CHAPTER X.-LAUSANNE AND CANTON

VAUD.

NE more famous city remains to be mentioned in Switzerland, that birth-place of

the Reformation-Lausanne. It is beautifully located on rapidly rising ground just above the northwestern corner of Lake Geneva and about a mile away from it. It commands a fine view southward and eastward up and down Lake Geneva, and of the snow-capped Alps beyond. It is an aristocratic city with a population of 60,000, thus making it one of the large cities of Switzerland. Its small, but simple, cathedral is very beautiful, and is famous as the place of the disputation in 1536.

In the early part of the reformation, this district. belonged to the Duke of Savoy and was therefore Catholic. But it was conquered at that time by Bern, who began filling it with refugees from France, so as to form a buffer-state against Savoy. At first there were but a few of Reformed. the disputation at Lousanne in 1536, at which Calvin greatly distinguished himself by his learning

But

and eloquence, together with the influx of French immigrants gradually made it Protestant. The early reformer of Lausanne was Peter Viret, the third of the trio of reformers of French Switzerland, Calvin and Farel being the other two. Viret may be styled the boy-preacher of the reformation, for he began preaching so young. He was the youngest of the great reformers.

Viret was born (1511), at a country town named Orbe, about twenty miles west of Lausanne. He went to Paris to study for the priesthood, but there came into contact with the Protestant doctrines under Lefevre, the earliest of the reformers. Having given up his popish views, he also gave up his purpose to become a priest, and returned to his native Switzerland. Meanwhile a change similar to his own, had been taking place in his native town. As we have seen, Farel, that fiery reformer, had wandered into the town, and put to flight a seller of indulgences and had begun to organize a little congregation in the town. When the Catholics opposed his preaching, the Bern government protected him. Farel preached in the great church at Orbe, which holds many hundreds, but there were only three hearers. Still the number increased

gradually and the return of Viret was a great aid. Farel ordained Viret in 1531, at the age of twenty. -the youngest of the reformers. Viret went with Farel to Geneva where the Catholics tried to kill the reformers by giving them poisoned soup. Although Farel fortunately did not eat of it, Viret did. He became very sick but recovered, although his thin face attests that he remained a sort of invalid for the rest of his life.

Soon Lausanne needed a reformer and Farel sent Viret there in 1536, as Bern was very anxious to convert Lausanne to Protestantism. For twentytwo years he was pastor there, and the number of the Reformed greatly increased. Under his patronage a Reformed school was started, at which Beza taught for a time. But there had been considerable friction between Bern and the Genevan Church, especially about the form of church government. The Genevese claimed more freedom from the state than the Bernese would allow. So Viret and Beza, who sympathized with Calvin and the Genevese were dismissed. Beza went to Geneva and Viret went to France, called there by Jeanne D'Albret, queen of Navarre. There he taught theology and died at Orthez 1571.

The school, that Viret founded, grew unto a university, having among its professors some prominent men as Bucanus, professor of theology in the sixteenth century. But the French population of the district of Vaud did not always easily assimilate with the German population of Bern north of them. The professors of theology were inclined to more liberal views. While Bern clung to high Calvinism, this district inclined to the low Calvinism of the School of Saumur. Bern, however, compelled the ministers and students to sign the Helvetic Con-· sensus in 1675, although constant efforts were made to lower the subscription to it as by adding "in so far as it agrees with the Bible," or by a promise not to teach publicly anything contrary to the creed. The efforts of Bern to force subscription caused the breach between French Vaud and German Bern to widen, until it culminated in the revolt of Major Davel in 1723. This revolt was suppressed and Davel was executed; but he has ever since been the idol of the people of that canton. His bronze statue is in the university-hall at Lausanne and its cathedral has a tablet to his memory.

One of the most interesting institutions at Lausanne was the theological seminary founded there

by Antoine Court, the great preacher of the Huguenot Church of France, when Reformed worship was forbidden in that land. He was the preacher to that "Church of the desert," preaching secretly in woods and caves and quarries. He has been called the "Savior of the Huguenot Church," the "second reformer of France," Calvin being the first. As the Huguenot ministers of France were either dying off or being put to death at the stake, it became necessary to replenish their ranks. To found a theological seminary in France was out of the question as the Huguenot faith was proscribed. So Court founded it at Lausanne, and from 1728-1788 it sent out 188 young men. They went back to France to preach in caves and woods, many of them to suffer martyrdom. By this theological seminary, Lausanne saved the Reformed Church of France, which it supplied with ministers.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, under the French dominion, Vaud was separated from Bern and became a separate canton, much to the joy of its inhabitants. In the early part of the nineteenth century, the Church of Vaud was orthodox and looked upon the neighboring Church at Geneva with suspicion because of its Socinianism.