Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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CHAPTER 17.
CALVIN ABROAD.
CALVIN’S Correspondence in his Opera, vols. X.–XX.—HENRY,
III. 395–549 (Calvin’s Wirksamkeit nach aussen).—STÄHELIN, I.
505–588; II. 5 sqq.
§ 159. CALVIN’S CATHOLICITY OF SPIRIT.
Calvin was a Frenchman by birth and education, a Swiss by adoption and
life-work, a cosmopolitan in spirit and aim.
The Church of God was his home, and that Church knows no boundaries
of nationality and language. The world was his parish. Having left the
papacy, he still remained a Catholic in the best sense of that word, and
prayed and labored for the unity of all believers. Like his friend
Melanchthon, he deeply deplored the divisions of Protestantism. To heal
them he was willing to cross ten oceans. Thus he wrote, in reply to
Archbishop Cranmer, who had invited him (March 20, 1552), with
Melanchthon and Bullinger, to a meeting in Lambeth Palace for the
purpose of drawing up a consensus creed for the Reformed Churches. f1222
After expressing his zeal for the Church universal, he continues (Oct. 14,
1552):—
“I wish, indeed, it could be brought about that men of learning and
authority from the different churches should meet somewhere, and
after thoroughly discussing the different articles of faith, should, by
a unanimous decision, deliver down to posterity some certain rule
of doctrine. But amongst the chief evils of the age must be
reckoned the marked division between the different churches,
insomuch that human society can hardly be said to be established
among us, much less a holy communion of the members of Christ,
which, though all profess it, few indeed really observe with
sincerity. But if the clergy are more lukewarm than they should be,
the fault lies chiefly with their sovereigns, who are either so
involved in their secular affairs, as to neglect altogether the welfare