egislation for the consideration of the Consistory. In this larger
body, besides the clergy, the laity were represented by twelve elders
chosen by the council, not by the people at large. The state and
church were thus completely identified in a highly aristocratic polity.

"The office of the Consistory is to keep watch on the life of every
one." Thus briefly was expressed the delegation of as complete powers
over the private lives of citizens as ever have been granted to a
committee. The object of the Ecclesiastical Ordinances was to create a
society of saints. The Bible was adopted as the norm; all its
provisions being enforced except such Jewish ceremonies as were
considered abrogated by the New Testament. The city was divided into
quarters, and some of the elders visited every house at least once a
year and passed in review the whole life, actions, speech, and opinions
of the inmates. The houses of the citizens were made of glass; and the
vigilant eye of the Consistory, served by a multitude of spies, was on
them all the time. In a way this espionage but took the place of the
Catholic confessional. A joke, a gesture was enough to bring a man
under suspicion. The Elders sat as a regular court, hearing complaints
and examining witnesses. It is true that they could inflict only
spiritual punishments, such as public censure, penance,
excommunication, or forcing the culprit to demand pardon in church on
his knees. But when {171} the Consistory thought necessary, it could
invoke the aid of the civil courts and the judgment was seldom
doubtful. Among the capital crimes were adultery, blasphemy,
witchcraft, and heresy. Punishments for all offences were
astonishingly and increasingly heavy. During the years 1542-6 there
were, in this little town of 16,000 people, no less than fifty-eight
executions and seventy-six banishments.

In judging the Genevan theocracy it is important to remember that
everywhere, in the sixteenth century, punishments were heavier than
they are now, and the regulation of private life minuter.[2]
Nevertheless, though parallels to almost everything done at Geneva can
be found elsewhere, it is true that Calvin intensified the medieval
spirit in this respect and pushed it to the farthest limit that human
nature would bear.

First of all, he compelled the citizens to fulfil their religious
duties. He began the process by which later the Puritans identified
the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord