Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva - James Aitken Wylie

has provided for man fallen and helpless. It
proclaims Christ the one channel of all blessing;
the Spirit, the one Author of all good works; faith,
"the entrance to all these riches;" and then goes on
to speak of the apparatus set up for offering
redemption to men, the Sacraments and ministers.
Then follow articles on the Church,
"comprehending the whole body of true believers;"
on excommunication, or the exclusion from the
Church of all manifestly unholy and vicious
persons, till they shall have repented; and, in fine,
on magistracy, "an ordinance of God," and to be
respected "in all ordinances that do not contravene
the commandments of God." On the 10th of
November, 1536, this Confession was received and
approved of by the Council of Two Hundred.[9]
To the half-Protestantised citizens of Geneva
the sting of this document was in the end of it --
ex-communication. The other articles had simply to
be professed, this one was heavier than them all,
inasmuch as it had to be borne. What did this
power import? Was the Protestant
excommunication but the Papal anathema under
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