and Romanist should not
destroy the idea of Christian in each, he was foully vilified for
opening the gate of heaven to the abandoned of all the earth. A friendly
man said that he was "a good and venerable theologian," and for this
utterance the offender was subjected to a heavy fine. The friends of
Calixtus were termed by one individual "bloodhounds and perjurers."
Another declared that "he tuned his lyre to Judaizers and Arianizers and
Romanizers and Calvinizers, and that he showed a spirit so coarse and
shameless that never the like had been before." Still another compared
him to Julian the Apostate.

But previous controversies and the ever-increasing points of divergence
had so estranged the different churches that the labors of Calixtus to
unite them proved unavailing. His influence was lessened because of the
disputes into which his bold undertaking led him. But he quickened
national thought, turned theologians to looking deeper into the
Scriptures than had been the practice since the Reformation, and
established the difference between the essential and non-essential in
matters of faith. The cause of his failure to unite the discordant
church was his fearless attack on popular error. But his disappointment
detracts nothing from the grandeur of his work; and his name is one
which will not be denied its meed of praise when theological peace is
once more restored to Germany. No generation can duly value a character
whose life is not in consonance with the prevailing spirit of that
generation. As the military hero must not expect his greenest laurels in
time of peace, and as the sage must not dream of praise in an
uncultivated period, so must such men as George Calixtus wait for a
coming day whose untainted atmosphere will be in harmony with their own
pure life and thoughts.

The spirituality of the German church having suffered materially from
the controversies of which we have spoken, the beneficial results of the
Reformation were greatly endangered by them. The German version of the
Bible had been an incalculable blessing to the masses; and the
commentaries written by the Reformers and their immediate successors
gave promise of a wide-spread Scriptural knowledge. But the religious
disputes distracted the mind from this necessary department of thought,
and neutralized much of the good which would otherwise have been
lasting. The danger in which the Protestant church now stood was great.
Sectarian strife, formalism