832 



REFORMED CHURCH. 



the churches ; even vocal music and the organ 

 were proscribed. The confederacy, January 26, 

 15. '4, at the diet of Lucerne, threatened to exclude 

 Zurich from the council ; but she stood firm, and 

 the town of Mtihlhausen soon declared in favour of 

 the new doctrines. Capito (Koflin) introduced the 

 reformation into Basle ; and, after 1523, (Ecolain- 

 padius continued his work. In 1524, the. first 

 efforts for a reformation were made at Schaff- 

 hausen. From 1525, Berne also was more inclined 

 to the same, and even the zealous Catholic cantons 

 began to feel their need of it. At length, a reli- 

 gious disputation took place in 1526. Here (Eco- 

 lampadius maintained the contest against a large 

 number of vehement Catholics, among whom John 

 Eck was in. st prominent. Zuinglius did not ap- 

 pear, and the papal majority issued against him a 

 .sentence of excommunication ; but they could not 

 obstruct his influence. Berne resolved, in 1528, 

 upon another disputation, though against the will 

 tt all the other cantons and the emperor himself. 

 But nothing was settled ; and the only consequence 

 was, that the people of Berne were more decided 

 in favour of the reformation. It now spread more 

 and more, notwithstanding all the resistance of the 

 Catholic cantons Schweitz, Uri, Unterwalden, 

 Zug, and Lucerne. A large proportion of the con- 

 federates hitd already become devoted to the Pro- 

 testant doctrines, when these Catholic cantons, 

 having formed an alliance, for the defence of their 

 opinions, with king Ferdinand (brother of the 

 emperor Charles V.) prepared to appeal to arms. 

 The Catholics renounced all connexion with the 

 Protestants, and in October, 1531, Zurich, aban- 

 doned by the rest of its party, was forced to appear 

 on the field alone. October 11, her soldiers were 

 defeated at Cappel. Zuinglius himself, who led 

 his adherents, fell in the battle. But the bloody 

 defeat did not check the progress of his opinions. 

 Zuinglius had made known his doctrine, that the 

 bread and wine, in the Lord's supper, are mere 

 symbols of the body and blood of Christ, in a letter 

 published, much against his will, November 16, 

 1524, and had first declared them publicly, in 

 152G, in his Commentary on true and false Reli- 

 gion (Commentarius de vera et falsa Religione), 

 and afterwards in many controversies with Luther 

 and others. In fact, his religious views, in general, 

 were characterized by a reference to reason. By 

 his restless spirit of inquiry, his peculiar sagacity, 

 and moving eloquence, he succeeded in raising his 

 own notions to a dogmatical authority in the Swiss 

 churches. Out of Switzerland, too, his system 

 found much favour, and in several countries 

 became the prevailing one. The churches, how- 

 ever, which inclined to his doctrines, were early 

 divided in various ways, and a perfect union was 

 never effected. Zuinglius himself lived too short a 

 time to bring about a complete organization of the 

 Swiss churches. (Ecolampadius, who was the pillar 

 of the new church after him, was soon removed by 

 death. But even during his life, Zuinglius never 

 had that decisive authority among his adherents, 

 which Luther possessed among the German Protes 

 tants, and which led to a greater unity among them. 

 The other Swiss reformers did not stand in the 

 same relation to Zuinglius as the German reformers 

 did to Luther ; they acted more independently, 

 and hence not, at first, in perfect harmony, in the 

 work of the reformation. But there soon arose a 

 man in the Swiss church, who acquired most impor- 

 tant authority, and even gained over many Swiss 

 and French Protestants to the opinions in which he 

 differed from Zuinglius. This man was John Cal- 

 vin, who, flying from France, found an asylum in 



Geneva, and soon acquired the greatest influence 

 In his doctrine concerning the Lord's supper, lie 

 differed somewhat from Zuinglius. But the doc- 

 trines of election and predestination lie made the. 

 distinguishing characteristics of his system, and his 

 opinions on these subjects excited opposition, and 

 awakened new dissensions in the Reformed churches. 

 Before his death, the ecclesiastical relations of 

 Switzerland were more fully settled, and Glarus, 

 Appenzell, Biel, the Grisons, and Neuberg, became 

 attached to the Reformed party. This party, how- 

 ever, never formed a proper church with a uniform 

 creed. In 1530, Zuinglius had made known his 

 own creed and the creed of his adherents to the diet 

 of Augsburg, where the German Protestants also 

 set forth their profession of faith. But this was 

 not the universal creed of the Reformed party, and 

 did not secure their recognition as a church by the 

 secular authorities. The Swiss, however, to secure, 

 the aid of the Protestants in Germany against the 

 Catholics, sought a reconciliation with the Luth- 

 erans; but the Wittenberg Concord, so called (see 

 Sacrament), failed of its object. Afterwards, in 

 1549, in the Consensus Ttguriens, the controversy 

 between the people of Zurich and the Calvinists of 

 Geneva was composed ; but even then, there was 

 no true union of doctrine. At length, in the peace 

 of Westphalia, in 1648, the Swiss were recognised 

 as adherents of the Augsburg confession and a 

 religious party. But they did not adopt the Augs- 

 burg confession unconditionally, or acknowledge 

 it as their symbolical book. At length, after 

 tedious contests, John Henry Heidegger, a divine 

 of Zurich, in 1671, drew up the Formula Consensus 

 Helvetici, in twenty-six articles, with particular 

 reference to the existing disputes among the Re- 

 formed theologians. This new form of concord, 

 after 1675, was gradually adopted by the Reformed 

 Swiss cantons, but by several of them only nomi- 

 nally, and a perfect concord could never be ef- 

 fected in Switzerland. Out of Switzerland, the 

 Reformed party were decidedly opposed to it, and 

 thus new dissensions were kindled. In the midst 

 of the severest contests, the reformation had spread 

 through the Netherlands, where the majority of the 

 Protestant party adhered to the doctrines of Luther ; 

 but the Netherlandish confession of 1551, inclined 

 to the Swiss creed, and it was afterwards greatly 

 altered. Maurice, prince of Orange, whom the 

 Netherlands termed the preserver of their civil 

 liberty, was an advocate of the latter. Soon, 

 however, a violent controversy was kindled here 

 among its adherents, when Jac. Arminius attempted 

 to soften the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, 

 and Francis Gomarus, his colleague in Leyden 

 (especially after 1604), violently opposed him. 

 Excellent men, such as Hugo Grotius and others, 

 agreed with Arminius ; and after his death, Simon 

 Kpiscopius (bishop) defended his opinions. But 

 the contest grew more and more violent ; for 

 political motives became interwoven with religion. 

 The Arminians now called Remonstrants, from 

 their Remonstrantia, or confession, transmitted, in 

 1610, to the states of Holland were cruelly perse- 

 cuted by the Gomarists, or Contra-remonstrants, 

 and the religious conferences at the Hague and 

 Delft led to no reconciliation. At length, in 1618, 

 the celebrated synod of Dort was convened, and, 

 after protracted deliberations, rejected the doctrines 

 of the Remonstrants, in May, 1619, and confirmed 

 the severe, but somewhat mitigated doctrine of pre- 

 destination. But foreign theologians would not 

 concur unconditionally in the decrees of the synod ; 

 the Remonstrants (q. v.) maintained their standing 

 as a distinct party, and published, in 1621, a dis- 



