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Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva - James Aitken Wylie

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H<strong>at</strong>ing the moral restraints which the new<br />

Constitution imposed upon them, they raised the<br />

cry th<strong>at</strong> the ancient charters had been subverted,<br />

<strong>and</strong> th<strong>at</strong> liberty was in danger. The other party<br />

joined in this cry, but under it they medit<strong>at</strong>ed far<br />

deeper designs than their confeder<strong>at</strong>es. Their aim<br />

was to root out the belief <strong>of</strong> a God, <strong>and</strong> so pull<br />

down all the fences <strong>of</strong> order, <strong>and</strong> dissolve all the<br />

oblig<strong>at</strong>ions <strong>of</strong> morality. Both united against Calvin.<br />

In Wittemberg, the b<strong>at</strong>tle <strong>of</strong> <strong>Protestantism</strong> had been<br />

against Romanism; in <strong>Geneva</strong>, it was against<br />

Romanism <strong>and</strong> pantheism combined. Two hosts<br />

were now in arms, <strong>and</strong> their victory would have<br />

been equally f<strong>at</strong>al to Rome <strong>and</strong> to <strong>Geneva</strong>. In fact,<br />

wh<strong>at</strong> we behold <strong>at</strong> this crisis is an uprising <strong>of</strong> old<br />

paganism. Its Protean vices, the austere <strong>and</strong> the<br />

gay, <strong>and</strong> its multiform creeds, the superstitious <strong>and</strong><br />

the pantheistic, are marshalled in one mighty army<br />

to overwhelm the Gospel, <strong>and</strong> devast<strong>at</strong>e the<br />

kingdoms <strong>of</strong> Europe. <strong>Geneva</strong> must be the<br />

Thermopylae <strong>of</strong> Christendom.<br />

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