This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 Excerpt: ...independence was inherited from the Catholic Church which had often fought to maintain it. Luther and Melanchthon consented to the subjugation of the church to the civil power; and in England the monarch was at the head of the Church as well as the State. Calvin modified the Catholic idea by giving to the laity a voice ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 Excerpt: ...independence was inherited from the Catholic Church which had often fought to maintain it. Luther and Melanchthon consented to the subjugation of the church to the civil power; and in England the monarch was at the head of the Church as well as the State. Calvin modified the Catholic idea by giving to the laity a voice in the government of the church. The secular power was to enforce the laws and doctrines of the church. In practice the government of the Genevan Church was vested in the Consistory which was made up of six ministers and twelve lay elders; The lay members of this powerful court were all nominated by the ministers. Two of them were chosen from the General Assembly, and ten from the Council of Two Hundred. For their services they were paid two "sols" a day derived from the fines which they imposed. According to law one of the syndics should have presided at the meetings, which were held every Thursday, but Calvin, although it would seem that he did not actually usurp the office of president, certainly exercised the preponderating influence until the end of his life. It was the establishment of this institution that Calvin had made the chief condition of his return to Geneva. It had jurisdiction over the conduct of the morals and the belief of the citizens of the town. It summoned inhabitants of every age and rank to appear before it, and its procedure was incredibly minute. It was empowered to pronounce the extreme ecclesiastical penalty of excommunication. In many instances it handed the accused persons over to the civil authorities for punishment by fine, imprisonment, torture, or death. Between 1542 and 1546 fiftyeight persons were sentenced to death, and seventy-six to exile. "From his cradle to his grave the Genevese citizen...
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