Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva - James Aitken Wylie

they please, see a sort of madness in a republic,
without strength or riches, proclaiming religious
and moral liberty in the face of Italy, Spain, and
France, united for the triumph of Romish
despotism. But the God of the faithful ones who
hold fast the truth confounded human prevision, he
surrounded our town with that celestial protection,
against which the plots and the rage of the mighty
broke in vain. Thus Geneva, without arms and
without territory, accomplished her perilous
mission; and remaining faithful to the principle of
her nationality, the city of Calvin saw herself the
object of the Divine favor, and enjoyed a
prosperity, a respect, and an outward security
which the most powerful States in the world do not
often obtain."[2]
Now that we have come to the close of Calvin's
career, it is necessary that we should pause, and ask
wherein lay his distinctive characteristic as a
Reformer, and what was it that constituted the
specific difference between his Reformation and
that of Luther. The answer to this inquiry will help
us to understand the unity that belongs to the great
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