John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
and wearing green flowers as a badge. By February, 1538, they had increased so much, that at the
annual election of syndics they got four of their people elected to that office.
This resistance to religious and moral reform within Geneva, continued almost until Calvin’s death.
The resistance was all the more serious because the town council in Geneva, as in other Protestant
towns, exercised ultimate control over the church and the ministers,and even over all French refugees.
The main issue was the right of excommunication, which the ministers regarded as essential to their
authority but which the council refused to concede.
The council was reluctant to enforce the subscription requirement, as only a few citizens had
subscribed to their confession of faith. On 26 November, the two ministers hotly debated the council
over the issue. Furthermore, France was taking an interest in forming an alliance with Geneva and as
the two ministers were Frenchmen, councillors had begun to question their loyalty. Finally, a major
ecclesiastical-political quarrel developed when the city of Bern, Geneva's ally in the reformation of the
Swiss churches, proposed to introduce uniformity in the church ceremonies. The major contention
between Lutherans and the Calvinists were four, viz., to baptise at the font, to use unleavened bread
in our Lord's Supper, and to observe the four festivals. .
The council ordered Calvin and Farel to use unleavened bread for the Easter Eucharist which was to
fall immediately within a few days. In protest, they refused to administer communion during the
Easter service. This caused a riot during the service and the next day, the council told Farel and
Calvin to leave Geneva. Thus the uncompromising attitudes of Calvin and Farel finally resulted in their
expulsion from Geneva in May 1538. They were given three days to leave Geneva.
Farell and Calvin received the news with great composure. “Very well,” said Calvin, “it is better to
serve God than man. If we had sought to please men, we should have been badly rewarded, but we
serve a higher Master, who will not withhold from us his reward.” Calvin even rejoiced at the result
more than seemed proper.
The people celebrated the downfall of the clerical régime with public rejoicings. The decrees of the
synod of Lausanne were published by sound of trumpets. The baptismal fonts were re-erected, and
the communion administered on the following Sunday with unleavened bread.
The synod of Zurich
The synod of Zurich, which had been fixed for the 29th of April, was now on the point of assembling,
and thither Calvin and Farel bent their steps. The proper object of this meeting was to effect a union
with Luther. It was attended by the deputies of the Reformed cantons of Switzerland.
Calvin had drawn up in Latin, in fourteen heads, as the basis on which he and Farel were willing to
accommodate matters. In this paper the disputed points were conceded, but with some trifling
modifications.
In this paper the disputed points were conceded, but with some trifling modifications, as will be seen
from the following account of the substance of it:
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