Page:French Calvinism, German Lutheranism and the War.pdf/16

- 15 - Germany. All the spiritual forces of the nation have been mobilised and enlisted in the service of the State. The State has thus gradually and become the Divine state of Hegel. Just as Luther has created a kind of tribal religion, he has created the national despotic state.

Here again it is interesting to compare Lutheranism on the one hand with Calvinism on the other. What do we find in the history of the Calvinistic Churches? We find that almost everywhere Calvinism develops into a free democracy. First we find that miraculous City State, the little Republic of Geneva, which was founded by the Frenchman Calvin. Second, we find the democratic republics of the Huguenots in France. Third, we find the United Provinces of the Dutch Republic. Fourth, we find the democracy of John Knox in Scotland. Fifth, we have the Commonwealth of Cromwell. Sixth, we find the American Pilgrim Fathers. Seventh, we have the Confession of faith of the Genevese Rousseau, appears as a law of universal history. Eighth, we have the Dutch Calvinistic republic of the Transvaal Boers.