Chapter 4 Chapter 2 "Canons"

Chapter 2 "Canons" When this emaciated, harsh man entered the Cornavin Gate, a most important and unprecedented experiment began.The state is to be transformed into a rigid institution.Innumerable hearts, people with such and such feelings and thoughts, are to be brought into an all-encompassing and unique system.This was the first attempt in Europe: to impose uniform obedience on a people in the name of an idea.Calvin began methodically to realize his plan: to transform Geneva into the first kingdom of God on earth.It is a commune free from pollution, corruption, unrest, depravity or vice; Geneva is to become the new Jerusalem, a center from which the salvation of the world radiates.This one thought took root in Calvin's life, and he dedicated his whole life to it.This steely theoretician treated his sublime utopia with the most serious and sacred attitude.During the quarter-century of his spiritual dictatorship, Calvin never doubted that he was doing great good to his followers when he asked them to live "righteously," and he meant that Said, they should live according to the will and direction of God.

At first glance, this seems simple enough.But when I think about it carefully, doubts emerge.How is the will of God known?Where can God's instructions be found?Calvin replied that it was in the Gospels.And only there, in the eternal Bible.This is the will and will of the living, immortal God.These classics have not been preserved for us due to accidents.God expressly put into writing what was unwritten.In this way, the precepts of God are clear and easy to understand, and are remembered by people. The gospel is prior to the church and higher than the church, and all truths are all-encompassing.Therefore, in a truly Christian country, the will of God is the embodiment of the supreme morality, faith, law and life. As a book, the Bible embodies all wisdom, all justice, and all truth.For Calvin, the Bible is the beginning, the beginning and the end.All decisions on all things must be based on the contents of the Bible.

In this way, the written will of God becomes the supreme authority for earthly conduct.It seems that Calvin was simply repeating the original and well-known demands of the Reformation, but in fact he took a big step beyond the scope of the Reformation, and completely broke out of the original circle of thought.For the Reformation began as a movement to secure peace in spiritual and religious matters.It intends to bring the Gospel to everyone without limitation.It is personal belief, not Christ that was shaped by the Pope and the CCC.This "Christian liberty" was initiated by Luther, and it, along with every other form of spiritual freedom, was ruthlessly wrested from the Lutheran followers by Calvin.For Calvin, God's will was absolutely clear.He therefore decreed that no one but himself be allowed to expound the will of God or to interpret the divine injunctions.As the pillars support the roof of a church, so the words of the Bible must support the church and keep it forever stable.The will of God ceased to function as the "essence of the universal law of the world," as the eternally creative and reforming truth, but only as the truth which expounded once and for all the Christian law of Geneva.

In this way, Calvin created a Christian Orthodoxy to replace Roman Catholicism.It is quite fair to say that this new type of dogmatic dictatorship has been stamped with the stamp of the biblical ruling group.From then on a book became the god and judge of Geneva.God is the lawgiver, and God's missionaries are the exclusive authority to expound that divine law.In a sense, Moses was the judge of heaven, a judge over kings and people; he was armed with power, against which it was a crime.Nothing is valid except the interpretation given by the Inquisition.The basis of Geneva legislation is the Inquisition rather than the Municipal Council.Only they can adjudicate what is permitted and what is prohibited.Whoever dares to challenge their rule is woe to him; whoever denies the legitimacy of the priestly dictatorship is against God.Commentary on the Bible will immediately pay the price in blood.The rule of force is caused by the movement for freedom, and the opposition to free thought is often more severe than the opposition to heresy.Those who rose to power through revolution became the most ignorant and intolerant opponents of further reforms.

Van dictators always start out by trying to realize an ideal.But the ideal always takes form and color from those who try to realize it.Calvin's dogma was a creation of the mind, and so inevitably resembled its creator in appearance.Anyone who had only looked at Calvin's face could have foreseen that this doctrine would be more harsh, perverse, and tyrannical than it had previously been interpreted.Calvin's face resembles limestone, a lonely, remote, rocky landscape.Sentiment may be sacred, but there is nothing human about it.Anything that makes our life rich, happy, beautiful, warm, sensual (to use the good side of that overused word) is in this unkind, unsociable, untimely ascetic His face is invisible.Calvin's face is long and oval, rough and ugly, multi-edged, gloomy and disharmonious.The forehead was narrow and serious, and under it were deep-set eyes that shone like burning coals.A hawk nose protrudes imperiously from the middle of the sunken cheeks; thin lips form a transverse cleft in the face, a mouth that rarely smiles.There was no blood on dull, pale skin.This face looked so pale and sickly, as if the blood on the cheeks had been sucked by vampire bats because of the fever.Only under anger, in a split second, does it become flushed.The prophet's beard (all Calvinists and priests imitated their master's pattern as much as possible) added in vain to the irascible countenance an appearance of manliness.The thinning hairs were as lifeless as the skin to which they were attached.They are not like the beards of Moses in ancient paintings, drooping majestically, but like sparse and lifeless shrubs growing on barren soil.

What a dark and unhappy, lonely and tense face!It's hard to believe that anyone would want to hang a portrait of this greedy and instructive fanatic on a den wall.If you felt these watchful, spying eyes on you as you went about your day-to-day operations, you would gasp.No personal pleasure can stand against it.Zebarrel most successfully portrays Calvin in the same style as the Spanish Zealots: he represents the ascetic and the hermit.In a dark background, people live in caves away from the world, all looking at the Bible forever, while carrying other tools of spiritual life, skulls and crosses of dead people.And then into that depressing, dark and unapproachable loneliness.There is an inaccessible side of human beings, and Calvin's life was guarded by this side.Since his teenage years, he has worn black clothes.The priest's square hat is also black and covers the forehead. It is worn between the monk's turban and the soldier's helmet.The priest's flowing robe is black and reaches as long as his boots.A judge wears an official uniform, and his task is to constantly punish people; a doctor wears a robe, and he has to always try to cure the sick and save the sick.Black, always black, always serious, dead and grim.Calvin never appeared in any attire other than the emblematic color of this office.Because he wishes to be intimidating, he is a representation of God's servant in the robe of duty.He does not wish to be loved as a man and a brother.

However, if he was as hard on the world as he was, he was no less hard on himself.He abides by the strictest canons.For the sake of the soul, he allows only the absolute minimum of food and rest to his body.I sleep only three hours at night, at most four hours; I only eat one frugal meal a day, which is eaten quickly, and there is a book open in front of the dining table.He took no walks, took no amusements of any kind, sought no diversion, and especially shunned those things which he might have a real appreciation for.He worked, thought, wrote, toiled and fought, devoted himself eminently to religion, and never had an hour of private life.

Calvin never knew the enjoyment of youth.For example, he was born like a grown-up.His other main character is that he is completely disinterested in eating and drinking, and carnality seriously threatens his teachings.Other reformers believed and declared that man could graciously receive God's gifts and sincerely serve divine purposes.They are basically healthy and normal, and they enjoy being healthy and powerful.Zwingeri left an illegitimate child in his first parish.Luther once said with a laugh: "If the wife doesn't want it, the girl wants it"—in a word, they were men, happy to drink and laugh.In contrast, Calvin completely restrained the erotic elements of his instincts, or let them appear only in their most hidden forms.With fanatical reason, he has been living in the will of God and the spiritual world.For him, truth is only truth when it is logical, clear, and consistent.Calvin only knew and tolerated discipline, and abhorred no discipline.His reason was almost obstinate, and he never wanted any intoxicating pleasure, such as: wine, women, art, or God-given gifts for earthly pleasures.Only once in his life did he act in the tradition of the Bible.He proposed, not by lust but by conviction—a married man might work better.Instead of considering the choice himself, he entrusts his friends to find a suitable spouse for him.As a result, this murderous enemy of lust narrowly misses the point of getting engaged to a flirtatious woman.Finally, disillusioned, he married a widow whom he had rebaptized.But fate denied him the qualification to enjoy happiness.The only son his wife bore for him did not survive and died within a few days of giving birth.Shortly thereafter, his wife died and he became a widower.He was not yet thirty-six at the time.This man with twenty years of vigor is in his prime. He has to deal with marriage affairs and contact women, but he has never approached other women.He gave his all to religion, priests, and canons.

However, a person's physical needs are no less than his ideological needs, and whoever ignores them will suffer cruel revenge.Every organ of our species has an instinctive need to function fully from its natural energy.Every moment, the blood needs to circulate more freely; the heart needs to beat harder; the lungs need to expand; the muscles need to tense themselves; the semen needs to find its natural destination.If someone wants to use his reason to suppress the desire for continuous life impulses, suppress them, and not satisfy them, sooner or later he will face the rebellion of his own organs.Calvin's body received a terrible reckoning for the canon.Although the ascetic tries to pretend or explain to himself that desire does not exist, the nerves continually torment the tyrant, emphatically emphasizing that desire does exist.Among the masters of the spiritual life, there are probably few who suffered more from the rebellion of the flesh than Calvin.Minor illnesses intensified one after another.In almost every one of Calvin's personal letters a mischievous surprise of some inexplicable disease can be detected.Now he mentioned migraines, which kept him bedridden for days; Bladder disease, he had to see a doctor constantly.His body was so fragile that it seemed every part would give way under the pressure and become a center of rebellion.Calvin once moaned: "My health seems to be a long death."

But this is a man whose motto is: "From the depths of despair, pull your spirits forward." He refuses to let his illness take away every second of his working time.This turbulent body often needs to be subdued from scratch with his domineering spirit.If the fever prevented him from ambling to the pulpit, he would have his sermon carried to the church on a stretcher; and when he could not attend a meeting of the city council, he would summon the members to a meeting in his home.If bedridden, teeth chatter.It took four or five hot quilts to warm up his poor trembling body, and he would still leave two or three secretaries in the room and take turns dictating to them.If he and a friend spent the day in the suburbs for a change of air, his assistant drove with him.And before this group of people reached their destination, the messengers in the car had already been rushing back and forth between the city and the countryside on standby.Every time he recovered from a serious illness, he would immediately pick up his pen and resume his tiring main work.

We cannot think of Calvin as inactive.He is a devil with extraordinary energy, and he works hard every day.Long before dawn, while the others were asleep, his study was lit; after midnight, when everyone in Geneva was at rest, his lamp would remain lit for a few hours.To those who looked up at his window from sunset to sunrise, it seemed as if the solitary light was always burning.His workload is so unbelievable that we have to think he has four or five brains to work on at once.It is no exaggeration to say that this person who was confirmed to be seriously ill had indeed engaged in four or five different positions.His principal business, missionary at St. Pierre, was but one of many.This part-time benefactor, stimulated by hysterical power mania, gradually acquired various positions.Though the sermons he delivered in the above-mentioned church filled the bookshelves in printed volumes; and though the scribes found themselves spending all their time copying documents, they copied only a small portion of the collected Calvinistic writings.Calvin, as chief justice of the Inquisition, never reached a decision without his manipulation; this "priest of the Bible" as editor of innumerable theological and polemic treatises, as translator of the Bible, as founder of universities and founder of the Seminary, as long-term advisor to the Municipal Council, as political officer of the General Staff of the Wars of Religion, as supreme diplomat and organizer of the Protestant Church, directing and carrying out all the other pastoral affairs of his theological kingdom.He managed the reports of missionaries sent from France, Scotland, England, and Holland, and he directed foreign propaganda.Through printers and distributors he established a secret agency, extending his reach all over the world.He held discussions with other Protestant leaders and negotiated with princes and diplomats.There are foreign visitors almost every day.All the students, all the future theologians, came to learn and pay homage to Calvin as they passed through Geneva.His home was like a post office, a source of information on political and private matters.He once wrote, not without emotion, to a friend that he could not recall, during his official duties, ever having devoted himself to his work for two hours without interruption. Every day, through his trusted agents, a steady stream of despatches poured in from as far afield as Hungary and Poland, and he had to offer his personal advice to countless people who asked for help.Sometimes it was an exile who asked to settle in Geneva and to house his family.Calvin launched a fund-raising campaign to ensure the welcome and support of his fellow denominations.Sometimes some people get married; sometimes others get divorced.Both roads lead to Calvin.For in Geneva no spiritual event could take place without his approval.If only tyrannical greed were confined within its normal bounds, to matters of the heart!However, Calvin believed that his power was unlimited. As the executor of theocracy, he believed that everything in the world must be subordinate to God and the Spirit.He stretched out his imperious hand cruelly in every affair of country and city.Not a day passes in the minutes of the city council that does not read: "It is best to consult with Master Calvin about this matter." considered a miracle.Such a spiritual asceticism entails innumerable dangers.Whoever renounces all personal gratification, even voluntarily, will necessarily impose the renunciation as a law, and will try to use force to bring down that which is natural to him but unnatural to others. imposed on others.Taking Robespierre as an example, we can see that the ascetic is often the most dangerous kind of tyrant.A man who does not share fully and cheerfully the joys of life of his fellows is bound to be intolerant of them. Canon and apathetic severity are the foundations of Calvin's dogma.In Calvin's view, man has no right to lift his head and look frankly in all directions, no right to move forward fearlessly in the world.He must constantly remain in the shadow of "the fear of God," abjectly bowing to hopeless and inappropriate convictions.From the outset, Calvin's Puritan morality led him to regard pleasure and unbridled enjoyment as "evil."Everything that adorns and promotes our earthly continuation, everything that relieves the tension of the mind, promotes liberation, and lightens our burdens, is judged by the Code of Calvin as vanity, futility, and superfluity.What is more, these harsh arbitrarinesses were imposed on the arts, even those in the religious sphere, which for centuries had been closely associated with mysticism and ritual.Calvin also enforced the practicality of his own system of thought.Everything that can interest the senses, or make the feelings easy to conform and waver, is mercilessly brushed aside, without exception.Because a true believer cannot approach the throne of God with an artist's easy-to-impress soul.They will be dazzled by the scent of incense, fooled by the sound of music, and led astray by the beauty of sacred pictures and statues. Truth is truth only when it is fully definite.The will of God is not the will of God unless it is absolutely clear.Sweep all idols!Throw the holy icons out of the churches: clear the multicolored vestments; liberate the holy scriptures from the missals and gilded shrines.God needs no extravagance to sweep away feasts that numb the minds of the extravagant pleasure-seekers.No music, no loud organ playing was allowed during the sacred ceremonies.Even the church bells were silent in Geneva.For the true believer needs no metallic clang to remind him of his duty.Piety never rests on things external to the mind, on sacrifices and offerings, but only on inner obedience.Eliminate the elaborate liturgy of churches, remove religious allegorical paintings and religious ceremonies, cease jubilation and festivals.In one fell swoop Calvin wiped out all festivals from the calendar.The religious services of Easter and Christmas, which the early Christians had begun in the crypts of Rome, were also abolished in Geneva.Calvin's God wants no ritual, not even love, but only awe. It is presumptuous for man to try to draw near to God by fascination or invigoration, instead of serving him from afar in eternal worship.Here comes the profound significance of Calvinists' revaluation of value.Calvin wished to elevate God as high as possible above the world, to throw the world into the abyss, to degrade the concept of man by giving the concept of God a supreme dignity.The cynical reformer treats humanity as a wayward mob, a ragtag gang of criminals.He had gazed with terror and loathing on the ever-growing tide of earthly pleasures, of which there are a thousand sources, and which life bestows on those who are less ascetic.Calvin repeatedly lamented how inscrutable God's decisions are, how imperfect and immoral he has created man, who are constantly inclined to depravity and sin: they cannot discern the divine, and they are eager to plunge again into the abyss of sin.Calvin was filled with disgust as he gazed at his fellow church brethren.Never has a great founder of a religion described man in such despicable terms: "an untamable, cruel beast" or, worse, "a heap of rubbish."He said in the book "Principles", "When we only look at a person from the aspect of talent, we will find that he is useless from head to toe. If there is any praiseworthy in him, it is also a gift from God... …all our justice is unjust; our worship is unclean; our glory is shameful. Even the best that comes out of us is often infected by unclean flesh and falls into Evil, well mixed with dirt." It is obvious that whoever, from a philosophical point of view, regards human beings as fragments of God's unfinished and half-finished handicraft, will never be willing to admit, as the theologians and statesmen do, that God can give such.Man with a small amount of freedom and independence.Almighty God must ruthlessly deprive these corrupt and greedy people of their right to self-determination. "Their souls are capable of nothing but evil, if we allow them to work their wiles." We must stop once and for all the presumptuous notion of the Adamic offspring, who think they have a right to develop, according to their own individuality, the sameness with God, relationship with our world.The more severely we suppress that insolence, the more we restrain men into obedience, the better for them.There is no freedom, no free will, because man can only abuse his privileges.They must be compelled to be submissive before the greatness of God.We must make them sober; we must frighten them; we must prevent their arrogance until they accept the pious and obedient position of Guizhou head without resistance, until they integrate their own personalities into the Guizhou head group.In this way, the specificity of individuality disappears. To achieve this brutal suppression of individuality, this destructive dispossession of individual ownership to the benefit of the collective, Calvin had his own method.That is the famous "canon" of religion, the imposition of draconian controls on human impulses and desires that no one has hitherto devised.From the beginning of his dictatorship, the brilliant organizer grazed his flock—his congregation—in a barbed wire fence of barbed regulations and prohibitions (the so-called "statutes").At the same time, he created a special department to oversee the work of terrorist ethics.The organization we have just spoken of is called the Inquisition, and its purpose is quite ambiguous.For example, overseeing religious groups "so that God may be honored in all purity."On the face of it, the influence of this moral censor is limited to religious life.but.Since then, the minimum independent activities have been controlled by the authorities because of the close connection between the earthly world and the philosophy of Calvin's totalitarian concept of the state.The patrols of the Inquisition, (the "Romans") apparently monitored the private life of every Genevan.They must not relax their monitoring, and hope that what they pay attention to is "not only speeches, but also opinions and thoughts." From the enactment of such extensive controls over private life, it is difficult to say that there is any private life left in Geneva.Calvin leapfrogged the Catholic Inquisition.The latter always relied on small reports and informers from various sources, and later sent some henchmen and spies.But in Geneva, according to Calvin's religious philosophy, human nature is (and is eternally) inclined toward evil rather than good.So someone can be suspected a priori of being a criminal, and everyone must tolerate supervision.After Calvin's return to Geneva, the doors of all the houses seemed to be thrown open suddenly.The walls seemed to have turned into transparent glass.At any moment, every day and every night, there may be a knock on the door, and a large number of "religious police" will announce a "visit" without resistance from citizens.No matter rich or poor, high or low, they have to submit to interrogation by these professional "morality police" once a month.For hours on end (for the "statute clause" declares that this examination must be done in a leisurely manner), the gray-haired, respected, tried and hitherto reliable must pass the examination like a schoolboy, Such as whether they remembered the prayer, or why they did not attend a sermon given by Master Calvin.After such interrogation and enlightenment, the "interview" is still not over.The members of Weidao's "Sub-resistance Committee" have to intervene in everything.They touch the women's clothes to see if their skirts are too long or too short, if they have excess trim or dangerous slits.The police carefully check the hairstyle so that it is not too high, they count the number of rings on the fingers of the victim; they look at the number of pairs of shoes in the cabinet.They check from the bedroom to the kitchen table to find out if the meal exceeds the prescribed soup or dish, if there are hidden sweets and fruit purees.The pious police then proceeded to inspect the rest of the room.He peeped at the shelves, wishing for a book that had not been published by the Inquisition.He looked in the drawers, hoping to find a picture of a saint, or a rosary.Servants were questioned about the actions of their masters, and children were questioned about what their parents had done. When the minions of this Calvinist dictator hit the streets, he kept pricking up his ears to see if anyone was singing a worldly song, or playing music, or indulging in diabolical and wicked pleasures.Henceforth in Geneva, the authorities have been on the hunt for anything that smacks of pleasure, for "any obscenity."If a free citizen is caught red-handed, who refreshes himself with a glass of wine in a tavern after work, woe to him; That's bad luck.The hunt continued day after day, and the spies were so exhausted that they could not rest even on the Sabbath.They will go from house to house again and again, because some lazy man will lie in bed and not listen to the sermons of Master Calvin.In church, informers keep an eye out for movement, ready to scold those who arrive late or leave the "House of God" early.These official guardians of morality are tirelessly traveling around.At night, they peeped among the bushes by the Rhone for a convict couple embracing; at hotels they checked beds and thoroughly searched the luggage of travelers.Every letter entering or leaving the city had to be opened and checked.The elaborate security of the Inquisition extended far beyond the city walls.In stage coaches, in public rowboats, in boats crossing the lake to foreign markets, and in the inns outside the town, spies were everywhere.A citizen of Geneva who visited Lyon or Paris said anything dissatisfied, and it would be reported without any mistakes. However, what is even more intolerable is that countless unofficial spies, in the capacity of volunteers, do the same with those legally appointed. people who work together.Once a country begins to reign in terror, the poisonous weeds of voluntary informers sprout like nasty seeds.When snitching is permitted or even desired in principle, other decent people are driven by fear to play the role of snitch.Just to not be suspected of being "on the side of the devil but on the side of God," every citizen of Geneva under Calvin's dictatorship was suspicious and contemptuous of his friends. "Avid fear" made them eager to get ahead of the whistleblower.A few years later, the Inquisition abolished official supervision, since all citizens had voluntarily submitted to its control.The relentless tide of denunciation turned the wheels of the spiritual Inquisition briskly by day and by night. Who can feel safe under such a system?Who can be sure that he did not violate a certain imperial decree?For Calvin has banned practically everything that would make life pleasant and beneficial.Theatres, entertainment, traditional festivals, dancing or games of any kind are prohibited.Even something as innocuous as ice skating drove Calvin into a rage.The only clothing he could tolerate was very plain, almost monkish.Tailors, therefore, were prohibited unless they were licensed by the municipal administration and made new cuts according to the regulations.Girls under the age of fifteen were not allowed to wear silk, and girls over that age were not allowed to wear velvet.Filigree, useless buttons and ruffles are prohibited, and it is against the rules to wear gold or other small ornaments.Men were not allowed to have long hair, and women were forbidden from curling locks and styling them with a comb.Lace was forbidden; gloves were forbidden; skirts with frills and slits were forbidden; sedan chairs and carriages were forbidden; invitations to family dinners to more than twenty persons were forbidden.At christening and engagement feasts, no more than the prescribed number of courses shall be served; sweets and preserved fruit shall not be served.No alcohol other than local red wine is allowed.All four-legged beasts or winged birds are prohibited in entertainment venues, as are pastries.Newlyweds are not allowed to exchange gifts at the time of marriage or within six months of marriage.Of course, extramarital sex of any nature is absolutely prohibited, even if you have been formally engaged, you must not be negligent. Citizens of Geneva were not allowed to enter hotels; hotel owners were not allowed to serve food and drink to passers-by unless prayers had been said.In general, tavern proprietors are instructed to scout out their customers, and to be very attentive to every suspicious word or gesture.Books may not be printed without special permission.Writing letters abroad is prohibited.Icons, other sculptures and music were banned.As for the singing of hymns, the clause of the decree declares that it is "must" to avoid dwelling on the melody without concentrating on the spirit and meaning of the words, for "only living words can praise God."Citizens, who thought they were free citizens before Calvin came, are now not even allowed to choose baptismal names for their children.Although the names Claude and Ahmad have been common for hundreds of years, they are now banned because they do not appear in the Bible.A pious Genevan must name his son Isaac, Adam, or something of the sort.Prohibition of prayers in Latin; prohibition of Easter and Christmas feasts.Everything that would make an existing entity less gray and drab is forbidden.Of course, any freedom of thought in terms of speech and publication is forbidden.Criticism of Calvin's dictatorship was an added sin and forbidden.The announcer of the city, led by a drum, sternly warned the free citizens to "don't talk about state affairs except in the presence of the city guild". Forbid, forbid, forbid, what an abominable accent!In wonder, one asks oneself, after so many prohibitions, what is left to the Genevans?Running out.Allow them to live, die, work, obey, and go to church.This last item is actually not only allowed, but it will be severely punished if it is absent.Unlucky for a free burgher if he does not go to his parish to hear a missionary sermon.Twice on Sunday, three times a week, and special teaching time for children.The emphasis on coercion is unrelenting even on Sundays.On the Lord's Day, it's still a litany of responsibility, responsibility, responsibility, with no tolerance.For a whole week, I work hard for my daily bread, and on weekends, I worship God.The week is labor and Sunday is church.Thus Satan cannot gain or keep a foothold, not even among sinners.Thus ended freedom and the joy of life. In the midst of wonder, we can't help but ask: how can a republic city that has been accustomed to Swiss freedom for decades tolerate a dictatorship as severe as Savonarola's in Florence?How can a basically happy southern nation endure such a stranglehold on the joy of life?Why was an ascetic like Calvin so effective at sweeping away thousands of pleasures?Calvin's secret well is not innovative.His methods have been used by dictators throughout the ages.fear!Calvin is divine terror.Let us be blunt, he says, that because of weakness, violence has no scruples to mock humanity, and soon becomes overwhelming.The tyrannical imposition of terror upon a system breaks down the will of the individual and makes social life impossible.It is like a devastating disease that corrupts the soul.Soon, violence was at the heart of the covert operation.Because of the general cowardice, the dictator can find accomplices everywhere.For when a man knows himself to be suspected, he suspects his neighbor.In panic, fanatics often act beyond the orders and prohibitions of their tyrants. An organized reign of terror works wonders.When authority was challenged, Calvin did not hesitate to perform miracles again and again.In this respect, no other tyrant can surpass him.没有理由可以认为，他的专制，就象他所有的品质一样，是他理论的合乎逻辑的产物。可以认为，这一神经过敏、幽灵一般却又才智过人的人，对流血是憎恨的。就象他自己所公开承认的那样，他不能忍受残酷的景象。在他统治时期，日内瓦非常频繁地处决和烧死人，他从不参加执刑。在这儿，人们发现了这些热情的理论家最严重的毛病。象这种典型的人，他们（又一次象罗伯斯庇尔）从来没有勇气去目击执刑，更不用说要他们亲自动手了。他们会轻易地下令判处上百或上千人的死刑，只要他们自己内心充满了他们的“理想”、他们的理论以及他们的体系。现在加尔文把严厉地对待“罪犯们”作为他体系的基石，从他的哲学观点来看，他把不懈地实施这一体系看作是上帝所降于他的大任。那就是为什么他无视于自己夭性的激励，不让任何怜悯的苗子露头，有系统地训练自己去残忍。他“磨炼”自己的顽强意志，就好象那是一门精细的工艺一样。 “我严格训练自己，那样我就有可能更好地向世界上的恶行作斗争。”我们不能否认，这铁一般意志的人在自我训练，使自己残酷无情方面获得了非常的成功。他坦率地承认，他宁愿知道有一个无罪的人受到折磨，也不愿让一个罪人逃脱上帝的审判。在无数次的行刑之中，有一次，由于刽子手的笨拙而将执刑延长为一次可憎恶的折磨。加尔文写了一封开脱的信给法里尔：“没有上帝特别的意志，就不可能发生这种使已判处死刑的人被迫忍受这样长时间折磨的事。”加尔文的论点是，如果关心到“上帝的荣誉”，宁严勿宽。除不恤严刑外，没有办法能使人的行为合乎道德。 很容易理解，在这样一个前提之下——耶稣基督是无情的，上帝的荣誉要不断地加以“保护”，必然的后果就是杀人。在一个还没有从中世纪脱胎出来的世界里，那可能的结局又能是什么呢？加尔文统治的头五年期间，在这一人口比较少的城市里，绞死十三人，斩首十人，烧死三十五人，七十六人被赶出家门——更不用说那些及时躲开恐怖手段而逃跑的人了。在“新耶路撒冷”，狱为之满，以至于监狱长通知行政长官，他无法再接纳更多的犯人了。牢房里的非刑（不仅仅是对已经判决的，嫌疑犯也一样）是那样的令人毛骨悚然，犯人们自行肆意毒打比进拷打室更厉害。最后市行政会不得不下令，“为了减少类似的意外事故，犯人应日夜上手铐”。加尔文对这些今人厌恶的事情不置一辞。为了建立这样的“秩序”和“教规”，这个城市得付出可怕的代价。日内瓦过去从来不知道有这许多死刑、刑罚、拉肢酷刑和流放，而现在加尔文以上帝的名义统治该地就这样干了。所以还是巴尔扎克说得对，“加尔文的宗教恐怖统治比法国革命最坏的血洗还要可憎”。加尔文激进的宗教不宽容，在道德上比罗伯斯庇尔的政治不宽容更为残酷。如果他有比日内瓦更大的势力范围的话，他会比那可怕的政治平等倡导者放出更多的鲜血。 尽管如此，加尔文主要不是依靠这些野蛮的判决、处决和折磨来破坏日内瓦人自由的观点。乍一看，当我们读到加尔文著名的“教规”，发现其中论述是何等琐细时，我们会觉得有趣。但如果读者低估约翰·加尔文大师精细的技巧，他是认错人了。他深思熟虑地以特别细的筛眼结出禁网，其筛眼细到实际上不可能有鱼漏网。这些禁律特意涉及一些琐事，所以每一个人都可能受到良心的谴责，并会产生对无所不能、无所不知的当局永久的畏惧。在我们每天要走的路前面所设置的铁蒺藜越多，我们越难自由地和无忧虑地寻路前进。不久，在日内瓦没人觉得安全了，因为宗教法庭宣称：人只要还在呼吸，几乎每时每刻都会犯罪。 我们只要打开市行政会的记录簿，就可以看出恐吓手段是何等的巧妙。一个自由市民在参加受洗时微笑：三天关押。另外一个，因炎夏困怠而在布道时间睡觉：坐牢。有几个工人在早餐时吃糕点：罚三天只吃面包和水。两个自由市民玩九柱戏：坐牢。两个人用骰子赌四分之一瓶的酒：坐牢。一个男人拒绝给他的儿子命名为亚伯拉罕：坐牢。一个盲琴师弹了舞曲：驱逐出城。另外一个人称赞卡斯特里奥翻译的《圣经》：逐出日内瓦。一个姑娘在滑冰时被抓获；一个寡妇扑在她丈夫的坟上，一个自由市民在拜神时敬他的邻居吸一撮鼻烟，他们都被传到宗教法庭，告诫后下令做苦工赎罪。如此等等，没完没了。有几个人开玩笑，在主显节把豆嵌在饼里：罚二十四小时只吃面包和水。一个自由市民称加尔文“先生”而不称“大师”，一对农民夫妇按照古代的风俗，一退出教堂便谈论生意经：坐牢、坐牢、再坐牢。一个男人玩牌：纸牌挂在脖子上枷颈示众。另一个人在街上纵情唱歌：他被告知“他可以滚开，到别处去唱歌”，这句话的意思是他被放逐出城。两个游艇船员吵架，无人受伤：处死。两个男孩举止粗鲁，起初判处火刑，之后从宽，强迫他们观看火刑执刑现场。 在所有犯人中量刑最野蛮的是：敢向加尔文政治和宗教上的“一贯正确”挑战的人。一个男人公开抗议改革者的宿命论主义，他被残酷地在城中所有十字路口受鞭笞并放逐。一个印书商酒后抱怨加尔文，判处在放逐出城之前用热烙铁在他舌头上穿孔。雅克·格鲁特仅因管加尔文叫伪善者，先上拉肢刑然后处决。每一犯法行为，即使是最微不足道的，都会详细地登录在宗教法庭的记录簿上。这样，每一个公民的私生活就可以作为反对他本人的可靠证明。 如此夙夜匪懈的恐怖，其结果必然会使个人和群众两者的尊严感和活力扫除殆尽。在一个国家组织中，每个公民都不得不接受盘问、检查和判刑，他随后就会知道那看不见的密探正在注视着他的所作所为，记录着他的议论。无需通知，不问昼夜，公民的屋子应服从“访问”。这样，人们的精神就屈服了。一种群众性的焦虑情绪接踵而来，甚至传染给最勇敢者。最坚强的意志因斗争无效而瓦解。多亏了著名的“教规”，加尔文的日内瓦成为如他所希望的那样：悲哀、畏缩和胆怯，没有能力对抗加尔文大师的意见。 就过那么几年，日内瓦在这一教规下呈现出如此新貌。这一度曾是自由和快乐的城市，现在好象被埋在棺罩之下了。色彩鲜明的服装看不见了，代之以黄褐色。教堂钟搂不再鸣钟：快乐的歌声不再在街道上荡漾；家家户户象加尔文信徒礼拜之所那样单调朴素。旅店人空，乐师不能再召集人们去跳舞；九柱戏不再能玩；骰子不再在桌上快乐地跳跃。舞厅已空，过去情侣们常去漫游的暗巷已空寂无人。周复一周，只有教堂一无陈设的内部，才是情侣们参加气氛阴郁寂静集合的场所。整个城市呈现出象加尔文自己一样忧郁的面貌，逐渐变得象他一样令人讨厌。或者是不自觉地模仿他的严酷、阴险和缄默。人民不复能自由地、心情愉快地到处漫游；他们的眼睛不复闪烁着欢乐；他们的目光只有恐惧，因为快乐有可能被误会为情欲。他们不复无拘无束，因为他们害怕那可怕的人，而那人是永不快乐的。甚至在家庭私生活中，他们学会了窃窃私语。因为他们的男女佣人可能就在房门外的钥匙孔中窃听。当害怕成为第二天性时，那被吓破胆的就不断地注意密探。最大的事是不要惹人注目。不要做可能引起别人注意的任何事，诸如服饰或一句脱口而出的话。或者是快乐的面容。避免引起怀疑；保持被人遗忘。日内瓦人在加尔文统治的后期，尽可能坐在家里。因为在家里，他们屋子的墙壁，以及门鞘门栅可能在相当程度上防护他们免于窥探的眼睛和被人怀疑。但是，如果他们从窗口看出去，他们会看到几个宗教法庭的巡捕在街上走过来，他们就吃惊地缩回。因为说不定哪一个邻居已经告发了他们。当市民们非出门不可时，他们蹑手蹑足偷偷摸摸地走，眼睛往下看，身体裹在黄褐色的外套里，就好象他们是去参加听布道或葬礼。甚至连孩子们，他们在这新教规中成长起来，也被“教诲课”彻底吓昏了。他们不复象健康而快乐的小孩子那样地做游戏，而是象一只踡缩着的一只怕挨打的劣种狗一样。他们萎顿得好象在半黑暗中从来得不到充分阳光的花儿一样。 城市的节奏与时钟的节奏一样有规律，冷冰冰的嘀嗒之声从来不会被喜庆佳节所打断——单调、有秩序和可靠。任何第一次访问日内瓦的人走在街上，一定会相信这城市在国丧期中。居民是那样的冷淡和悲哀、那样的沉默寡欢；精神气氛是那样的难以忍受。教规令人吃惊地维持着。但加尔文强加于日内瓦的这一不宽容的节制，是以丧失所有神圣的活力为代价的。除非有充分的、无拘束的自由，那活力才能生气勃勃。虽然如此，加尔文还是创造了许多虔诚的公民、认真的神学家和卓越的学者，他们使城市名传千古。但是，另一方面甚至在加尔文死后两个世纪，这罗讷河畔的城市，依然没有世界弛名的画家、没有音乐家、没有艺术家。为平凡捐弃了非凡；为彻底驯服的屈从捐弃了创造性的自由。直到很久以后，一个艺术家在日内瓦诞生了，他的全部生命都献身于反抗对个性的束缚。只有借助于他，借助于这位让·雅克.卢梭，借助于日内瓦公民们充分的独立性，日内瓦才能够从加尔文强加于它的囚服中解放它自己。