
the Swedes into the land. They complained against him
to the French court, and asked that a Catholic be sent
in his place. France then ordered him to go to Venice,
but he could not on account of hostile armies lying be-
94
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
tween. So he went to Zurich. As soon as he was gone,
the Austrians and Spaniards became aggressive against
the Grisons. This was not to Richelieu's liking, so he
ordered Rohan back again, promising to aid him. Rohan
had greatly enjoyed his visit to Zurich, and showed his
appreciation of her kindness by presenting her with a
Bible, which, it is said, she still delights to show as his
gift.
Meanwhile the Grisons were becoming more and more
dissatisfied because he did not march to recapture the
Valtellina for them. The truth was that he wanted to
do so all the time, and especially when Gustavus Adolphus
approached Switzerland in his victorious march. But
Richelieu always held him back. Now, however, the
dissatisfaction became so great that something had to be
done. He repeatedly wrote to Richelieu for money and
orders to recapture the Valtellina. Then he was recalled
in 1634 to Paris. Just at that time occurred an event
that changed the whole policy of the French. The
Swedes experienced their most crushing defeat during
that war at Nordlingen. France now became energetic.
He was ordered back from Paris to the Grisons and sent
to attack the Valtellina. In 1635 he retook the Valtellina
in four splendid victories. Great was the joy of the
people of the Grisons, for it was fifteen years since they
had lost it. But great was the disappointment of the
Reformed when it was found that France forbade the
reintroduction of the Reformed religion, even though
Rohan favored it and had called the famous preacher
of Geneva, Theodore Tronchin, to introduce it. And
greater still was the disappointment of all the inhabitants
of the Grisons when they learned that France would not
restore the Valtellina to them, but proposed to keep it
for herself.
So the joy of the inhabitants was turned to hatred.
They grew tired of French rule and of the quartering
THE GRISONS 95
of French soldiers on them. Besides, Richelieu did not
send enough money to pay the soldiers, and they became
discontented. This discontent was increased by the
rough methods of the new French ambassador, Lasnier.
Finally the breach became so great that all it needed was
a leader, and, as generally occurs, the hour produced
the man. Jenatsch, formerly the Protestant leader, had
become a Catholic and began to conspire in August, 1536.
The conspirators chose their time well, for Rohan was
south of the Alps, at Sondrio, in the Valtellina, and he
was sick, so sick that for three weeks he was in a stupor,
though by September he grew stronger. Meanwhile
Jenatsch had gained the confidence of the Grisons. Rohan
finally had himself carried over the Alps to Chur, but
it was too late. Jenatsch had gone to Innspruck and
made an alliance with the Austrians and Spaniards, who
promised to return the Vatellina to the Grisons, the very
thing that France refused to do. Rohan, warned of
danger, sent a messenger to Paris for pay for his troops,
so as to stop the disaffection. Richelieu sent him neither
money nor help, but left him to extricate himself as best
he could.
So, as France did not send money, the Grisons rose
in rebellion, March 19, 1637. A regiment of their troops
marched from Domschleg against Chur and surrounded
Rohan's house. But he had fled the previous night to
the Rhine fortifications. But what could he do there
with his few soldiers? The hills around were full of
enemies. Jenatsch had shut him up. The Swiss in his
army would not fight against their fellow-countrymen of
the Grisons. So, as he heard nothing from France, he
agreed, March 26, 1637, to take the French army away
and return the Valtellina to the Grisons. But then came
a difficulty. The French army in the Valtellina refused
to obey Rohan's orders and surrender. Its commander
made overtures to Rohan to throw himself into Chur,
96 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
capture the enemies, including Jenatsch, and save the
honor of France. But Rohan refused to break his word
to the Grisons. He left Chur May 5, 1637, but carrying
with him the kindest wishes of the people, and as a mark
of honor many of the prominent men walked with him
to the borders of the town. For he was the idol of the
people, who always called him "the good duke," as did
his soldiers, to whom he was always sympathetic and
kind. Often he was publicly praised from the pulpits
of the canton as a model of faithfulness and as a refuge
of persecuted Protestants. The opposition of the people
was to France, not to him personally.
Jenatsch was assassinated January 14, 1539, by Ru-
dolph Planta.* Then this Planta was assassinated in
1640. So tragically began and ended the Thirty Years'
war in the Grisons with the murder of a Planta. In 1641
the independence of the Grisons was recognized by
Austria, France and Spain.
But where could the Duke of Rohan go? The King
of France ordered him to return to Paris, but he could
not think of doing so, for he knew not what plots might
be against him as a Huguenot. He therefore went to
Zurich and then to Geneva, where he stayed till the fall
of 1637. There he wrote his "History of the Valtellina."
He had decided to make Geneva his home, only he was
continually dogged there by French spies. Besides, his
old war fever came on him, so he determined to go back
to military service again. But he had always made it
a rule of his life never to fight against his native land,
France, even though she had so badly treated him. So
he joined the German and Swedish army under the duke
of Weimar, which was fighting alongside of the French
against Austria. This act was the best answer he could
make against the charge of treason that the Catholics
* For an interesting novel see "George Jenatsch," by Meyer.
BASLE 97
in France had been bringing against him. On February
28, 1638, he was wounded in the battle of Rhinefelden
and was taken to the castle of Konigsfelden. There he
suddenly died, April 13, 1638, probably poisoned by his
physician, for the Jesuits were finding a new way to get
rid of their enemies — namely, by poison. His body was
taken to Geneva. All the way thither the people revealed
their high regard for him and their great sorrow at his
loss. He was buried in the Reformed cathedral of
Geneva, St. Peter's. There his tomb is still shown — the
only tomb that the Puritanic Calvinists, in their opposition
to any monuments in the church, allowed to be placed
in that church.
Section 4
the freedom of switzerland and john rudolph
wettstein
One of the greatest boons that ever came to Switzer-
land came at the end of the Thirty Years' War, for at
the peace of Westphalia (1648) the Emperor of Germany
renounced all jurisdiction over Switzerland. The Swiss
thus gained by diplomacy what they probably could not
have gained by war. And this great victory was due
to the distinguished councillor of Basle, John Rudolph
Wettstein, who was the deputy of Switzerland to the
negotiations that closed the Thirty Years' War. For the
Swiss Diet saw its opportunity. The Emperor of Ger-
many, at the close of that war, was in such straits that
that was the psychological moment in which to press
their demand for liberty upon him. Wettstein arrived at
Miinster, Germany, where the negotiations were pending,
December 18, 1646. His actions were in marked contrast
with the ambassadors of other lands. Over against their
pomp he lived in simplicity. He received no pay, but
lived at his own expense. Yet the German and French
7
98 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
ambassadors were delighted to entertain him. These in-
vitations he accepted, hoping thereby to gain something
for his country. Indeed, he obtained so many concessions
that he was called by them "king of the Swiss." Amid
all the intrigues between France, Sweden, Germany, Aus-
tria and Spain, he walked carefully, ever having in view
the freedom of his land and the integrity of Switzerland.
His outspoken diplomacy, in contrast with the double-deal-
ing of others, won him respect, and finally gave him the
victory. For he possessed great knowledge of human
nature and also great aptitude for diplomacy, and with
it great perseverance and patience in gaining his end. He
would play one nation over against another until he got
what he wanted. He left Miinster November n, 1647,
glad to get away from what to him seemed like a prison.
The joy in Switzerland over this was indescribable.
The peace of Westphalia was read publicly in all parts
of Switzerland to the beating of drums and the blowing
of trumpets. Liberty begun at the Rtitli in 1307 was now
completed nearly three and a half centuries later. Wett-
stein has come down in history as one of the greatest
statesmen and most distinguished benefactors Switzerland
has produced.
CHAPTER III
Dangers after the Thirty Years War
Section i
the two battles of vilmergen
It is somewhat remarkable that the two decisive bat-
tles between Swiss should be fought at the same place,
though in different centuries. In the first battle of Vil-
mergen the Catholics were victorious; in the second, the
Protestants. They reveal the long continued rivalry and
jealousy of the Protestants and Catholics in Switzerland.
The immediate cause of the first battle of Vilmergen
was the persecution of the Nicodemites (of which we
will speak in the next part). But this would not have
led to war if the relations of Protestants and Catholics
had not before been strained. In this war the two
Protestant cantons, Zurich and Bern, sent their armies
separately. This was their mistake. The Zurich army,
under General Werdmuller, attacked the strongly forti-
fied Catholic town, on Lake Zurich, of Rapperschwyl.
Its citizens mocked at his name (which meant "green
miller"), by saying "the Madonna (of Rapperschwyl)
laughs at the green-miller who wooes her." He was
compelled to raise the siege with considerable loss. The
Bern army had even worse luck, for it (12,000 strong)
was surprised June 14, 1656, by the Lucerne army (4,000
in number) at Vilmergen, and defeated with great loss.
The war was closed by the peace of Baden, which gave
the Catholic cantons certain advantages. Thus, in this
strife between Catholics and Protestants, the Catholics
99
IOO THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
had now gained two wars: one at Cappel, 1531, and
the other at Vilmergen, 1656.
But what was lost to the Protestants at the first
battle of Vilmergen was more than made up by the sec-
ond battle. This war is sometimes called the Toggen-
burg war, because it mainly concerned the Toggenburg
district.
This district, on the southern slope of Mt. Sentis,
had been a sort of storm-center ever since the war of
Cappel (1531) had placed it under the control of the
Catholic abbot of St. Gall, for it was strongly Protestant,
having been Zwingli's birthplace. Already we have noted
that when the abbot of St. Gall persecuted the Protes-
tants and forbade them to sing psalms, they appealed
to Zurich, and gained their rights. Zwingli's birthplace,
Wildhaus, was one of the places where the strife was
the most bitter. The Protestants were compelled to al-
low Catholic worship in their churches. This led to a
peculiar controversy. In northeastern Switzerland there
are no altars in Protestant churches — nothing but a font.
And the font, when unused, is covered by a peaked
wooden lid. The Catholics' service centered about the
altar; but they could find no altar in these churches ex-
cept this covered font. And yet the pyx* would fall off
of the peaked cover of the font ; so they brought the
altar in. This produced trouble, for altars are not Prot-
estant. In 1617 the Protestants at Wildhaus brought
in a new font by night and placed it in front of the
Catholic altar. But as they had not gotten permission
of the Catholics to do this, a bitter controversy grew
out of it, which was finally settled by the Reformed hav-
ing to pay a fine of 5,000 florins, which only embittered
them the more.
The abbot of St. Gall not merely oppressed the Prot-
* The vessel in which they kept the Holy Eucharist.
THE BATTLE OF VILMERGEN ioi
estants in the Toggenburg district, but also those in his
city of St. Gall. At St. Gall the abbey and city are aside
of each other, the one Catholic, the other Protestant.
The abbot began sending religious processions through
the city bearing the cross of the abbey. At this the
citizens flew to arms, closed the gates of the city and
manned the walls. Finally a truce was arranged and
the processions were no longer permitted.
But after the Thirty Years War there was a rising
of Catholic consciousness, which was intensified by their
victory at Vilmergen, in 1656. Their aggressiveness led
to strained relations with the Protestants. Then the
Toggenburg gave the immediate cause for the war. The
abbot of St. Gall had been greatly oppressing the Prot-
estants there, forbidding their catechization, compelling
Reformed ministers to greet the virgin after services,
and to bow when Catholic processions and relics passed
by. Church visitation in the name of the Reformed
synod was forbidden. The Catholics distributed books
attacking Protestants, but would allow no replies to be
made or distributed. Finally, the Reformed went to
Zurich and Bern with their complaints. These held a
conference February, 1707, and sent an embassy to St.
Gall. Later the abbot began to garrison his castle in
the Toggenburg with Catholic soldiers. This the in-
habitants could not stand, and they rose, May, 17 10,
attacked the abbot's castle and captured some of his can-
non. After some negotiations, Bern and Zurich sent an
ultimatum April 12, 1712. On April 28, the five Catholic
cantons declared war against Zurich and Bern and took
possession of Thurgau and St. Gall. These troops were
aided with gold from the papal nuncio and encouraged
by consecrated bullets and blest amulets freely distributed
among them as a protection against death. The Bernese
army gained a victory at Bremgarten and besieged
Baden, and then the final battle took place at Vilmergen,
I02 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
July 25, 1 7 12, when 8,000 Bernese troops faced 10,000
Lucerne soldiers. For ten hours they fought, and it
looked as if victory would perch on the Catholic arms.
But General Duval, of the Bernese army, by a maneuvre,
separated one division of the Catholic army from the
main body. This threw the Catholic army into confu-
sion and, in spite of their blessed bullets and amulets,
they were defeated. By September 12, 1712, peace was
declared.
If the former battle of Vilmergen had given the Cath-
olics the prestige, this battle gave the prestige to the
Protestants. It guaranteed religious liberty to both
Catholics and Protestants, for Catholics had always op-
posed religious liberty in their cantons. It gave the con-
trol of certain districts as Thurgau, Sargans, the Rhine
valley and Baden to the Protestants. No wonder that
the peace was disapproved by the pope, who declared
it null and void ; and only revealed his utter weakness
in doing so, for his opposition had no effect. But he
had to withdraw the papal nuncio from Switzerland, and
this was a great relief to the Protestants, for the nuncio
had been the cause of a great deal of strife. The abbot
of St. Gall also refused to recognize the peace and died
in self -banishment ; but his successors finally found it
best to accept the situation and return to the possession
of the abbey. This battle was the signal for the be-
ginning of the decay of the Catholic party in Switzer-
land. After this there was only one more war between
Catholics and Protestants, and that occurred, as we shall
see, in the nineteenth century.
Section 2
the succession in neuchatel
Neuchatel did not become a member of the Swiss con-
federacy until the nineteenth century. She was not a
NEUCHATEL 1 03
republic like Switzerland, but a duchy, and had been
ruled by the French line of nobles of the Orleans-Lon-
gueville family. The last of these, the widowed countess
of Nemours, died June 16, 1707. This produced a dan-
gerous crisis. Before this, at the death of her mother,
the French king had wanted to place a French prince,
the Prince of Conti, on the throne, and had virtually
taken possession of the province. But Bern interfered,
although the neighboring Catholic cantons of Freiburg
and Solothurn were favorable. After years of nego-
tiations, the Duchess of Nemours was finally chosen,
1699. But, at her death, the whole question was
opened up again. Fortunately, by this time, the ambi-
tious French king, Louis XIV, had died, and his succes-
sor was less aggressive. Still, the important question
was not whether a French prince would rule or not, but
whether the next ruler would be a Catholic or a Prot-
estant, for the people of Neuchatel were Reformed in
religion. There were not less than fifteen aspirants to
the throne and, of course, many were the intrigues.
France wanted it for the Prince of Conti. England sup-
ported the King of Prussia, as did the Emperor of Ger-
many. For, although the Emperor was a Catholic, and
the King of Prussia a Protestant, yet the former did
not want France to gain the control of Neuchatel, and
so he favored the King of Prussia as the most likely
candidate to win. Fortunately, the commission of the
state which had assumed control at the death of the
duchess had determined that, no matter who became the
ruler, the rights of the Protestants must be guaranteed.
But the day of the election, November 3, 1707, was one
of great anxiety to Neuchatel and of great excitement
in Switzerland. It resulted, thanks mainly to the efforts
of the Bernese magistrate, Senner, in the election of the
King of Prussia. He was a member of the Reformed
Church and, therefore, acceptable to the Reformed of
104 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Neuchatel.
Thus the Protestants gained entire control over
another district which had long been headed by a Cath-
olic, and this election prepared for what ultimately took
place, the incorporation of Neuchatel as one of the can-
tons of Switzerland. For, in 1815, Neuchatel was in-
corporated by the congress of Vienna in the Swiss con-
federacy; but the King of Prussia still claimed it, and
it was given to him. But there were two parties in the
canton — a royalist and a republican. Finally a republic
can uprising occurred, in 1856, which captured Neu-
chatel. The King of Prussia then threatened to send
an army of 30,000 men into Neuchatel. The Swiss con-
federacy prepared for war in order to resist them. But,
through the mediation of Emperor Louis Napoleon of
France, war was prevented, and Prussia guaranteed the
freedom of Neuchatel, and Neuchatel is now a full mem-
ber of the Swiss confederacy.
PART IV
THE REFUGEES IN SWITZERLAND
The Protestant refugees who came to Switzerland
from other lands, as France and Italy, did much to con-
solidate the Reformed Church there. The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the Church. Wherever they set-
tled they brought prosperity and blessing. Especially
do Zurich and Geneva owe their present commercial
prominence to the refugees they received. While, on
the other hand, the Catholic cantons and lands who drove
out such valuable citizens suffered irretrievably for it.
This subject divides itself into two parts:
i. The refugees from Catholic cantons in Switzer-
land.
2. The refugees from other countries.
105
CHAPTER I
The Refugees from the Catholic Cantons in
Switzerland
The Catholic cantons, as we have seen, as the result
of the Borromean league and up to the second battle of
Vilmergen, drove out all Protestants from their borders
and refused all religious liberty. Of course, they were
the sufferers by it, and the Protestant cantons who re-
ceived these refugees, the gainers ; because, usually, these
refugees were the most progressive and enlightened of
their people.
Section i
the refugees from locarno*
Locarno is situated on the northwestern shore of
Lake Maggiore in southern Switzerland. In 1546, John
Beccaria, formerly a barefooted monk, but now a Prot-
estant, settled there and opened a school. As a result,
some of the leading families were won to Protestantism,
and, four years later, there were nearly two hundred
Protestants, some of whom were refugees from Italy for
their Protestant faith. The Catholics, alarmed at their
progress, brought charges against them. Beccaria was
ordered to leave. But he went to the Swiss diet and so
eloquently defended himself that the decree of banish-
ment was lifted. Then the magistrate at Locarno threw
him into prison and forced him to leave. He went
through the Protestant cantons pleading for help for
* See Meyer "Die Evangelische Gemeinde in Locarno," 1836.
107
108 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Locarno. He was received as a member into the Reformed
synod of the canton of the Grisons. This gave him
official standing, and he was sent by them as pastor to
Misox in the Bernardino Valley, south of the Alps, not
far from Locarno. There he opened a school, and the
Protestants of Locarno and of the region around sent
their children to him. But after five years (1555) he
was compelled to leave by the Catholics, who were in
the majority in that part of the Grisons, and he went
to Zurich.
Meanwhile the Catholics were continually plotting
against the Protestants at Locarno. They got the Swiss
diet (1554) to order all to go to confession in Lent,
1554, and they spread rumors abroad that the Protes-
tants there were heterodox and Anabaptists. So the
Locarno congregation drew up a confession of their faith,
which showed they were orthodox, and sent it to Zurich.
Finally the arbiters appointed by the Swiss diet ordered
them either to become Catholics or to leave. Fortunately,
the magistrate for that year at Locarno* was from
Zurich, and he protected them as much as he could. But
the seven Catholic cantons sent deputies across the Alps,
in winter, to see that the order of the Swiss diet was
obeyed. The Protestants, 150-200 in number, were or-
dered to appear at the council-house and hear their de-
cree of banishment, in winter. When its reading was
finished, the papal nuncio entered and protested against
the clemency of the sentence, and asked that their goods
be confiscated and their children left at Locarno to be
reared as Catholics. But the Catholic deputies were
more humane than the Catholic Church, and refused
their request. So the Protestants were ordered to leave
March 3, 1555, a most brutal order, because it drove
them out into the Alpine winter when the passes were
* The magistrates of Locarno were sent there from the differ-
ent Swiss cantons in turn.
THE REFUGEES 109
not yet open, for the passes of the Alps do not open
till June. Even over the easiest pass for them, the St.
Gothard, they were forbidden to go. So ninety-three
of them started, followed later by others, and went to
the first town in the St. Bernardino pass, Roveredo, in
the canton of the Grisons. There they remained for
two months, till the thaw began to open the St. Ber-
nardino pass. In May they took their wives and chil-
dren over this pass, through deep snow, to Chur, the
capital of the Grisons. Some remained there, but more
than a hundred went on to Zurich, where most of them
settled. They brought with them the silk industry to
which Zurich owes her present commercial supremacy
in Switzerland. Some of the most prominent families
there, as the Orelli, Pestalozzi and Muralt families, are
descendants of this immigration. Beccaria was offered
the pastorate of the Italian Church at Zurich, but de-
clined, and it was given to Ochino.
Section 2
the nicodemites
The canton of Schwyz has remained fanatically at-
tached to the Catholics, but ever since the days of
Zwingli, at Einsedeln (1516-18), an Evangelical element,
especially of the family of Hospenthal, had found a
lodgment at Arth, on the northern side of the Rigi
mountain. These secretly passed the Evangelical faith
from generation to generation. They were called Evan-
gelical Nicodemites, because, like Nicodemus, they were
secret disciples. They did not publicly separate from
the Catholic Church, Schwyz would not have permitted
that, but their contempt for the mass repeatedly exposed
them to fines. They would meet at night for prayer
in a lonely house called the "Bees Court."
A zealous Reformed minister of Zurich canton one
IIO THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
day met one of these young Nicodemites, who confessed
that he secretly read the Bible. This pastor then se-
cretly met some of them in a cow-keeper's hut on the
Rigi. The Catholics heard of this and cunningly ex-
amined them, at which time they, in their simple-heart-
edness, betrayed themselves. This alarmed the Cath-
olics, and they held a secret meeting in the Catholic
cloister at Schwyz to consider how they might stamp
out this heresy. This meeting became known to the
Nicodemites, as some of their relatives hastened to give
them timely warning, and said, "Avert danger to your-
selves and disgrace to your families. Run and pros-
trate yourselves before the nearest cross. Confess to
the priest and bring some good cream to the good father
(the priest)." The Nicodemites did not seem to have
great faith in the good father referred to, for seven
of them fled with their families (in all thirty-seven per-
sons) to Zurich, on the night of September 11-12, 1655,
by taking boat to Zug, and then going to Cappel. They
were very cordially received at Zurich, who negotiated
with the canton of Schwyz to get the property they left
behind them, but in vain.
As soon as their flight was known, the other Nico-
demites, twenty in number, were arrested. As they
would not forswear their faith, three men and a woman
were put to death, and the rest sent to Milan to the
inquisition. In all, it is said, seventeen persons were
put to death. Among the prisoners was Barbara von
Hospenthal, an aged and rich widow, who, like the pious
Tabitha, had made herself beloved throughout the coun-
try by her many acts of benevolence. On the way to
prison she met a group of children by whom she had
always been looked up to as a mother, and they were
melted into tears. "Fear not," she said, "fear not, for
the way I am going is the way to heaven." A number
of them were tortured. When Martin von Hospenthal
THE REFUGEES 1 1 1
was urged by the Catholics to confess the true faith,
he replied that he would do so in the midst of tortures
as he had done all his life. These unfortunate persecu-
tions of Swiss by Swiss prepared the way for the war
which led to the first battle of Vilmergen (1656), which
we have before described.
CHAPTER II
The Foreign Refugees
We pass over the English refugees who came to
Switzerland in the Reformation and soon went back to
England,* as it occurred too early for our period. There
was also a large emigration from Germany during the
Thirty Years' War, especially from the Palatinate and
Wurtemberg, when the Swiss welcomed Lutherans as
well as Reformed. But that emigration was so scat-
tered that it is impossible to describe it, except to call
attention to the fact that many Reformed ministers
driven out of the Palatinate found an asylum in
Switzerland.
Section i
the refugees from francet
When the terrible persecution broke over France,
Switzerland, as her nearest neighbor, received most of
the refugees. There were two main periods when the
refugees came; first, after the massacre of St. Bartholo-
mew (1572), and, again, after the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes (1685). But it might be said that there
was an almost continuous emigration from France,
though often hardly perceptible, for several centuries.
Even before the massacre of St. Bartholomew many
* See Vedder's "Relations Between England and Zurich Dur-
ing the Reformation," also "Zurich Letters," Cambridge, 1842-45.
t See Morikofer's "Geschichte der Evangelischen Flucht-
linge in der Schweiz," also Comba's "Les Refugies de la Revo-
cation en Suisse," 1885.
112
THE REFUGEES 113
refugees had arrived in Switzerland. Farel and Calvin
had come and started the Reformation in French Switzer-
land. Among the early refugees were men of promi-
nence, as Robert Stephen, the printer of King Francis I
of France, driven out by the opposition of the Sorbonne
because of his publication of the Bible. His son, Henry,
became the great publisher of the classics. The Elzevirs,
the great printers of Geneva, were also refugees. Just
before the massacre many came because of the persecu-
tions in France. They generally went to Geneva, but
Bern utilized many of them to fill up the district of
Vaud, which she had recently captured from the Duke
of Savoy. She wanted to make Vaud a buffer state
against Savoy and so replaced the Catholic population
there by these French refugees.
After the massacre of St. Bartholomew (1572), a
great crowd of refugees arrived. Geneva received the
most of them, many being persons of prominence. The
most prominent were the members of the family of Ad-
miral Coligny, who had been martyred at Paris in that
massacre. They were his widow, Louisa Teligny, and
his two sons, the latter having escaped from France by
way of Miilhausen. Bern, where they arrived October
13, 1572, was especially kind to this family, supporting
them and sending an ambassador to France to get their
property back to them. They lived three years at Bern,
and were the guests of many of the prominent families
there before they returned to France. The number of
refugees arriving after this massacre was so great that
the "French bourse" was founded at Geneva, which
aimed to take care of the refugees. It did a splendid
work. By 1640 the capital of this bourse had increased
to 60,172 florins, and there was an annual disbursement
of 8,000 florins. The enthronement of Henry of Na-
varre as king of France, which gave toleration to the
Huguenots, then checked the immigration into Switzer-
H4
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
land for a time.
But it was the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
October 18, 1685, that brought the largest immigration
into Switzerland. Most of them came by way of Geneva
as the most accessible way of escape from France. In
this, two of the villages of the canton of Geneva, Avully
and Cartigny, were especially active. The fleeing Hu-
guenots would wait till night in order to pass over the
last part of Gex. When they got to the river Rhone,
they would give the Genevese the signal. Soon, from
the other side of the river, a torch revealed the Genevese
as putting off a boat into the river. This soon brought
the refugees to the Genevan shore, where they fell on
their knees in thanksgiving, singing and praying to God.
The King of France, Louis XIV, was so incensed at
the way in which Geneva saved so many of the Hugue-
nots, that he threatened her. So a number of the refu-
gees were sent on to Bern, which had also established
a bourse like that at Geneva. The Genevese, fearing
the French king, sent an ambassador, January, 1586, to
the Evangelical cantons. They declared themselves
ready to aid and defend Geneva, if necessary. And
these cantons sent an embassy to Louis XIV, so that
he became more favorably inclined.
The amount of money raised in Switzerland for the
refugees was quite large. During forty years after the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes Geneva raised five
millions of francs. In 1674 Geneva came before the
Evangelical cantons, asking for 30,000 thalers for the
refugees, and most of it was raised. In 1683 the Evan-
gelical cantons laid yearly taxes for the refugees, the
allotment being, Zurich, 30 per cent.; Bern, 50; Basle, 12,
and Schaffhausen, 8. Later, the taxes were also alloted
among other Protestant districts in Switzerland, at St.
Gall, Appenzell, etc. Zurich, from 1685 till the middle
of the next century, kept, for a longer or shorter time,
THE REFUGEES 115
50,000 refugees, either Huguenot or Palatine, and paid
300,000 gulden. Bern, together with Vaud, raised four
million florins. Schaffhausen, from 1683- 1700, raised
40,000 gulden. And while such large sums were raised,
it is not to be forgotten that the greatest burden lay on
private families, who not only paid their share of this
tax for the refugees, but also took them into their own
homes. Many of the French nobly tried to pay back
what had been raised for them. Thus, Stephen Royat,
in 1740, gave 20,000 florins to the treasury of Geneva
in repayment for what Geneva had done for him. "All
this," says Hadorn, one of the latest historians of the
Swiss Church, "was done in the days of orthodoxy.
Verily, a faith that can do this is not dead orthodoxy."
The emigration from France did not, however, stop
with those fleeing from the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. In 1703, 2,000 more came from the province
of Orange. Thus, in 1713, Rev. Mr. Calendrini informed
the magistrates of Geneva that 136 confessors who had
been sent to the galleys for the Reformed religion had
been liberated at Marseilles and would arrive at Geneva.
The bourse spent 108,000 florins on them. When they
came to Geneva the citizens pressed hard on them, closely
scanning their faces, to find among them their parents,
from whom they had been separated fifteen or twenty
years. The emotion could not be described when father
found wife and children in Geneva, and praised God for
their deliverance. These galley slaves then examined
the lists of those who had been aided by the bourse, and
they sang hymns as they read the names of their wives
and children, who either were living in Geneva or had
been sent on to Germany. If their families were in
Germany, Geneva aided them to go there. The number
of such galley-slaves received at Geneva, 1713-14, was
565.
It is said that in all about 60,000 (some say 100,000)
Il6 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Huguenots found an asylum in Switzerland, many of
them, however, going farther on into Germany and Hol-
land. Thus, of the 60,000 who crossed French Switzer-
land, 4,000 found a home in Geneva. In 1700, out of
300 persons who had citizenship in Geneva, hardly 50
had been there before the Reformation, the great majority
being descendants of refugees, some Italian, but mainly
French. These refugees made Geneva a new city and
also Vaud a new district. But Switzerland was amply
repaid for the labor and money she had given them.
They became her best citizens. They brought her new
industries. Thus at Geneva there were 80 goldsmiths
with 200 workmen. The silk factories and the lace
works had 2,000 laborers. Another great industry they
brought was watchmaking. In 1685 there were 100
master workmen there, with 300 workmen. A hundred
years later these industries employed 6,000 workmen. In
a word, they made Switzerland one of the great manu-
facturing countries of Europe. The blood of the martyrs
is the seed of the nation as well as of the Church.
Section 2
theodore agrippa d'aubigne
The two most prominent Huguenots who came to
Switzerland were the Duke Henry of Rohan, of whom
we have already spoken, and Theodore Agrippa D'Au-
bigne.
Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigne was born February 8,
1552, near Pons, France. He lost his mother at birth.
He soon revealed great ability, speaking three languages
at the age of six, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and trans-
lating the Crito of Plato before he was eight. At the
age of ten he was made prisoner by the Catholics, and
was threatened to be burned to death at the stake, but
escaped as by a miracle. At eleven his father showed
THE REFUGEES 117
him the withered heads of the Huguenots hung up in the
city of Amboise, and told him to follow his example
and not be sparing of his life to avenge those Huguenot
chiefs; and that if he did not act so, a parent's curse
would rest upon him. That scene proved to be the key-
note of his life, whether in war or literature. He became
the bitter Huguenot. At the age of fourteen he was
sent to the University of Geneva to study under Beza.
His guardian wanted to keep him at school. But he
had the spirit of the warrior and could ill brook the con-
finement of study when the air was full of battles. So
at the age of seventeen, clad in a shirt, he escaped at
midnight from his preceptor and ran to join the Hugue-
not army. To the Huguenots he gave more than sixty
years of his life. Thirty of them he fought without cessa-
tion. Then he wrote for thirty years, and the new literary
combat was a continuation of the old. He would prob-
ably have been killed in the massacre of St. Bartholomew,
but a duel had compelled him to leave the city three
days before the massacre. In the Huguenot army, the
attention of King Henry of Navarre was called to him.
They were about the same age and much alike. He hap-
pened to meet Henry when the Catholics were luring
him back to Rome, and he called Henry back to himself.
For, as he watched by the couch of the king, he heard
the latter sing and quote the 80th Psalm, which spoke
about absent friends. From this he appealed to Henry
that his heart was still with the Huguenots. It resulted
in Henry's full return to the Reformed faith. Flight
from the Louvre palace at Paris was determined upon,
and on February 20, 1578, Henry escaped. As he fled
to his land, his escort became an army as the
Huguenots rose to defend him. D'Aubigne became his
constant companion. The latter's marriage with a
wealthy lady raised him from a soldier to a courtier.
He was called "the French Regulus" because of his faith-
Il8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
fulness to his promise. For, having been captured by the
enemy and threatened with death, yet, when paroled, he,
like Regulus, returned to his prison because he had
pledged his word to return. This faithfulness to his
word so impressed his captors that they spared his life.
He took a brave part in the battle of Courtras, 1587, when
Henry defeated the French army. As was customary
among the Huguenots, D'Aubigne and his troops, at the
beginning of the battle, began the 113th Psalm, "This
is the day the Lord hath made." The enemy, seeing
them kneel, cried out, "They are afraid and sue thus for
mercy." But an officer in the French army, who had
had previous experience with them, replied, "When the
Huguenots begin thus, they fight well." They fought
there to victory.
He was with Henry till the wars ceased and the latter
became King of France. When the king became Catholic
to gain the throne, he warned the king against his great
apostasy, and yet he clung to his master in spite of it.
Being so near to the king, he became the great political
leader of the Huguenots. As such, he became one of
the authors of the famous Edict of Nantes, which gave
the Huguenots toleration in France. King Henry was
assassinated in 1610. His death reminded one of a
prophecy of D'Aubigne. Twenty years before, when
Chatel made an unsuccessful attempt at Henry's life at
the battle of Ivry, D'Aubigne said to him, "God has
smitten you on the lip for having denied Him with the
lip. He will smite you to the heart when you have
denied him with the heart."
After the death of Henry, he found his position dim-
cult and unpleasant. He was attorney-general of the
Huguenots at court, and yet was exiled by the court
from it. The Huguenots met at Saumur, 161 1, to decide
what to do. The court was tempting them to give up
their cities of refuge for certain privileges. The Duke
THE REFUGEES 1 19
of Bouillon, one of their leaders, urged them to do so;
but D'Aubigne rose with indignation and replied tren-
chantly, showing the absurdity of the duke's position,
and closed with an eloquent appeal to retain their cities.
His advice probably saved the Huguenots from destruc-
tion earlier than it came.
But his position became so uncomfortable in France
that finally, in 1620, at the age of sixty-eight, he fled to
Geneva. Through a thousand dangers he brought his
escort, consisting of four attendants and twelve horses,
under whose saddles were 300,000 thalers. He received
a great welcome at Geneva, because he had been a student
of Beza's and the hero of the Huguenots. He was
offered free lodgings, freedom from imposts, and was
also given the noble's seat in the cathedral.
At Geneva he spent his time mainly in literary pur-
suits, for he had become famous as the finest poet and
satirist in French of his day. What makes his writings
of special interest to us is that they were from the
Huguenot standpoint. Indeed, as a critic says, it was
the passions of the Reformation that awoke him to his
true poetic nature, and from being a poet of wine and
love into an angry satirist. "The Confessions of Sancy"
( 1 599- 1 606) was a bitter satire on the renegades to Rome
and against Catholic proselyters. For instance, in giving
"The Confessions of Sancy," he satirizes the miracle of
transubstantiation thus: "The sweat of the wretched
laborer changes (transubstantiates) into the fat of the
prosperous treasurer. The taxes of France have tran-
substantiated the laborer's fields into grass-patches, the
vineyards into waste lands, the laborers into beggars,
soldiers into thieves with little of the miraculous, serfs
into gentlemen, servants into masters, masters into serv-
ants." His largest work was his "Universal History of
the End of the Sixteenth Century." In it he aimed to
reveal God's plan in regard to the Huguenots. This he
120 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
was abundantly able to do, as he knew the secrets of the
court. The second volume was publicly burned at Paris
by Louis XIII in 1618. But his greatest work was his
"Tragedies," begun 1577 and ended 1616. He began
them while recovering from a wound received in battle.
They are a vivid picture of the court of Henry II and
his mother, Catharine De Medici. In them he describes
the persecutions of the Huguenots. The fourth book
of the seven has been called the French Protestant mar-
tyrology. The last books take the reader from earth
to the judgment seat, where the persecutors of the Hugue-
nots are severely punished. On the one hand, the
"Tragedies" are like the old Roman satires of Juvenal;
on the other, like the Hebrew prophets in their invec-
tives. They are full of life and genius. He was the
colossal censor of the end of the sixteenth century. His
other work, "The Adventures of the Baron of Foeneste,"
was also a satire on the vanities of the French court.
Some of these works he re-wrote or finished at Geneva.
But, while engaged in literature, he had not forgotten
the art of war. Geneva, realizing his great military abil-
ity, made him the head of her army, and he strengthened
the city by rebuilding a part of its fortifications. Bern
wanted him to come to her, and he fortified that city
against the possible dangers of the Thirty Years' War.
Bern also asked him to become commander-in-chief of
her army of 48,000 men. But he declined, saying he
was getting too old, and, besides, he could not speak the
German language. He visited Basle in 1622, when his
portrait, now in the Basle Museum, was painted. He
drew plans for the fortifications of Basle, which it is said
he partially fortified. But France was continually plot-
ting against him, though Geneva stood bravely by him.
When Bern tried so hard to get him, Geneva favored the
purchase of the castle named Crest, in its vicinity, for
THE REFUGEES 121
him* and relieved him from all taxes. So, when Venice
tried to get him to defend the Grisons, he declined, say-
ing he would make Geneva his home. He became so
attached to Geneva that, in 1628, when he was about
going to England to visit his son, he did not go because
Geneva was supposed to be threatened by the Catholics.
Finally, though condemned four times to death by
France, he died safely in his bed at Geneva, May 29,
1630, at the age of eighty. His wife, leaning over his
death-bed, wanted to give him something to eat. He
replied, "Let me depart in peace. I desire to eat celestial
food." As he died, he faintly muttered, "The day has
come. Glory be to God ! Let us delight in it." He was
buried in the cathedral at Geneva, a very unusual honor,
for the Genevan church was Puritanic and opposed
burials in churches, lest they become places of idolatry,
as in the Catholic Church. His monument can be seen
there today, with a Latin inscription to his memory. He
left 2,000 gulden for the education of foreign students
for the ministry, a very large sum for those days. So
lived and died one of the greatest soldiers of King Henry
IV of France, and probably the keenest French satirist
of his day, a warrior, courtier, statesman, a theologian,
a poet, a Christian. "He handled," says one, "the pen
and lyre as well as the sword." Though not without
great faults, yet he was a man who would not change his
convictions even to please a king, and that king his
friend — who in his youth sacrificed all his prospects of
love and ambition rather than commit a base act.
Section 3
the theological seminary of antoine court at
lausanne
An important institution in connection with the refu-
* This castle is now occupied by the well-known Genevan
family of Tronchin.
122 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
gees from France was the Theological Seminary at Lau-
sanne. It was not, however intended for the refugees
in Switzerland, but for their brethren whom they had
left behind in France. As so many of the Huguenot
ministers had been either put to death or sent to the
galleys, their number became small. So it was felt that
a theological seminary should be founded somewhere to
supply their places with new pastors, for the Huguenot
Church, in spite of its persecutions, was growing.
The project for a seminary was started by Rev.
Antoine Court, the great preacher of the "Church of
the Desert," as the Huguenot Church was then called.
He had been the reorganizer of the Reformed Church
of France — its second reformer, as Calvin had been its
first. He had virtually saved that church from disinte-
gration and extinction. He was a great preacher as well
as an organizer, having lived under the shadow of mar-
tyrdom for many years. Under his ministry, the church,
in spite of its persecutions, grew, so that there was great
need for more ministers. Court, therefore, determined
that somewhere in the lands whither the refugees had
fled a theological seminary should be started for the
shepherdless church of France.
Of course, such a seminary could not be founded in
France, as the Reformed religion was proscribed there.
Geneva was the most accessible place, but it was felt
that Geneva was too near the French border. The lives
of the students might be endangered there, and, besides,
the plans of the Huguenots to send them back to France
could be too closely watched by France. So it was de-
termined to locate the seminary at Lausanne, which,
while not too far from France, was yet out of the reach
of her espionage. Court first corresponded with the
Huguenot refugees in different places about it, but
nothing tangible came out of it. So he undertook the
work personally. He first went to Professor Pictet, of
THE REFUGEES 123
Geneva. He there found that one of the reasons why
the French refugee churches did not aid was because
they supposed the Huguenot Church of France had de-
generated into fanaticism and inspirationism. Court
showed that this was a mistake, and that all they needed
was a sufficient supply of properly educated ministers.
He then travelled through different Protestant lands,
raising money. Bern, that he might be supported, gave
him a yearly pension of 500 livres till 1735. Zurich also
gave him a pension till 1747, for he had no means to
support his family, as all had been swept away by the
persecutions in France. Some of the French Protest-
ants charged him with cowardice in thus staying out of
France, as if he feared martyrdom. But Court felt he
had a greater mission than preaching in France, namely,
to prepare ministers for the French church. He could
thus re-duplicate himself many times over to the far
greater prosperity of the church. Certainly his past life,
as well as his later visits to France, disprove any such
charge.
The seminary was opened, 1729, under the super-
vision of Duplan. A committee was organized at Lau-
sanne to finance it. Duplan proved an indefatigable agent
for it. Contributions came in from many quarters. The
King of England gave 500 guineas. Holland and Sweden
aided with gifts. Court made Lausanne his home, dying
there, 1760. He would often preach with great power
in the principal cities of Switzerland, as Bern and Lau-
sanne. He also, during this period, composed his "His-
tory of the Huguenots Since the Revocation of Nantes,"
a valuable contribution, for no one knew as much about
that period as he. He also published his "History of
the Camisards."
The actual teaching in the seminary was not done by
Court, for he, though a man of power, had had no
scholarly training; but he was the father and friend of
124
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the students, giving them advice and inspiration. He
probably taught some practical branches, as homiletics.
One of the pastors of Lausanne taught them the Bible,
Osterwald's catechism and Pictet's theology. The theo-
logical professors of the academy did some teaching in
the seminary. The first professors were Poller and
Ruchat, the former taking Hebrew, the latter theological
polemics, especially against the Catholics. This occupied
a large place in their teaching, as it would be very useful
to them in France. The dogmatics was orthodox Cal-
vinism, yet liberal. The Helvetic Consensus did not seem
to have been able to stop the entrance of the ideas of
Saumur. Some conservative Swiss, in those days when
Vaud had so many followers of Saumur, were suspicious
of the liberal Calvinism of this seminary and tried to
keep the students from the influence of the views of
Saumur. They wrote to Court to take his seminary away,
as to Paris, but their advice was not followed. Court,
though a Calvinist, yet disliked controversy in matters
of faith. Later other professors of the academy taught
the students, as Salchly, Secretan, Chavannes and
Durand.
The students were ordained at Lausanne, in the pres-
ence of the professors and the directors or committee
of the society which supported it. Later they were or-
dained in Languedoc. Usually there were from 20 to
30 students there. The seminary lasted for eighty years
(1729-1809). From 1726-1753 it had 86 students; up
to 1788, 188. Several hundred students went out from
it to preach the gospel in France, a number of them to
win the martyr's crown, and all to face the danger of
it. The most prominent among these graduates was
Paul Rabaut, the great preacher of the "Church of the
Desert," who completed the work of reorganizing the
French church which had been begun by Court. It is
an interesting and significant circumstance that it was
THE REFUGEES 125
his son, St. Etienne Rabaut, who, in 1790, as president
of the national congress, proclaimed religious liberty in
France. This seminary, like its founder, Court, proved
to be the saviour of the Reformed Church of France by
giving to it ministers so as to perpetuate its existence.
Section 4
the waldensian refugees from italy
The Waldensian immigration was later than the
French, and not so large. Ever since the time when
Farel had first visited the Waldensians, in 1532, the
Swiss had felt a deep interest in that ancient church, the
Israel of the Alps. In 1655 Waldensian refugees began
to come from Italy because of persecutions. The Evan-
gelical Diet sent an embassy to their ruler, the Duke of
Savoy, at Turin, backed by Holland, Brandenburg and
Hesse, and peace came to them. After the death of
Cromwell, the great protector of the Waldenses, Switzer-
land had again to intercede for them with the Duke of
Savoy in 1663. But it was in 1686-87 that the largest
emigration from Italy occurred, for the soldiers of Savoy,
assisted by the French, took possession of their valleys.
Among the Waldenses was a minister who was also
a great soldier, Henry Arnaud.* He was born at La
Tour, in Italy, the capital of the Waldensian valleys.
Educated at Basle, he went to Holland, where he learned
the art of war from the princes of Orange. He became
pastor of the Waldenses in 1670. He was thus prepared
by providence to mingle the art of war with the message
of peace. He led his countrymen in their defence against
Savoy, and his men fought so bravely that the Duke of
Savoy gave them free passes to Switzerland. Out of
20,000 Waldenses, about 3,000 came to Switzerland in
* For Arnaud's life see my ''History of the Reformed Church
of Germany," page 205.
126 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
1687. Of these, the greater number went on to Ger-
many, as Switzerland was so full of refugees that she
could not maintain any more.
Gradually, however, a desire to get back to their
native valleys — the genuine Swiss home-sickness — laid
hold on them in the summer of 1689, and led to what
is called the "Glorious Return." The Protestant Swiss
had not the heart to stop them, because many of them
sympathized with them and so pretended to be ignorant
of their movements. The Waldensees came from Wur-
temberg, over the high passes, as the Grimsel, to Lake
Geneva. Only in the Catholic canton of Schwyz was a
party stopped and sent to Turin. On the night of August
16, 1689, they met in a forest at Prangins, near Nyon, on
the west shore of the Lake of Geneva. They then in boats
crossed that lake and landed in Savoy, near Yvoire. Then,
800 in number, they marched over the frozen glaciers of
the Mt. Cenis pass, amid avalanches, along steep defiles
and often by hanging over precipices.* It was as great a
march as Hannibal and Napoleon had made over the
Alps, only their numbers were fewer, but for this they
made up in their greater hair-breadth escapes. On the
eleventh day they entered their valleys, and on the next
day Arnaud preached in a ruined chapel on Psalms
129:1, 2. They then entrenched themselves in one of
their almost impregnable fortresses, the Balsille.
But for a strange providence they would probably
have starved to death, for a sudden thaw one night re-
moved a mass of snow from the fields. There they found
a considerable quantity of wheat standing, ready for the
* They went up the valley of the Arve to St. Joire, through
Clusis and Sallanches over the Bon Homme pass, then down the
valley of the Isere, climbed Mt. Iseran, descending to Bonneval,
Then over Mt. Cenis and down to Tourliers, Susa and Exiles,
and on the ninth day they overlooked their valleys from
Fenestrelles.
THE REFUGEES 127
sickle. In the spring, the Duke of Savoy sent 22,000
soldiers against them. They had only a thousand men,
but in such a fastness one man was worth a thousand.
However, when their enemies made their final assault,
they determined to die rather than surrender. That
night, by an inaccessible path, by overhanging precipices,
they escaped. The next morning their enemies saw them
in the far distance, like ants climbing over the distant
snow. For three days they wandered, trying to get to
their other fastness, the Pra del Tor. But before they
could reach it a most unexpected thing happened. The
Duke of Savoy declared war against France. Now both
Savoy and France sought their aid. They chose Savoy,
even though she had so terribly persecuted them. And it
is one of the remarkable revenges of history that, when
the Duke of Savoy was compelled to flee by France, where
did he find a refuge but among the Waldenses whom he
had so bitterly persecuted. After that there was peace
for a time, but persecutions broke out again, and in 1698
Switzerland received 2,800 refugees, many going on to
Germany. Among them was Arnaud, who became pastor
of a Waldensian congregation at Durmenz, Wurtemberg,
where, after writing his famous "Chronicle of the Glo-
rious Return," he died, September 8, 1721.
Section 5
the hungarian refugees
On January 16, 1674, the Catholic archbishop of Gran
gathered fifty-seven of the Reformed ministers at Press-
burg and condemned them. Two recanted, but fifty-five
stood firm. At first they were scattered in various
prisons, being put in chains ; but on March 18, 1674,
forty-two of them were sent to Naples with chains on
their feet and abused by the soldiers who guarded them.
On their journey they were locked in stables and stinted
128 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
in food, so that many became sick. At the castle at
Buccan, on the Adriatic sea, they were shut up in one
prison, where they saw neither sun nor moon and for
fifteen days had no bread. They were then taken to
Trieste, where they were plundered. Four of them died
at Trieste from their sufferings, two having died before.
They were then taken to Pescara and across Italy, on
the way being cast into stables and poor prisons, and
suffering from hunger and thirst. The remaining thirty
arrived at Naples May 7, 1674, where each was sold
for fifty Spanish piastres, and they were chained to the
rowing bench of the galleys together with Turkish slaves
and criminals. The next year others were sent to them.
But their presence and their sad condition became
known. A rich merchant of Naples, George Weltz, gave
them food and drink every third day, and also money
and clothing. On August 20, 1674, a Genevese merchant
reported their case to Geneva, and a subscription was
immediately taken up. Benedict Turretin, the diplomat,
made known the facts about them to King William III
of England. In the meanwhile, these refugees sent a
letter of entreaty to their fellow-Protestants in Naples,
and also to the Dutch resident in Venice. He interceded
for them with the Evangelical states of Switzerland, also
with Holland, England and Germany. These two diplo-
mats, Turretin and Zasseus, labored together to get them
free. Meanwhile George Weltz went to the head of
the galleys at Naples and offered 100 ducats for the
freedom of each, but in vain. Thus all efforts to gain
their liberty failed.
But when hope seemed darkest relief came. The
King of England ordered Admiral De Ruyter to free
them. He went to Naples and secured their release,
February 11, 1676, without any ransom. When they
were freed, they sang for joy Psalms 46, 114 and 125.
They were taken to the vice-admiral's ship and given
THE REFUGEES
129
food and drink, as they sang the 116th Psalm as their
song of freedom. Ruyter received them with the words,
"Of all my victories, none gives me so much joy as the
liberation of these servants of God." Then Weltz clothed
them. Through the influence of the Dutch ambassador
at Vienna, their freedom was confirmed. They had been
nine months in the galleys. As Switzerland had done
so much for them, they went to Geneva to thank the
citizens for their sympathy and gifts. They also went
to Zurich, Hottinger, the great Swiss historian, having
met them near Geneva, at Morges, and escorting them
to Zurich, where they arrived May 20, 1676, twenty-five
in number. There they were very warmly welcomed.
After an address by Hottinger, the ministers of the city
took them to their own houses, glad to entertain such
sufferers for the Reformed faith. They were then kept
at the city's expense and given money for their further
travels. Switzerland raised for them 15,490 gulden. The
Reformed merchants of Holland and Zurich gathered
money for them to travel to Holland. After long efforts
to find work for them, one-half of them found places
in Holland. The other scattered through the Protestant
countries.
BOOK II
THE PERIOD OF SCHOLASTIC CALVINISM
PART I
THE RISE OF SCHOLASTIC CALVINISM
No theological system remains exactly stationary, and
Calvinism did not. Beza developed its stern logic to its
highest point, supralapsarianism, in which he was for
a time followed by France, Holland, Switzerland and
some parts of Germany, as the Palatinate, Nassau and
the northern Rhine. The synod of Dort (1618) came
as a liberalizer of Calvinism. This statement may seem
strange to us in our day, when the synod of Dort is
looked upon as the conservator of high-Calvinism. But
Dort, though high to us, was low to them, as Prof.
Henry B. Smith declared, "since the synod of Dort supra-
lapsarianism has not dared to lift its head."
The synod of Dort revealed three types of Calvinism,
supralapsarianism, infralapsarianism and sublapsarian-
ism.* They differed on two points, the order of the
decrees and the atonement. Their order of the decrees
was:
1. Supralapsarianism arranged the decrees — election,
creation, redemption and reprobation.
2. Infralapsarianism had creation, election, redemp-
tion and reprobation.
3. Sublapsarianism had creation, redemption, elec-
tion and preterition.
The objection to the supralapsarian view was that
there was election when there was nothing to elect, be-
cause creation came after election.
* These three types may be called respectively highest-, high-
and low-Calvinism.
133
I34 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
The difference on the atonement was that the two
first made the atonement limited (Christ died for the
elect). The last made it universal (Christ died for all
men).
The supralapsarians tried to gain control of the
synod of Dort, but got no farther than the election
of the president. They were checkmated in the canons
adopted by the synod, which were infralapsarian, and
even a sublapsarian interpretation of them was allowed
to the English and Bremen delegates.*
After the synod of Dort, two forms of Calvinism
appeared :
i. Cocceianism, or the Federal Theology — the the-
ology of the Covenants. This was founded by Prof.
John Koch, often called Cocceius, who was professor of
theology at Bremen (1629) and Leyden (1650). It was
a return from creedal to Biblical theology, but at the
same time it aimed to apply the method of Descartes to
the Bible, and some of the Cocceians were strong Car-
tesians in philosophy, which led them to be suspected of
rationalism. But the purely Cocceian school was essen-
tially Biblical. Its guiding principle was the covenants.
It taught two covenants :
1. The Covenant of Works, made by God with man
before the fall in the garden of Eden — that if man did
what was right, he would attain to bliss in heaven.
2. The Covenant of Grace, made by God with man
after the fall, by which men are not saved by their good
works, but by the grace of God and through the gift
of His Son.
Koch claimed to be decretal in his theology, and he
was. But his tendency was toward making redemption
more central in theology without, however, giving up pre-
destination. His position is now held by the high-Cal-
* For a sketch of these different schools of Calvinism see ray
"History of the Reformed Church of Germany," page 319.
SCHOLASTIC CALVINISM 135
vinists of our day, who are mainly Federalists and hold
to limited atonement. A half a century ago this was
called Old School Calvinism.
2. The Saumur Calvinism. At the theological school
of Saumur, in France, the Calvinistic doctrines were lib-
eralized. Professor Amyraut developed his view of so-
called hypothetical election instead of the unconditional
election of the strict Calvinists. Placeus taught the
mediate imputation of Adam's sin instead of the imme-
diate imputation of Adam's sin to us, then generally held
by Calvinists. Both made Calvinism redemptive and held
to universal atonement. The latter was an old doctrine
of the Reformed held by Zwingli, Bullinger and Lasco in
the Reformation. To these two doctrines Saumur added
a third, the denial by Professor Capellus of the inspira-
tion of the vowel points of the Hebrew text of the Old
Testament, which was taught by Buxdorf, of Basle.
Over against especially these more liberal views there
was developed what has been called scholastic Calvinism.
There had been a tendency toward this in the later days
of the Reformation, but the fresh religious life of that
period checked it. But, after the rich glow of that life
had departed, doctrines lost their spiritual power and
subsided into hard and fast forms. More and more the
subtleties of the Aristotelian philosophy, which had been
applied to the Catholic theology in the Middle Ages
to grind out its life, were now applied to Protestant the-
ology. Perhaps the best type we have of this scholastic
theology of the Reformed was by Professor Wendelin,
professor at Anhalt, in Germany. Switzerland began to
be strongly affected by this scholastic Calvinism, which
made more of the form of the doctrine than of the life
in it.
It was evident that these different types of Calvinism
would meet in conflict some day. This occurred in the
adoption of the Helvetic Consensus by Switzerland in
I36 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
1675. The reader should be careful to distinguish this
creed from the Second Helvetic Confession, which had
Leen drawn up by Bullinger in the previous century and
adopted by the Swiss cantons. That was a much more
liberal Calvinistic creed as we would expect because
it came from Bullinger. While Calvinistic, it is yet lib-
eral, granting universal atonement. It is also to be re-
membered, in this study of the scholastic Calvinism of
the Helvetic Consensus, that the only kind of Arminian-
ism that the Calvinists knew at that time was that which
had Socinianism at bottom. It was rationalistic Armin-
ianism. (It is an interesting fact that in Holland the
Arminian churches had not existed long before they all
became Unitarian, as they are now.) That was the reason
why the Calvinists fought Arminianism so severely and
felt themselves the bulwark of Evangelicalism. They
did not know what we call Evangelical Arminianism, as
it did not come up till later under John Wesley, in the
eighteenth century. So that their Arminianism was dif-
ferent from ours of today. Theirs was rationalistic, ours
is Evangelical. Against any Arminianism of that day, the
Calvinists felt they must hold to predestination, as it
emphasized salvation only by the grace of God.
CHAPTER I
Zurich
The great Breitinger was dead and there was none to
fill his place in the antistes' chair. His successors were
men of mediocrity, with perhaps one exception, Klingler.
The time now came when there were abler men in the
professors' chairs at Zurich than in that of the antistes.
Section i
antistes john jacob irminger (1645-49) and john
jacob ulrich (1649-68)
John Jacob Irminger was born in 1588 and educated
at Zurich and Marburg. He became antistes in 1645.
But he found the office not a joy, but a burden, for he
was constantly contrasted with his predecessor, Breitin-
ger, greatly to his disadvantage. He was a man of ability
and also of modesty, but he lacked Breitinger's broad
mind and personal magnetism. The keynote of his ad-
ministration was conservatism, the only novelty intro-
duced being the fall communion, in 1649, f°r Zurich
before this had only three communions annually, at
Christmas, Easter and Whitsunday. In his day the be-
ginnings of the controversy about the low Calvinism of
the school of Saumur began to appear. As early as 1636,
Zurich had withdrawn her students in France from
Saumur and sent them to more orthodox Montauban.
He drew up a letter (1646), which was sent by the
ministers of Switzerland to the Reformed ministers of
Paris, admonishing them to give up the novelties of
Saumur and hold fast to the old Reformed faith But
137
1 38 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the ministers of Paris generally sympathized with
Saumur and replied that they held to the Gallic Con-
fession and the Canons of Dort, and that the changes
made by Amyraut were not in fundamentals, but only in
the method of statement The Swiss replied, March,
1649, that Amyraut's changes were more than of method.
Antistes John Jacob Ulrich was born in 1602 and
was a fine linguist. In 1630 he was made professor of
theology, and 1638 pastor of the Preacher's Church. He
was elected antistes in 1649. Nothing remarkable oc-
curred during his antisteship except two trials for heresy.
In 1652 the heresy of General John Rudolph Werd-
miller occurred. He had bought the half-island of Au,
in Lake Zurich, near Wadenschwyl, and lived there. He
had brought with him from his foreign wars two Turkish
slaves from Dalmatia, upon whom the superstitious Swiss
looked with suspicion as being masters of the black art
and imps of the demon of darkness. This roused the
suspicion that their master had converse with the spirits
of darkness. These slaves made a gondola which seemed
to the Swiss to be the product of magic, as it cut the
waves with such amazing rapidity. Still, through the
influence of a cousin of Werdmiller's, they were baptized
in the Fraumunster Church, at Zurich, March 21, 1652.
These suspicions already raised against Werdmiller pre-
pared the way for the heresy charges. On March 4,
1652, at a gathering in the castle at Wadenschwyl, Werd-
miller, who loved to get into a discussion with the minis-
ters, expressed himself too freely, saying that ministers
did not always preach what they believed, and they did
not agree in their theological views. He denied the resur-
rection of the body and said that no one knew where
hell was, some putting it up in the air, some down in
the earth's center. Grob, who sat opposite and who was
quite an apologist, having converted a whole Catholic
village to Protestantism, withstood him. Complaints
ZURICH 139
were entered against Werdmiller, but nothing came of
it. In 1656, when he led the Zurich troops against the
city of Rapperschwyl, he, contrary to the previous cus-
tom, led them into battle without any previous prayer
or religious ceremony. His critics took this up, revived
the previous complaints, and he was called before a com-
mission, December 4, 1658. There were eight charges
brought against him, as that he denied the trinity, the
resurrection and the locality of hell. He denied this
and claimed to hold to the Helvetic Confession. Never-
theless, he was condemned as an atheist and blasphemer
and fined. Popular opinion increased against him as an
infidel, so that he no longer felt safe, and, at the advice
of his friends, he quietly fled. He entered the military
service of the Catholics and died (1697). How far these
charges were true is a question, for politics entered into
the case as well as religion. It is true he did not like
the use of the word "person" as applied to the trinity,
because it was liable to be misunderstood. He did not
deny the resurrection, only that of the body, and he did
not deny hell, only its locality. His flippancy about re-
ligious things he had gained in foreign military service.
Heretics are not apt to come along alone, so another
appeared. But this was not a departure from orthodoxy,
as in Werdmiller's case, as much as a departure from
high-Calvinism. Rev. Michael Zink was pastor at St.
Jacob's, near Zurich, and professor of mathematics in
Zurich. Just when the Werdmiller case was exciting the
people, he preached a sermon, November 2.7, 1659, in
which he declared for universal atonement — that Jesus
died for all men, and not merely for the elect. This
caused a sensation, for Zurich was high-Calvinistic. He
therefore wrote a defence, in which he claimed that
Zwingli and Bullinger held to his view, which was true.
One day, in a book-store at Zurich, in July, 1660, one
of the students told him that Professor Heidegger was
l4o THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
discussing whether Christ died for all men or only for
the elect. He replied, "Why discuss it. Let us stick to
the beautiful words of Scripture — Christ is the propitia-
tion for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the
sins of the whole world." This conversation was re-
ported and he was cited before a commission, July n.
They asked him whether he accepted the Helvetic Con-
fession. He replied in the affirmative. Then, whether
he accepted the canons of Dort. This seems to show,
as Finsler says,* that, although the canons of Dort were
never officially adopted by Zurich, yet they were virtually
in force at Zurich at that time. Zink replied that he
did not accept all the canons of Dort, as they differed
from the Helvetic Confession on some points. They
replied that it was the judgment of the Swiss theologians
that the Helvetic Confession and the canons of Dort
were in entire agreement. He later declared that he
agreed with Dort on election, but not on reprobation.
He was suspended from the ministry. On December
16, 1660, other charges were brought against him, as that
he denied the trinity, Adam's sin, etc. He was deposed,
and, as there was a rumor that he would be put to death,
he fled to Roteln, in Baden, Germany. He wrote back
to Zurich, affirming his orthodoxy and asking to be al-
lowed to return ; but he was refused and he died abroad.
The significance of this Zink controversy is that it com-
mitted the Zurich church against Saumur and to the
canons of Dort, which were then recognized as the norm
of Calvinistic orthodoxy.
Section 2
prof. john henry hottinger
We now come to the brightest mind of his day, and
one of the most brilliant men that the Reformed Church
*Meili's "Theologische Zeitschrift," 1895, page 186.
ZURICH 141
of Switzerland ever produced. He was called the
"Orientalist of the Seventeenth Century." Up to his
time Switzerland had given little attention to the Semitic
languages except Hebrew. He was the first to break the
way into the other cognate tongues. He belonged to
a prominent family of Zurich, which has produced many
professors and ministers, but he was the ablest of them
all. He was born March 10, 1620, at Zurich. He early
revealed great linguistic talents, as he easily translated
the sermon he heard into Greek. He studied at Zurich,
Geneva, Groningen and Leyden. At Groningen a Jew,
and then a Turk, taught him Oriental languages. It
happened that just at that time Golius, the great Oriental-
ist of Leyden University, was seeking for a young man
to help him. Hottinger was offered the position and
accepted. This gave him unusual opportunities. He
lived at Golius' house and had access to the valuable
manuscripts Golius had collected in the Orient. He also
learned Turkish and Arabic from a Mohammedan who
lived with Golius, and soon was as fluent in talking
Arabic as he had been in Latin. During the fourteen
months he spent there, he copied many manuscripts, so
that Golius said of him, "Hottinger has written more
books in his short stay than many men have in their
whole lifetime." Golius declared he knew no one in
his time who had gone as far into the Oriental languages
as Hottinger. The Dutch ambassador wanted to make
Hottinger chaplain of the Dutch embassy at Constanti-
nople, which would have given him a magnificent op-
portunity to get at the manuscripts in the Orient, but
Zurich refused him permission. She, however, gave him
means to travel through England, where he was received
with distinguished honor by the leading Orientalists.
After four years' absence, he returned to Zurich (1642),
at the age of twenty-one, already one of the leading
Orientalists of Europe. He became professor of cate-
I42 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
chetics and then of Hebrew, and in 1653 of the New
Testament. When Elector Charles Lewis, of the Palati-
nate, was trying to revive the university at Heidelberg
after the Thirty Years' War, he asked Zurich to loan
him Hottinger for three years as professor. Hottinger
went to Heidelberg in 1655, receiving on his way, at
Basle, the degree of doctor. His fame drew many stu-
dents, especially Swiss, to Heidelberg.
An interesting story is told by Heidegger that, on
one occasion, Hottinger and himself came upon a Jewish
rabbi and his son. The father had long tried to make
his son learn Hebrew, but had had great difficulty. When
the father heard with what ease Hottinger spoke Hebrew,
he suddenly fell on his son and gave him a severe whip-
ping, saying, "You sluggard, how long have I taught
you Hebrew, and now you let a Christian surpass you
in it." When the three years that Hottinger was loaned
to the Palatinate had expired, the Elector of the Palatinate
asked that he be allowed to stay longer, which Zurich
granted, and he remained in all at Heidelberg six years
— until 1661. He was treated with distinguished honor
there, being made a member of the consistory and rector
of the university. When an emperor was to be elected,
the Elector took him to the German Diet at Frankfort,
where he became acquainted with the arclibishop of
Hungary, who was very learned in the Turkish language,
and with Ludolph, from whom he learned much of the
Ethiopic. While at Heidelberg, he also became ac-
quainted with the learned sister of the Elector, Princess
Elizabeth of the Palatinate, the pupil of Descartes, and
later abbess of Her ford, in Germany. When his second
term at Heidelberg was ended, the Elector was loth to
give him up ; but Zurich held fast to him, as she needed
him as professor. And it is said that Hottinger was glad
to return, for Heidelberg had become uncomfortable
for him because of the unfortunate marriage of the
Antistes Rudolph Gualther Antistes John Jacob Breitinger
Prof. John Henry Hottinger Antistes John Jacob Hess
ZURICH 143
Elector with the Raugrafin Louisa of Degenfeld. He
returned to Zurich in 1661. During his life he had many
calls as professor, as to Bremen, Marburg, Amsterdam,
but he refused them all. A! call came in 1666 from Ley-
den University, the leading Reformed professorship in
Europe, but he declined it. But Leyden gave him a
second call and he finally accepted it, and Zurich agreed
to loan him to the Dutch for six years. But just before
he was to leave Zurich he was drowned in the Limmat
river at Zurich, June 5, 1667. The river being in a
freshet, his boat was overturned. He might have saved
himself, but the sight of his three drowning children led
him to throw himself in to save them, and after a severe
struggle he, too, was drowned. The calamity shook the
city of Zurich, and all Europe mourned with Zurich.
Another of this famous Hottinger family deserves
mention — John Jacob Hottinger, a son of John Henry
Hottinger. Born at Zurich in 1652, he became a pupil
of the three founders of the Helvetic Consensus, Heideg-
ger at Zurich, Gernler at Basle, F. Turretin at Geneva.
In 1698 he succeeded Heidegger as professor of theology
and gained great fame as a historian. He did for the
Reformed what the Baronius did for the Catholics and
Flacius did for the Lutherans in his Magdeburg Cen-
turies— he was the great historian of the Reformed
Church. This history was published in nine volumes, up
to 1657. Of these, five relate to the sixteenth century.
Section 3
antistes casper waser ( 1 668-77)
The successor of Ulrich in the antistes' chair was
not so scholarly, but had considerable executive ability.
Born December 5, 1612, his father wanted him to study
medicine, as two of his brothers had already entered
the ministry. But the death of one of these brothers
144
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
and the persuasion of Breitinger led him to obey the will
of his heavenly Father rather than of an earthly father.
He studied theology at Zurich, Lausanne, Saumur and
Paris. In 1635 he became archdeacon at the cathedral,
and in 1668 antistes. He died in 1677. His term of
office was short yet important, for during it the Helvetic
Consensus was adopted. We shall speak of his con-
nection with it later. He died in 1677 with the words
of Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," on his lips.
During the administration of Ulrich and Waser, there
was a very prominent professor of Greek at Zurich, J.
Casper Schweizer (Suicer). Born in 1620, he studied
at Zurich and Saumur. He was as learned in Greek
as Hottinger in Hebrew. His great work is a "Thesaurus
of Greek," which is a monumental work — a wonderful
collection of classical material — and is a standard today.
Section 4
prof. john henry heidegger
Heidegger was the most prominent dogmatician of his
day in Zurich. Born July 1, 1633, he studied at Zurich
and Marburg, where he lived in the house of Prof. John
Crocius, one of the most prominent theologians of his
day in the Reformed Church of Germany. Then he
became professor of theology at Steinfurt, in Germany
(1659-65). While there he visited Holland and met
Cocceius, whose theological system he followed. He
returned to Zurich (1665), and when Hottinger was
drowned he was elected in his place as professor of the-
ology. He was, however, looked upon with some sus-
picion at Zurich because he was introducing the new
Cocceian type of Calvinism. He received several calls,
as to Groningen in Alting's place, and to Leyden in
Cocceius' place, which was the most prominent Reformed
professorship in Europe. He declined them all. He died
ZURICH 145
January 18, 1698. There is a beautiful story told of his
death-bed that, when antistes Klingler prayed with him,
he remarked, "Such prayers are real chariots of Elijah
on which to ascend to heaven."
Heidegger was a fine theologian, revealing ability but
not great originality. His greatest work was his Corpus
or Statement of Christian Doctrine (1700). He also
published two smaller works on dogmatics. These works
for a half century were the leading textbooks in Reformed
theology. From 1664 to 1680 he developed an extensive
polemical activity against the Catholic Church.
10
CHAPTER II
Basle
Section i
antistes john wolleb (1618-29)
WollEb was the first antistes of Basle who was born
in that canton, and he was worthy of the honor of his
position because of his ability. He was born November
30, 1586, educated at Basle and made professor of Old
Testament (1611), and antistes July 20, 1618. He had
hardly been elected when the synod of Dort met. Basle
ought to have sent him to that synod instead of the two
mediocre delegates she sent, as he would have ranked
up close to Diodati in ability. The two delegates from
Basle to that synod were Beck and Meyer. Beck made
an address at the synod on election and original sin.
After his return he always called the synod the "most
sacred synod," and took off his hat whenever Dort was
mentioned. Meyer, the other delegate, also delivered
an address there on the perseverance of the saints. He
has left a most remarkable historical memorial of the
synod in his Album, which gives interesting side-lights
on the synod, stating the theological position of each
member of the synod.* Both of these delegates had
been pupils of Polanus, and hence were strongly Cal-
vinistic.
During Wolleb's antistesship the ministers of Basle
were called, in 1625, to sign the Basle confession, in
* See "Beytrage zur Kenntniss der Geschichte der Synode von
Dortrecht," Basle, 1825.
146
BASLE 147
which there was no hesitancy, as by this time the Lutheran
party had entirely disappeared. During Wolleb's period
Basle was visited by a prominent prelate of the Greek
Church. One of the great questions of that day was
whether the great Greek Church of the East would
take sides with the Catholics or with the Protestants.
Cyril Lucar was the great leader of that church who
favored closer relations with the Protestants, especially
the Reformed, and it was his visit to Basle and Wolleb
that made this favorable impression on him. But he
failed, and was later martyred. Wolleb died of the
plague, November 24, 1629.
Wolleb was remarkable for the clearness and brevity
of his dogmatical works. He differed from Polanus,
who emphasized the scholastic subtleties and categories
often artificially brought in, for he leaves these out and
draws his divisions from the subject itself. His most
famous work was his Compendium of Theology (1626).
It was the first handbook of Reformed theology. Before
it the students had to use the large works of dogmatics
called "Institutes" or "Common Places," as by Calvin,
Peter Martyr and Zanchius. His Compendium was of
masterly brevity and perspicuity and became so popular
that it passed through three editions in twelve years.
It was translated into English and used in England as
a textbook, and also in New England in the early years
of Harvard College.
Section 2
antistes theodore zwinger (163o-54)
He was born at Basle in 1597. Undecided whether
to study theology or medicine, he was laid on a sick-bed
nigh to death. He then vowed that, if providence would
spare his life, he would enter the ministry. He studied
at Basle and in foreign universities. Calvin's Institutes
i48 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
was his favorite work, and at Heidelberg he had a dis-
putation on Election whether it was conditional or not.
He was, therefore, a strong Calvinist. He was elected
antistes in 1630.
The most important event during his antistesship was
the adoption by Basle of the Second Helvetic Confession.
It happened that a new edition of that confession was
about to be published. Zurich urged Basle to adopt
it, so that the new edition might state that it had been
adopted by all the Protestant Swiss cantons. So Basle
adopted it, November 18, 1642, seventy-eight years after
its first publication. Now at last was the dream of
its author, Bullinger, fulfilled, that it should be adopted
by all the Swiss Protestant cantons and be a bond of
union between them.
Another important innovation that he brought about,
in 1642, was the use of bread instead of wafers at the
Lord's Supper. The French Reformed had long used
bread, and it had been permitted to be used in the French
church at Basle. Now Zwinger had it introduced also
into the German churches. In connection with this, he
published a sermon, to which was added a history of
the controversy between the Lutherans and the Reformed
on the Lord's Supper. These two events fully committed
Basle to the Reformed faith. When Dury, the apostle
of Church union in the seventeenth century, as Bucer
had been in the sixteenth, came to Switzerland to try
to unite the Lutherans and Reformed, although Zurich
and Bern were favorable, yet Zwinger opposed him,
saying that the Reformed ought to be united among
themselves before they tried to unite with the Lutherans.
He published a dissertation on Romans which reveals
his high-Calvinism. He fully sympathized with Buxdorf
in his attack on Saumur. He died December 27, 1654.
He was a man of strong personality, well fitted for
leadership.
BASLE
149
Section 3
antistes luke gernler (1656-75)
He was born August 19, 1625. After studying at
Basle, he went abroad for travel to Geneva, Paris, Eng-
land, Holland and Germany. In 1653 he was made
second assistant at the cathedral, and in 1656 elected
antistes at the early age of thirty-one. He was influential
as a practical leader. He increased the number of weekly
services and had severe laws passed against Sabbath-
breaking, especially shooting on Sabbath. Under his rec-
torate the university observed its 200th anniversary, at
which he delivered a memorial address. In 1666 he
edited the Basle liturgy in the form in which it remained
until 1826.
But he was a dogmatician as well as a practical
executive. He was one of the theological quartette who
led to the drawing up of the Helvetic Consensus, Heid-
egger of Zurich, Turretin of Geneva and Hummel of
Bern being the other three. Indeed, he may be said to
have in some sense laid the basis for that creed, for he,
together with his colleagues, John Buxdorf and J. R.
Wettstein, prepared a dogmatical work which was in-
tended to serve as a basis for the weekly disputation of
the students. It took up the very points which were
afterwards taken up in the Helvetic Consensus. It was
entitled "Syllabus of Controversies" and published in
1662. It contained 20 topics and 588 theses. It was
arranged like a catechism, in the form of questions and
answers. Each question was followed by an affirmative
or negative defence of their position. It was strongly
Calvinistic on predestination and the Lord's Supper. It
exerted a great influence at Basle, but nowhere else.
At Basle those who held to the Helvetic Confession were
called Reformed, but those who held to the Syllabus were
called orthodox Reformed. Gernler also opposed Dury's
150 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
latter efforts at union. He died February 9, 1675, of
the plague.
Section 4
the professors buxdore
This family presented to Basle a succession of schol-
ars. Its founder, John Buxdorf, the older, was born
in Westphalia, Germany, December 25, 1564. He studied
at Heidelberg and Herborn. At Herborn, Piscator gave
him the impulse that made him one of the leading
Hebrew scholars of his day. He aided Piscator in the
preparation of the Old Testament of the Piscator Bible,
published 1602. He came to Basle as private tutor, and
was made (1591) professor of Old Testament. His
fame led him to be called to Saumur in 161 1, and later
to Leyden. His epoch-making book was his Jewish
Synagogue (1603), a valuable contribution to Jewish
archaeology, which earned for him the gratitude of Jews
as well as Christians ; indeed, whole synagogues thanked
him for it. In 1607 he published his Hebrew-Chaldee
Lexicon, which went through six editions during his life-
time, and a seventh was published by his son. In 1609
he began a Chaldee-Talmud Lexicon, which his son fin-
ished. He was called by his admirers the greatest Orien-
talist of his day, which was probably true, for Hottinger
was now dead, and, besides, Hottinger had emphasized
the cognate languages, while Buxdorf had emphasized
rabbinical literature. He wanted to utilize the rabbinical
literature so as the better to explain the Old Testament.
His great aim in it all was to show that the Hebrew
text as the bearer of the Word of God was infallible.
In his work "Tiberias," he attacked the view that the
Masoritic text originated in the sixth century. He held
it was older. In all this he had an apologetical aim,
namely, to show that the Protestants had an older text
BASLE 151
than the Catholics in their Latin version.
His intense research into Jewish lore once led him
into trouble. In many cities Jews were not permitted
to live in those days, but he had been permitted by the
city of Basle to have two Jews living in his house, so
as to correct his works on the Bible. In 1619 the wife
of one of them had a son. The father received special
permission from the authorities to circumcise him. Bux-
dorf greatly desired to see this rite. He secured per-
mission from Glaser, of the city council, to be an eye-
witness to the ceremony. But when this became known,
it raised a storm around his head. That Buxdorf, a
Christian and a professor of theology, should thus coun-
tenance such a barbarous rite was considered the height
of impropriety, yes, a crime. He was fined 100 florins,
the Jew 400 florins and Glaser was imprisoned three
days. Buxdorf died of the plague, September 13, 1629.
He was the most learned among the Protestants in rab-
binical literature and was called the "Master of the
Rabbis."
Great as was the elder Buxdorf, it is a question
whether he was greater than his son, John Buxdorf the
younger. The latter was born at Basle, August 13, 1599.
With such a father he was a Hebraist almost from birth.
At thirteen he entered the university, and at sixteen he
received the degree of master. When only a young man
he had read through both the Jerusalem and the Babylon
Talmuds. In 1617 he went to Heidelberg, and in 1619
visited the synod of Dort, and then, with the Basle dele-
gates, visited England. Though only twenty-three years
of age, he produced a Chaldee-Syriac dictionary (1622).
Yet he went to Geneva to learn more Hebrew. And here
appears the remarkable fact that the teacher became
the pupil. He went there to study under Turretin, and
lo ! Turretin and Clericus take lessons of him in Hebrew.
After his father's death he was made (1630) professor of
152
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the Old Testament. In his zeal for the authority of the
Old Testament text, he went to the extreme of defending
the inspiration of the vowel-points, for which he was
attacked (1645) by Cappel, professor in the theological
school at Saumur. In 1638 both Leyden and Groningen
gave him calls, but he declined them. He died August
17, 1664.
Before leaving this remarkable family, another pro-
fessor deserves mention, John Jacob Buxdorf, the son
of John Buxdorf the younger. He became professor of
Old Testament at Basle in 1664, at the death of his
father. In 1665 he travelled extensively to Geneva,
France and Holland. In England he had to flee from
the great London fire to the country on account of the
hatred of the Londoners for foreigners, whom they
blamed for the fire. He visited Cambridge and Oxford,
and was everywhere received with honor. He returned
to Basle in 1669 and died in 1704. The latter was suc-
ceeded by John Buxdorf, a nephew of the last named,
who was prominent as a professor at Basle (1704-32).
Thus the Buxdorfs gave to Basle four generations of
professors, and the professorship of Hebrew was in the
Buxdorf family for nearly 150 years.
CHAPTER III
Bern
Section i
dekan john henry hummel
Perhaps the most prominent representative of the
Bern church in the sixteenth century was the above-
named. He was born in 1611, studied at Bern, then
travelled to Geneva, France, and, almost shipwrecked,
was driven to England, from which country he went
to Holland. He was made dekan of the Bern Church in
1662. Though he had been suspected of Arminianism
because he had studied in Holland, yet he was a strong
champion of thorough-going Calvinism. The Bern
Church was at that time so highly Calvinistic that it tried
to get Maresius, the Dutch professor, who was the oracle
of high-Calvinism, to come to Bern, but he declined. The
Church of Bern was strongly opposed to Cartesianism,
and in 1668 the state authorities forbade Cartesianism,
which Prof. David Wyss had introduced in 1662. But
philosophy cannot be repressed by law, and it reappeared
in 1689, when Professor Leeman again began lecturing
on it. It was during this period that Hummel was the
head of the church. He strongly opposed Cartesianism.
But, though so strongly Calvinistic, he yet warmly sup-
ported the efforts of Dury for church union. Dury was
so pleased with him that he wanted to take him with
him to England, so as to further the cause of church
union before Cromwell ; but Bern refused to let him go.
His activity for the formulation of the Helvetic Con-
sensus will appear later. He died March 8, 1674.
153
154
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Bern also had a great Orientalist, not unworthy to
be named with Hottinger and the Buxdorfs, John Henry
Ott. His rabbinical dictionary (1675) gave him the repu-
tation of being one of the best authorities on rabbinical
literature. Prof. Christopher Luthardt, who died in
1663, was also widely known for his polemical writings.
Section 2
the adoption oe the piscator bible by bern
Bern about this time adopted officially a Reformed
Bible called the Piscator Bible, so as to conserve her
Calvinism. In the Reformation two great German Bibles
had appeared, the Luther and the Zurich.* Bern now,
as Zurich then, was to have her own Bible. This question
came up in the latter part of the seventeenth century.
The cause of the agitation began in 1660, when Zurich
was about getting out a new edition of the Zurich Bible
and asked Bern to join her, but Bern did not do so.
Twenty years later the matter came up again, for at
that time there was a good deal of confusion caused
by the use of three Bibles, the Zurich, the Luther and
Piscator's. Piscator had been professor* of theology at
the University of Herborn, in Germany, and a son-in-
law of Olevianus, one of the authors of the Heidelberg
Catechism. He was a very learned man, especially in
Hebrew and dogmatics. His Bible was published at
Herborn (1602-4), an^ was looked upon at that time
as a rival of Luther's Bible. f The Lutherans, alarmed
at it, nicknamed it the God-punish-me Bible (the Straf-
mich-Gott Bibel), because of Piscator's rather free trans-
* We have already referred to the Zurich Bible in the life of
Breitinger.
t See Schlosser's "Die Piscator Bible," Heidelberg, 1908, and
Mezger's "Bibelubersetzungen der Schweiz," pages 284-302 and
400-412.
BERN
155
lation of Mark 8:12. However, this addition was printed
not in the text, but at the end of that verse in smaller
letters, and probably followed Beza's translation of Gen.
14:20. But the popular diction of the Luther version
made it retain the ascendency in Germany, although Pis-
cator's is closer to the original.
Bern did not adopt the Luther Bible, probably because
it was not written in the Swiss dialect. She did not,
perhaps, adopt the Zurich Bible, because there was always
a good deal of rivalry between these two cantons. In-
deed, when Zurich had first approached Bern to adopt
the Zurich Bible, Bern had replied that Zurich ought
first to have it generally adopted in Switzerland, just
as the Helvetic Confession had been, and thus made it
the Swiss Bible. So, finally, Bern cut the Gordian knot
between the Luther and the Zurich Bible by adopting
neither and taking the Piscator Bible. This was doubt-
less partly due to the fact that many of the ministers
of Bern had studied at Herborn under Piscator, and many
of them brought back with them the Piscator Bible.
Another reason may have been the agreement between
Bern and Herborn on doctrine. Both were Calvinistic,
and Bern wanted a Calvinistic Bible. Perhaps still an-
other reason lay in the fear of Cartesianism. At any rate,
on February 28, 1681, the state authorities of Bern or-
dered 8,000 copies of the Piscator translation to be
published in Bern, and they appeared by New Year, 1684.
This Bible remained in common use in Bern for about
two hundred years. Nine editions of it, in whole or in
part, were published between 1684 and 1848. In 1755
Mrs. Esther Bondeli bore the expense of an edition whose
introduction was written by the celebrated naturalist,
Albert Von Haller. But since 1824 the Luther Bible
began to be introduced, especially as the translation of
it made by the British and Foreign Bible Society was
sold very cheap. And in 1830 the new minister's ordi-
156 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
nance officially recognized it. In the other cantons
gradually the Luther Bible was introduced, until it is
now the translation in general use in German Switzer-
land, though Zurich still uses the Zurich Bible, as also
does Thurgau.
Section 3
the amended heidelberg catechism in bern
In Switzerland, while all the cantons united under
one creed, yet each canton preserved the liberty to use
its own catechism. The first Protestant catechism pub-
lished in Switzerland was at St. Gall (1527), a transla-
tion of the catechism of the Bohemian Brethren ; but it
never came into popular use. Ecolampadius, in 1528, pub-
lished a catechism at Basle, one year before the Smaller
Catechism of Luther. Zurich had no catechism during
Zwingli's life, but in 1534 Leo Juda published his Larger
catechism (in which the scholar asks the question and
the minister answers), and his Smaller catechism in 1541.
Bullinger prepared a catechism in 1559. In 1609 the
Zurich catechism was published, Baumler being its author,
and in it he united Juda's and the Heidelberg catechism.
Bern at first used Leo Juda's. In 1536 Megander
published a revision of Juda's as the official catechism
of Bern, and the next year the Bucer-Megander catechism
appeared. In 1581 an abbreviation of it, called the Little
Bern catechism, was composed and introduced in 1582.
In 1616 the Heidelberg catechism was by law introduced
into the schools and became the popular catechism of the
canton up to the middle of the nineteenth century.
Schaffhausen used Leo Juda's catechism, then Ulmer's
(1562), and then a catechism which was a combination
of Juda's and Ulmer's. The Heidelberg catechism was
officially introduced in 1663.
The Zurich catechism was generally used in the dis-
BERN 157
tricts around Zurich and under her influence. But in 161 5
the Heidelberg catechism was officially introduced into the
city of St. Gall. Appenzell, Glarus and the Grisons used
mainly the Zurich. In 161 1 a catechism was published
in the Romansch language, a combination of the Zurich
and the Heidelberg.
Geneva at first used Calvin's catechism, first published
in 1536, without questions, revised in 1541 into questions
and answers. Neuchatel and Vaud also used it, but in
155 1 Bern ordered the use of the Megander catechism,
translated into French, in Vaud. Afterwards the French
translation of the Heidelberg was used in Vaud. Neu-
chatel, which was so closely related to the Church of
Vaud, also used the Heidelberg. But in the eighteenth
century Osterwald's catechism was used in Neuchatel
and also introduced into Vaud, setting aside the Heidel-
berg. Calvin's was used in Geneva till in the eighteenth
century, when other catechisms were introduced.
The Heidelberg catechism was, therefore, officially
used in Bern, Vaud, Schaffhausen and St. Gall and to
some extent in Neuchatel, Vaud and the Grisons. The
only canton where it is still mainly used is Schaffhausen,
though still used to some extent in Bern.
An interesting peculiarity of the Heidelberg appeared
in the canton of Bern. In the official edition of that
catechism there was a notable addition made to the
twenty-seventh answer about providence. It was not
added directly on to the answer, but was placed after
the proof-texts to that answer and before the twenty-
eighth question. The addition reads: "And although sin
(the sins), through God's providence, was controlled, yet
God is not the author of sin, for the aim distinguishes
the work. See examples of Joseph and his brethren,
Gen. 45:57-58; David and Shimei, 2 Sam. 16:9-12;
Christ and the Jews, Acts 2 : 23, 27, 28." Professor Zyro,
in his edition of the catechism (1848), adds this directly
158 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
on to the answer.
A very interesting question comes up as to the reason
why this addition was made. It appears to be a relic
of the days when Bern was very highly Calvinistic, even
supralapsarian, as in the days of Mluslin. For this seems
to have been added to the catechism to explain an objec-
tion to the supralapsarian view, which so closely tends
toward making God the author of sin. Over against
this, the answer says that God is not the author of sin.
It is strange, however, that this addition was continued
in the catechism so long, for by the seventeenth century
lower views of Calvinism were popular in Bern, and in
the nineteenth century Calvinism fell away as the Second
Helvetic Confession was given up. But the catechism
has never been officially revised so as to leave it out.
CHAPTER IV
Geneva
Section i
the earey orthodoxy under spanheim and turretin
Frederick Spanheim, in 1626, succeeded Diodati as
the leading theological professor at Geneva. Under him
Geneva remained true to the high-Calvinism of Beza and
Diodati. Spanheim it was who sounded the first note of
warning against the newer views of the theological school
of Saumur in 1635 by writing against Amyraut. In 1637
Diodati, who was still living, Tronchin and Turretin
unitedly warned the synod of France against Amyraut.
Spanheim left Geneva for Leyden in 1641, but his place
as a leader was ably filled by Francis Turretin.
Francis Turretin* was the descendent of a Protestant
refugee from Italy and the son of Prof. Benedict Turre-
tin, professor of theology with Diodati. He was born
October 17, 1623, at Geneva, where he studied, and then
studied in Holland and France. At Saumur he heard the
professors who were declared heretical by the Swiss
theologians, but he continued true to the Calvinistic views
of his father. Still he differed from the older Calvinism,
which was so largely influenced by supralapsarianism,
for he was an adherent of the new and lower Calvinism
of Cocceianism, which he heard in the university in
Holland. It seemed to be his mission as a dogmatician
to take Calvin's theology and restate it according to the
Cocceian views. On his return to Geneva he was at first
* See Bude, "Vie de Frangois Turretin," 1871.
159
160 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
pastor of the Italian church at Geneva. In 1653 he was
elected professor of theology and soon became the leader
of the Venerable Company of Geneva, which controlled
the doctrine and worship of that church. In 1661 he was
sent to Holland, as his father had been forty years before,
to enlist the aid of the Dutch in fortifying Geneva against
the Catholic powers. In this he was very successful, and
the Dutch voted 75,000 florins for that purpose. During
his stay in Holland he gained a great reputation among
the Dutch, who tried to retain him as pastor, but in vain.
He died September 28, 1687. His chief work was his
Institutes of Theology (1679-85), which is still a stan-
dard theological work in the nineteenth century, and was
republished in Scotland in 1841. His life will be further
given in the controversies about the Helvetic Consensus,
in which he was one of the leaders.
Section 2
the entrance of the doctrines of saumur into
GENEVA
As Geneva spoke French, it was natural that it should
be the place where the new doctrines of Saumur would
first find entrance. Many of the Genevese ministers had
studied at Saumur. But the first controversy that ap-
peared was not about Salmurianism (as the doctrines
of Saumur were called), but about Cartesianism in 1642.
Alexander Morus was a Genevese by birth, but when
he came back to Geneva from his foreign studies in 1641,
the Venerable Company was suspicious of his Arminian-
ism and for a year refused to ordain him. Yet the next
year the city council elected him in Spanheim's place as
professor. He became very popular and gradually be-
came less prudent and began attacking his Calvinistic
colleagues, especially the supralapsarians. The contro-
versy broke out in 1646 and lasted for three years. Morus
GENEVA 161
resigned in 1649 and went to Holland. But before he
was allowed to receive his dismissal he was required to
subscribe to a series of articles arranged in the form
of theses and antitheses. These articles, called "the arti-
cles of Morus," as we shall see later, play an important
part in the controversy about creed subscription in
Geneva. They were also the first step toward forming
the Helvetic Consensus, even before Gernler's Syllabus.
Indeed, they might be called the germ of that creed,
although Gernler's Syllabus gave much of its contents,
which Heidegger finally enlarged into the creed.
For ten years there was peace, and Geneva supposed
that in getting rid of Morus she had gotten rid of con-
troversy. But she had only gotten to the beginning of it,
for in Morus' place came Mestrezat, an adherent of Sau-
mur. This alarmed the Calvinists. Before 1659, Leger,
professor of theology, made the first suggestion to antistes
Ulrich, of Zurich, of a new creed for all Switzerland.
In 1659 Turretin had the subscription made stricter,
requiring adherence in limited atonement and the im-
mediate imputation of Adam's sin. Yet, in spite of this,
when Leger died (1661), another adherent of Saumur,
Louis Tronchin, was elected professor of theology. But
a still greater influence toward lowering the Calvinism
of Geneva than any of the previously mentioned events
was the election of Chouet as professor of philosophy.
However, even before it, a collision took place, for
the liberal party was growing in numbers and influence
and only waited for an opportunity to show its strength.
On June 11, 1669, when Charles Maurice, a minister,
was required to sign the oath against the errors of Sau-
mur, Tronchin and Mestrezat declared their consciences
forbade them to exact such a subscription, as they ad-
hered to the doctrines it disallowed. Four pastors stood
with them. Outvoted in the Venerable Company, they
carried it to the city council. The decision of the council
11
162 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
was a compromise. It ordered them to teach according
to the standards, but not to do so polemically. This
tolerated the liberals, but forbade the conservatives to
attack them. This action raised a great storm in Switzer-
land. Zurich, Basle, Bern and SchafFhausen declared,
July 30, 1669, that unless it was repealed they would
recall their students from Geneva. This action of the
Protestant Swiss caused a tremendous sensation in
Geneva, and the doctrines of limited and universal atone-
ment were discussed everywhere, even in the markets.
The council then, August 4, 1669, returned to the old
subscription on the articles of Morus and ordered con-
troversy to cease. It was now supposed that everything
was quiet. But twelve days had not passed when the
professor of philosophy, Wyss, died, and in the election
of his successor the whole matter was opened up again.
Chouet, who was elected, was an outspoken Cartesian.
When he was required to sign the articles of Morus,
he replied that he taught philosophy and not theology.
So the subscription was lowered, that when he presented
theological subjects he would teach according to the old
Reformed creed. But his method undermined the older
Calvinism and he led to a revolution of thought. His
influence was also increased by his election as a syndic
of Geneva, which position he held for many years. The
Calvinistic party was now thoroughly alarmed, and Tur-
retin wrote to Heidegger, November 6, 1669, suggesting
a new confession to which subscription should be required.
In 1671 the controversy broke out again. Mussard,
a Genevan by birth (married to the granddaughter of
Beza), who had been pastor at Lyons, France, returned
to Geneva. He refused to sign the articles of Morus.
He was allowed to live at Geneva, but not to preach.
Finally, after six years' residence at Geneva, he left for
London. From 1671 there was continual controversy at
Geneva about the new creed. For the Calvinists of
GENEVA 163
Geneva were not satisfied with banishing the adherents
of Saumur. They wanted all Switzerland to do so, too,
and so they began moving for a new creed.
CHAPTER V
The Formulation and Adoption of the Helvetic
Consensus
Section i
the formulation of the consensus
WE have seen that the theological affairs in Switzer-
land had come to a crisis. So a meeting of the different
theological leaders of Switzerland, as Heidegger of
Zurich, Gernler of Basle, Hummel of Bern and Ott of
Schaffhausen, was held at Baden in 1669. But, while
all agreed on the desirability of a new creed, they were
not in agreement in regard to its contents. Some wanted
a general creed, like the Helvetic Confession; others, a
special creed dealing with the special doctrines in con-
troversy. Even the cantons were divided. Thus in Basle,
for instance, Professor Wettstein wanted a general creed,
Gernler, a special. The majority agreed on a special
creed. But here again they were divided. All agreed that
it should be directed against the doctrines of Saumur, but
some wanted the Cocceian doctrines also disavowed. On
this point Zurich was divided. Heidegger wanted only
the Saumur doctrines disallowed, but a strong party
wanted Cocceianism also set aside. Some also wanted
the doctrines of Piscator (on the imputation of only
Christ's passive obedience) to be also denounced.
Finally the theologians came to some agreement, and
on the advice of Basle they decided that the creed should
be against doctrines and not against persons, and there-
fore no damnatory clauses should be in it, as in the
Lutheran Formula of Concord. It was evident from
164
THE HELVETIC CONSENSUS 165
this that the construction of the creed would be a more
difficult matter than at first supposed. It was finally also
decided that it should only be against the doctrine of
Saumur. In June, 1674, the Evangelical diet took up
the matter and ordered the creed to be drawn up. But
now came the question as to who should draw it up.
Heidegger was asked to do it, but he wanted Gernler to
be its author. If Gernler had drawn it up, it would
probably have been more drastic, if we may judge from
the Syllabus of Controversies he had prepared. But
providence settled the question, for Hummel and Gernler
died and Turretin did not belong to the Protestant Swiss
states, as he was a Genevese. So the only one left to
do it was Heidegger, and he was ordered by the Swiss
diet to prepare it. This was the more suitable, as Zurich
was the mother-church of the Reformed, and up to this
time retained to some extent her commanding position.
Heidegger prepared a Latin sketch of it, which he sub-
mitted to the Zurich ministers for their suggestions.
They made its mildness sharper, and in that form it was
presented to the Swiss diet at its meeting, March, 1675.*
The creed consisted of 26 articles. It expressed itself
against :
1. The doctrine of Capellus, that the vowel-points
of the Hebrew were not inspired.
2. The doctrine of Amyraut, of so-called hypothet-
ical election and universal atonement.
3. The doctrine of Placaeus, who denied the imme-
diate imputation of Adam's sin to his descendants and
held to the mediate imputation.
But, while it warned against the errors of Saumur,
it did not contain damnatory clauses or call its opponents
heretics, as did the Lutheran Formula of Concord. Its
* Ochs' "History of Basle," Vol. VII, page 125, intimates
that Heidegger was the redactor of the Creed, rather than its
author.
166 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
preface even calls them "venerable brethren in Christ."
Some held it was not a new creed, but only an explana-
tion of the old creed, the Second Helvetic. But it goes
beyond that, for that allows room for universal atonement,
which this denounces. This creed is the clearest state-
ment of scholastic Calvinism, and is the highest of the
Calvinistic creeds.
This creed not only differs from the other Swiss creeds
as to its doctrine, but it also differed in the method of
its subscription. Thus, when the Canons of Dort were
to be subscribed to, a liberal sort of interpretation was
allowed to them, or else Martinius of Bremen and the
British delegates would not have subscribed. But the
subscription to the Helvetic Consensus was not allowed
to be lowered in any way.
Section 2
its adoption by the swiss cantons
This creed having been drawn up, the various cantons
proceeded to adopt it. Basle led the way and adopted
it March 6, 1675, though Professor Wettstein refused
to sign it. He was, however, excused in view of the
fact that he promised not to teach anything contrary
to it.
Zurich adopted it next, but not without a controversy,
for there was a strong party there who thought the
creed was not high-Calvinistic enough, led by Prof.
John Muller and antistes Waser. They wanted Cocceian-
ism also condemned, as well as the doctrines of Saumur ;
but the Evangelical diet refused this in 1674. Still Muller
went so far as to draw up another creed behind Heideg-
ger's back, which he handed to the burgomaster of
the city. Against this Heidegger and his friends pro-
tested. When the Consensus was adopted by Zurich,
March 13, 1675, Muller still continued his opposition.
THE HELVETIC CONSENSUS 167
In August of that year, while Heidegger was away from
Zurich, he and his friends held a conference and endeav-
ored to alter Article VIII of the Consensus, where he
said what belonged to the gospel was attributed to the
law. Heidegger replied that the law was not referred
to, but the law as fulfilled in Christ — besides, the Con-
sensus could not now be changed, as it had been adopted
by the other cantons as well as by Zurich. Finally the
burgomaster found a compromise. The Helvetic Con-
sensus was to remain, but an explanation of Article
VIII was to be placed in the archives. But, although
the high-Calvinists did not gain their point, they made
it hot for Heidegger and his friends. Their ministers
denounced Heidegger's views from the pulpit. Up to
1680 he had to pass through seven such controversies.
He and his friends, J. H. Schweitzer and Lavater, pro-
fessor of philosophy, were not able to get anything pub-
lished at Zurich without its being confiscated or delayed
in some way by the city censor or by complaint before
the city council. We thus see how that high-Calvinistic
creed was not high enough for Zurich.
Bern adopted the Consensus at the beginning of June,
1675, though there was some opposition by some of
the French ministers in the district of Vaud, who sympa-
thized with Saumur. Only one minister, however, re-
fused to subscribe, Saurin. He was excused on promis-
ing not to teach anything contrary to it.
Schaffhausen then subscribed to it, and this move-
ment continued until by the end of the year 1676 it had
been adopted by Biel, Appenzell, Glarus and the Grisons.
Muhlhausen signed it later.
Neuchatel, though not a part of Switzerland, yet was
so close to it geographically and so sympathetically with
it ecclesiastically that it generally conformed to the Swiss
churches. But here we find an opposition to the sub-
scription to the Consensus. This was led by John
l6& THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Rudolph Osterwald, who said, "Have we not a sufficient
safeguard in the canons of Dort? Are they not suffi-
cient?" He also objected to the inspiration of the vowel-
points in the Consensus. He carried great influence in
the canton. Meanwhile, however, Bern used every in-
fluence to get Neuchatel to subscribe to it. Finally, so
that the Church of Neuchatel might not seem to be out
of harmony with their neighboring Swiss brethren, the
classis ordered (1676) their doyen or head-minister to
sign it in the name of the church. But no individual
subscription to it was required of any other minister, as
in the other cantons.
While Zurich tended to consider the Helvetic Con-
sensus too low, Geneva thought it too high in its Cal-
vinism. Here it was not merely a minister or two, as
at Basle and Vaud, who refused to subscribe, but there
was a strong party opposed to it, led by Professors
Tronchin and Mestrezat. When all the cantons except
Geneva had adopted it, great pressure was brought to
bear on Geneva by the other cantons. But still she was
not ready. It was especially the inspiration of the vowel-
points in the Helvetic Consensus that provoked opposi-
tion. Heidegger then wrote to Tronchin and Mestrezat,
saying that the Consensus was not really a new creed
as much as an appendix to the old Swiss creed ; and, as
to the vowel-points, that part of the creed was intended
only to guard the authenticity and integrity of the original
text and did not decide grammatical or critical questions.
With this lowered explanation, the creed was finally
approved by the Venerable Company February 22, 1678,
and in 1679 the council (four years after its publication)
adopted it, however, imposing some criticisms against
its views about the inspiration of the vowel-points and
quoting Zwingli, Calvin and Luther as admitting that the
vowel-points were a later addition, and therefore not
inspired.
Prof. John Henry Heidegger
Prof. John Alphonse Turretin
Antistes Luke Gernler
Prof. Francis Turretin
Antistes Samuel Werenfels Rev. John Frederick Osterwald
PART II
THE DISAVOWAL OF THE HELVETIC CONSENSUS
CHAPTER I
The Influences that Led to Its Disavowal
The Helvetic Consensus was used for about a half
a century, but gradually one canton after another gave it
up. Some openly disavowed it. In others, as in Appen-
zell and Schaft'hausen, it became a dead letter without
formal disavowal, as subscription was no longer required
to it. Switzerland gradually went back to its old creed,
the Second Helvetic. The disavowal of the Consensus
was mainly due to two causes, one from without, the other
from within. The first was the influence of foreign
princes and governments; the second was the growth
of a more liberal spirit in the Swiss churches.
Section i
the intervention of foreign princes
As early as February 27, 1686, Elector Frederick
William of Brandenburg had written a letter to Switzer-
land against subscription to the Consensus. He did so
because the French ministers, many of them adherents
of Saumur, who had been driven out of France by the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, had come into the
district of Vaud, in canton Bern. They had been re-
quired by the Bernese government to subscribe to the
Consensus before they were allowed to preach The
Elector protested against this in the name of religious
169
I70 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
liberty, for which Brandenburg had stood ever since it
had become Reformed in 1613, and also because he felt
that the dangerous position of Protestantism just at that
time required union and not division The four Evan-
gelical cantons replied to this letter May 6, 1686, that,
while subscription to the Helvetic Consensus was required,
yet those who did not sign it would not be denounced
as heretics, but treated as brethren In 1706, when
Geneva gave up the Consensus, the King of Prussia,
the successor of the Elector of Brandenburg, wrote a
letter thanking Geneva for having done so
But it was in 1722 that a concerted movement was
made by the foreign powers to get Switzerland to give
up the Consensus. In this effort two theologians of
Switzerland were prominent, J. A. Turretin, the son of
Francis Turretin of Geneva, and Osterwald of Neucha-
tel. Both of these had been in correspondence with Ger-
many and England. Osterwald, having learned that Bern
in 1722 was about proceeding severely against those who
could not subscribe, wrote to Berlin and London. Their
rulers then wrote to Switzerland, interceding. Bern
afterward charged the Vaud classis, which was French,
with having provoked the intervention of foreign princes.
But it was really Osterwald who had done it. Because
of letters received from the King of Prussia, also from
the Evangelical states of Germany, and from the King
of England, the matter came up before the Evangelical
diet of Switzerland, July 1, 1722. But the conservative
cantons, Zurich and Bern, were on their guard and in-
structed their delegates not to agree to any action setting
aside the Consensus. So it did not carry in that diet.
While this intervention of the foreign princes came
so near bringing matters to a crisis, yet their efforts
would have been unsuccessful had there not been an
influential party in Switzerland opposed to the Consensus.
Three men arose to lead Switzerland to give it up. They
BASLE
171
were the so-called theological triumvirate. Just as there
had been a theological quartette who had led to the draw-
ing up of the Consensus, Heidegger, Gernler, Hummel
and F. Turretin, so now the triumvirate consisted of S.
Werenfels of Basle, J. A. Turretin of Geneva, and Os-
terwald of Neuchatel. Each emphasized a particular
aspect of this more liberal movement — Turretin, the in-
tellectual; Werenfels, the experimental, and Osterwald,
the ethical.
Section 2
werenfels and its rejection at basle
The first church to adopt the Consensus was the first
church to set it aside. As early as 1686, when the Great
Elector of Brandenburg had protested against subscrip-
tion to the Consensus, Basle, under antistes Peter Weren-
fels, had declared that subscription was not obligatory.
But it was antistes Samuel Werenfels who brought about
its official disavowal in 1706.
Samuel Werenfels was born March 1, 1657. He was
the son of antistes Peter Werenfels (antistes 1675-1703),
and studied at Basle and then at Zurich, Bern, Lausanne
and Geneva. He then became professor of rhetoric at
Basle. That was the day of Massillon, Bourdaloue and
Bossuet, when great stress was laid on the form of the
discourse. Werenfels sympathized with this and aimed
to make his pupils polished orators. He became pastor
of the French church at Basle in 171 1, and his published
sermons in French remind one of Tillotson's and Saur-
in's in their elegance. But with it all he was deeply
spiritual and combined in a rare degree the rhetorical
or the outward with the spiritual or experimental. In
1696 he visited Neuchatel and Geneva, thus coming into
intimate relations with Osterwald and J. A. Turretin.
He became professor of theology (1696), but had a
172
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
horror of polemics in theology. He appears, therefore,
as a second Erasmus of Basle, a Reformed Melancthon
who hated the "rage of the theologians." He taught
Biblical theology rather than the theology of the creeds.
In 1703 he was promoted to be professor of Old Testa-
ment, and (1711) to be professor of the New Testament.
In these he endeavored to promote a sound hermeneutics
by the introduction of the grammatical-historical method.
He favored the union of the Lutherans and Reformed,
and was so liberal in spirit that a few days before his
death he declared that Basle had done wrong in refusing
to let Count Zinzendorf, the head of the Moravians,
preach in the cathedral. But, though so liberal to Protest-
ants, he was yet a strong polemist against the Catholics.
With such liberal views he was, of course, out of sym-
pathy with the narrow spirit of the Helvetic Consensus.
Indeed, he preferred to have predestination banished
from the pulpit, and only retained it as a bulwark against
Socinianism. In his theses he is uncertain between con-
ditional and unconditional election — he seems to want
to retain it in some form and yet liberalize it. He was
like Schliermacher, a syncretic theologian — trying to
unite diverse theological elements.
In 1722 Werenfels, together with the professors and
pastors, brought a memorial to the council asking that
the Helvetic Consensus be set aside, as it contained no
important element of faith, but dwelt mainly on unneces-
sary causes of division. So Basle set it aside. Werenfels
was widely known, having been elected a professor at
Franeker, which he declined, and also a member of the
Berlin Academy of Sciences and of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in London. He died June 1,
1740. In 1739 he published his "Opuscula theologia-
philosophica-philologica."
GENEVA 173
Section 3
j. alphonse turretin and its disavowal at geneva
We have already seen that there was a strong party
opposed to the Consensus at Geneva. This liberal party
grew, while the old Calvinistic leaders gradually died
off. It was, however, when Francis Turretin died (1687)
that everything seemed to change. It is true there still
remained a strong Calvinistic party, led by Professors
Pictet and Calendrini. But the great moving spirit of
the church was Prof. J. A. Turretin.
John Alphonse Turretin* was born at Geneva, August
24, 1671. He studied at Geneva. He was a precocious
youth and soon outdistanced his fellow-students and
astonished his teachers. Tronchin, when he heard him
preach, said, "This young man begins where others left
off." He was greatly influenced by Chouet, who instilled
in him the clearness and precision of thought which made
him a fine critical scholar. Just at the critical time of his
life, at the age of sixteen, his father died. This removed
from him any conservative influence that would have
kept him in the older Calvinism. Naturally inclined
toward liberality of thought, he came more and more
under the influence of Tronchin instead of retaining
the inflexibility of his father. In 1691 he went to Hol-
land to study church history under Spanheim, and before
he left Leyden he had already made himself famous
by his masterly refutation (1692) of Bossuet's work
on the divisions of Protestants. He then travelled to
England, where he learned to know Isaac Newton and
Wake, the archbishop of Canterbury, whose hobby was
the reunion of Christendom (but under an Episcopal
government). This made a lasting impression on him, as
we shall see. He returned by way of Paris to Geneva
(1693) and entered the ministry. It was when subscrib-
* See Bude, "Vie de J. Alphonse Turretin," 1880.
174 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
ing to the Helvetic Consensus that his spirit rebelled,
and he was seized with a resolution that he would some
day do away with that subscription. He soon became
the most popular preacher in the city, because he com-
bined the excellencies of the French and English styles
of composition and oratory. In 1697 a chair of church-
history was created for him. From 1701-11 he was
rector of the university, and in 1705 he was elected pro-
fessor of theology in Tronchin's place. With his en-
trance on the professorship a new era began to dawn.
Already, in 1696, a storm broke out against his teach-
ings, and he was charged with Socinianism. As a result
Bern refused to send any more students to Geneva.
Geneva denied their accusation and the Venerable Com-
pany forbade heresy. But Turretin generally pursued
great tact in introducing his views. Still his teachings
gained such influence over his students that in a few
years it became possible to abolish subscription to the
Consensus. In 1699 he visited Werenfels at Basle and
Osterwald at Neuchatel. Thus was promoted the friend-
ship that made these three the theological triumvirate
to repeal the Consensus. Through his influence, in 1703,
subscription to the Consensus was no longer required.
In 1707 Count Metternich, who was at Neuchatel, told
him that his master, the King of Prussia, greatly desired
the union of the churches. Turretin made this subject
the theme of his address as rector of the university and
dedicated it to the king. This led to a correspondence
between them and to the foundation of a Lutheran church
in Geneva in 1707. In 1708 he was elected a member of
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London.
In 1 7 10 he was called as professor to Marburg, but de-
clined. In 1720 he published an important work which
had a great influence for religious toleration. It was
entitled "The Cloud of Witnesses." In it he aimed to
show from the Bible, the church fathers, the early synods
GENEVA 175
and celebrated theologians that Christianity rejected the
use of force in religion, while other religions insisted
on a forced adherence to their dogmas which only led to
hypocrisy. He dedicated the work to the archbishop of
Canterbury. He died May 1, 1737. A great work of
his was his "Ecclesiastical History," which revealed great
erudition. The year he died his "Natural and Revealed
Theology" (translated into English, 1797) was pub-
lished. His theological position is revealed in his "Cogi-
tations and Dissertations," He has been variously judged
as a low-Calvinist, an Arminian and a Socinian. He
seems to have held to a mild orthodoxy, and was really
a supernatural rationalist. Perhaps the best description
of him is that he was a typical broad-churchman. The
distinctions of theology played little part with him. He
wanted Lutherans, Reformed, Anglicans and liberals to
unite, and was bitter against dogma because he thought
it stood in the way of church-union. He was greatly
influenced by the Anglican bishops, who were at that
time Arminian and latitudinarian. He was the con-
temporary of Spener, but lacked the latter's spirituality.
Under him Geneva went in a single generation from ortho-
doxy to supernatural rationalism because pietism was
lacking. But, to atone for his doctrinal descent, he laid
emphasis on apologetics, proving the necessity of a God.
The decrees of God he set aside as among the hidden
things, and said we should be content with what is
revealed, namely, "He that believed hath eternal life,
etc."
Turretin not only led to a revision of the doctrine,
but also of the liturgy of Geneva. In this he was largely
affected by his association with the Anglican bishops.
The old simple service of Calvin was enriched after the
type of the English Prayer-book. Free prayer, common
in the Genevan service since the Reformation, was now
set aside in the liturgy. He introduced the rite of con-
176 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
firmation, leaving out, however, the laying on of hands.
He seems to have wanted to make up for his loss of
doctrine by increase of liturgy, as is often the case.
Some have held that it was rationalism that lowered the
liturgies and introduced free prayer. Not always. Here
in Geneva, and also in Neuchatel, the lowering of doc-
trine led to the opposite, namely, the increase of ritual.
The great opponent of J. A. Turretin was Benedict
Pictet,* the nephew of Francis Turretin, who represented
the latter's theology better than did the latter's son, J.
Alphonse Turretin. Pictet was descended from one of
the most ancient families of Geneva. He was born May
30, 1655. He studied at Geneva, and at the age of
twenty had already completed his theological studies.
He then studied abroad at Paris, and in Holland, under
Spanheim. He returned by way of England to Geneva
(1679), and> m 1686, was made assistant to Professors
Turretin and Mestrezat. Although young, he occupied
this position with credit to himself. In 1702 he was made
professor of theology. The University of Leyden called
him as successor to Spanheim, but he declined. He was
a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences and the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London.
He did much to aid the French refugees at the time of
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and started a
society for evangelistic work among Catholics in
opposition to the efforts of King Louis XIV. This so-
ciety soon received gifts of thousands of livres for its
work. One of his most remarkable works was his re-
vision of the Psalms, which, together with his fifty-three
hymns, revealed the quality of true poetry. But his
greatest works were his Christian Morals (1692), and
his Christian Theology (1696). In the latter, he re-
veals himself as a genuine Calvinist, but of an irenic lib-
* See Bude, "Vie de Benedict Pictet," 1824.
GENEVA 177
eral spirit. He combines clearness of expression with
profundity of thought. His Theology was translated into
English and found a wide circulation. He was a fine
pulpit orator, clear in style, simple and natural in man-
ner. He died rejoicing in faith, June 10, 1724, having
cried out, "O, death, where is thy sting." Pictet, like
Beza, was a rare combination of a polite French courtier
and a true Christian gentleman.
Having noted the leaders, let us now watch the events
that led to the disavowal of the Consensus. In April,
1706, a crisis occurred. A student for the ministry,
named Vial, refused the usual subscription, "So I think,
I declare publicly, so I will speak"; offering to agree
to its negative ending that he "would not teach anything
contrary to the Consensus" or "do anything to injure
the peace of the Church." The Venerable Company de-
cided to receive him on this lowered subscription, but
a minority protested to the state council. The council
ordered a new meeting of the Venerable Company to set-
tle the matter. So Vial's reception into the Company
was halted. Meanwhile, protests began to come in from
the rest of Switzerland. Then the Venerable Company
came to a decision (the Calvinistic minority, 12 out
of 34, voluntarily absenting themselves), and repealed
subscription to the Helvetic Consensus. Then the mat-
ter was taken up by the little council before whom Tur-
retin favored the lowered subscription and Pictet and
Calendrini opposed it. The latter said he feared if
the Helvetic Consensus were set aside, that soon the
Helvetic Confession and the canons of Dort would also
be disavowed, and that Arminianism would come in and
Geneva become separated from Holland as well as the
rest of Switzerland. So the city council supported the
subscription "not to teach anything against the canons
of Dort." But the council of 200 was not satisfied, and
on September 6, 1706, adopted the subscription only to
12
i;8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the Old and New Testament, and that the ministers
were "not to teach anything contrary to the confession
and catechism of the Church."
But, when Pictet died (1725) the Calvinistic minority
had almost died out. So the subscription of 1706 was
set aside, June 15, 1725, and only subscription to the
Old and New Testament and to Calvin's catechism as
their summary was required. Thus, not only was the
Helvetic Consensus set aside, but also the Helvetic Con-
fession and the canons of Dort, while aside from the
Bible only Calvin's catechism had a sort of authority
as a symbol. But, alas, the movement to a lower creed
did not stop here. As we shall soon see, the trend was
not only away from Calvinism, but from all orthodoxy;
and this gathered momentum as the years rolled on.
Turretin's mistake was in attacking the old Calvinism so
severely as to start an influence that ultimately led to
the undermining of all orthodoxy.
Section 4
osterwald and its disavowal by neuchatel
Neuchatel, since the Reformation, had taken no
prominent part in the religious history of Switzerland.
This was partly due to the fact that Neuchatel was not
an integral part of Switzerland, and also to the fact that
she did not have a university where professors of theology
would be apt to make themselves prominent. From Farel,
in the middle of the sixteenth century, to Osterwald, at
the beginning of the eighteenth century, she had no re-
markable theologian. Only with John Frederick Oster-
wald did one appear, and he has been called the second
reformer of Neuchatel, as Farel had been the first.*
* For a fine life see "Jean Frederick Osterwald," by R.
Gretillat.
NEUCHATEL 179
He was born November 16, 1663, at Neuchatel, where
his father was a prominent pastor, and, as we have seen,
prevented individual subscription to the Helvetic Con-
sensus. The son inherited the liberal theological spirit
from his father. When thirteen years of age he was
sent to Zurich to study the ancient languages under Pro-
fessor Ott, and also German, which he mastered in
eighteen months. At the age of fifteen he went to
Saumur and studied there and to Orleans, where he
studied under Pajon, and to Paris, under Claude.
Pajon's liberal Calvinism especially attracted him. He
returned to Neuchatel (1681), but after his father's
death went to Geneva to study under Tronchin. He re-
turned to Neuchatel, and was ordained at the age of
twenty. He was (1686) first assistant pastor at Neu-
chatel, and, in 1699, made full pastor there. His ser-
mons gave him such popularity that a new church was
built for him. In 1700 he was elected doyen or head
of the classis of Neuchatel. As head of the church,
he soon revealed his progressive spirit, and introduced
reforms. Thus, he introduced the rite of confirmation
so as to be in conformity with the customs of the other
Swiss churches. He also caused the introduction of
new Psalms, as the French language had changed since
Marot and Beza had written the Psalms in the Reforma-
tion. To this change there was opposition.
He also began revealing his divergence from strict
Calvinism. In 1700, he published anonymously his tract
on the "Sources of Corruption." This tract caused a
great sensation, because it weakened from scholastic
Calvinism in its doctrine of original sin. It contains in
embryo all his new views as developed later. This tract
was translated into many languages.
In 1702 he published his famous catechism, which
was remarkable for its clearness, logic and compre-
hensiveness. As assistant pastor, it was his duty to
180 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
catechize the young, and, in a "Poor School" established
in Neuchatel, in imitation of those in London, he found
the Heidelberg Catechism too abstruse, and so he pre-
pared a catechism of his own. It is divided into three
divisions, Bible history, doctrine and morals. Its pe-
culiarity is its emphasis on the last, which is as large
as the other two divisions together. Another curious
peculiarity was that it placed the Lord's Supper, not
among the doctrines, but among the duties in the last
part. Instead of Scripture being the only rule of faith,
reason and conscience were coordinated with it. The
success of this catechism was phenomenal. It was
adopted by the classis of Neuchatel and was translated
into German and Flemish and the historical part into
Arabic for use among the Mohammedans. The Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in London, of which
Osterwald was a member, had it translated into English
and it was introduced into the University of Oxford.*
But it was severely attacked. Naude, the supralapsarian
minister of Berlin, attacked it for its Socinianism, apply-
ing to its author, John 8 : 44, "Ye are of your father, the
devil." The canton of Bern also attacked the catechism
and Professor Rudolph drew up the censure of it, charg-
ing it with teachings contrary to the Heidelberg Cate-
chism,— that Adam's sin was reduced to a tendency and
not in itself guilty. This censure of Bern (for Oster-
wald disliked to engage in polemics), was replied to by
his colleague Tribolet, who denied that the aim of the
catechism was to undermine the Heidelberg, as also
Naude's charge that it was Socinian. While the Cal-
vinists severely attacked it, on the other hand Professor
Zimmerman, later the rationalistic professor of theology
at Zurich, declared that it was the reading of this cate-
chism by which he came to clearer and freer views of
* It was entitled "The Grounds and Principles of the Chris-
tian Religion," 1704.
NEUCHATEL 181
truth. In 1703, Osterwald visited Werenfels at Basle,
and the next year, J. A. Turretin at Geneva. In 1708,
Bishop Burnet, of Salisbury, England, visited him and
Osterwald, and Werenfels went to Geneva, where Tur-
retin received them with great honor.
There being no university at Neuchatel, he began
lecturing on theology in 1701 to a number of poor stu-
dents. This proved so helpful, that in 171 1 the classis
gave him the care of the students for the ministry. Out
of this came his main theological work, "Compendium of
Theology" (1739), the result of thirty years of lectures.
The plan of the work is the same as in the catechism.
God's principal attribute is love. Predestination is not
particularly treated of except that it ought to be spoken
of prudently. On the Lord's Supper he is a Zwinglian.
He states the different views of the trinity and atone-
ment but does not decide about them. His fundamental
principle was clearness, — what is not clear is not neces-
sary. Therefore, he set aside the Calvinistic doctrine of
predestination, the condition of the heathen and the
inability of man to good works. His emphasis in the-
ology was on morals and conduct. He held that the
Reformation was not a completed work, but that the
reformation of morals was to succeed that of doctrine,
and was yet to come.
Another of his reforms was a new liturgy. He was
elected among the first honorary members of the So-
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel in London and
came considerably under the influence of the Anglicans.
He favored Episcopacy, but could do nothing for it, as
the ministers and people of his canton were against it.*
But by 1716, when the Archbishop of Canterbury pro-
* There is an unsigned letter from Switzerland at Lambeth
Palace, London, proposing a plan for making Switzerland Epis-
copal, and in which the antistes of Zurich was to be elevated to
the position of bishop.
182 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
posed that the students of Neuchatel should receive
ordination in England at the hands of the bishops, he
seems to have gotten over his Episcopalianism. He was
more successful in regard to the liturgy. The old simple
liturgy of Farel and Calvin had been in use in Neuchatel
since the Reformation. He caused it to be supplanted
by a new liturgy tending toward the Anglican. It was
much more elaborate in its forms and added new
forms of worship. As early as 1704 he wrote to the
Society of Propagation of the Gospel in London that
the divine service had been established in Neuchatel
after the pattern of the Anglican liturgy. This new lit-
urgy, though composed in 1706, when he was moving
toward Church union on the basis of the Church of Eng-
land, yet was not published until 1713. It was dedi-
cated to the King of Prussia, who published it. But
its high-Church forms were bitterly opposed by many
of the ministers as also its lack of Calvinistic orthodoxy.
Thus the confession of sin in the liturgy was violently
attacked, because it did not admit the absolute corrup-
tion of sin. The Huguenot Church, of Charleston,
South Carolina, adopted this liturgy and in so doing
departed from the old simple service of the early French
Reformed Churches. Osterwald finally, by the aid of
his friend Tribolet, succeeded in getting it used by his
church, but many then looked upon it as not thoroughly
Reformed.
He also published a tract on "Impurity," a popular
treatise against vice, which had considerable circulation
and translation and was used for a long time even among
the convents in France. But his best gift to the French
churches was his Bible translation. The ignorance and in-
difference he had found in his pastoral visits led him to
prepare a popular explanation of the Bible, which grew
into a Bible translation (1709-15). In it he aimed to
correct the obscurities of the Martin version of Scrip-
NEUCHATEL 183
lure which had hitherto been the accepted French ver-
sion. By his brief practical notes he aimed to make the
Bible so simple that any one could understand it. His
version was for a century the received version of French-
speaking Protestants.*
After serving the Church at Neuchatel as pastor and
professor for sixty-three years, he was stricken with
apoplexy August 24, 1746, while about to preach in
John 20: 1-8, and died April 14, 1747. He had a great
funeral of more than 5,000 persons. f
Osterwald, with Werenfels of Basle and J. A. Tur-
retin of Geneva, were the leaders in setting aside the
Helvetic Consensus in Switzerland, when the foreign
princes made their appeal in 1722. Finally, the Evan-
gelical diet, June 17, 1724, abrogated it, although its
use continued in Bern and Zurich somewhat later, also
in St. Gall and Schaffhausen.J
* English translations appeared in London, 1716-18 and 1776.
f Two beautiful stories are told of him. During the war of
1702, Fenelon happened to have in his employ a young Neucha-
telois in his garden. Having learned where he came from,
Fenelon asked him if he knew Osterwald. "Yes," was his reply.
"But is it true that he preaches so well and lives as he preaches?"
"Ah, yes," was the reply, "he is like an angel, but when he is
angry the whole world trembles." Another story is that at his
funeral a curious event took place. A Capuchin monk from the
borders of France, who loved him and regularly visited him
once a year, happened to come to town just as the funeral pro-
cession was proceeding to the church. Not desiring to trouble
the procession or the service by wearing his habit, he stayed
away till evening. When all had retired, he went into the church
and kneeling at the tomb where the body was buried, he watered
it with his tears, thanking God for the good he had received
from the dead.
t Hadorn's "Kirchengeschichte der reformirten Schweiz,"
page 206 ; Finsler's "Zurich in den neunzehnten Jahrhundert,"
page 96.
PART III
THE RETENTION OF THE HELVETIC CONSENSUS
Although the Evangelical diet set aside the Con-
sensus in 1724, yet as each canton regulated its own sub-
scription, it remained in force in Bern and Zurich.
CHAPTER I
Its Retention in Zurich
Section i
antistes antonius klingeer (1688-i713)
Before Klingler came there were two antistes not
yet spoken of, John Jacob Muller (antistes 1677-80, only
three years). Unlike his predecessor, antistes Waser,
who was a high Calvinist, he was a Cocceian. The next
antistes was John Henry Erni (1680-88). With the
election of Klingler as antistes ( 1688) Zurich again had
an antistes of ability and force of character. He is the
only one between the last great antistes, Breitinger
(1645), and the next great antistes, Hess (1795), who
at all approaches greatness.
He was born August 2, 1649. After studying in
Zurich he studied abroad and instead of returning to
Zurich as was customary, he remained in Germany,
where he became professor of theology in the gymnasium
of Hanau. While there he received the degree of doctor
of divinity from Franeker and a call to Groningen Uni-
versity, which he declined. He returned to Zurich
(1681) as pastor and soon his ability and eloquence
185
186 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
placed him in the front rank of preachers in his native
city. He had in Germany acquired a finished style which
was very attractive to the Zurich people and was quite
in contrast with the stiff, pedantic type of preaching, with
its hair-splittings of doctrine, so common in Zurich. As
a result of his popularity he was elected antistes in 1688.
This was remarkable, for it was not customary for Zur-
ich to elect so young a man to that position or to elect
one who had been in the service of the Swiss Church
for so short a time, — only seven years. He soon re-
vealed his ability as an executive as well as a preacher
and the church was stirred by stricter regulations.
On one thing he was different from any other antistes.
Though Calvinistic in his orthodoxy, yet he was hier-
archical. He was a high churchman, not in ritual or
doctrine, but in church government. He believed in
destroying the enemies of the church by force and not
attempting to do so by moral suasion. He reminds one
in this of Pope Hildebrand, only he was a Protestant.
He, therefore, opposed any departure from Calvinism,
and tried to put down the sects with the severest disci-
pline. The most prominent person against whom this
spirit was directed during his antistesship was Prof.
John Henry Schweizer (Suicer). He was the brilliant
son of Prof. J. C. Schweizer, the famous classical
scholar. He was born 1646. When his father laid down
his professorship, he did so in favor of his not less
learned son. This nepotism provoked opposition and
at his election Klingler, in his New Year's sermon, de-
clared it to be nothing less than godlessness. For he
opposed Schweizer because he held to the doctrine of
the universal atonement, like Saumur. Owing to the
opposition to his more liberal views, Schweizer left
Zurich and went to Heidelberg, where he became pro-
fessor (1705) but died soon after.
Another heresy case appeared. Rev. Henry Hoch-
ZURICH 187
holzer was called by the consistory before it March 23,
1690, for preaching a sermon on John 5 : 19, 20. He was
charged with liberal doctrine and deposed May 31, 1691.
Also Bulad, professor of Hebrew, for saying in his in-
augural address (1692) that the Hebrew vowel-points
were late and that the Septuagint was more important
in its text than our Hebrew text, was called before the
council. He was permitted to teach, provided he gave
up these views. Later he became insane. Under Kling-
ler, heresy was to be extirpated if possible. Yet,
though he was so narrow, the Gregorian calendar was
introduced into Protestant Switzerland during his an-
tistesship after a century's delay owing to prejudice of
Protestants against the papacy.
Klingler seemed to many of the Swiss pompous be-
cause he allowed the title "His Excellency" to be used of
himself, which was quite contrary to Swiss simplicity.
He also exerted considerable political influence, opposing
the foreign service of the Swiss. A book published by
him, "Bella Jehovah" or "The War of God," consisting
of sermons on the book of Joshua, had a larger circula-
tion than any book since Bullinger's. He died 1713.
Section 2
antistes peter zeller (1713-18) and antistes louis
nuschler (1718-37)
Peter Zeller was the opposite of Klingler. His
simplicity of life and of style was quite in contrast with
Klingler's ornate style and severe methods. But though
simple in style, he had great warmth of heart. During
his term pietism began to appear in Zurich in John Jacob
Ulrich, who had studied in Holland and there became a
practical Cocceian, like Prof. F. A. Lampe, the pietistic
professor of theology at Utrecht. Ulrich introduced
prayer-meetings and also the subject of missions, especi-
188 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
ally concerning the work of Ziegenbalg in India. This
could not have occurred under Klingler and reveals
Zeller's more liberal spirit. Still an interesting fact about
the Helvetic Consensus comes to light. When in 1717
dekan Bergier, of the University of Lausanne, of whom
we will speak in the next chapter, declared that the
Helvetic Consensus was not subscribed to in Zurich,
antistes Zeller denied it, saying that it was still in force.*
After antistes Zeller came antistes Nuscheler, the
last antistes of the period of Calvinistic orthodoxy. His
travels in Germany and England had liberalized his mind,
but he was still a strict Calvinist. The second centen-
nial of the Reformation occurred soon after his election
on January 1, 1719. The celebration, consisting of Latin
addresses, poems, discussions, etc., lasted a week. On
New Year's Day, Nuscheler preached. The sermons of
that day were so many and so long that it is said the
city clerk had to turn the clock back, and for the last
preacher the lights had to be lit. But a significant pe-
culiarity of this centenary was the absence of any pole-
mics against Luther, whose name was honored and whose
hymns were sung.
When in 1722 the foreign princes wrote to the Swiss,
asking them to give up the Helvetic Consensus, Zurich
replied politely, but firmly refused to give it up. Under
Klingler and Nuscheler, says Finsler, the Helvetic Con-
sensus reached its high water mark in Zurich. Thus
Nuscheler in a circular, says: "The innocent Helvetic
Consensus ought, according to the wish of the princes,
to be given up. But we maintain our right not to open
the breach so wide lest confusion may ensue." Zurich
joined with Bern in giving a negative answer to the
princes, and on July 22, 1722, retained the Helvetic Con-
sensus.f The Helvetic Consensus was not given up by
*Trechsel's "Berner Taschenbuch," 1882, page 80, note.
t Schweitzer's "Central-Dogmen," Vol. II, page 697.
ZURICH 189
Zurich until the election of a rationalistic antistes in
l72>7* Indeed it seems to have continued in authority
down to 1 741, when the Zurich Synod again declared its
adherence to the old confessions.
* Schweitzer's "Zustand der Zurichen Kirche," page 40.
CHAPTER II
Its Retention by Bern*
Section i
prof. john rudolph rudolph
Before taking up the history of the Helvetic Con-
sensus in Bern, it will be necessary to notice the man
who was the leader of Bern at that time. Since the days
of Musculus and Aretius, in the days of the Reforma-
tion, he was the most prominent theologian of Bern.
He was born October 4, 1646, and studied at Bern. Just
as he had finished his course there was an election for
a professor of philosophy at Lausanne. Polier was
elected, but young Rudolph did so well in the examina-
tion that the Council of Bern made him a present of 16
crowns and told him to study at foreign universities at
the city's expense. He studied at Geneva, not under F.
Turretin, but under Tronchin and Mestrezat, and at
Saumur and visited Paris, Germany and England. At
the end of three years fie returned to Bern and in 1676
was made professor of Hebrew and in 1688 of cate-
chetics. In the latter chair he published his excellent
"Analysis and Interpretation of the Heidelberg Cate-
chism," 1697. He was elected professor of exegetical
theology (1698) and of dogmatics (1700). Fourteen
years later he published his "Christian Theology," which
was Cocceian in doctrine. He was also elected (1716)
dekan of Bern, that is, head of the Bern Church. He
was the only one to hold both the positions of dekan and
* See "Berner Taschenbuch," 1869, page 95.
190
BERN
191
professor of theology. Rudolph lived at a critical time,
when the old Calvinistic theology was attacked from two
sides, from low Calvinism and from pietism ; both tend-
encies lowering the merely doctrinal for the more prac-
tical. He was not only a strong intellectual leader, but
strong spiritually. In spirit he was a pietist and yet cir-
cumstances made him the leader against pietism.
Though trained under liberal Calvinism he was yet a
strict Calvinist, — although a Cartesian in his philosophy
as to method, yet a strict Cocceian as to the contents of
his theology.
Section 2
the difficulties of creed subscription at lausanne
We have seen that the district of Vaud, which is
the southern part of Bern, was French. This made a
difference of races, as Bern, or the northern district, was
German. Vaud had sympathized with Calvin's view of
the Church as autonomous in its government, but Bern
on the other hand sympathized with Zwingli in making
the Church and State closely united. These differences
between Bern and Vaud were accentuated by the intro-
duction of the Helvetic Consensus. For many of the
ministers who came into Vaud from France were ad-
herents of Saumur; and one had refused to sign the
Consensus, Saurin, when Bern, in 1675, had ordered
subscription to it. As a result, the Helvetic Consensus
lost authority in Vaud. As early as 1682, seven years
after its publication, some of the candidates for the
ministry at Lausanne signed it "quatenus" — that is, as
far as it agreed with the Bible.* From 1675-1700, out
* This word would not seem to affect the subscription, as all
creeds are subscribed to because they agree with the Bible. But
this phrase "quatenus" also led to the inference that there was a
difference between the creed and the Bible, and that there were
192 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
of 160 candidates for the ministry at Lausanne, 51 had
never subscribed to the Helvetic Consensus, and that
with the permission of the authorities.
The news of this lowered subscription at Lausanne
finally led Bern to take drastic action, June 14, 1699.
There was drawn up the "Association Oath." This oath
had a double purpose. It was directed against pietism
and against Saumur.* Bern adopted this oath and or-
dered it to be subscribed to. From 1699 to 1706 all
signed this oath. In 1706 the rector of the university
of Lausanne, Crousaz, the celebrated mathematician and
philosopher, permitted the subscription "quatenus." In
1709 the subscription stood thus: "I subscribe to the
explanation given by the rector of the university." By
1712 the subscription "quatenus" had added to it the
clause "not to teach anything contrary to the creed."
In 171 5 sixteen young men signed "quatenus." This
alarmed the conservative Calvinists, and in 1716 matters
came to a crisis. For it seems that one of the French
classes, the classis of Morges, had a Calvinistic majority,
and it brought complaints to the authorities of Bern
against Lausanne, that they were using the "quatenus."
So Bern, on January 23, 1716, ordered an investigation.
It happened that just at that time there were at Lau-
sanne a number of prominent professors who were lib-
erals, as Abraham Ruchat, the French historian of the
Reformation in Switzerland; Barbeyrac, Bergier and
Polier. When the University of Lausanne received
notice of the proposed investigation by Bern, it ordered
Barbeyrac to reply, which he did January 25, 17 16. He
some things in the creed not in the Bible. So it meant sub-
scription only to those parts of the creed that were Biblical.
If those, who subscribed this way, had believed that the entire
creed was in accord with the Bible, they would not have in-
serted "quatenus."
* Of its reference to pietism we will speak later.
BERN 193
denied the charges, denouncing the whole affair as an
intrigue against the institution. He declared he knew
nothing about Arminianism among the students, but, on
the contrary, the university had tried to avoid it by
having one of the professors deliver lectures on the
Helvetic Consensus.* Then Barbeyrac went on to defend
the use of the "quatenus" in subscription, and tried to show
that "quatenus" was justified by the principle of Protest-
antism, which made the Bible the rule of faith, and by
the Helvetic Confession, which placed the Bible above
the creed. He shrewdly closed by recalling to them the
words that ended the acts of the synod of Bern, "If
some one will show us a way which better agrees with
the Word of God and leads us nearer to Christ, we are
ready to accept it." Barbeyrac's reply only widened
the breach and was severely criticised at Bern. So he
resigned, and in 1717 accepted a call to Groningen,
Holland.
Bern was by this time thoroughly aroused. The
Bernese ministers appealed to the council that the Con-
sensus be adhered to, lest Arminianism, libertinism and
indifference would enter the church. So Bern ordered
Lausanne not to ordain any students who did not sub-
scribe to the Helvetic Consensus. Dekan Bergier, who
now took Barbeyrac's place as leader, prepared a memo-
rial, signed by the professors of the university, and sent
it to Bern, December 13, 17 17. In it he earnestly asked
that subscription to the Consensus be omitted or lowered.
He called attention to the fact that the Helvetic Con-
sensus was against the old Second Helvetic Confession,
the former requiring limited atonement, while the latter
taught universal atonement. He also declared that the
Consensus produced friction instead of unity in the
church. Other pamphlets also appeared at Lausanne,
* Professor Roy, who, it seems, gave a very mild interpreta-
tion of the Consensus.
13
194 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
some of them anonymous. Bergier's attack on the Con-
sensus also called forth severe replies. Barbeyrac,
though now in Holland, added to the confusion by writ-
ing to the old magistrate at Lausanne, warning him that
the orthodox Calvinists were enemies of peace. His
letter only injured the case, for Bern looked upon him
now as an outsider and his act as an intermeddling.
Meanwhile the ministerial convent at Bern made a
declaration against "quatenus," saying that with "quate-
nus" one could subscribe to all the papal bulls, yes, even
to the Koran itself — that one could hold these "quatenus,"
that is, in so far as they agreed with the Bible. It urged
the council to take severe measures against the Armin-
ians, rationalists, deists, etc. The Bern council there-
fore ordered, June 3, 17 18, that the subscription at Lau-
sanne should be without the "quatenus." Still the
magistrates at Lausanne tried to tone down the sub-
scription. On August 19, 1718, seventeen candidates
for the ministry subscribed to the Helvetic Consensus,
with the explanation that it was not a creed, only a state-
ment of doctrine, and they promised not to teach any-
thing contrary to it or to attack it.
However, the next year (May, 17 19), a school com-
mittee from Bern arrived at Lausanne. They found that
the Association Oath was not adhered to, and that in
many places other catechisms than the Heidelberg were
used. They so reported to Bern, but their report, for
various reasons, as deaths, etc., did not come before
the Bern council till April 15, 1722. Then action was
taken ordering subscription to the Helvetic Consensus
by a vote of 98-28. This revealed a respectable minority
opposed to forcing the Consensus on Vaud. And when
an additional motion was put that an explanation be
allowed to those who in subscribing desired to make it,
the motion was lost by only a narrow majority. The
conservatives carried their point, but at great loss of
BERN 195
prestige because of so large a minority vote.
The news of this large minority vote caused a great
rejoicing in Lausanne and strengthened the courage of
the opponents of the Consensus. Bern sent deputies to
Lausanne in 1722 to require subscription. The deputies,
finding the state of feeling there so strong, tried to soften
it into that "they would not teach anything contrary
to the Consensus." To this Crousaz replied, May 15,
that all were ready to sign. Only one refused, Professor
Polier. But what the professors would not do the stu-
dents did. Fifteen of them refused to subscribe, May
19, 1722. Eight finally signed after being severely threat-
ened. But seven, at whose head was the son of Professor
Crousaz, remained firm in their refusal. By May 23
they were given their last opportunity to sign, and two
did so, but the other five refused. Young Crousaz de-
clared that he was ready to shed his last drop of blood
rather than subscribe. So these five young men were
not permitted to be ordained and their names were
stricken from the roll of the university. But Polier was
allowed to remain by making a statement to the smaller
council, and by February, 1723, Bern granted a milder
interpretation of the Association Oath, and so the young
candidates who had refused to subscribe did so. The
intercession of foreign princes had been having its effect
in Bern in making her more liberal about the subscription.
Finally a political event put an end to these doctrinal
controversies. On March 31, 1723, Major Duval led an
uprising of the French of Vaud against Bern ; but he was
defeated and Bern put him to death on the scaffold, April
24, 1723, for treason. He has, however, become the pa-
tron saint of the Vaud people, and his statue occupies a
prominent place at Lausanne. But this revolution, though
unsuccessful, opened the eyes of Bern to the great dissat-
isfaction in Vaud and led her to give Vaud greater liberty
of conscience. By April 13, 1723, Bern ordered complete
196 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
silence as to the controversy about the Helvetic Con-
sensus, and so the subscription "not to teach to the con-
trary" became common.
This history of Geneva and Vaud gives a fine contri-
bution to the science of creed-subscription, now one of
the most difficult questions in symbolics that is before
the church. The original idea of creed subscription was,
of course, verbal subscription, which meant that one
subscribed to every word of the creed ; but, as time
went on, this was found to be too narrow, for one age
did not look at doctrine in the same way as another did.
So other kinds of subscriptions appeared. The history of
Switzerland, which we have just been considering, reveals
several important modifications of verbal subscription:
i. "Quatenus," that is, subscribing to a creed in so
far as that creed agrees with the Word of God, but not
necessarily agreeing with it in other particulars.
2. "Dicebo non contrarium," that is, not to teach
anything contrary to the creed. This meant that one
might hold other views privately, but not express them
publicly.
3. "Quantum intelligere," that is, to hold all in the
creed except such as it is impossible to understand.
As a result of these controversies, creed-subscription
in the nineteenth century resolved itself away from mere
verbal subscription into subscription for system of doc-
trine. This means that one subscribes to the system of
doctrine in the creed. It is based on the idea that, if
one hold to the system of doctrine in the creed, he will
logically hold to the rest that is there. However, at the
reunion of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church
in the United States (Old School and New School), in
1869, a still further form of creed subscription came
to view, namely, subscription for substance of doctrine.
This means that the subscriber holds to the fundamental
doctrines of the creed, but not necessarily in the same
BERN 197
relation or same arrangement as in the creed. Thus at
that union many of the New School men did not hold
the Federal system of Calvinism, which is found in the
Westminster creeds, but held to the Edwardean or New
England system, which was a restatement of Calvinism
along more liberal lines. While the Westminster creeds
were infralapsarian, it was sublapsarian. Indeed, this
form of subscription is as old as the synod of Dort,
where the Canons of Dort, though infralapsarian, were
allowed a sublapsarian interpretation, or Martinius and
the British delegates would not have signed them. Thus
the church is slowly working out the great problem of
creed-subscription, and this history of Switzerland i3
an interesting contribution thereto.
BOOK III
THE PERIOD OF RATIONALISM
CHAPTER I
Zurich
Section i
antistes john conrad wirz (1737-69)
The blight of rationalism entered Switzerland in the
eighteenth century, and it is a sad fact that its first great
victory should be no less a position than that of the an-
tistes of Zurich, — that the chair once occupied by Zwingli,
the reformer, should now be filled by a rationalistic
antistes. For with antistes Nuscheler the unbroken line
of Evangelical antistes, which had lasted for more than
two centuries (1519-1737), ended.
John Conrad Wirz was born January 6, 1688. A
precocious youth, he rapidly completed his studies at
Zurich, and went to Germany and Holland for study,
returning to Zurich in 1712. He became assistant at
St. Peter's Church, Zurich, and then first assistant at
the cathedral. In 1737 he was elected antistes. He was
a scholarly man, especially in the classics. Yet he was
popular and fervent in his preaching, only his sermons
lacked the Evangelical fundamentals. In his synodical
addresses he shrewdly undermined the authority of the
old confessions, by elevating the Bible, at their expense,
instead of showing their agreement with the Bible. He
argued from the fact that at first the early Christians
had no confessions, only the Bible. In his seventh synod-
ical address he went farther, and took up the question
whether symbolical books were at all necessary to an
Evangelical church, and subtlely undermined their author-
ity. He pretended to always aim at keeping the peace
201
202 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
of the church, yet he was always silently introducing
rationalism,
During his administration the church began to decline.
Education became literary, rather than religious. Pro-
fessors Bodmer and Breitinger, especially the former.
were the regenerators of German literature, which, under
the influence of Frederick the Great and Voltaire, had
degenerated into a mere imitation of French literature.
Bodmer called Germany back to self-consciousness, when
not a voice in Germany had yet been lifted in its favor.
The younger men, of whom J. C. Lavater was the
leader, inclined generally to the new rationalistic views.
More and more, the students became familiar with Ger-
man neological thought, and Germany, instead of Hol-
land, became the land whither they went for their foreign
studies. Antistes Wirz died 1769.
Section 2
prof. john jacob zimmermann
But the real leader of the church was not in the
antistes' chair. The professor of theology, J. J. Zimmer-
mann, overtopped the influence of the antistes, especially
by moulding the young ministers, who were his students,
in the new rationalistic thought. He was born December
10, 1695. The natural bent of his mind was toward
liberal views. Thus, when he was studying theology, he
would read the very books that his orthodox and high
Calvinistic professors told him not to read. During one
of his vacations he read the theology of Limborch, against
which Professor Hottinger had especially warned him.*
As the rooms of the students were liable to be
searched for heretical books, he secreted his Arminian
* This Hottinger must not be confused with the Hottinger
of whom we have spoken before. He was a later member of the
same family and intensely Calvinistic.
ZURICH
203
and Socinian books under his pillow. When leaving
Zurich to go to foreign universities, Hottinger gave
him a long list of books against which he warned him.
Zimmermann heard him patiently, but afterwards wrote
about it, saying, "It would have suited me better if he had
given me a ducat for my journey." For he had been
given only 50 thalers for his trip, while the other students
had received 200 thalers. This difference was made
because of his suspected leanings to Arminianism. He
was sent to Bremen, in the hope that the strong Calvin-
istic influence there would destroy his tendency to Ar-
minianism. But he did not feel at home there. He tired
of the Calvinistic theological lectures and sermons. He
tersely writes, "I often put them (Tillotson's sermons,
which were then the leading Arminian sermons) in my
pocket, and pretend to go to St. Stephen's Church to
service. But I stop at the house of Meier, the barber,
who is from Zurich. Then with a cup of tea and a pipe
of tobacco, I read Tillotson's sermons. And when the
church is out, I join the crowd going home from church.
But I feel I was more benefited than they." He re-
turned to Zurich an adherent of Limborch, Tillotson and
Grotius.
When he returned to Zurich he would read Oster-
wald's catechism with some of the students, and from it
raise questions in their minds about Calvinistic doctrines.
For some years he could get no position at Zurich, be-
cause of the opposition of Professor Hottinger. But when
Hottinger died, 1737, he was elected professor of church
history. That year (1737) was, indeed, an epochal year
for Zurich, for it gave to her both a rationalistic antistes
and a rationalistic professor of theology. There was no
question as to his ability, but the objection to him was
that he was not Calvinistic, like Hottinger. Yet he con-
sidered himself mediating in theology, for he aimed to
take a middle position between the deists of England, on
204 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the one hand, and strict Calvinism, on the other. For
some time he taught quietly, but it was only a question of
time, when the newer ideas would come into conflict with
the old. This occurred in 1741, at the festival of Charle-
magne.* Professor Zimmermann utilized this occasion to
ventilate his new views. His topic was : "The Imper-
fection of our Theological Perception Here Compared
with the Excellence of that of Heavenly Beings." He
dwelt especially on the inexactness of our theological
sciences. Exegesis was too dogmatic, and dogmatics was
not sufficiently proved. Church history was not clear, as
often opposing parties would appeal to the same Church
Fathers. Then in strongest contrast with the imperfec-
tion of our knowledge here, he placed our knowledge in
the future life, when the hindrances of our present life
shall have been taken away, and the glorified body will
be the perfect organ of spiritual perception. With biting
sarcasm, he added : "There will then be no more councils
controlled by a majority vote, gained by mere temporal
authority, and the ministry will no longer be oppressed
by a mistaken zeal for glorifying God." The impression
made by the address was one of doubt, instead of faith.
His address caused a tremendous sensation. It was
really a rationalistic declaration of independence in the
Zurich Church, which, from Zwingli down, had held to the
authority of Scripture and the church. Seeing the
storm that was gathering about him, Zimmermann pub-
lished the address, adding an appendix, in which he com-
plained against the charges of rationalism brought against
him. But its publication did not break the opposition.
The dekans unitedly presented to the antistes objections
to the address, and demanded that the matter should be
* Zurich always looked back with pride and thankfulness to
Charlemagne, because he had made large donations to her cathe-
dral, and therefore his statue is to-day to be seen in the tower
of the cathedral.
ZURICH 205
brought up before the next synod. The antistes, as far as
he could, tried to shield Zimmermann. But at the pro-
synod of 1742 peace was made, after a discussion of five
hours, in which Zimmermann made significant concessions.
The concession to the orthodox was that the church re-
tained its old creeds, even the Helvetic Consensus.* Out-
wardly the victory seemed to be with the orthodox, but
really it was with Zimmermann, for he was left in his
professor's chair, although he received a mild rebuke to
restrain himself from philosophizing on high and mys-
terious things. From this vantage ground, as professor,
he could continue to poison the minds of the young men,
who were preparing for the future ministry of the church.
For the conservatives, who were the older men, were
gradually dying off, and their places were being taken
by the younger ministers, whose minds Zimmermann had
filled with his rationalism.
But, although the pro-synod decided in favor of the
old creeds, gradually their authority was lessened. Zim-
mermann, like Wirz, aimed to set them aside. For he
claimed that the value of a doctrine was its practical
worth. And doctrine went ever into morals. Chris-
tianity consisted not so much of experience as of the
ethical.
But, while Zimmermann was a rationalist, he was not
a vulgar rationalist, like Basedow. The vulgar ration-
alist, at Zurich, at that time, was Henry Corrodi, profes-
sor of ethics and natural sciences, a close follower of
Semler and Ernesti. Zurich at this time even tried to
show its abhorrence of blatant rationalism by banishing
Meister, the pastor at Kussnacht, for his infidelity. Zim-
mermann was a syncretic theologian, that is, he tried to
combine different systems of doctrine. His main work,
* See "Zurich in der zweiten Haelfte des achtzehntens Jahr-
hunderts"; also Finsler in Meili's "Theologische Zeitschrift,"
1895, page 189.
206 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
"The Causes of Growing Unbelief, and the Proper Meth-
ods of Counteracting It," reminds one somewhat of Schlei-
ermacher's famous "Addresses." But, unlike Schleier-
macher, who aimed to mediate between pantheism and
orthodoxy, Zimmermann had no sympathy with pan-
theism. This may be accounted for by the fact that the
only pantheism he knew was the gross form of pantheism
of Spinoza, against whom Zimmermann wrote. Zim-
mermann died 1757, but his rationalistic influence re-
mained long after him.
Section 3
antistes john rudolph ulrich (i/69-95)
The second rationalistic antistes was born, December
12, 1728. As a boy he revealed an inquiring mind. See-
ing a beautiful eel in a fishpond, among the fishes, he
leaned over so far that he fell in, and was rescued with
difficulty. This inquisitiveness about knowledge followed
him ever after, and led him to break with the old theolog-
ical ideas, especially as Professor Zimmermann was his
teacher. After study in foreign lands, he became pro-
fessor of oratory at Zurich, and pastor of the Orphan-
age Church, at Zurich. He was a finished orator. His
sermons were strong in thought, while beautiful in form.
He boldly attacked the public sins, and this fact led to
his election as antistes in 1769. As antistes he tried to
pursue the middle ground, though evidently sympathizing
with the rationalists. By his time rationalism had had
control long enough to reveal its sad results. The church
attendance fell off, so that the number of religious ser-
vices was lessened. It was during his term of office
that, in 1771, the Presbyterian synod of New York and
Philadelphia wrote, desiring to come into closer corre-
ZURICH
207
spondence with the Evangelical Church of Zurich. To
this, Zurich gladly agreed. One of the American minis-
ters, it is true, objected to the Swiss, because of the loose
theology of J. Alphonse Turretin. Had the American
Church, which was the Evangelical, known the true con-
dition of the Zurich Church at that time, they would
hardly have asked for correspondence. But this corre-
spondence amounted to nothing, as shortly after our Revo-
lutionary War broke out, and cut off foreign corre-
spondence.
On a night in September, 1775, it was found that
the sacramental wine in the cathedral at Zurich had been
poisoned. Fortunately the poison had not had time to
dissolve properly, and so only a few suffered. This
created a tremendous sensation. Lavater in St. Peter's
Church at Zurich, preached on it his famous ''Marrow and
Bone-breaking" sermon. And the antistes in whose
church it occurred, preached on the text: "My house
shall be a house of prayer," etc. This poisoning of the
wine, fortunately, did not succeed, but the poison of
rationalism, which was worse, did succeed, in the church,
as rationalism became prevalent everywhere*
And yet, in spite of this prevalent rationalism, brave
defenders of the old faith appeared. One of them was
the historian, Fuessli, of Feltheim. As a historian, his
aim was to reproduce the past history of the Zurich
Church, and show how far this new school had drifted
from the old moorings. In doing so, he was led to un-
cover some valuable sources of Reformed Church his-
* As a type of rationalistic sermons, John Fasi published
1791, at Burgdorf, a book of sermons, preached in Thurgau, on
"Remarkable Objects in Nature." Thus the text of one was
"Who Giveth his Cattle Food." In it he had the following
divisions: 1. How God sustains cattle. 2. What obligations this
lays on us? 3. What special duty, according to reason and
humanity, follows from this?
208 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
tory, which he published. But he was bitterly persecuted
by the rationalists. Canon Breitinger, the learned pub-
lisher of the "Septuagint," and an outspoken rationalist,
attacked him, and did so in a personal way, by publishing
a mutilated letter of Fuessli's. When Fuessli attempted
to reply, Breitinger, as the city censor of Zurich, pre-
vented his reply from being published, and Fuessli had
to get it published elsewhere than in Zurich. Then
Breitinger accused Fuessli of slander (though he, him-
self, had made the first personal attack), and finally
forced Fuessli to make an apology.
Ziegler, pastor at St. Jacob's, also attacked the Socin-
ianism that was coming into the church, in a sermon.
For this, he was called before the board of examiners.
But there he boldly defended himself, saying: "One used
to find in the library of the ministers, the books of Hot-
tinger and Heidegger. But now Basedow's, Benson's and
Clark's were to be found — nothing good was, therefore
to be expected." In his bold defence of the old doctrines,
he did not even except the antistes from blame.
There also occurred, as there always does in those times
of rationalism, a reaction into pietism. Pietism had been
suppressed by the Zurich authorities, and treated as un-
churchly. But now it appeared within the church. John
Caspar Ulrich, pastor of the Fraumunster Church, Zurich,
was its leader. He had been a devoted student of Prof.
F. A. Lampe, the churchly Reformed pietist of Utrecht
and Bremen. Ulrich, as a popular preacher, exerted a
great influence on the students against the increasing
rationalism. He held prayer meetings for the Evangeli-
cals. It was during the term of this antistes that J. C.
Lavater lifted up his voice against rationalism, and from
being its popular leader, became the leader of orthodoxy.
With Lavater, was his assistant Pffenninger and the de-
votional writer, Tobler. Antistes Ulrich died 1795.
ZURICH 209
Section 4
john casper lavater*
In the return tide to orthodoxy, two men become
prominent, John Casper Lavater and John Jacob Hess.
John Casper Lavater was one of the most brilliant
men Zurich ever produced. He has been called the
"Fenelon of the Germans," because of his remarkable
combination of piety and literary excellence. He was
born at Zurich, November 15, 1741. In his early life he
did not show the remarkable qualities he afterward
revealed. He was a somewhat dull, retiring, awkward,
delicate boy. He was dreamy, and would fancy great
things. Because of his weak constitution, he was kept
from other boys, and so grew up clumsy, bashful and
reserved. Often ridiculed in the school, he withdrew
himself from society within himself. Fortunate for
him was it, that his first teacher knew how to deal with
him, and, in spite of Lavater's faults, he would say:
"There will still something come out of little Casper."
This teacher's confidence aroused him. With the de-
cision, "God willing, I will be a brave man," he entered
on his studies, and soon revealed remarkable develop-
ment. His independent spirit, and love of justice, is
shown under a later teacher, who proceeded to punish
him. Lavater demanded the reason. The master re-
fused to give it. Lavater then left the school after the
punishment, denouncing such tyranny, and went to make
complaint against the teacher. The master afterwards
tried to make peace with Lavater, but the latter never
* See "J- C. Lavater," by Bodeman. Also Lavater in Zim-
merman's "Zurcher Kirche." Also Morikofer "Schweizericher
Litirateur des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts," 1867, 332-406. Also
"Denkschrift an J. C. Lavater," 1902.
14
210 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
would accept his overtures.
As a boy, he revealed a deep religious nature. He
was fond of the Bible characters of the Old Testament,
as Elijah and Elisha, rather than of Christ. As a boy he
had great faith in prayer. Once he lost money. He
prayed, and lo, his grandmother gave him some money,
so his mother never knew his loss of the money. This
religious tendency is revealed also by a striking incident.
One day Rev. Casper Ulrich visited his school, and asked,
among other questions, who, among the boys, would
become a minister. Lavater, who was only ten years old,
cried out, "I, I." And, as he uttered these words, there
arose in his heart a great desire for the ministry, and he
went joyfully home, announcing, "I will be a minister."
This decision was somewhat contrary to the wishes of
his parents, who desired him to become a physician, as the
ministry was not so highly esteemed, at that time, by
them. They asked a leading minister what to do about
their son, as he was bent on going into the ministry.
This minister suggested that Lavater be allowed to regis-
ter as a theological student, and, if necessary, he might
later change to some other course. But Lavater never
changed his mind on this subject. At the age of thirteen,
he attended the classical school at Zurich, and came under
the inspiring teaching of Breitinger and Bodmer, the
regenerators of German literature. Bodmer has been
called the "Milton of Zurich," but his works do not
approach Milton's in grandeur, although Bodmer wrote
an epic called "Noah." There is this difference between
Milton and Bodmer: Milton was a Puritan and inspired
by an intense faith. Bodmer was a rationalist, and
rationalism robbed him of the power of great religious
inspiration ; but he was a great literary critic and teacher.
Lavater, under Bodmer and Breitinger, was educated
ZURICH 211
out of his early simple faith and strongly inclined to
make the search for truth and liberty of thought his
ideals.
But, though he minimized the religious side of his
nature, he could get entirely away from it. The intellect
can never starve the heart or the conscience. When
fourteen years of age, the Lisbon earthquake greatly
startled him. The death of his brother, eighteen days
later, also deeply impressed him. He gave vent to his
higher nature by the writing of poetry. In this Bodmer's
influence is evident, for he stimulated Lavater to write
poetry. He also wrote some hymns, as "Jesus on Gol-
gotha." In 1759 he entered the theological class, and in
1761 preached his first sermon, on Ecclesiastes 7 : 3.
Here he already revealed his oratorical ability. For,
when he uttered the words, "At each moment we take
a step into eternity," the clock of the church struck.
He paused until it had ended, the pause greatly heighten-
ing the effect of his sentence. Then he continued, "Do
you hear that, brethren? Now that hour is past. We
are all another hour nearer the end." He was ordained
in the spring of 1762. In a letter at that time he gives
expression to his consecration, "I will humbly throw
myself before my Creator and Saviour and sincerely
resolve never to stand still — never to grow weary of
knowing God in all things."
Just at that time he revealed his great love for liberty
and justice by a very bold act.
In the little village of Grueningen, one of the baili-
wicks of Zurich, there was a magistrate named Felix
Grebel, who, by his oppressions and extortions, had
greatly embittered the people against him. The sufferers,
being poor, were afraid to bring complaints against him,
especially as Grebel had social influence, being the son-
in-law of the burgomaster. When Lavater heard of this,
his soul was fired at the injustice. After earnest prayer,
he wrote a letter, August 2, 1762, to Grebel, signed J. C.
212 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
L. No one knew who wrote it except his friend Fuessli.
In this letter he gave to Grebel two months in which
to restore what he had unjustly taken or he would bring
him publicly to court; but Grebel paid no attention to
the letter. The time having passed, Lavater had the
letter printed under the title, "The Unjust Bailiff, or the
Complaints of a Patriot." This letter he caused to be
placed, on November 30, 1762, at the doors of the differ-
ent members of the city council. This act created a
tremendous sensation. The council ordered the author
to appear within a month to prove charges or be pun-
ished for slander. At first Lavater had concealed his
name, but, when the matter was called up, he and his
friend Fuessli, who had helped him, boldly came forward
and named themselves as the complainants. Meanwhile
the matter had become public, and many of the persons
whom Grebel had oppressed, to the number of twenty,
appeared personally to bring complaints. Meanwhile
Lavater had become greatly anxious about the matter
on account of its effect on his parents. He finally con-
fided the matter to antistes Wirz, who went and told
his parents. "Rejoice," he said to them, "at such a son
who speaks when no other person dares to speak."
His mother then greatly sustained him in the trying
ordeal. But meanwhile the publicity and the number
of complainants had made it too hot for Grebel. He
fled and confessed his guilt. The government dismissed
him and confiscated his property and made restoration
to those whom he had unjustly treated. Thus Lavater
came out victorious and the bravery of the young man
made him the idol of the people. All Switzerland won-
dered at his courage. When Goethe heard of it, he
enthusiastically cried out, "You brave minister, you true
man! Such a deed is worth a thousand books."
Soon after this he travelled with his friends Fuessli
and Felix Hess to Germany. Breitinger, one of his
teachers, had advised him, instead of going for study
to foreign universities, to visit famous men. Lavater
wanted especially to visit Spalding at Barth, in Pome-
rania, whose writings had attracted him, for Spald-
ing, instead of preaching the old Evangelical doctrines,
ZURICH 213
held to freedom of thought and emphasized the ethical.
He called the Twelve not apostles, but depositories of
public morals. But, though he had this rationalistic
tendency, there was an undertone of deep faith and piety
about him, and Lavater sympathized with his views. He
stayed with Spalding for nine months and was much
influenced by him. Euler, the Swiss mathematician, then
living in Berlin, jocosely asked Lavater, when he after-
wards came to Berlin, whether it was right for two
Reformed ministers (Lavater and Fuessli) to come so
far and stay so long with a Lutheran minister, adding
the question, "Have you reformed Spalding, or has he
made a Lutheran of you?" Both replied, "We are con-
vinced of the truth of Christianity." On his way home,
Lavater stayed at Quendlinburg with Klopstock and re-
ceived a new impulse to poetry. On September 4, 1763,
he wrote his great missionary hymn, "Lord, how many
sheep have still no shepherd." He also visited Jerusalem
at Brunswick, Gellert and Zollikofer at Leipsic, court-
preacher Sack and the philosopher Mendelssohn at Ber-
lin. He returned to Zurich in March, 1764.
For five years he was without a pastorate, but he
kept himself busy at literary work and also in preaching
for others. During this period he published his "Swiss
Songs" (1767), which gave him great fame among his
countryment for patriotism. They were often sung up
to the French Revolution. He wrote them in fourteen
days. In them he describes Tell and the Swiss battles
for liberty. Many Swiss would make pilgrimages to
Tell's chapel to sing them there. They passed through
more editions than any other of his works.
On June 3, 1766, he married Anna Schinz, who
proved a suitable and pious helpmeet.* From 1768-1773
he published a religious work entitled "Views into Eter-
* For her life see my "Famous Women of the Reformed
Church."
214 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
nity." They were twenty-four letters addressed to Zim-
merman, the celebrated author of "Solitude." They
were a philosophical attempt to prove immortality, but
they were not considered orthodox, and one misses in them
his later emphasis on redemption through Christ. Cham-
berlain Fuessli, of Veltheim, made charges against them
because they lowered the authority of the Old Testament
— reduced Christ to an ordinary man — and contained the
pantheism of Spinoza. Lavater was cited before the
consistory, who exonerated him. The book revealed his
marked ability and also his early latitudinarian views.
Yet it had great influence. There is a touching story
told about it that when Lavater visited the blind writer,
Pfeffel, at Colmar, in Germany, the blind man asked,
"Who are you?" The answer was, "Lavater of Zurich."
"Which Lavater?" asked the blind man, "The assistant
who has looked into eternity?" "Yes," was the reply.
The blind man greatly rejoiced to meet him and bade
him sit down at his side. In 1768 he founded, at the
suggestion of Breitinger, the Ascetic Society, which
aimed at philanthropic work, as the visitation of prison-
ers and preparation of criminals for death. It also held
meetings for theological discussion, which later became
its most prominent feature. It still exists as a section
of the Preachers' Society of Switzerland.
On April 7, 1769, Lavater was elected assistant at
the Orphanage Church at Zurich, at a salary of $64 a
year. At this appointment he wrote in his Diary :
"I receive from thy hand, O Lord, a little parish in
which I shall publicly preach Thy gospel. Give me the
freedom to say all that is true, all that is useful to man-
kind. Let no cowardly complacency induce me to conceal
what it is good to make known. May I ever speak as in
Thy presence, my God. May I ever feel that I must
not become the slave of men."
In that year came his attempt to convert the Jewish
philosopher, Mendelssohn, to Christianity. He had vis-
ZURICH 215
ited Mendelssohn in Germany and greatly honored him.
After his return he greatly mourned that this beautiful
soul was outside of Christianity. While he was prepar-
ing his work, "Views into Eternity," he had been reading
Bonnet's "Palingenesia," and was so impressed with the
second part of it (where Bonnet gives the proofs of
Christianity) that it appeared to him that every searcher
for truth must be won to Christianity by it. So he trans-
lated it and dedicated it to Mendelssohn, giving him the
alternative of either answering it or accepting Christian-
ity. But he was indiscreet in making known in it some
private conversations of Mendelssohn with him, in which
Mendelssohn had spoken in terms of veneration of the
moral character of Jesus. The book raised a storm
against him, especially on the part of the Jews. Men-
delssohn replied calmly and cautiously, complaining in
a dignified way of Lavater's imprudence ; but he refused
to be drawn into religious controversy, and asked Lava-
ter not to demand a detailed answer. Lavater with
humility confessed his fault. Mendelssohn hastened to
render full homage to Lavater's upright intentions. The
correspondence is a model of urbanity and frankness.
Criticisms on Lavater for this continued even until 1771,
when it happened Lavater baptized two Jews of promi-
nent families. Lichtenberger made use of this to write
a satire on Lavater.
His parish proved laborious, for in addition to preach-
ing he had to instruct the orphans and minister to con-
victs in the penitentiary. He tells the following story
in his diary, July 2, 1769:
"My wife asked me during dinner what sentiment
I had chosen for the day. 'Give to him that asketh thee
and from him that would borrow turn not away.' Tray.
how is this to be understood?' asked she. 'Literally,' I
replied. 'We must take the words as if we heard Jesus
Christ himself pronounce them. I am the steward, not
the proprietor, of my possessions.'
216 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
"Just as I arose from dinner, a widow desired to
speak to me. 'You must excuse me, dear sir,' she said.
'I must pay my rent and I am six dollars short. I have
been ill a month and could scarcely keep my children
from starving. I have laid by every penny, but I am
six dollars short and must have them to-day or to-mor-
row. Pray hear me, dear sir.' Here she presented me a
book encased in silver. 'My late husband,' she said, 'gave
it to me when we were betrothed. I part with it with
great reluctance and know not when I can redeem it. O
dear sir, can you not assist me?' 'My poor woman, indeed
I can not.' So saying, I put my hand in my pocket and
touched my money. I had about two dollars and a half.
'It won't do,' said I to myself, 'and if it would, I should
want it.' 'Have you no friends,' said I, 'who would give
you such a trifle?' 'No, not a soul living, and I do not
like to go from house to house. I would rather work
whole nights. I have been told that you are a good-
natured gentleman, and, if you can not assist, you will,
I hope, excuse me for having given you so much trouble.
I will try in some way to extricate myself. God has
never forsaken me, and I hope he will not begin to turn
his back on me in my seventy-sixth year.'
"The same moment my wife began to enter the room.
I was angry, ashamed, and should have been glad if I
could have sent her away under some pretext or other,
for my conscience whispered to me, 'Give to him that
asketh thee.' My wife, too, whispered irresistibly in my
ear, 'She is a pious, honest woman. She has certainly
been ill. Assist her if you can.' 'I have no more than
two dollars,' said I, 'and she wants six. How, therefore,
can I answer her demand? I will give her something
and send her away.' My wife squeezed my hand ten-
derly, smiling and beseeching me by her looks. She had
then said what my conscience had whispered to me
before, 'Give to him that asketh thee,' etc. I smiled and
asked her whether she would give her ring in order to
enable me to do it. 'With great pleasure,' said she,
pulling off her ring. The woman was either too simple
to observe this or too modest to take advantage of it.
However, when she was going, my wife told her to wait
a little in the passage. 'Were you in earnest when you
offered your ring?' said I, as soon as we were in private.
ZURICH
217
'I am surprised that you ask such a question,' said she.
'Do you think I sport with charity? Remember what
you said an hour ago. And do you not know that there
are six dollars in your bureau and that it will be a quar-
ter-day in ten days ?' I pressed my wife to my bosom
and dropped a tear. 'You are more righteous than I.
Keep your ring. You have made me blush.' I then went
to the bureau and took the six dollars. When I was
going to open the door to call the widow, I was seized
with horror, because I had said, 'I can not help you.'
'There,' I said, 'take the money that you want.' She
seemed at first to suppose it was only a small contribu-
tion and kissed my hand. But when she saw the six
dollars, her astonishment was so great that for a moment
she could not speak. She then said, 'How shall I thank
you? I cannot repay you. I have got nothing but this
book, and it is old.' 'Keep your book and the money,'
said I, 'and thank God, not me. Indeed, I do not deserve
it, because I have hesitated so long to assist you. Go
and say not one word more.' "
In 1770-71 a great famine prevailed, so that many
died of hunger. This gave him great opportunities for
religious work. Crowds of hungry people passed through
the streets, swarming around the houses of the wealthy.
Lavater urged his congregation to great charity to the
poor, and himself set an example. Large sums of money
were given to him to distribute. His house became like
an almshouse, where his wife always had a kettle of soup
for the poor. Some very interesting illustrations are
given of his life.
One day the doorbell rang. His wife saw from the
window a poor man, who, because of hunger, was scarcely
able to stand. She hastened to him, but found he had
already fallen to the ground. She helped him to a chair
and brought him some warm soup. She hastened to
bring him some wine to revive him, but he died as she
was ministering to him. On another day he and his wife,
while on a walk, found a poor woman sitting on the
ground, trying to quiet her babe. The woman told her
sad story, saying she had only one request, and that was
that God would relieve herself and her child from hunger
2i8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
by granting them death, for she had had nothing to
eat and could give her child no nourishment. Lavater
and his wife at once returned home, taking the woman
and child with them. After giving her food, he saw that
she was placed on the poor list and received a weekly
allowance.
In August, 1773, he had a narrow escape from drown-
ing. He was visiting his friend, Dr. Holtz, at Richter-
schwyl, on Lake Zurich. On the day after he started,
as Mrs. Lavater was sitting alone in her husband's room,
she suddenly became so overpowered by anxiety as
hardly to be able to move. Recovering herself, she went
to her father-in-law and told him of her state of mind.
He consoled her as well as he could, and she returned
to Mr. Lavater's room, fell on her knees, weeping and
praying.
At this very hour Lavater's life was in the greatest
danger. He had left Richterschwyl to visit a friend on
the other side of the lake, at Oberreid. When he went
into the little boat to go there, the water was calm. Grad-
ually a fresh wind arose, and just as they reached the
most dangerous point on the lake the wind increased to a
storm. The storm grew into a hurricane and the waves
rolled higher and higher, every moment threatening to
overturn the boat. The boatmen, who had much ex-
perience and were generally fearless, cried with despair-
ing voices, "We shall go down ! Down with the sails !
Away ! she strikes ! We are lost !" The mast of the
little boat was entirely shattered by the storm. The boat-
men exclaimed, "We can do nothing more !" Mr. Lavater
was on his knees, praying for deliverance to God. It
was at the same time that Mrs. Lavater had her presenti-
ment and prayed. God heard their prayers and he was
saved. Great was her thankfulness when, on his return,
he told her of his deliverance.
In 1774 his health broke down, and he was supposed
to be suffering from consumption. He then, therefore,
visited the baths at Ems, in western Germany. It was
on this trip down the Rhine that he became personally
acquainted with Goethe, which resulted in their famous
friendship. In 1778 he was made full pastor at the Or-
ZURICH 219
phanage Church, and his friend, Pfenninger, became his
assistant. But that year he was also called as assistant
to the St. Peter's, one of the largest churches of Zurich.
He hesitated accepting on account of his ill-health, for
he suffered much from cough and vertigo, which troubled
him all his life. But he finally accepted it conscientiously
as a call of God, and preached his first sermon there
July 5, 1778, on 1 Thes. 5 : 25, "Brethren, pray for us."
But, in spite of his physical infirmities, his success was
phenomenal. The attendance became so great that seats
had to be reserved for the members. His sermons were
of rare intellectual and spiritual eloquence.
By this time he had become well known not only
in Switzerland, but also in other lands, especially in
Germany. Perhaps no one of his day except Albert von
Haller and Zimmerman was so well known abroad as
he. Especially did his friendship for Goethe bring him
into prominence. Goethe greatly admired him, and once,
on a visit to Zurich, said of him: "We are happy in and
with Mr. Lavater. It is for us all more than medicine
to be in the presence of such a man, who lives and works
in the household of love." He declared that his inter-
views with Lavater were the seal and crown of his life,
and calls Lavater "the crown of mankind." He speaks
of Lavater as "the greatest, wisest, sincerest of the men
I know." Because of Lavater's presence there, Zurich
became a sort of pilgrimage-place for the learned toward
the end of the eighteenth century.
But a change came over Lavater in his public utter-
ances. He had, as we have seen, belonged to the liberals
in theology, indeed, was considered the leader among
the younger ministers of that type. In his love for liberty
of thought, he had frequently denounced the orthodox.
Once he wrote to Bodmer : "Truly our Zurich people
are real Spanish inquisitors, and I do not believe that there
were ever such zealots among Reformed Christians '
220 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
But now came the reaction. It was his native religious-
ness which had been repressed for many years by the
rationalism in which he had been educated which now
reasserted itself over his liberal views. It may have
come to him gradually, perhaps ever since 1768, when,
influenced by Hess, he spent much time in Biblical re-
search. The change may have been gradual, but his
public expression of it came suddenly. It came like a
thunder-clap at the May meeting of the Zurich synod
in 1779. There he came out boldly against rationalism
and for orthodoxy. With sublime eloquence he closed
his address :
"How far has it come among us that one must fear
to testify of Jesus with frankness; that one needs to be
ashamed before an assembly of most of the teachers
and flock of Christ to issue a warning against wolves
in the fatherland, which do not spare the dearly-bought
flock, but introduce pernicious sects and deny the Lord
that bought them? How far would it have come if, in
these days of liberty, he only had to be a slave who
feels himself called to liberty through Jesus Christ ? What
would be the result if all men would speak and write and
read all things against Christ, while that which is favor-
able to him would find the least acceptance ? No ; so far
it shall not come among us, God willing. Do we all
with one mouth witness for Christ, with one heart be-
lieve in Him, with one strength fight for Him, and with
one mind cling to Him?"
He then turned to the younger ministers and urged
them not to allow any writer, be he ever so renowned, to
substitute any other gospel. "Jesus Christ has not only
laid down the foundation, He Himself is the founda-
tion. Do not retreat from this foundation. Noble
young men, do not allow yourselves to be cut off from
the tree into which you have been ingrafted. All wis-
dom over against Christ is foolishness, all learning, criti-
cism and philology which is rightly recommended in our
days is not against Christ, but for Him. Only read
more than anything else the Holy Scriptures, that it
may be your favorite book." He then spoke with mod-
ZURICH 221
esty and dignity to the professors. "Your hearts must
be full of Christ, your life must present words of power
to witness for Christ, to plant Him into the hearts of
your scholars with all His wisdom, power and love." He
closed with a word of respect to the rationalistic antistes.
"You will surely evermore watch that the truth will never
be stopped by injustice, that the gospel will never be
supplanted by that which is not the gospel, however ex-
cellent and favored it may be." He added, "You will
all, brethren and sons, try to unite us more and more
in Christ and never consent that a worshipper of Christ
shall be hindered to speak and write of Christ, who is
more precious to your heart than anything in this world."
Ah ! his native love of liberty was asserting itself. He
had learned that there was just as much slavery of
thought under rationalism as in orthodoxy and more,
and he refused to be bound by it. He claimed the free-
dom to be an Evangelical if he wanted. He claimed
for the Evangelicals the right to speak for Christ.
What had led him to do this we know not. Probably
the native religiousness of his nature reacted against
rationalism. The narrowness of rationalism, its lack
of faith and of the mystical, failed to satisfy a heart
like his. He had also become alarmed by the progress
of rationalism. The views of Voltaire, who compared
Christianity to "black-bread which at best was good for
dogs," had found its way into thousands of hearts.
Lavater felt the time had come to call a halt to this
tendency. His soul burned within him at those per-
nicious influences. He had become alarmed at the
progress of deism, and especially at Steinbart's philosoph-
ical system, which had been published in 1778 These
were the reasons that led him to rise up and speak as
he did.
His address at the synod produced a tremendous sen-
sation. The antistes Ulrich, who inclined to rationalism
but always wanted peace, however, was not able to con-
tain himself. He answered the fiery words of Lavater
222 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
quite dryly by saying, "These charges do not belong here.
The danger is greatly exaggerated. The theologians
complained of here are in Germany and not under the
control of the synod of Zurich. The Zurich ministers
need no such warning." (And yet all the time Breitinger
and Bodmer were undermining the Evangelical gospel
by their teachings, and he knew it and sympathized with
them.) At the first pro-synod afterward, Ulrich referred
to Lavater's address somewhat sarcastically, as if he
would cut off its influence, by saying that it had been
suggested that an inquisition be erected at Zurich to deal
with foreign theologians. And in his synodal address
he spoke against Lavater, saying, "The apostles did not
shut out from their company or their love an errorist
who was only theoretical. They surrounded all who
honored Christ with brotherly hearts and had patience
with those who were weak in the faith." Lavater later
defended himself before the synod in a parable: "In
a gathering of shepherds, one of them warned against
dangerous wolves, but the gathering of shepherds replied,
'The matter does not belong here.' " Thus the lines were
being drawn between the rationalists and Lavator. In
1780 Lavater again delivered an address at the synod
against Steinbart's system of pure philosophy, which
he saw was becoming quite popular among the ministers
of the canton. He warned his brethren against its emas-
culating and undermining effect on the old Apostolic
Christianity.
But while rationalism had now found in Lavater an
opponent, orthodoxy found in him a friend. The old
Evangelical doctrines which had been ridiculed, perverted
and attacked now found in him a champion. It rejoiced
in this fact and prayed that the. tide in the canton might
be turned against liberalism in theology. Lavater, how-
ever, for all this, had to suffer much bitter persecution.
Nothing is so illiberal as so-called liberalism of thought
ZURICH 223
or doctrine. It soon hardens in its own moulds and
becomes more inquisitorial than the old orthodoxy.
Lavater's universal popularity waned. All Zurich had
loved him as the fearless patriot, but now the rationalists
turned against him, and they were in control. One can
hardly have any idea with what malice Hottinger and
others strove to shake Lavater's rising fame. They cir-
culated anonymous works ridiculing him. They called
him pietist and Methodist, hoping thus to scandalize
him in the eyes of the people. But their efforts only
added to his fame and influence, while their attacks
recoiled on themselves. His genius had become too well
recognized for them to destroy its influence, and the
singular purity of his character made it impossible for
them to undermine him. He stood out not only as one
of the greatest men of his time, but over against these
rationalists as one of the ablest defenders of Evangelical
Christianity. This was the more noticeable, as the de-
fenders of orthodoxy at that time could be counted on
the finger of one's hand, Haman, Claudius, Stilling —
and Lavater.
He now began his able defence of Christianity. Be-
tween 1782 and 1785 he published his "Pontius Pilate, or
a Universal Ecce Homo," which is a severe arraignment
of rationalism. It produced a great sensation. The
reason for his writing it was a remark in a letter of
Hainan's to him, "To me an ignorant one, Pontius Pilate,
is the wisest author and darkest prophet and the executor
of the New Testament." Lavater made Pilate's ques-
tion, "What is truth?" the basis of his work and the type
of prevailing rationalism. He claimed that the doctrines
of the New Testament cleared the mind better than the
distortions of rationalists. He knew the book would give
offence even to some of his dearest friends, and it did,
for it cost him the friendship of Goethe. Hottinger,
who had been one of his greatest friends, in a book
224 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
written in 1775, scoffed at Lavater's incredulity in regard
to prayer.
But Lavater did not stop there. He published an-
other apologetical work (1786), "Nathaniel, or the Di-
vinity of Christianity." In it he clamed that Christianity
could not be proved, but must be felt. It was not so
strong a work as "Pilate." This work, however, had
great interest attached to it because at first he dedicated
it anonymously to his friend Goethe. In it he produces
an array of witnesses from the Bible for the divinity
of Christ, of whom each had an element of truth in his
faith. This act of Lavater's alienated Goethe from him,
who called it an excommunicating, intolerable book.
Lavater was sad. And yet it is not to be wondered at.
Goethe was not a Christian; Lavater was. To religious
earnestness Goethe was an absolute stranger. He could
not understand it. Lavater met him afterwards at
Weimar, but found him cold, and Goethe afterwards
visited Zurich, but passed Lavater by. The prophets of
rationalism at Berlin and the supernatural rationalists,
like Spalding, Jerusalem, Zollikofer and others, rose
against him. But, to his honor, he was unmoved by their
opposition, which only deepened his piety and strength-
ened him as an apologist.
But, though he lost the friendship of unbelievers, he
gained tremendous influence among earnest Christians.
His correspondence became voluminous. On one occa-
sion more than 500 letters lay beside him, awaiting an
answer. In 1786 Bremen called him to the St. Ansgari
Church. He declined the call, but got them several pas-
tors, as Haseli, and continued in correspondence with
them. He also went to Bremen to express his thanks
to them for the call, and also to Goettingen to take h.
son to the university. Everywhere he was loaded with
honors and given great attention. His trip proved a
veritable triumphal entry. In the hotels crowds of people
ZURICH 225
waited to see him and speak with him. At Bremen a
new ship was named after him, and great crowds fol-
lowed him wherever he visited in the city. At Berlin,
where he preached, the streets were filled with people,
who could not get into the church. The same year that
he declined the call to Bremen, he was called to be the
first pastor of the St. Peter's Church at Zurich, and his
bosom friend, Pfenninger, was made assistant pastor.
In 1793 he went through Germany to visit the Copen-
hagen Seers, who expected Christ's coming, for Lavater
was a pre-millenarian, though he did not exaggerate
the importance of that doctrine, as they did. But the
light in the north they expected did not materialize.
Christ did not come, but the French Revolution came to
stir up Europe to a new era.
Many prominent persons visited Lavater at Zurich,
as the Duke of Wurtemberg, the Margrave of Baden, the
Emperor of Russia and the Duke of Kent. In 1794 pul-
monary trouble again appeared, but he continued his
work. Then came the era of his political influence. His
"Swiss Songs" had revealed his patriotism, and he now
stands forth as the great patriot of Switzerland. At
first he sympathized with the French Revolution. But
when he saw the awful extreme to which it went, he
recognized it as the worst kind of slavery — the slavery
of lawlessness. And when he saw that France was try-
ing to gain control of Switzerland, he opposed all such
efforts. The Helvetic republic, he felt, was not Swiss,
but French, and was utilized by France to plunder
Switzerland by collecting the taxes, often at the point
of the bayonet. Liberty in such a republic was a tyranny.
Swiss who would bow to France, even the lowest villains,
were made high officials of the republic. Its capital
was placed at Aarau. The Swiss bowed to its yoke, but
Lavater did not. He who had before opposed slavery in
all forms, whether intellectual or political, opposed it
15
226 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
now. Freedom so filled his soul that he could not keep
quiet. Of all the Swiss, he was almost the only one
who dared lift his voice against the directory of the
Helvetic republic, although Rev. David Muslin, of Bern,
was another but less prominent. Lavater was the
William Tell of the eighteenth century, the modern
Zwingli, for, like Zwingli, he did not consider himself
freed by his pastoral office from any of his duties as a
citizen. He showed his patriotism by publishing "The
Word of a Free Swiss to a Great Nation in the First
Year of the Swiss Slavery," May 10, 1798. In it he
appealed to the French for the liberty of Switzerland:
"Great nation, which hast not an equal, render not thy-
self contemptible to all posterity. Be no longer the
scourge of the nations, the tyrant over mankind, the
enslaver of the free. Be what thou wouldst be thought
to be, the deliverer, the benefactress, the friend and then
queen of our hearts." He addressed the publication in
his name to Reubel, one of the directors of the Helvetic
republic. He pled for the rights of the Swiss. He
threatened that if they were not granted he would scatter
his work in the various languages throughout Europe
and appeal to the world for vindication, so that all might
see the injustice of the French. After he had published
it, he said to his son-in-law, "I have written to Reubel,
and I unhesitatingly told him the entire truth with regard
to the odious conduct of his country to ours. I quietly
wait the result. I have done my duty. They may perse-
cute me and even proceed to acts of violence. No
matter. I shall not regret what I have done." The
rulers at first proposed to stop the circulation of the
work. But they did not do so, and one hundred thousand
copies were scattered through Switzerland and in other
countries of Europe.
In April ten of the most respectable and honored
citizens of Zurich were arrested and carried away as
ZURICH 227
criminals, charged with being traitors to France by cor-
responding with Austria. On the following Sunday
Lavater dared to lift up his voice in protest against this
outrage in a sermon on the duties of rulers. His text
was Romans 13:1-4, and his topic "Subjection to the
Higher Powers." He said :
"Can anything be imagined more shameful and de-
grading to a government, more dishonorable to the names
of justice and liberty than that the innocent should be
treated like the guilty, the righteous like the wicked?
When those who do good must fear because they do
good, who will not shudder, who will not exclaim, 'Ac-
cursed be that policy which will do evil that good may
come of it'?"
The sermon produced a profound impression. His
wife, deeply affected, said to him on his return from
church, "You will be arrested for that sermon." And
everyone expected it. The manuscript of the sermon was
demanded by the government and the Directory had de-
cided on his banishment ; but it was not carried out, as
they feared the people. Still they kept a close watch on
him, waiting for an opportunity.
The opportunity came. In May, 1799, he went to
Baden, near Zurich, for his rheumatism. The night
after his departure his house was broken into at mid-
night and his papers examined. They found a letter
from Russia and trumiped up a charge that he was hold-
ing a treasonable correspondence with the Russians. On
the second day after his arrival at Baden (May 16), after
he had spent a night of excruciating agony from his
disease, three municipal officers called and in the name
of the Helvetic republic demanded his papers and or-
dered him to go with them. As the soldiers were hurry-
ing such a sick man away, his weeping wife swooned.
Lavater, praying, commended himself and his dear wife
to God. Strange to say, he began feeling better physically
— the excitement of the arrest seemed to arouse him. He
228 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
endeavored to make the best of it. Guarded as he was by
dragoons and grenadiers, he said, "I have never travelled
in such an aristocratic style before. His arrest cause tre-
mendous excitement. All Zurich was in an uproar. He
was taken to Basle for trial. There he easily proved his
innocence, so that by June 10 he was released. After a very
uneasy night, because of violent attacks of coughing, the
city officer entered his apartment, saying, "I have here
brought you something that will cure your cough," and
gave him his order for freedom. The next day he started
for Zurich, but it was two months before he got there,
for the French and Austrian armies were occupying the
intervening territory. He got part way, but had to return
to Basle. After three weeks, through the shrewdness
of a noble lady, who gained permission to visit friends
beyond the French lines in the county of Baden, he suc-
ceeded in escaping by going with her. And on August
16, after three months' absence, he was again in Zurich.
The news of his return spread like wild-fire. On the
next Sunday he preached to an enormous audience, who
crowded his church. He took for his text, "What shall
we do?"
But new dangers came to Zurich and himself. On
September 25-26, 1799, the French fought a battle with
the allies near Zurich and captured the city. As the
citizens of Zurich were known to sympathize with the
enemies of France, they were in great fear, and most
of them closed their houses, expecting to be plundered.
It was in this occupation of Zurich by the French that
Lavater was shot, September 26, 1799. Lavater himself
gives the following account of this:
"After the French had entered Zurich as conquerors,
many of the soldiers rambled in small parties or singly
about the town. Two of these came to the door of a
house, in which only two females resided, in an open
place near the Church of St. Peter, contiguous to the
residence of Lavater, and began to cry: 'Wine, wine,
ZURICH
229
this a public house," at the same time beating the door
with the butt ends of their muskets to burst it open.
Lavater looked out of his window and said to them :
'Be quiet and I will bring you wine.' He accordingly
brought them some bread, and even offered them money,
which, however, they would not accept. Being thus
pacified they went away. One of them especially, a
grenadier, expressed his gratitude and friendship in the
warmest terms. Lavater then returned to his house,
where his wife accosted him with : 'What ! has my Daniel
come safe out of the lions' den.' He then sent a person
to see whether the streets were sufficiently clear for him
to go to the house of one of his children to inquire after
the safety of the family, which he had been prevented
from doing by the number of troops passing through
the city. While he stood at his door waiting for the
return of his messenger, a little French soldier came up
to him and told him in broken German that he had been
taken prisoner by the Russians and had no shirt. Lavater
answered that he had no shirt to give him, but at the
same time took out of his pocket some small money
which he offered him. The fellow looked at it con-
temptuously and said, 'I must have a whole dollar for
a shirt.' Lavater then offered him a few more small
pieces, but he still insisted he must have a dollar, and
drew his sword to enforce his demand. The other sol-
diers whom Lavater had helped, and who had parted
from him in so friendly a manner, were standing at some
little distance, and he called to them for protection against
the violence of this man. They came to him, but, to
his great surprise, the very man who, two minutes be-
fore, had refused money when he offered it to him,
now joined in the demand of his comrade, and putting
his bayonet to Lavater's breast, cried out more fiercely
than the other, 'Give us money.' Lavater and some per-
son who stood near him put aside the bayonet, and
another person, at that time a stranger to him, threw
his arm round him and drew him back. At the same
moment the grenadier fired, and the ball passed through
the arm of the stranger and wounded Lavater below the
breast. He bled profusely, and when his wound was
examined, it was found that the ball had entered the
right side and passed out at the distance of about four
230 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
inches on the left, a little above the ribs, having ap-
proached extremely near to parts which, if pierced, would
have proved instantly fatal." This shooting of Lavater
reminds one of a prophetic sentence he uttered seven-
teen years before. In 1782, while yet an assistant at
St. Peter's, he attended an evening gathering. As he
took up the goblet before him, a gentleman remarked,
'This goblet bears the name of Fuessli, a predecessor of
yours as assistant in 1684, who was shot by his brother-
in-law.' Lavater was silent for a long time, and then
said, 'It is strange that this cup should be placed be-
fore me. I believe that I will die from the effects of a
shot.' When his friend asked him what he meant, he
replied, 'Always when I sit in my pulpit seat and look
toward the end of the church, I imagine I see a man who
would like to shoot me.'
His wounding caused a great deal of excitement at
Zurich. He was carried into a neighbor's house, where
the physician spoke hopefully of his case. Although in
severest pain, he yet expressed his profoundest sympa-
thy for the man who shot him. He asked that no one
would ask the name of the soldier, as he did not wish
him to be punished. He said, "I would rather suffer
much than that he should suffer." Very beautiful was
his spirit of forgiveness, as he said in his agony, "O,
that God would answer my prayer that he may never
suffer as I do." Among his verses were found some to
the soldier who shot him, praying that he might see him
before the throne of God. But the identity of the sol-
dier was never discovered. By Sunday, September 29,
he was strong enough to dictate a letter. But he was
never to get well. That wound ultimately proved fatal,
though he lingered long. He grew better, and by De-
cember, he was able to leave his bed. He preached his
first sermon on "Let my mouth be filled with praise and
with Thine honor all the day." At its conclusion, he
said, "Every new pain which my wounds produce
shall be to me a call to new life and to new fidelity and
ZURICH 231
love in the footsteps of Him whose unutterable love and
indescribable pains on the cross so far exceed mine."
For six weeks he was able to preach and attend to his
pastoral duties.
But by the end of January, 1800, his pain came back,
together with his cough. He tried the baths at Baden
and at Schinznach and, finally, Erlenbach. Here he
wrote his last work, which he entitled his "Swan-Song,
or Last Thoughts of a Departing Soul on Jesus of Naza-
reth," but Providence did not permit him to finish it. In
September he returned to Zurich. On September 14,
the time for the fall communion, he had himself car-
ried to his beloved church to partake of the elements of
his Saviour's love for the last time. At the close of
the services his assistant conducted him before the con-
gregation, and he spoke a few words to them on the text,
"With desire have I desired to eat this passover with
you before I suffer." This proved to be his farewell
address. He appeared to his people like John of old,
as if leaning on the Master's bosom. At his words his
congregation melted into tears.
From that hour he became weaker. His pain would
often cause him to moan, and his cough racked him to
pieces. Still, he would not be unemployed, but util-
ized every moment, either in reading his Bible or in dic-
tating to his amanuensis. He composed a prayer-book
for sufferers. He continued gradually improving until
New Year of 1801. Just before New Year he was able
to dictate a New Year's wish to his congregation. As
the New Year came in he heard some one singing out-
side, "The year is begun and who will see it close." He
said, "Pray, pray, pray." These were his last words,
for he became unable to say more, and, on January 2,
1801, he passed to his reward, after a year and a quarter
232
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
of suffering, much of it in excruciating pains.
Thus died a religious genius of the first rank. When
Goethe called him the Prophet or Apostle of Zurich, he
spoke the truth. He was the greatest and most brilliant
man who had appeared there at least for a century and a
half.
Lavater was great in many ways. But his great-
ness was not noted at Zurich during his lifetime. It was
not until Hegner published his correspondence with fa-
mous persons, about a quarter of a century later, that
Zurich really woke up to know what a genius she had
produced. He had been held by many in Zurich as a
fanatic. And while we defend him against the ration-
alists on this charge, yet he had certain eccentricities
that laid him somewhat open to criticism. He was a
pre-millenarian when that doctrine was looked upon
with suspicion. He believed in faith-healing and won-
der-working. He was criticised for his investigations
into magic and physiognomy, and was inclined to believe
in inspirationism or the seeing of visions. But, in spite
of all this, his was a great mind. His brilliant phantasy,
as Professor von Schulthess-Rechberg said to the writer,
is quite the opposite of the plain, simple Swiss; and it
is strange that Zurich should have produced such a
type of genius.
He was great as a poet — a born poet — a master of
unsurpassed poetry. His "Swiss Hymns" made him fa-
mous. He also wrote other poems. In imitation of
Klopstock, he wrote a "Messiade," a paraphrase of Reve-
lations (1783-86), and another poem on the Gospels
and Acts, paraphrased in epic verse, which reminds one
of Herder. He labored long at a philosophical poem on
eternal life. But, perhaps, he realized that poetry and
philosophy could not be united (for philosophy, with its
ZURICH 233
depth and delicate shadings, needs the freedom of prose
composition, while poetry, on the other hand, needs to
rise to flights of imagination which philosophy would
chill) ; so, instead, he published his "Views Into Eter-
nity." He wrote many hymns, 700 of them, for he was a
singer of divine love. "Poetry," he once wrote to Felix
Hess, "is to me nothing but feeling after God. He is
my poet-art." Lange, one of the most competent of
German hymn critics, says of his hymns: "They have
the mark of rhetorical diction, but the spiritual orator
often disturbs the poet." Perhaps his finest hymn is his
sanctification hymn, which has been translated into
English :
O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me,
And all things else recede;
My heart be daily nearer Thee,
From sin be daily freed.
Each day let Thy supporting might
My weakness still embrace,
My darkness vanish in Thy light,
Thy life my death efface.
In Thy light-beams, which on me fall,
Fade every evil thought,
That I am nothing, Thou art all,
I would be daily taught.
Make this poor self grow less and less,
Be Thou my life and aim;
O, make me daily through Thy grace
More worthy of Thy name.
Let faith in Thee and in Thy might
My every motion move.
Be Thou alone my soul's delight,
My passion and my love.
Lavater was also prominent as a physiognomist — vir-
tually its founder — for he was the first to reduce its
vagaries to a system and elevate it to a science. What-
234 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
ever may be the judgment of to-day as to this science,
certain it is that Lavater had a wonderful insight into
character as revealed in the face. Several remarkable
stories are told of his recognition of eminent persons by
their physiognomy. He published four large volumes,
"Physiognomic Fragments," i/75"78- These were
crowded with innumerable portraits and silhouettes of
celebrated persons. It was a wonderful collection, on
which he spent his income and his life, hoping it would
be a great contribution to the welfare of mankind. As
these volumes appeared, Goethe, Herder, Wieland and
Jacobi went into raptures over them.
But it is as a Christian that Lavater measures up. He
was a great pulpit orator. His face in itself was at once
sufficient to attract attention. Stilling once said, "La-
vater's evangelist-John face rent all hearts in awe and
love." There was a peculiar subtle charm in his look.
His poetic nature made his sermons very beautiful with
bright flights of fancy, and his face and eye held his
hearers spell-bound. But he laid no stress on his ora-
tory, for he wanted to be a witness for God rather than
a mere orator. The most popular of his printed ser-
mons were those on Jonah and Philemon, but although
they are suggestive in thought and full of unction, the
printed page fails to give the peculiar power of his per-
sonality. He was also an unwearied pastor, caring con-
scientiously for the spiritual interests of his people.
Thus, on a damp, foggy night, in 1785, he spent the
whole night in searching for a sick man, who had es-
caped from his home. As the great men, as Goethe and
Herder, withdrew themselves from him, he comforted
himself the more in the care of his Christian people.
But back of the preacher and the pastor was the
unique personality of the man. Goethe called him "an
individual, the like of which one has not yet seen, and
will not see again." When Hottinger so bitterly at-
ZURICH 235
tacked him, Bodmer remarked that if any one sought to
gain such influence as Lavater, he must be as unblam-
able as he. Haym, in his life of Herder, says that
"Herder felt himself lower than Lavater on one point,
the inner purity of childlike faith, the knowledge and
devotion to God." One of his most important works
was his "Diary," which reveals the great spirituality of
the man. From his earliest youth he had been accus-
tomed to make the closest self-examination. These he
wrote in his "Diary" without ever a thought that they
would be published. But, through a friend, it fell into
the hands of Zollikofer, of Leipsic, who published it
anonymously, without Lavater's knowledge. When La-
vater found that it had attained so large a circulation
and had proved so helpful to Christians, he allowed a
second volume to be published.
Doctrinally he was Evangelical, but not after the type
of the older Calvinistic orthodoxy. He was too free a
mind to be bound by any one else's system of theology.
He said, "I do not believe as Calvin or Athanasius, be-
cause I see no ground to hold these men for divine
authority." For his strong Evangelical views, he was
called by his enemies a pietist. But he never was a
pietist in the narrow sense as was Yung-Stilling. And
yet while he was Evangelical in his views, there was a
freedom about them. Freedom had always been his
ideal, freedom of thought, of speech and of action. But
he thought the highest freedom was in the Bible. He
never, however, got over his rationalistic training, which
had prejudiced him against the old statements of ortho-
doxy and its metaphysical distinctions. Thus he never
used the theological terms of the trinity or the divinity
of Christ. But though he never used them, he fully
believed what was meant by them. He said, "Christ is
our Lord and God." His Christology was that "Christ
was all in all,"— that "God without Him is to us nothing
236 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
and in him the Father entire is given to us." He wanted
a Pauline or Johannean Christ rather than an Athan-
asian. The divinity of Christ was to him not a specula-
tive doctrine, but a matter of the heart. "I have myself
experienced that this Jesus is the Saviour of the world
and my Saviour, for as a man I have spoken to Him and
as a God and man He answered me." In his emphasis
on experience as the source of theology he was the fore-
runner of Schleiermacher.
But he was not a theologian, — his bent of mind was
different from that. He was not logical in his system, —
he was one of those brilliant geniuses who shoot off in
all directions and so though Evangelical at heart, yet
often use expressions far from it. Doctrinally his cen-
ter was Christ, but a cosmical as well as a spiritual
Christ. His emphasis was on Christ's life to us rather
than his death for us. To him religion was more a
life than a doctrine. He emphasized the vital and mys-
tical in piety.
Section 5
antistes john jacob hess (1795-1828)
Never since the Thirty Years' War (1648) was
Switzerland so critically situated as during the French
occupation, at the end of the eighteenth century. For-
tunately as a Breitinger had been raised up to guide the
church through its troublous times of the Thirty Years'
War, a Hess is now raised up. For a century and a half
Zurich had had no antistes of the first rank. Hess
brought it back to the splendid lustre of the days of
Zwingli and Bullinger. And his election was also sig-
nificant of another thing. It signalized the return of
the canton from rationalism to orthodoxy. When Ul-
rich died, rationalism had no candidate of sufficient
ability and influence to propose. Rationalism had run
ZURICH
237
to seed as it always does. There were only two men,
whose ability and fame made them conspicuous for the
election, Lavater and Hess, and they were both Evan-
gelical. Each had been the life-long friend of the other.
Both were nominated. But when Hess was elected,
Lavater was the first to congratulate him, and wish God's
blessing on his work. It was probably best for Zurich
that the election turned out as it did. Lavater was with-
out doubt the greater genius, but too fiery to have guided
Zurich through the difficult period of the French Revo-
lution. Hess, though not a genius, was yet a fine scholar
and excellent executive and was possessed of remarkable
prudence. And if Lavater was a genius, Hess was a
genius of common sense. Besides Lavater's death, had
he been antistes, would have left the church without a
head, just at its most critical time. It was also best for
Lavater as well as for Zurich that he did not become
antistes, for the executive duties of the position of an-
tistes would have interfered with the freedom of Lava-
ter's splendid pulpit and literary activities.
Hess was born October 21, 1741. As his mother
died when he was quite young, he was given to an
uncle near Zurich, to rear. His boyhood gave little
promise of future greatness. Nor did any remarkable
religious tendencies reveal themselves as in Lavater's
early life. An anecdote, quite the opposite of those of
Lavater's boyhood, is related of Hess, — that while visit-
ing a country pastor, he fell asleep in the church. He
did not waken till the service was over and all had gone
out of church and it had been locked. Greatly frightened,
he finally got out at a side-door, which had been by
chance left unlocked. But this event effectually cured
him of ever again sleeping in church.
He attended the schools at Zurich, and his uncle,
who was an Evangelical pastor, was deeply anxious lest
he be led astray by the rationalism of his teachers,
238 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Bodmer and Breitinger. At the close of his studies
(1760) most fortunately for himself he became his
uncle's assistant for seven years. There he learned
more than if he had gone abroad to study. It was this
uncle who had guided him in study who now awakened
him to Evangelical seriousness. Several things occurred
there to develop his serious nature. An event occurred
that deeply solemnized him. A boy, whom he met along
the road, tried to persuade him to get on his horse with
him and take the shortest way across the river Toess.
He refused, and took the longer way around, over the
bridge on foot. What was his surprise and horror to
see both rider and horse drowned before his eyes. He
trembled as he thought how near to death he had been.
Another influence was a visit of Klopstock to his uncle.
Klopstock read part of his "Messiah," which made a deep
impression on him. He then wrote an ode on the death
of Moses, in 1768, but he never rose in poetry to the
height of Lavater. These events led him more and more
from the superficial rationalism of his teachers at Zur-
ich to the deeper experiences of a religious life.
Now occurs the crisis of his life, — he was led to
begin to write a book that made him famous, for as
time went on it grew into a masterpiece, the life of
Jesus. It seems that his uncle had the habit of speak-
ing at the week-day service on the Gospel history, simply,
but earnestly, — a habit very uncommon in those ration-
alistic days. This not merely interested the people but
it also impressed his nephew. Sometimes the appear-
ance of a new book rouses a genius, — it did so in his
case. Middleton's "Life of Cicero" fell into his hands
and greatly interested him, as he was fond of the classics.
While reading it, the thought flashed on his mind — why
should there not be a life of Christ as fine as that of
Cicero, as scholarly and popular ? It was a holy inspira-
tion, and in 1762 he began it. Fortunately, his duties
ZURICH 239
as vicar were light and he had ample time for study and
literary work. He had been a good classical scholar and
now proposed to apply the methods of the classics to
the study of Christ's life. But he began at the end of
Christ's life, not at its beginning. The first volume ap-
peared in November, 1767, and covered the last part of
Christ's life. Later he gave up his position as vicar, so
that he might devote his entire time to this work. He
continued working on it until the sixth volume appeared
in 1773 and completed the work. It at once acquired a
large circulation and was translated into other languages,
as Dutch and Danish. Even Catholics treasured it.
Many years after, when he was in his eighty-second year,
he remarked to a friend, "I have really written only
one book, the life of Christ. All my other writings
were only preparatory to it or results of it."
After leaving the vicariate, he had to wait ten years
for a charge, for candidates for the ministry were many
and places were few. But, though he had long to wait,
he waited well. He transferred his literary work to the
Old Testament, and wrote a "History of the Israelites,"
which gradually grew until it filled twelve volumes.
Count Stolberg truly wrote to him, "Your leisure brings
more fruit for eternity than the labors of an appoint-
ment." Finally, in 1777, he was made assistant of the
Fraumunster Church, at Zurich. This too was a light
position and gave him time to continue his work on the
Bible. When Antistes Ulrich died, in 1795, he was,
contrary to his wishes, elected antistes, for he did not
want to give up his studies for the practical duties of
the antistesship. But, though mainly a student before, he
now began to reveal great practical ability.
He became antistes at a very critical moment. The
revolutionary spirit from France had come into Switzer-
land and had lifted itself up against the church. The
church laws were changed, indeed changed several times,
240 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
during this period, and more in the interest of the state
than of the church.* The consistories, to which the
Zurich people gave the name of "stillstand" (because
they stand still until the congregation have all left the
church and then close up the church properly), were
almost all set aside, except in the cities of Zurich and
Winterthur, and the secular authorities took entire charge
of the congregations. The financial problems were also
very serious. In 1797 and 1799 many of the clergy re-
ceived no salaries, and yet had to endure quarterings
of soldiers upon them, which are always expensive. No
wonder the ministers often preached bitterly against the
oppressors of the Helvetic republic. This often caused
trouble, for when a minister lost the favor of the gov-
ernment, he was dismissed. In all this Hess retained his
wise balance of judgment and counseled patience and
quietness. And yet he was not a time-server and syco-
phant to the masters of Switzerland, but bravely stood
up for the rights of the church. At one time the gov-
ernment had decided on his deportation, but it was never
carried out. During this period, to comfort the people,
he published three volumes of sermons, entitled, "The
Christian in the Danger of his Fatherland." They were
bold and candid, yet so circumspect that not a word in
them could be attacked by his enemies. Three times
(1798-1801) he issued a pastoral letter to the congrega-
tions, full of wise counsel and encouragement.
Zurich was twice bombarded, once in 1799, when
Lavater was wounded, and again in 1802. During the
latter, Hess revealed his remarkable self-poise. During
the bombardment he quietly wrote his sermon for the
following Sunday just as if nothing serious were taking
place. How different from Lavater, who, in the time
of danger, was busy going about. Lavater was the Peter,
* For a description of these changes see Finsler's "Die
Zurcher Kirche zur Zeit der Helvetischen Republik."
ZURICH 241
Hess, the John, of the Lord's disciples of that day.
Lavater found no rest except in going hither and thither
until his fatal wound. Hess, on the other hand, quietly
remained at home, in religious contemplation and work,
— a second John, leaning on the bosom of his Lord. Yet
both were great men, each strong in his own sphere.
After the fall of the Helvetic directory he prepared a
memorial to the state, which was also signed by the
antistes of the churches of Basle and St. Gall, and the
dekans of Bern, Schaffhausen and Vaud, which took up
the rights of the church. At that time there were two
political parties in Switzerland, the federalists, who em-
phasized the rights of each state or canton, and the cen-
tralists or political unitarians, who emphasized the central
power rather than that of the individual states. Most of
the ministers hoped for more from the former party
than from the latter and this made the latter party cool
toward the church and the ministry. In 1803, Napoleon
stepped in with the mediation government. This re-
sulted in a reconstruction of the church-laws, in which
Hess revealed remarkable ability. Hess hoped then that
there would come about a national Swiss church in which
all the cantonal churches would be combined. But
nothing came out of it.
While busy with these difficult political problems,
he did not forget the internal administration of the
church. He emphasized the religious instruction of the
youth. His parsonage became the rallying-place for all
aggressive evangelical movement. A Bible student him-
self, he helped organize a Bible society at Zurich, in
1800, four years before the British and Foreign Bible
Society was organized in London. He was made presi-
dent (I777-I/95) of the Ascetic Society, an association
of ministers, founded in 1768. In 18 19 a missionary
society was organized.
A beautiful Alpine-glow was given by providence to
16
242 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Hess in his old age. The centenary of the Reformation
came around at Zurich on January i, 1819. Though al-
most eighty years of age, he yet found himself strong
enough to participate in the exercises. He opened the
first evening of this festival, on December 31, 1818, by a
Latin address, and on the following day he delivered
the principal sermon, with unusual power, so that it
seemed as if this occasion made him young again. In
his sermon he bore strong witness for the old Evangeli-
cal faith. In it he appeared a "Zwinglius redivivus" (a
Zwingli resurrected). Over against the claim of the ra-
tionalists, who made Zwingli only a humanist, he proved
from the works of Zwingli and Pellican that the religious
element was the most prominent and that Zwingli was
Evangelical. He spoke very decidedly against the in-
fidelity that had come in through Spinoza and Bahrdt and
urged all to remain in the old faith of their fathers. In
connection with this religious anniversary his services to
theological science were recognized by three foreign uni-
versities, Tuebingen, Jena and Copenhagen, who gave
him the degree of doctor of divinity.
But this Reformation festival was destined to be his
last great public function. A few days later he became
sick and never again entered the pulpit, though he lived
nine years longer. Though bodily infirmities increased,
he utilized his time in rewriting his "Life of Christ" and
his "History of the Apostles." In July, 1820, he made his
last public appearance at a meeting of the Bible society,
in the cathedral, where he presented the young people
with Bibles. Then he fell asleep in Christ, May 29, 1828.
Hess was a strong preacher, though he did not have
Lavater's pulpit ability. His sermons were Scriptural,
largely practical and less poetical than Lavater. Lavater
was rhetorical, Hess was simple, but full of the warmth
of the Gospel. He exceeded Lavater in the range of his
Bible knowledge. He was through and through a Bible-
ZURICH 243
man. His standpoint was that the Bible was history
and he endeavored to make it a living history. He lived
in the Bible and made the Bible live in his books. His
total works on the Bible number twenty-three volumes.
He published some other minor works, but it was his
Bible histories that made him famous.
Section 6
john henry pestalozzi
Pestalozzi hardly belongs to a church history as he
was the great educator of Switzerland. Nevertheless,
his religious views and the effect of his pedagogy must
be reckoned with in the history of the church. We have
space here only to briefly sketch his life.
He was born at Zurich, January 12, 1746. Father-
less and awkward, so that he was nicknamed by his com-
panions, "Wonderful Henry from Fooltown," he felt as
a boy the insufficiency of his educational advantages.
This lack gave him an insight into the great faults of the
education of his day, and it became his great ideal to
give to other boys and girls what he did not have, — a
thorough and suitable education. He at first studied for
the ministry, but not succeeding in his first attempts, he
turned to law. Then Rosseau's "Emile" came into his
hands, and fired him with enthusiasm for education so
that he gave up law. He started a madder plantation
at Neuhof, which failed, and so he opened a school
there (1775) for poor children. For in those days only
the rich were sent to school and not many of them. His
school failed by 1780, and poorer than ever he turned
to literature and wrote his famous novel, "Leonhard and
Gretchen" (1781), which gave him fame and proved to
be the most popular book he ever wrote, — a popular novel
on the new views of education. In 1782 he published
another novel, "Christopher and Else," which, however,
244 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
proved less popular, though the Agricultural Society of
Bern gave him a gold medal for it. By and by he got
an opportunity to try his new ideas about education
In 1798 the French army had massacred at Stans, an*
Pestalozzi was sent by the Swiss government to take
charge of a number of the orphans there. With these ig-
norant, dirty children he worked wonders in a few months.
But the institution was soon closed. Then he went to
Burgdorf, in Canton Bern. He there published his prin-
ciples of education as now revised and developed in a
new book, "How Gertrude Taught Her Children." Here
his methods of teaching began to attract attention and
some of his pupils became prominent. The Helvetic
republic appointed a commission to examine his system,
and it approved of his principles. But the Bern gov-
ernment having required him to give up the castle in
which he taught, he went to Yverdon and opened a school
(1805). Here he again tried his methods, but owing
to financial difficulties, the school ultimately became a
failure. The truth was that he was more of a teacher
than a financier. But though he had to give up his
school, his method had by this time made him famous.
His school had been visited by prominent persons from
all over Europe. In 1825 he retired to his grandson, at
Neuhof, in Aargau. There he died February 17, 1827.
His principles revolutionized education. It is not too
much to say that he made universal education possible.
Prussia was one of the first governments to adopt his
principles and make education compulsory in her land,
with the result that she is now at the head of Germany.*
* What a contrast this act of Prussia to that of France.
Pestalozzi went at one period of his career to Paris, and a friend
endeavored to present him to Napoleon the Great. Napoleon
declined. "I have no time for A B C," he said. When Pestalozzi
returned to his home, his friends asked him, "Did you not see
Napoleon the Great?" "No, I did not see Napoleon the Great,
John Henry Pestalozzi (the Father of Universal Education i
and his Protege
ZURICH 245
But we have not time to speak of his educational
principles. It is his religious views and influence in
which we are interested here. This is a somewhat diffi-
cult subject about which there have been conflicting
views. Some have held that he was a rationalist, the
product of Rosseau in education, and of Kant in phil-
osophy. There is no doubt that he had in him elements
from both of these men, but that they made a rationalist
out of him is the question.
The statement that he was a rationalist is based on
several facts. One is a letter he wrote to the Prussian
State Councilor, October 1, 1773, at the age of 27, in
which he confesses that he had passed through great
struggles, which had chilled his piety without separating
him for religion. There he declares himself to be un-
believing, but not because he holds unbelief to be truth,
but because the sum of his life's impressions showed the
blessing of faith in many ways out of his inner feeling.
"I believe," he says, "that the Christian is the salt of the
earth ; but high as I believe it, I also believe that gold and
stone and sand have worth independent of salt."
Another argument for his rationalism is based on his
denial of total depravity. He held there was something
good in each child that needed to be awakened and de-
veloped and that not all was evil. It was to this good
principle in the child that he proposed to appeal in his
education. This was different from the old Calvinistic
doctrine of total depravity. But Pestalozzi's position is
virtually accepted to-day even by liberal Calvinists.
There is something good in each child. If there were
not neither education, morals nor religion could appeal to
him. Many Calvinists have granted the position that
there is an element of good in every man, but there is
and Napoleon the Great did not see me." Napoleon the Great
lived to see the empire which he had founded on soldiers crumble
to pieces because he had had no time to attend to A B C.
246 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
not enough of it to save him.
Another reason why he has been considered a ra-
tionalist was because he attacked the pedagogical method
of the Heidelberg Catechism then in use in Bern and
Aargau. He objected to it because it ran contrary to
some of his pedagogical ideas. He claimed that every-
thing must be drawn out of the child (education), but
opposed anything being put into the child (instruction).
He especially objected to dogmatic statements (such as
were found in the Heidelberg or in any other catechism of
his day), being forced on the child for acceptance and
committal. The child, he claimed, must develop these
things out of its own consciousness. Whether his views
on this point are correct or not is not for us to say, but
we believe educators now would consider him as having
gone too far in this matter, — education is both educa-
tion and instruction, a drawing out and a putting into the
mind of the child. His denial of the Heidelberg Cate-
chism, however, would not necessarily mean rationalism,
but only a denial of its method of presenting religious
truths to the child.
Another argument against Pestalozzi's religiousness
is the testimony of one of his biographers, who was one
of his teachers, Niederer, who declared that Pestalozzi
did not stand on the Christian standpoint.
On the other hand, when one reads much in Pesta-
lozzi, one is impressed with his religiousness and with
his simple faith in God. The question about his relig-
ious position may be divided into two parts, i. His
relation to the church. 2. His personal religion.
As to the first, it is to be remembered that he lived
in a day when the conflict was beginning between aristo-
crats and democrats, which was destined to revolution-
ize Switzerland, later, about 1830. The aristocracies,
especially in the cities, were holding down the poor. But
Pestalozzi wanted every one, even the poorest child, to
ZURICH
247
have the best opportunity. In this controversy, most of
the ministry sided with the aristocrats, especially as
many of them were born from that party. This natur-
ally would cause Pestalozzi's ardor to cool to the church,
for he was democratic.
But when we come to Pestalozzi himself, the ques-
tion becomes different. First, as to his method. A very
startling fact is brought out by contrasting Rosseau with
him. He was Rosseau's pupil in his ideas of education,
only he carried them to more legitimate ends. Rosseau
did not want a child to hear of religion till the age of
discretion. How different Pestalozzi from this. He wanted
the child to have religious training, only it must not be
dogmatic. This is brought out in several of his books.
He there broke directly with his predecessor Rosseau.
Then too, when one comparies Pestalozzi's belief with the
creed of the "Vicar of Savoy," by Rosseau, the difference
becomes as great as day and night. The highest Ros-
seau gets is a merely intellectual appreciation of Christ.
But that is far lower than Pestalozzi, whose faith comes
out of his heart. Perhaps we can state the matter in
this way. To a confessionalist or a severely orthodox
member of the church, Pestalozzi was heterodox and a
rationalist. He was too free to be bound by any creed.
But, compared with Rosseau, he was a Christian, — a
believer in Christian realities. His methods may have
made him seem more rationalistic than he really was, but
we do not know that his educational system has ever
injured religion or its influence. As Hadorn says: "He
was too humble, too believing, to be a rationalist." He
believed in the religious training of children and never
aimed to destroy a child's faith in God or in Christ or
to pass it by. It is true that when he was young he de-
clared to the Russian councilor that he was unbelieving,
for his faith had been shaken by Rosseau ; but at his
son's birth his religious sentiment revived. When the
248 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
revivals began, he looked on them at first with joy as a
return to primitive Christian simplicity. But when he
found that they were preaching what seemed to him a
narrow theology that hardly left any place for free will
and refused to recognize in the child any element of
good, he gave up his opinion. And yet he recognized the
existence of evil in the soul, for it is the obvious teach-
ing of some of his fables. Jayet says there was no lack
of piety in Pestalozzi, though certain points of Christi-
anity were not clear, for faith and love were words
that were constantly recurring in his religious discourses.
In his later life his religiousness especially shows itself.
He revealed great power in prayer. On Christmas Day,
181 1, he says, "My children, we want you to share with
us the joy of knowing that Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
came down from heaven and became a man among us.
Listen to the words of the angel, 'Behold I tell you good
tidings of great joy,' etc. Keep these words carefully in
your hearts." When the institution at Yverdon was on
the point of dissolution, he with his characteristic con-
scientiousness, reproached himself for not having given
a more solid religious character to his work. On his
death-bed he cried, "I am soon going to read in the book
of truth, knowing full well that man is not permitted to
understand everything here below." He then added, ''I
am going to eternal peace." Such expressions are not
those of an infidel or rationalist.
CHAPTER II
Basle
Section i
prof. john jacob wettsteln
The Basle Church, unlike the Zurich Church, resisted
the tide of rationalism in the eighteenth century and
remained Evangelical. There was, however, one promi-
nent exception, Prof. John Jacob Wettstein, a descendant
of the prominent statesman at the end of the Thirty Years'
War, of whom we have spoken and also a nephew of
Prof. J. R. Wettstein, who refused to sign the Helvetic
Consensus. He was born at Basle, March 5, 1693, and
studied there. Though a pupil of Buxdorf, the younger,
he was his opposite in his inclination to the critical. At
his examination as a candidate of theology (1713) he
took for his subject, "The Variations of the New Testa-
ment," in which, however, he showed that the variety of
the readings had not invalidated the divinity of the book.
For through the kindness of his uncle, Prof. J. R. Wett-
stein, he had been given access to the manuscripts of the
New Testament, in the Basle library. Then he traveled
abroad, to Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Lyons and Paris. He
went to England (1715), where Bentley, the great scholar,
gave him the use of his library. He there examined the
Alexandrine Codex on 1 Timothy 3 : 16, whether the read-
ing was "theos," God, or "os," he. The orthodox
held to the former, because it was one of the proof-
texts of the trinity. On examining it, he found that if
the manuscript were laid flat on a table nothing but "os"
249
250
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
could be seen, and when he used a magnifying glass, it
gave "os." But if it were held up perpendicularly, there
would appear a stroke that made it "theos." He found,
on examination, that this stroke belonged not to the word
"os," but was the first letter of the word on the opposite
side of the page. Wettstein's opinion is now generally
supported by critics, but it led him to be suspected of
heterodoxy by his own age. Neither does the use of
"os" invalidate the doctrine of the trinity, for there are
other proof-texts to support it. Bentley was so pleased
with him that he gave him fifty guineas to go to Paris to
study the Codex Ephraim. Then he became (1716)
chaplain of a Swiss regiment, in the English army, which
was ordered to Holland. In 1717 he returned to Basle
as assistant pastor. There, two years later, he again be-
gan his critical studies and then made up his mind to
publish a critical edition of the New Testament. He be-
came private-docent at the university there, and by his
scholarship gained a great influence over the students.
He would lecture to them on New Testament exegesis
and also dogmatics, according to Osterwald's theology,
which was not considered orthodox by the Calvinists
there. His critical researches began to awaken suspicion
and his growing popularity started the jealousy of some
of the professors. Matters finally came to a crisis.
Toward the end of 1728 it happened that Professor Frey,
a follower of Buxdorf, and Wettstein were together in
the library where the latter was at work. Grynseus, a
student, was present. Frey asked Wettstein whether he
believed that such efforts as his at criticism would re-
dound to the glory of God. He replied, "Yes." Frey,
to prove the utter unreliability of criticism, said that
Mill, the critic, placed the Basle Codex early, and Wett-
stein placed it later. Such things only produce confu-
sion. Wettstein replied that the decision lay in the well-
known rules of textual criticism. Then they got into a
BASLE 251
discussion as to the form of the circumflex used in the
Basle Codex. Wettstein declared it was round in form.
Frey, that it was right-angled. They took down the
Codex with Grynseus as judge. It was found that Wett-
stein was right, and Frey went away angry.
On September 9, 1728, the Basle Council ordered an
investigation, as he was charged with Socinianism. But
he made such an able reply that he was cleared. Then he
turned on his opponents, Professors Frey and Iselin, and
charged them with Sabellianism. His preaching now be-
gan to reflect his newer views. He criticised the Lu-
theran Bible, which was used at Basle, as not always true
to the original. This caused offence. He also, in preach-
ing, used a faulty figure of speech in comparing the rela-
tion of the Father and the Son to that of a minister and
his assistant, which would make the son subordinate.
Other charges were made against him, some of them not
true. But it was evident that he was getting more and
more into the critical mind and farther away, not only
from Calvinistic orthodoxy, but dangerously away from
all orthodoxy. The critical mind was driving out the
dogmatical. Still he declared he held to the Basle
Confession.
Complaint was made at the Evangelical Diet, July,
1729, against him that he intended to publish a new edi-
tion of the New Testament that inclined to Socinianism.
In October, 1729, the Basle authorities ordered his room
to be searched for the manuscript, but they found nothing.
By February he gave them part of it — up to Matthew
2: 12. On May 13, 1730, the council, in spite of the pro-
test of his congregation, dismissed him from office.
Viewed from the standpoint of to-day, the trial was, in
many ways, unworthy of so great a man in what is now
granted by criticism, yet he laid himself open by care-
less actions to charges against his orthodoxy.
He left Basle for Amsterdam. There a new field was
252 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
opening for him in 1731. Professor Clericus, of the Re-
monstrant or Arminian Theological Seminary there, was
retired, and Wettstein was offered his place, but on con-
dition that he would clear himself of the charge of heresy.
So he went back to Basle (1731) to get a clear dismissal.
There he defended himself before both councils, and was
readmitted to its ministry, March 22, 1732. By this time
the pastors had withdrawn their opposition, and only
Professors Frey and Iselin were his enemies. He wanted
to be made professor of Hebrew, but the continued op-
position of Frey and Iselin made it impossible. The
council also recalled the permission to preach given in
1732. So he left Basle, went to Amsterdam, and, in 1736,
was elected the successor of Le Clerc or Clericus. In
1744, as most of his old enemies had died and the op-
position to him passed away, Basle elected him professor
of Greek. But the Remonstrants in Holland had been
so kind to him that he declined it and remained with
them. In 1745, when he revisited Basle to see his aged
mother, he was received with honor even by some of
the professors of theology. In 1746 he visited England
and, notwithstanding the suspicions against his orthodoxy,
he was received with great honor. He was made a mem-
ber of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
and the Berlin Academy of Sciences. His critical "New
Testament" appeared I749"52- He died May 9, l7SA, at
Amsterdam.
Section 2
prof. leonard euler
Basle became famous in the eighteenth century for
its scientists in Euler and the Bernoullis. He was born
April 15, 1707, at Basle, but the next year his father
moved to the village of Riehen. The boy is father of
the man, and the scientist early appeared in him. One
BASLE 253
day the little boy was missed for a long time and finally
found in a chicken stable, sitting on a great lot of eggs
that he had collected. When asked what he was doing,
he answered that he wanted to hatch the eggs so as to
see the chickens come out. He was educated for the
ministry at Basle. But he had such an incredible mem-
ory that in addition to his theological studies he attended
the mathematical lectures of Prof. John Bernoulli. The
latter's influence made mathematics seize hold of him, so
that he gave up the ministry and became a great genius
in mathematics.
For he was born just at the beginning of a new era
in science. Not long before his birth, Newton, in 1687,
had written his "Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy." These new ideas Leibnitz reduced to
mathematical form. Then came Jacob and John Ber-
noulli working on them. The latter introduced Euler
to the new methods. At the early age of seventeen, he
received the master's degree, where he gained great
applause by his address on "A Comparison of the New-
tonian and Cartesian Philosophies." At nineteen he re-
ceived the second prize of the Paris Academy for the
best work on the mastery of ships, — the more remarkable
because he had never seen a ship, and lived a great way
off from the sea. In all he received during his lifetime
twelve prizes from the Paris Academy. In 1727 he was
a candidate for the professorship of physics, at Basle,
but failed, and so Basle lost him. He was called to St.
Petersburg as professor of physics. There is a story
told of him that in 1735 the academy there required an
astronomical calculation to be quickly made. The other
mathematicians wanted some months to make it. Euler
shut himself up in a room and completed it in three
days. But the mental strain was so great as to throw
him into a fever from which he lost the sight of one eye.
In 1 741 he was called to Berlin by Frederick the Great,
254
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
where he taught mathematics for twenty-five years.
When asked why he left St. Petersburg, he replied: "I
go out of a land where a man is hung if he talks." For
he was a free Swiss, and though away from Switzerland
most of his life, he never gave up his Swiss citizenship.
In 1748 Basle wanted to get him back to take Prof. John
Bernoulli's place, but he would not come. With Vol-
taire he was the most prominent representative of the
academy at Berlin. In 1766 he returned as professor to
St. Petersburg. In 1771 his house was burned, to-
gether with many of his manuscripts and he, now blind,
was saved by a friend from being burned to death. He
had one of the most wonderful memories known to man.
He knew the ^neid by heart. When seventy-five years
of age he one night reckoned the first six potences of
the first twenty numbers and recited them forward and
backward for some days. His activity went in all di-
rections, publishing works on mathematics, gunnery,
windmills, ethics and music. His greatest discovery was
the lunar motions. Just before his death, he did some
work on Uranus, the newly discovered planet, by Her-
schel. Suddenly, September t8, 1783, he fell over dead.
A block of Finnish granite, a fine type of his rugged,
yet firm character, marks his grave at St. Petersburg.
He was one of the greatest scientists of the world. If
the Reformed Church had her great scientist in the sev-
enteenth century in Kepler, in the eighteenth century she
had her great scientists in Euler and the Bernoullis.
But it is of Euler, not as a scientist, but as an apolo-
gist, that we wish especially to speak. In a day when
rationalism seemed to have the field, his defence of re-
ligion is the more noteworthy. If Voltaire was the
great infidel of the court of Frederick the Great, Euler
was the Christian there. As long as he possessed his
sight he was accustomed to assemble his family for wor-
ship each evening. In 1747 he wrote his "Defence of
BASLE 255
Revelation," against of the "Objections of the Free
Thinkers."' It came at a critical time, when Voltaire
was in control of Prussia. He started by saying that
the perfection of the intellect is the knowledge of truth,
and especially the truth of God and His works. From
the revelation thus gained, man is able to know his
duty and to find his highest enjoyment in God. He then
argues in favor of a divine revelation, defends miracles,
especially the miracle of Christ's resurrection. He makes
use of his favorite science of geometry, by showing that
even in such an exact science there are difficulties and
contradictions. In the last paragraphs he appeals to as-
tronomy as an aid in defence of religion. It is a brief
work, consisting of fifty-three briefs, these seemingly dis-
tinct, but bound together by an underlying logic. It was
a noble defence of Christianity in a day when such a
defence was greatly needed, and, coming from a scientist,
it had the greater influence.
He also appears as an apologist in another work,
"Letters to a German Princess" (1775). The princess
of Anhalt-Dessau, a niece of Frederick the Great, wanted
to receive lessons in physics. These lessons he put to-
gether with a strong defence of prayer, miracles, provi-
dence, freedom of the will and immortality. He
grounded his apologetic proofs on the necessity of a new
birth.
Section 3
prof. john christopher beck*
Before leaving Basle, another name should be men-
tioned because of his theological ability, John Chris-
topher Beck. His theological position is also significant
* See "Die Theologische Schule Basels," by Hagenbach,
pages 46-49.
256 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
of the change in dogmatics then taking place. He was
a nephew of Prof. Frey, the opponent of Prof. John
Jacob Wettstein. He was born at Basle, March 1, 171 1,
and studied there under Iselin and Frey. He became
professor of church history (1737) and of dogmatics
(1740). Against the pietists, who at that time became
prominent, he wrote (1753), "The Groundlessness of
Separatism." But it was especially his "Compendium of
Dogmatics" that made him famous. He died May 17,
I785-
His "Compendium of Dogmatics" was a remarkable
book. In many respects it reminds one of Wolleb's
"Compendium," published two centuries before. Yet it
differed from it and in doing so revealed the differences
in doctrine between the two periods. Wolleb's repre-
sented the older Calvinism, though not so scholastic as
Polanus. Beck represented the newer and later Calvin-
ism. Although the old theology was shaken, yet funda-
mentally it remained the same. He held to the funda-
mentals, but was liberal in tone. Thus there is no stress
placed on polemics as had always been done. He repre-
sented the irenic spirit of Werenfels and Osterwald.
He claimed that the Lord's Supper ought to be a bond
of union, rather than an apple of discord as it had been ;
indeed he raised the question whether it did not belong
to liturgies rather than dogmatics. He did this in
order to get rid of the polemics about it. His "Com-
pendium" is conceived in the spirit of Werenfels, yet is
firmer in its Calvinism, for where Werenfels is often the
rhetorician, he was the dogmatician. He also differed
from his predecessors, as Wolleb, for he separated ethics
from dogmatics. Still he viewed dogmatics from a prac-
tical standpoint. He was the first to teach the science
of "Theological Encyclopedia." His "Compendium" was
widely used as a manual for students down to the first
decade of the nineteenth century. It was the last impor-
BASLE 257
tant work on Calvinistic dogmatics in Switzerland, re-
vealing the philosophic influence of its age and yet in the
main true to Calvinistic orthodoxy.
17
CHAPTER III
Bern
Bern, like Basle, and unlike Zurich, did not suc-
cumb to the rationalism of the eighteenth century, but
there are several men of prominence who deserve to be
mentioned in the controversy.
Section i
the stapfer family
The Stapfer family was a prominent family and
especially so in the eighteenth century. John Frederick
Stapfer was the ablest of them. Born 1708 he studied
at Bern and Marburg, where he came under the influ-
ence of Professor Wolff, the famous philosopher and
rationalist. He came back to Bern, and after being a
private tutor for ten years, he became pastor at Diesbach,
near Thun, the successor of Lutz or Lucius, the famous
pietist, of whom we will speak in the next book of this
volume. He remained there as pastor for about twenty-
five years, up to the time of his death, in 1775. He
never was a professor of theology because he preferred
the pastorate, but he exerted a wider influence by his
writings than many a professor of theology. Bern had
had Cartesianism, under Professor Wyss, but now Wolfi-
anism appeared. He tried to apply the Wolfian methods
to the defence of Christianity. Thus the philosophy of
Wolff gave a large place to natural theology and Stapfer
gives it a large and prominent place in his dogmatics.
Before his day, dogmatics had been mainly exegetical ;
he aimed to make it philosophical. Philosophy, he said,
258
BERN 259
must purify theology as to the fundamentals of reason.
He based theological truths on the double principles of
reason and revelation, the first being universal and funda-
mental, the second spiritual and positive. But he was
not a rationalist, only a supernatural rationalist, for he
believes in the supernatural, only he recognized the rights
of reason. Like the Wolfian theology, his work is largely
apologetical. He might be called an orthodox Wolfian,
seeking by the demonstrative methods to prove the truth
of Christianity. He was a Calvinist, but not of the old
high Calvinistic type, but of the lower or sublapsarian
Calvinistic type, like Professors Wyttenbach (himself a
Bernese), and Endemann, of Marburg.* He was not
only a low Calvinist, but also concilatory, indeed too
conciliatory for the strict Calvinists of Bern, for the
censor of Bern struck out a paragraph of his polemical
theology, as being altogether too mild against the Lu-
therans. His liberal Calvinism was introduced into
America by Jonathan Edwards, who read his works and
his views of the universal atonement, etc., prepared the
way for the New England or New School Presbyterian
Theology of America. His great theological abilities
caused him to have several calls as professor of theology.
Marburg alone called him four times, but he declined.
He was the most voluminous and suggestive theological
writer of his day, in Bern. His theological works were,
"Institutes, theological, polemical, universal" (1743), pub-
lished when only a private tutor, in five volumes ; a sym-
bolic, "Foundations of the True Religion" ( 1746-53) , in
twelve volumes; "Dogmatics" (1757-60), in six volumes;
"Ethics" (1756-86), in six volumes, and "Catechism of
the Christian Religion" (1769). Kant declared his "In-
stitutes" the most rational methodical statement of dog-
matics extant. Better than any one else of his day, he
* See my "History of the Reformed Church of Germany,"
pages 439 and 615.
260 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
combined the philosophy of his day with theology. But
in doing so, he followed the synthetic methods and set
aside the federal theology, which for a century and a
half had been the dominant theology in the Reformed
Church, and made the satisfaction of Christ the center
of dogmatics, instead of the covenants.
A younger brother of John Frederick Stapfer, John,
born 1719, also became prominent. Educated at Bern,
he first became temporary professor of theology and then
full professor of theology (1776). He died 1801. He
was an eloquent preacher, always crowding the cathe-
dral with hearers. His strength lay in practical theology.
He published seven volumes of sermons (1761-81) and
became famous for his new version of the Psalms (1783),
which gradually displaced the old Lobwasser version in
use in the churches. He published his "Theologia Elenc-
thica," in 1756, his "Theologia Didactica" (1176) and
"Theologia Analytica" (1763). But he did not have the
virile strength of intellect of his brother, of whom we
have just spoken. He was always careful to abstain from
critical questions as he wanted the students to be Biblical.
On this account he was the more acceptable to the minis-
ters of Bern, who looked on his brother Frederick with
suspicion, as departing from the high Calvinism of Bern.
For that reason, Frederick, though eminently qualified
for the position, never could be elected a professor of
theology in Bern.
Still another brother, Daniel, acquired fame as a
pulpit orator. His sermons in the cathedral at Bern,
especially the one of the earthquake of Lisbon, in which
he ridiculed the rationalists of his day, were very popular.
Wieland considered him one of the best pulpit orators
of his day.
Before leaving this notable family of Stapfers, we
will mention a later member of the family, Philip Albert
BERN 261
Stapfer.* He was the son of the last named, Daniel
Stapfer, born September 23, 1766. He studied the con-
servative theology under his uncle at Bern. Then he
went (1789) to Goettingen, where the rationalism of his
teachers raised doubts that lasted for ten years. After
a visit to England and Paris, he came back to Bern in
the anguish of doubt. But he did not resign himself to
his doubts, but fought his way through them. That he
did not lose faith is due largely to the influence of his
mother, who had taught him that religion was not merely
a matter of the head, but also of the heart. He was soon
called upon (1792) to aid his uncle in teaching theology,
notwithstanding the suspicions against him for his looser
theological views. In 1797 he was elected professor of
theology at Bern. He soon became the head and soul
of the academy there. It is true he was charged with
putting philosophy in the place of theology. He was a
Kantian but more positive than Kant, for his deep re-
ligious feeling prevented the intellectuality of Kant from
controlling him. He would have attained to eminence
as a theologian, but his career was cut short by politics.
While Daniel Muslin, the eloquent preacher, was the
great patriot of Bern, and with Lavater defending
Swiss freedom against the French, Stapfer was in
sympathy with the French Revolution. He was a strange
combination in those days. Though a republican, he was
not a rationalist, as were most republicans then. So the
Helvetic Republic put him in control of the church affairs
of Switzerland (1798-1801). Fortunate was it for
Switzerland that a mere politician was not appointed to
this position, or else the church would have suffered
more than she did. For the new government uprooted
the old church laws and it was owing to him that the
church was not robbed and plundered more than she
* See his life by Liiginbuehl, Basle, 1887.
262 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
was. He pled with the government for the payment of
the salaries of the ministers, who were often not paid.
He attempted the reorganization of the cantonal churches,
so as to unite them into one national church, but did
not have time to carry it through. With the fall of
the Helvetic Republic, he left Switzerland for Paris,
where he spent the rest of his life. There he was a
strong supporter of all forms of practical Christianity,
especially of Bible and missionary societies. He became
the honored leader of the French Protestant church.
He passed during his life from Kantian moralism to the
revival and then to the independence of the church from
the state, influencing Vinet greatly in the latter view.
He died 1840.
Section 2
prof. albert von haller
Albert von Haller was one of the greatest Swiss, and
one of the most distinguished apologists of his age. He
was Bern's greatest son, — Haller the Great, as he has been
called. He was a universal genius, a poet, a scientist
and a Christian.
Albert Haller came of a prominent Bernese fam-
ily, being a descendant of Rev. John Haller, who reor-
ganized, as we have seen, the Bern Church in the six-
teenth century. He was born at Bern on October 16,
1708, and early revealed unusual precociousness. At the
age of five, he would at family worship make exhorta-
tions to the domestics on Scripture texts. At eight, in
addition to Latin, he had studied Greek and Hebrew. By
his ninth year he had read the Greek Testament and had
composed for his own use a Chaldee grammar and a
lexicon of Hebrew and Greek words in the New Testa-
ment,— also a dictionary of more than two thousand quo-
tations from prominent men. At nine and a half, as
BERN 263
a test for his entrance into a class at school, he was given
a Latin theme. What did he do but write his subject in
Greek. At twelve, Homer was his favorite book. But
his remarkable precociousness found little sympathy from
his family and neighbors, rather it was looked upon as
forwardness and pride. They did not know what a
genius they had among them.
His early education was at Bern. He naturally in-
clined to the ministry and such was the desire of his
parents. But unfortunately his father died when he was
about thirteen years old : or fortunately, we might say,
for he would never have exerted the influence in the
ministry that he did in science. Bern lost by this a
brilliant preacher, but gained a great natural philoso-
pher. After his father's death, he was sent to a friend
of his father's, a celebrated physician, Neuhaus, at Biel,
who was to teach him philosophy. Neuhaus was inclined
to the liberal philosophy of Descartes, but this Cartesian
philosophy of doubt did not attract so religious a mind
as Haller's. Still it instilled into his young mind certain
doubts from which he did not recover until he, years
after, read Ditton's "Resurrection of Christ." But
Haller inclined more and more from philosophy to nature.
To console himself in his doubts he took to writing po-
etry, for he was a born poet. At the age of ten he had
already begun writing poetry and his friends laughed at
him then. But now he took to it seriously and by sixteen
he had produced a considerable number of poems as
comedies and tragedies, and some translations from the
classics, even an epic of four thousand verses on the
origin of Switzerland. When a fire occurred at his
house at Biel, though other things were consumed, he
saved his poems. Some years later, when his mind had
become more mature and his conception of poetry higher,
he burned most of his youthful effusions.
During this period of his life he inclined more and
264 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
more to study medicine. So when hardly fifteen years
of age he went (1723) to the University of Tubingen,
in southern Germany, to study philosophy and anatomy.
Here he attracted notice in a public disputation, by tak-
ing sides against his professor, claiming that the latter
was making an anatomical error, which he some years af-
terward proved. There he also revealed the natural pur-
ity of his life, for he was so disgusted with the riotous
revels of the students, that he renounced all mere frolic.
But Tubingen could not satisfy him. The student life
was rough and the professors, it seemed to him, not up-
to-date. So, after being there for six months, he went to
the University of Leyden, in Holland, attracted thither
by such teachers as Professors Boerhaave and Alcinus,
and by such special privileges as were given by an ana-
tomical auditorium for dissections and a botanical garden
of nearly 6,000 plants, where their medical properties
could be studied.
Boerhaave, like Haller, had originally been intended
for the ministry, but had been kept out of it by uncon-
trollable circumstances. As a young men, his heart was
set on the ministry and the ministry would have been
greatly honored by so bright and spiritual a mind. He
had gone farther in his studies toward the ministry than
Haller, for he had gotten a license to preach, when the
way into the ministry was suddenly closed against him.
An insinuation that he was an Arian was spread abroad
against him. In vain he protested that it was not true.
The torrent of popular prejudice was irresistible. So,
knowing ordination would be refused he entered another
profession, namely medicine. He nobly lived down the
slander against him like a hero. He used to say of such
slanders afterward, "They are sparks, if you do not
blow them, they will go out of themselves." Providence
kept him out of the ministry for great purposes, that he
might wield in medicine a greater influence than in the
BERN 265
ministry. He was probably the most prominent medical
professor of his day, attracting students from all over
Europe to Leyden. Thus Czar Peter the Great once
kept his boat in a canal, just outside of Boerhaave's
house, all night, so that he might have an interview with
him the next morning, before he went to his lectures.
And yet, though immersed in science, he never, like
some scientists, as Darwin, ceased to be religious or lost
his spirituality. Every morning he devoted an hour to
the reading of his Bible and to religious meditation. To
this habit he attributed his cheerfulness in the midst of
overwhelming labors. The traveler, who to-day visits
Leyden, will find in the Church of St. Peter, a monu-
ment, dedicated to Boerhaave by the city of Leyden,
on which is the inscription: "To the health-giving skill
of Boerhaave. For since the days of Hypocrates, no
physician has caused as much admiration as he."
We have dwelt at some length on Boerhaave's life,
even though he was not a Swiss, because his life is so
much like Haller's. Both were originally intended for
the ministry and yet did not get into it. Both exerted
a wider influence in science than they would have done
in the ministry. Both stood in an age of godlessness and
infidelity as bold witnesses for vital piety. Fortunate
was it that Haller, as a student, came under the influence
of so fine a Christian scientist as Boerhaave. It stayed
him against doubt and developed him spiritually, for
science and spirituality make a fine combination. Haller
confessed in his old age his great indebtedness to Boer-
haave, for he said the year 1726 was the year when God
opened his eyes to the light.. He afterwards says, "Fifty
years have elapsed since I was a disciple of the immortal
Boerhaave, but his image is continually present to my
mind. I have always before my eyes the venerable sim-
plicity of that great man, who possessed in an eminent
degree the talent of persuading. How many times hath
266 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
he said, when speaking of the precepts of our Saviour,
that this divine teacher knew mankind better than
Socrates." Boerhaave gave the young Swiss unusual priv-
ileges. Two hours a day he was allowed to spend with
Boerhaave, in his botanical garden, in the study of plants,
which prepared him for his great work on botany. Dur-
ing his course at Leyden, he also also studied at Amster-
dam. In 1727, at the age of nineteen, he took his doc-
tor's degree at Leyden. He then went to England, where
he met prominent physicians and inspected their hospitals.
Then he went to Paris and Basle. There he studied
mathematics under the elder Bernoulli, the great mathe-
matician, who introduced him to the new mathematics of
Newton and Leibnitz. While there he frequently de-
livered lectures in place of the professor of anatomy,
who was unwell. He then returned to Bern, where he
began the practice of medicine. But his years belied him.
The boy doctor was too young to gain the confidence of
the people, who wanted older, experienced physicians.
Still his practice was not without success, as his diary
shows. But medicine could not hold him, he reached
out beyond it. No one profession was large enough for
him. In 1732 he began publishing his poems. These
soon gave him wide reputation, especially his poem on
the Alps, which painted so magnificently the majesty and
beauty of the Bernese Alps. He was the first Swiss poet
of nature, in that respect, like Wordsworth. Most of
his poems were of this period. His poem on the "Origin
of Evil," showed the daring of a youth in trying to solve
one of the greatest of mysteries. His poems reveal great
moral earnestness and a grasp far beyond his years.
In 1734 he tried to get the professorship of oratory
and Latin at Bern, but failed. The Bernese thought a
physician was not fitted for such a position. Indeed they
failed almost all through his life to appreciate Haller's
greatness. Many thought he was too much of a poet to
BERN 267
be a good physician and vice versa. They did not know
that while ordinary medical men could fill only one such
position, they had in Haller a man of such calibre, that he
could fill a number of such positions. They did not know
they had in him a genius of more than ordinary mould.
But afterward, Bern appointed him physician of the
island hospital there, and he was permitted to erect an
anatomical auditorium (then a new thing), in the Grosse
Schanze, where he dissected bodies and delivered lectures.
He was also made librarian of the city library (1735).
He entered on this work with great diligence, and in less
than a year had made a catalogue of its books, manu-
scripts and coins.
But though his own city did not sufficiently recognize
his ability, other lands did. The University of Upsala,
in Sweden, in 1734, made him a member of their academy
of sciences, and in 1736 he was called by King George,
of Hanover, to be professor of medicine and the natural
sciences in the newly-founded university at Gottingen.
He accepted, and taught there for seventeen years. As
he entered Gottingen he sustained a great loss. The
wagon, containing his wife, was overturned and she was
so injured that she died shortly afterward. But the uni-
versity was always very thoughtful of Haller's wishes.
In order to comfort him for the loss of his wife, one
of his most intimate friends from Switzerland, Dr. Jacob
Huber, of Basle, was also called as professor. It also
gave him everything he desired. It built for him an ana-
tomical lecture-room, laid out a botanical garden for him
and built his house opposite to it, so that he might most
easily go to it for plant-study. The king made him his
court-physician and when the king visited Gottingen
in 1748, without Haller's knowledge, he elevated him to
the nobility by making him a baron. Hence he was after-
ward called Albert von Haller, which was a sign of no-
bility. At the same time, Count Radziwill, the com-
268 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
mander of the Polish army, appointed him major general.
While at Gottingen he published the works of his
teacher, Boerhaave, and also one of his own greatest
works, his physiology, which was used in most of the
universities and passed through many editions. While
there, King Frederick the Great, of Prussia, in 1749,
invited him to Berlin, offering him whatever he might
demand. It seems Frederick wanted Voltaire and Haller
there at the same time. One wonders what would have
happened had he gone to be a professor of the great
infidel king. Certain it is that Voltaire would have more
than met his match in science. For Voltaire was super-
ficial, compared with Haller's thoroughness. The vapid
theories of Voltaire's philosophy were no match for the
thoroughgoing science of Haller. Frederick, to get him,
offered him the hope of being given charge of all the
medical affairs in all the Prussian kingdom. But he
refused, saying to a friend : "Do you think that a Chris-
tian, who believes in the religion of Jesus and recognizes
it from his heart, could go to Potsdam between the king
and Voltaire." So he remained at Gottingen and the
King of Hanover started an academy of sciences there,
and Haller was made its president. It was largely due
to Haller's labors that Gottingen outdistanced the other
universities of her time and rose to rival Leyden, the
leading university of Europe. At Gottingen he founded
the first clinic for midwives, for which he was called
Albert the Great.
While at Gottingen he showed great interest in re-
ligion, by causing the building of the Reformed Church.
As Hanover was a Lutheran land, the Reformed who
lived there had to go to Hesse Cassel for their worship
and sacraments. Haller longed for the simple faith and
worship of his fathers, so he gathered together the Re-
formed who lived there, into a congregation. And largely
through his influence, they were able to build a church,
BERN 269
the Bern council contributing 100 reichsthalers to it,
doubtless through Haller's influence. It was built oppo-
site his house. And when it was dedicated, in 1753, he
declared that that was the happiest day of his life. The
church and congregation still remain there as a monu-
ment of his interest and faith. During his stay there,
he also took an interest in foreign mission work, then
in its infancy, and looked upon with suspicion by many
leaders in the church. He became especially interested in
the Danish missions in southern India.
In March, 1753, he resigned at Gottingen and re-
turned to Bern on account of ill health, the jealousy of
some of his colleagues and because of his, the true Swiss
love, for his native land. He had been elected by Bern
a member of the Council of Two Hundred, the lower
council. No favor of prince or university so pleased
him as this. Bern made him inspector of the city hall
(I753"58) and a member of the academical senate. He
practiced medicine, but mainly as a consulting physician.
Bern made him (1758-64) the director of the salt works
of the canton, during which time he lived at the castle
of Roche, near Aigle. There his knowledge of chemistry
was of great value in enabling him to lessen the cost of
producing the salt, while at the same time improving its
quality. While there he learned to know Voltaire by
correspondence. During his stay there, always thought-
ful of the church, he called the attention of the author-
ities to the insufficiency of the salaries of the ministers in
the Vaud district, and the government raised their sal-
aries. He returned to Bern and became a member of
the school board, sanitary council and upper appeal court.
He had been nominated five times for the lesser council,
which was the highest honor of the city, but was always
defeated. Bern thus failed to honor her noblest son.
But Bern was a republic and republics have little to offer.
Still even the best she had she withheld from him. For
270 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Bern was governed by a close aristocracy of patricians
and Haller was not one of them. Besides some of them
had been piqued by his satires and were suspicious of his
more liberal spirit, so he was defeated (once by only one
vote). When he was defeated the last time there came
a great temptation to him to leave Bern. King Fred-
erick the Great, of Prussia, again made overtures to him
to come to the University of Halle. And the King of
England again called him back to Gottingen, offering
him the chancellorship. He held the call under advise-
ment for a long time. Mkny urged him to go, because
of the lack of appreciation in Bern and the unpleasant-
nesses that embittered his life there. Finally he asked
the King of England to appeal to the senate of Bern to
let him go. Then at last, Bern woke up to the danger of
losing him. The council settled a permanent annual sal-
ary of 1,000 florins on him, and declared he must always
be kept at Bern. Other calls came to him, as to St.
Petersburg, but he declined.
At Bern he did much good. He laid the foundation
of an orphanage, and led to the improvement of the hos-
pital. For several years before his death he was sickly
and inclined toward melancholy. In the last year of his
life, he was surprised by a visit from the Austrian Em-
peror, Joseph II, then a crown-prince. The latter's
mother, the Empress Maria Theresa, had ordered her son
in his journeys not to visit Voltaire, but to call on Haller.
And he went considerably out of his way to do so, at the
same time disappointing and humiliating Voltaire, because
Voltaire had heard of his coming and waited, with pow-
dered wig and a big dinner, for his visit. But Joseph
passed him by on his way to Bern. He found Haller sick
and weak, but surrounded by books and papers. He in-
quired whether his labors were not too severe. Haller
replied that they were his only recreation in which he
forgot his pain. "Do you still write poetry?'' he asked.
BERN
271
"That was the sin of my youth," replied Haller, playfully,
"Only Voltaire writes poetry at eighty." As the prince
left, he said, "Behold a genius allied with virtue." A
neighboring clergyman called to see Haller soon after
the prince was there and congratulated him on the visit
of so great a man. The aged Haller replied, "Rejoice
rather that your names are written in heaven." His
eyes were fixed on heavenly, not earthly honors. He
died December 12, 1777, at the age of seventy.* In
December, 1777, he wrote in his journal: "In all proba-
bility this is the last time that I shall employ my pen. I
can not deny that the near view of my Judge fills me
with apprehension. How can I stand before him, inas-
much as I am not prepared for eternity as it seems to
me a Christian should be. O my Saviour, be Thou my
Advocate and Mediator in the solemn hour. Grant me
the aid of Thy Holy Spirit to lead me through the dark
valley that I may triumphantly and full of faith exclaim
as Thou my Saviour didst, 'It is finished, into thy hands
I commend my spirit.' " "My friend," he said to his
physician, "I am dying, my pulse ceases to beat," and
passed away. Saussure, the great Swiss scientist and
Alpine climber, thus bears this tribute of him :
"When I saw him, in 1764, I was then 24 years of age,
and I had never beheld before, nor have I ever since
beheld, a man of his stamp. It is impossible to express
the admiration, the respect, I was going to say, the feeling
of adoration, with which the great man inspired me.
What truth, what variety, what riches, what depth, what
clearness in his ideas. His conversation was animated,
not with that factitious fire that dazzles and fatigues at
the same time, but with the soft and profound warmth
which penetrates yon, raises a glow within you and ap-
pears to raise you to a level with him who is conversing
with you. The week I passed with him left indelible
traces on my soul. His conversation inflamed me with
* His house still stands in the Inselgasse, Bern.
272 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the love of study. I passed the nights in meditating on,
and in writing, what he had said during the day. I left
him with the most lively regret and our acquaintance
ended only with his too brief life."
Bonstetten, disposed as he was to draw satirical por-
traits, speaks in most flattering terms of Haller. "Noth-
ing is finer than his glance, which is both piercing and
sensitive. Genius shone in his beautiful eyes. Of all
men I knew, he was the most spiritual and the most
amiable. His immense knowledge had all the grace of
impromptu."
Haller's fame rests largely on his career as a scien-
tist. He was a great linguist, speaking many languages.
He revolutionized medicine. This was due to his experi-
ments in vivisection. Before his day, anatomy and phys-
iology were much of a guess. He reduced their prin-
ciples to a certainty by his experiments on animals. His
predecessors had done this on dead animals. He claimed
it must be done on live ones, so as to find out the true
way of treating the living body. As that was before the
days of anesthetics, his experiments were very painful
to the animals. But by his experiments he discovered a
new world, the world of bodily sensation, almost as great
a discovery as Harvey's circulation of the blood. His
works on anatomy and physiology made him famous. He
introduced a new method into botany and his "History of
Swiss Plants" is monumental, giving 2,486 kinds. He
wrote, it is said, 12,000 articles. His greatness in learning
is shown by the fact that twenty-one societies of learning
made him a member during his lifetime. Alexander von
Humboldt called him the greatest of the investigators of
nature.
His fame as a poet is also great. He was the first
great poet of nature in Switzerland, as Wordsworth was
in English. Goethe calls his "Alps" a great and earnest
poem. It was the beginning of the naturalistic poetry
BERN
273
of Switzerland. His poems were of a high religious and
moral tone.
HALLER'S LAMENT ON THE DEATH OF HIS
FIRST WIFE
Oh ! with my heart of hearts I've loved !
Deeper than to myself expressed, —
Deeper than e'er by worlding proved, —
Deeper than to myself confessed!
How often did my trembling heart
An answer to its bodings seek,
That still would ask, "And must we part?"
Till tears bedewed my furrowed cheek!
Yes ! still its woe my heart shall feel,
Though time the trenchant scar may close :
And bitt'rer tears their course shall steal,
Than those that outward sorrow knows !
First passion of my ardent youth !
The memory of thy tenderness,
Thy guilelessness, thy artless truth,
Like Eden visions 'round me press !
'Mid thickest wild, 'mid gloomy shade,
Thy image fancy shall pursue ;
Thy form shall mem'ry all pervade,
And bid me wake to love anew !
Lo! as thou wert thou dost return,
As sad as when I wont to stray:
As warmly do thy kisses burn.
As when I bent my homeward way.
'Mid the obscurest depths of space,
Wher'er thou wander'st distant far,
Thy footsteps still I fondly trace,
Beyond where glides the farthest star.
There, in thine innocence endued,
Thou sharest heaven's holiest, brightest light:
Where mind with heavenly strength renewed,
Assays a bolder, nobler flight !
18
274 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
There thou dost bask in light of Him,
Whose love thy happiness prepares,
And minglest with the angels' hymn,
For earthborn loves thy tender prayer !
There, in the book of love divine,
Thou read'st how best of friends must part,
And mark'st how mercy doth assign
The future of thy earthly part.
Perfected soul ! beloved below,
Yet not beloved as was thy due,
How dark my ravished bosom glow,
To mark that soul's celestial hue !
With eager hope my heart is fired !
Ope wide thy arms ! To thee I fly,
In peaceful love, by heaven inspired,
With thee to dwell eternally !
Eleven editions of his poems were published during
his lifetime and they were translated into other lan-
guages. Schiller thought so highly of them, that when
he fled from Stuttgart the only books he took with him
were his Shakespeare and his Haller.
But it is especially to Haller, as the Christian, that
we wish to refer. He was the great apologist of re-
ligion in a day when defenders were few. His advocacy
of the old faith brought down on him the attacks of the
rationalists of his day. Thus La Mettrie, the blatant
materialist, published his work, "Man a Machine" (1747).
which reduced man to a machine and took all the spir-
itual out of him. He had the audacity to dedicate it to
Haller, saying it was founded on some principles dis-
covered by Haller. Haller felt greatly insulted to find
his name at the beginning of a book that denied the
fundamentals of religion and denied that he had had any
relations with La Mettrie. Thereupon the latter pub-
lished a story of the most absurd character, stating that
he had attended Haller's lectures at Gottingen in 1735
(Haller did not go to Gottingen till 1736), and told a
BERN
275
burlesque story of the austere Haller figuring in scenes
most foreign to his habits, among others presiding at a
supper of the nymphs, who frequented the gardens of
Gottingen. Haller protested against this travesty to the
president of the Academy of Sciences, at Berlin, of which
both La Mettrie and himself were members. He also
wrote a long refutation of the book. But La Mettrie
died before the academy could act on the matter or the
book be published.
Haller's two most important defences of religion were
written near the close of his life. The first was his
"Letters on the Most Important Truths of Revelation"
(1772). These were a popular defence of revelation and
the supernatural. He came to write them because of an
incident. He was summoned by a minister to the death-
bed of a prominent leader of Bern, who implored him to
write something stating clearly the grounds of Christian
belief, because Evangelical religion was so much attacked
at that time. His friend suggested that a layman could
write with peculiar power. He published them in the
shape of letters to his daughter. The first of these let-
ters contains in the second chapter the first question and
answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, which was his fav-
orite catechism. He had been brought up in it and it
was his creed. Its joyful way of stating religion was a
fine keynote to the book. He then goes on to give the
fundamental truths of religion, God, creation, fall, in-
carnation, mediation of Christ, immortality, the truth
of the Bible, the reality of miracles and prophecy. These
letters were a monument of his religious spirit and theo-
logical knowledge. In them he declares his theology
to be the Bible. They proved to be very popular, espe-
cially for the young. And even as late as 1858, Professor
Auberlen, of Basle, had them reprinted as a suitable
reply to the infidelity of the nineteenth century as they
had been to the eighteenth.
276 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
The second defense of Haller's was his "Letters
against the Free Thinkers" (1775). It is directed
against La Mettrie, Voltaire and the philosophers of the
Encyclopedia, Diderot and D'Alembert. To Haller the
denial of God was fundamental and destroyed both re-
ligion and ethics. But his great aim was not merely
to answer their arguments, but to save their souls, and
in one of them he gives a most beautiful prayer for the
salvation of Voltaire's soul. One is surprised that so
great a natural philosopher does not use arguments from
nature, but he seems to avoid them, perhaps because the
prevailing deistic philosophy of the time made so much
use of them to set aside the Bible. He claimed the Bible,
and not nature, was his proof.
Both books reveal a remarkable combination of im-
pressiveness and familiarity with religion, coming as they
did from a layman and scientist. They exerted great in-
fluence. He, with Newton and Euler, proves that the
most exact sciences do not necessarily shake our faith
in revelation. He proved what seemed strange to many in
those days, that a natural philosopher could be a defender
of religion.
A third important book, revealing Haller's religion,
was his "Diary," published some years after his death, as
a reply to one of his biographers, who had charged him
with being a secret Catholic. His diary extends from
1734 to 1777, the date of his death. Of course, he never
dreamt of its publication and it is therefore all the more
valuable as revealing his inner life. It reveals him as a
very pious man. It stands out in contrast with Ros-
seau's Confessions and his sentimental vagaries, for here
is a strong, firm faith in God as his refuge. His diary
has been well compared with Lavater's, in its deep Chris-
tian spirit. It reveals that with him religion was an in-
stinct, entering into all his spheres of life. However, it has
been well said, that his piety was mainly of an ethical
BERN
277
character rather than experimental. To great conscien-
tiousness he joined deep humility on account of his sense
of sin. But at the same time he rejoiced continually, as
in the presence of God. To him, naturalist as he was,
nature was not the end as with so many scientists, but
God. While clinging closely to the old orthodoxy, he
was yet liberal in spirit. And yet there was one exception
to this. He could not endure the Catholics, because of
the corruption of their hierarchy and of their persecuting
spirit, for the sufferings of the Waldensian refugees had
deeply impressed him as a boy.
Haller was a many-sided character, but religion
pervaded it all. Two men stand out in strong contrast
in Switzerland at that time. Both were poets, scholars,
litterateurs and scientists. But the one, Voltaire, was the
skeptic, the other, Haller, was the Christian. By the
greatness of his learning and the firmness of his faith,
Haller destroyed the influence of Voltaire. Maria Ther-
esa was right when she told her son to pass Ferney, for
Bern, for the Henriade of Voltaire is forgotten, but Hal-
lers "Alps" still lives. He has been compared to Leib-
nitz, because he was epochmaking in thought, for nothing
seemed to escape his eagle eye. Universal, like Voltaire,
he was profound like Leibnitz. As Lessing says, "Hal-
ler belonged to the fortunate learned, who even in this
life, gain such a fame as few gain after death."
CHAPTER IV
Geneva
The church of Geneva and of Calvin, once the Ther-
mopylae of the Reformed faith and the stronghold of
Calvinistic orthodoxy, now goes into eclipse. Ortho-
doxy gives way to Socinianism. Instead of J. Alphonse
Turretin now came Vernet and his successors. The
descent at Geneva is greater than at Zurich, for at Zurich
a very respectable minority contended for the old faith,
even though the antistes was a rationalist. But at Gen-
eva, the Evangelicals became so crushed that early in
the nineteenth century hardly a witness for orthodoxy
could be found. And too, Voltaire, the arch-infidel of
his day, and Rosseau, whose only religion was nature, ap-
peared about the same time at Geneva, to aid the move-
ment toward infidelity. It is true the Church of Geneva
protested against the errors of these men, but a Socinian
church can make only a weak defence against men from
whom she differed so little. In 1709 Geneva had pun-
ished a man for being a deist. By the end of the eigh-
teenth century she, herself, becomes virtually Socinian,
which is very close to deism.
Section i
the downgrade at geneva
Changes were everywhere the order of the day at
Geneva. There were changes in the creeds. We have
already noticed how the Helvetic Consensus and the Hel-
vetic Confession were set aside and the subscription since
1706 was only to the Old and New Testament, and to
278
GENEVA
279
Calvin's catechism. Had Geneva stopped there, she
would have done well. But in 1725 action was taken
making the catechism of Calvin no longer the legal oath
for subscription, but only for the foundation of doctrine.
The church became confessionless.
The catechism, as well as the creeds, changed. Other
catechisms came in to replace Calvin's, some Arminian,
some rationalistic. Osterwald's, in 1731, supplanted Cal-
vin's and differed from it mainly by omitting original sin
and predestination. In 1742 a motion to set aside Cal-
vin's catechism was voted down. In 1770 Vernet pro-
posed that Osterwald's should take its place, but Calvin's
was used to some extent till 1780. But other catechisms,
as Vernes' (1774) and Martin's, came into use. Prof.
Anton Maurice, the last remaining outspoken Calvinist,
attacked Vernes' catechism, in 1781, and the whole edi-
tion was suppressed. But liberalism triumphed over him,
for in 1787 the Venerable Company ordered a revision of
Osterwald's catechism, by Vernes. This official cate-
chism of Vernes was published (1788) and went beyond
Osterwald into rationalism. (Thus Osterwald held to
the historical account of the fall of Eden, but Vernes
had not a word to say about the fall, only that Eden was
a beautiful place. Osterwald taught the trinity, Vernes
not only left it out, but to still farther efface it, gave
a four-fold division of the Apostles' Creed, which is un-
doubtedly trinitarian in its divisions. This catechism
calls Jesus the unique Son of God, because of his mirac-
ulous birth, the excellence of his nature and his intimate
union with God. Therefore, he was designated by the
Jews as Messiah. But it does not call him God. Thus
the catechism of 1788 led still farther into heterodoxy.)
What made its influence so pernicious was that it was
not only adopted by the Venerable Company, but its use
was made obligatory. The ministers had no option but
to use it. They could not use an Evangelical catechism,
28o THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
and so the youth grew up ignorant of the Gospel. Thus
the rationalists forced their book on the few Evangeli-
cals who remained in Geneva. Later, when the cate-
chism of 1814 was adopted, it contained no doctrine of
redemption, ignored the divinity of Christ, by repre-
senting him simply as an ambassador from heaven, the
first-born of every creature, whom we should not wor-
ship, only reverence.
But not only was the catechism changed, but the
Scriptures also. The old French version of Olivetan
had long been used, but Martin revised it (1723) and the
Martin version was then used, as also Ostervvald's.
Then, after gathering together material for three-quarters
of a century, the Venerable Company published a new
translation in 1805. This is remarkable in being the only
rationalistic version of the Bible, except perhaps a Uni-
tarian version in English. This version was deliber-
ately made as rationalistic as possible. It claimed to be
a literal translation, but the letter killeth the spirit and
criticism often runs riot with truth. Thus, in the first
chapter of Genesis, it reads: "A wind (not 'the Spirit'
as in our version) stirred up the face of the waters."
Wherever it could, it lowered the supernatural. When
there was a choice of readings, it used those against
orthodoxy, even if the latter were supported by a better
text. Thus Isaiah 9:5 has, instead of the "Father of
Eternity," "Father of the age to come." In John 3 : 36,
"he that believeth" is translated by "he that is obedient"
(which is quite different from the original), for they did
not want to give any chance to the doctrine of justifica-
tion by faith. All these reveal such liberties with the
text as to make the translation valueless. Yet it was the
official version of Geneva. It was considered so hetero-
dox that the churches of France repudiated its use. It
is a sad fact that the only church that published a ra-
tionalistic Bible was Geneva, the home of Calvin. And
GENEVA 281
the tyranny of the rationalists is shown by their making
its use obligatory. Such was the freedom of rationalism.
In 1835 they published a new edition of this, at the
Reformation festival, which seemed a travesty on the
Reformers, because it denied their fundamental doc-
trines.
The liturgy also sympathized with these changes. It
had been said by German liturgists that rationalism short-
ened or set aside the use of set-forms in favor of free
worship. This was not true in Switzerland, especially
in Geneva. Rationalism there did the opposite, — it set
aside free prayer and made all the service liturgical, and
enlarged the forms. Often, as the heart goes out of the
religion through rationalism, the forms come in. In-
deed, it sometimes seems as if rationalism, by an increased
use of forms for worship, were trying to make up for
what it felt itself lacking in doctrine. It is true changes
in the liturgy began even under Alphonse Turretin. In
1717 Turretin had the free prayer before and after the
sermon, customary since the Reformation, replaced by a
prescribed prayer. In 1737 confirmation was introduced.
Still the liturgy clung to the old doctrines longer even
than many of the ministers did in their sermons. Even
when the old Evangelical doctrines were no longer in the
sermon, they could still be found in the liturgical prayers
and the hymns. Most of the old Reformed doctrines
found a place until near the end of the eighteenth cen-
tury. Then the most severe parts of Beza's famous con-
fession of sin were left out. The edition of 1743 had the
phrase, "the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all
sin," but the edition of 1807 left it out. Empeytaz said
of this liturgy that it designated Christ by terms that
did not imply his divinity.
Thus, in every way, rationalism and Socinianism en-
trenched itself at Geneva. Voltaire declared he would
destroy the church. He did not need to do it, the church
282 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
was gradually destroying itself. Nevertheless, as we
shall see in the next part of this book, the church, like her
Lord, always has the power of resurrection. Even when
she seems to be dead, often under God's Spirit a reaction
takes place, which produces a revival.
Section 2
prof. jacob vernet
After the death of J. Alphonse Turretin, his suc-
cessor, Jacob Vernet, became the theological leader of
Geneva for a half century. He was born August 29,
1698. His decision to enter the ministry is interesting.
"When I was a boy," he says, "I saw the celebrated
Prof. B. Pictet, who asked of me the residence of an aged
and dying lady, who desired his visit. I led him to the
place, and with the curiosity of a child I stayed in the
chamber to hear him. His words, and especially his
prayer, overturned my soul. Her figure, deeply pained
by the malady, little by little gained a calm and celestial
expression. This caused in me an indescribable emotion
and I resolved to devote myself to the ministry, of which
the blessings were so manifest on those suffering."
He studied theology in Geneva, and then became
private tutor in Paris (1720-29). In company with
Mark Turretin, the son of J. Alphonse Turretin, he vis-
ited Germany, Holland and England. In 1739 he was
made professor of literature and history, and in 1750, at
the death of Turretin, professor of theology. He claimed
to stand on Turretin's shoulders theologically, but he went
beyond him from orthodoxy.
As leader of Geneva at that time, he came into con-
tact with Voltaire. He had met Voltaire while at Paris,
and since that time had had some correspondence with
him. When Voltaire came to Geneva, he flattered Ver-
net, declaring that he wanted to be near him, so as to
consult him, and that he preferred his friendship above
GENEVA 283
that of Frederick the Great. When Voltaire began his
attacks on the Genevan Church, it became his duty to de-
fend the church against him. For this Voltaire unmerci-
fully lampooned him. Voltaire wrote "Robert Coville," in
which he makes all sorts of charges against Vernet, as of
immorality, theft of manuscripts, literary intrigues, etc.
Vernet, greatly insulted, demanded an investigation be-
for the council, and the council cleared him. Voltaire
wanted Vernet to compromise, and Vernet, to set matters
right, went to Ferney, where Voltaire lived, to see him.
Voltaire received him politely and seemed to recognize
his errors. As Vernet was about to leave for Geneva,
Voltaire asked him to make use of his carriage, which
was standing there. Vernet stepped into the carriage.
But when he arrived at the city wall, not wishing to ex-
pose himself to the crowd that always gathered around
Voltaire's carriage, to see what distinguished stranger
Voltaire had been entertaining, he called to the coach-
man to stop, and he would alight. But the coachman,
having been previously directed by Voltaire not to stop
till he brought Vernet to the center of the city, only
whipped up his horses. When the carriage stopped in
Geneva a crowd gathered and were quite surprised to
see Vernet step out of Voltaire's carriage. He had to
explain why he was in Voltaire's carriage, and he told
them he had arranged matters amicably with Voltaire,
as Voltaire had granted the falsity of his charges. But
it did not last long, for soon Voltaire was again satirizing
him and Geneva. Voltaire composed this verse on him :
"If I think of a sinister face, a hideous forehead, an air
starched like a pendant,
A yellow neck with an inclining stump, an eye of pig
attached to earth,
I would declare to you at once that that monkey is
Tartuffe or Vernet."
It also became Vernet's duty to reply to Rosseau.
284 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
They had previously corresponded. When Voltaire so
violently attacked Vernet, Rosseau defended the latter.
But when the consistory denounced Rosseau's "New
Heloise," as a dangerous book, and the council ordered
the burning of "Emile," Rosseau wrote against him and
finally Vernet replied severely.
His reputation reached far beyond Geneva. Thus
in 1770 the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia and
Philadelphia asked of him advice about church govern-
ment and their method of instruction in Geneva. As a
liberal theologian, he counselled them to avoid dogmatic
disputes and cling to the main points of faith, especially
those that made for practical piety. These churches evi-
dently did not know of the Socinianism in the Church of
Geneva at that time. He died March 26, 1789.
He wrote a number of works, mainly apologetical.
His most famous work was his "Christian Instruction,"
in five volumes. Its contents were not originally intended
for publication, but were the questions and answers he
had used in his lecture-room during the many years he
had taught. They reveal his departures from orthodoxy.
The doctrine of the trinity is passed by. Of Christ it is
only said that God was united with him in a very inti-
mate way. The Holy Spirit acts on us, not in a super-
natural way, but naturally. Original sin was given up.
Vicarious atonement was relegated to the region of
silence. He emphasized the ethical side of the Gospel,
forgetting the Evangelical. In his "Selected Pamphlets,"
published 1758-77, he denied Christ's divinity, though he
claimed not to be a Socinian, because he placed Christ's
nature above that of men and angels. But this was an
Arian position. He reveals how the church, with him-
self, had virtually gone into Socinianism.
GENEVA 285
Section 3
voltaire and the genevan church
We have noted the downgrade at Geneva, from Beza
and his supralapsarianism, through F. Turretin and his
Cocceianism, to J. Alphonse Turretin and his liberalism,
and finally to Vernet and his Socinianism. Geneva evi-
dently wanted to get hold of rationalism, and she got more
than she wanted. For God sent to her, in Voltaire, as he
had once done to the Israelites of old, a hornet, to
scourge her. The attacks of Voltaire on Christianity,
and especially on the Church of Geneva, are the most dia-
bolical ever attempted. And it is also true that the
Church of Geneva, having, like Esau, sold her birthright
of Evangelical Christianity for a mess of pottage of So-
cinianism, was not in condition to defend herself. This
Voltaire knew, and he burlesqued her before the world
with awful power.
In 1754 Voltaire came to Geneva from Germany. He
had just before had a quarrel with Frederick the Great,
King of Prussia, which had made both infidels the laugh-
ing-stock of Europe. Geneva was not very anxious to
have him come. For he was a Catholic, and Geneva al-
lowed no Catholics there. And he was an infidel satirist,
and Geneva was not sure how he might let loose his
satire on her. Soon after he arrived he bought a home,
which he called "The Delights."* When Voltaire was
buying this place Vernet wrote to him that the only
thing that troubled the Genevese were his sentiments
about religion, and he expressed the hope that Voltaire
would aid the city in turning the youth from irreligion,
and in that case he would be honored by all and feared
* It is located on the road to Lyons, near the city-gate, near
where the Arve and Rhone rivers meet. The road near it is
to-day named after his home, Rue des Delicies. The mansion
was some time ago occupied as a young ladies' boarding school.
286 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
by none. Voltaire replied briefly, February 5, 1755 :
"What you write concerning religion is very reasonable.
I detest intolerance and fanaticism. I respect your re-
ligion as I love and respect your republic. I am too old,
too sick, and a little too severe toward young people."
How he kept these sentiments will be seen hereafter. At
"The Delights" he lived ostentatiously, for he had great
wealth and entertained many strangers. The coming of
his carriage into Geneva always made a sensation. On
one occasion he was not pleased with the curiosity of the
people. "What do you want, boobies that you are?" he
asked from the upper step of the bank. "Do you wish
to see a skeleton? Behold one." Throwing open his
cloak, he exhibited his meagre form to the throng, who
applauded him, as with difficulty he entered the carriage.
In the beginning all went well, but soon Voltaire's natural
quarrelsomeness got the better of him. He wanted to
make Puritanic Geneva as gay as Paris. All extrava-
gance and theatre-going were forbidden there by law.
One day, when one of the great actors of Paris was his
guest, he had one of his plays, "Zaire," played at his
house and invited the magistrates of Geneva. He wrote
to a friend gleefully that the council of Geneva shed
tears at the performance. "I have never seen the people
so moved," he wrote. "Never before were the Calvinists
so tender." The government of Geneva passed over this
first theatrical performance, but later took action against
it. In the meanwhile the awful Lisbon earthquake oc-
curred, which upset the popular theology of the eighteenth
century. Leibnitz's optimism, that this was the best of
all possible worlds, had had universal sway. But how
could an earthquake that came on the people not in the
midst of their sin as a judgment of God, but on them on
their holiest of days, All Saints' Day, and killed 15,000
of them (many of them at worship in the churches), be
explained? Voltaire took advantage of the situation to
GENEVA 287
write a poem about it, so as to raise doubts. This and
other publications, as his "Universal History" (1758),
which represented religion as the scourge of the race,
brought down on him the wrath of Geneva. But it was
his theatre that was the straw that broke the camel's
back. The consistory of Geneva learned that he was
preparing to recruit the young people of Geneva so as
to give a theatrical performance. They forbade it and
Voltaire submitted.
But at his first opportunity, after being at "The De-
lights" for three years, he bought a place at Ferney,
just over the border, in France, three and a half miles
northwest of Geneva. At that time he had a home at
Geneva, one in France, and one in Lausanne. He tried
to live under several governments, so that if he were in
danger from one he could flee to another. At Ferney
he built a church and had inscribed on it in Latin, "Vol-
taire erected to God." He went to mass in it a few
times. As soon as he was out of reach of Geneva he built
a theatre at Ferney.* Thither he brought the leading
actor of Paris, Lekain. His object in building it was to
corrupt the youth of Geneva. He issued invitations broad-
cast through the country. The Genevan pastors warned
their people not to attend, but the people went in crowds.
And Voltaire rubbed his hands in glee at the helplessness
of the pastors.
This was only the beginning of his efforts. In 1757
D'Alembert, the great editor of the infidel Encyclopaedia,
spent five weeks with him. He was kindly received by
the ministers and councillors of Geneva. At Voltaire's
suggestion D'Alembert paid his respects to them by
writing them up in his Encyclopaedia thus: "In a word,
they have no other religion than a perfect Socinianism,
* The theatre is still standing, though used as a hayloft.
The box is preserved at which Voltaire cheered his own and
others' plays.
2S8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
rejecting all that is called mystery, and imagining that
the first principle of true religion must be to propose
nothing for belief that is offensive to reason." This
article produced a great sensation at Geneva and through-
out Europe. For Geneva had had the reputation of be-
ing the citadel of Protestantism. The Venerable Com-
pany protested against the article and appointed a com-
mission to reply to it, who spent six weeks in drawing
up a statement which they sent to foreign (fhurches. It
denied the charges and declared that they held to the
inspiration of the Scripture and believed in a Christ who
was the "fulness of the Godhead bodily." But by this
Scripture quotation they did not mean an incarnation but
an endowing of the man Jesus with the strength of God.
Manhood was thus made the basis of Christ's person,
and not his Godhead as the orthodox held. They also
passed a severe action against Voltaire, whom they held
to be morally responsible for the act. In a word, they
felt themselves tricked by their arch-enemy. But the
fact remained that D'Alembert's charge was true. The
secret was out. The infidel had uncovered it. For the
Church of Geneva was no longer the church of Calvin,
but the church of Servetus. Thus did Voltaire plague
Geneva. His sneer was that whenever he shook his wig
he powdered the whole republic of Geneva.
Soon another opportunity came for him to annoy
Geneva. When, in 1763, Robert Coville was censured
by the Geneva consistory for immorality, it demanded
that when he was restored to the church he must kneel.
This he refused to do, and Voltaire, seeing his oppor-
tunity, took up his case. Pamphlets enough to fill three
large volumes appeared. Voltaire defended him with all
the weapons of his satire. He made him the leading char-
acter in a burlesque poem, "War in Geneva," which over-
whelmed the consistory with ridicule. These things made
such a stir that, a few month later, the city council de-
GENEVA 289
cided against the consistory and set aside the necessity
of kneeling. Thus, after a six years' struggle, Voltaire
triumphed.
As time went on Voltaire became more and more
bitter, amounting to a fanaticism against religion. His
motto was "ecrasez l'infame" (crush the monster). This
phrase he frequently used in his letters, in imitation of
Cato, who ended his letters thus, with "Crush Carthage
the monster." But the monster of Voltaire was the
supernatural in religion, especially when it enforced its
demands with penalties. His efforts now become dia-
bolical. Never was there a more insidious persistent
effort to uproot religion than his. "Twelve men built
up Christianity," he used to say, "one will pull it
down," referring to himself. His literary genius, his
wit, his sarcasm, his great wealth and influence, were all
invoked against Christianity. He then proceeded to fill
Geneva with infidel publications. The Genevese gov-
ernment forbade their circulation. He would have his
infidel books published with the imprint of Geneva on
them, although they were not published there. When he
published his "Philosophical Dictionary," in eight volumes,
in 1764, the Genevese were angry, and it was well for him
that he did not live in the city. When its first volumes
arrived the consistory had them seized because of their
impiety. Tronchin called on Voltaire at Ferney, and asked
him to have the book withdrawn. Voltaire only shrugged
his shoulders. Then he played a trick. While the police
seized the original copies as they were sent in, other
copies were sent in under an assumed name. Tronchin,
indignant, had the book burned before the city hall. This
greatly enraged Voltaire, and he only redoubled his ef-
forts by multiplying such books.
He now published many books with religious titles, as
"Serious Thought of God" and "Epistle to the Romans,"
which were filled with infidel arguments and suggestions
19
290 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
of doubts. In them he hid himself under pseudonyms,
of which he is said to have used 108. He thus emptied
his arsenal of unbelief into Geneva. He confidently ex-
pected that two of his books would demolish Christianity,
his "Philosophical Dictionary" and "Gospel of Reason."
He made supreme efforts, sending 600 copies to well-
paid colporteurs, who were to offer them to all strangers
passing through Geneva, and to scatter them in public
places. His colporteurs stuffed them among papers and
parcels in the stores. They were fastened to door-bells
or slipped in under the doors. Every evening they were
placed on the benches in the park. The city made great
efforts to find out who distributed them, but never was
able. Even the catechisms of the children were tam-
pered with. These catechisms began religiously, but
soon were filled with suggestions of doubt to the chil-
dren. Here appears a curious revenge of history. The
Venerable Company had given up Calvin's catechism as
too orthodox. Now they got more than they wanted in
a catechism like this. These catechisms of Voltaire were
gotten into the hands of the children being prepared for
confirmation. It was a horrible, a blasphemous thing
thus to undermine and mock the simple faith of a child
just when it is trying to believe. But Voltaire was
capable of doing anything — the worse, the better he liked
it. Thus, he had copies of his "Philosophical Diction-
ary," so full of doubts, bound like a psalm-book and
left on the benches of the Madeline Church, for the
use of the young people
The Genevan Church, in all this, got more than she
wanted. She made replies to Voltaire repeatedly. She
could boast of her orthodoxy very easily, especially when
compared with Voltaire's — anybody could; but, as com-
pared with orthodoxy, she was sadly lacking. Voltaire
used to call her members shame-faced Socinians, and
he was right. All their efforts to counteract this ac-
GENEVA 291
tivity were in vain; and no wonder. For what good
reply could Socinianism make to infidelity when it is
itself half-infidelity. They, therefore, failed, and their
failure only humiliated them the more before the world.
They were beginning to find that the down-grade in
doctrine ultimately meant suicide.
Voltaire boasted that he would destroy the church.
Did he succeed? No. For the church still exists at
Geneva and elsewhere to-day stronger than ever. The
reply then made to Voltaire was that he might as well
pull down the stars as pull down Christianity. But his
failure is a fine illustration of how far a little Christianity
can go. Even the low type of Christianity as then found
in Geneva was stronger than this greatest apostle of in-
fidelity. The Genevan Church, without the Evangelical
doctrines, was in a very poor condition to combat Vol-
taire's genius and influence. If so little religion can put
to flight so great infidelity, then we need not fear. If
infidelity could not destroy what was almost a pseudo-
Christianity — a Christianity with Christ's divinity and
atonement left out of it — it can never hope to destroy
the Evangelical Church of to-day, so full of life and
energy and so full of the love of Christ and the hope of
ultimate triumph. Surely, as our Master said, "the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Voltaire, after living at or near Geneva for nearly a
quarter of a century (1754-78), finally left it for Paris,
where he died, May 30, 1778. The only event in all
his life that to any extent lightens the awful blackness
of his diabolical attempt to destroy the church was his
effort for religious liberty — he succeeded in getting the
family of Calas, of France, free.
Finally, to complete the demoralization of the Ge-
nevan Church came the French Revolution. What
Alphonse Turretin began and Vernet continued and
Voltaire aided— this, the revolution completed. Geneva
292
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
became a department of France. Many of the endow-
ments of the professors were lost and the number of
theological professors was lessened to two. The Cath-
olics were allowed citizenship in Geneva, a privilege
never granted them before, and by 1810 there were 4,000
of them in Geneva. In all these political changes Prot-
estantism lost. The masses lost respect for the church,
many of the men ridiculed it, and the congregations were
largely made up of women. The levity of the French,
too, came in to dissipate the sturdy solidity of Swiss
character, and Geneva degenerated to what it has been
ever since — a little Paris — an imitation of Paris.
How great was the descent from Calvin to this.
Geneva, the city that, under Calvin, had been a city set
on a hill, whose light could not be hid — the model city,
the wonder of its day — had fallen into an abyss. The
church which so successfully had resisted all the plots of
Romanism for centuries was finally captured by its op-
posite, rationalism. For two centuries and more Geneva
had held to its Calvinism; but half a century had un-
done it all. And it has taken another century to undo
the work of the eighteenth century. But from the down-
grade we will soon turn to watch the up-grade. What
Voft'aite, in the eighteenth century, aimed to destroy,
Hatdane, in the nineteenth century, aimed to upbuild.
The story of the Revival at Geneva in 1817 is more
wonderful than the down-grade, and will prove more
interesting.
Section 4
rosseau and the genevan crurch
It seems an anomaly to put John Jacob Rosseau, the
flippant and wicked, into a church history; yet his works
exerted so great an influence politically and religiously
that it seems to be necessary. At any rate, he serves
GENEVA 293
as a foil to Voltaire, though not so great an arch-infidel;
and his influence is lessened by his gross inconsistencies.
He was the most brilliant Genevese of his day in the
realm of literature.
John Jacob Rosseau was born June 28, 1712. "I cost
my mother her life," he said, "and my birth was the first
of my misfortunes." Sickly at birth, he grew up an
imaginative, morbid child. At the age of ten his father
forsook him, and he was reared for a time by an aunt.
She was a follower of Magny the pietist, and he was
thus for a time under pietistic influences. How different
his life would have been had he followed her influence —
he might have become a great reformer to Geneva in
an age when she greatly needed one. But the next year
he left her to learn the trade of engraving. At the age
of sixteen he fled from his cruel employer to Savoy,
and there, under a proselyting priest, he became Catholic.
At Turin, under the influence of a deistic priest, he lost
his youthful faith and became ever after, at heart, an
adherent of merely natural religion.
We pass over his relations to Madame Warens in
Savoy, his wickedness in Paris, and his ten years' strug-
gle against poverty there before he gained fame in the
literary world, in order to take up his relation to Geneva
and Christianity. In 1754, at the age of forty-two, he
returned to Geneva, where he was highly honored for
his literary fame. In order to become a citizen of Geneva
he returned to the Reformed Church. But religion sat
lightly on him, and he could easily pass from one to the
other — Reformed, Catholic, agnostic. And it is to be re-
membered that the Socinianism of the Church of Geneva
of his day had as little religion as possible, which made
that church suit his light religious nature. But after
four months he left Geneva for Paris. His political
work, "A Discourse on the Equality of Man," which he
dedicated to Geneva, was coldly received there. For al-
294 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
though Switzerland was a republic, Geneva was an aris-
tocracy, and he taught democracy, a dangerous thing
to do in those days. Besides, he hated to be near to
Voltaire, who came to Geneva. Strange to say, Ros-
seau got into a controversy with this arch-infidel and de-
fended religion against him. For they were opposites
politically. While Rosseau was a democrat, Voltaire
was an aristocrat with a contemptuous kindliness for the
masses. "They are stupid men," he said, "barbarous
oxen who need only a goad, a yoke and some hay." When
Voltaire tried to introduce the theatre into Geneva, Ros-
seau attacked him for trying to spoil the simple customs
of the city, and yet Rosseau had already written some
plays. But it was Voltaire's poem on the earthquake
at Lisbon that Rosseau attacked most severely. Voltaire
had used that calamity as an argument to show that God
was not kind. Rosseau, in a letter, replied that such
calamities were not the result of God's providence, but
arose from man's errors. While, according to the pious,
providence is always right, and, according to the philoso-
phers (like Voltaire), providence is always wrong, he
held a middle view that providence was neither right nor
wrong in respect to individuals, but acted only in general
affairs. This letter Voltaire published, which so enraged
Rosseau that he replied that Voltaire appeared to believe
in a God, but never really believed in anything but the
devil. Voltaire returned this by calling him a dog of
Diogenes, etc. And so these two unbelievers quarreled
as Voltaire and King Frederick the Great had done, to
the amusement of Christians, and as leaders of infidelity
are apt to do.
Three books made Rosseau famous: his "Heloise,"
his "Social Contract," and his "Emile." The first we
need not notice, but the other two must be considered,
as they concern religion. His "Social Contract" was the
most important political book of the latter part of the
GENEVA 295
eighteenth century. This is not the place to go at any
length into its political teachings, except in barest out-
line. Its title revealed its novelty — that society was
based on a contract among individuals. This differed
from the old Biblical views that society was a covenant
between God and man. It differed also from the view
prevalent for centuries regarding the divine right of
kings. He claimed that in case of usurpation, the con-
tract was broken, and the other party could do as they
pleased. Its opening sentence was a bomb-shell to Eu-
ropean nations : "Man is born free and yet is everywhere
enslaved." Many of its principles were incorporated in
the American Declaration of Independence, which held
that man was born free and equal. Napoleon said that
without Rosseau there would have been no French Revo-
lution, and his remark is true. A very interesting con-
trast is sometimes made between Calvin and Rosseau.
Calvin, or rather Calvinism, led to the formation of re-
publics; Rosseau, to the French Revolution. What was
lacking in Rosseau's views? It was religion. Rosseau's
democracy needed the steadying religious influence
of Calvinism to make it permanent and a blessing to men.
But it is to the religious side of Rosseau that we need
here to direct our attention. In this work he makes
Catholicism the religion of priests, and he claims it dis-
solves society. He attacks early Christianity as hostile
to the state because it was spiritual and unsocial, while
all true citizens should have a religion that inspires to
social duties. Religion with him is reduced to two dog-
mas : belief in a God and in immortality. But, democrat
as he was, he held, strange to say, that a man who was not
willing to accept religion ought to be banished or put to
death. (Here was the old Genevan spirit that put Ser-
vetus to death rising up in him.) Strange to say, these
views of his bore fruit in the French Revolution. There
were then two parties in France : the rationalistic Voltaire
296 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
party of the Commune and the party of the sentimental
Rosseau. The first desecrated the churches and set up
the goddess of reason for worship. Robespierre, who was
a follower of Rosseau, retaliated by protesting against
such atheism. The atheistic party succumbed and their
leaders were sent to the guillotine on true Rosseauan
principles for having no religion. Thus Rosseau, with
all his republicanism, had not yet gotten to religious lib-
erty which respects the views of even atheists and
infidels.
But it is his "Emile," published 1763, that especially
develops his religious views. It, like the "Social Con-
tract," was an epoch-making book, only on education.
Goethe called it "the gospel of education." It seems
strange that a man like Rosseau, who placed his five ille-
gitimate children in a foundling asylum to be reared,
would be able to speak authoritatively on the best method
of training children. Yet, perhaps, it was the deficiency
in his own training when a boy that may have prepared
him to write it. In his day there was little home train-
ing of children, especially in French-speaking lands.
Education was by tutors or by priests and after a parrot
fashion. The children were sent to the country to be
reared, so that the parents might be free from their care.
His first principle was that the children ought to be
reared by their parents. His second was that a child
should be permitted to develop according to the pecu-
liarities of his own nature without restraint and without
having prejudices or artificial faults implanted in him.
Every child was good until education made him bad.
So Emile, his hero, an orphan, up to twelve years of age
had no instruction in any book and no restraint what-
ever was placed on him. He was brought up so ignorant
of religion that, at fifteen, he does not know there is a
God, for he was not to hear the name of God till his
reason was fairly ripened. "Better no idea of a God
GENEVA 297
than an unworthy one," said Rosseau. But although
Rosseau believed that education must not be by rule or
rote, but according to the development of the nature of
the child, yet his Emile, educated according to the strict
rules of this plan, became merely a puppet. However, his
book had a wonderful influence everywhere in leading to
the education of the child naturally. But, of course, his
views of the religious education of the child without
God were contrary to Scripture and undermined religion
wherever introduced.
But it is the religious, not the educational side of this
book in which we are interested. He gives the creed of
the Vicar of Savoy. It is really agnosticism or ignorance
of God. He aimed by it to compromise between the
bald atheism of his day and traditional orthodoxy. But
he was far from Evangelical. He held there was no
need of a revelation as in the Bible, for man had that in
his heart within him and in nature around him. He
knows there is a Supreme Being, but does not know him.
And the less he conceives God, the more he adores him.*
But, in connection with this, he pays one of the finest
tributes to Jesus Christ that ever was paid by an infidel.
He writes :
"Where did Jesus learn among His people that
morality, so lofty and so pure, of which He alone has
given lessons and the example? From the midst of the
most furious fanaticism, the highest wisdom made itself
heard; and the simplicity of the most heroic virtues sheds
lustre on the basest of all vices. The death of Socrates,
* The creed of the Savoyard Vicar consists of three articles,
as follows :
1. There is a will that sets the universe in motion and gives
life to nature.
2. If matter in motion points to a will, matter in motion
according to fixed laws, points to an intelligence.
3. Man is free to act, and as such is animated by an im-
material substance.
298 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
philosophizing with his friends, is the gentlest that one
could desire: that of Jesus dying in torture, abused,
mocked and cursed by all, is the most horrible that one
could fear. Socrates takes his poisoned cup and blesses
him who in tears presents it. Jesus, in the midst of
frightful suffering, prays for His infuriated executioners.
Yes, if the life and death of Socrates be that of a sage,
the life and death of Jesus is that of a God."
Thus do many liberals in theology try to make up
for the lack of their theology, by effulgent rhetoric.
"Emile" created a tremendous sensation. It was de-
nounced for undermining government by weakening re-
spect for kings, and by the Archbishop of Paris for its
atheism and blasphemy. They charged him with say-
ing that man was saved without believing in a God ; yes,
with asserting that the Christian religion did not exist.
The French parliament ordered "Emile" to be burned,
June ii, 1762, and ordered his arrest. Geneva, follow-
ing the example of Paris, as she is apt to do, ordered
that both his "Emile" and "Social Contract" should be
publicly burned, the first for its blasphemy, the second
for its republicanism. And it was done June 17, 1762.
Or, rather, it was the aristocrats at Geneva, especially
the little council, in which they had the majority, who
caused it to be burned. This led to great strife there,
for the democrats opposed it, and three times they
marched to the city hall to protest against it, the last time
numbering 600. These attacks on the council drew forth
from Robert Tronchin a defence of their action. To
this Rosseau replied in his "Letters from the Mountain,"
for Rosseau, in the meanwhile, had gone to the moun-
tains. He fled from Geneva, June 9, to Bern. But the
Bernese compelled him to leave, for Bern was aristo-
cratic and also disliked his infidelity. He went to Neu-
chatel, where the King of Prussia permitted him to live
at Motiers. Here he remained some time and replied
to the attack of the Archbishop of Paris on his book. He
GENEVA
299
also took revenge on Geneva for burning his books by
renouncing his citizenship and writing his "Letters from
the Mountain." Before that he had mainly attacked
the state, now he bitterly scores the church. His attack
was the more unexpected, as since he had defended Gen-
eva against Voltaire about the theatre, and the Genevan
Church against D'Alembert, the Church of Geneva had
been kindly disposed toward him, and its leaders, Vernes
and Vernet, were on intimate social terms with him. He
lays bare the condition of the Church of Geneva most
severely.
"It is asked," he says, "of the citizens of Geneva, if
Jesus Christ is God. They dare not answer. It is asked
if He is a mere man. They are embarrassed and will not
say they think so. They are alarmed, terrified, they
come together, they discuss, they are in agitation and
often earnest consultation and conference. All vanishes
into ambiguity, and they say neither yes nor no. O Gen-
evese, your ministers are in truth very singular people.
They do not know what they believe or what they do not
believe. They do not even know what they would wish
to appear to believe. Their only manner of establishing
their faith is to attack the faith of others."
What makes this description so interesting is that
it is so true to fact. That describes the attitude of the
Genevan pastors at that time. But it came with the force
of a bombshell. Poor Genevan Church ! Only seven years
before D'Alembert had laid bare to the gaze of the world
her denial of Calvinism and of Evangelical faith in her
Socinianism ; now Rosseau lays her condition again before
the world. Of course, her ministers replied. Professor
Claparede wrote on miracles, and Vernes on the exposi-
tion of Rosseau's "Evangelical Religion and Ministers of
Geneva." And yet against him they could not make much
of a defence, for their Christianity had degenerated peril-
ously near to Rosseau's natural theology, as they made
revelation secondary to natural religion and mainly a
3oo THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
proof of natural religion.
But he soon got into trouble at Motiers. For in Sep-
tember, 1762, he demanded to be allowed to commune at
the Reformed Church there, declaring that he was a
member of that faith. But the consistory came together
and called him before them, because of the scandal against
religion that his "Letters from the Mountain" had caused.
It is said he was so intimidated with the idea of appear-
ing before the eight members of the consistory, that he
excused himself. But they refused to allow him to com-
mune. For this the state council declared that the
pastor and consistory had exceeded their rights. And
Frederick the Great, of Prussia, was also displeased by
their action. But it is to be remembered that neither
infidels, like Frederick, nor secular authorities are the
proper parties to judge concerning church discipline. The
pastor did right. He was true to the old principles of
Calvin and his church, though it must have taken much
moral courage to do so. For how could he admit an infidel
to the sacred table of the Lord, as Scripture says the
Lord's Table is not for unbelievers? But his action stands
out in strong contrast with the action of the Catholic
priests at Ferney, who allowed Voltaire, arch-infidel as
he was, to commune at the mass.
But feeling rose against Rosseau there because of this
incident and also because his old enemy, Voltaire, sent
an anonymous letter, accusing Rosseau of atrocious
crimes. He then fled to the island of St. Peter, in the
lake of Biel, between Neuchatel and Bern. But Bern
soon compelled him to leave there. Driven out every-
where, he hardly knew where to go. Finally he went
to England, where Hume attempted to befriend him, and
failing, was severely charged by Rosseau (who at this
time had become misanthropic because of his persecu-
tions) with having joined what he considered to be a
universal conspiracy against him. Rosseau then fled to
GENEVA
301
Paris, where the old opposition against him had passed
away, and near Paris he died, in 1778, whether a suicide
or not, is undetermined. His body, like that of his
enemy Voltaire, lies in peace in the Pantheon at Paris.
His life is a sad illustration of the blight of infidelity.
As a republican he might have done much for the world,
much good; as an infidel he did it much harm. But he
harmed no one more than himself, as his sad experiences
show.
Section 5
prof. charles bonnet
Geneva, like Basle with its Euler, and Bern with its
Haller, also contributed a scientist as an apologist to
Christianity in that age of rationalism. Indeed it is re-
markable how in that age of rationalism, the men of
science, rather than the clergy, rise up to prominence in
the defence of Christianity. He was born March 13,
1720, and studied mathematics and philosophy. By 1743
he had risen to such prominence that he was made a
member of the Royal Academy of London. In 1744
he published his Insectology, and in 1754 his Psychology.
He was a philosopher and has generally been classed with
the sensual school of Condillac. In France this school
was against Christianity. But Bonnet was spiritual and
he defended it, as he held to faith in the invisible and
in the future world. He was also a natural philosopher
and loved to bring the discoveries of nature into union
with his search for God. After many years of study
in philosophy and science, he published, in 1759, "An
Analytic Essay on the Faculties of the Soul and a Con-
sideration of the Body Viewed as an Organ." As a sen-
sualist philosopher, he viewed man just as he had studied
flowers and insects. He thus emphasized the physiologi-
cal side of man. He claimed that the condition of the
302 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
soul was produced by the movements of the nerve fibres,
for the soul works along the fibres. In this he was the
forerunner of modern psychology. But though approach-
ing this subject from a materialistic standpoint, he yet
held to the immortality of the soul. In 1764 he pub-
lished a popular work, "The Contemplation of Nature."
He sees the religious everywhere in nature. The first
part treats of God and the creation, in which he labors
to trace the signs of the almighty hand of the Master.
But it was his "Palingenesia," published 1769, that
was his main apologetical work.* He treats the subject
philosophically. He says that man has two means of
arriving at the knowledge of things, by his senses and
by reflection. But neither or both of them could lead
to a moral certainty of the future state. Man must there-
fore be led to a certainty only by extraordinary means as
miracles and revelation. He defends miracles against
Hume's definition, that a miracle is a violation of the laws
of nature, and gives a philosophical analysis of the testi-
mony for miracles. Having defended miracles, he takes
up providence, and then the life of Christ and early Chris-
tianity, defending its truth against the infidels. Haller
was greatly pleased with Bonnet's discussion of revela-
tion, and published an extract from it in a German journal
in Gottingen. He declares that Bonnet proved the di-
vine mission of Christ with minuteness and philosophical
precision. Lavater was also considerably influenced by
Bonnet's writings. He utilized Bonnet's contempla-
tions of nature, as the basis of his appeal to Mendels-
sohn, the Jewish philosopher. He was also influenced
by the philosophy of "Palingenesia," for he reveals this
in the third volume of his "Views into Eternity." But
he adds something to Bonnet's organic and germ theory.
Bonnet was one of the noblest of the philosophical apolo-
* "Palingenesia" has been published in English, and entitled
"Inquiries Concerning Christianity," by Bonnet, London, 1787.
GENEVA 303
gists of his day. In his wide correspondence he exerted
a deep influence for the spiritual in that materialistic age.
By the worth of his character and the strength of his in-
tellect he was the mighty foe of Voltaire, who feared him.
And yet in it all he was free from dogmatizing, and lim-
ited himself to the defense of the truth of Christianity
and of immortality. He died May 20, 1793, in the midst
of the French Revolution. Haller was the spiritual and
practical apologist, Bonnet, the philosophical.
BOOK IV
PIETISM, OR THE REVIVAL
20
PART I
GERMAN SWIZERLAND
Pietism is a movement in the church which empha-
sizes personal experience. Over against rationalism,
which emphasizes the intellectual, it emphasizes the feel-
ings ; and over against ecclesiasticism, which emphasizes
outward forms, it makes prominent the subjective, the
inward, the personal. It has also emphasized the prac-
tical, as its glowing personal experience has led it to
various forms of Christian activity, as in the founding
of orphans' homes by the Lutheran pietist, Franke, at
Halle, in Germany.
Pietism is of two kinds, churchly and anti-churchly.
The latter forms sects and is separatistic. It criticises
the church for its laxity of church discipline and some-
times becomes very bitter against the church, calling it
Babylon, etc. Of these pietists in Switzerland we have
not time to speak, especially as they compose so small a
fraction of the population. We will consider only the
churchly pietists, — those who either remained in the
church or held to the position of churchly pietists, even
when driven out of the church, as in the case of Guldin
at Bern.*
Pietism became prominent in Switzerland later than
in Germany. Or rather this might be changed to the
statement that it came earlier in Switzerland, if we in-
* Those who desire to fully investigate the subject of Swiss
pietism, we refer to Hadorn's "History of Pietism in the Swiss
Reformed Church" and Meister's "Helvetische Sczenen," pages
62-167. Both works are in German.
307
3o8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
elude the Reformation. For it was the prophesyings
of Zwingli at Zurich, and of Calvin at Geneva (they
were also held at Bern), that were the root of all the later
pietism in the Reformed Church. Out of this Reformed
pietism the Lutheran pietism grew. For the Lutheran
Spener got his first impressions of pietism when hearing
the great French Reformed preacher, Labadie, at Geneva.
The pietists were not a party in the Reformed Church,
as in the Lutheran, but a part of her inmost life and
history. After the Reformation, the Church of Switzer-
land went into a period of dead orthodoxy, from which
the pietism at the end of the eighteenth century and the
beginning of the nineteenth, woke it up. If, however,
the Reformation is not included in our estimate of pietism,
then Germany received it before Switzerland. In Ger-
many the Reformed minister, Untereyck, introduced it
(1665) from Holland, where Voet and Lodenstein had
taught and preached it.* This was five years before
Spener began his conventicles at Frankford-on-the-Main.
Pietism did not begin in Switzerland until considerably
later than this, as we shall see.
In Germany pietism is said to have produced rational-
ism, because its intellectual narrowness led to a reac-
tion. This fact was not true in Switzerland, for there
was not, as in Germany, any wide-spread movement into
pietism so early, only a few individual witnesses, as
Lutz and D'Annoni. The rationalistic movement in
Switzerland really occurred before the great move-
ment into pietism at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. So that in Switzerland pietism did not cause
rationalism as it has been said to have done in
Germany. Rather the pietism that came in about the
beginning of the nineteenth century was a return from
* See my "History of the Reformed Church of Germany,"
pages 359-395.
PIETISM 309
rationalism, and from the effects of the French Revolu-
tion back to orthodoxy again. For pietism is founded
on orthodoxy. Only the doctrines of grace produce the
richest religious experience. But though pietism was a
return to orthodoxy, it was not a return to the former
Calvinistic orthodoxy, but rather to a general Evangeli-
cal orthodoxy — that is, an orthodoxy that was connected
with the supernatural over against rationalism.
An interesting question comes up here, — how far the
pietism of Switzerland was caused by the pietism of Ger-
many. The general impression among English readers
has been that all pietism among German-speaking peo-
ples came from Spener. This is an idea which the his-
torians of Germany, especially the Lutherans, have dili-
gently fostered. But we have just noted that the Re-
formed pietism of Germany under Untereyck came before
the Lutheran, Spener. But the Swiss pietism, did it
come from Germany, or not? Its origin in Switzerland
seems to have been independent of Germany. Guldin,
the first pietist, claims he had had no contact with Ger-
man pietists, and that it was a spontaneous movement in
Switzerland. Later, however, we find that at Schaff-
hausen the pietistic movement was somewhat of a copy
of the pietism of Germany, as it, like Franke, founded
an orphanage. So that we may say that pietism in
Switzerland was both indigenous and also related to the
pietism of Germany. The truth is that it was part of a
great spiritual movement that went over Europe, and
which appeared spontaneously in many places, often
widely separated. In this it was like the Reformation of
the sixteenth century; indeed it was a new Reformation,
for the first Reformation was reformation of doctrine and
cultus, while this was reformation of experience. Per-
haps it might still better be called a return to the earnest-
ness and fervor of the Reformation of the sixteenth cen-
tury, which had been chilled by deadness in the church
3io THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
in the early seventeenth century.
One cause of pietism in Switzerland was the reaction
against the dead orthodoxy, which had taken the life out
of the church. Another cause was the need of stricter
church-discipline in the church, so that the unworthy
would be kept from the Lord's Supper. For German
Switzerland, with its Zwinglian form of church govern-
ment, had no church-discipline, as all discipline was in
the hands of the state and the police. Still another cause
for pietism was a social one. In some of the cantons,
especially Bern, only the sons of the aristocracy (for
Bern was an oligarchy, as were the other cities of Switz-
erland down to the nineteenth century) could enter the
ministry. And there was a reaction against this due to
the democracy of the New Testament and Christianity.
The peasants' war in the seventeenth century, in Switzer-
land, had revealed the breach between the aristocrats,
who ruled, and the farmers or country people, who had
no share in the government. And so a movement toward
breaking up the stiffness and formalism of the church
came in as a reaction against all this.
The pietism of Switzerland might be divided into two
periods, — the earlier and the later period, — that is, first,
the pietism at the end of the seventeenth and during the
eighteenth centuries, and then, secondly, the pietism of
the nineteenth century. But there is no clear line sep-
arating them. They run into each other. In the first
period pietism was largely that of individuals in the
church, while in the nineteenth it becomes a great move-
ment of the church. But it was the successes and even
failures of the individual pietists in the eighteenth cen-
tury that prepared the way for the successes of pietism in
the church in the nineteenth.
CHAPTER I
Bern
Section i
its early pietism
Pietism in Switzerland began at Bern. In 1689 four
students for the ministry of Bern made a trip together
to Geneva. They were Samuel Guldin, Jacob Dachs,
Samuel Schumacher and Christopher Lutz. These young
men decided to make their trip a distinctively religious
one, that is, no disputing, such as was common among
students then, was to be allowed and they were all to
endeavor to utilize the journey for spiritual benefit. At
Geneva Lutz became sick. By his illness not only was
he brought to a profound knowledge of his spiritual con-
dition, but the rest became deeply impressed and more
closely united to each other. After their return to Bern,
they were accustomed to meet together morning and even-
ing for prayer. This was the beginning of pietism or the
revival.
Afterwards, probably in 1690, Guldin, Dachs and
Schumacher took another trip to Holland. Lutz did not
go with them, because of illness, but afterwards went to
Leipsic, where he came into contact with some pietists.
On this trip to Holland, Schumacher came to the belief
that he had committed the unpardonable sin against the
Holy Ghost and continued in this belief until on his way
home. In Holland they did not come into contact with
the Dutch pietists. Guldin on his return to Bern became,
August, 1692, pastor at Stettlen, near Bern. Schumacher
311
312 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
continued fighting against his doubts and without assur-
ance of salvation until Christmas, 1692, when he came
to the light and wrote about it to Guldin. This greatly
stirred up Guldin. For Guldin, at Stettlen, was having
his doubts and struggles. He had been sick for three
months with an illness that threatened him with blindness.
He finally, after having been pastor for nine months,
became so discouraged and tired of his struggles that he
determined to give up the ministry. He determined
to preach his farewell sermon August 4, 1693. But that
morning, between nine and ten o'clock, the light of con-
version broke into his soul and he joyfully continued his
ministry. His conversion led to renewed pastoral ac-
tivity and a new kind of preaching. Instead of the stilted
moralizing, so common among the ministry of his day,
he became evangelistic, preaching faith, the love of Christ
and redemption. The movement proved contagious.
Muller, vicar at Belp, near Bern, joined Guldin in these
pietistic efforts. Their preaching caused a great sensa-
tion. The people, attracted by it, streamed in crowds
to their churches, to hear them. The pietistic ministers
would come together for conference among themselves,
as at Stettlen, Worb, Wyl and Hochstetten.
But meanwhile the church at large, and especially the
opponents of pietism, took knowledge of their actions.
In 1796 Professor Rudolph placed nineteen theses against
pietism and pre-millenarianism before the council and
they were sent to the dekans for their approval. But the
articles were not accepted by the ministers. There was
some talk of trying to get rid of Guldin by sending him
to Gebensdorf, on the outer border of Aargau, so as to
get him as far away from the center of the canton as
possible, but it was not done. Finally the city author-
ities, somewhat alarmed at the crowds that the pietists
drew to their churches, took action, forbidding the people
to attend worship outside of their respective parishes.
BERN
313
The tide seemed to be running against pietism, when lo !
an unexpected thing occurred. Guldin was called as as-
sistant pastor to the most prominent position in Bern —
the cathedral. This caused great joy among the pietists.
Lutz wrote to a friend in Zurich, playing on Guldin's
name, "Golden (gulden) tidings. To-day is our golden
brother Guldin elected as assistant. God, who does won-
ders, be praised." Guldin's position not only gave prom-
inence to the movement, but gave it influence, for Guldin
as a city pastor was therefore a member of the ministerial
convent there. Thus the stone that the builders rejected
became the head-stone of the corner. His preaching
produced the same sensation as elsewhere. As a result,
the city of Bern became divided into two parties, pietist
and anti-pietist. Guldin was the leader of the former,
and his colleague, Bachman, the head-minister of the
cathedral, of the latter.
Pietism also began affecting the students in Bern.
They began the visitation of the sick and the gathering
of the waifs into a catechetical class. Many influential
people, some of them magistrates, joined the movement.
The school council was controlled by its friends, Nicolas
von Rodt being a member of it. Two events helped to
bring matters to a crisis. One was the appearance of
foreign pietists in 1696, when two from Saxony came
to Bern and held conventicles or prayer-meetings in pri-
vate houses. For there was this difference between Ger-
man and Swiss pietist at first : The German emphasized
the holding of prayer-meetings. The Swiss thus far had
done little of this and had confined themselves to the
regular church services, where their preaching was of a
more evangelistic type. As soon as prayer-meetings be-
gan to be held, the suspicions of the Swiss began to be
aroused.
The other direct cause was the preaching of pre-
millenarianism or the near second-coming of Christ by
3i4 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Samuel Konig, at the Hospital Church, Bern. He was a
brilliant young man, being looked upon as a miracle of
learning. Born 1670, he studied at Bern, where he ex-
celled, especially in Hebrew. He then traveled to Zurich,
Holland and England. In England he was led to em-
brace pre-millenarianism, which at that time was looked
upon by the Reformed of the continent as a heresy. He
became pastor of the Hospital Church at Bern in 1693.
His preaching was with great power. At first he was
opposed to pietism because the pietists seemed to lay so
little stress on learning. But he finally went over to
them, it is said, because of his association with the magis-
trate, Nicolas von Rodt. He now boldly attacked the
coldness and formalism of the church of his day. He
declared that ministers must themselves be converted
before they could ever expect the world to be converted
He held prayer-meetings especially for the students. Thi
breach finally occurred in 1698. We have seen how Pro-
fessor Rudolph had tried two years before to avoid the
coming storm ; now it broke. A commission was ap-
pointed July 13, 1698, consisting of Professors Rudolph
and Wyss, and Revs. Eyen and Bachman, together with
five secular members. Its composition boded no good to
the pietists, as the ministers on it were their bitter oppo-
nents. Rudolph's position had been variously stated.
Schweizer makes him the arch-inquisitor against the
pietists. Treschsel claims he was friendly and mediated,
and compares him to Voetius, of Holland, who united
orthodoxy and pietism in himself.
This commission called the pietists before them and
the hearings continued from September, 1698, till into
the following year.*
Konig was the first to be examined. He was ex-
amined about his statements that regeneration was a ne-
* For a full account of these hearings, see Hadorn's "History
of the Pietism in Switzerland," pages 79-112.
BERN 315
cessity to a minister. Pre-millenarianism was not men-
tioned in the examination, but he was forbidden to preach
it. And as he did not obey, he was summoned before
them again March 22, 1699, and that examination, to-
gether with that of March 29, was in regard to his pre-
millenarianism. The commission contended that that
doctrine was a heresy in the Reformed Church and had
never been preached in the Bern Church. Konig made
an unfortunate impression, and probably alienated Pro-
fessor Rudolph more from the pietists than before. He
said that if he was charged with bringing in a new doc-
trine (pre-millenarianism), Professor Rudolph could also
be charged with bringing in a new doctrine, for he taught
Cocceianism in his book in the Heidelberg Catechism,
which was a doctrine new to the Second Helvetic Con-
fession. Rudolph protested strongly against this charge.
Guldin's hearing began December 5. The charges
against him were that he caused crowds to come to his
church service, thus producing bitterness on the part of
other ministers. He was charged with denying the au-
thority of the state over the church. This he denied, but
said he would not obey the state beyond his conscience.
Another charge was, that he read foreign pietistic books,
as those of Bohme and Horch. He granted it, but de-
clared he held to the doctrines of the Bern synod and the
Helvetic Confession. He made a distinction between
churchly pietists and separatists, and declared that he be-
longed to the former.
Christopher Lutz, who had succeeded Guldin as pas-
tor at Stettlen, when the latter had been called to Bern,
had had, as the result of his earnest preaching there,
tremblings on the part of individuals in the congregation.
He had, however, protested against this. But he had
twenty-three charges brought against him.
Pastor Schumacher, of Melchnau, was examined
about his reading of foreign pietistic books. He granted
316 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
he had read them, but declared that Bohme was to him
like fog, and that he gained more from the Bible and
the works of Luther and Calvin. Others were examined,
as Dachs, and some candidates for the ministry, as Fue-
ter and Fellenberg, also a number of laymen who either
held or had attended pietistic meetings. Muller of Belp
was examined, as to whether he preached pre-millenar-
ianism, which he did. When charged with holding per-
sons back from the Lord's Table, he replied that it was
necessary, as they did not understand the meaning of the
sacrament. When he was asked whether he, like Lutz,
had had tremblings in his congregation, he said he had
preached against it.
Hadorn's judgment of these cases was that the
charges were not proved against them. The hearings
closed February, 1699, although Konig was recalled
after that. The report came before the council June 8,
1699. I* was a l°ng report, covering 28 pages and con-
tained 10 chapters. It closed with giving five dangers
of pietism, to the church, state, school, family and the
civil relation.
On June 10 the council gave its decision. Konig had
the severest sentence. He was deposed and banished from
the canton in spite of Rudolph's intercession. Guldin
was dismissed from his position at the cathedral and
Lutz was dismissed from Stettlen (he died soon after).
They were forbidden to preach under pain of deposition.
Hope was given them of getting other positions, but un-
important ones far away. Muller was put under police
surveillance. Dachs received a severe censure and had
to promise to give up his pietism. Some of the laymen
were fined 500 pounds for corresponding with foreign
pietists. Nicolas von Rodt spoke openly against the ac-
tions of the council. He said, "If you again take action
as on yesterday, it will be as at the condemnation of
Christ, Herod and Pilate joined together and crucified
BERN
317
Him." For this they later refused him the right to vote,
at which he left the hall. The students rose up against
the decision of the council. Three of them, Knecht, Fel-
lenberg and Teschier, had to leave the land. Thus was
pietism robbed of its leaders and the attempt made to
crush it.
The final act was the adoption by the city council,
June 14, 1699, of a new formula of subscription called the
Association Oath. It was, as we have already noticed in
connection with the subscription to the Helvetic Consen-
sus, a double oath; first, in regard to doctrine and was
directed against the so-called errors of Saumur, in France ;
second, it had a practical aspect, for it was directed
against pietism. In addition a synodal committee was
appointed, which met July 5, and enlarged the nineteen
theses, once proposed by Rudolph in 1696, to twenty
theses. These forbade the use of the common colloquial
dialect in the sermons, the preaching of pre-millenarian-
ism, the holding of prayer-meetings and correspondence
with foreign pietists. Ten of the council refused to sign
this Association Oath, and lost their places, among them
Von Wattenwyl and Von Rodt. The pietists answered
these theses by counter-theses. For this the authorities
proceeded to sentence them one by one. It was forbid-
den for members of one parish to attend worship in an-
other parish. To facilitate the carrying out of this, the
country pastors were required to preach in the cathedral
at Bern, so that the people of the city of Bern would
not need to go to the country to hear them, and thus
violate the ordinance. But this custom of getting the
country preachers to preach in Bern soon fell into disuse.
Konig was the first of the pietists to leave. With-
out waiting for official notification of his banishment, he
went to Herborn, in western Germany, where, at the
Reformed University, he hoped to gain a position as
teacher. But he failed because of his association there
3i8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
with the German pietist, Henry Horch. He was com-
pelled to leave Herborn. He became very extreme in
his bitterness against the church He called his ordina-
tion a mark of the beast and the ministry he called a
Babylonish antichrist. It is evident he was no longer a
pietist, but a separatist from the church. He went to
Sayn-Wittgenstein, in Germany, then the refuge of all
the sects. At Berleburg he wrote in 1700 "The Way of
Peace," in which he attacked the Bern authorities and
criticised the reformers of the Reformation. Bern re-
plied by ordering the book seized and confiscated. Then
he went to Halle, where he became too fanatical even
for that pietistic place and university. At Budingen he
became court-preacher of the Count of Isenberg-Bud-
ingen. After he had been away for twelve years, he
made overtures to return. But Bern had not forgotten
his bitter attacks in his book, and refused. At Budingen
(171 1-29) he seems to have become milder in his sep-
aratism. By that time, too, great changes had taken place
in Bern. His greatest opponents were by that time dead,
as Wyss and Eyen, who died within a year after the pro-
mulgation of the Association Oath. Bachman was dead,
after seeing his own son become a pietist at Zurich. He
had ordered his son to be arrested for this, but his age
and the chagrin caused by this made him sick, and he
died ( 1709). A milder spirit prevailed at Bern, so that by
1730 Konig received permission to return, but he did
not enter the pastorate. Instead he became professor of
Oriental languages and mathematics. He could not,
however, entirely restrain himself from all connection
with foreign pietists and inspirationists. But Bern kept
a watchful eye on him, and in 1737 again forbade the
holding of prayer-meetings. He died May 30, 1750.
Schumacher died 1701, Muller in 1705. Christopher
Lutz also died. Guldin retired to Muri to private life.
But his many friends desired him again to enter the min-
BERN
319
istry. Unlike Konig, he lived quietly, not provoking
the authorities, attending church regularly, but abstain-
ing from the Lord's Supper For this the pastor of the
place denounced him before the authorities. He was
called before the council and ordered to take the
Association Oath. Broken by persecutions, pressed
by his friends to do so, he finally consented. He
received a call to Boltigen, in the Simmenthal, in
1 701. But he was not happy because he had signed
the oath. His conscience reproved him for it. So
he asked the authorities to release him from the oath.
They at once, January 18, 1702, deposed him from the
ministry, and banished him from the land. He stayed
for a time with his friend Lewis von Muralt, at his coun-
try home at Rufenacht. Then he went to friends in
north Germany. But because of the lack of religious
freedom there, he came to America in 1710.* He died
near Philadelphia, December 31, 1745.
He published in 1718 three booklets directed against
the Bern authorities for their treatment of the pietists
and himself:
1. "Relation" (30 pages), which contains the indict-
ments against them and the decision of the Bern author-
ities against them.
2. "Apology" (38 pages), in which he defends him-
self and the pietists against the charges made against
them.
3. "Theses and Contra-theses." This was an enlarge-
ment of the "Apology." That was defensive, this was of-
fensive and aggressive in attacking Bern.
Bern took action against these booklets, forbidding
their circulation. Dachs finally won the friendship of
Professor Rudolph. When he became dekan he stopped
* For his life in America, see my "History of the Reformed
Church in America," pages 68-88 and 207-224.
320
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the civil processes against the pietists. In 1732 he was
elected dekan at the cathedral at Bern without giving up
his pietism.* Of the minor pietists Von Rodt was com-
pelled to leave Interlaken, and went to Magdeburg, Ger-
many, where he died. Von Muralt was banished and
went to Colombieres, near Geneva. Many of the pietists
emigrated to Germany, to Sayn-Wittgenstein and Isen-
burg-Biidingen. Thus pietism seemed crushed out of
Bern, but it was not, for Lutz continued it.
Section 2
rev. samuel lutz or lucius
This remarkable man was the fruit and crown of
Bernese pietism. He was the most important representa-
tive of the early pietism in Switzerland. Pietism ulti-
mately redeemed itself. Not only was Konig permitted
to return, but Lutz was allowed to be the great traveling
evangelist of the eighteenth century. He combined in a
remarkable degree fine scholarship with the genuine
warmth of piety.
He was born August 10, 1674, at Biglen, where his
father, who directed his education, was pastor. At the
age of seven he could speak Latin, and without hesitancy
read Greek and Hebrew and partly understand the latter.
An interesting story is told of him when he was six years
old. His father gave him the Heidelberg Catechism to
learn, and that in Greek. It seemed almost impossible
for him to learn it, as he began with the first answer.
He found it so hard that he cried. Whereat his father
laughed at him. This so roused him that he went to work
and learned it in a short time.
But, at the age of nine, his father died, and he went
to Bern to study. There he excelled as a student, es-
* See Bloesch II, 80.
BERN
321
pecially in Hebrew, mathematics and history. He was
very diligent, learning whole books of ancient authors
by heart, by getting up at 4 A. M. and working when
other students were at sport. Naturally religious, he
now grew more intellectually than spiritually. As he
studied, his Bible became forgotten, he says, in self-
ambition and pride of his own ability. But religion still
had its hold on him. Once having heard in catechetical
lectures what a blessed thing justification before God
was, he prayed a whole night for it, and finally fell into
a boyish sleep without finding what it was. The first
time he went to the Lord's Supper, his joy was very
great, so that tears like brooks ran down his cheeks, and
he desired nothing less than to be a martyr. This ray
of divine grace remained in him long, directing his heart.
His student years at Bern happened to come at the
time of the pietistic awakening at the end of the seven-
teenth century. He attended the meetings of the
pietists and supported their views, but all the time he
said he was not converted. Konig was his especial
friend, being only four years older, and he also attended
Guldin's services. But he never accepted the pre-mil-
lenarianism of Konig. When the time came for him to
apply for ordination his sympathy with pietism preju-
diced his case. Discouraged by this opposition, he ac-
cepted a position as teacher at Yverdon in 1695. He
held off from making application to enter the ministry
for a number of years, during which time he passed
through a series of great religious struggles. His old
pietistic friends had either been banished or frightened
out of their pietism, so he found himself thrown en-
tirely on God.
Finally, in 1699, occurred his conversion. At 3 A. M.,
when the Holy Ghost came to him and revealed his
great sinfulness, God spoke to him in the words of
Psalm 50: 16, 17, 20, 21, each word like a thunder-clap.
322 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
No one great sin came before his mind except his neg-
lect of the good. He continued under this deep con-
viction of sin for three hours. Then the Lord seemed
to go away, and he felt himself among the damned. "I
am lost," he cried. In despair he thought of suicide
so as to get away from the eyes of God. From this
awful act he was saved by the mercy of God through
Psalm 139:18. In the morning, as his friends came
to waken him, he had the feeling that if Jesus were on
earth he would go to him and ask if there were no grace
so as to give him hope. Then he thought that if Jesus
is no longer on earth, the friends of Christ were. And
he sent for one of them, a pietist. As he entered, Lutz
could only utter the words of the prodigal: "I have
sinned." The other, with rare judgment, at once quoted,
in reply, the promise: "If we confess our sins He is
faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all iniquity." In a moment Lutz came from the shadow
of death to the glorious light of forgiveness. For two
weeks he was full of trembling and praying and could
think of nothing else than the cross. So his years of
waiting only proved a better preparation for his future
success in the ministry; yes, better than all his previous
years of study. He here learned to know Jesus clearly
as his own personal Saviour, and in his loving com-
munion with God he began to lay the foundation of his
burning zeal afterward.
When the time came for ordination, in 1700, the
religious commission asked him whether he would not
accept the Association Oath, which forbade all novelties,
as pietism. As it was explained to him, he declared he
could; but afterward his acceptance of it caused him
much restlessness of conscience. As he accepted it, he
was ordained in 1700. He preached at many places,
as at Adelboden. But the religious commission kept
their eye on him. Soon complaints came in against him
BERN 323
that he was making the people weep by his sermons,
for already he was beginning to reveal his remarkable
pulpit oratory. Then he became assistant at Burgdorf,
in 1702, where he continued his studies. Finally, in
1703, he accepted a vicariate at Yverdon. But, before
going there, he spent much time in study, especially of
the Bible. He knew by heart a whole Hebrew compen-
dium, the Greek Hesiod, a rabbinical dictionary, and
many Greek epistles of the New Testament. He was
thoroughly prepared to become a professor, but pre-
ferred the pastorate.
But his field at Yverdon was very hard. The au-
thorities seem to have sent him there so that he might
wear out his pietistic excess of zeal in hard work on
poor ground. That part of Bern was French, and the
Germans, to whom he was to preach, were rough and
ignorant. Scattered in the mountains, they would often
have to walk three or four hours so as to attend church,
and be so tired from overwork and from their long
walk that they would only go to sleep. They had no re-
alization of their sinful condition or much taste for
religion. He looked on them as a dead sea. They had
long been pastorless, which made matters worse. He
succeeded in getting better results from some of the
French there. He especially influenced the young peo-
ple who came to Yverdon to school or to spend their
vacations. Many were converted by his preaching and
carried its influence to their various homes.
But opposition arose. The French pastor there was
opposed to pietism. It has been supposed that the Vaud
clergy were liberal because they were opposed to the
Helvetic Consensus. But their learning was often
worldly. In endeavoring to emancipate themselves from
the yoke of a school-theology they often went to the
other extreme of formalism. For Saumurism and pietism
did not necessarily go together, though they were con-
324 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
demned together by the Association Oath. In 1705 the
classis of Yverdon brought charges against him as a
destroyer of the peace of the church by his sharp preach-
ing and his warning to the people against coming un-
worthily to the Lord's Supper. These complaints con-
tinued for two years, and, in September, 1707, two depu-
ties from Bern were sent to make an investigation, one of
them Professor Rudolph. They declared Lutz innocent,
but ordered his assistant, Faigoz, to be dismissed for
his pietism. He published "Thoughts on Present Day
Prophecies," in which, contrary to his former friend
Konig, who foretold that the end of Turkey would oc-
cur in 1717, he held that most of the prophecies either
referred to heaven or were to be spiritually interpreted.
The greatest evil, he said, was not the Turk or the pope,
but sin.
Then his health failed, and he went to the baths in
Aargau and Weissenberg. This was the beginning of
his travels. At the baths he preached with great ac-
ceptance. He visited Basle, where he was deeply im-
pressed by Holbein's "Christ on the Cross." In 1722 he
went to Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, and there,
in the Reformed church, preached one of his most fa-
mous sermons, "Reflections on the Heavenly Pearl." On
September 24, 1724, he preached at St. Gall on the sixth
commandment and on Christian love. St. Gall gave him
a call, but he declined. His fame, through his preach-
ing, extended far beyond his parish, and his published
works proved more influential than his pastorate. He
hoped to be called to one of the churches in the city of
Bern. But the authorities in the canton seemed to use
their influence against him because of his pietism, and
prevent him, if possible, from changing even to an as-
sistant's place there. But what he lost among them he
gained among the people by his popularity as a preacher.
He was called to churches in other lands, as Zweibrucken
BERN
325
and Cotha and Biidingen, where Konig labored. He was
tempted to accept the call given by the Count of Isen-
berg-Biidingen to Biidingen. But, in 1726, he accepted
a call to Amsoldingen. His congregation at Yverdon
had, by this time, learned to love him and was loth to
give him up after a pastorate of twenty-three years. At
Amsoldingen his fame had preceded him, and even those
who did not agree with his pietism came to hear him for
his eloquence. In 1728 he was made synodical preacher.
He was also elected dekan of his classis. At first the
neighboring pastors were somewhat shy of him. Though
he was glad to preach anywhere, yet very few opened
their pulpits to him as did the pastors at Blumenstein
and the Church of the Holy Beatus.
Lutz laid great stress on pastoral visitation. He
used all occasions, even secular weddings and social
gatherings, as opportunities for spiritual conversation.
But though a pietist he was against inspirationism and
methodism or mechanical religious experience. Finding
it difficult to meet his people in their homes, he would
announce the time when he would come to see them.
But as so many came that there was no room in the
private houses, he began to hold his house visitation in
the open air and held meetings at a certain place, named
Langenbiihlwalde, a forest beside the public road. In
this open-air gathering any one could ask him ques-
tions, especially on the Bible, or seek comfort and counsel.
The novelty of the movement attracted many to it. On
October 22, 1731, two Moravians were present at such
a meeting, one of them Christian David, the missionary.
They greatly wondered at the freedom Lutz enjoyed in
holding such services. But the visit of these Moravians
caused complaints to be brought against him, and the re-
ligious commission took up the matter. They gave Lutz,
privately, their decision, and nothing further was heard.
But Lutz gave up these open-air meetings owing to
326 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
another complaint. He, however, paid more attention to
pastoral work, holding prayer meetings daily.
He gave great attention to the young in catechization.
He was wont to say, "I would not exchange my catechi-
zation for a thousand dollars." And he made his cate-
chization tell, for he made its aim to be the conversion
of the catechumens. He was a great lover of little chil-
dren and knew well how to win their love. Professor
Konig once visited him, in 1731, and urged the children
to care kindly for their white-haired pastor. At his ad-
vice they melted into tears of affection for Lutz.
But, as at Yverdon, so here, he did not limit him-
self to his own congregation. He felt himself to be
called to be an evangelist at large. And he became the
great evangelist of the Bernese Oberland. He would
go wherever pastor and people desired him to come.
He preached at the Castle Rougemont, near Saanen,
also at Lauenen, Zweisimmen, Boltigen, St. Beatenburg
and Interlaken. Everywhere he was gladly received.
Many of his sermons he was led to publish. These he
distributed as tracts. One of the best of these is "The
Swiss Canaan," in which he depicts very finely the life
of the Swiss farmer and shepherd of the Alps, their
customs and methods of business. He utilizes all these
for spiritual purposes. His style in the sermon was sim-
ple but striking. Sometimes he is carried away by his
imagination. Still they are full of spiritual truth and sanc-
tified common sense. His tours he generally made in sum-
mer. Thus, in June, 1731, he was at St. Beatenburg and
Interlaken. In August of that year he was at Friitigen,
where he preached with such power that he melted pastor
and people into tears. In 1734 the religious commission
forbade his evangelistic trips, as they feared he was not
giving time enough to his own parish. He obeyed them
only for a year, and then he was at it again, as he vis-
ited the Emmenthal, 1735. Although he was away so
BERN 327
much, yet his congregation made no complaints, be-
cause they so loved him. All this he could the more easily
do, as he was unmarried and had no household cares to
keep him at home. Through these trips he made a wide
acquaintance and was visited by many friends, as D'An-
noni, of Basle, and Count Henry Earnest of Stollberg-
Wernigerode.
In 1738, after a pastorate at Amsoldingen of twelve
years, he was called to Diesbach, a large congregation
not far from Amsoldingen. This occurred through the
influence of the family of Von Wattenwyl, long known
for their sympathy with pietism. It was no small thing
for a man of his age (he was 65) to undertake a new
charge. The congregation at Amsoldingen was loth to
give him up. But he felt this was a larger field and
accepted. At Diesbach he found the congregation in a
very neglected state. They were shy of him at first for
his pietism, opposed to his personal examination about
their piety; for such things, they thought, belonged to
the separatists of that region and not to the church.
Lutz became somewhat frightened at this, and laid hold
of matters with all his might, at first perhaps too severely.
But he and the congregation soon got to know each other
better. He found, too, that Diesbach had a number of
sect people, as the Antonians. As they were increas-
ing, the religious commission, in 1741, ordered him to
stay at home and not go away so much. And he did
not go away till 1744, when he went to the baths at
Baden and, in connection with it, visited Zurich and
Schaffhausen. But, on account of some opposition to
pietism as well as his increasing age, he did not travel
as much as before. His house, however, became a
gathering place for all pietistically inclined. Strangers
would come from a great distance to spend Sunday with
him and hear him preach. In 1746 his health began to
fail. His eyesight became poor, so he could no longer
328 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
read or write. Two years before his death he said, "My
Lord loved me so strongly last night that I could
hardly bear it." In February, 1750, though not well, he
finished a course of sermons on the Lord's Prayer.
Then, alternating with his assistant, he began preaching
on the sufferings of our Lord. On Easter morning he
ascended his pulpit for the last time. He was so weak
that they had to help him there and support him. But
when he had once started to preach he revealed such
strength as astonished all. Increasing weakness and
fainting spells gradually brought him near the grave.
"Soon," said he, "I will be beyond the mountains and
over the sea." To his niece, who visited him then, he
said, "I am studying the first answer of the Heidelberg
Catechism about faith and justification, and I find it
very comforting and precious." He died May 28, 1750,
aged 76, in the fiftieth year of his ministry.
Lutz was a pietist in the best sense of the word,
churchly, for he was against separation from the church.
He had great common-sense, by which he avoided fanati-
cism on the one side, and placated the state authorities
on the other. His great labor as an evangelist is proved
by the fact that he preached in 108 pulpits in and outside
of Switzerland. His preaching was not oratorical, but
always spiritual and impressive. The topics of his books
were often very rhetorical, as "A Fragrant Bunch of
Beautiful and Healthy Flowers for Heaven," published
at Basle, 1736, and "A New Bunch," etc., published in
1753. But such titles were the custom of his time. His
published sermons are very long. Thus one, on Whit-
sunday, covered 260 small pages, and his prayer in con-
nection with it covered 40 pages. "His writings," says
Hadorn, "were very much sought after and reminded
one of the best works of the Moravians." He latinized
his name, after the custom of his time, into Lucius (lux,
a light), and he became, like John the Baptist, a burning
BERN 329
and a shining light to many — a modern Ecolampadius
(whose name also meant lamp), and, like Ecolampadius,
he brought a reformation into Bern. He redeemed piet-
ism from the reproach that hung to it in Bern. And the
influence of his work made it easier to start in the nine-
teenth century such pietistic movements as the Evan-
gelical Society of Bern.
CHAPTER II
Basle
Section i
rev. jerome d'annoni
In this canton, as in Bern, a prominent witness for
pietism arose in Jerome D'Annoni. He was born Sep-
tember 12, 1697, at Basle. His father was a descendant
of the Italian refugees from Locarno. The father prayed
much for the little boy, but died when the son was only
six years old. The boy showed early signs of piety.
Once he came to his mother with tears in his eyes, fear-
ing that he had committed a sin against the Holy Ghost.
Though often tempted to sin and to doubt, yet God
watched over him. Affliction laid hold of him, for, from
his tenth year, he had a lame foot. He studied for the
ministry, but would have preferred becoming a soldier,
only his lameness prevented. So he compromised by en-
tering the ministry, hoping he might become a field-
chaplain. As a theological student, he says, he was frivo-
lous and worldly. Music and the dance had more attrac-
tions to him than study.
But a good angel appeared to him in the Baroness
von Planta, who had greatly aided his mother after his
father's death, and who, once, in order to cure his foot,
took him to the baths. This good lady, who was the
center of a pietistic circle, made him acquainted with
antistes Samuel Werenfels. D'Annoni told Werenfels that
his studies had little attractions to him. Werenfels ad-
vised him to read the Bible and copy and study Oster-
330
BASLE 331
wald's Theology, which had just then appeared. He
now really began to study diligently and a longing came
to him that he might be something more than a mere
hireling in the ministry.
He was ordained April 24, 1719. But God so circum-
stanced him that he was converted. In November, 17 19,
he became private teacher in the family of the widow
Im-Thurm, at Schaffhausen. There he became sick, very
sick, suffering from night-sweats. This led him to deep
seriousness and through many struggles. The religious
teaching he had to give and the spiritual atmosphere of
that home brought him under deep conviction. He felt
he must either change his life or that only one thing
awaited him — to die and be lost. He finally made known
his condition to Mrs. Im-Thurm, who tried to comfort
him, though in tears. While in this convicted state,
just as Saul of old met Ananias, who led him to Christ,
D'Annoni met John Conrad Ziegler, one of the ministers
who had been cast out of the ministry at Schaffhausen
because of his pietism. Ziegler, however, had remained
there in religious work, as in the holding of prayer-meet-
ings. When D'Annoni confided his case to Ziegler, the
latter told him to read the 33d chapter of Job, a chap-
ter which he himself had read when under conviction.
This led to D'Annoni's conversion. He then preached
in the neighboring church at Unter Stammenheim on
2 Timothy 2 : 19, and publicly declared that he had been
converted, and stated that he had given himself entirely
to Christ. He more and more joined himself to the
pietists at Schaffhausen and would take part in their
prayer-meetings in the Rose garden at Schaffhausen.
His association with the pietists provoked opposition. He
was finally summoned to answer before the Zurich au-
thorities (1724), but nothing came of it. In 1726 he
left his position as private teacher and became assistant
at Sissach for a time. Later, he again returned to his
332
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
former position as teacher in the Im-Thurm family. This
he retained till the death of the widow in 1732, having
been, altogether, in the service of that family for thir-
teen years. His association with them exerted a great
influence on him. Though his mistress did not agree with
him in all his acts as a pietist, yet his travels with her
not only broadened him but brought him into connection
with pietists everywhere. When he visited Basle he was
received with joy by the Baroness Von Planta, who looked
on him as her own son. In 1730 he was sent with his
ward to French Switzerland, that the latter might learn
French, and they wintered at Neuchatel and Lausanne.
Then he went to the baths of Leuk and also spent three
days at Amsoldingen with Lutz, the pietist, of Bern.
After that the mother was about sending her son to the
university under his care when she died. He had al-
ready gone as far as the Palatinate when the news of her
death arrived. So he spent some time in Germany, as
at Schwarzenau, and in Sayn-Wittgenstein, that home
of the sects. Its count wanted him to accept a parish
of Birkelbach, but he declined. He also visited Ter-
steegen, at Muhlheim; Boerhaave, at Leyden, and also
Zinzendorf. He visited Halle, that home of German
pietism. He returned to Basle in 1733, where he pub-
lished the devotional works of Lutz. For a long time
he did not take a charge, fearing that his pietistic preach-
ing might cause trouble. But neither did he wish to
be a separatist, for his travels had opened his eyes to
the danger of sects. He was wont to say that the
learning of Babylon (the church) often goes only to
Nineveh — that is, from one sect to another. After his
return to Basle he published a hymn-book which was so
excellent that antistes Merian ordered him to publish
a larger book, of 300 hymns. These were to be added
to the Psalms of Lobwasser, which had been usually sung
in the churches. D'Annoni's hymn-books proved so
BASLE 333
popular that, by the time of his death, the hymn-book had
been enlarged to 400 hymns and had gone through seven
editions. It continued in use till 1809 in the city of Basle,
and in Basle-land until 1845.
Finally, at the urgent request of his friends, at the
age of forty-two, he became pastor at Waldenburg, in
1740. His earnest preaching there soon caused a sensa-
tion and produced large results, just as had happened
to Lutz. Like Lutz he invited his members to his house
for family worship and closed the service with a homily.
This movement began gradually. First, the schoolmas-
ter's wife, seeing how excellent his family devotions were,
asked to be allowed to come to them. Then, with tears
in her eyes, she begged that her husband might be al-
lowed to attend. Then they asked that others be per-
mitted to come. And, finally, so many came that he had
to make a regular arrangement about the meetings at
the parsonage. Those on Mondays and Thursdays were
for the men, and those on Tuesdays and Fridays were
for the women. He would generally read a portion of
Scripture, make an address, offer prayer, and then a
hymn would be sung. Soon the people of other villages
were drawn to hear his earnest sermons. For a long
time these pietistic tendencies caused no opposition. But
then the innkeeper of the village began to spread false
reports about his meetings. The innkeeper was a cousin
of the magistrate of the village — Wagner — and preju-
diced the latter against D'Annoni. Meanwhile his work
became too severe for his weak constitution, and he then
went to the baths to recuperate. But all the while the
magistrate was persecuting him. Finally a circumstance
occurred that brought matters to a climax. D'Annoni
wrote a letter to the son of the magistrate, who had
been guilty of a notorious sin, asking him not to come to
the communion. The result was more bitter strife. The
neighboring pastor at Laufenfingen was also against all
334
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
pietistic movements. Wagner, the magistrate, and this
pastor brought charges against D'Annoni before antistes
Merian. But D'Annoni made such an able reply that
nothing came of it. He claimed that if it was not con-
sidered a crime for the farmers to go to the saloon and
the ten-pin alley, they ought to be permitted to go to
the parsonage where he had nothing more dangerous than
family worship.
His earnest preaching led many from other congrega-
tions to come to his services. When others found fault
with him for this he replied : "I can not lock this church.
I will preach to whoever comes to it. But I will not
administer the communion to a member of any other
congregation. But attendance on my religious services
must, and shall, be free to all." Owing to his ill health
he felt like seeking a lighter charge. He was called,
in 1742, by Count of Stolberg Wernigerode, to the posi-
tion of superintendent of Cotha, but refused mainly be-
cause of his frequent illness.
In 1747 he became pastor at Muttenz, near Basle.
Many of the people there were suspicious of his pietism,
but antistes Merian, in introducing him, spoke very
highly of his work in his previous charge. Soon some
of his members came to him asking for meetings such
as he had had at Waldenburg. He started a number of
prayer-meetings, holding them on Sunday. And while
the worldly were at their card-playing and ten-pins, these
pious ones (die Stillen im Lande) would gather together
to talk over and pray over the sermon they had heard
that day. D'Annoni would visit these meetings one
after the other, thus watching over them so that no
fanaticism or any tendency to separatism would appear.
His labors soon attracted attention. On pleasant Sun-
days many of the wealthy people of Basle would come
out in their carriages to hear him and others would
walk out, as Muttenz is not far from Basle. The crowds
BASLE
335
at his church became so great that chairs had to be
brought in from the neighboring houses. Many who
came at first out of curiosity came again because of the
deep impression he had made on them. In 1752 the
city council of Basle ordered that the city gates be closed
on Sunday mornings, so none could get out to go to
D'Annoni's services, for they called him a separatist.
But he was not — indeed, was opposed to separatism. In
1754 he had some difficulty in restraining the efforts of
separatists in his congregation. For, as separatism had
so bitterly attacked the church, he had lost all sympathy
with them. Another charge the Basle ministers made
against him was that he did not preach in the customary
stiff language of the pulpit, but used the simpler lan-
guage of the people. He replied, "I must preach so that
my dear farmers understand. I do not mean to preach
to chairs or benches." When it came to his turn to
preach in the cathedral at Basle (for it was the custom
for each minister to preach one Sunday each year in
the cathedral), the attendance would be so large that
many had to stand. Here, too, he found an enemy, as he
had at Waldenburg, who opposed his pietism, a Dr.
Huber, who had once been his fellow-student. The lat-
ter became jealous of him and tried to stir up the young
men of the town against him. But D'Annoni continued
his pietistic efforts.
D'Annoni's home became a center of religious influ-
ance and also a resort for travelling Christians. Thus,
Schultz, the Jewish missionary, visited him. D'Annoni
was also interested in every religious movement. He
was interested in Foreign Missions, as in the mission of
Halle in southern India. It happened that during his
ministry there was a persecution at Lucerne. A carter,
Schmedlin, had been awakened there by reading his Bible.
Then he happened to come into contact with the awak-
ened of Bern and of Basle. After his conversion he
336 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
won thirty to forty converts from Catholicism. For this
he was imprisoned in Lucerne and threatened with being
burned. His wife and friends were driven out of the
canton. D'Annoni visited the wife at Wyl and held
meetings in her home, hoping thus to comfort her.
D'Annoni took great interest in their case. He also,
about 1756, founded a society of Good Friends, which
was the first step toward a Tract or Mission Society,
which came later, as we shall see.
For the last ten years of his life he was often unable
to preach, yet he kept watch over his congregation. At
last God took him, October 10, 1770. He was a very
spiritually minded man. His motto was : "He that knows
Jesus Christ has used his time well." His tomb bears
the inscription: "After the cross, the crown." He also
wrote a number of hymns. His Pentecostal hymn* was
the most popular. He was, like Lutz, a churchly pietist,
opposed to all separatism from the church. He greatly
helped to prepare Basle to become the home of pietism
at the beginning of the next century.
Section 2
the religious activity of basle
Basle became the center of religious life for Switzer-
land and Germany at the beginning of the nineteenth cen-
tury. One religious organization after another was
formed there and all became active. D'Annoni had not
yet died when the first came into being. It was what
we, in English, would call a Young Men's Christian As-
sociation. The present Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion of the world was not originated by Sir George
Williams, of London, although he gets a great deal of
credit for it among English-speaking lands. And he
* Es sass ein frommes Hauflein.
BASLE 337
ought to have great credit for his share in popularizing
its work. But long before George Williams, a society
of that kind was organized in Switzerland. Not Eng-
land, but Switzerland, deserves the credit of being the
founder of Young Men's Christian Societies.
There was a pious pastor at St. Alban's Church,
Basle, named Meyenrock. He had been called there in
1760. He it was who founded this Young Men's Chris-
tian Association. It was composed only of men and had
several rules for its members like the pledges of the
present Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip, to prayer
and service. Its pledges for its members were five :
1. To remain true to the pure doctrine of the word
of God, and of the Apostles.
2. To avoid all sectism or separation from the
Church or anything that led to it.
3. Each one was to deal candidly with God, himself
and his fellow-men.
4. Therefore, each should not only be free to remind
others of their duty, even to rebuke them, indeed, it was
their duty so to do.
5. They were to try and develop a good confidence
in one another.
This association, therefore, was designed to guard
against the prevailing rationalism of that day and also
to keep those inclined to separation within the church.
It was at first mainly devotional, and its meetings were
held on Sunday evenings, and proved very profitable.
Spittler belonged to it, and thus described it in 1806:
"It is now five years since I was first made a probationer
and then a member. Every time I attended my heart
was greatly blessed, and I felt very powerfully the near-
ness of the Lord. How often was I comforted, rebuked
and taught." This association continued until about
1820. when it was dissolved by the death of its founder.
In 1825, another Young Men's Christian Association, of
very much the same kind, was organized at Basle, which
22
338 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
to-day is the oldest Young Men's Christian Association
in the world, and which, in 1875, celebrated its semi-
centennial. Rev. Frederick Mallet, one of the most
prominent Reformed ministers in Germany, happened to
visit Basle in 1833, and came into contact with this move-
ment, and he formed a second association of that kind in
1834, in Bremen, where he preached. The movement
then began to spread in Germany. In 1836 an association
was organized at Barmen and, in 1838, at Elberfeld,
those two great religious centers of northwestern Ger-
many. So that, by the time George Williams founded
his association in England, there were already at least
seven Young Men's Christian Associations in Germany
and Switzerland. This movement continued until, when
the English Young Men's Christian Association was intro-
duced into Germany, it found hundreds of associations
there and the two were often merged. Thus a great,
world-wide movement grew out of a small beginning.
This movement came naturally out of the Reformed
Church rather than the Lutheran, for the Reformed
was the church that, from the Reformation, aimed to
develop the lay activity.
The second organization formed at Basle was the
"Christianity Society." Rev. John August Urlsperger,
formerly the senior minister of the Lutheran Church at
Augsburg, and the leading pietist in southern Germany,
led to its foundation. After a terrible mental struggle
with doubt, he had come to abiding faith in Christ.
And seeing the terrible conflict that Christianity had to
wage in that day against unbelief, he formed the idea
that there ought to be a union of all orthodox Chris-
tians for the defence of the old faith. It seems that this
suggestion came from D'Annoni, for he had corresponded
with Urlsperger about it. Urlsperger soon put the idea
into practice. He travelled through Germany ( 1779) try-
ing to form such a union, but, to his disappointment, he
BASLE
339
found little sympathy for it. He then, in its interest, vis-
ited Holland and England, but without result. He finally
came to Basle as his last resort before giving up the
idea. But here he found fertile ground and a warm
welcome. What the Lutherans of Germany turned the
cold shoulder to, even when championed by one of their
own prominent men, the Reformed of Basle were glad
to take up. Meyenrock, with his usual aggressiveness,
approved of it, so did Burckhard, pastor at St. Peter's,
and also Herzog, professor of theology. So a society
was organized August 30, 1780, called "The Society
for the Promotion of Christian Truth and True Right-
eousness." This was afterwards shortened to the name
by which it came to be generally known, "The Chris-
tianity Society." It aimed to scatter tracts, to take care
of the orphans, to aid Protestant congregations in Cath-
olic lands, and to spread Evangelical Christianity in
rationalistic congregations and communities. Thus Switz-
erland was again ahead of England, whose religious
Literature Society was not founded at London till after
the beginning of the nineteenth century. This society
had at first about 100 members, of whom eight were
ministers. It had a monthly collection which was used
for its purposes. Urlsperger aimed to keep it free from
any fanaticism or tendency to sectism and make it loyal
to the church. From Basle as a beginning, Urlsperger
was able to form societies elsewhere, as in Switzerland,
at Bern, Zurich, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Chur, Winter-
thur, Aarau, Zofingen and Wiedlesbach ; and in Ger-
many, at Stuttgart, Dresden, Elberfeld, Frankford, Nu-
remberg, and many other places, and had correspondence
even with Sweden and America about it. The society
was a unionistic society, having both Lutheran and Re-
formed elements in it. It became the center around
which the Evangelical elements in the different communi-
ties could gather. One of its first movements at
340
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Basle was the establishment of a prayer-meeting (or
Bible-hour as these were called in German), led at first
by Professor Huber, and later by Professor Miville.
This society, in course of time, happened to get hold
of three young men who made it very efficient. The
first was Frederick Adolph Steinkopf, who was its sec-
retary (1795-1801). He was a native of neighboring
Wurtemberg, in Germany, and by his activity brought
the society up to a large sphere of usefulness. In 1801
he went to London as pastor of the German Church of
the Savoy. There he became active in the newly-or-
ganized London Missionary Society and the British Bible
Society. He became the connecting link between Eng-
land and Basle and brought Basle into contact with the
forward religious movements of England. In 1804,
through Steinkopf's influence, the first daughter of this
Christianity Society came into existence, the Basle Bible
Society. It was the first among many societies that grew
out of this "Christianity Society." The Christianity So-
ciety of Basle was in correspondence with the London
Missionary Society which had just been organized.
The second leader of the Christianity Society was
Christian Frederick Spittler. He had been called as an
assistant to Steinkopf as secretary. He was not a stu-
dent for the ministry, only a clerk by trade, but a very
earnest Christian. After Steinkopf's departure he re-
mained as assistant secretary, and the society called
Blumhardt, a theological candidate (1803-07), as secre-
tary. After Blumhardt left, as ministerial candidates
were scarce and Spittler had proved so very efficient, he
was, at last, elected secretary (1807), which position he
held for many years. These three — Steinkopf, Blum-
hardt and Spittler, the second later the head of the Basle
Mission House — were the three who were the early leaders
of that society.
As Spittler was foremost in Christian activity in
BASLE
341
Basle so long, we will pause a moment on his life. He
was born in 1782, in Wurtemberg, and educated for
business. He was called to Basle, in 1801, as Stein-
kopf's assistant. A man of great practical tact and in-
tense religious zeal, he became a great spiritual force
in Basle for two-thirds of a century. The number of
religious and charitable institutions to whose founding
he led was many, as the Home for Neglected Children,
at Beuggen ; the deaf and dumb institute, at Riehen, etc.
But the most important of these was the Basle Mission-
ary Society, of which we shall speak presently. He
was not rich or learned, but was spiritually ambitious,
always thinking up some new plan to advance God's cause.
Though sometimes set in his ways, yet he had a rare gift
of religious diplomacy, which made his efforts generally
successful. He was especially active in missions —
founded a Jewish Mission Society, 1820, and had a Jewish
school in his own house. He became interested in the
evangelization of Greece, when Greece was receiving
much attention politically from Europe. A number of
Greeks were brought from slavery and educated at
Beuggen. This Greek movement brought Spittler, the
leading pietist of Basle, into close relations with
Professor De Wette, of Basle, the leading rationalist
there, and whom Spittler had vehemently opposed when
he was called to Basle. But missions brought them to-
gether, for De Wette was active in missions, having
written a pamphlet on the "Theological Seminary of the
Reformed Church in America." Spittler died December
8, 1867.
But the crown of these religious organizations at
Basle was the Basle Missionary Society. The end of
the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries
was the era of the founding of modern missionary so-
cieties, as the Netherlands, Berlin, and now the Basle
Society. Spittler was the force that led to its origin.
342
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Missions had always been a favorite subject with him,
indeed, he first had an idea of the removal of Janicke's
Mission Institute from Berlin to Basle. In 1805, Spittler,
who would gladly have gone himself as a missionary to
the heathen, conceived the idea : why not a mission-house
at Basle? Spittler wanted the mission-house founded, but
Blumhardt declared it was impossible to do so. In 1810
Rev. Mr. Von Brunn was called to the pastorate of the
St. Martin's Church at Basle, and he aided the interest
in missions. When the Napoleonic wars broke out
Spittler had his hands full of other things, for he was
kept busy distributing Christian tracts. But even these
wars were overruled to aid missions, as we shall now see.
In 1814 Von Brunn began the missionary lectures that
Blumhardt had dropped when he left in 1807. At the
time that the French army was threatening to bombard
Basle from Hunningen, Von Brunn was giving a mis-
sionary lecture. At the close of the lecture a young
man came forward to him and said he wanted to go as
a missionary. Von Brunn asked Spittler, "Can we not
educate such men for missionary work?" This question
led Spittler to plan the foundation of a mission-house.
Spittler conferred with Blumhardt and with Steinkopf,
who happened at that time to visit Basle. So this society
was organized September 25, 1815, in the parsonage of
St. Martin's Church, by six pious men. They called
Blumhardt to be the inspector or head of the mission-
house. He came April 17, 1816, and the school was
opened August 26, 18 16, with seven students, of whom
four were from Wurtemberg and two were Swiss. The
number of students increased until larger quarters were
necessary, and, in 1820, a mission-house was bought
accommodating forty. Blumhardt did not pretend to
be a great scholar, but he had rich knowledge and was
an excellent administrator. He continued inspector un-
til 1839, and with great ability and energy built up the
BASLE
343
mission-house and its interests. The later history of the
Basle Mission Society will be given in the next book of
this volume.
CHAPTER III
Schaffhausen
Section i
its early pietism
Pietism appeared at the beginning of the eighteenth
century, in this canton. The Hurters were a prominent
ministerial family in the canton, and one of them, John
George Hurter, who was pastor at Auf der Steig in 1708,
started (1711) an orphanage, following the example of
Francke, the Lutheran pietist of Halle, Germany. He
also began holding prayer-meetings in this school-house.
Other candidates for the ministry joined themselves to
him. It happened that Gruber, the separatist, visited
them and this roused opposition. And, on March 2, 1717,
six ministers and candidates for the ministry were sus-
pended from the ministry for pietism, among them
Hurter. After four weeks' suspension, as they refused
to obey the orders of the canton against prayer-meetings,
they were deposed from the ministry. Hurter went back
into his orphanage and lived there until his death in
1721. But the deposition, instead of stopping the prog-
ress of pietism, only scattered it everywhere throughout
the canton. It led, too, to the formation of a pietistic
congregation, to which these deposed candidates joined
themselves. The most prominent of them was the young-
est of them, John Conrad Ziegler. When he first went
to these prayer-meetings, his mother was so opposed to
them that she locked up his clothes so he could not go.
But, by a back way, he hurried there in his night-clothing.
344
SCHAFFHAUSEN 345
After his deposition he continued as a private teacher
and also aided in leading many anxious souls to Christ,
as D'Annoni. In 1721 the deposed ministers and candi-
dates published a defence entitled, "Witness of the Truth
at Schaffhausen."
Pietism, though seemingly crushed for the moment,
yet recovered later. For the human heart is never en-
tirely satisfied with the cold formalities of religion. John
William Meyer, born 1690, lived early enough to come
into contact with the meetings of which we have just
spoken. But he happened to be a country pastor at the
time and so attracted less attention than the pietists in
the city of Schaffhausen, who were deposed. In 1739
he was called to the city of Schaffhausen as evening-
preacher. He then began holding devotional meetings.
Zinzendorf visited him in 1740. This roused suspicion
and opposition. Meyer was called before the school
council and compelled to give up the prayer-meetings.
This he did under protest, claiming that they were fully
Reformed, and quoting for them the text, "Where two or
three are met," etc. In 1749 he became pastor of the
cathedral. The celebrated historian of Switzerland, John
Muller, who heard him preach when seventeen years old,
declared that, after hearing his sermon, he could always
be more pious from Sunday to Wednesday than during
the latter part of the week. As late as 1794 Muller wrote
to his brother that the memory of Meyer was so fresh
and living in his heart, that when he thought of what a
bishop of the early Christian Church must be, he al-
ways pictured him as like Meyer. Meyer was elected
antistes (1756), and wrote a number of hymns, especially
fifty-two catechetical hymns arranged according to the
topics of the Sundays of the Heidelberg Catechism. He
died 1767. Thus pietism, at first cast out by the church,
soon gained the head of the church in the antistes.
Meyer was later followed by another antistes who
346 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
was more noted for his pietism, John Henry Oschwald,
who lived 1721-1803. He studied at Schaffhausen and
then went to Leyden to study. On his return he stayed
at Elberfeld in northwestern Germany (the home of the
pietism of the Reformed Church of Germany) for ten
years. He returned to Schaffhausen in 1757. In 1767
he was elected antistes. He was a strong opponent of
rationalism and an undaunted defender of pietism, hop-
ing by it to get back the separatists into the church. In
1779 he published his most important work, "Directions
for a Wholesome Understanding of the Bible." In it
he reveals peculiar views, some of them savoring of
Moravianism, but rather of Spangenberg than of Zin-
zendorf. Thus he attacked the Apostles' Creed because
it referred the creation to God the Father and did not
bring it into connection with Christ. (The Moravian
view was that everything was done through Christ). He
also charged that the creed separated too much the three
persons of the trinity. For his statements he was
charged with a departure from Calvinistic orthodoxy by
the ministers, especially because he was not a Calvinist
(in this, following Zinzendorf). In 1773 he called a
meeting of the ministers, to whom he made a full state-
ment of his theological views. He succeeded in quiet-
ing the opposition, but his relations to the ministers were
for a long time strained. He died 1803, after being
antistes and dekan thirty-five years.
Then came the two brothers Muller, John, the great
historian of Switzerland (1752-1809), of whom this is
not the place to write (as he was a historian, not a theo-
logian), except to say that amid all the temptations of
Catholicism, he remained true to his Reformed faith.
His last words were: "Whatever is, is of God, and all
comes from God." He highly reverenced the Bible
as the palladium of liberty. His brother, John George
Muller (1759-1819), became a leading preacher of
SCHAFFHAUSEN
347
Schaffhausen. He was one of the few men who, with
Lavater and Hess, combated the rationalism of that
day. He was the Swiss Herder, having lived with
Herder for six months in his house. He was led by his
mother's influence and the reading of Young's "Night
Thoughts" and Lavater's "Views Into Eternity," to study
for the ministry. He studied at Schaffhausen, also at
Zurich (where he greatly admired Lavater), then at
Tubingen and Gottingen. It was because of the doubts
raised at the latter place that he went to Weimar and,
like Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, he sat at the feet of
Herder. He was greatly helped and influenced by his
teacher and became his follower, though it was the early
Herder he followed and not the later, after Herder had
come under the influence of Spinoza, which weakened
his testimony for Christianity. Muller endeavored to
mediate between Herder and orthodoxy. He exerted a
strong conservative influence in the canton and published
a number of apologetical works.
Section 2
its later pietism
Somewhat later than Muller, there appeared two men
who became prominent in the religious history of Schaff-
hausen. During their life and that of Muller occurred
the visit of Madame Krudener, the female evangelist
of Europe in the early part of the nineteenth century,
which created so much excitement in the canton. The
first of these was John Conrad Maurer, who lived 1771-
1841. He was born at Schaffhausen, studied there and
later became professor of rhetoric. The other was David
Spliess. He was born 1786 and educated at Schaff-
hausen. He passed through two great crises in his life.
The first was about entering the ministry. He had de-
cided to become a merchant and had entered business.
348 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
But he was not satisfied and spent much time in prayer
to God about it. In his anxiety he wrote out a prayer
which he put into his pocket. Unknown to him it fell
out into the street, where it was picked up by a friend,
who gave it to J. G. Muller, of whom we have spoken
above. The latter, learning from it his desire for the
ministry, went to his parents and his employer and
gained their permission for him to continue his studies
so that he might enter the ministry. After studying at
Schaffhausen he went to Tubingen. Schleiermacher's
"Addresses" came to him as a drink of water to a thirsty
soul. He then went to Heidelberg, where he came un-
der the influence of Schelling's philosophy and thought
he had found the truth in it. But when he revealed it
to J. G. Muller, the latter warned him against its errors,
and then all his old questions came up again. He felt
that he was not spiritually prepared to enter the min-
istry, so he accepted for a time a private tutorship in
a Dutch family near Breda. And here it was that he
met his second crisis — his conversion. There he met
Rev. Mr. Krafft, later professor at Erlangen, one of the
most spiritual men of his day and who, at Erlangen,
though Reformed, led to a revival in the Lutheran
Church of Bavaria.* Spliess happened to meet him
August 18, 1811, at the house of the minister of Goch.
Krafft soon got into close conversation with him and to-
gether they went to Cleve, two hours distant. Spliess
opened to Krafft the struggles of his heart for light.
Krafft pointed him to the love of God. The next morn-
ing Spliess felt himself a new man, for the joy of con-
version had come to him. Another conversation with
Krafft completed the matter. Krafft's spirituality and
peace of soul were, ever after, his great ideal. He was
elected professor at Schaffhausen, 1812, and pastor at
* For Krafft's life see my "History of the Reformed
Church of Germany," pages 526-29.
SCHAFFHAUSEN 349
Buch, northeast of Schaffhausen, 1813.
It was while he was pastor at Buch that Madame
Krudener appeared in 1817. Madame Krudener was the
female evangelist of Europe in the early part of the
nineteenth century. She was a Russian princess, born
at Riga, 1764. She had lived a life of worldliness and
luxury, had been married at eighteen to a Russian baron
named Krudener, who later died. But she did not live
with him, but left him and traveled everywhere, seeking
luxury and fashion, until suddenly she was converted in
1807, and gave all this up. After such an adventurous
life, she brought to the service of God the same fever-
ish activity and excitability that had distinguished her
before in society. She went from place to place preach-
ing, sometimes from morning till night. She travelled
to Paris, to Baden, to Russia, and to Switzerland. Her
most remarkable act was her great influence over the
Russian Czar, Alexander, which led to his conversion
to Christ. This event exerted a great political influence
on Europe early in the nineteenth century, for it so freed
him from the trammels of the Greek Church that he
proposed the Holy Alliance with the Emperor of Austria
and the King of Prussia, which changed the political
face of Europe. Her religious zeal became fanatical.
Stilling introduced her to mysticism and the prophetess
Kummerin opened to her the world of visions. She
was, therefore, given to certain eccentricities which pro-
duced prejudice, as the seeing of visions and wonder-
working. One of her peculiarities, very objectionable to
Protestants, was the fact that she kneeled before a
crucifix, and even went so far as to call on the virgin.
These were doubtless relics of her former Greek faith.
She was friendly to Catholics and often read the Catholic
mystic, Madame Guyon. But Evangelical views were
most prevalent with her. She believed in personal
experience. The rest of the soul in God, whose source
350 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
was the blood of Christ, was her chief doctrine. She
always preached repentance. For these reasons she was
looked upon with suspicion everywhere, especially by
the worldly and the rationalists, and even by the clergy
given to dead orthodoxy. As she was very liberal with
her means, the poor and the suffering would crowd
around her. Besides, the fact that a woman should
preach was a great cause of offence in that day. For
had not Paul commanded that women should keep
silence in meeting? She died December 13, 1824, after
a checkered life. In spite of her eccentricities, there is
no doubt that she did a great deal of good and was a
means ordained of God to awaken Europe.
She appeared 181 7, accompanied by Empeytaz, and
located at Lottstetten, two hours from Schaffhausen, in
Baden. She was not permitted to come to Schaffhausen,
the excuse being that, by her charities, she gathered so
many beggars around her. But really it was because of
her pietism. Everywhere in the street and in the hotels
she spoke of Christ crucified as the ground of hope. For,
because of the rationalistic preaching, the cross had faded
out of people's minds. Soon those who loved the cross
gathered around her. The pulpits thundered against
her, but that did not keep the people from coming to her
meetings. Muller, Maurer and Spliess visited her and
attended some of her meetings. It was Spliess' congre-
gation that began to be affected by them. Although he
had not gained much by his visit to her, yet she seems to
have given an impulse to him which affected his preach-
ing and his catechization. It happened that, at the be-
ginning of 1817, there was an earthquake in Switzerland,
and Spliess preached on it. Soon after an earnest ser-
mon by him, the men, both the convicted and the con-
verted, gathered together at a house and thanked him
for the peace he had brought them. So he held prayer-
meetings. His children, at catechization, also became
SCHAFFHAUSEN 351
deeply affected. They received an overpowering sense
of their sin and unworthiness, and then a saving security
in God. Some of the children declared that they had
visions and saw Jesus. This revival began in April, 181 7.
A blessed influence pervaded the whole community.
Quarrels ceased and profanity stopped. Certain extrava-
gances appeared, but he neither supported them nor laid
much value on them, hoping that out of it all good would
come. A young girl, seized by grace, fell to the ground
and struck her head in falling, so that it bled. Her
father tried to help her up, but she refused, and finally
arose rejoicing in hope. These excitements attracted
many strangers to Buch to see and also to criticise. A
ridiculer of religion heard the voice of God by night :
"Saul, why persecutest thou me?" and was converted.
By Spliess' wise guidance these excesses were checked,
and a quiet peace filled the community. His sermons were
full of spirit and fire. As the Reformation festival ap-
proached, Spliess declared that the church needed a new
reformation, as it did, and his remark produced a great
impression.
This revival spread to the neighboring congregation
of Beggingen, in December, whose pastor, Vetter, re-
joiced in it. His members asked for Sunday evening
prayer-meetings. There were also tremblings and con-
vulsions at Beggingen. The pastor expounded Romans
at the evening prayer-meetings. Maurer took part in
them and preached at Schleitheim on Sunday, for the
movement spread to some other congregations.
Of course, rationalism attacked such meetings, and
rationalism then had control of Schaffhausen. Com-
plaints were made before the antistes against Spliess.
The antistes Kirchhofer, at a convent of ministers, April
17, 1819, attacked Spliess. They appealed to the civil
authorities, who appointed a commission to look into the
matter. Spliess made a defence before them. But
352
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
through J. G. Muller, who had not at first been pleased
with Spliess' strong manner and somewhat theosophic
expressions, a compromise was brought about. He op-
posed the use of any force against the movement, and so
Spliess was not disciplined. And the canton quieted
down.
This pietistic movement, though it led to some ex-
cesses, yet left a very blessed influence behind it. It
produced a number of awakened persons in the different
congregations. It became so influential in its results,
that it led the orthodox ministers to gain the majority
in the canton, so that finally the influence of rationalism
ceased. Up to the revival, Spliess had cared nothing
about missions, but now he became deeply interested in
them, indeed, the main supporter in his canton of the
Basle Mission-house, where he was always gladly heard
by the students. And one of the converts of the revival,
Lang, went as a missionary to the Caucasus. Later, as
we shall see in our next part, Spliess became antistes,
1841. He died 1854, having exerted a great influence for
Evangelical religion in his canton. As a result of these
pietistic movements, Schaffhausen is to-day the great
Evangelical canton of German Switzerland.
PART II
FRENCH SWITZERLAND
CHAPTER I
Geneva
The revival at Geneva, in the early part of the nine-
teenth century, was one of the most remarkable signs of
God's power in Europe during that century.
Section i
the preparation for the REVIVAL
The Church of Geneva had, as we have seen, become
rationalistic in the eighteenth century. Calvinism had
degenerated into Socinianism. The only part of Cal-
vinism that remained was the church-government, and
that had been so modified that the consistory had become
a self-elected aristocracy. The pastors generally
preached a mutilated Christianity, "which recognized
Jesus, not as the unique son of God, but as a messenger
of God, about whom one is embarrassed to know his true
nature." The French Revolution came with its baneful
influence on society and the church. French levity took
away all respect for the consistory and the church, and
the church fell more through it than it had through Vol-
taire with all his boasts against it. In 1806 the sub-
scription of the ministers was changed to the Old and
New Testaments and the Apostles' Creed. Guers said
23 353
354 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
that the religion of many of the Venerable Company
was not religion. The church was imbued with the ideas
of Rosseau. In general, it did not have much more idea
of faith than that of the Vicar of Savoy.
And yet, underneath all this rationalism, there were
influences at work preparing for a revival. Indeed, ra-
tionalism itself is often a preparation for revival, for
men's hearts grow so weary of its insipidity and empti-
ness that even rationalism is apt to produce a reaction
to better things. Even in that dark time God left him-
self not without a witness. One of the elements in the
preparation was the existence at Geneva of a Moravian
congregation. Zinzendorf had visited Geneva in 1741,
and had founded there a Reformed trope or circle of
the Moravians. Its members were members of the Re-
formed Church, but followed the method of the Mo-
ravians, and kept up correspondence with them. They
kept on meeting and praying, and especially in 1810 was
there much prayer. The influence of this congregation
was, as we shall see, one of the direct causes for the
revival.
Another cause for it was a small group of Evan-
gelical pastors in the National Church of Geneva. Al-
though most of the pastors were rationalistic, yet there
were three who were Evangelical, Cellerier, Moulinie and
Peschier. Cellerier (1755-1844) was pastor of a country
charge near Geneva named Satigny. But, though only
a country pastor, he had gained great influence by his
great Bible knowledge and fine pulpit ability. The
Genevese often came out in crowds to attend his church,
and whenever he preached in Geneva he made a deep im-
pression. His sermons were so full of gospel truth and
of unction that when published, they caused the Socinian
book of sermons, then in common use among the people,
to be set aside. The people had found in them something
better than husks. Cellerier was a broad-spirited Chris-
GENEVA
355
tian. Guers tells that when he began frequenting the
Moravian services, his father became very anxious, and
went to Cellerier for advice. Cellerier gave the reply,
unusual then, that the Moravians were excellent Chris-
tians and would exert an excellent influence on the young
man. Gaussen, his successor at Satigny, called Cellerier
"a Father among the Fathers of the Reformed Church
who was destined to be the link between the worst and
the happiest days of Geneva."
Moulinie was the second Evangelical pastor. These
witnesses for the truth complimented each other. If
Cellerier was the powerful orator, Moulinie was the
profound theologian. He was one of the pastors in the
city of Geneva and, therefore, could exert more influence
than Cellerier, who was a country pastor. But he was
more theological in his tendency. He was better fitted
for a chair of theology, from which the rationalists, how-
ever, were careful to keep him. And his preaching,
though more theological than Cellerier's, was not so popu-
lar. So he really exerted less influence than Cellerier.
But, in one way, he did a greater work. He gathered to
his house some of the young theological students to
study theology with them. As the theological seminary
was virtually Socinian, Moulinie thus filled a real gap in
its degenerate theological teaching.
A third witness for the Evangelical gospel was
Peschier, pastor at Cologny, a man of great versatility
and learning, especially in mathematics and astronomy, a
veritable encyclopaedia of all the sciences. But his in-
fluence for Evangelical religion was lessened because he
did not come out as a clear witness for it till in the last
years of his life.
Duby might also be mentioned, though he occupied
rather a mediating position between the orthodox and the
rationalists. But he had been in America and brought
back with him some of the aggressive spirit of the new
356 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
world. Thus, under his leadership, a Bible society was
organized in 1814. He was an especially fine catechist.
The solemn impression he made on the young in prepar-
ing them for confirmation, prepared some of them later
to accept the full gospel. He also gave some homiletic
courses in the university, and was the first in Geneva to
give homiletics a scientific character. In general, it
might be said that the country pastors were more inclined
to Evangelical piety than the city pastors, who tried
hard to keep all Evangelical influences outside of the
city, Moulinie being the only Evangelical in the city.
These pastors, with the Moravians, were the early
witnesses for the truth in Geneva. Strange to say, this
movement to orthodoxy was helped along by a lodge of
Free Masons, who held a doctrine of the trinity, and
their ideas were colored by an extreme form of mysti-
cism. Some of them had read pietistic books, as of
Bohme, Stilling and Madame Guyon. Two or three of
the Genevan ministers, as Moulinie, belonged to this
lodge.
In 1810 there came a movement among the students
toward orthodoxy. The theological lectures they heard
were cold and dry. Bost says, "We learned nothing
beyond the doctrines of natural religion." The New
Testament was not considered as a text-book for the
ministry. The Church of Geneva, while admitting with
Rosseau the majesty of the Bible, did not take it as
its rule of life and faith. But a few of the students
longed for better things. Some of them had come into
contact with the Moravians. This produced in them a
desire for a deeper spirituality than was given by the
lectures of their professors. These students, in 1810,
organized themselves into a society called the "Society
of the Friends." Among them were two theological
students, Empeytaz and Guers. Their leader was a Mo-
ravian, Ami Bost, the leader of the singing in the St.
GENEVA 357
Gervais Church. His son, also a student, had been partly
reared at Neuwied, the Moravian colony on the Rhine,
sent there to be gotten away from the rationalism in
Geneva. There he had come under the earnest spirit of
the Moravians.
Of these students the most ardent was Empeytaz.
He had had a fine education in his boyhood. But, since
he was fourteen years of age, he came under deep con-
viction without being able to find peace. He was so
driven by his soul's anxieties for salvation that he
would sometimes attend the services of the Catholics, for
he was starved in listening to the preaching of the Protest-
ant Church. It was at a Moravian meeting that Meril-
lat, a visiting Moravian, led him to Christ. "The mem-
bers of this Society of the Friends," says Guers, "knew
the way of salvation very imperfectly." And yet their
first annual report, drawn up by Empeytaz, revealed a
much higher elevation than the mists of Socinianism
around them. The meetings of this society were kept up
quietly until, in 1813, two events occurred which tended
to bring on a crisis.
The first was the organization of a Sunday School
by Guers and Empeytaz. Sunday Schools were new in
those days, and unknown in rationalism. So it was
looked upon as a very radical step and it produced a
division in the society. Some withdrew because they
thought the society was becoming too Moravian. It
was watched very critically by the Venerable Company.
The other event was the visit of Madame Krudener,
who arrived at Geneva, July, 1813, drawn hither by a
so-called prophecy of Madame Guyon, which led her to
expect great results from her visit. Of course, she was
a rock of offence to rationalistic and worldly Geneva.
She came into contact with the Moravians. Bost and
Empeytaz came under her influence. Empeytaz, in spite
of the opposition to her on the part of the Venerable
358 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Company, had her hold a meeting in his house. After
remaining two months at Geneva she left.
These two events, the opening of a Sunday School
and the visit of Madame Krudener, seem to have
brought matters to a crisis. Notwithstanding the fact
that the society of the Friends tried to keep clear of
anything that would take the appearance of a sect, the
Venerable Company more and more opposed them. The
Venerable Company also looked with considerable sus-
picion on Moulinie's Biblical lectures to the students,
because they saw in it a movement against the theology
taught in the university. Bost tried to offset their oppo-
sition to the meetings of the Friends by inviting them
to the meetings, so as to see if any tendency to sectism
was prominent in them. Some of the pastors came and
were scandalized at the orthodox doctrines they heard
there, such as total depravity, the divinity of Christ, free
grace and justification by faith. In the fall of 1813,
the Venerable Company warned all young men against
them as a rising sect. On October 29, Empeytaz was
invited to appear before the Venerable Company. When
they asked him his doctrine, he wisely answered in the
words of the Bible. Moulinie and Demellayer tried to
protect him before the Company, but the Company de-
cided against him and gave him fourteen days to decide
whether he would renounce the Moravians or his theo-
logical studies. He passed through great struggles, but
at last, for the sake of peace, he obeyed them and con-
tinued his studies.
In November, 181 3, the literary students of the uni-
versity, inspired by zeal for the Venerable Company, broke
into a meeting of the Brethren or Friends so riotously that
the military were called out, who arrested the ringleaders
and dispersed the rest. As a result of these events, some
of the Brethren went back to the church. Others, the
more spiritually-minded, joined more closely to the Mo-
GENEVA 359
ravians. The feeling was so bitter that even Moulinie
advised Empeytaz not to attend the meetings. Bost and
Gaussen were ordained March, 1814, but did not at first
receive charges. Empeytaz, after holding back for a
time, began again holding meetings in his house. So the
Venerable Company declared, June 3, 1814, that for this
disobedience he would not be allowed to enter the min-
istry. He then went away, August 13, 1814, and joined
Madame Krudener. Empeytaz travelled with her for
about two years, assisting at her meetings. During this
time he made a number of tours with her in South Ger-
many, Switzerland and Paris. Finally, on account of
her increasing fanaticism, he left her. 'After his de-
parture the meetings of the Brethren fell into poor hands,
and degenerated, and then stopped in 1814.
But, though rationalism seemed to have crushed out
all Evangelical movements and driven away the leader,
Empeytaz, yet the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
Empeytaz suddenly threw a bombshell into the camp
of the rationalistic Church of Geneva. On August 6,
1816, he published a book, "Considerations about the
Divinity of Christ." In it he discussed the question,
"Is the report true that the Venerable Company of
Geneva no longer believes in the divinity of Jesus
Christ?" He declared that the sermons of only two
ministers in Geneva, Moulinie and Dejoux, reveal the
divinity of Christ; that, in 195 sermons preached there
since the middle of the eighteenth century, there was no
profession of faith in Christ's divinity. He also attacked
the French Bible, published at Geneva, in 1805, for its
rationalism. He urged the return of the Church of
Geneva to its earlier Calvinism, as the only hope of sal-
vation for the future. The book created a tremendous
sensation, and was translated into a number of languages.
He had dedicated it to the theological students of the
university as his colleagues. It compelled the Venerable
360 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Company to come out from its policy of silence for the
sake of peace, and take a stand for or against Christ's
divinity, just as D'Alembert had done in Voltaire's time,
about a half century before. The book compromised the
Genevans in the eyes of the world, and they were very sen-
sitive about the reputation of their city. The citizens
were angered at these repeated attacks on their pastors
whom they honored, and on the reputation of their
church, for Genevan patriotism ran deep.
But it was especially the theological students of the
university who were roused to a tumult by it. They
held a meeting in the great hall of the consistory with
Merle D'Aubigne as presiding officer. In a letter to the
Venerable Company they protested against "the odious
aggression of the calumnious book." They pledged their
confidence in their professors and in the Venerable Com-
pany. When the students subscribed to this memorial
only two refused, Pyt and Guers. Some of the students
even declared that, for this, these two should not be
allowed to leave the hall. It was supposed that they
would not be permitted to attend lectures any more.
But all that was done was to ask them for the confession
of their faith. The Venerable Company did what it
could under the circumstances. It could not deny that
it was, in fact, Socinian ; but in outward form it was still
Calvinistic. Under cover of this it produced a confession
of faith, mainly taken from the French Confession. So
closed this incident. But the attack of Empeytaz pro-
duced the effect he desired. It caused renewed agitation
about the divinity of Christ and called attention to the
old doctrines of grace.
Meanwhile another event occurred that was significant
at the time. Another voice was boldly lifted up for the
divinity of Christ. Cellerier preached his farewell ser-
mon to his congregation at Satigny at the Christmas
festival, 1816. He chose for his theme, "The Divinity
GENEVA 361
of Christ." It produced a sensation, coming just at that
time. He was succeeded in his pastorate by Gaussen.
Section 2
the; visit of haldane
We have noted the various influences at Geneva that
prepared for the revival. They were slight in them-
selves, but they only needed some deciding influence to
bring them to a focus, so that great results results might
follow. This was brought about by the visit of a
stranger, Robert Haldane. Empeytaz had raised the
question of the divinity of Christ and made the Genevese
think about it. Haldane came to give an answer to this
question by his exposition of justification by faith. Now
occurs a succession of foreign visitors, each of whom
helped on the revival, Wilcox, Haldane, Drummond and
Anderson ; but Haldane was the center of the revival and
the greatest of them all.
First there came, at the beginning of 1816, an Eng-
lish merchant, Richard Wilcox, a member of the Cal-
vinistic Methodist Church of Wales, who spent a year
at Geneva. He took up his quarters in the very house
where Empeytaz held his meetings, and, strange to say,
this house was built on the ruins of the cloister of Rive,
where Farel, in 1534, held the first Protestant service.
Here was the beginning of a new reformation, not from
Romanism, as in the sixteenth century, but from ration-
alism, in the nineteenth century. He gathered what was
left of the Brethren around him from time to time. His
theme was, "The Love and Mercy of God, and the Cer-
tainty of Salvation Completed in Christ." He spoke
mainly to Christians, whereas what most of them needed
was to be dealt with as inquirers. Guers says Wilcox
strengthened the Christians, but did not open the gate
of salvation to seekers. Still, under him, they gained
362 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
some light and courage.
But the year was a year of struggles. During the
year, Guers and Gouthier were troubled with serious
doubts whether they were worthy to enter the ministry.
A heavy blow to them came when young Bost was called
away to the canton of Bern to take a charge. Wilcox,
however, continued encouraging them, and left Geneva
in January, 18 17. They began to pray that God would
send some one to guide them, and give them success.
God heard their prayer. Wilcox had hardly left when
Robert Haldane* arrived.
"Haldane's visit to Geneva," says D'Aubigne, "was
one of the most beautiful episodes in the history of the
Church." He was of a prominent Scotch family.
His younger brother, James, had entered the British
navy and had risen to the position of captain in one of
the war-ships.
On one occasion, being engaged in a warmly-contested
battle, he saw all his men on deck swept off by a tre-
mendous broadside from the enemy. He ordered another
company to be piped up from below to take the place
of their fallen companions. On coming up they saw
the mangled remains strewn upon deck and were seized
with a sudden and irresistible panic. On seeing this
the captain jumped up and swore a horrid oath, impre-
cating the vengeance of Almighty God upon the
whole of them and wishing that they all might sink to
hell. An old marine, who was a pious man, stepped
up to him. He respectfully touched his hat and said,
"Captain, I believe God hears prayer, and if God had
heard your prayer just now what would have become
of us?" Having spoken this he made a respectful bow
and retired to his place. After the engagement the cap-
tain calmly reflected on the words of the old marine
and was so deeply affected by them that he was subse-
quently converted. Of course, he informed his brother,
Robert, who was an infidel, of his conversion. The
latter was greatly offended, and requested him never
* "Memoirs of the Lives of Robert and James Alex-
ander Haldane," London, 1855.
GENEVA 363
to enter his house till he had changed his views. "Very
well, Robert," said James, "but I have one comfort in
this case, and that is, you can not prevent my praying
for you," and, holding out his hand, he bade him good-
bye. His brother, Robert, was so affected by this that he
could not get rid of the idea that his brother was pray-
ing for him. He saw the error of his ways and, after
much reflection, decided to become a Christian.
Robert, after devoting some years to the work of
evangelization in his native land, decided to sell his
estate, and found a mission in India. But the East India
Company did not want missionaries and refused either
to take him there or to allow him to enter. So, as the
Spirit of God, which prevented Paul from entering Bi-
thynia, prevented him from going to India, he turned to
Europe, seeking a sphere in which to work. He became
deeply interested in the spiritual welfare of Europe,
bound down as it was by the trammels of Romanism,
rationalism and state-churchism. He went to Paris, but
not finding the way open there to evangelize, he went to
Geneva. He came just at the time that Empeytaz pub-
lished his book, in November, 18 16. He was surprised
to find the Church of Geneva so Socinian. He called on
Moulinie, but while Moulinie agreed with his views, he
could suggest nothing as to the method by which they
were to be advanced at Geneva. So he left Geneva for
Bern, where he hoped to meet Professor Sack, of Ber-
lin, and discuss with him the religious condition of Ger-
many. For, as he was despairing of being able to do
anything in Switzerland and France, his attention was
now turned to Germany. But God's providence ordered
that he should not meet Sack. God had another field for
him than Germany — the very one he wanted. He also
went to Basle, where he met Madame Krudener and
Empeytaz, who induced him to give up his plan of leaving
Switzerland and go back to Geneva. They made him
better acquainted with the state of affairs at Geneva, and
364 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
called his attention to other defenders of the truth be-
side Moulinie, as Gaussen at Satigny. He returned and
again visited Moulinie, but nothing practical seemed to
come out of it. He had made up his mind to leave
Geneva, when a strange providence occurred to detain
him. Three centuries before Calvin had been suddenly
detained at Geneva by Farel's urgent appeal, and had
become the great reformer there. So, too, Haldane was
now unexpectedly detained, to become, as D'Aubigne
says, the leader of a second reformation at Geneva.
Moulinie had offered to take Haldane, the day before
his departure, to see a fine model of the Alps, which was
located a little distance outside of the town. But provi-
dence sent him a head-ache so that he could not fulfill
his engagement. He instead sent a theological student,
James, who spoke English, to act as guide to Haldane.
This was Haldane's opportunity. Haldane, finding he
was a theological student, entered into conversation about
his studies. He was surprised to find James so ignorant
of gospel truth. He found that the young man was not
opposed to the Evangelical truth, but that he had never
heard about it in his theological lectures. James seemed
very willing to receive information, and returned with
Haldane to his room and remained with him till late that
night. When James got to his own room that night he
exclaimed to his companion, Rieu, "Here is a man who
knows the Bible like Calvin."
This meeting of Haldane with this student changed
his mind. He determined to remain at Geneva. The
next day James came to him, bringing his companion,
Charles Rieu. Haldane made a deep impression on them.
They repeated their visit to him. Haldane found them
fully instructed in the school of Socrates and Plato, but
greatly ignorant of the doctrines of Christ and Paul.
They knew far more about the doctrine of the pagans
than about Christian doctrines. And yet they and their
GENEVA 365
friends, in spite of their ignorance, took the deepest
interest in learning Evangelical truth. James and Rieu
began bringing others of the theological students who
were of the same serious mind as themselves. D'Au-
bigne gives a beautiful description of his first meeting
with Haldane. He says:
"I first learned of Mr. Haldane as a Scotch gentle-
man who spoke much about the Bible, which seemed a
very strange thing to me and to the other students to
whom it was a closed book. I afterwards met Mr.
Haldane at a private house, along with some friends, and
heard him read from the English Bible a chapter from
Romans about the natural corruption of man — a doc-
trine of which I had never heard before. In fact, I
was quite astonished to hear of men being corrupted
by nature. I remember saying to Mr. Haldane, 'Now
I see that doctrine in the Bible.' 'Yes,' he replied, 'but
do you see it in your heart ?' That simple question came
home to my conscience like the sword of the Spirit. I
saw my heart was corrupted and could be saved by grace
alone." This was the beginning of his conversion.
That D'Aubigne, who had been the leader of the stu-
dents, and had presided at the meeting that protested
against Empeytaz' book on the divinity of Christ, should
succumb to Evangelical influences was a great victory.
These students came so frequently and at such different
times that Haldane proposed they should all come to-
gether, and so it was finally arranged they should come
three evenings a week. This gave Haldane time to pre-
pare for these evening meetings, and also to converse
with others who came to visit him. He then took per-
manent lodgings at 19 Place Maurice, at the Sword Hotel,
in the promenade St. Antoine. His apartments over-
looked the gardens in the boulevard to the east of the
Plain Palais, with a noble prospect down the lake and
toward Savoy and the Alps. There he held his Bible
lectures on Mondays and Thursdays. He met the stu-
dents in two spacious rooms on the first floor connected
366 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
by folding doors. The students would sit on chairs
on each side of a long table, on which were placed Bibles
in English, German, French and other modern languages,
besides in the original languages, Hebrew and Greek.
The description of these meetings was given at the
Scotch General Assembly, of 1840, by Monod and
D'Aubigne. It so kindled the enthusiasm of Dr. Chal-
mers that he declared that to sit around a table on which
was the Bible was his beau-ideal of the study of the-
ology. After the lapse of many years, Monod said, "I
can picture this handsome, dignified man surrounded by
students, his Bible in his hand, losing no time in argu-
ment, but pointing his finger to the Bible and saying,
"Look, here it is, written by the finger of God." Hal-
dane spoke in English and was interpreted by either
Rieu, Frederick Monod, or James. Pointing to these
apartments many years afterwards, D'Aubigne said,
"That was the birthplace of the second reformation of
Geneva."
At firs-t, for a fortnight, he had eight students Then
he was urged to begin anew, as he was assured that all
the theological students would attend. And they came
to the number of between twenty and thirty. Haldane
chose Paul's Epistle to the Romans, that Magna Charta
of Evangelical theology. Monod confesses that many of
them had never yet read that epistle. But as Haldane
went on, they began to see a whole system of theology
and ethics in it. Monod declared that before this, Evan-
gelical truth had been to them a terra incognita — an
unknown world. What astonished them most was not
merely the novelty of the doctrine, but Haldane's mar-
velous knowledge of the Bible, and his implicit faith in
its authority. He did not attack any of their positions,
but simply put his finger on the Bible saying, "There it
stands, written by the finger of God." His patience in
listening to their sophisms, often invented just to inveigle
GENEVA 367
him into difficulties, and the carefulness of his answers,
greatly astonished them. Haldane says that the doctrine
that especially completed the overthrow of their false
system of doctrine was the sublime view of the majesty
of God, in the eleventh Chapter of Romans — "Of Him,
through Him, and to Him, are all things." As he taught
them, the scales fell from their eyes, as from Saul's at
Damascus. New doctrines, new peace and new life
came to them. Learners at these meetings, some of them
went out to be teachers. Thus Guers, Pyt and others
went and held religious services in the Place Molard, the
spot where Froment first preached the gospel in the days
of the Reformation. Since the days of Francis Turretin,
Pictet and Maurice, the council of God had not been
spoken with such clearness and fullness in the city of
Calvin, as by Haldane.
Haldane was a strong Calvinist, yet not so polemi-
cally. He was in truth Calvinus redivivus — Calvin
brought back to life again in Geneva. His exposition of
Romans would have delighted Calvin, it was so Biblical
and Calvinistic* But he did not teach the doctrines as if
they were his own opinion, but as if they were the very
word of God. The question of 1817 at Geneva was the
same as under Luther in 15 17 at Wittenberg, "How
shall man be just with God?" This Haldane explained
to them in this Epistle of Romans. Haldane continued
lecturing to the students until the end of their semester,
about the middle of June. Only the students took part
in these conferences, but Malan and Gaussen, who were
already ordained, made private visits to Haldane and
received the same impressions as the students did. Hal-
dane's wife also came into social relation with the
Genevese and sought to scatter Evangelical knowledge.
By these conferences the meetings of the Friends re-
*Haldane's "Commentary on Romans" is published in
English.
368 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
ceived a new impulse. They now learned to understand
fully what free grace meant, and also election, and the
consciousness that they were God's children. What Wil-
cox had not been able to fully clear up in their minds,
Haldane did make clear as sunlight.
Meanwhile the Venerable Company was not unmind-
ful of what was going on. They had had their sense
of honor severely ruffled by Empeytaz' attack on the
church for its denial of Christ's divinity. But now a
worse thing had happened, — a foreigner had come and
drawn almost all their theological students away. They
did everything in their power to keep the students from
attending Haldane's conferences. Cheneviere, the leader
of the church, walked in the shadow of the trees in the
promenade St. Antoine, at the hour of their meeting,
chaffing with indignation, frowning on them as they en-
tered the house, and taking their names to report them
to the faculty. The pastors tried to induce the civil
government to banish Haldane. Unsuccessful in this, it
proposed that Haldane be cited before the Venerable
Company, to answer for the doctrines he was teaching
to the students. When this was proposed, one of the
members of the company remarked, "You will not gain
much by this." It would have been an interesting sight
to see this living Biblical concordance (Haldane) stand
before them and reveal to them their ignorance of God's
Word. His implicit faith in the Bible would have put
their unbelief to shame. The Venerable Company, there-
fore, did nothing. Gaussen when afterwards asked why
the Venerable Company did not use force against Hal-
dane replied, "They did not dare, the students would
have left them." For the Venerable Company was be-
ginning to feel its own weakness. It was finding that
it had among its members some champions of orthodoxy,
who were now beginning to be emboldened, so as to
GENEVA 369
rise up in its defence. And the act of Malan* in boldly
preaching in one of their churches the doctrine of justi-
fication by faith startled them the more. The Vener-
able Company, however, felt that something must be
done to stem the tide toward orthodoxy. So on May
3, 1817, it passed the four famous resolutions, which
were to be signed by the ministers and candidates for
the ministry. In them they promised to abstain from
preaching on the following points:
1. The manner in which the divine and human were
united in Christ (that is, to abstain from preaching his
divinity).
2. The corruption of the human heart or original
sin.
3. The way in which grace works on the heart
(they were not to preach on justification by faith or
regeneration by the Holy Spirit).
4. Predestination (which the Venerable Company
claimed led to antinomianism).
Cheneviere championed these regulations as a lover
of peace and hater of controversy. The Venerable
Company hoped by these regulations to restore peace
to the church by forbidding the discussion of these
subjects.
But matters had now gone too far for the sup-
pression of the truth. Men might cry peace, but there
was no peace. The Evangelicals declined to be any
longer suppressed, and found defenders often where
least expected. Opposition showed itself within the
Company itself. Cellerier, Moulinie and Demillayer re-
fused to sign these regulations. Malan protested May
22 to the Company, though later he subscribed, but
finally retracted. The professors of the theological fac-
ulty felt very sore that a stranger like Haldane should
come between them and their students. They forgot that
* See next section.
24
370 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Paul once came as a stranger to Ephesus and Corinth, and
that Calvin once came to Geneva as a stranger to bring
the truth there. When Cheneviere published his "Sum-
mary of the Late Theological Controversies," in Geneva,
he charged Haldane with inoculating the students with
his intolerant spirit, teaching them to despise reason and
to trample on the doctrine of good works by his doc-
trine of grace. A reply was made to this by Rev. Dr.
Pye Smith, of England, and also in a masterly way by
Haldane, who answered him point by point out of the
Bible, and gave him an epitome of most of the leading
doctrines of the Bible.
But Haldane did not remain long in Geneva, only
about four months in all. Just as the controversies were
becoming most bitter, he left (June 20) for Montauban,
France. He gave as his parting advice to the students,
that they should make the Word of God their guide and
rule. If he left any peculiar bias with them it was in
favor of the doctrine of predestination. Still that was
only bringing them back to the original doctrine of Gen-
eva in the Reformation. But though Haldane left Gen-
eva, his influence remained. His visit created an epoch
in the religious history of Geneva, yes, in the religious
history of Europe. A layman, not even a university
graduate, he did a work that Dr. Chalmers, with all his
learning, could not have done. Among his converts
were the future leaders of thought in French-speaking
lands, — at Geneva, in Malan, Gaussen and D'Aubigne ;
in France, in the older of the Monods, a family so
prominent in the French church of the nineteenth century,
and Pyt, who led to a revival in the Huguenot Church
of France. Its influence was also felt in Belgium, where
a new Evangelical Church was formed as the result of
its work. So that three countries, France, French
Switzerland and Belgium, felt its power. All the
French-speaking lands of Europe were shaken by it.
GENEVA 37!
Section 3
the conversion and testimony of malan
Malan has been called the Caesar of the Revival, —
the hero of the revival. Whether that title is proper or
not (for there were other heroes in it), he seems to
have concentrated on himself the antipathy of the Na-
tional Church of Geneva and also the sympathy of for-
eigners. He was next to Haldane the most remarkable
personality in it. Henry Abraham Caesar Malan was a
Genevan by birth, born July 7, 1787, and was educated
at Geneva. His father was a follower of Rosseau, whose
belief, if he had any, had no knowledge of sin in it.
But his mother taught him the divinity of Christ. He
says:
"I remember, at the age of sixteen, I maintained this
doctrine against some of my fellow-students in the col-
lege room. Yet the belief in it was dead within me.
And, during my four years of study, not a syllable
reached me from the lips of my instructors calculated
to call it to life. Yet I thought myself, and was thought
by others, to be very religious. My morals were unim-
peachable and my general conversation reported devout."
He came out from his theological course ignorant
of Gospel truth and was ordained October, 1810, at the
age of 23. His ordination vow was only to preach ac-
cording to the Bible. In 1809 after a brilliant examina-
tion, he was named as regent of the fifth class of the
college and held this position for nine years, with great
credit to himself. No one in Geneva knew how to elec-
trify the youth as he, for he had introduced the educational
method of Bell and Lancaster, which he had studied in
Pestalozzi's school at Yverdon. He was, therefore, a
teacher during the revival, not a pastor, though he often
preached in the churches. His ordination came just at
the time when the Friends organized their society, but
he remained a complete stranger to their movement,
372 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
and for the first five or six years after his ordination he
preached a Gospel diametrically opposed to the Bible.
The Bible was to him a sealed book. Once, while trav-
eling, he took up the Bible and read a chapter or two.
But he found the style so old-fashioned and the lan-
guage so commonplace that he laid it aside and betook
himself to a volume of literature. During this period,
as he spent a summer with a Waldensian pastor, he
happened to preach for him. After the sermon, the
latter said to him, "It appears to me that you have not
learned that to convert others you must yourself be
converted. Your sermon was not a Christian discourse,
and I sincerely hope my people did not understand it."
These were severe but true words, as Malan afterwards
granted.
It was not until 1813 that he began examining the
errors of rationalism. In 1814 he came somewhat out
of darkness by realizing the importance of the divinity
of Christ. He now came more under the influence of
Evangelical preaching, as by Moulinie and Paul Henry
of Berlin. In 1815 he began arriving at the truth of justi-
fication by faith. While he was thus groping his way to
the light, he came into contact (in 1816) with Professor
Sack, of Berlin, and Wendt, the pastor of the Lutheran
Church, at Geneva, both of them Evangelical. One even-
ing Professor Sack read to him Romans, the fifth chapter.
Malan was greatly moved by verse ten, "For in that he
died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth
unto God." Then came the time of his full conversion,
early in 1817. He tells it thus: "One afternoon, while
reading the New Testament at my desk in school, while
the students were preparing their lessons, I turned to
Ephesians, the second chapter, and came to the words,
'By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God.' The passage seemed
to shine before my eyes. I was so moved that I was
GENEVA 373
compelled to leave the room and take a walk in the
court-yard, where I walked up and down with the in-
tensest enjoyment, saying: 'I am saved, I am saved.'"
This event brought to a climax all the influences that
had gone before. Then he began reading Pictet's The-
ology and the Canons of Dort, the old creed of the
Church of Geneva.
It was about this time that he came into contact
with Haldane. He had become active in several philan-
thropic enterprises, among them an asylum for fallen
women. It was this that led him to meet Haldane.
Although at first he had not had anything to do with
Haldane, yet it occurred to him that, as Haldane was a
wealthy Scotchman, he might be able to aid his reform
work, which at that time was greatly in need of funds.
He called on Haldane and presented the claim. As he
left, Haldane put some money into his hand. After the
door had been closed, he looked to see how much Hal-
dane had given him, and found it was 240 francs
($48). What was most remarkable about it was that
it was exactly the amount he needed to pay a very press-
ing baker's bill. This casual event led to a close friend-
ship between them, and after that Malan was often with
Haldane. It was from Haldane that he gained his first
real, clear conception of justification by faith, by grace
alone.
He no sooner found salvation by grace than he
preached it. He had preached on the subject in a
country church on the previous Christmas, but it
was on May 5 and 6, 1817, that he preached on it
at St. Gervais Church, Geneva. Once more the gospel
of Calvin was preached in that church. It was a plain,
pungent sermon. It was preached in the twilight, which
made its effect all the more impressive. In it he
aimed to show the difference between vital, experimental
piety and a merely habitual, formal piety. As he
374 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
continued on this subject, — as he went on to show the
falsity of human righteousness and to exalt the righte-
ousness by faith, signs of dissatisfaction began to show
themselves among the audience, — movements of ill-con-
cealed impatience. And when referring to the hand that
wrote at Belshazzar's feast, he pointed to the wall at the
right of the pulpit, unconsciously several hearers turned
toward the wall. Others shrugged their shoulders, as
the French are apt to do. Others broke all restraint.
And at his earnest appeal to sinners, a movement of
derision ran through the congregation. When he left
the pulpit, he strode through the congregation like a
soldier drummed out of camp by his comrades or a
criminal marched to execution. His own parents de-
serted him. His wife was greatly distressed. Every
look she gave him was a reproach for shipwrecking all
their high hopes for the future. There was only one per-
son who encouraged him for the stand he had taken.
As he crossed the threshold of his door he caught sight
of Haldane, who shook his hand warmly and said,
"Thank God, the Gospel has again been preached in
Geneva. You will be a martyr (literally, a witness),
to the truth in this place." Haldane's words proved
true in both senses. Malan became not only a bold wit-
ness but also a suffering martyr.
The next day, Cheneviere, in the name of the Ven-
erable Company, requested him to change his doctrine
because of the danger that would come from preaching
that good works were not necessary to salvation. Malan
refused. As a result, the pulpit was closed against him
in the city, and also by most of the country pastors of
Geneva. It was because of the agitation of the Evan-
gelical doctrines by the students under Haldane and the
public avowal of them from the pulpit by one of the
pastors, M'alan, that the Venerable Company was led to
take the decided action of May 3, to which we have re-
GENEVA 375
ferred. This noble testimony of Malan was a bombshell
in the camp of Socinianism, which had hitherto been
masquerading as Calvinism.
Section 4
the church of bourg du four
The result of the regulations of the Venerable Com-
pany of May 3 were not what they had hoped. They
brought not peace, as was hoped, but division, for they
forced the revival outside the church. Of the Friends,
Guers, Pyt and Gouthier refused to subscribe to the
regulations. They replied to the Venerable Company
(May 18) that they had prepared a confession of their
own. With the simplicity of a dove, and yet with the
wisdom of a serpent, they clothed it in the language of
the French confession of faith. Of course it was criti-
cised. The professors interposed their usual objection
to Evangelical doctrine, that it was antinomian, and de-
clared that such sentiments were enough to make men
brigands. So the Venerable Company refused to ordain
these young men. Thus left to themselves, they were
freer than under the Company. They kept up their
meetings. But they were reduced to great financial
straits because of the loss of service in the National
Church. But man's extremity is God's opportunity. He
never suffers his own to languish. Providence sent help
from an unexpected source. Haldane had no sooner
gone than another Englishman came, Henry Drummond.
Indeed it was while Haldane was preparing for his de-
parture and actually counting his money for it, that a
young Englishman, thirty years of age, was announced
to him. It was Drummond, who in his boyhood had
known Haldane.
The history of this whole movement is full of strange
providences, showing the hand of God in it. It was a
376 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
providence that kept Haldane in Geneva. It was the
merest providence that brought Drummond there, just
at the moment to save it from collapsing, at least finan-
cially. Drummond had been traveling in Palestine. As
he was returning, a storm compelled his captain to put
into Genoa. There he happened to hear about the work
of Haldane, at Geneva. He had just sold his magnifi-
cent estate and was hungry for work for Christ. Think-
ing he might find it at Geneva, he came there.
Drummond lacked the prudence and poise of Haldane,
for he was young and zealous. Haldane went away,
begging the Friends not to take any hasty, ill-advised
action. Not so Drummond, for he was a man of action.
Haldane contended himself with expounding the doc-
trines of the Bible and edifying their souls as individuals.
Drummond, on the contrary, urged his youthful follow-
ers to the formation of a separate denomination. Drum-
mond therefore soon came into collision with the Ven-
erable Company, which Haldane had carefully avoided.
Drummond's theological views were Evangelical. But
he did not emphasize justification by faith, as did Hal-
dane. He rather emphasized the mystical union of Christ
and His church, and its glorious results. But he be-
lieved in the Bible, and was an ardent member of the
British Bible Society. His wealth and high social stand-
ing also gave him influence at Geneva. His great liber-
ality came in quite providentially to aid these poor candi-
dates for the ministry, whose hope of position was now
cut off, and who, as we have seen, greatly needed finan-
cial aid. Just because they were helped by him thus,
their enemies later charged them with becoming Evan-
gelicals for the sake of gain.
The Venerable Company was now almost in despair.
They had been greatly relieved at the news that Hal-
dane was going away, but now another Englishman, and
one more dangerous to them, had come in Drummond.
GENEVA
377
It almost seemed to them as if God were raining down
enemies on them. When would these incursions from
England cease — Wilcox, Haldane, Drummond and later,
Anderson? With his aggressive spirit, Drummond soon
came into collision with them. They felt something must
be done with Drummond. So they sent a committee,
composed of Cheneviere, the leader of the church, and
one of the city councilors, to see him. They found
him in the garden of his hotel, talking to a friend. Un-
fortunately they approached him in a way that threw
them open to defeat, and Drummond was quick to take
advantage of it. Cheneviere asked if he expected to
teach the same doctrines as Haldane had done. Drum-
mond, with consummate shrewdness, baffled them by re-
questing from them an exposition of the doctrines of
their great opponent, Haldane. Cheneviere was not to
be caught in that way and went away in a rage, but not
until Drummond had avowed his belief in Christ's di-
vinity, and had attacked their rationalistic version of the
French Scriptures of 1805. Drummond was therefore
requested to leave the city.
He left the city but did not go far away. The chil-
dren of light can sometimes learn something from the
children of this world. He but followed the example of
Voltaire, and went just over the Genevan border, into
France, to Ferney, only a few miles from Geneva. But
how different his mission from that of Voltaire. Vol-
taire at Ferney had tried to utterly uproot and destroy
Christianity. Drummond, on the contrary, was trying
to save Christianity by uprooting the semi-infidelity
taught there, under the guise of Christianity. Freed
from the control of Geneva, he now did the thing that
proved more objectionable than anything else to them.
Being a member of the British Bible Society, he was in-
terested in Bibles, and now he proposed to publish, at his
own expense, a new edition of the old Bible of Geneva,
378 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
which was Evangelical, the French version of Martin,
so as to offset the rationalistic version of 1805. And
he proposed not only to have it printed, but to see that
it was circulated.
A notice in the newspaper, September 12, 1817, which
declared that he was about to publish a Bible, caused
great excitement, especially as the version of 1805 had
already been so severely attacked by Empeytaz. The
Venerable Company published, in defence of their version,
an article by Professor Schulthess, the rationalistic pro-
fessor of Zurich. Thus one rationalist helped the other.
The consistory also tried to offset this by spreading the
report that the new sect were about to publish a Bible
filled with their peculiar views. To this Drummond
made reply, showing his version was the old Bible of
Geneva. Thus the Venerable Company lost at every
point, while their opponents gained at every opportunity.
The Friends now went further and organized them-
selves into a church. Driven out of the National Church,
what else could they do ? The question of separation was
laid before them on August 15, 18 17, and on August
23 they decided on separation, and so the Evangelical
church of Geneva was founded. Drummond urged them
to do this. And they fortified themselves by an opinion
of Pictet, given long before. He said :
"Every separation is not a schism, though every
schism is a separation. When a great number of per-
sons, ministers and laymen, separated themselves from
Arianism because Arianism was in control of the synod
and the church, that was not a schism. In such cases
it was permitted to separate. If the church contains
Socinianism and the errors of Servetus, separation is
justifiable."
On September 21, the Friends, ten in number, cele-
brated their first Communion at Drummond's house,
Malan officiating and Burckhardt, a missionary from
Basle, taking part. As there were only ten of them,
GENEVA 379
it reminded them of another Lord's Supper at Geneva,
says Guers, when in 1536, Guerin celebrated it in the
garden of Stephen Dadas, at Pre l'Eveque, at sunrise,
which was the first Protestant Communion celebrated in
Geneva.
The congregation also proceeded to call a pastor.
Malan refused, as he held, as we shall see, to another
idea than separation. For he declared that he had never
left the old National Church of Geneva, and did not
want to have it cast up to him that he was a member of
a new church, like this. He claimed that he represented
the old Church of Geneva and Calvin, which in fact he
did, for he was truer to its doctrine than was the Church
of Geneva in his day. He was therefore opposed to
separation and refused to accept the call. So they called
Pyt, Gouthier and Mejanel. The latter had just come
there from a trip through England and Holland and had
been very active in influencing them to separation. On
October 5 the congregation celebrated its communion,
Pyt, though not ordained, distributing the elements. At
the beginning of 1818 Mejanel was ordered to leave
because he had embittered the Venerable Company by an
indiscreet letter, in which he advised them to tolerance
against those who thought otherwise themselves. He
remained until March 4, 18 18. In the meanwhile, the
congregation had been corresponding with Empeytaz
about returning. He came back December 28, 1817,
and at once founded a Sunday School, which was another
thorn in the flesh of the Venerable Company. In the
meanwhile the room at Tete Noir, in which they wor-
shipped, had become too small, so they removed to a
hall near the "Shield of France." Then Drummond
left, but not till he had laid the foundations of a Con-
tinental Society, under which Pyt, Neff and Bost labored,
oreder.
But now another Englishman came to take his place,
380 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
a merchant from London named Anderson. Until he
came they had preached predestination because so taught
by Haldane, but Anderson caused them to lower their
Calvinism. He also aided their further organization in
the congregation. On March 4, 1818, Pyt left for work
in France, and Mejanel was replaced as pastor by Guers
and Empeytaz. As these pastors were liable to military
service, because they did not belong to the National
Church, Empeytaz escaped it by ill health. Guers and
Gouthier to escape it went to England, where they were
ordained March 7, 1819, at Poultry Chapel, by eight
pastors, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Baptist.
Thus they got what the Genevan Church denied —
ordination.
On July 7, 1818, as they opened a new and larger hall
(where they remained till 1839) at the Bourg du Four,
they were attacked by a riot. It seems that one of the
newspapers called their doctrine a kind of Mohamme-
danism, mixed with a mixture of English Methodism
and German quietism (it was a professor of theology
who wrote this in the paper). So their hall was attacked.
Cries were heard, as "Down with the Moravians," "To
the lantern or gibbet," "Down with Jesus Christ." They
were pursued through the streets, pelted with stones and
insulted even in their own homes.
Meanwhile this controversy in Geneva began to at-
tract general attention in the religious world. The Ven-
erable Company found it was gaining a very undesirable
reputation for heterodoxy and intolerance. Sympathy
came to the little church from many quarters. The theo-
logical faculty of Montauban in France, the newspapers
of France and England directed attention to this move-
ment. More severe was the action of the clergy of the
neighboring French-speaking canton of Vaud, who as
soon as the regulations of May 3 were published, under
the leadership of their dean, Curtat, summarily broke
GENEVA 381
of¥ all official relations with the Genevan Church. The
Reformed Churches of France were not willing to ac-
cept as pastors any who had signed those regulations.
The religious newspapers, as the Archive du Christian-
isme, at first neutral, then little by little, went over to the
other side and complained against the Venerable Com-
pany. Within Geneva the great mass of the people were
in sympathy with the Venerable Company, supposing
that all this was a foreign religious movement, because it
began with Madame Krudener and was continued by
Englishmen. They nicknamed them Methodists, though
none of the foreigners had belonged to the Methodist
Church. They looked upon it as a foreign religious
movement against their pastors, whom they loved and
honored, and they therefore resented these attacks. The
policy of the government was silence so that the con-
troversy might subside. It held it beneath its dignity
to pay attention to the controversies of newspapers and
pamphlets.
But in 1818 the Evangelicals unexpectedly received aid
from a new quarter, and that not from a foreigner, as
heretofore, but from a Genevese. A lawyer named
Grenus, a somewhat whimsical and original character,
but belonging to one of the better families in Geneva,
took up their case from a political standpoint, and not
from any sympathy with their religious views. He
looked upon it from a purely legal standpoint. He
brought accusation against the Venerable Company in the
courts, charging them with want of fidelity to their trust,
because they had abandoned the Calvinistic ordinances
of old. He was very severe, accusing the pastors of
venality and perjury, — that having abandoned the faith
of their fathers, they yet received their revenues. The
council ordered the Venerable Company to keep quiet
on the Grenus' matter. So it went through the court.
When summoned to appear before the court, Grenus
382 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
wrote from a sick-bed. But because he failed to appear,
he was condemned for contumacy. He appealed, but
died before the appeal came up. The Evangelicals did
not accept his defence, but said that his charges were
the cause of chagrin as much as of astonishment. With
it came a literary conflict. Grenus published "Frag-
ments of Genevan Church History in the Nineteenth Cen-
tury." To this an anonymous author, probably Chen-
eviere, responded in "Two Letters to a Friend on the
Actual State of Religion in Geneva."
But the most important publication was that of the
Second Helvetic Confession of Bullinger, the old creed
of the Swiss churches. Gaussen had been very active
in showing the illegality of the resolutions of May 3,
and trying to show that the Calvinistic doctrine had
not lost legal power in Geneva. He demanded that the
Venerable Company publish its confession of faith. And
after they refused, he together with Cellerier published
this creed at the beginning of 1819, accompanying it
with a preface and some notes, in which they declared
that churches without a confession of faith were exposed
to confusion. The Venerable Company was greatly ag-
grieved by this and published a defence, which showed
the dangers of confessions of faith and vindicated the
Genevese clergy for ceasing to impose the Helvetic Con-
fession on its ministers. Another significant thing was
the nomination of Professor Cheneviere as professor of
theology (1818). This was his vindication by Geneva,
and also a public avowal that the theological position of
the church agreed with his views.
In 1820 the little Moravian congregation joined the
church of the Bourg du Four and, as a result, the latter's
Calvinistic tendencies were still further modified. In
1823 the congregation was again attacked by a riot as
had been done in 1818. During 1823-24 there was a
controversy within the congregation about baptism, but
GENEVA 383
division was averted by allowing adult baptism, but not
as a public ordinance. However, Empeytaz resigned,
and Bost was elected in his place. In 1825 Bost pub-
lished his defense of the faithful in Geneva, a reply to
a sermon by Chyssiere, who had preached a diatribe
against the Evangelicals. Bost discussed the question,
"What is a church?" and "What is a sect?" The church
he defined as a union of believers; a sect, to be a union
of those who abandon the Gospel. According to this,
the National Church would be a sect and the Evangeli-
cals there would be the church. For this, he was charged
with calumny. The case came before the court January,
1826. He was fined 2,000 francs ($400), and given six
months in prison or the loss of his rights as citizen for
five years. But he defended himself so brilliantly that
he was fully acquitted. But when he left the court-
room it was under police protection, for he was followed
by a howling mob. From that day everybody under-
stood that there was absolute freedom in Geneva to dis-
cuss publicly the rights of the old Protestant clergy.
At the trial, though Bost and he had differed theologi-
cally, yet Malan hastened to the court-room and re-
mained with him and his friends, until Bost was safe
from danger. The decision was a triumph for the Evan-
gelicals but increased the bitterness of their enemies"
In 1835 Darbyism came to Geneva. Darby came in 1837.
At first he did not refer to his peculiar views and was
received with open arms by the congregation, but it
resulted in a schism in 1842. In 1836 there occurred a
new conflict. The congregation had been formed mainly
on a congregational basis. It seemed to some as if the
ministers were taking too much power in their hands
* On November 1, 1828, the first conference of the In-
dependent congregations in Switzerland was held. There
were present twenty-one members. On February 18, 1829,
another was held at Lausanne.
384 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
and approaching more the presbyterial order. Guers
declared from his study of Scripture and experience,
that he favored Presbyterianism. But the opposition
finally got a resolution passed that the congregation
would manage its own affairs and the pastors be only
advisory. Thus the congregation passed through a num-
ber of internal conflicts.
In the meanwhile a change had been taking place in
the National Church. The revival reacted on it. The
Evangelicals in it became bolder. Gaussen opened a
Sunday School at Satigny. Although Cellerier retired
from public life, Peschier now became more openly Evan-
gelical. They were reinforced by Coulin, formerly of
Fredericia, Denmark, who came as hospital chaplain, and
by Diodati. In 1821 there was founded, under the
auspices of Gaussen, Coulin and Diodati, a missionary
society, related to the Basle mission. It replaced a
society of the same name, founded at Bourg du Four in
1 8 19. In 1828, desiring to celebrate a mission festival
in one of the churches, it was thought well, in order to
gain influence, to add to the committee one or two pas-
tors of the opposite tendency. At this Gaussen resigned,
and some of his friends disapproved of this step. But
the missionary society continued. Even in the theological
school of the National Church, Evangelical influences
now appeared. Cellerier, Jr., was made professor of
Biblical criticism. The state was finding that the revival
was not as dangerous as it feared. Time also had its
influence. The regulations of May 3, 181 7, against
preaching the Evangelical Gospel had fallen into desue-
tude and it could be boldly preached. The church at
Bourg du Four had grown to about 300 in membership
and it prepared the way for the later organization of the
Oratoire.
GENEVA 385
Section 5
malan and his chapel of the testimony
Malan was as we have seen the hero of the revival.
After he refused to sign the regulations of May 3, 1817,
he asked for a pulpit for June 8, and was refused. He
keenly felt his exclusion from the pulpit. He asked
(August 1) to be reinstated, but the matter rested for a
year, during which time he was not allowed to preach in
the churches. Then at the advice of the Evangelicals in
the National Church, especially of Cellerier, he on May
6, 1818, submitted to the regulations of May 3, 1817.
Cellerier tried to show him that they were not prohibi-
tive and referred more to discipline than to doctrine,
were ecclesiastical rather than dogmatic. As a result
he was again allowed to preach twice in the pulpits of
the National Church, once in May, on Matthew 26:4,
and again in August, on James 2 : 14, "What is saving
faith?" But his sermons always produced controversy.
The truth was Malan could not keep silent about the
truth. He insisted on preaching the divinity of Christ
and justification by faith, for they were the two funda-
mentals of his faith. The result was that the Venerable
Company finally (August 21, 1818) forbade him the pul-
pit, in both city and canton. He still continued in the
position of teacher, which he had held for so long a time.
But on November 6, 1818, he was deprived of that.
For the academic council brought charges against him
for having made alterations in the catechism that he
taught to his students. He denied he had altered the
catechism, but granted he has taught truths not in the
catechism. When asked what principles of instruction
he followed, he replied, "that he taught according to
Calvin's catechism, the canons of Dort and the Genevan
Confession, all of which had formerly been creeds of
Geneva." When told he had subscribed only to the first,
25
386 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
he answered that he could teach religion in no other way.
They felt he was insinuating Evangelical doctrines among
his students ; they dismissed him. Another cause that
led to his dismissal was the fact that he had started a
Sunday School in his school. Sunday Schools were new
in those days and were frowned down upon everywhere
by the rationalists. His school rapidly grew to 250.
But after it had been in existence five months it was
forbidden by the authorities. Then he started one at
Ferney, where he had also been preaching.
He was therefore cast out of the National Church.
And yet he always took the position that he was not a
separatist. He had never of his own will separated from
the church. He declared they had separated from him,
not he from them. He held he represented the old
Church of Geneva, — the church of Calvin, F. Turretin
and Pictet, — and that in casting him out they made them-
selves separatists. For this reason he had not joined
the church of Bourg du Four because it represented a
new movement. Another reason why he did not join
that church, was because he was a strict Calvinist, which
the church of Bourg du Four was not. Anderson had
caused them to modify their Calvinism. Besides that
church was composed of various elements, as we have
seen. Malan, after his dismissal from the school, moved
to a house in Pre l'Eveque, and there opened a Sunday
School of 120, in spite of the opposition of the clergy.
Out of the church and out of a position, he was threat-
ened with penury. And his enemies did everything to
bring him to it. But God sent him help. Englishmen
aided him financially. The Presbyterian Church of Scot-
land gave him aid. He then began to support himself by
the sale of tracts and by teaching, and especially in the
latter he acquired a great reputation. Up to 1830 his
house was full of juvenile boarders, 18-20 of them, most
of them English, trying to learn French. His house
GENEVA 387
also became the meeting-place where prominent Chris-
tians of all parts of Protestant Europe gathered.
It was soon after his suspension in 1818 that the
name Momier (mountebank) came to be given to the
Evangelicals. He was at that time preaching at Ferney,
and his enemies put an advertisement in one of the
newspapers of Geneva, the "Feuille d'Avis," of October
7, 1818, about his services, as follows:
"On the following Sunday there will be in Ferney-
Voltaire a troop of Momiers (mountebanks or mum-
mers), under the direction of the master, Regentin.
They will continue their fantastic performance, juggling
and sleight of hand. The black clown will amuse the
crowd with his drolleries. Tickets can be had at the
lottery office."
This blasphemous parody of Malan's services led
the revivalists ever afterward in French Switzerland to
be called Momier or mountebanks.
He continued preaching in his own house, and as his
audiences increased, he asked the authorities for a church,
but they refused December 28, 1819. So' he decided to
build a chapel for himself in his own grounds of his
house at Pre 1'Eveque. He began the chapel March 19,
1820. He had only fifty dollars then, sent by a brother,
in Ireland. Mrs. Malan tried to get him to appropriate
her property to the building, and then he determined
to sell his house so as to be able to build the chapel.
As he was about to do this, money began coming in
in abundance and he did not need to do so. On one
occasion, when he did not have the money to pay the
architect a certain sum on a certain date, he received
two letters. He showed them to his wife, saying that
God would bring relief. Inside was just enough money
to pay the architect. The chapel was opened October
8, 1820, and cost $4,250. Unfortunately the chapel was
not in the city and therefore not well located for a con-
388 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
gregation. But it became an Evangelical center for Gen-
eva. To him, his chapel was the true church of Geneva,
— the old church of Calvin. He built this chapel that
the old faith of the fathers might not be entirely shut
out from Geneva.
He soon came into conflict with the State Church of
Geneva, for as a representative of the old church, he
claimed the right to administer the sacraments and to
perform marriages. He was attacked by them that, as a
separatist, he had not the right to perform those func-
tions. He replied January, 182 1, in a public declara-
tion of adherence to the Church of Geneva. On Sep-
tember 18, 1823, the Venerable Company finally took
the last step against him, by deposing him from the min-
istry. On the day he was deposed, he applied to the Old
Kirk of Scotland, a daughter of the Genevan Church,
for admission. But difficulties interposed, for it seemed
no one could be a minister in that church, who had not
studied four years in a Scotch university. So he applied
to the Secession Church of Scotland, and was received
by them. In October, 1825, he asked the magistrates of
Geneva to recognize him as a minister, enclosing the
acts of the Scotch Secession Church, which noted his
reception into their church.
So instead of there being one center of Evangelical
activity in Geneva as the result of the revival, there were
now two, "The Bourg du Four" and the "Chapel of the
Testimony." The Venerable Company, which had so
feared one, had now to endure two. But it was hard to
keep the relation between the two Evangelical congre-
gations always amicable. Malan's church, which always
insisted on high Calvinism, looked with more or less sus-
picion on the church of the Bourg du Four, because it
was not Calvinistic, but composed of heterogeneous ele-
ments. This want of confidence, the other church re-
sented. As a result, all efforts at conciliation failed.
GENEVA 389
In 1823-24 Malan accused Bost and Neff of Arminianism.
There was also another difference, namely, in church
government, Malan's chapel being Presbyterian, and the
other Congregational. The Bourg du Four Church also
resented Malan's calling his church the Chapel of the
Testimony, as a reflection on their church, as if it did
not bear testimony for the truth. But little by little,
the views of the Bourg du Four infiltrated into Malan's
congregation. In 1830 one-third of his congregation
(about 60), among them some of his warmest friends, left
and joined the Bourg du Four. For Malan was not
only Presbyterian, but a high-Presbyterian in his idea
of the ministry. He kept all the authority in his own
hand. And when some in his congregation wanted the
power also in the hands of the congregation, especially
of the elders, he opposed it. It seems he had asked a
vote of confidence in his doctrine and they resented this.
Before this time his chapel had been well filled, but after
it, his audiences lessened every year.
The truth was that Malan was more of an Evangelist
than a pastor. He was especially strong as a preacher,
earnest, impressive and solemn. His sermons were always
full of Gospel truth and interesting. His first evangelistic
tour was in 1822, his second in 1826 to England and Scot-
land, and later in 1833, 1834, 1839 and 1843, where he was
received with great enthusiasm as a sufferer for Evan-
gelical Christianity, which had roused a great deal of
sympathy for him. Shortly after his return to Ge-
neva (1826) he received the degree of doctor of divinity
from the University of Glasgow. Up to 1856 he made
many evangelistic tours to England, Scotland, France,
Germany, Belgium, Holland and the Waldensian valleys.
As an illustration of his rare power as a preacher, it is
related that one day in England, as he was leaving the
pulpit, an old man stepped up to him, saying: "I bless
God that I have this day heard Romaine and Whitfield."
390 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Malan asked him for his name. He replied Rowland
Hill.*
He was also an evangelist in personal work as well
as in preaching. On the steamboat, in the diligence, by
the mountain walk and at the hotel, he never lost an
opportunity to speak a word for Christ. No one under-
stood better than he how to introduce the Gospel. Many
illustrations of this are given.
Once he was travelling on the train, when, at Angou-
leme, a young Parisian, amiable and of well-bred man-
ners, took his place in the conveyance and accosted him
at once with the question: "Come from Paris, sir? Of
course, you've seen the 'Huguenots'" (referring to the
opera of that name). "No, I did not, but I have their
treasure here" (drawing a New Testament from his
pocket and presenting it to him). "Ah," said the young
man, "good enough for children — mere fables." "How
about your soul?" then asked Malan. "My soul? I
haven't one. When you die, you die altogether." And
he proceeded to expound a system of materialism. Malan
could have answered his materialism, but preferred to
let the Word speak for itself, and read some Scripture
passages. The young man became annoyed, for they
pricked his conscience. He worked himself up into a
great rage and sat silently biting his lips. He remained
thus for a half an hour, and then exclaimed suddenly, "I
should like to have such a book, for I begin to think its
contents are true, and I have been under a delusion."
Malan gave him his own New Testament, and met him
afterwards at Bordeaux, where he constantly attended
his ministry and showed in many ways that he had been
deeply impressed.
One day he was on top of a diligence between Paris
and Marseilles. Sitting beside him were five young mer-
chants, whom he had heard chatting in a lively strain
about a thousand things. Suddenly Malan turned to
them : "You Frenchmen appear to me like paper kites
without a string." "First of all," said one of them,
"will you be so good as to prove that we are paper kites,
* Who had been one of the greatest preachers in England-
GENEVA
391
and then you will tell us how we come to be without
a string." It was not difficult for Malan to prove that
man is but the spirit of vanity and, unless held in by
the cord of the Holy Spirit, is carried away by every
unruly wind of passion. They listened attentively, and,
four of them leaving at Sevres, he had an earnest and
prolonged conversation with the fifth.
In 1828 or 1829, on one of the lake steam-boats,
Malan, having received the captain's consent, mounted
a pile of cables in the forepart of the vessel, New Tes-
tament in hand, and invited those present to gather
round and listen to the Word of God. A listening crowd
gathered around him. A gentleman, who had betrayed
some impatience at first at such a scene, came up to
him afterward and, grasping his hand, declared that he
had apprehended the gospel for the first time that day,
and would become a Christian.
One day, as he climbed from Biel to Sonceboz, he
unhooked his knapsack and stopped at an inn. He said
to the land-lady that he intended to have prayers after
supper, and if she and her house would like to come,
they would be welcome. "We don't require that sort
of thing here," she replied. He thereupon resumed his
knapsack and staff for another hour's walk, saying,
"Come, I can not pass a night under a roof where there
is no desire for prayer and no fear of God." As they
went on they came to some wagons loaded with planks.
Malan gave a tract to the young fellow driving the
first, who thanked him politely. In a few minutes the
young man came and asked to have something in the
tract explained, as he could not understand. Malan ex-
plained it to him and invited him to come to evening
worship at Tavannes, which he did.
The next morning Malan and his party started at
dawn. After travelling for about two hours, at an inn,
Malan noticed a young woman in attendance, who, from
time to time, put her apron to her eyes. She confessed
she had lost her husband and was very unhappy. He
spoke to her the comforting assurances of the gospel.
She asked to be allowed to go and bring her friend,
Jeannette. She soon returned with a young peasant,
and Malan spoke to them both. He then went to visit
Jeannette's father, who was lying ill close by. The
392
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
white-haired old man lay near the window. "Father,"
she said "I have brought you a minister of the gospel."
"God be praised," the old man replied. Malan asked
him how he had come to the knowledge of the gospel.
He replied, "On this bed, where I have lain for many
years, and through reading a book written by a Mr.
Malan, of Geneva. Ah, had I not been aged and infirm,
I should have gone there to see him. I have entreated
the Lord earnestly to let me see him ere I die." "What
is the name of the book?" asked Malan. "Here it is,"
the aged saint replied, "it is always with me." He drew
out from under his pillow a well-worn copy of one of
the earliest editions of Malan's hymns. Then Malan
said, "We have come from Geneva." "Perhaps," said
the old man, "you have seen Malan." "Yes, I know him
well," answered Malan. He prayed and then sang some
of his own hymns. He then started for the door, but he
went back and said to the old Christian, "God has
granted your prayer; I am Malan, of Geneva, your
brother in the faith of our blessed Saviour." The old
man, fixing his eyes on him with a long and ardent gaze
and slowly raising his trembling hands, said, "Bless me,
bless me before I die." Falling on his knees before
the bedside, Malan said, "You ought rather to bless me,
for you are old enough to be my father. But all bless-
ing comes from God; let us ask it of Him together."
And, folding in his arms the lowly brother whom he felt
he would never see here again, he invoked on him the
peace that Jesus gives, and left the house.
Malan was also active in literary work, writing tracts,
giving the incidents and results of his evangelistic work.
In 1827 he founded a society for the dissemination of
tracts, Bibles and mission literature. He also renewed
his efforts to found a school of Evangelical theology at
Geneva, which idea he had had ever since 1825. Indeed,
he began instruction in theology December, 1827, and
kept it up for more than a year to four students, one of
whom, on account of his orthodoxy, had been compelled
to give up entering the State Church of Geneva.
He also wrote a number of polemical works, espe-
GENEVA 393
cially against the Socinianism of the cantonal Church of
Geneva. Thus when Prof. Cheneviere published (1831)
his "Essay on the Theological System of the Trinity,"
in which he recognized Jesus as a divine being, but
attacked the Athanasian doctrines as contrary to
reason and Scripture, Malan replied in a work entitled,
"Jesus Christ, the Eternal God, Manifest in the Flesh,"
which quickly ran through two editions and produced a
great sensation at Geneva. When the Venerable Com-
pany, in connection with the centenary of the Reforma-
tion in 1835, published a new edition of their rationalis-
tic translation of the Bible of 1805, Malan attacked it.
In connection with this centenary, the Venerable Com-
pany offered a prize for an essay on "Methodism (mean-
ing the Evangelical party), Its Causes and Remedies."
Malan wrote on it at once. But as his work was written
from an Evangelical standpoint, of course he did not
get the prize. To Cheneviere's tract on predestination,
he replied by a reprint of "The Congregation" of Calvin.
A copy of that forgotten work had just then, in jest,
been sent him by a book-seller at Geneva. He thus re-
plied by showing that the doctrine of predestination was
Calvin's doctrine. He also, in connection with that
Reformation jubilee, published a work entitled, "The
True Jubilee." When an effort was made to erect a
statue to Rosseau in Geneva, he wrote against it, even
though it made him very unpopular, so that it was for-
tunate that a lameness prevented his going out for a
month. He published this under the title, "The Folly
of the Wise Man of the World." After the statue was
erected on Rosseau's Island, in the river Rhone at Gen-
eva, he never would set his foot on the island. He was
also polemical against the Catholics. He wrote a tract
against Abbe Bouday, "Would it be possible for me to
enter the Catholic Church?" To an unbelieving Roman-
ist, who asked, "Must I change my religion?" he replied,
394
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
"Sir, it is necessary first of all that you have a religion
to change." All these publications exerted an influence
favorable to the Evangelical Gospel.
In 1849, when the two congregations of the Oratoire
and the Pelisserie united, he for doctrinal reasons did
not go into the union. In 1854 he took steps toward
uniting with the Evangelical Society, but his require-
ments were not agreed to. He had a fashion of giving
his views on union thus: "Fusion, confusion; union,
communion," referring in this to the Bourg du Four
with its dissensions.
Malan was the greatest of the hymn-writers in the
French language. For the Huguenots since the Refor-
mation had always sung Psalms which had become very
dear to them because inwrought in their life and history,
through the persecutions. But in spite of this love of the
French for their Psalms, Malan's hymns became quite
popular. In 1821 he published thirty-five. These were
increased by 1855 to 300. They were just the hymns
the revival needed. Once, when his physician prescribed
rest for him, he composed in seventeen days no less than
fifty-three hymns. In all, his hymns numbered 1,000.
Only one of them has become prominent in our English
hymn-books, and has been translated in two ways, — "It
is not death to die" or "No, no, it is not dying." He
was also the composer of tunes for his hymns, several
of which are used in our English congregations, as Hen-
don and Rosefield. One of the greatest joys of his life
was the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance at Geneva
in 1861.* A very remarkable fact in connection with
i-. was that he was again permitted to re-enter the cathe-
dral at Geneva, where, forty years before, he had
* The National Church of Geneva did not join in this
meeting of the Evangelical Alliance, and twenty-two of its
ministers sent a protest against its declaration of Evangelical
principles.
GENEVA 395
preached an Evangelical sermon, which led to his sus-
pension from the ministry of the cantonal church. But
his health was failing rapidly. The last few years of
his life he lived at Vandoeuvres.
One day, in 1862, his inexperienced servant was
amazed to see a carriage stop at our little garden gate
and a noble lady issue from it with her attendants.
This maid ran to Malan's room announcing a stranger
by some inconceivable name. Going downstairs he found
himself in the presence of the Queen of Holland, who
had spared a few hours in passing through Geneva to
pay him a visit at Vandouvres. Malan was asked after-
wards by Rev. Paul Henry if he had been careful in ad-
dressing her to observe the prescribed forms. He replied,
"I know nothing about that, positively ; all I know is that
I addressed her as a minister of God. I had no time
but to think of eternal things. The one important con-
sideration is the gospel and the Saviour. We spoke of
the salvation of the soul, of the vast eternity to which
we are hastening."
In June, 1863, he ordained Lenoir, as his assistant,
and in November he preached his last sermon. The last
two months were one long agony, yet he bore it with
great patience. One of his sons asked him if he had no
anxiety of soul. He replied, "No, in my heaven there
are no clouds." He died on Sunday, May 18, 1864.
That morning his eldest daughter said to him: "Father,
this is the day when the Lord Jesus will come to receive
you to Himself." A beautiful smile lit up his face and
he fell asleep to wake no more. Malan's doctor, on
quitting his dying bed, said :
"I have just seen what I have heard spoken of, but
which I had never seen before. Now I have seen it as
surely as I hold this stick in my hand." "And what
have you seen ?" he was asked. He replied, "I have seen
faith, I say, the faith, not of a theologian, but of the
Christian. I have seen it with my own eyes."
Perhaps of all the characteristics of this remarkable
man, the most impressive was his supreme faith in the
396 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Word of God. He said, "The Bible is the very Word
of God." He was a strong predestinarian, but viewed
it rather as a comfort than as a mere doctrine. He
followed the doctrinal system of the federal school, as
symbolized in the Canons of Dort and the Westminster
Confessions. He was a fine polemist and a thorn in the
flesh to the rationalists led by Cheneviere, often the
frivolous and sarcastic professor of theology, for whom
he was more than a match every time. When the Evan-
gelical Church of Geneva was later formed, a part of the
little congregation that remained in the Chapel of the
Testimony went into it.
Section 6
FELIX neef*
One of the most remarkable converts of the revival
was Felix Neff. Born in Geneva, October 8, 1798, he
learned the trade of gardener. A lover of books and a
diligent student of nature, at the age of sixteen he had
published a pamphlet on the culture of trees. At sev-
enteen he entered the army and at nineteen was made
sergeant. He was at first opposed to the revival. The
revival converted two of its most bitter opponents,
D'Aubigne, who had presided at the meeting to protest
against Empeytaz's book, and Felix Neff. For when
the church of Bour du Four was mobbed July 7, 1818,
he, as sergeant, was called out to repress the mob. He
plunged his sabre into the wall, declaring that so he
would plunge it into the body of the first person who
would defend those miserable creatures, meaning the
Evangelicals. A month later he was a changed man,
and had joined the church of Bourg du Four. The
* See "Letters and Biography of Felix Neff," trans-
lated from the French by Wyatt. London, 1843.
GENEVA 397
Spirit of God had changed Saul into Paul, and had
changed Felix, who like Felix of old, the Roman gov-
ernor of Scripture, trembled under Paul's preaching, until
he became Felix Neff, the Christian and the preacher.
The next year, to the surprise of his officers, he an-
nounced that he would change the sword of war for the
sword of the Gospel. He went everywhere, telling the
Gospel in prisons and hospitals and barracks, with great
simplicity and acceptance, from 18 19-21. He was no
scholar, but he had such a splendid memory that he
could recite whole books of the Bible. In May, 1821,
during the absence of Guers and Gouthier in London
for ordination, he supplied the pulpit of the Bourg du
Four. In August, 182 1, he became assistant pastor at
Grenoble, in France. Then he accepted a call to Mens,
where his zeal led to a revival. Feeling the need of
ordination he went to London and was ordained at Poul-
try Chapel, May 19, 1823. Then he accepted a call to
the "High Alps," a district south of Geneva and on the
frontiers of France and Switzerland, made famous by
the persecutions of the Waldenses in previous centuries.
It was a terribly hard field as the parish was immense
in size, sixty miles in length and made twenty miles
more by the windings made necessary by the mountains.
It took him three weeks to complete the first tour of it.
The villages in it were separated by gorges and moun-
tain passes for the most part impassable in winter. His
parsonage was at La Chalpe. His first visit to Dormil-
house was made in January, when the mountain passes
were blocked by snow and ice. Assembling the young
men they started, armed with hatchets. With these they
cut steps in the ice, so that the worshippers from the
lower hamlets could climb to the church. The people
who first came to hear him at Violens brought wisps of
straw, which they lighted so as to guide them through
the snow, while others, who came a greater distance,
398 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
carried lighted torches. His activity in reaching his peo-
ple was so great that he was never in his parsonage
more than two or three days a month. With staff in
hand and wallet on his back, he traveled continuously.
It is said he never slept three nights in the same bed.
He found the people in that cold district fearfully
low in civilization. In many of the villages the stable
was the family's living, eating and sleeping room. Bread
was baked once a year and softened in water, so as to
make it fit to be eaten. He therefore became a social
reformer as well as a pastor, imitating Oberlin in this.
He taught them how to improve their houses by the
introduction of windows and chimneys, and also taught
them cleanliness. To prevent drought at Dormilhouse
he prevailed on them to cut a passage from the moun-
tains, so that they might dam up the water in winter and
then open the dam in time of drought, in summer. They
agreed to do it if he would lead. He found that their
method of raising potatoes, which were their main food,
was very faulty, because it was their habit to plant them
too close together. He took their hoe or spade out
of their hands, so as to show them how to plant them
better. Only a few permitted him to do this, and some
of them took the potatoes up after his back was turned.
But in the following harvest those who followed his
advice had the larger crops and the better potatoes. He
was their schoolmaster during the long winter, when
they were snowed up in their villages. He taught them
reading and singing. By turns he was minister, school-
master, physician, pioneer, engineer, gardener and
architect.
Their moral and religious condition was as low as
their temporal condition. When he first came among
them in some of the villages, they ran from his sight
to their huts. They had not had a pastor for so many
years, and as they had had no schools generation after
GENEVA
399
generation, had grown up in ignorance. His work was
hard, for their hearts often seemed as hard as the rocks
around them, and as cold as the glaciers of their district.
But he preached so faithfully and labored so earnestly
that they all learned to greatly love him. As a result,
during holy week of 1825, there was a real revival in
some of his villages. Alexander Valon, who boasted a
year before of being the wildest and most profligate man
in all the country, and had been in prison, was converted
and became one of his school-teachers. Neff organized a
Bible society there, for there were not twelve Bibles in
the whole parish. Now they tried to have one in each
family. But being very poor they had to practice great
sacrifices in order to get one, one family giving up a
pig, another going without salt, etc. The people learned
to love him so much that they esteemed themselves for-
tunate if he only ate their rye-bread and pottage with
them in their home or slept there. On one occasion, as
he was going from Minsas to Dormilhouse, lo, he saw
that all the inhabitants had come out to the top of the
mountain, to watch for his coming. When he came
near, many of them descended so as to welcome him.
He motioned them not to do so, as they would only
have to climb back up their steep hill. But they hur-
ried down the slippery and treacherous path so as to
literally throw themselves in his arms. When he gently
blamed them for so doing, one of them replied, "It is
not often that we have the enjoyment of walking with you,
and we value it too much to lose it." Such was the
love of the people for him. "They loved him because
he loved them, and he loved them because Christ loved
him."
But the severity of his labors, the rigor of the climate
and the wretchedness of the food began to tell on him,
and by April, 1827, he was compelled to leave and go
to Geneva. Unable to return to the "High Alps," he
400
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
tried to be their pastor by correspondence and very
beautiful were the letters he sent them. His last letter
is signed "Felix Neff dying." When dying, he said:
"Adieu, I am departing to our Father in full victory.
Victory, victory, victory, through Jesus Christ." He
died April 12, 1829, at the early age of thirty-one, worn
out by his passion for soul-saving. Malan and Neff
were the two great evangelists that the revival produced.
BOOK V
THE RELIGIOUS EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY
26
PART I
THE GERMAN CANTONS
CHAPTER I
Introductory
Section i
secular events
The Napoleonic era had enlarged the number of
cantons, as by the addition of Vaud and Aargau and
others. The fall of Napoleon brought back the old aris-
tocratic government in the cities. So that just as during
the Napoleonic era the conflict had been between the
federalists and the centralists in government, so now
there came the conflict between the aristocratic oli-
garchy, who ruled the larger cantons, and the democrats,
who wanted all to vote. The crisis occurred in 1830,
when the revolution in France put Louis Phillippe on
the throne. The first to respond to this in Switzerland
was the southern canton, Ticino, which elected a radical
government. From there this radical movement spread
over Switzerland into the other cantons. The radical
cantons united to form an alliance called the Seven
League, because seven cantons composed it. They were
Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Aargau, Solothurn, Thurgau and
St. Gall — later also Basle-land. This league was or-
ganized March, 1832. Its organization forced the con-
servative cantons also to organize in November, 1832.
403
404
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
In this, the four Catholic cantons, Uri, Schwyz, Unter-
walden and Valais, united with the semi-monarchial
Neuchatel and aristocratic Basle. It was called the
Sarnen League. Just about this time the farmers of
Basle-land rose against the aristocrats of Basle-city and
demanded a voice in the government. The Swiss diet;
then under the control of the radicals, sent an army
against Basle and ordered the division of the canton into
Basle-city and Basle-land. The Sarnen League was dis-
solved and political radicalism was in control of the Con-
federacy. Switzerland has had the reputation for its
liberty, but that is a misnomer, for it never had universal
suffrage till about 1830. With the exception of some of
the small country cantons, which were republican, its city
cantons had been governed by oligarchies and the rest of
the people had no voice in the government. And if
Switzerland did not have civil liberty till about 1830,
still less did it have religious liberty as we shall see.
For there were persecutions by Protestant governments
for religion's sake in Switzerland even in the nineteenth
century. Switzerland has not been the land of the free
as has been Holland or as is the United States, where
both civil and religious liberty have long been granted.
Section 2
The Controversy Between Catholics and
Protestants
The next conflict was between Catholics and Pro-
testants. This was caused by the return of the Jesuits.
The Jesuits had been expelled in 1773, but had been al-
lowed to return after 1814. The controversy began in
Aargau in 1840, where the radicals had gained control.
They ordered the suppression of the monasteries in that
canton. This aroused the Catholics and 2,000 peasants
took up arms, but were defeated at Vilmergen. Lucerne
NINETEENTH CENTURY 405
then introduced the Jesuits. As Lucerne was then one
of the capitals of Switzerland, this caused great alarm
among the Protestants and at the Diet of 1841 the dele-
gates from Aargau made a motion for the expulsion of
the Jesuits and the suppression of monasteries and nun-
neries. This alarmed Lucerne and she organized in
December, 1845, the Sonderbund of the seven Catholic
cantons, Lucerne, Zug, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Frei-
burg and Valais. This led the other cantons to form
an alliance into which Zurich, Bern, Glarus, Schaff-
hausen, Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Solothurn
Basle-land and Appenzell (exterior) entered. It is
to be noticed that the Catholic cantons of Ticino and
Solothurn were against the Jesuits because their govern-
ments were radical. On the other hand, some Protestant
cantons (especially at first) favored the Catholics. But
the opponents of Jesuitism could not gain the majority
in the Swiss Diet until 1847, when St. Gall decided
against the Sonderbund and Basle-city and Geneva by
that time aided. The diet then ordered the expulsion of
the Jesuits.
The Sonderbund refused and their deputies left the
Swiss Diet. The rest of the diet then ordered the sup-
pression of the Sonderbund and sent an army of 98,000
troops, under General Du Four, against it. The Son-
derbund against this could raise but 75,000. Freiburg
capitulated to the troops of the Confederacy and General
Du Four gained the victory at Lucerne, November 23,
1847. Thus the Sonderbund was dissolved and the
diet ordered the perpetual banishment of the Jesuits.
This was the last conflict between Catholicism and Pro-
testantism in Switzerland. Since then, they have dwelt
together in peace, side by side, the Swiss Catholic be-
coming somewhat more liberalized by his contact with
republican institutions. When the papal infallibility was
promulgated in 1870, some of the cantons, as Bern, Aar-
4o6 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
gau, Solothurn, Thurgau and Basle, rejected the papal
infallibility and forbade their bishops to discipline priests
for not accepting the doctrine.
Section 3
the conflict between rationalists and evangelicals
in the protestant church
This was the third controversy of this period. Po-
litical radicalism went hand in hand with religious ra-
tionalism. The calling of De Wette as professor to
Basle, of Strauss to Zurich, and Zeller to Bern, revealed
the strength of the rationalists. As a result, the church
finally split into three parties, rationalists, Evangelicals
and mediates. The first organized a "Reform Society"
in 1866, which spread into the different cantons. This
led the Evangelicals to organize their society, which was
called the "Swiss Church Society," organized at Olten,
1 87 1. This society aided Evangelical minorities in ra-
tionalistic congregations to have religious services. In
1890 it joined the Presbyterian and Reformed Alliance.
A third society was organized by the mediates (those
whose theological position was between rationalism and
orthodoxy), but it existed only until the death of its
leader and president, Hagenbach. Each of these had
a church paper. The rationalists had "The Church of
the Present" and later the "Voices of the Time"; the
Evangelicals, "The Future of the Church" and later the
"Friend of the Church." The mediates had the "Church
Leaves."
Gradually the programme of the rationalists devel-
oped itself.
1. Their first attempt was to set aside the creeds of
the church, as the Second Helvetic Confession, and to
make the churches creedless so that there might be room
enough in the church for their lax views of doctrine.
NINETEENTH CENTURY 407
This movement, by the aid of the secular authorities,
succeeded in all the cantons and the churches are non-
confessional, although in some of the cantons, as in Aar-
gau, the Grisons and others, the ministers at ordination
promise to teach "according to the fundamentals of the
Evangelical Reformed religion."
2. Their second attack was on the Apostles Creed.
This they tried to have eliminated from the public
worship of the church. In almost all the cantons a
compromise has been agreed upon by which ministers
are free to use the Apostles Creed or not, and in some
cantons, as in Zurich, a double set of forms in the liturgy
has been adopted. The Evangelicals use this creed still,
but the rationalists do not.
3. Their third attack was on the baptism of children.
They argued against its use because the infant was too
young to understand its significance : and besides all the
significance of baptism was taken up in confirmation.
As a result in most of the cantons, while baptism is
generally observed, yet the confirmation of the unbap-
tized is permitted. Still some of the cantons, as Schaff-
hausen, make it obligatory.
Lately the friction between rationalists, mediates
and Evangelicals has been quieting down, each allowing
the other a place in the church. The rise of socialism
among many of the clergy is causing a disregard of these
old divisions. This socialistic movement is being led by
Professor Ragatz, of the theological faculty of Zurich,
and Rev. Herman Kutter, a pastor at Zurich.
In connection with these divisions among Protestants,
we may also notice the tendency to the separation of
church and state in some of the cantons. The French
cantons were more inclined to this than the German and
Free Churches were organized in the cantons of Geneva,
Vaud and Neuchatel. This movement culminated in the
disestablishment of the National Church of Geneva in
4o8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
1909. The German cantons were less inclined to disestab-
lishment, although there were a few independent Re-
formed congregations among them. But finally Basle de-
cided on disestablishment in 191 1, the first of the German
cantons to take this step.
Section 4
the united religious movements oe the cantons
Some of the religious movements were cantonal,
others were general. We propose here to speak of the
latter.
In 1858 the Swiss Evangelical Conference was
founded, consisting of two delegates from each Pro-
testant canton. It led to the adoption of Good Friday
(which had never been observed in Switzerland as a
church festival day). It also led in 1862 to a concordat
between the different Protestant cantons about the ex-
amination of students for the ministry by which they
are examined by a central board and not by each canton.
All the German cantons, except Bern and Grisons, ac-
cepted this. Since 1881, this conference has been held
yearly and has led to important results, as the general
observance in Switzerland of the 400th anniversary of
Zwingli's birth in 1884, etc.
Another union society that has exerted considerable
influence has been the Swiss Preachers' Association. It
was organized in 1839, to be a bond of union between
the different cantonal churches and also to further theo-
logical intercourse. Its meetings were held annually,
when important subjects were discussed. But friction
finally developed between the Evangelicals and the ra-
tionalists, as when Fries at the meeting in 1845, declared
against the Apostles Creed, and Hirzel in i860 attacked
pietism. Its membership formerly was as high as 300.
But through these controversies it has lessened to 100-
NINETEENTH CENTURY 409
150. Still its meetings are important and its discussions
helpful and significant.
As a result of this Swiss Preachers' Society, another
very helpful society was organized, namely, the Swiss
Aid Society. At the meeting of the Swiss Preachers' So-
ciety in 1840, Le Grand, pastor at Freiburg, who had
been impressed by the great needs of the Protestants
scattered in Catholic lands, led to the organization of a
society to aid them. The society was organized (1842)
at Basle and soon the different Protestant cantons had
auxiliary societies. The annual collections of all the
Protestant cantons which have been taken for this society,
usually on the Day of Prayer in the fall, have netted a
large sum. This has been used for the building and
maintaining of Protestant congregations in Catholic can-
tons and Catholic lands, as Austria, Italy, Chili and even
Turkey. In 1872-73 a crisis occurred in the society,
between the rationalists and the Evangelicals, as the
latter did not wish their money sent to churches, whose
pastors were rationalistic. It was finally amicably ad-
justed by allowing each cantonal society liberty to give
how and where it pleased. The report of this society for
191 1, says that $50,000 were given by Switzerland in
the previous year and $11,000 by other lands. The total
was $62,400.
CHAPTER II
Basle
Section i
the call of de wette*
Basle, the home of pietism and the stronghold of
orthodoxy, was, strange to say, the first to permit the
entrance of rationalism. This occurred when De Wette
was called as professor of theology. It was the signal
for a new era. But it came like a thunderclap to pietistic
Basle.
William Martin Lebrecht De Wette was a German,
born near Weimar, January 12, 1780, and educated at
the rationalistic university of Jena. He became profes-
sor at Heidelberg and at Berlin (1810-19) where the
pietistic circles voted he was not a Christian.
He was dismissed from Berlin, in disgrace, because
of supposed sympathy with Sand, the assassin of Kotze-
bue. He retired (1819) to Weimar, where he wrote
"Theodore the Doubter" or "The Skeptic's Conversion" —
an autobiography of his religious crisis. The book was
looked upon with suspicion by the orthodox, although it
revealed him as returning from rationalism toward
orthodoxy.
When his election to Basle was first spoken of, the
whole theological faculty, with one exception, opposed it.
The "Christianity Society" opposed it. One of the pas-
* See R. Stahelin's "De Wette nach seiner theolog-Wirk-
samkeit und Bedeutttng."
410
BASLE 411
tors of Basle declared that De Wette's views had left us
only one-third of the New Testament and soon the Pro-
testant Church would have nothing left. Many of the
pious people of Basle looked upon him as antichrist.
But in spite of all this opposition, the council elected
him. He went to Basle in 1822. Instead of rousing
opposition he tried to overcome it. His first sermon, on
Whitsunday, 1822, on "Prove the Spirits," won him many
friends. In this he was aided by his great moral earnest-
ness. He became somewhat more conservative, so that
while the orthodox called him a rationalist, the extreme
rationalists called him a pietist because he later labored
with Spittler, the leader of the conservatives, in the work
of Greek evangelization. For he had strong, practical
sympathy, especially for missions, and once wrote a
pamphlet about the theological seminary of the German
Reformed Church, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, so as to
stimulate interest in the Germans in America. He was
ordained 1825, claiming to accept the Basle Confession.
But his principles were critical and Hegelian. His
"Commentary on Matthew" appeared about the same
time as Strauss' "Life of Christ," and was much like
it, but differed from it in its conclusions. While
Strauss reduced Christ's life to a myth, he granted
its historicity, though he granted that some traditional
and mythical accounts had crept into it, especially the
supernatural birth and the ascension. De Wette, by
his influence, toned up the scholarship of the uni-
versity and attracted many foreign students. He was
a man of broad-mindedness. Thus when the Evangeli-
cals of Basle united in raising money to support an or-
thodox professor in the university, De Wette, instead of
opposing it, approved of it. as he thought all tendencies
should be represented in the university. His last work,
"The Essence of Christianity," revealed his progress
toward Evangelical ideas as compared with his earlier
4i2 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
rationalistic works. He died June 17, 1849, with the
confession, "I know there is salvation in none other than
in Christ and Him crucified." He was rationalizing in
his head, but Christian in his heart. Only a German can
properly unite two such contradictory positions. Philo-
sophically, his views were based on Fries, who united
Jacoby's philosophy of faith with Kant's criticism. He
has been called an aesthetic theologian, because he regarded
the facts of revelation as symbols, — images of certain
ideas. He claimed that if the dogmatic envelope were
stripped off, the kernel would reveal the religious and
aesthetical elements which had been given birth to the
dogmatic. Thus Christ's death was the picture of man
purified by sacrifice, his resurrection was the picture of
the victory of truth, his ascension, of his eternal glory,
his return, of the victory of the church. But in doing
this, he dissolved theology into empty signs. His dog-
matics were aesthetic rationalism, just as Schleiermacher's
were emotional rationalism.
Section 2
prof. charles rudolph hagenbach
The coming of De Wette produced the break with or-
thodoxy and the university was gradually filled with pro-
fessors of more liberal views. The most influential
among them was Charles Rudolph Hagenbach. He was
born at Basle, March 4, 1801. His father, a medical
professor at the university, was lax in his orthodoxy.
Influenced by him, his son had many a spiritual conflict,
but they only drove him to deeper search into truth.
His professors of theology at Basle were orthodox and
looked on German theology with suspicion. So he went
to the University of Bonn, and later to Berlin (1820-23).
Under Schleiermacher and Neander, he was introduced
to the mediating theology, the former leading him to
BASLE 413
make the person of Christ central. Giessler, at Bonn
and Neander, gave him his impulse to church history.
While he was in Berlin (1823) although he had ex-
pected to start out in his ministry only as a country
pastor, yet he received the call to be privat-docent at
Basle University, an unusual distinction for so young a
man. At this, De Wette was very glad, for he had felt
himself lonely at Basle, as the other professors of the-
ology, being orthodox, would have nothing to do with
him. Hagenbach's theology was not so rationalistic as
De Wette's, but he was a congenial spirit to the latter
because he had been trained in Germany and was in
sympathy with De Wette's scholarly methods. After
teaching at Basle a year he was made professor extra-
ordinary and in 1829 professor ordinary. In 1827 he
early gained fame by the publication of his "History of
the First Helvetic Confession." This was one of the
mildest of the Swiss creeds and is still used at Basle.
Its theological statements especially voiced Hagenbach's
mediating views. He began a series of popular lectures
on the Reformation in the winter of 1833, which were
published, and also translated into English* This series
of lectures grew into his best work, "History of the Chris-
tion Church," which appeared in seven or eight volumes
(1839-58). He had a remarkable faculty for popu-
larizing church history. Though scholarly, he was al-
ways interesting. He also wrote an "Encyclopaedia"
(1833), "Homiletics and Liturgies" (1863), "History of
Doctrine" (1840). He was also quite a poet, and two
volumes of his poetry were published in 1846. He was
also the editor of the series of volumes on the Reforma-
tion, entitled "Fathers and Founders of the Reformed
Church." published about 1857. In 1828 he received the
title of doctor of divinity, from Basle. He occupied
* By Hurst, in his "History of the Rationalism of the
Eighteenth Century."
4H
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
prominent positions in Basle, being a member of the
council and had great influence there. He died June
7, 1874.
The significance of Hagenbach was that he was the
leader of the mediating party in the Swiss churches.
When the "Church-leaves (Kirchenblatt) of the Re-
formed Church of Switzerland" was founded, he be-
came its editor (1841-68). He was of the mediating
theology of Schleiermacher, but unlike Schweizer of
Zurich, who inclined to the left, he inclined to the right
or the Evangelicals. Though he favored De Wette's
critical methods, he never went to his extremes. When
the rationalists at Basle, in 1872, tried to set aside the
Apostles Creed, he took strong grounds against them.
He was also very active in the various operations of the
church as in the Swiss Preachers' Society, the Protestant
Aid Society and in the work of the Bible and Missionary
Society of Basle.
Section 3
the later religious situation at basle
This history divided itself into two parts, the edu-
cational and the ecclesiastical.
A. Educational
This mainly concerns the university. As the uni-
versity veered more and more to liberal theology, the
Evangelicals of Basle, at last alarmed, raised sufficient
funds to support another professor, so that there might
always be an Evangelical professor of theology there.
Of this chair John Tobias Beck became professor (1836-
43) when he left for Tubingen. After him were Hoff-
man, inspector of the Mission House of Basle (1843-49),
Auberlen (1850-64), Von der Goltz (1865), Kaftan
BASLE 415
(1873-83), Schnederman (1883), Kirn (1889) and Metz-
gar (1896), the present incumbent. Edward Boehl, a
privat-docent, was Evangelical, but left for the Uni-
versity of Vienna. In 1873, Conrad von Orelli was
elected professor on a new foundation by a citizen of
Basle.
The most prominent Evangelical professor before
Orelli was John Christopher Riggenbach. He was born
October 8, 1818, at Basle and studied there and later at
Berlin and Bonn. He was won to Hegelian principles
by his friend Biederman, later the rationalistic professor
of theology at Zurich. But at Berlin he was greatly im-
pressed by the piety of Baron von Cottwitz and gladly
came into close friendship with Godet, who was Evan-
gelical. Though Hegelian at first, he was of too serious
a mind to be satisfied with such a philosophy. He was
examined for ordination (1842) at Basle with Bieder-
man. Both of these young men were looked upon by
the ministers of Basle with suspicion because of their
rationalistic views. At first Riggenbach joined with the
rationalists, as Fries and Biederman, in the publication of
their church paper, "The Church of the Present." But
gradually his experience as a country pastor revealed to
him the emptiness of rationalism. And at the annual
meeting of the Swiss Preachers' Association, in 1848, he
startled the rationalists by announcing himself as an
Evangelical. Later, with Guder of Bern, he led in the
founding of the Swiss Church Society. In 1850 he was
made professor of theology. At the meeting of the
Evangelical Alliance at Geneva, in 1861, he read a paper
on "The Present Rationalism in Switzerland," which
proved a bombshell in the camp of the rationalists, and
was answered by Biederman. In 1879, when the Evan-
gelical Alliance met at Basle, he was its leader. With
the exception of Hagenbach, he was the most influen-
tial of the professors at Basle. He was president of the
416 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Basle Missionary Society for many years. He died Sep-
tember 5, 1890.
Another of the professors who ought to be mentioned,
not because of his Evangelical position, for he was a
mediate in theology, but because of his masterly life of
Zwingli, was Rudolph Stahelin. He studied at Basle, Ber-
lin and Heidelberg. He returned to Basle as privat-docent
(1873), and became extraordinary professor (1874), and
ordinary professor (1875), as successor to Hagenbach.
His life of Zwingli is the most complete yet published,
because, since Morikoffer's and Christoffel's biographies
of the great reformer were published, much new ma-
terial had appeared on Zwingli's life. A pathetic in-
terest is connected with it, in that, just as he had gathered
his materials after many years' research, he was threat-
ened with blindness, and so the work was written slowly
and painfully, by an almost blind man. While speaking
of writers on the Reformation, one of the pastors of Basle
ought not to be omitted, Rev. Ernest Stahelin, who wrote
one of the best biographies of Calvin that has appeared.
It appeared in the series published by Hagenbach, en-
titled "The Fathers and Founders of the Reformed
Church."
In 1912 there were three Evangelical professors of
theology in the University of Basle, Orelli, Metzger and
Edward Riggenbach (who became extra professor in
1900). Prof. John Conrad von Orelli was born at Zur-
ich, January 25, 1846, studied at Zurich, Lausanne, Er-
langen, Tubingen and Leipsic. He became privat-do-
cent at Basle, 1871, and professor, 1881. His writings
on the Old Testament have given him great fame, and
many of them have been translated into English. He
has been president of the Swiss Evangelical Union for
many years, and the great leader of the Evangelicals of
Switzerland. He was also a fine preacher, the cathedral
at Basle being filled whenever he preached. He died
BASLE 417
November 7, 19 12.
B. Ecclesiastical
While the university was thus being changed to liber-
alism, the Church of Basle underwent a similar conflict.
The pastors were at first all Evangelical. In 185 1 a
sensation was caused by the refusal of the consistory to
ordain Rumpff, because of his outspoken rationalism.
He appeared before the city council, asking for ordina-
tion, but it sustained the consistory in its action. Hagen-
bach, though usually so mediating and irenic, delivered
an address on that occasion, defending the judgment
given by the theological faculty against Rumpff.
In 1858 the rationalists made their first attempt in the
programme of their efforts, which we have sketched in
the first chapter of this book. Horler, who, because of
his outspoken rationalism,* had left the ministry for
journalism, made a motion that the ordination oath to
the Basle confession be changed, so as to allow room for
rationalistic ministers, but it was refused by the council,
December 7, 1859, by a vote of 72-27. In i860, the in-
fluence of the great revival in America, and the British
Isles in 1857, began to be felt at Basle. The Basle Mis-
sionary Society decided to hold extra religious services.
It happened that Hebich, one of their prominent though
eccentric missionaries from India, was in Basle. His
preaching created a great sensation, two thousand being
present on the third day. Complaint was made against
him by the rationalists to the city council, but the council
nevertheless allowed him to continue preaching in the
churches of Basle, though it was carried by a small
majority. The rationalists then become aggressive, and
Horler gave a course of public lectures. At one of them,
* He is said to have believed neither in God nor in im-
mortality.
27
4i8 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Rev. Earnest Stahelin, then a country pastor, rose and
defended Evangelical Christianity, with such power, that
he was later called to be one of the pastors in the city,
and became a leader of the Evangelicals. In 1861, the
Evangelicals gave a course of public lectures in which
Professors Auberlen and Gess took part. In 1867, the
rationalists organized a Reform Society. A local Evan-
gelical Society was also organized, and thus the lines
were drawn between the parties.
In 1873 tne rationalists made a strenuous effort to have
the use of the Apostles' Creed set aside, as well as the
Basle Confession, but they were not successful ; though
later liberty was given, so that in the liturgy the word
"confess," before the Apostles' Creed, was allowed to be
changed by them to the word "hear," which the ration-
alistic ministers who felt they could not confess the
creed could use. In 1874 the first rationalistic pastor
was elected. It came about in this way: Rev. J. J.
Riggenbach was dissatisfied with the new liturgy, and
asked to be allowed to use the old baptismal formula,
because he considered it more Evangelical. As he
was refused permission, he resigned. At once the
rationalists elected a pastor, Altherr, in his place.
In 1875 the Evangelicals were surprised at the election
of a second rationalistic pastor, Zwingli Wirth, at the
cathedral. But the Evangelicals have always refused
to administer the communion with the rationalists.
The rationalists continued electing pastors until, in 1879,
each of the four congregations in the city had a ration-
alistic pastor. The Evangelicals, to offset this trend to
rationalism, formed a local church aid society, which
opened schools for the religious instruction of the chil-
dren, and soon three-fourths of the children of the city
were in their schools.
In 1881 the rationalists tried another part of their
programme — they tried to have the rite of baptism set
BASLE 419
aside. The Evangelical pastors then drew up a statement
that they would not confirm a child that had not been
baptized. In the controversy, Professor Rudolph Stahe-
lin, though a mediate, came out against the rationalists,
because they had claimed that his statements had sup-
ported their views. In 1886 the rationalists gained con-
trol of the consistory, but in 1887 the Evangelicals again
gained its control. In 1895 tne rationalists had a ma-
jority in the synod. At present the two parties are about
equal.
Thus the ecclesiastical history of Basle has been one
of conflict against the encroachments of rationalism.
The latest phase of its ecclesiastical history was the vote
for the disestablishment of the church in 1910. By this
the state withdraws all support of the church, except for
the services of chaplains in hospitals and prisons, and it
allows each congregation to lay a tax on its members, so
as to maintain the church. The law went into effect
April 8, 191 1. Thus Basle ranges herself as the first of
the German cantons in favor of the separation of church
and state.
Section 4
the basle missionary society
The founding of this society has been already de-
scribed in a previous part of this volume. We will here
continue its history. At first they sent their students to
the mission fields of other societies, as they had no mis-
sion field of their own. In 1818 two of their students
entered the service of the Netherlands Mission Society.
But that society kept them so long at its preparatory
school, at Berkel, in the Netherlands, that the students
became dissatisfied, and a breach finally occurred between
that Society and the Basle Society, but not till seven of
the Basle students had gone out under that society.
420 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
They also sent out their students under the Church
Missionary Society of England. Eighty-six in all went
out under that society. Many were sent to the deadly
Sierra Leone, in Africa. Some of them became promi-
nent, as Koelle, who gathered from the African Babel of
languages a Polyglotta Africana; Krapf, noted for his
geographical researches, and Gobat, later Bishop of Jeru-
salem. The Basle society would have preferred sending
its students out under the London Missionary Society, as
its views were more in harmony with it, but that society
had more applicants for the mission field than it could
accept. Its relation to the Church Mission Society
caused considerable criticism, especially by Prof. Tobias
Beck, of Tubingen (previously a professor at Basle),
who declared that it was wrong to aid an Episcopal
Society. Their relation to the Church Missionary So-
ciety compelled the enlargement of their course of study
to four, then to five years. The students were also al-
lowed to attend some of the lectures in the university, as
by Beck and Hagenbach. The enlargement of the course
of studies finally led to friction in the society. Spittler
objected to so much education because he said the artisan
missionaries were the most effective, and there was dan-
ger of the missionary being over educated. The mis-
sionaries of the artisan class, however, wrote back from
their mission fields, stating how valuable a more com-
plete education would have been to them. Spittler
then left the society and, as we shall see, founded the St.
Chrischona Institution.
The Basle Society, after sending missionaries through
the Church Missionary Society for many years, decided
to have a field of its own. Its first field was in the Cau-
casus, where many Germans and Swiss had settled. In
1 82 1 they sent out Zaremba, formerly a Russian count,
and Dittrich. But the Russian government forbade them
to make proselytes from the Greek Church, so all they
BASLE 421
could do was to act as pastors to the German colonists.
They, however, did some work among the Tartars and
Armenians. Then the Armenian hierarchy complained
to the Russian authorities, and in 1835 the Czar ordered
the mission to cease. There were hardly any results left,
although Dittrich translated the gospels, and a congrega-
tion of Armenians joined the Lutheran church.
The society then turned to West Africa, where already
a number of their students had been working under the
Church Missionary Society. In 1827 they sent five to
Liberia, but some sickened and some died, until the last
one entered the service of the Church Missionary Society,
so that by 1832 the mission was ended. In 1828 they
began sending missionaries to the Gold Coast, then under
Denmark. But their missionaries died until only one
remained, Riis, who returned, and work there came to
an end, to be revived in 1843. In 1850 the Gold Coast
went over to England. In 1834 a new mission was
started on the west coast of India, which rapidly grew
until now it is one of their most important missions. In
1847 another mission field was opened in China, and
Hong Kong became their center. Gutzlaft, the fiery
missionary, was prominent as their Chinese missionary.
When the Germans became a colonizing nation, the so-
ciety, to please its large constituency in southern Ger-
many, founded a mission field among the Cameroons,
which has greatly prospered.
Blumhardt, the first inspector, was succeeded in 1839
by Hoffman, a very learned man, who also delivered
lectures in the university. But, after eleven years, he
was called to the University of Tubingen, and later was
court-preacher to the King of Prussia. After him came
Josephaus (1850-79), then Scholl and now Oehler. Many
of the teachers of the Mission House became prominent
as professors, as Beck, Gess, Osterberg and others. The
building of the Mission House has been enlarged until
422 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
now it will accommodate about one hundred students.
From its foundation up to 1899, 1,500 young men have
entered it. Its statistics for 191 1 report 392 mission-
aries, including wives ; 60,632 communicants, of whom
18,000 are in India, 10,500 in China, 31,500 in the Gold
Coast and Cameroons in Africa. It reports 668 schools,
37,000 scholars. Its receipts for the year were $427,000.
Section 5
the other religious institutions of basle
Pietism is always practical, and the pietism of Basle
produced many religious activities. For, without pietism
to enrich it a church is apt to become sterile. We have
already noted the Christianity, Bible and Missionary
Societies. It remains to speak of several others.
1. The Pilgrim Mission oe St. Chrischona
This Mission House, located near Basle, was founded
by Spittler, because he differed from the management of
the Basle Missionary Society, in thinking they too highly
educated their missionaries. He also felt the need of a
Home Mission Institution, as the Basle Missionary So-
ciety was intended only for foreign work. But he found
it difficult to keep home and foreign missions separate.
Already in 1843 some Armenians were brought there to
be educated as missionaries. In 1844 America was
looked upon as the special field of this society, also later
Palestine, through Bishop Gobat, who was made Bishop of
Jerusalem in 1846. Missionaries were also sent to Abys-
sinia. In 1854 a call came from Patagonia, and four
were sent there. This was followed by the sending of
other missionaries to other parts of South America.
From 1856-59 Russia opened to them, and ten were sent
there. In i860 it planned to aid the orphans of the
BASLE
423
Druze massacres in Syria. In 1872 missionaries were
sent to the Gallas in Africa, but they were driven out by
King Menelik in 1886. Up to 1890 there had been 400
students, of whom 196 had gone to America, 7 to Africa
and 15 to Asia. Its report of 191 1 says it graduated 25
students in 1910 and had 112 students in 191 1. Its an-
nual income for 1910 was $53,000.
2. The Theological Alumneum
Ever since the Reformation, there had been at Basle
an institution as a convict or place of residence for stu-
dents, without cost to themselves. This was given up in
1835 because of the loss of funds by the separation of
Basle-land from Basle-city. In 1844 the Christian people
of Basle raised funds, and refounded the institution.
Rev. Mr. Le Grande, formerly pastor at Freiburg, was
made house-father, or head of the institution. He guided
it prosperously till 1873, when Joneli was made house-
father. The institution has aided many students to get
an education, especially at the university. It supported
foreign students, especially from Catholic lands, as Aus-
tria-Hungary, etc. At its fiftieth anniversary, in 1885,
it had had 357 Swiss, 89 Germans, 84 Bohemians, 67
Hungarians*
3. The Training School of Ministers (Prediger
Schule)
It was founded May 15, 1876, because of the ration-
alistic tendency of the university, and also because of the
lack of Evangelical ministers. Its founding led many to
withdraw their support from the Alumneum. Yet their
aims were different. The Alumneum was founded to
aid university students. This was intended for those not
* Zurich also had an Alumneum (1853-79).
424
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
taking a regular university course, but who wanted to
enter the ministry, especially of the Free churches, or
some other form of religious work. This was possible,
because some countries did not require a university train-
ing as a prerequisite to the ministry. It enlarged its
curriculum until its course is now four years, preceded by
a preparatory course. It also arranged with the Basle
ministerium that its students, by taking certain courses
at the university, would be licensed by them. Rev. Wil-
liam Arnold, formerly pastor at Heiden, on Lake Con-
stance, has been its head up to 1912, when licentiate Otto
Schmitz, privat-docent in Berlin, succeeded him. In
addition to Arnold, other ministers, as Preiswerk, Rig-
genbach and others, gave instructions in this institution.
Many of its graduates have gone as Home Missionaries.
Thus, in 1881, Haarbeck was sent to the Engadine dis-
trict, in the canton of the Grisons, where rationalism had
full control. Others were sent to rationalistic parts of
the canton of Aargau, and to the Catholic canton of
Ticino, where the building of the St. Gothard railway
was bringing many Protestants, as at Bellinzona. Its
graduates are scattered all over the earth, as in Brazil
and the United States, but especially in Switzerland and
southern Germany. In thirty years it has had 120 stu-
dents. The institution has exerted a strong influence for
Evangelical Christianity in Basle itself. Its report for
1910 gives 25 students and receipts of $5,000.
CHAPTER III
Zurich
Section i
the preparation eor the strauss controversy
After the time of Lavater and Hess, there came a
reaction, although for a time the Evangelical influence
was in the ascendent. Hess' successor as antistes was
George Gessner (1828-37), a very earnest, aggressive
Evangelical. He, with a few friends, founded the Mis-
sionary Society of Zurich, which later sent Dittrich as
missionary to the Caucasus. After the death of Lavater,
whose daughter he married, the pious of Zurich gathered
around him, and he held prayer meetings on Monday
evenings. He was pastor of the Fraumunster Church,
Zurich, and professor of practical theology. But after
his election as antistes, there came a political re-
action, as the radicals gained control. This aided the
rationalists. That the old spirit of Evangelicalism did
not die out in this reaction was mainly due to him. He
resigned 1837 and was succeeded as antistes by J. J.
Fiissli, who was also a leader of the Evangelicals. Gess-
ner died 1843.
During this period there was a rising tide of ration-
alism. This was aided by the political reaction and by
the teaching of the leading professor of theology, John
Schulthess. Prof. John Schulthess was a fit successor
of Prof. J. J. Zimmermann, of the previous century. He
represented the cold rationalism of Paulus, and denied all
that was supernatural. He was born September 28, 1768,
425
426 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
and educated at Zurich. He became professor of He-
brew (1787) and of theology (1816). He revealed
his rabid rationalism in 1815, by attacking the Tract So-
ciety of Basle, and in 1822 in his work "Rationalism
and Supernaturalism." In 1818 he published "The Evan-
gelical Doctrine of Free Election," denying that Paul ever
taught election. He seemed to use every opportunity to
attack the Evangelicals, even the Reformation festival,
in 1819, when he attacked missions. He, however, did
an excellent thing in publishing a new edition of the
work of Zwingli in 1828, which had not been published
since 1588. He posed as the exponent of what he called
the true Zwinglianism — that is, that Zwingli was not an
Evangelical, but a radical in his day, because he over-
turned Catholic rule and dogma. This view was laid
hold of with avidity by the strict Lutherans of Germany,
so as to discredit the Reformed by making it appear that
the latter were rationalizing. But though a rationalist,
Schulthess was a stimulating teacher. And when on
April 29, 1833, Zurich changed its old theological school,
the Carolinum, into a university, he was carried over into
it as professor. He died November 10, 1836, just before
the Strauss episode.
Section 2
the call of strauss
The growth of rationalism culminated in 1839 in the
call of Prof. David Frederick Strauss, the leader of
Hegelianism, as professor of theology at Zuhich. The
programme of the rationalists was to gain control, one
by one, of the educational institutions. They already
had control of the Normal School, at Kiissnacht, where
Scherr, once a Catholic, but now a blunt, outspoken ra-
tionalist, was the head. They determined also to gain
control of the university. Their plan was to make Zu-
ZURICH
427
rich the starting point of a new reformation, such as had
occurred in Zwingli's time, only a reformation into ration-
alism instead of into Evangelicalism, as in the Reforma-
tion.
On January 26, 1839, the educational committee, who
had charge of the university, elected Strauss as professor
of theology. The vote was at first a tie, but Hirzel, the
president, cast the deciding vote in favor of Strauss.
His election caused a tremendous sensation. The whole
theological faculty, with the exception of Hitzig, opposed
it as did the consistory of Zurich. Even the Catholics
protested, for all felt that a great crisis was on between
infidelity and Christianity. So great was the feeling,
that it needed only a spark to light a conflagration. The
Evangelicals then proceeded to contest the election in
the great council, to which the educational council had
to report. This council met January 31, and Fiissli
made a motion that, as the election of a theological pro-
fessor was of the greatest importance to the church, the
consistory should have a voice in the election. After a
discussion of eleven hours, the motion was lost by a vote
of 98 to 49. Strauss' election was then confirmed.
But hardly had two weeks elapsed before a meeting
was held at Wadenswyl, February 13, at which twenty-
nine congregations were represented. This meeting or-
ganized a Faith Committee, with its center at Wadenswyl,
and of which Hurlimann-Landis, a manufacturer of
Richterswyl, and Dr. Rahn-Escher were the leaders.
They arranged for the organization of auxiliaries in each
congregation. These were each to send two delegates to
a central committee to meet at Zurich, February 28. This
central committee met and presented an address to the
Zurich council against Strauss. On the following day
they sent a petition to the different congregations to be
acted on by them. It said, "Our government aims to
destroy religion, our future pastors will be educated by
428 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
an unbeliever. Alas for our children. They will fall
into a new heathenism." Quite a controversy of pam-
phlets then took place, led by Prof. Orelli for Strauss, and
by Nageli against his coming.
Hans George Nageli deserves special mention. He
was one of the prominent musicians of the Reformed
Church. He was born at Wetzikon, Canton Zurich, May
27> l77Z- When only a boy he was the leader of a
choir in the village where he was reared. He went to
Zurich, where he founded the first loan music store in
1791, and the first male chorus in 1810. His great work
was the revival of chorus singing. Through his efforts
singing societies were started everywhere in Switzer-
land, so that by 1873 there were 287 societies with over
ten thousand members. He was also a musical composer
of note. Two of his tunes have gotten into our English
hymbooks, and are favorites, Dennis and Naomi. In
1833 the University of Bonn gave him the degree of doc-
tor of philosophy. He was also a deeply religious man,
and though a layman boldly attacked the rationalistic
professors. When Schulthess attacked the Tract So-
ciety, he replied in "The Word of a Layman" and "Sum-
mary of the Confession of Faith of an Orthodox."
When Strauss was called he published "Words of the
Laity Against Strauss' Coming." He died December 26,
1836, just as the church bells rang for worship, and was
buried on the last evening of the year.
The vote of the congregations on Strauss was held
on Sunday, March 10, 1839. The vote in 156 con-
gregations was 39,225 against his coming to 1,048. This
meant that four-fifths of the voting population voted
against Strauss' coming. From the vote it was evident
that it would not be wise for Strauss to come. So the
government finally pensioned Strauss on 1,000 francs a
year, which he accepted until his death. Thus the coming
of Strauss was averted. It would have been a most
ZURICH 429
lamentable thing in the history of the Church of Zurich
if one of his successors as a teacher would have been the
arch-heretic Strauss, the greatest foe of Evangelical
Christianity of his time.
But though the Strauss episode was now closed, the
confidence of the people was not regained. The Evan-
gelical Society sent a petition to the council asking that
a teacher elected by the ministers might be placed in the
Normal School, and also in the cantonal school. But
these and other guarantees, were not granted to the Evan-
gelicals. On the other hand, the rationalistic majority
in the council, embittered by their defeat over Strauss,
began talking of more rationalistic reforms in the school
laws, and also of issuing a rationalistic catechism. Some
of them even boasted that in ten years the churches would
be outlived by the schools, and the parsonages occupied
by the schoolmasters. This friction was aided by in-
flammatory articles in the newspapers. It was evident
that a new crisis was approaching.
So the Committee of Faith issued a call for its con-
gregational auxiliaries to hold a great public meeting at
Kloten, in August. The authorities at Zurich, alarmed
at this meeting, forbade it. The Faith Committee pub-
lished this refusal of the authorities, and added: "Be
brave and strong. The Lord will bring victory to your
noble cause." For this the authorities, by the end of
August, put Hurliman-Landis and Rahn-Escher under
arrest. This high-handed proceeding roused a storm of
sentiment in their favor. As a result, the meeting at
Kloten (September 2) was a very large one.* In spite
of unfavorable weather between 10,000 and 15,000 as-
sembled there. It was not a gathering of noisy young
men, but of grave heads of families, and of honored
citizens, who came singing hymns. The little church
* Kloten is located about eight miles north of Zurich and
was a central point for the canton.
430 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
could not hold all who came, so the rest gathered outside
of the church. The Faith Committee held its sessions in
the church. Their actions, after being ratified by those
in the church, were submitted to those outside for their
approval. The assembly adopted a petition to the coun-
cil, asking for guarantees of Evangelical education, the
recall of its acts against the meetings of the Faith Com-
mittee, and also the recall of the troops that had been
quietly gathered at Zurich by the council for its de-
fence. The conference appointed 22 delegates to go
to Zurich to lay these matters before the council. As
the crowds went homeward, a rumor spread abroad that
their 22 deputies had been arrested. Fortunately, it
proved to be not true, or there would have been a high-
handed catastrophe, for the crowd at the meeting was in
no humor to brook any insult. Meanwhile the council at
Zurich found that it could not depend on the troops it
had called to Zurich, for already there had been a mutiny
in the barracks. The council postponed its reply to the
Kloten petition, asking that the people should appear
before the next meeting of the council, but should come
unarmed. Meanwhile they continued assembling troops
at Zurich, ostensibly for the military troubles in the
canton of Valais. This led to a rumor that the council
had decided to call on troops from the other cantons to
aid them against the popular will of the people.
For there was a political element that entered into
this religious controversy. Zurich belonged to the Seven-
Alliance, made up of the radical cantons of Switzerland.
Of this alliance, Zurich was the mainstay. The other
radical cantons were determined to keep the radicals of
Zurich in power, even if it was necessary to send troops
from the other cantons. That this rumor of foreign
troops contained an element of truth in it, is shown by
the fact that the arsenal at Bern, on learning about the
situation at Zurich, worked the whole night during Sep-
ZURICH
431
tember 4-5. This rumor about the introduction of for-
eign troops by the council greatly incensed the Zurich
people. Meanwhile, the Zurich authorities did nothing,
only postponed the date of the meeting when the people
were to appear before the council from September 6 to
September 9. They did so in order that they might gain
time to gather soldiers, cadets and the pupils of Scherr's
Normal School at Zurich, to defend them.
Matters were in such a strained condition, that the
slightest event might produce an explosion. Then a
rumor that 30,000 troops were expected from the other
cantons spread abroad. On the night of September 5,
Rahn-Escher issued a bulletin that foreign troops were
expected, and asked that all should be prepared in case
the bells were rung. At 7 P. M. on September 5, the
alarm-bell of the church at Pfaffikon, north of Zurich,
began ringing. This started the movement. The alarm-
bells then began to ring in the other churches. The men
gathered and marched toward Zurich, and by the time
they arrived there, in the early morning, their number
had risen to about 5,000. They were led by Rev.
Bernard Hirzel, pastor at Pfaffikon, and president of
the local auxiliary there.* They came singing the hymns
of the faith of their fathers, back to Zwingli, "This is
the day the Lord hath wrought," "God is my song,"
etc.
Many of them were armed with guns and scythes.
At the top of Winterthur street they were met by two
delegates of the council, together with Rahn-Escher.
They made known their demands on the council which
were the same as those of the Kloten conference. Rut
they added two more demands — they now wanted a guar-
antee that no foreign troops would enter the canton, and
that the membership of Zurich in the Seven-Alliance be
* He was a learned man, a fine Oriental scholar, having
been once privat-docent at the University of Berlin.
432 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
given up. They then waited there from early dawn until
nine o'clock. Meanwhile, those of the members of the
council who were in Zurich, met at 8 A. M., in the Post
Office building.! The council was not able at first to
come to a decision, and were in debate when they heard
of the approach of the citizens. For the latter, weary
with waiting, came from Winterthur street in two col-
umns. The first consisted of armed men, and was led
by Hirzel. It marched over the bridge over the Limmat
river at the city hall.t They then marched through the
narrow Stork street, to the Fraumunster-place. The
other party, led by Rahn-Escher, marched over the bridge
over the Limmat at the Water Church, to the same place.
In the Fraumunster-place there was stationed a squad of
cavalry, under Major Uebel. As these two divisions
came up Uebel called, "Halt." Hirzel replied, "Peace."
"Yes," said the major." "Peace, but the Fraumunster-
place must be cleared of people." In the excitement,
just at that moment, a gun was fired, and the horse under
the dragoon, who was rushing upon Hirzel, fell. The
soldiers began shooting, but most of the cavalry refused
to fire on the crowd, because they were their fellow-
citizens. In all 25-35 persons were injured, of whom
thirteen were killed. The shooting ended in a general
flight.
Just before the shooting began, the council had pre-
pared a proclamation aimed at quieting the people, and
Dr. Hegetschwyler, a very popular member of the coun-
cil, and one of the members of the council who belonged
to the Evangelical minority and favored the Faith Com-
mittee, stepped to the balcony of the post-office to read
t This building was then located at the southeastern cor-
ner of the Parade-place, where there is now a store of Swiss
curios. It was chosen because it was near the arsenal which
was then on the north side of the Parade-place.
$ It is now used as the market bridge.
Antistes George Finsler
Rev. Caesar Malan
Rev. John Casper Lavater
PROMINENT MINISTERS
ZURICH 433
the proclamation, when a shot laid him low just as he
had ordered the soldiers to cease firing. The result of
his shooting was that the council broke up. Some of
the leaders took safety in flight, and went to Baden. The
country people, who still kept coming in, found there was
no enemy to oppose them, as the council had broken up,
and the radical leaders had fled. The city troops then
took possession of the arsenal instead of the troops of
the council. This helped to quiet the people. So the few
members of the council who remained (sixty of the radi-
cal members were absent) joined with the leaders of
the people to organize a provisional government in the
arsenal. The central Committee of Faith issued a
bulletin, stating that they had gained the victory. This
quieted the people and they began departing to their
homes. The provisional government ordered a new elec-
tion for council on September 16-17.
Such was the famous Zurich-putsch,* as it has been
called, of September 6, 1839. It has been called a riot,
but it was not really so, for it was the uprising of the
better class of people against the tyrannical combination
of the radicals. In the election that followed the radicals
and the rationalists were completely defeated. The new
council arranged for a proper religious instruction in the
schools. The Normal School at Kussnacht underwent
a complete transformation, as Scherr was dismissed Oc-
tober 23, 1839. The council also withdrew Zurich from
its alliance of the seven cantons. Instead of Strauss they
called one of the most prominent of Strauss' opponents,
Prof. J. P. Lange, author of a life of Christ, written as a
reply to Strauss. He taught at Zurich (1841-54).!
He was reinforced by Ebrard (1844-47), whose tren-
* An interesting account of this movement by an eye-
witness is published in the Zurcher Taschenbuch, 1910.
t He also wrote his "Dogmatics" and his excellent work
on Hymns while at Zurich.
28
434 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
chant apologetics proved a great source of strength to
orthodoxy. He later wrote his monumental work, "His-
tory of the Lord's Supper," there. In it he defended
Zwingli against the charge of holding merely to the
memorial view of the Lord's Supper. But his severe
polemics against rationalism strained his relation to the
school authorities, and he resigned in 1847.
Thus rationalism was overthrown by a popular revo-
lution. The people could not permit a man who denied
the divinity of Christ to teach divinity in their theological
school. The reaction was so great that it nearly carried
down with it the new university. "Better no teachers
than such teachers," was the motto of the extremists.
Section 3
the biederman controversy
The conservative party had the control of the canton
for three or four years, and then the radicals came again
into power. In 1849 the radical council did not re-elect
Fussli as antistes. This was their revenge for his mo-
tion in the council, when Strauss was elected, that the
consistory should have a voice in the election of a pro-
fessor of theology. His successor as antistes was Henry
Jacob Brunner (1850-66). After him George Finsler,
the last antistes to be elected, and one of the best writers
en the church history of Zurich. He prepared a number
of biographies, and also wrote on Zurich at the end of
the eighteenth century, and the theological development
of German Switzerland in the nineteenth century. The
rationalists not merely set Fussli aside as antistes, but
at his death captured his church at Neumunster, Zurich.
In 1850 came the controversy about Biederman. The
rationalists had failed in the election of Strauss ; they at
last succeeded in the election of Biederman. He was
born near Zurich, March 2, 1819. His father, fearing
ZURICH
435
the rationalists at Zurich would influence him, educated
him at Basle. But Biederman was by nature a liberal in
theology. He greatly enjoyed De Wette's clear scientific
method, although he did not accept his theology. The
first edition of Strauss' Life of Christ woke him up, and
he greatly rejoiced at Strauss' call to Zurich. After
studying at Berlin, whither he went to study Hegelian-
ism, he was ordained at Basle, 1841. He and Riggen-
bach would have been rejected by the examiners for
their rationalistic views if De Wette and Hagenbach had
not spoken in their favor. He became pastor at Mon-
chenstein, near Basle, in 1843. There he published his
epoch-making book, "The Free Theology, or Philos-
ophy and Christianity in Strife and Peace," 1844. He
aimed to do what Schleiermacher had done in his famous
addresses, to mediate, only he tried to mediate between
Hegelianism and positive Christianity. But he was a
pantheist, though, while Strauss was destructive, he tried
to be constructive. In 1845 ne> with Fries, founded the
rationalistic church paper, "The Church of the Present,"
whose publication continued till 1850. Ebrard severely
attacked him in his paper, "The Future of the Church,"
especially on the Five Points of Hegelianism. Romang,
of Bern, one of the strongest philosophical minds of his
day, in Switzerland, also attacked him, in his work,
"The Young Hegelian View of the World," 1849. B°th
Ebrard and Romang charge Biederman with pantheism.
Biederman was called to Zurich as professor of
theology, in 1850, because of his ability and leadership.
The Evangelicals bitterly opposed his election, but in
vain. The election was the more severe on them because
Biederman was called to take the place of Ebrard, the
outspoken defender of the Evangelicals. Prof. Lange
protested against his election because his book took away
the fundamentals of religion. The Evangelicals, not
being able to prevent his election as professor, then tried
436 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
to prevent his reception into the Zurich synod, because
of his pantheistic views. But he was finally elected a
member. His election led to the organization of the
rationalists all over Switzerland, and the founding of
the new rationalistic paper, "The Voices of the Times."
Biederman was later attacked (1858) in the synod, for
his denial of the authority of the Bible, and the resurrec-
tion of Christ, while teaching in the upper gymnasium
at Zurich, but the synod permitted him to continue
teaching. He was a famous Alpine climber, and a warm
friend of the gymnastic societies of Switzerland (turn-
verein). He died January 25, 1885
Biederman's greatest work was his "Dogmatics,"
published 1869. He belonged to the Neo-Hegelians,
who tried to be more conservative and constructive than
the Hegelians, and to emphasize more the historical than
the merely ideal. His is one of the clearest and most
scientific of the rationalistic dogmatics. Under the shel-
ter of Hegel and Schleiermacher, he emancipates himself
from all supernaturalism. He relegates to the category
of the figurative, all such ideas as the personality of God,
the immortality of the soul and the permanence of the
individual. In his emphasis on immanence, he became
pantheistic. Christ is the son of God, not by nature, but
because the idea of sonship came to him with greater
force and freshness, than to other men.
With Biederman stood Rev. Henry Lang, as the
leader of rationalism at Zurich. A German by birth, he
was compelled to leave Germany (1848), because he
favored a republic there. He was at first pastor in St.
Gall, then at Meilen (1863), and later of St. Peter's
Church, Zurich (1871). He published, in 1859, a ration-
alistic "Attempt at a Reformed Dogmatics," and was edi-
tor of the rationalistic paper, "Voices of the Times." If
Biederman was the philosopher of rationalism, Lang was
its popular orator. He was attacked by the "Protestant
ZURICH 437
Kirchenzeitung," of Germany, for negativing the person-
ality of God and prayer.
Another important professor of theology, who de-
serves mention, was Alexander Schweitzer. While Bied-
erman approached rationalism from the standpoint of
Strauss, Schweitzer approached it from the standpoint of
Schleiermacher. Born March 14, 1808, he was a descend-
ant of the famous Zurich family of Suicer, of whom we
have already mentioned two, Prof. J. C. Suicer and Prof.
J. H. Suicer, his son. Through Prof. Schulthess, he was
introduced to rationalism at Zurich, yet at the university
of Berlin, he became a follower of Schleiermacher He
wrote against Strauss, saying that his fundamental point,
that the idea is realized in the species, and not in the
individual, did not hold true of religion, but that new
epochs were due to the impulse of individuals.* He
became professor of practical theology at Zurich, 1834,
and later the successor of Biederman, in Dogmatics.
He opposed the coming of Strauss to Zurich, but finally
went from Schleiermacher's mediating position, over into
the camp of the rationalists, because he claimed that
under Ebrard orthodoxy had degenerated into pietism.
It is interesting to see how Biederman, a Hegelian, in-
clining to the right, and Schweitzer, a follower of Schlei-
ermacher, inclining to the left, finally at last came close
together in rationalism. He made very important con-
tributions to the history of the Reformed Church in his
"Doctrines of the Faith of the Evangelical Reformed
Church" (1844-47) and "Central Dogmas of the Re-
formed Church" (1854). His second work contained
much historical material that was new. Over against
Ebrard, who combats him, he claimed that strict predes-
* This is one of the best arguments ever made against
Strauss and his basis, Hegelianism, and utterly demolishes
the Hegelianism that is at the basis of Mercersburg "The-
ology" of the Reformed in the United States.
438 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
tination was the essential doctrine of Calvinism. But
this Calvinistic doctrine, with its particularism and its
dualism of election and reprobation, is given up by him,
and predestination is made universal. His predestination
is pantheistic, while Calvin's allowed room for free-
will. He claimed he had gone back of Calvin to Zwing-
li's idea of predestination as revealed in his sermon at
Marburg. In his third work, "Christian Doctrines of
Faith (1863-69), although in his "Reformed Dog-
matics," he had treated them from an ecclesiastical stand-
point, yet now he breaks entirely with the supernatural.
He also gave a very valuable history of the "Ethics of
the Reformed Church" in the Studien and Kritiken of
Germany. He died July 3, il
Section 4
the later controversies between rationalists and
evangelicals
The Evangelical Society had been organized in 1837,
and had opposed the coming of Strauss. In 1847 it was
enlarged into the present Evangelical Society. When the
university became rationalistic, it called to the university,
at its own expense, as a privat-docent, Held (1860-64),
who defended the Evangelical position in his lectures on
Jesus and other works. The university being rational-
istic, refused to make him a professor, so sharp was the
controversy at that time. He was succeeded by privat-
docent Woerner (1865-75). Since the death of Bieder-
man (1885), the authorities have elected an Evangelical
into the faculty, Prof. Von Schulthess-Rechberg. He and
privat-docent Arnold Ruegg (elected 1893) now repre-
sent the Evangelicals in the theological faculty.
In i860 there was friction between the Evangelicals
and the rationalists. Following the great revival in
America and Great Britain, in 1857, the Evangelicals
ZURICH 439
introduced prayer meetings during the first week of the
year, called, in English-speaking lands, "the week of
prayer." Hirzel, at the Swiss Preachers' Society, and
also in the rationalistic "Voices of the Times," also Pro-
fessor Schweitzer, attacked the Evangelical Society for
holding them. The former claimed that they would lead
to separatism or separation of church from state. Instead,
however, they retained the Evangelicals within the
National Church, though they led to their organization
within the church. Hebich, the missionary, also created
a sensation that year, and caused controversy by
his eccentricities and his evangelistic methods at his
meetings at Zurich. In 1862, the synod set aside all
subscription to creeds, and thus opened the door to entire
theological liberty in the church. On August 3, 1864,
the Evangelicals dedicated the St. Anna Chapel, built at
the cost of $50,000, by Matilda Escher. She had many
years before been influenced to a life of Christian charity
by Elizabeth Frey, of England. She first began religious
work among the prisoners, and became the great female
philanthropist of Zurich. The chapel was intended as a
center for the Evangelicals, especially in their religious
activities. She died 1875, and Cleopha Bremi continued
her philanthropical work. An Evangelical congregation
grew up in the St. Anna Chapel numbering about 600,
and it has been of great influence for the cause of Evan-
gelical orthodoxy.
Then came the Vogelin controversy. Solomon V6-
gelin, an outspoken rationalist of the purest water, pastor
at Uster, published a book of sermons (1865), so ex_
treme that even some rationalists were offended. Part
of his congregation who were Evangelical seceded, and
organized an independent congregation. Seventy-eight
ministers brought complaint against his rationalism be-
fore the Zurich synod. They were supported by seventv-
nine ministers of Bern canton, who sent a protest against
440
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Vogelin's teachings. But the synod refused to take ac-
tion against Vogelin, because the new church law
allowed entire theological liberty, and it declared that it
wanted peace. In 1868 Vogelin published a rationalistic
history of Jesus, in which he denied miracles and the
divinity of Christ. In 1875, the Evangelical Society sent
a petition of 1,000 signatures against its use, but never-
theless, it was introduced into the secondary schools, and
forced into some congregations, although there was much
opposition. Vogelin later left the ministry, and became
professor of history in the university at Zurich, in 1870.
He was a learned man, and has left some valuable books
as "Old Zurich." In 1869, the Evangelicals opened an
Evangelical Normal School at Zurich,* as the cantonal
Normal School at Kiissnacht had come under the control
of the rationalists. In 1868, the two parties in the synod
agreed to a double liturgy, one set of forms being Evan-
gelical, and containing the Apostles' Creed, the other set
being rationalistic. As some of the congregations in the
city of Zurich paid no attention to the rights of the Evan-
gelical minority in them, several minority congregations
have been organized there in connection with the Evan-
gelical Society. One of these congregations, the Beth-
any, however, is almost an independent chapel in its
criticism of the state church, but the others adhere to
the state church, and are doing a valuable work within it.
We can not close this chapter on Zurich, without a
mention of Meta Heusser Schweitzer, the religious
poetess of Zurich.t She was born at Hirzel, on
the hills on the south side of Lake Zurich, April 6,
1797, and lived there. The source of her poetic inspira-
tion were her Bible and nature around her. Several
* The Evangelicals opened four such Normal Schools in
Switzerland, at Schiers, Zurich, Bern and Peseux.
t See my "Famous Women of the Reformed Church,"
pages 180-85.
ZURICH
441
volumes of her poetry have been published. She died,
January 2, 1876. Rev. Dr. Schaff considered her the
most beautiful religious poetess in the German language.
We here quote a translation of one of her poems, entitled,
"Mountains" :
The everlasting hills ! how calm they rise,
Bold witnesses to an Almighty hand.
We gaze with longing hearts and eager eyes,
And feel as if short pathway might suffice
From those pure regions to the heavenly land.
At early dawn, when the first rays of light
Play like a rosewreath on the peaks of snow :
And late, when half the valley seems in night,
Yet still around each pale majestic height,
The sun's last smile has left a crimson glow.
Then the heart longs, it calls for wings to fly, —
Above all lower scenes of earth to soar
Where yonder golden clouds arrested lie,
Where granite cliffs and glaciers gleam on high
As with reflected light from Heaven's own door.
Whence this strange spell, by thoughtful souls confest
Ever in shadow of the mountains found?
'Tis the deep voice within our human breast,
Which bids us seek a refuge and a rest
Above, beyond what meets us here around !
Ever to men of God the hills were dear,
Since on the slopes of Ararat the dove
Plucked the wet olive pledge of hope and cheer:
Or Israel stood entranced in silent fear,
While God on Sinai thundered from above.
And once on Tabor was a vision given,
Sublime as that which Israel feared to view,
When the transfigured Lord of earth and heaven,
Mortality's dim curtain lifted, riven,
Revealed his glory to his chosen few.
442 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
On mountain heights of Galilee he prayed,
While others slept, and all beneath was still :
From Olivet's recess of awful shade,
Thrice was that agonized petition made,
"O that this cup might pass, if such Thy will!"
And on Mount Zion, in the better land,
Past every danger of the pilgrim way,
At our Redeemer's feet we hope to stand,
And learn the meanings of His guiding hand
Through all the changes of our earthly day.
Then hail, calm sentinels of heaven, again!
Proclaim your message, as in ages past!
Tell us that pilgrims shall not toil in vain,
That Zion's mount we surely shall attain,
Where all home longings find a home at last!
CHAPTER IV
Bern
Section i
the founding of the university
The canton of Bern had the same political revolution
as the other cantons about 1830. By it the classes were
given up and only the synod remained, and the church was
more than ever made an arm of the state. One of the first
acts of the new regime was to found a university at Bern,
in 1834. The radicals made use of this occasion to
shelve some of the professors who were Evangelical, as
Carl Wyss, professor of practical theology, and Romang,
professor of philosophy. The authorities continued only
one professor of the old theological school in the new
university, J. L. S. Lutz, and called as his colleagues,
Schneckenberger, Hundeshagen, Gelpke and Zyro. But
so great was the popular feeling for the retention of
Wyss, that his successor, Zyro, was for a time unpopular.
John Lewis Samuel Lutz was the leader of the univer-
sity faculty. He was born October 2, 1785. He became
an orphan and was reared in the orphanage at Bern. He
studied for the ministry at Bern, and then at the univer-
sities of Tubingen and Gottingen. He was carried away
by the influence of Herder. He returned to Bern well
versed in Semitic languages and Kant's philosophy, and
was ordained 1808. He then (1812) taught Hebrew in
the gymnasium, and also gave lectures on exegesis and
isagogics and elements of Hebrew. Dissatisfied with the
city's management of the schools, he gave up teaching
443
444
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
(1824), and accepted a pastorate. His pastoral experi-
ences deepened his spirituality, and he passed from the
merely legal earnestness of Kant to a more living prac-
tical faith. When the political revolution occurred he
became (1830) pastor of the Holy Ghost Church, in the
city of Bern, and in July, 1833, was made professor of
the Old and New Testament. The next year (1834),
when the university was founded, he was transferred to
it. In 1840, he was dekan of Bern. So he was head of
the church, and also rector of the university. He died
September 21, 1844.
Lutz was a man of great size physically, and of great
strength intellectually. He tried to avoid the so-called
narrowness of confessionalism on the one hand, and the
vagaries of rationalism on the other. He inclined to the
Schleiermacherian type of theology, but was less specula-
tive and more Biblical. When Strauss was called to
Zurich he took strong grounds against him. He granted,
it is true, the mythical nature of Christ's birth and boy-
hood, and was less decided on the fact of the resurrection
than on any of the other great facts of Christ's life. But
he upheld the older critical school, against the newer
Straussian views. His two most important works ap-
peared after his death, "Biblical Theology" (1847), and
"Biblical Hermeneutics" (1849). The first was his
greatest work, one of the first of its kind. Before him
theology had been mainly creedal, he aimed to make it
Biblical. Neander declared this work took a front rank
among the books of its day.
Along with Lutz at the university was Matthew
Schneckenberger, a mild Lutheran from Wurtemberg,
and follower of Schleiermacher. Though a Lutheran
he used the old creed of Bern, the second Helvetic, in his
lectures on dogmatics and aimed to develop the points
of contact between the Lutherans and the Reformed.
This led to his most important work, "The Contrast Be-
BERN
445
tvveen the Reformed and Lutheran View of Theology,"
a very valuable irenic treatise. He died there early,
June 13, 1848.
Bernhard Hundeshagen, another of the professors,
though born a Lutheran, became strongly Reformed,
and though a German by birth, became a Swiss citizen
and a republican. This was caused by his expulsion
from the University of Giessen for belonging to the
Burschen in 1826. He then attended Halle and was
called to Bern ( 1834) . He soon revealed ability in church
history by the publication of his work "The Conflict of
Calvinism, Lutheranism and Zwinglianism in the Bern
Church." He has been of the most able of writers on
Reformed Church government. His monograph "The
Influence of Calvinism on the Idea of the State and
Civil Freedom" has never been surpassed.*
He was called from Bern to Heidelberg and then to
Bonn as professor, where he died (1873). But he never
gave up his Swiss citizenship or Reformed Church mem-
bership at Bern. When he left Gelpke took his place in
church history and published a valuable "Church History
of Switzerland" (1857 and 1861). Zyro was professor
of practical theology, was a follower of Schleiermacher,
and wrote works on the Heidelberg Catechism and on
the presbyterial form of government.
Section 2
the call of prof. edward zhller
The death of Professor Lutz brought on a crisis. His
great ability prevented much criticism, for he was con-
servative enough to maintain the respect of the orthodox
and critical enough to retain the respect of the liberals.
A change in the government enabled the rationalists to
* His great work on church government is "Beitrage zur
Kirchen-verfassungs-geschichte und Kirchen-politik," 1864.
446 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
elect Professor Zeller, the famous Hegelian of Tubingen,
January 14, 1847. At once the Evangelicals took alarm.
Baggesen, a leading Evangelical minister and assistant
at the cathedral at Bern, as president of the Bern synod,
sent a protest to the Bern council. In this he was sup-
ported by Professors Schneckenberger and Hundeshagen,
and Revs. Wyss and Romang, formerly professors, but
now pastors. On March 24 a petition was presented to
the council, signed by 3,000 citizens, asking that the call
of Zeller be rescinded. The council debated about this
petition for fourteen hours and finally decided March
24 by a vote of 118-23 not to rescind the call. Baggesen
published a pamphlet, "Thoughts on the Call of Dr.
Edward Zeller" (1847), in which he charged Zeller with
pantheism and declared that his critical views would
result in the ruin of faith. To this Ries, professor of
philosophy, replied, declaring Zeller's views to be Chris-
tian. Baggesen then made a second reply. Romang, too,
attacked Zeller's philosophical positions in an able pam-
phlet, entitled "The Young Hegelian Creed." Ries
then replied to both of these. The Evangelical Society
also attacked Zeller in pamphlets, showing by quotations
from Zeller's works that he denied the personality of
God, the divinity of Christ and immortality. These pam-
phlets were scattered broadcast among the people. The
authorities then became alarmed for fear there would
be a riot as in the Straussian episode at Zurich. On
March 18 they issued a proclamation, declaring that the
agitation against Zeller was unfounded. This proclama-
tion they ordered the ministers to read from their pulpits.
This produced a crisis. Some did not read it. Baggesen
read it and thus saved his head by an outward obedience
to the order. But having read it he declared he did not
agree with it. Many did as he did. Charges were brought
against those who did not read it and some were dis-
missed and some suspended.
BERN 447
Zeller arrived April 7, 1847, greeted with the shooting
of guns, by order of the authorities. On April 16, the
Evangelical Society issued a proclamation against Zeller
and against the action of the authorities. But Zeller was
not as extreme as Strauss, although his fundamental posi-
tions were the same. He tried hard to be circumspect,
because he knew the feeling was so great against him.
His conduct was unexceptionally proper, much to the
surprise of his opponents. He won the students to him-
self by his scholarship and the nobleness of his character.
Knowing the charges that had been brought against him,
he was careful not to lecture on exegesis as much as on
historical theology.
Meanwhile the authorities were outrageously perse-
cuting the Evangelicals. Liberal theology can be most
illiberal, and can persecute just like the pope. Liber-
alism of thought can be most illiberal. Heterodoxy is
often more oppressive than orthodoxy. Under the guise
of liberty it becomes a tyrant. It must, however, be
remembered that Bern held the old view of the Swiss
Reformation, that when the bishops were deposed, the
state took the place of the bishops, and exercised episco-
pal authority. This power, which had already been so
severely used by Bern against the sects, was now used
against the Evangelicals. Ministers, laymen, even women
of the Evangelical Society, who had been active against
Zeller, were severely punished even with imprisonment.
The fact was that the authorities were greatly alarmed,
and feared a repetition of the riot at Zurich, in the time
of Strauss, in 1839, and they used every means to sup-
press the first signs of anything that might lead to a
revolution. Their severe measures met with protests
from many quarters. Even Biederman, the leader of
the rationalists, though of the same liberal theology as
Zeller, lifted up his voice against them in his paper, "The
Church of the Present."
448 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
But Zeller did not feel at home at Bern. He was not
received into social relations by the Evangelicals, and he
gradually lost kinship with the radicals in control of the
government, because he was too noble a man to be a
mere politician with them. The fact that men, and even
women, should lose their places and be imprisoned on
his account, was unpleasant to him. So in 1849, ne ac-
cepted a call to Marburg University and left Bern.
Section 3
the controversies since zeller's departure
The departure of Zeller produced somewhat of a reac-
tion, and at Zyro's death Carl Wyss was again made
professor of practical theology. Thus the injustice done
him by his dismissal when the university was founded,
was somewhat atoned for. But in place of Zeller, came
a man of like spirit, Immer, who was elected in 1850.
He was also a Hegelian, but not so extreme, and he be-
came the leader of the faculty. He was a Bernese by
birth, born August 10, 1804. He first learned the trade
of book-binder, and entered the ministry somewhat late
in life. But his ability soon put him in the front. After
studying at Bern he went to the universities of Bonn and
Berlin, and returned to Bern to become pastor, in 1845.
He was made professor of theology (1850). His work
on "Hermeneutics" reveals great critical ability, though
it is imbued with rationalism.* He also published "The
Theology of the New Testament (1877). He at-
tempted to unite Hegel and Schleiermacher by using the
latter's ideas, but giving them the Hegelian form. He
retired 1881, and died, March 23, 1884.
Just after the election of Immer, the radical party
was dethroned in Bern. They had become so blatant
* It has been translated into English and has been used
in some of our American theological seminaries.
BERN 449
that their theological position was reflected in a catechism,
published 1849, which declared that Christ was a revolu-
tionist, and the Bible of little worth. In the reaction the
conservatives reorganized the church on a presbyterian
basis, hoping it would impart new life to the church.
But no mere church government can lift a church to life,
or convert souls, though it may be helpful at times. In-
deed, presbyterian church government, when joined to
state control (Erastianism), has often proved the great-
est hindrance to Evangelical Christianity, as the radicals
gain control of the consistory or presbytery, because every
citizen, regardless of belief, has a vote.
By 1854, attacks began to be made on the orthodoxy
of the theological faculty, especially on Immer, as by the
pastors of the Simmenthal. In 1858 another attack on
the faculty was made by B. von Wattenwyl de Portes, a
prominent member of the Free Church of Bern. The
faculty replied to these attacks, declaring that the univer-
sity was not a mere preacher's seminary, but was de-
voted to free and thorough theological research. Still
they granted that there were some things in the Bible
that were mythical, as Christ's childhood and tempation.
Von Wattenwyl de Portes replied that the faith of the
Bern Church was the Second Helvetic Confession, and
that the professors were teaching contrary to it. Dekan
Studer, of the theological faculty, replied, quoting the
Helvetic Confession as placing itself below the Bible.
The next controversy came in connection with the
jubilee of the death of Calvin, in 1864, when the Univer-
sity of Bern conferred the degree of doctor of divinity
on Professor Biederman, of Zurich. To many it seemed
an outrage on the memory of Calvin, that on his anniver-
sary, the university should honor a man so opposed to
Calvin's views. The fact that the same degree was
given at that anniversary to Professor Bungener, a biog-
rapher of Calvin, did not lessen the criticism. Many
29
450 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
pamphlets appeared, to which Immer replied in a pam-
phlet, "The Theological Faculty of Bern and Their Op-
ponents (1864). Baggesen so severely criticised their
principles, that Immer was compelled to come out and
state their views in "What We Believe and Teach"
(1864), a sort of a rationalistic confession of faith in
which he denied the doctrine of the trinity, the divinity
of Christ and miracles.
But these controversies soon paled before another
which shook the Bern Church in 1865. Edward Lang-
hans, teacher in the Normal School at Munchenbuchsee,
published a manual for religious training, entitled "The
Holy Bible, an Aid to Teaching in the Upper Schools."
It was an able book, clear and practical, but was written
from the standpoint of Baur, of Tubingen. It denied
miracles, and made Jesus a great man, but as to his being
a revelation of God, there was not a word. The Evan-
gelicals bitterly attacked it because it was an attempt by
the rationalists to gain control of the Normal School, as
they had of the university, and thus poison the minds of
the school teachers also with infidelity. Fellenberg and
Giider strongly attacked the book. Langhans replied.
The matter was brought before the synod of the canton
June 19, 1866. In the debate, which lasted five hours,
Giider led the Evangelicals, Professors Immer and Mul-
ler, the rationalists. The action of the synod was favor-
able to the orthodox and against Langhans, namely, that
the authority of the Scriptures was still adhered to. But
Langhans continued as teacher in the Normal School.
An important result of this controversy was that it drove
the rationalists and the mediates apart, while before this
they had generally acted together against the Evangel-
icals, and so had gained the control of the synod. As a
result the Reform Society of Switzerland was organized
September 25, 1866, by Frederick Langhans of Bern, and
Lang- of Zurich. The rationalists now took courage, and
BERN 45I
proposed a new programme in 1868; a new creed thus
setting aside the second Helvetic Confession, and a new
constitution. This was finally effected in 1874, when the
new constitution set aside the Second Helvetic Con-
fession and allowed untrammeled theological liberty.
But, although Bern was thus drifting from its old con-
fession, and its former strict Calvinism, an exception is
to be noted.
Rev. John Frederick Bula was born October 25, 1828,
at Kerzers, in canton Bern. He was educated at the Uni-
versity of Basle, and then went to Halle, where he came
under the influence of Professor Wichelhaus, who led him
to become a follower of Kohlbrugge. Then he was for a
year a helper of Kohlbrugge at Elberfeld. Later he be-
came pastor at Blumenstein, in canton Bern, where he
labored for twenty-seven years. He died March 10,
1895. He published ''The Redemption of Men with God
through Christ" (1874), in which he reveals the high
Calvinism of the Kohlbruggian type.
Section 4
the evangeucae society of bern
The coming of Galland, one of the converts of the
revival at Geneva, in 1817, as pastor of the French church
at Bern, prepared for the organization of this society.
His earnest preaching, quite in contrast with the for-
malism of the cantonal church, made his church a center
of Evangelical activity. But he left in 1824. The Evan-
gelical Society was founded in the autumn of 1831, at
the house of "blind Elsie" Kohler, in Metzgar street op-
posite the city hall, where there were gathered thirty
persons. To show that they were adherents of the Re-
formed Church, and not separatists, their first publica-
tion was the publication of the Second Helvetic Confes-
sion. The society scattered Bibles, tracts, Helvetic Con-
452
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
fessions and Heidelberg Catechisms through the canton.
It also, from 1835, employed evangelists, having had fif-
teen in its employ up to 1881. The society was almost
led out of the state church (1838-39) by De Valenti (the
head of a religious school at Bern), because the Bern
Church exercised no church discipline. However, the
influence of Baggesen held it within the state church.
It was, however, the Zeller episode that brought the
society into prominence. We have already referred to
its opposition to Zeller, and will now describe its ac-
tivity more in detail. It drew up a petition against Zel-
ler's coming, and published a pamphlet by Rev. Edward
Von Wattenwyl, pastor of the Holy Ghost Church, Bern,
entitled "Dr. Zeller and His Doctrines." It also pub-
lished a pamphlet by Fellenberg, the prison chap-
lain at Bern, entitled "The Call of Dr. Zeller." The
authorities, fearing a Straussian revolution, declared this
to be sedition. For, as we have seen, the state in
Bern was the bishop. Charges were brought against the
Evangelical Society for having scattered these pam-
phlets, and ten months later its members were punished
as insurrectionists. Rev. Mr. Konig, of Stettlen, was
imprisoned eight days and fined 50 francs ; Rev. Messrs.
Strahl, of Erlenbach, and Speisseger, of Dietigen, sus-
pended for five months; Rev. Mr. Furrer, of Wyl, for
six months, and Rev. Mr. Wildholz, of St. Beatenburg,
for two years. Fellenberg, the president of the society,
and the prison chaplain, was imprisoned in the prison
where he ministered for 20 days and fined 8 francs.
Rev. Edward Von Wattenwyl was imprisoned 25 days
and fined 100 francs. Ten laymen were imprisoned from
four to eight days and fined 25-50 francs each. A lady
named Mrs. Von Sturler, a member of one of the leading
families of Bern, was imprisoned for eight days.
But this very persecution raised up for the society
manv friends. Manv who before had looked on it with
BERN
453
suspicion, as inclined to separatism, now joined it, as
they realized that it was the center of Evangelical ac-
tivity. It opened a hall of its own August 23, 1850,
where Rev. Mr. Von Wattenwyl, who had been dismissed
from the pastorate of the Holy Ghost Church, because of
his activity in the Zeller affair, preached for a number of
years on Thursday evenings. They also began religious
services there on Sunday evenings, and in 1855 a con-
gregation was organized there which called its own pas-
tor. In February, 1856, because the theological faculty
of the university had now become rationalistic, the so-
ciety sent a petition to council asking that an Evangelical
professor of theology be placed there, promising to bear
the expense, but the council refused. After a second at-
tempt to do this, they were finally able to gain permission
in 1879, and Prof. Oettli was placed in the theological
faculty. As the rationalists had gained control of the
Normal School at Munchenbuchsee, they founded (1863)
a teachers' seminary at Muristalden. In 1875 tneY began
the observance of the week of prayer at the beginning
of the year. In 1879 Rev- Mr. Schrenk, a returned
missionary, became their pastor. His preaching pro-
duced a great sensation, for he is now the greatest of the
evangelists in the German language. This Evangelical
Society has been a great power in Bern. In addition to
its fine chapel in Bern, it has halls in many places. It
has furthered the cause of missions, especially of the
Basle Mission Society, which was attacked by Langhans
in his book, "Pietism and Christianity in the Light of
Foreign Missions." It has organized Sunday schools,
young people's societies and other forms of religious
activity.
In connection with this Evangelical Society several of
its leaders deserve mention.
Charles Albert Baggesen was born at Bern, Sep-
tember 27, 1793, a great-grandson of Albert Von Haller,
454 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the great scientist and apologist of the eighteenth cen-
tury. His father was a Dane, and he was educated at
Copenhagen, Paris and Bern and Gottingen. In 1825
he was elected third assistant at the cathedral in Bern,
in spite of the opposition of the secular authorities, and
in 1831 first assistant, and i860 pastor of the cathedral.
He labored in connection with the cathedral for forty-
eight years. He was a leader in the church, and for a
time president of the synod. As its secretary, he repre-
sented the Bern Church at the Reformation jubilee at
Geneva, in 1835. In his early life he inclined toward
Hegelianism, but later he became Evangelical. He died
March 10, 1873. With him, as defenders of Evangelical
principles, were Wyss and Romang.
A later leader of the Evangelicals was Frederick Gus-
tavus Edward Giider, born June 1, 1817. His boyish
faith was undermined by a rationalistic teacher at Biel.
He then studied at Bern and Halle, where Tholuck
greatly influenced him, and at Berlin, where he followed
Schelling's later views, and where he loved to hear the
pietiest Gossner. After a pastorate at Biel, in 1855 he
was elected pastor of the Nydeck Church in the city of
Bern, which he soon filled to overflowing. He lectured
in the university (1859-65) on New Testament theology
and apologetics. It was the Langhans controversy that
brought him out on the Evangelical side as a leader.
Before that, he had tried to mediate between Immer and
Baggesen. Thus, when so many Bern ministers signed
the protest to Zurich, against Vogelin's blatant ration-
alism, his name was not among them, for he wanted
peace and not polemics. But the publication of Lang-
hans' manual made him the defender of the Evangelicals.
He became editor of the "Kirchenfreund" or "Friend of
the Church," the organ of the Evangelicals in Switzerland
(1867-74), and president of the Bern synod (1871-74).
In 1879 he read a paper at the Evangelical Alliance at
BERN 455
Basle, on "The Religious Condition of Switzerland." He
labored hard for the retention of the Second Helvetic
Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. He died July
14, 1882
One more name appears prominently in connection
with the Evangelical Society, Elias Schrenk. A Wur-
temberger by birth, he was sent to Africa by the Basle
Mission Society in 1859. In 1864 he returned and be-
came one of their home secretaries. From 1879 to 1886
he was pastor of the congregation of the Evangelical
Society at Bern. He held large evangelistic meetings in
Bern and also throughout the canton. In 1886 he went
to Germany, where he has become the Moody of the
German evangelists. He is still living at Barmen.
There was also a Free Church organized at Bern.*
Since the days of Galland, pastor of the French Church,
a circle of pietists existed in the city of Bern. When
the council ordered their banishment in 1829, lo, the secre-
tary of the council, Charles Von Rodt, a man of high
position and wealth, joined them. For this he was ar-
rested, imprisoned and banished. He went to Geneva,
studied under Malan, and then went to England, where
he was ordained. When the radicals gained control of the
government in 1830, religious liberty was declared and he
returned. As a result of this movement there is now a
prosperous Free (German) Church in the city of Bern,
and there are also Free Churches at several other places.
* This is to be distinguished from the Free French Church of
Bern which was organized there by the Free Church of
Vaud. That is a French church. This is a German church.
CHAPTER V
schaffhausen
Section i
the defection of antistes hurter
In Schaffhausen the controversy was not with ration-
alism as in the other cantons, but against Romanism.
Frederick Hurter was a descendant of a prominent family
of this canton, which had given many ministers to the
church. He was born and educated in the city of Schaff-
hausen, later at Gottingen. While he was a country
pastor in the canton of Schaffhausen, Madame Krudener
came into the canton. He led the churchly conservatives
against her revival. In 1855 he was elected antistes, suc-
ceeding antistes Veith, who had in 1824 succeeded antistes
Kirchhofer. He had early showed signs of love for ritual-
ism, and began making it prominent after he became
antistes. Thus he had the form of ordination enriched
and made spectacular. He had three triumvirs appointed
from among the ministers, so that at ordination he might
appear among them as a bishop of the church. All this
was not to the taste of the plain Swiss, to whom it looked
as if he wanted to make Schaffhausen a sort of hierarchy.
Then came the publication of his "Life of Pope Inno-
cent III" (1834-42). That the head of a Protestant
church should write the life of a Catholic was considered
quite of of place. But it was his friendly attitude toward
Innocent III, whom he declared to be the most splendid
of the popes, that caused suspicion and criticism. Almost
as soon as he was made antistes, the Catholics, in 1836,
456
SCHAFFHAUSEN 457
were given permission to have their worship in the city
of Schaffhausen, a right forbidden since the Reforma-
tion. This caused a sensation among the Protestants and
aroused fears. It was only through his influence that
this was granted. In March, 1838, a circular appeared
about this concession to the Catholics that caused alarm
and a demand was made that he call the ministers
together. He replied that it did not suit him to do so, as
he wanted to take a trip and would call the meeting on
his return. But during his absence the death of a minis-
ter brought the ministers together. It was decided by
them to call a meeting of the ministers. But Maurer, the
head-triumvir of the church, delayed doing this until
Hurter returned. On his return, when asked to call a
meeting, he replied that he was going away to Frank-
ford, in Germany. Finally, on May 9, the ministers
succeeded in having a meeting. They passed an action
against the Catholic services in the city of Schaffhausen
and demanded guarantees from the government and sent
these to the council. When their action was reported to
Hurter at Frankford he refused to ratify it, and wrote
against it. But the council acted favorably on the petition
of the ministers. It took action limiting the Catholic
influence by forbidding their proselyting, and also their
reading the papal bulls or letters in their churches. All
this did not prevent Hurter from continuing his associa-
tion with the Catholics. He visited Lombardy to see
Emperor Ferdinand crowned and did this on the regular
day of prayer of the canton, which caused great offense
to the Protestants. He also went to Vienna in 1839, to
place his son in school there. This trip began on one of
the days of prayer in Schaffhausen, which also caused
criticism against him.
Early in 1840 a Swiss reported that he had seen the
antistes and his wife, on March 19, in the Catholic
cloister at Catharinenthal, near Schaffhausen, bowing
458 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
before the mass, making the sign of the cross and using
holy water there. This charge caused a meeting of the
ministers to be held. Before the meeting he denied it to
Rev. Mr. Kirchhofer. But the Swiss who brought these
charges offered to make an affidavit that it was true.
By this time the citizens of Schaffhausen had become so
outraged that they determined that he should not again
ascend the pulpit in their city, and the council ordered
an investigation. On April 9, 1840, he sent his resigna-
tion as dekan. The ministers requested him to send a
statement that he was still a Protestant. He said his reply
could be gotten at St. John's Church in Schaffhausen.
This reply he afterwards enlarged into a book, entitled
"Antistes Hurter and His So-called Brethren in the
Ministry," published June II, 1840. Outwardly it was a
defence of his views, but he was very sharp in his per-
sonal attacks on his fellow-ministers. Meantime the
ministerial convent asked his three times for his reply,
and finally they gave him fourteen days to send it in.
Then the ministerial convent deposed him and elected
Spliess antistes in his stead.*
Finally in February, 1844, Hurter went to Rome and
on June 16, 1844, his conversion to Rome was completed
there. In 1845 he published "Birth and Re-birth," which
defended his perversion to Rome. He died at Gratz in
1865. His perversion to Rome produced no effect on his
canton, which remained as strongly Protestant as before.
But it caused a stir in Switzerland that the head of one
of the Protestant churches should become a Catholic, —
a thing unheard of in the history of Protestantism since
the Reformation. The election to the antistes' chair of
Spliess, who had been the main opponent of Hurter, led
to a very decided tendency in the canton to Evangelical
piety and activity in the canton. He died in 1854, and
* We have already spoken of him in connection with the
pietism of Schaffhausen.
SCHAFFHAUSEN 459
Kirchhofer became antistes. He was so pietistic, foster-
ing all aggressive religious movements in the church, that
when a political reaction occurred in 1862 he was not
re-elected, because rationalists and formalists in the coun-
cil united against him. Mezgar was elected antistes in
his stead. When Hebich came to Schaffhausen the coun-
cil forbade his meetings. But thanks to the pietism in the
canton and to its adherence to the Heidelberg Catechism
this canton has remained orthodox to this day. In 1887
it did not have a rationalist among its ministers. Then
one was elected at Unterhalten, and in 1900 another at
St. John's Church, in the city of Schaffhausen, where
there are now two. It was not till 1890 that a Reform
society was founded.
Before leaving the German cantons (as time does not
permit us to take up the rest of them) we would note
that in 1874 the synod of the canton of Thurgau, which
has become rationalistic, forbade the use of the Apostles'
Creed in the worship. For insisting on using it one of
the dekans, Steiger, was compelled to resign his charge.
He then organized a Reformed church independent of the
state at Emmishofen. But the synod later learned wis-
dom and in 1876 granted the use of other Swiss liturgies,
some of whom contain the Apostles' Creed.
PART II
THE FRENCH CANTONS
CHAPTER I
Geneva
Section i
the evangelical church of geneva
This was an outgrowth of the revival in Geneva,
which we have already described. But we have thus far
described that movement mainly outside of the National
Church of Geneva. There was, however, an element
within that church that was Evangelical, and on January
24> 1831, they (nine in all) organized an Evangelical So-
ciety. Two of them were pastors, Gaussen, pastor at
Satigny, and Galland, who had returned from Bern. The
others belonged to the best families in Geneva. This so-
ciety held religious services on Sunday evenings, and a
prayer meeting on Thursday evenings; also a mission
meeting on the first Monday of the month, and organized
a Sunday School whose attendance soon rose to 100.
Cheneviere, professor of theology, published at the
beginning of 1831, his "Dogmatics," in which he attacked
the confessions of the church and the doctrines of grace,
such as the trinity, original sin, etc. The Evangelical
Society felt that something must be done to counteract
such rationalistic teaching. Their answer was the found-
ing of an Evangelical Theological Seminary. In fact,
461
462 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
their full programme consisted of three parts :
First, the establishment of a congregation, the Church
of the Oratoire.
Second, the Evangelization of France, and
Third, the founding of a theological seminary.*
The attendance on their religious services finally com-
pelled them to have a building of their own. So the
Church of the Oratoire was opened February 9, 1834.
It was a large building, seating 1,000 persons. It was not
intended to be a congregation, but only a preaching-place
of the National Church, for its attendants were still mem-
bers of the National Church.
The Lord's Supper was celebrated there for the first
time on Whitsunday, 1835. In J^4° tne ministers and
members of the Church of the Bourg du Four began to
participate in the work of the Evangelical Society. They
had by this time removed to their beautiful chapel of the
Pelisserie. Empeytaz was made a member of the com-
mittee, and Guers and Bost gave lectures in the new
Theological School. Finally a joint committee was ap-
pointed, who drew up a basis of agreement, and so the
Free Church of Geneva was organized out of the Pelis-
serie and the Evangelical Society, in 1849. It did not
adopt any of the old creeds, as the Second Helvetic Con-
fession, but drew up a simple creed of its own in sixteen
articles, as nearly Biblical as possible. The church govern-
ment was a liberal Presbyterianism. In cultus it allowed
liberty, the Oratoire using the old French liturgy, while
the Pelisserie used a free service, — rather a conference
and prayer meeting. The members were free to attend
either place of worship. The congregation numbered
about 700. But there were also many regular attendants
from the National Church and the church exerted an
influence far above its numbers.
* Of the second, the evangelization of France, we need not
speak, as it does not concern Switzerland.
GENEVA 463
Section 2
the evangelical school of theology
This school, which was, as we have seen, one of the
creatures of the Evangelical Society, was opened January
30, 1832, on the basis of the Second Helvetic Confession.
It was Calvinistic, but liberally so. Of its first profes-
sors, Merle D'Aubigne was the most prominent, especially
as Gaussen was not able to enter the faculty till 1836.
D'Aubigne was a descendent of one of the most prominent
families of Geneva, his ancestor being Agrippa D'Aubigne,
of whom we have already spoken. He was born at
Geneva, August 16, 1794. We have already met with
him in the revival at Geneva, when he presided at the
meeting of the students, in November, 1816, to protest
against Empeytaz's attack on the orthodoxy of the theo-
logical professors of the university. Later, as we have
seen, he became a convert of the revival ; indeed, his was
the most surprising conversion of the revival, for he had
been the leader of the students against orthodoxy. The
regulations of the Venerable Company of May 3, 1817,
he subscribed to, as they were so explained to him as to
be unobjectionable. He then went to Germany, where
he attended the great Reformation festival at the Wart-
burg, October 31, 181 7. There, where Luther translated
the Bible into German, he conceived the idea of writing
a history of the Reformation, which he later carried out,
and which gave him great fame. He then went to Berlin
University, where Neander gave him his impulse for
church history. His stay in Germany chilled his early
faith of the revival at Geneva. He found that the minis-
try and laymen, the books and journals were so tinctured
with mere naturalism that he underwent a great struggle
with his doubts. Sometimes he passed the whole night
in crying to God for help, or in trying by arguments to
repel the attacks of the enemy. Finally he applied to one
464 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
of the champions of orthodoxy, Kleuker, of Kiel, for
advice. The latter, after listening sympathetically to his
difficulties, declined to solve them, but replied, "Were I
to succeed in ridding you of these, others would come.
There is a shorter, deeper, more complete way of annihi-
lating them. Let Christ be really to you the Son of God.
Only be firmly settled in this grace and then these diffi-
culties of detail will never stop you. The light which
proceeds from Christ will dispel the darkness." His
doubts thus satisfied, he entered the ministry and became
pastor of the French church at Hamburg (1818-23).
Then he went to Brussels (1823-30) as private chaplain
of the King of the Netherlands, and president of the con-
sistory of the French and German Protestant congrega-
tions in that land. In the revolt of 1830, he was compelled
to leave (1831). His return to Geneva was most oppor-
tune, as the Evangelicals were already considering the
founding of the Theological Seminary, and his arrival fi-
nally decided them to do so. He was elected among the
first of its professors. For accepting this position he was
suspended by the National Church. During his profes-
sorship he began the preparation of his history of the
Reformation, whose first volume appeared 1835, and it
was completed in 13 volumes, three of them published
after his death. In 1845 ne visited Scotland, at the in-
vitation of the Free Church. The University of Berlin
(1846), at the request of Neander, gave him the degree
of doctor of divinity. The King of Prussia, Frederick
William IV, in 1853, gave him the golden medal of
science. In 1861 he took a very active part in the meeting
of the Evangelical Alliance at Geneva. In 1864 he pro-
posed that the anniversary of Calvin's death should be
observed by the building of a great Reformation hall at
Geneva, which should be a religious center. This was
dedicated in 1868. He died October 21, 1872.
Another prominent professor was Louis Gaussen. We
GENEVA 465
have already seen his strong attachment to orthodoxy,
although in the National Church. His first effort to re-
vive the National Church was by the organization of a
missionary society. His break with the National Church
was gradual, but a crisis finally occurred. In 1827 he had
abandoned the official catechism of his church, because
it omitted the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. The
result was a controversy in which he claimed that ac-
cording to law Calvin's catechism was still the legal
catechism of the church, and that the new church cate-
chism was not legal. He then proceeded to publish his
correspondence on that subject with the Venerable Com-
pany, which ordered it suppressed. He refused to submit,
so the Venerable Company suspended him from the
ministry. Another reason for his deposition was his con-
nection with the Evangelical School of Theology. For-
bidden by the Venerable Company to preach, he travelled
through Italy and England in the interest of that theo-
logical school. In 1834 he returned to Geneva and began
teaching in that Evangelical School. He revived Calvin-
ism and taught the theology of Francis Turretin. His
most famous book was "Theopneustie," in which he
strongly supported the verbal inspiration of the Bible.
He died June 18, 1863.
But the theological school was not without its diffi-
culties. The number of students was small, as its con-
stituency was so limited. Other institutions, as Montau-
ban and Paris, refused to recognize its diplomas. For a
number of years it had only from 10 to 20 students.
Then it made an arrangement with the Waldenses of
Italy, who sent their students to it until they opened their
theological school at Florence, Italy. So by 1845 tne
number of students had risen to 45. There were also
other difficulties, as with the professors. Havernick went
back to Germany; Steiger died (1836) ; Preiswerk, who
came in Steiger's place, went off into Irvingism, taking
30
466 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
four of the students with him.
In 1850 there came a serious crisis in the school be-
tween the old and the new theology. Scherer had come
as professor in 18-44. He was a follower of Schleier-
macher and had published (1843) a dogmatics of the
Reformed Church in the spirit of Nitzsch, which was
Biblical, though independent. In 1845 ne published a
church paper whose object was to introduce the mediat-
ing theology of Schleiermacher, as modified by Vinet.
But he went farther than either Schleiermacher or Vinet.
His "Criticism and Faith," published 1849, compelled
him to resign, and he left Geneva early in 1850 for Stras-
burg, taking with him ten students who sympathized with
his views. He later gave up theology entirely and became
one of the leading literary critics of France. When this
controversy occurred Professor Cheneviere, the old oppo-
nent of the Evangelical Church and seminary, saw his op-
portunity. He came out against Scherer, posing as more
orthodox than Scherer, thus making it appear that the
Evangelical Theological School had a professor who was
more heterodox than he. But he was very ably answered
by Malan, who clearly revealed Cheneviere's shallowness.
Still the controversy revealed the difference between the
old formal rationalism and the newer life-theory of
Scherer's rationalism. In i860 Gaussen published his
"Canon of Scripture" as the continuation of his "Theo-
pneustie," and as an answer to these later views about
the Bible. But the bitterness between the National and
Free Church gradually passed away, and in 1880 the
Evangelical Theological School elected a minister of the
National Church, Edward Barde, as professor.
In 1896, Cremer, the last of the old professors to hold
to the old theology of the "Theopneustie," died, and in-
stead of the old Calvinism in which the Theological
School had started, it now holds to a simple Evangelical
position, emphasizing the supernatural and the evan-
GENEVA 467
gelistic.
Section 3
the national church of geneva
This church, as we have seen, was strongly Socinian
in the days of Haldane. And yet God did not leave His
church without a witness. For the revival had a reactive
effect on the National Church. In fact, the later history
of the National Church may be taken as a justification of
the revival. A missionary society was organized in 1821,
and the visits of different missionaries stimulated the
church. The Venerable Company finally appointed a
regular monthly missionary service, which continued till
1835. Then Zaremba, a Pole, and a missionary to the
Armenians, in speaking of the Mohammedans, happened
to declare that their opposition to Christianity was due to
their rejection of the divinity of Christ. This angered
the Venerable Company so that it ordered that missionary
services should be given up. However, when Lacroix,
the famous missionary of India, visited Geneva, he was
permitted to lecture, and his lectures produced a pro-
found impression.
In 1835 occurred the tercentenary of the Reformed
Church, which the Venerable Company tried to observe
as a great national festival. It took place August 22-26.
Six thousand children assembled in the churches and were
given a memorial medal on which faith and reason illumi-
nated the Bible. And yet there were three events that
marred this tercentenary of the Reformation.
The first was that the festival revealed the isolation
of the National Church of Geneva. Numerous invitations
had been sent out to other churches, yet a number of
foreign churches refused to accept, because of the het-
erodoxy of the Church of Geneva. The Churches of Scot-
land and England refused to send delegates. Even the
468 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
neighboring Church of Vaud refused on that account,
only the classis of Yverdon sending two delegates, Bauty
and Mellet. For this it was severely censured by the
other classes of that church. The Evangelical Churches
in general stood aloof.
The second fact was that the only Germans present
were the vulgar rationalists, Bretschneider, Ammon and
Rohr. This was significant. Birds of a feather flock
together. A Unitarian Church like that of Geneva at
that time was an inviting field for foreigners who denied
the divinity of our Lord.
The third was the publication of a new edition of the
rationalistic Genevan Bible of 1805 by the authorities.
Thus, in it the phrase which in the original Greek, reads
"The Word was God" (John 1:1) was translated "The
Word was Divine," divinity with them meaning less than
deity.
In 1837 there came a curious inversion of things.
Cheneviere, who had led to the disciplining of the Evan-
gelical students in 1817, and for a quarter of a century
been the leader of the church, was disciplined by the
Genevan authorities and suspended for six months, be-
caused he observed a Thursday instead of a Sunday as the
day of national fast. Thursday had always before that
been the fast-day in Geneva, while Sunday was the day
observed in Switzerland, and the new Swiss law placed
it on a Sunday. In 1842 Diodati, an Evangelical, was
made professor of homiletics and apologetics, and began
exerting a strong influence on the students. In that year
the radicals overturned the conservatives and held the
government for fifteen years. That government made the
church virtually creedless, yet with it came more liberty
in the Church, for any catechism, even Evangelical, could
now be used. In 1861 the Evangelical Alliance held its
meeting in Geneva. Of course, the rationalists looked on
it with suspicion, but many Evangelicals also did so, be-
GENEVA 469
cause it placed those whom the Swiss called sects, as
Methodists and Baptists, on an equality with the church
(Reformed and Lutheran). At this meeting Professor
Riggenbach, of Basle, made a ringing address on "The
Rationalism of Switzerland," to which Biederman made
reply in "The Voices of the Time." In 1868 occurred
an important event for the Evangelicals. They opened
the large Reformation Hall, seating 1,500. Of the 300,000
florins raised for it, England and Scotland gave one-third
Section 4
the later events in the national church of geneva
In 1869 there was a new controversy between the
rationalists and Evangelicals. Before this the rational-
ists had been been led by Professors Cougnard and Chas-
tel and by Carteret, a layman, the head of the govern-
ment. At this time Buisson, the rationalist of Neuchatel,
came to Geneva, and there was a great public debate be-
fore 2,500 persons, between him and Rev. Edward Barde,
in the Reformation Hall, May 4, 1869. Buisson's attack
was on the Old Testament, to which Barde replied that
the Old Testament was so bound up with the New that
it was impossible to separate them. Professor Coug-
nard continued the controversy in a sermon on Luke
14:23, "Compel them to come in," in which he declared
that the Evangelical doctrines were an eternal heresy,
and that the true religion was one without dogmas or
discipline. But the consistory, to the surprise of the
Evangelicals, expressed itself in sympathy with the op-
ponents of Cougnard. The truth was, that the blatant
rationalism now coming up under Buisson was too ex-
treme even for some of those who before had been
rationalists under the guise of the church. While the
rationalists were thus weakening the Evangelicals became
more aggressive. In 1871 they founded a branch of the
47o THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Swiss Church Society. It opened a chapel, and later
employed three assistant pastors, who were finally ad-
mitted to the National Church. In 1875 a new liturgy
was adopted, inclined to rationalism. In 1877 Barde,
one of the leaders of the Evangelicals in the National
Church, was suspended for refusing to read from his
pulpit a proclamation of the consistory in regard to fast-
days. He claimed that the minister had the legal right
to decide as to its reading. He was suspended for six
months, in spite of the protest of his congregation. But,
in 1879, a reaction took place, and an Evangelical con-
sistory was elected. In 1880 Barde was elected a pro-
fessor in the Evangelical Theological School. The Na-
tional Church did not cast him out, as they had done
Gaussen years before. That church had learned wis-
dom since then. Meanwhile the Evangelicals were in-
creasing in influence, as many of the younger men were
affected by the teachings of Vinet. Two Evangelical pas-
tors were elected, Doret, in 1883, and Ferriere, in 1884.
In 1885, at the 350th anniversary of the Reformation,
the consistory was equally divided between the Evan-
gelicals and the rationalists. In 1891 Martin, an Evan-
gelical, was elected professor of theology, as was From-
mel, also Evangelical, in 1894, thus giving two of the
theological chairs to the Evangelicals. The reason for
this was that Geneva had learned a lesson that her Evan-
gelical students would go elsewhere to study, as to Lau-
sanne and Montauban. In 1895 nine of the fifteen pas-
tors were Evangelical. In 1896 Professor Cougnard, for
thirty years the leader of the rationalists, died. Mean-
while an eloquent young minister, Frank Thomas,
was becoming an aggressive leader in the church, though,
in 1899, he left the National Church and opened evan-
gelistic services in the large Victoria Hall in Geneva,
which were largely attended. In 1899 the Evangelicals
gained control and the consistory stood twenty Evan-
GENEVA 47 J
gelicals to ten rationals, and to-day, out of about forty
ministers, only about eight are rationalistic it is said.
Thus the Genevan Church has been gradually finding its
way back to an Evangelical position, though some of the
ministers are Evangelical in what to us Americans would
be a liberal sense. But though returning to orthodoxy it
is not the orthodoxy of Calvinism. Calvin is honored at
Geneva, though not his theology. The majority hold to
a simple Evangelical position. The strife of the century
has been so severe that they are glad to unite on this
basis, and the differences between Calvinism and Armin-
ianism are left behind. But this return of the Church of
Geneva after a divergence from orthodoxy for nearly
200 years is one of the most remarkable in church his-
tory and was owing to the faithful witness of the Evan-
gelicals in the church in the days of error and persecu-
tion. It bodes well for the future.
The latest development of the National Church has
been disestablishment, which was approved in 1907, after
a half a century of discussion, by a vote of 7,600 to
6800 It went into effect 1909- The Evangelicals are
hopeful that disestablishment will aid them, especially as
Rev Mr Thomas has returned to the church since the
disestablishment. The greatest danger to Geneva to-day
is not rationalism but Catholicism, its adherents having
crowded into Geneva from the surrounding countries
of Savoy, France and Italy, until it is said they form
the majority in the canton.
We can not close this section without speaking of one
who was a great apologist for Evangelical Christianity
in the last half-century, Prof. Jules Ernest Naville. Born
December 13, 1816, he became pastor in Geneva and
then professor of philosophy. When the radicals gained
control of the government in 1846 he was dismissed
from his professorship. But, though he held no official
position, he gained a far-reaching influence by his apolo-
472 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
getical lectures. His courses on "The Heavenly Father,"
"Christ," "Eternal Life" and the "Problem of Evil" were
attended by large audiences, sometimes reaching to 2,000.
He also delivered them in other cities, as Lausanne, to
large audiences. These lectures were remarkable for
their depth of thought, breadth of vision and profound
Christian faith. At the Philosophical Convention at
Geneva, in 1904, and of which he was an honorary presi-
dent, he bore a warm testimony for the sacred truths
he had defended for so many years. Aged 92, he died
May 27, 1909.
CHAPTER II
Vaud
Section i
THE PIETISTIC MOVEMENTS IN THE EARLY PART OF THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
The canton of Vaud was separated from Bern in
1798, during the French Revolution, and its academy
elevated to a university in 1806. It, unlike Geneva, had
remained true to its orthodox Calvinism, but much of
it had become dead orthodoxy. A revival was needed
to freshen up the vitality and activity of the church.
In Geneva the revival was opposed by the National
Church. This church at first fostered it and then cast
it out, ultimately to become the Free Church of Vaud.
To some extent this revival was caused by the revival
in neighboring Geneva, although the Church of Vaud
had broken with the National Church of Geneva on ac-
count of the latter's divergence from orthodoxy, and
and Curtat, the leader of the Vaud Church, had attacked
Cheneviere's book for its heterodoxy. Curtat was largely
the cause of the revival in Vaud and also its bitter oppo-
nent. Born 1759, at Lausanne, he became first pastor
there and so received the title of doyen or head of the
church. He was a powerful preacher, profound and
full of unction. As professor in the academy he exerted
great influence on the piety of the students by his lec-
tures on the Bible and thus he prepared the way for the
revival.
In 1814 a Bible society was organized at Lausanne,
473
474 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
also a Tract Society, in which two English ladies, one a
Miss Graves, a member of the Anglican Church, were
influential. In 1821 a Missionary society was organized,
but was soon suppressed, because Curtat attacked it as
Methodistic. All these movements prepared for the re-
vival. But it was Curtat's attack on prayer meetings
(conventicles), in 1821, that brought the crisis. He at-
tacked them as illegal, unsound in doctrine, and Metho-
distic. One can hardly forbear a smile as he caps his
argument against the holding of evening services by
quoting the story of Eutychus in the Acts of the Apostles.
Curtat was replied to by the pietists. A former pas-
tor of the Guernsey Islands replied and proved that the
missionary societies of England had not brought ruin
to the church, as Curtat had prophesied. Malan's reply,
"The Conventicles of Rolle," contained a prayer that
God would have mercy on Curtat and open his eyes. Cur-
tat replied in "New Observations on Conventicles," 1821.
He received support from Vinet, one of his former pupils
and admirers, then a teacher at Basle, who published
"Letter to Young Ministers," 1821, in which he attacked
Malan's reply. The ministers, who were pietists (mom-
iers), were Augustus Rochat, M. Olivier and his two sons,
Juvet, pastor at Isle ; Alexander Chavannes, at Aiibonne ;
Firaz, pastor at Orbe; Dupraz, at Beguins.* Juvet and
Chavannes were suspended. F. Olivier was refused ordi-
nation, but later got it from the Presbyterians at Glasgow.
But the suspension of the first two turned out unfortu-
nately for the opponents of pietism, for as these ministers
had been deprived of their parishes, they gathered at
Lausanne and made it a center of pietism by holding con-
venticles there. The government then (1822) expelled
Miss Graves for distributing tracts and holding conven-
* For a full history of these revival movements see "History
of the Religious and Ecclesiastical Movements in Canton Vaud"
(in French), by Cart, Lausanne.
VAUD 475
ticks, although she protested that as a member of the
Anglican Church she was opposed to all separatism.
She went to Geneva. While the churchly ministers
charged the pietists with Methodism, they in turn replied,
by charging their enemies with antinomianism and with
making conversion only a moral change. The pietists
claimed over against their enemies to cling closely to the
old Calvinistic creed, the Second Helvetic, charging their
enemies with having followed Osterwald in his departure
from the doctrines of grace. On December 24, 1823,
Alexander Chavannes, Henry Juvet, Francis Olivier de-
clared their secession out of the National Church, and
brothers Augustus and Charles Rochat followed their
example. Finally, on May 20, 1824, the authorities of
the canton passed a law, forbidding under pain of fine,
imprisonment and banishment all prayer-meetings as con-
trary to public order because they declared they caused
riots. The truth was, that it was not the momiers who
caused the riots, but their enemies, led on by the lawless
elements of the community. But the law did not check
pietism; it only drove the pietists out of the National
Church. They declared themselves separated from the
state church and kept on holding conventicles. For this,
A. Rochat was banished for a year, Olivier for two years,
Chavannes and Juvet for three years. But in spite of
all this, the conventicles still continued at Lausanne, right
under the eyes of the authorities.
But the law produced a reaction within the National
Church. On November 17, 1824, twenty-six ministers
presented a petition to the grand council, protesting
against the intolerance of the law against conventicles.
In 1825 an Evangelical society was organized at different
places by the members of the National Church. And
now the pietists found a new and unexpected defender.
Vinet reversed his previous position, when he had stood
with Curtat against the pietists, by protesting against
476 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
the new law against pietism. He published his "Me-
morial in Favor of Religious Liberty."
Section 2
the secession of the free church of vaud
The Free Church of Vaud separated from the National
Church in 1845, but the movements that led to it were
operative many years before. The law against conven-
ticles in 1824 was looked on by many, especially the pious
people within the National Church, as a violation of re-
ligious liberty by the government, which had become a
sort of Caesaro-papie, — the secular more and more domi-
nating the spiritual. In 1830 the radicals gained control
of the government, and in 1834 they granted religious
liberty. This not only aided the pietists, who had sep-
arated from the National Church, but also produced a
revival of spirituality in the National Church because of
the larger liberty it gave. On December 24, 1835, Vaud
followed Geneva's example in observing the tercentenary
of the Reformation and over against the rationalistic
Genevan Bible, republished at that time, it published the
Lausanne Bible in French, of which a second edition was
published in 1849, and a tmrd m l859-
In 1839 a new crisis occurred. The Helvetic Con-
fession was abolished and the church was reduced from
being an organic whole as a church organization to
merely separate parishes, each under the control of the
state. An excuse for setting aside the Helvetic Con-
fession was given, namely, that the Momiers were con-
tinually appealing to it in their defence. But the real
reason was a desire by the authorities that all restraint
as to doctrine in the church should be set aside and that
the church should be so weakened as to be merely an arm
of the state. This law continued in force till 1863 and
it was the controversies caused by it, in which the state
Prof. Benedict Pictet
Prof. Alexander Vinet
Prof. Frederick Godet
PROMINENT THEOLOGIANS
VAUD 477
over-rode the church, that led to the secession of the
Free Church in 1845. In l863 the law was rePealed> the
state having by that time learned wisdom to its own cost
at the loss of the Free Church. In the reaction against
this law of 1839, which made the church confessionless,
several ministers at once resigned from the National
Church, as Burnier, who was the leader for religious
liberty. Vinet also, who had become professor of the-
ology at Lausanne, left the church and in 1842 published
his essay on the "Separation of Church and State." In
December, 1844, a society was organized at Lausanne,
favorable to disestablishment, and at its meeting Vinet
and Burnier delivered addresses. Thus a strong party
was forming, favorable to separation, and it only needed
some event to bring on a crisis, and this occurred in 1845.*
For a political crisis occurred, in which the extreme
radicals, led by Druey, a despot and demagogue, came
into power. Angered against the ministers because they
opposed the new law, he ordered that the pastors, as
officials of the civil government, should give a written
statement of agreement with the new law. A revival
occurred in 1845 and its services were attacked by mobs
in certain places, as Lausanne and Pully. So the gov-
ernment on May 15, 1845, forbade the ministers to take
part in them under pain of fines. But this old law of
1824 did not fit 1845. For in the meanwhile, pietism had
increased and become part of the life of the National
Church, and many pastors now had halls in addition to
their churches, in which such evangelistic services were
regularly held by them. So a meeting of the ministers
of the canton was held at Lausanne May 26, 1845, which
sent a memorial signed by 150 ministers out of 221, pro-
testing against such oppression on the freedom of the
church. The council pigeon-holed this, thus virtually
* See "The Ecclesiastical Crisis in Canton Vaud" (in Ger-
man), Zurich, 1846.
478 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
rejecting it. Many ministers continued holding evangel-
istic meetings in their halls and the council brought
charges against them before their classes. But the classes
took their part and declared them innocent. Thus the
church was set up against the state and the issue between
them was forced.
The council then proceeded to add insult to injury
so as to humiliate them. They ordered the ministers to
read a proclamation from their pulpits, defending the
newly proposed constitution, which was soon to be voted
on. Druey thus proposed to force an issue, at least he
would know who among them were his friends. About
forty of the pastors did not read the proclamation, because
they declared such an act was contrary to the law of
1832. Some read it and others read it after their ser-
vices, protesting, however, against it as illegal. At St.
Francis' Church, Lausanne, many of the people left the
church when the prefect ascended the pulpit to read it.
The authorities then entered complaint against the min-
isters, who refused to read it, before the classes. But
the different classes, who met August 22, sustained the
ministers, only two ministers in the classis of Morges
opposing this action. The accused pastors then carried
the case up to the courts, which, however, decided against
them, and on November 31, 1845, thirty-seven of them
were suspended by the government for a month, four,
among them Bridel, for four months and Descombes for
a year, because he had not only refused to read the procla-
mation, but had dismissed his congregation so that it
could not be read by any one else. This suspension of
these ministers was to take effect on November 10. On
November 9 the suspended ministers bade farewell to
their congregations.
A meeting of the ministers was held at Lausanne.
November 11-12, to discuss the situation. The meeting
revealed that there were three parties among them :
VAUD 479
i. Those who wanted to remain in the National
Church, led by Chavannes.
2. Those who felt there was nothing to do but to
resign their parishes and leave the church, led by Bridel.
3. A middle party, who wanted to give the state
another chance, led by Baup.
The majority voted for demission en masse on De-
cember 15, their number being later increased to 185. It
does not seem that all of these wanted to separate from
the National Church, but some wanted this demission
to take place, hoping it, as a demonstration, would pro-
duce a reaction when the state realized its condition al-
most without ministers. But the state took advantage
of this opportunity. It did not recede, although it sent
a circular to them, asking them to return to the National
Church. Thirty returned, later their number being in-
creased to forty-one, when they found that their congre-
gations would not secede with them. The truth was
that the demission of the Evangelical pastors did not find
the response in their congregations that they had hoped.
About one hundred and forty ministers went out of the
National Church and only eighty-nine remained in that
church. But the council soon reorganized the National
Church, although the secession crippled her so that for
twenty years she was unable to properly supply the needs
of the people. Some of her ministers had as many as six
parishes to look after. The authorities issued an appeal
to other lands for ministers, and a number came, some
good, many bad. The university also suffered, as well
as the church. Many of the leading professors resigned
(all the professors of theology, except one, Dufournet),
as Monnard, Secretan and Chappuis. Of the twenty
theological students, seventeen left and went into the
Free Church. The Free Church thus carried with it a
larger proportion of the university than of the people.
The action of these Vaud pastors was heroic. They
48o THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
gave up their income in the face of approaching winter.
The wife of the pastor at Motiers said to her husband,
as he went to the meeting of November n, "Forget that
you have a wife and seven children." This heroism
astonished the Protestant world. From all parts of Eu-
rope came letters of sympathy and encouragement. In
Scotland public meetings were held and the General As-
sembly of the Free Church sent a delegate to Geneva to
convey their sympathy. Similar addresses came from
Germany and France. Even 405 of the clergy of the
Anglican Church sent an expression of sympathy and
admiration to them. The Zurich ministers sent an ad-
dress, prepared by antistes Fiissli, and subscribed to by
seventy-three ministers. Rev. Mr. Baggesen, as presi-
dent of the synod of the canton of Bern, also sent them
a letter of sympathy.
Section 3
prof. alexander rudolph vinet
Professor Vinet* was one of the leaders of his day,
both in theology and literature, and in the movements
for religious liberty. He was, perhaps, the finest critic
of his day on French literature. He has been called by
his admirers in different lands the "Pascal of Protestant-
ism," the "French Chalmers," and the "Schleiermacher
of French theology." Born at Ouchy, the port of Lau-
sanne, June 17, 1797, his father wanted him to study
theology, while he preferred literature. He early wrote
poetry, as the patriotic song, "The Revival of the Vau-
dois," 1814, which became popular. But he was severely
criticised for doing so by his father. It has been sug-
gested that perhaps it was his father's severity toward
* See Lane's "The Life and Writings of Alexander Vinet"
(1890), and Rambert's "Alexander Vinet, Histoires de sa vie et
de ses ouvrages" (1876).
VAUD 481
him in early life that produced his reaction in later life
and made him the champion of individual liberty. When
he had finished his course of study at Lausanne, he was
called to Basle (1817) through an incident. Monnard, a
friend of his, presented himself as a candidate for the va-
cant professorship of French literature at Lausanne. At
Monnard's examination for that place, Vinet objected to
some of his statements, which so disgusted his father
that the latter left the room. But Monnard was so im-
pressed by the truth of Vinet's criticisms, that he recom-
mended Vinet to a position of teacher in Basle. There
De Wette introduced him to German theology and he
was at first captivated by De Wette's learning and scien-
tific method, though he complained to Monnard (1818)
how greatly troubled he was with doubts. "The Hours
of Devotion," by the rationalist Zschokke, was at that
time a favorite book of his. In 1819 he returned to
Lausanne to be ordained, though he later regretted his
thoughtlessness at such a sacred rite. It was a severe
illness (1823-24) that brought him nigh to death, and
from which he never after fully regained his health, that
he regarded as the turning-point of his life. His con-
version was intellectual and ethical rather than dogmatic,
but nevertheless real. After it there came to him a
spirituality born out of real religious experience. Writ-
ing to a friend, he said : "The neologues who transform
religion into philosophy inspire me with aversion." His
faith was greatly strengthened at the time by Erskine
of Scotland's work, "Evidences of the Truth of the
Christian Salvation." After his conversion he broke with
De Wette. He refused to translate De Wette's ethics
into French, because he said De Wette could demolish
to perfection, but no one could see what it built up. A
religion which conceived of the facts of revelation as
mere symbols did not satisfy him.
We have already noted his change of attitude to the
31
482 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
pietists. Originally their narrowness seemed opposed to
his breadth of thought. When he first came to Basle,
he wrote: "This town is full of pietists. If ever I have
any power, moral or political, I will spare no pains to
disperse this nest of presumptuous sectarians." And
when he saw that De Wette, from whom he had learned
so much, was called a heretic, and even antichrist by the
pietists of Basle, he the more turned against pietism
and the Basle Mission House. He had great regard for
his teacher, Curtat, and especially resented Malan's
prayer for Curtat's conversion. But little did this youth
dream that he would become the great defender of the
pietists in their persecutions. For as the persecutions
against the Momiers increased in Vaud, he became di-
vided in his sentiments, on the one hand disliking the
narrowness of the pietists, and on the other indignant at
the intolerance of Vaud against them. After the law
of May 20, 1824, had been enacted in Vaud, he came out
boldly for religious liberty in his pamphlet "Respect of
Opinions." As it at first appeared anonymously it was
supposed to have been written by a Momier. The change
in him was due in part to the religious change that had
come over him as he passed from merely formal religi-
ousness to a positive and personal faith.
In 1826 he gained great fame by receiving the prize
over twenty-nine competitors for the best essay on "Free-
dom of Culture," which was offered by the "Paris So-
ciety of Christian Ethics." In it he held that liberty of
conscience was the right of the individual and liberty of
worship the right of the community, because religion was
an affair between man and his God. Faith did not have
its root in the intellect, as the rationalists hold, but in the
conscience. Conscience is the personality. The state
had no right to force the conscience. Faith is a free act
and liberty of conscience must be maintained. The essay
created a great sensation in Switzerland and proved to be
VAUD 483
the trumpet voice to wake up the Church of Vaud. In
1829 he published his "French Anthology," a masterpiece,
by which he rose to be considered one of the best critics
of French literature in his day. His sermons in the
French church at Basle added to his reputation— they
were so intellectual and spiritual and yet so classic in form.
In 1829 he placed his friend Monnard, at Lausanne, in
an awkward situation, by his defence of an evangelist
in Vaud, who was arrested for holding a prayer-meeting,
and when released, was attacked by a mob. For publish-
ing this defense, the authorities suspended Monnard from
the ministry for one year, and Vinet for two years, and
fined him 80 francs. But sympathy came to Monnard
and himself from all sides.
But all this persecution only roused Vinet. In 1830
he published two brochures, "The Intolerance of the
Gospel," and "The Tolerance of the Gospel." In that
year he had several calls elsewhere. Montauban wanted
him —indeed called him three times. The newly-founded
theological seminary at Geneva called him. But he de-
clined them all. He also wrote (1830) "Some Ideas of
Religious Liberty," in which he made religious liberty,
not only a right as he had done before, but a necessity.
As Vaud was at that time discussing the independence of
the church, Curtat published a pamphlet, declaring that
the independence of the church would result in civil
war and the destruction of the state. How far the teacher
and pupil had drifted apart by this time. Basle began
to realize his worth and in 1833 he was made professor
of French literature there. The next year he was called
three times to Frankfort-on-the-Main in Germany, but
refused. t
In 1837 he finally accepted, after a twenty years stay
at Basle, the professorship of pastoral theology at Lau-
sanne. At once he became a leader in Vaud, as he had
never been at Basle. He was elected by the classis of
484 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
Lausanne a member of the assembly to prepare the church
constitution in 1839, when the government set aside the
Second Helvetic Confession. He bitterly opposed it, not
because he considered it a perfect creed, but he preferred
that creed to no creed. Because the law set aside the
Helvetic Confession, he resigned from the ministry of
the National Church in 1840, but he continued to lecture
in the university. In 1842 he published his "Essay on
the Manifestation of Religious Conviction," another
trumpet-blast for religious liberty. In 1844 he resigned
the chair of practical theology to later enter the Free
Church.
In 1845 tne revolution, long foretold by him, broke
out and the Free Church seceded as we have seen. He
was not the father of the Free Church, and yet he was, —
that is he was not among the ministers who seceded from
the National Church in 1845, because he had already
gone out in 1840. But in fact he was the father of the
Free Church, for that movement was the ultimate result
of his continued defence of religious liberty. Soon after
the ministers had gone out of the National Church, he
joined himself to them, although their position was not
exactly that of his own. They did not place individuality
as fundamentally as he wanted them to do. Nor did he
consider that so small a thing as the reading of a procla-
mation was a sufficient cause for such a radical separation
from the church. His idea was that if they were going
out of the National Church, they ought to have done so
in 1839, when the Helvetic Confession was set aside.
But he soon realized that, after all, it had come as the
result of his defence of individual and religious liberty,
and so he entered heartily into it as far as his wretched
health would permit.
He was present at the initial meeting of the Free
Church ministers, March 29, 1846, and rejoiced at the
organization of the first synod, November 10, 1846. He
VAUD 485
was a member of the committee to frame the constitution,
many of whose sessions were held at his house, so as to
get the benefit of his advice. When the question of a
new creed came up, Vinet, although he had favored the
retention of the Helvetic Confession in 1839, now favored
a new creed. He prepared some articles of it, but his
colleagues added several doctrinal statements, as his ar-
ticles did not express themselves sufficiently on the
trinity and inspiration. This new creed of the Free
Church of Vaud was remarkable for its brevity and com-
prehensiveness. Its brevity placed it quite in contrast
with the elaborate creeds of the Reformation.
But his increasing illness led him to give up lecturing
to the students January 28, 1847. He was removed to
Clarens, east of Lausanne, April 19, in the hope of re-
covery. There in the room, which it is said Byron once
occupied, he died May 4, 1847. He lived just long
enough to see his ideas of religious liberty put into an
objective and permanent form, in the existence of the
Free Church of Vaud. Of Vinet, Pressense says, "Vin-
et's undying service was that in the realm of the French
language, he transplanted religion out of the realm of the
abstract into that of life, and found in the testimony of
our own hearts the strongest apology for revelation."
Through him Protestantism gained a place in French
literature. He was the French Schleiermacher. His
stay at Basle had enabled him to become the bridge be-
tween German and French theological thought. He
adopted Schleiermacher's Mediating Theology and
adapted it to the French mind. He was not a Calvinist
in theology. With him predestination was not funda-
mental. Not the sovereignty of God, but the individual-
ity of man, was fundamental. Vinet, like Schleiermacher,
made religion a life rather than a doctrine,— it was vital
Christianity. He held to the dynamic conception of
Christianity in opposition to the intellectual conception.
486 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
"The religion of the Gospel," he says, "is a force, it is
not a system of reasoning. It is a fact that takes pos-
session of the heart and prevails over the acts."
But while Vinet was the French Schleiermacher, he
added something to the latter's system, namely, his em-
phasis on the ethical. He was emphatically an ethical
theologian. His center was conscience, and, therefore, he
emphasized individualism. He went to such an extreme
in this that his favorite phrase was "Faith is a Work,"
meaning by it the necessity of the union of faith with
works. In the Christian religion, he said, all is moral.
But here he separated himself from all Evangelical the-
ology, for Scripture says of faith, "It is the gift of God."
Eph. 2 : 8. One can so far exaggerate the moral as to
conceal the Evangelical. But Vinet was not so much a
theologian as a litterateur. He was suggestive rather
than systematic. He gave an impulse to thought, rather
than defined it in its relations. There was less of the
logical than one would expect in a theologian, and more
of the rhetorical in style and poetical in thought. But
this literary finish and poetical insight gave him a pe-
culiar breadth of thought, as it was coupled with beauty
of style.
His "Practical Theology" is also important. Palmer,
the great German professor of practical theology, places
it beside Harm's and Luther's. His "Homiletics" is
called by Von Zeschwitz, another great German author-
ity, the best and most suggestive. Vinet gave an inspira-
tion to theological thought in all French lands. Like
Schleiermacher, he led many from rationalism back to
faith. His views became so popular among the pastors
of Geneva, that what Haldane and Malan were not
able to do, he did, — he brought many of the pastors back
toward orthodoxy.
VAUD 487
Section 4
history of the free church of vaud*
The assembly held November 11-12, 1845, had ap-
pointed a committee to prepare a project for the re-
organization of the church, either in case it renewed its
relations to the state, or if it became a Free Church.
They addressed a proclamation to their parishes, stating
that as a union with the state was impossible, it was
their desire to organize a free church, but one faithful
to the principles of their fathers. On December 19, as
the state remained firm against their return, they issued
an appeal for funds. On that day 31,381 francs were
subscribed, which by a year later was swelled to 180,000
francs ($36,000), from all lands, of which one-third was
given by Vaud, one-third by the eight Protestant cantons
of Switzerland, and one-third by foreign lands, the King
of Prussia giving $2,400.
After the secession, as they were refused the use of
the churches, they preached in the oratoires or preaching-
halls they had formerly used. But the state forbade all
religious meetings outside of the state church. They
nevertheless continued to hold services in the halls, but
their meetings were sometimes broken into by mobs, and
the pastors frequently found themselves in the hands of
the police, and under arrest for breaking the law. On
July 8, a central committee of these dissenters was con-
stituted. It ordained eight students to the ministry and
organized twenty-two parishes. A school of theology
was provided at the request of the theological students,
with Chapuis, Secretan and Herzog as professors. The
first preliminary convention was held in November, 1846,
at which thirty-three parishes reported. It appointed a
* See "Histoire des Cinquante premieres annees de l'Eglise
evangelique du Canton de Vaud," par Cart, Lausanne (1897).
488 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
committee to prepare a constitution. The second pre-
liminary convention was held February 23, 1847, which
adopted a constitution and a creed. The Free Church
was formally organized on March 12, 1847. The ^rst
regular synod was held June 8, 1847. Owing to perse-
cutions and police regulations, it met clandestinely at the
country home of a layman. But by 1849 the pastors of
the two churches, National and Free, became so cordial
to each other that they together formed a branch of
the Swiss Preachers' Society. By 1851 religious liberty
existed, in fact, though not yet by law. By 1854 the
Free Church had thirty-nine congregations, 3,400 com-
municants and 1,500 persons beside, who though still
members of the National Church, yet frequented their
worship regularly.
Having been born out of a revival, the Free Church
gave expression to its sympathy with revivals elsewhere
as in Scotland and the United States in 1857, and later
(1875) with the Moody and Sankey meetings in Scot-
land. One of its first efforts was to appoint a commit-
tee on evangelization and it was soon busy with evan-
gelization in its canton and elsewhere, opening preaching-
stations as in the Catholic cantons of Valais and Frei-
burg, and at Thonon and Evian in France, on the south-
ern coast of Lake Geneva. It expressed itself frequently
as in sympathy with all bodies struggling for religious
liberty, and it entered into fraternal relations with other
Evangelical and Free Churches. It also joined the
"Alliance of the Reformed Church holding the Presby-
terian System." It proved to be an active, aggressive
church, exerting a religious influence far beyond its num-
bers or limits.
Its theological school has had an interesting history
and exerted an important influence. Vinet soon died, and
Herzog was called away to Halle. This produced a crisis
and some of the ministers, for the sake of economy,
VAUD
489
wanted their students to be sent to the Evangelical Theo-
logical School at Geneva. But the church decided to
have its own theological school, and it was opened No-
vember 14, 1847. Vulliemin took Herzog's place as
professor of church history, later followed by Cart, who
has written so extensively and excellently on the history
of the Vaud churches. By i860 the number of students
had increased to thirty-five, by 1868 to sixty-seven.
The leader among the theological faculty was Samuel
Chappuis. He had been, with Vinet, the strongest pro-
fessor in the theological faculty before the Free Church
seceded, and he was the strong man of the Free Church.
He studied at Lausanne, where he was converted at one
of the pietistic meetings of the brothers Olivier. He
then studied at Heidelberg and became assistant at the
French church at Basle. This gave him a fine acquain-
tance with the German theological thought. After two
years at Berlin, he returned to Lausanne (1837) and
though young, was made professor of dogmatics in the
university. He was at Lausanne when the pastors re-
fused to read the proclamation and approved of their
action. But he was not present at the meeting of No-
vember 11-12, as he was at that time in France, laboring
for its Evangelization Society. Though absent from that
meeting, he was named as a member of the committee
to reorganize the church, he and Vinet being its most
influential members. He was frequently made president
of the synod and often sent by it on deputations, as' to the
Free Church of France and to the Evangelical Alliance
at Berlin, in 1857. He always emphasized evangeliza-
tion and defended Evangelicalism. One of his last acts,
though unwell, was to publicly reply (1869) to the ra-
tionalistic Buisson, in his attacks on the Old Testament.
He soon after died, April 3, 1870. He was not con-
fessional in his theology, but like Vinet, an adherent of
Schleiermacher's mediating theology, with, however, an
49°
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
emphasis on the ethical and the individual. The Chris-
tian consciousness of the mediating theology he developed
into an emphasis on the inner life.
It was after his death that troubles began to brew.
At the synod of 1871, one of the members of synod
raised questions about the orthodoxy of the school. This
was caused by the writings of Professor Astie. His book
published in 1869, on "The Bible and Liberalism," had
caused apprehension. A Frenchman by birth, he had
studied at Geneva, and later been pastor of the French
congregation in New York. He was elected (1858) as
extraordinary professor and as ordinary professor in
1865. Four times his peculiar views came before the
synod. But he always declared that he accepted the
creed of the Free Church of Vaud. He had been a
pupil of Scherer's, at Geneva, but was at first inclined
to be more positive. But then he veered to the new the-
ology and caused great anxiety by his attacks on the
inspiration of the Bible and the pre-existence of Christ.
In 1875 several pamphlets appeared against him. A ser-
mon by him in 1876 gave rise to new complaints, as did
his annual address at the theological school as president,
1876-77, on "The Faith of the Free Church of Vaud, its
Past, Present and Future." In 1891 the matter came up
again because some congregations protested against his
utterances at Chexbres, in August, 1891. The synod,
May, 1892, declared his explanation of his views were
insufficient, censured not his opinions but his manner of
expressing them, and passed a strong resolution, adhering
to the old Reformed doctrines of the church. He died
in 1892. This Astie controversy had an unfortunate
effect. Before it, it had been the glory of the Free
Church that Free Churchism was a bulwark against het-
erodoxy. But because of Astie's views, some began to
lose faith in Free churchism. It seems that Ritschli-
anism had entered the Free Church Theological School.
VAUD
49 1
Vinet's theology had been the bridge for the introduc-
tion of the mediating theology of Germany to enter the
French churches. But his ethical emphasis also pre-
pared the way for the later introduction of the Ritschlian
theology of Germany, with its emphasis on the kingdom
of God. This theology added to Vinet a denial of Christ's
pre-existence and of the full deity of Christ.
Another prominent member of the Free Church of
Vaud also deserves mention, though not a professor of
theology, Charles Secretan, who had been professor of
philosophy at Lausanne University, until the radicals
came into power in 1845. But though no longer pror
fessor, he delivered private lectures till 1850, when he
was called to the Academy of Neuchatel. He returned
to Lausanne (1866) and died there (1895). Originally
a follower of Vinet in his individualism, he became more
and more speculative, uniting Kant with Vinet in a the-
ology based on ethical consciousness. He held stead-
fastly to two principles, freedom and duty. Increasingly
indifferent to dogma as compared with morals, he re-
jected miracles, inspiration, the vicarious atonement and
eternal punishment. By his philosophical principles he
laid the foundations of the modern liberal theology of
France, led by Sabatier.
Section 5
the mission romande*
The Free Church of Vaud being an Evangelistic
Church, easily became interested in Foreign Missions.
At first it sent its missionary contributions to the mis-
sionary societies of Paris and Basle. But in 1869 a
challenge came to it as a church. At its synod, Paul
Berthoud and Ernst Creux, two students in their theo-
* See "Les Negres Guambe," by Paul Berthoud.
492
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
logical school, requested the synod to send them as mis-
sionaries to the heathen. In their letter, they say: "To
whom shall we go rather than to the church to which
we belong? We will go wherever you wish us — to the
tropics in the south or to the regions of ice in the north.
Speak, command, and we will obey." But the synod
hesitated to undertake a foreign mission of its own on
account of its smallness. Then the Paris Missionary
Society, hearing of the desire of these young men, asked
the Free Church of Vaud, "Why do you hold back the
young men so long, send them to us." So the synod of
1870 decided to send them out under the Paris Missionary
Society, and they sailed in 1872 for South Africa. When
they arrived at South Africa, Mabille, one of the mis-
sionaries of the Paris Missionary Society, had just re-
turned from a visit to the Ma-Guamba, who numbered
about 10,000, in the northern Transvaal. The Paris
Missionary Society felt itself too weak to undertake this
new field, and so appealed to the Free Church of Vaud
to do so. So the synod of 1874 decided to take that field.
In July, Berthoud and Creux founded the mission at
Spelonken, which they renamed Valdesia, after Vaud.
Hardly had the mission begun to get on its feet when,
in 1876, it was threatened with destruction, as the Trans-
vaal government forbade its missionaries to preach to the
natives, because it said they had no express permission
to do so from the government at Pretoria. The mis-
sionaries refused to obey, and on August 2 they were
arrested and taken to Marabasted, leaving their wives and
children in the midst of a native war. After a month's
imprisonment they were finally liberated, and on Septem-
ber 9 they returned to Valdesia, permission being granted
to them to preach to the natives, provided they took
the oath to the Transvaal government. They had hardly
returned when their first baptism took place, October 1,
1876, and by the end of 1878 forty had been baptized
VAUD 493
In 1877 the Transvaal came under the dominion of Great
Britain. In 1879 they opened a new station, Elim. In
1883 the Free Churches of Geneva and Neuchatel united
with the Free Church of Vaud, in the support of this
mission. In 1885 Leresche was made secretary of the
society and lived at Lausanne, and in 1895, Grandjean.
The church at Elim opened a new station at Delagoa Bay
in 1882, calling it Antioch, because founded and sup-
ported by converted natives. Another station was opened
at Lorenzo Marques. From 1888 to 1898 the mission
suffered through the wars and political dangers, but
in 1899 it had 2,000 members, of whom 1,200 were at
or near Lorenzo Marques. The mission, therefore, has
two fields, one at Transvaal, and the other at Lorenzo
Marques, in Portuguese Africa. By 1895 the New Testa-
ment was translated into the language of the Ma-Guamba,
and published at Lausanne. In 191 1 the society reported
12 stations, 157 native teachers, 2,530 corhmunicants,
80 schools, with 2,853 Pupils- The society received
in 191 1 $63,400.
CHAPTER III
Neuchatel
Section i
its history in the early part oe the nineteenth
CENTURY
The church of Neuchatel differed from every other
Protestant church in Switzerland, in that it was separate
from the state. This was due to the fact that when
founded by Farel in the Reformation, its ruling family
was Catholic. When the land came under the rule of the
King of Prussia, in 1707, he conceded to the church its
old autonomy and this was continued in the early part of
the nineteenth century.
The revival at Geneva had but slightly affected Neu-
chatel, whose clergy were orthodox, but formal. Neu-
chatel in general was more tolerant of pietists than Bern
or Vaud, but there was one case of oppression. A school-
master named Magnin was exiled for ten years for hold-
ing prayer-meetings and celebrating the Lord's Supper.
This the government later regretted. As a result of this
movement, an independent congregation was organized in
1828.
But though the church had had its autonomy guar-
anteed by Prussia, the nineteenth century witnessed re-
peated efforts to wrest this from her, until she was finally
made an arm of the state. The first attempt occurred
in 1838 in connection with the reorganization of the
university at Neuchatel. The classis of Neuchatel had
always nominated their professors of theology. But now
494
NEUCHATEL 495
the state evidently wanted to get that right from her.
When the university was erected, the Prussian govern-
ment organized all the departments but the theological.
Then she began gradually introducing that. In 1840
the state council nominated Petavel to the chair of phil-
ology, and he began to give courses of lectures on exe-
gesis of the New Testament. This was the entering
wedge to get the theological department of the university
under the state's control and away from the church. The
classis asked that if the subject of his lectures was to be
a religious one, they be allowed to choose the teacher
Two or three years later the state council nominated
Montvert, a professor of oratory for the theological
students. The classis then protested. In 1842 the state
nominated a third theological professor, Perrot. Thus
the state was shrewdly trying to get control of the theo-
logical education of the canton, while the classis was un-
willing to give it up.
In 1848 the political revolution occurred, which freed
Neuchatel from Prussia. As the pastors had opposed
the revolution, a crisis arose similar to that which had
taken place in Vaud. Steck, one of the councillors, drew
up a law by which the classis would be entirely sup-
pressed. But there were prudent men in the state affairs,
who did not want a disruption such as had occurred in
the Church of Vaud. A compromise was arranged, by
which the state took possession of the old funds of the
church, which amounted to 46,000 francs, and from which
one-quarter of the pastor's salaries were paid. It, how-
ever, left to the church her autonomy. This decision was
repugnant to the pastors, for they felt the church was
robbed of its funds; but they accepted it lest, if they op-
posed, they might seem open to the charge of being
royalists, and thus make the church unpopular. And yet
the state also infringed on the rights of the church by
a new law, that if the parish refused to nominate a min-
496 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
ister, the state could present a candidate. In this new
law lay the possibility that produced the Free Church
of Neuchatel in 1873, though from 1858 to 1868 all was
quiet.
Section 2
the free church oe neuchatel*
We have already noted how the state was invading
the rights of the church : first, taking away her nomina-
tion of professors of theology, then her funds. In 1868
a group of free-thinkers had arisen, led by the young and
brilliant professor, Buisson. He delivered an address,
December 5, 1868, at Neuchatel, in which he attacked the
use of the Old Testament in the schools, because it had
errors, favored superstition and corrupted the youth.
This was followed by other conferences, in which the
Evangelical doctrines were attacked. Buisson was an-
swered from the pedagogical side by Fred D'Rougenont,
the great naturalist. But the great defender of the church
was Professor Frederick Godet, who five days later, after
Buisson's lecture on December 10, replied, defending the
Old Testament. Wherever Buisson went delivering his
lectures, Godet followed him, making replies. In Decem-
ber, 1869, a rationalistic organization arranged for a
course of lectures mainly by foreigners. The liberals
issued a statement of their views that they wanted a
church without priesthood or dogma.
But the rationalists found that the people did not
take to their ideas, so they determined to gain their pur-
pose in another way. They now aimed at a revision of
the constitution. And in March, 1873, the new law was
promulgated. This law made every citizen a member of
the church, and not, as before, only those who had made
* See "Histoire de la fondation de l'eglise evangelique
Neuchatel." by Monvert (1898).
NEUCHATEL
497
a public profession of their faith. It also gave entire
liberty to pastors to preach as they pleased, thus making
the church confessionless, and it required a re-election of
pastors every six years. The nomination of professors
of theology was given to the state. Thus the state took
away the last shred of autonomy from the church. The
classis protested. Thus the state gained control of
the church, but its methods only reveal the tyranny of
heterodoxy and secularism. The old church of Farel was
now thrown open to all sorts of doctrine.
It was this usurpation of the rights of the church
that produced the Free Church. Out of forty-seven pas-
tors, twenty-seven left the church. On November 9,
1873, a synod of the nineteen Free Churches was held.
The number arose later to twenty-two congregations.
They organized twenty-six parishes. On January 15,
1874, they adopted a constitution, which was later adopted
by the congregations. This new church, though small,
numbering about 3,000 communicants, has been very ac-
tive. In ten years it raised $200,000. Its pastors are not
paid by their respective parishes, but out of a central
fund, to which the parishes contribute.
Section 3
profs. frederick godet* and a. gretillat
The most prominent professor of theology in Neu-
chatel was Frederick Godet. Born October 25, 1812, at
Neuchatel, he studied there and at Breslau and Bonn.
Ordained 1836, he received (1838) the unusual honor of
an appointment to a tutorship to the Crown Prince of
Germany, Frederick, during which time (1838-44) he
lived at Berlin. He then returned to Neuchatel and was
* An excellent work, "Frederic Godet," by Philip Godet,
Neuchatel, 1913, has appeared while this book was going through
the press.
498 THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH
made professor of theology there in 1850. In 1864-65
he gained fame in the theological world by the publica-
tion of his commentary on the Gospel of John. In 1866
he gave up his pastorate, so as to give his entire time
to his professorship. We have already seen how he re-
plied to Buisson's attacks on the Old Testament. When
the Free Church was organized, he resigned his profes-
sorship and entered the Free Church. His fame gave the
new theological school of the Free Church of Neuchatel
great celebrity. In 1887 he retired from his professor-
ship and spent his last years in literary activity. He
died October 29, 1900.
He excelled as a commentator and apologist.* His
commentary on John's Gospel is one of the best ever
written. It has passed through many editions and been
translated into many languages. It was followed by a
commentary on Luke (1871), Romans (1879-80) and 1
Corinthians (1886). His last great work was his "In-
terpretation of the New Testament" (1893-98). He ex-
celled in the analysis of the Apostles psychologically and
in his faithfulness of the reproduction of their doctrine.
He held to the orthodox views and was a tower of
strength to the Evangelicals. But he was also liberal
and departed from the old traditional views in his doc-
trine of kenosis, which, however, appears to make the
kenosis more a figure than a fact. But greater than his
works was his deep spiritual personality. Frommel calls
him a spiritual relative of John the Apostle, who in his
youth was a Boanerges, but sat the feet of the Master
and learned his life. He was a lovely character, remark-
ably fitted to portray the apostle of love.
Godet's pupil, and later his colleague, was Prof.
August Gretillat, who became professor of dogmatics.
Born March 16, 1837, he studied at Neuchatel and then
* He wrote against Professor Astie's views.
NEUCHATEL 499
at Halle, Gottingen and Tubingen. Probably Beck, at
Tubingen, influenced him more than one else of his
teachers. Of French writers he was especially fond of
Vinet and Pascal. He was elected professor of dog-
matics in 1870 and resigned this position to go out with
the Free Church. Both Godet and he were elected pro-
fessors in the new theological school of the Free Church.
While teaching he was also active especially in the evan-
gelistic operations of his church. He was a frequent
writer for French theological journals. He died Jan-
uary 12, 1894. He published his "Dogmatics" in four
volumes, and later his "Ethics." In the former he op-
posed the new theology of Astie. In the main he was
Evangelical, but with Godet he held to the doctrine of
Kenosis, and also combated the crass views of inspiration
of Gaussen. At the death of Gretillat, George Godet, a
son of Frederick Godet, was made professor of dogmatics
in the Free Church theological school, but he has left no
writings.
INDEX
Andrea, 48, 58.
Appenzell, 15, 74.
Arnaud, 125-27.
Association Oath, 192-97, 317-20.
Auberry, 52.
Astie, 490.
B
Baggesen, 446. 453-54, 480.
Barbeyrac, 192.
Barde, 469, 470
Basle, 57-68, 75, 146-52, 162, 249,
330-43, 410-24.
Mission Society, 341-43,
420-23.
" Alumneum, 423.
" Preacher's School, 423.
Baumler, 18.
Beccaria, 107-09.
Beck (Basle), 23, 146.
" Prof., 255.
Bergier, 188, 192-94.
Bern, 37-162, 258, 311-30, 444-56.
Bernoulli, 252, 253, 266.
Beza, 3, 45, 48-55.
Bible Translations, 28, 35, 154,
280, 367, 476.
Biederman, 435, 448, 450.
Blaarer, 57.
Blumhardt, 340, 342, 422.
Bodmer, 210.
Bodmer, 210.
Boerhaave, 264.
Bogerman, 20, 24.
Bonnet, 301-03.
Borromean Alliance, 73.
Bost, 383, 387, 462.
Brandenburg, Elector of, 169,
170.
Brandmuller, 60.
Breitinger, 18-31, 144.
Canon, 208, 210, 212.
Bridel, 478, 479.
Brunner, 435.
Bucanus, 55-56.
Bucer, 38.
Bula, 452.
Buisson, 489, 496.
Bullinger, 3, 8, 13, 15.
Buxdorf, 150-52.
Calvin, 43, 67.
Calvinism, Scholastic, 133-97.
Catechisms, 39, 157, 180, 279.
Cellerier, 354, 360, 369.
Chappuis, 479, 487, 489.
Cheneviere, 368, 374, 377, 393,
461, 466, 468.
Chouet, 161.
Christianity Society, 339.
Cocceianism, 134, 159, 315.
Collin, 12.
Cougnard, 469, 470.
Court, 196-97.
Creed-subscription, 196-97.
Crousaz, 192, 195.
Curtat, 473, 474, 482.
Cyril Lucar, 147.
INDEX
50i
D
Dachs, 311.
D'Alembart, 287.
D'Annoni, 330-36.
D'Aubigne, Theodore, Agrippa,
116-21.
Prof. Merle, 360,
365, 366, 463-64.
De Ruyter, 128-29.
Descombes, 478.
De Wette, 341, 411-13, 481, 482.
Diodati, 32.
Dort, Synod, 22, 34.
" Canons, 24, 35, 140.
Drummond, 375.
Dury, 148, 153.
Duval, 195.
Ebrard, 434-35.
Ecolampadius, 57.
Egli, 27.
Empeytaz, 350, 356, 357, 359,
363, 383, 462.
Engadine, 29.
Erastus, 64.
Erzberger, 60.
Erni, 185.
Escalade, 76-79.
Escher, Matilda, 440.
Euler, 213, 252-55.
Evangelical Society, Bern, 448.
Zurich, 439.
" " Geneva, 461.
Farel, 178, 494.
Finsler, 435.
Frommel, 470.
Froschouer, 29.
Fuessli, 207.
Antistes, 435, 480.
Galland, 452, 461.
Gaussen, 382, 384, 461, 464, 466.
Geneva, 3, 32, 76-79, 113-15, 159-
63, 168, 173-78, 278, 303, 353-
98, 400, 461-72.
Gentilis, 45.
Gernler, 149, 164, 165.
Gessner, 426.
Godet, 496, 498-99.
Goethe, 218, 219, 223-24.
Gouthier, 361, 375, 379.
Gretillat, 498.
Grisons, 84, 90-96.
Grynseus, 40.
Antistes, 49, 63, 64-66.
Gualther, 7-12.
Guder, 451, 455.
Guers, 353, 354, 356, 360, 361,
367, 375, 462.
Guldin, 311, 312, 315, 316, 318,
319.
Gustavus Adolphus, 81, 94.
H
Hadorn, 316.
Hagenbach, 413-15.
Haldane, 361, 362-70, 373, 376.
Haller, B., 37.
J., 42.
Albert von, 155, 262-77.
Heidegger, 139, 142, 144, 164-
66.
Heidelberg Catechism, 156-57,
246, 275, 315, 320, 345.
Held, 439.
Helvetic Consensus, 133-97.
Herzog, 487, 488.
Hess, 236-43.
Hospinian, 30.
Hottinger, J. H., 140-43.
J. J. 140.
502
INDEX
Huber, 46-55.
Hurliman-Landis, 428-30.
Huguenots. 112-25.
Hummel. 153, 164.
Hundeshagen, 446-47.
Hungarian Refugees, 127.
Hurter, 345, 457.
1
Immer, 449-51.
Irminger, 137.
James, 364.
Jenatsch, 84-85, 95.
Jezeler, 50.
K
Kesselring, 82-84.
Kilchmeyer, 42.
Klingler, 145, 185-87.
Klopstock, 213, 238.
Koch, 23.
Koenig, 314-18, 321.
Krudener, 349, 357. 363, 457.
Langhans, 451.
Lausanne, 55-56, 192-97, See
also Vaud.
Lavater, Lewis, 12-14, 19.
J. C, 207-36, 240, 242.
Lang, 437.
Lange, 434, 436.
Leeman, 16-17.
Leo Juda, 57, 70.
Liturgy, 175, 181, 281.
Llandaff, 23-24.
Locarno, 107-09.
Luthardt, 154.
Lutheranism, 3, 37-70, 51-63,
69-70.
Lutz, S., 320-29.
" J. L. S., 444.
M
Malan, 369, 371-74, 378-79, 383,
385, 396.
Marbach, 58, 62.
Martin, 470.
Maurer, 347.
Megander, 37-39.
Mestrezat, 161.
Meyer, 23, 146.
Antistes, 346.
Mission Romande, 491-93.
Monnard, 479, 481, 483.
Montbeliard, 47.
Morns. 160.
Moulinie, a54-55, 363-64, 369.
Muller, J., 166.
" J. J., 185.
J. G.. 346.
Musculus, 43.
Music, 13, 28, 59. 394.
Muslin, 46-55.
D., 226.
Myconius, 57.
N
Nac.eli, 429.
Naville, 421-22.
Neff, 389, 396-400.
Neuchatel, 102-04. 167, 178-183,
494-99.
Nicodemites, 109-11.
Nuschler, 188.
O
Oettli, 453.
Orelli, 416, 417.
Oschwald, 346.
Osterwald. 170, 178-83.
Ott, 26, 154.
Ott (Schaffhausen), 164.
P
Pestalozzi, 243-48.
INDEX
503
Peter Martyr, 15, 67.
Pictet, 170-78, 282.
Pietism, 305-400.
Piscator, 154.
Polanus, 05-67.
Polier, 192, 195.
Poschiavo, 89.
Premillenarianism, 315.
Presbyterian Church of United
States, 206, 284.
Prussia, 103-04. 174, 182. 244,
285, 300, 494-95.
Psalms. 179.
Pyt, 360, 367, 375, 379-80.
R
Rabaut, 124.
Rahn-Escher, 428, 430, 432.
Ramus, 68.
Rationalism, 195-304.
Rieu, 362.
Riggenbach, 416.
Romang, 444, 447.
Rosseau. 243, 247, 292-301.
Ritter, 37, 38, 42.
Rohan, 92-97.
Ruchat, 192.
Rudolph, 190, 312, 314-15, 317,
324.
Ruegg, 439.
Rutimeyer, 23.
Sarpi, 33.
Saumur-Calvinism, 135, 165.
Saurin, 167.
Schaffhausen. 69, 162, 344-52,
456-59.
Scherer, 466.
Schrenck, 454, 456.
Schneckenberger, 445, 447.
Schulthess, 424, 426.
Schulthess-Rechberg, 232, 439.
Schweizer. J. C, 144.
J. H., 167.
Alexander. 438.
Meta, 441-42.
Secretan, 479, 487, 491.
Simler, 11.
Spittler. 340, 342.
Spliess, 347, 350-52.
St. Chrischona, 423.
St. Gall, 100-01.
Stahelin, E., 417, 419.
R., 417, 420.
Stapfer, 258-62.
Steiger, 460.
Steinkopf, 340.
Strauss, 427-30.
Stucki, 17, 50.
Stumpf, 14-15.
Sulzer, 40, 57-63.
Szegedin, 67
Thomas, 470.
Thurgau, 82.
Toggenburg, 28, 100.
Tronchin, 161, 173, 179.
Turretin, B., 32.
J. A., 170, 173-76, 278.
F., 159, 161, 173.
U
Uj.mer, 69.
Ulrich, Antistes J. J., 138, 161.
Rev. J. J., 187.
Antistes J. R., 206.221.
Rev. J. C, 208, 210.
V
Valais, 79.
Valtellina. 84 -90.
Vaud, 55, 473-93, See also Lau-
sanne.
5<M
INDEX
Vernet, 278, 282-84, 285.
Vilmergen, 99-102.
Vinet, 474-75, 477, 480-86.
Vogelin, 440-41.
Voltaire, 268, 277-78, 281-92,
294, 300.
Von Rodt, 316, 317, 323, 456.
Von Wattenwyl, 317, 320, 453,
454.
Vulliemin 489.
W
Waldenses, 125-27.
Waser, 6.
Werdmuller, 99, 138-39.
Werenfels, 171, 256.
Wettstein, J. R., 97-98.
Prof. J. R., 164, 166,
249.
Prof. J. J., 249-52.
Wirz, 201.
Woerner, 439.
Wolleb, 146-47, 256.
Wotton, 33.
Wyss, 444, 447.
Young Men's Christian As-
sociation, 337-39.
Zeller, Antistes, 187.
E., 446-49.
Ziegler, 331, 344.
Zimmerman, 180, 202.
Zink, 139.
Zurich, 7-31, 137-45, 162, 185-
88, 201-48, 426-43.
Zwinger, 147-48.
Zwingli, 3, 15.
Zyro, 446.
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