IREN1C MOVEMENTS 109 



possible union. Calixtus did not at first 

 advocate a formal union. A conference for 

 Christian union was appointed at Thorn 

 in 1645, but nothing came of it except as 

 a wise and pacific example. The strict 

 Lutherans opposed him with intense bitter- 

 ness. He was called by some a Crypto- 

 Calvinist, by others a secret Papist. It is 

 pathetic to read how the well-meant efforts 

 of the Helmstadt peacemaker were frus- 

 trated and denounced by the vehement 

 controversialists of that age. Walch called 

 him Calixtus Cal(vino m)ixtus, and iden- 

 tified him with the number of the beast in 

 the Apocalypse. It was a militant age, and 

 the peacemaker's role was not popular. 1 



The theological school of Frankfort-on- 

 the-Oder was a centre of a peace move- 

 ment. There it was that Bergius and 

 Francus labored for a tolerant Calvinism, 

 and spoke many a noble word for peace in 

 the former half of the seventeenth century. 

 There also Pelargus seconded their efforts, 

 and was a powerful irenic influence. It 



i Henke, Georg Calixtus und seine Zeit, Halle, 1853, 

 and art. in Herzog-Plitt ; Doweling, Life and Correspond- 

 ence of G. Calixtus, Lond., 1863; Gieseler, iv. 584 ff. 

 (Smith) ; art. in McClintock and Strong, ii. 30 ; Hallam, 

 Lit. of Europe, ii. 401-404, and notes. 



