• Protestant reformers in Europe had clear ideas about virtuous behavior and how to encourage it, and the same was true of Neo-Confucian scholar-officials in China (see “The Scholar Officials and Neo-Confucianism” in Chapter 13). The reformer John Calvin designed ordinances for the city of Geneva that regulated public and family life, while in China the official and military leader Wang Yangming (1472–1529) called for “community compacts,” agreements between community members in which all pledged to act in a moral fashion.

Wang Yangming, Community Compact for Southern Ganzhou, 1520s

“Nothing can be done to change what has already gone by, but something can still be done in the future. Therefore a community compact is now specially prepared to unite and harmonize all of you.

From now on, all of you who enter into this compact should be filial to your parents and respectful to your elders, teach your children, live in harmony with your fellow villagers, help one another when there is death in the family and assist one another in times of difficulty, encourage one another to do good and warn one another not to do evil, stop litigations and rivalry, cultivate faithfulness and promote harmony, and be sure to be good citizens so that together you may establish the custom of humanity and kindness. . . .

Elect from the compact membership an elderly and virtuous person respected by all to be the compact chief and two persons to be assistant chiefs [and other officials]. . . . Have three record books. One of these is to record the names of compact members and their daily movements and activities, and is to be in the charge of the compact executives. Of the remaining record books, one is for the purpose of displaying good deeds and the other for the purpose of reporting evil deeds. . . . To display good deeds, the language used must be clear and decisive, but in reporting mistakes, the language must be indirect and gentle.”

John Calvin, Ecclesiastical Ordinances for the City of Geneva, 1541

“[The office of the elders appointed to the Consistory] is to keep watch over the lives of everyone, to admonish in love those whom they see in error and leading disorderly lives. Whenever necessary they shall make a report concerning these to the ministers who will be designated to make brotherly corrections. . . .

If the church deems it wise, it will be well to choose two from the Little Council, four from the Council of Two Hundred, honest men of good demeanor, without reproach and free from all suspicion, above all fearing God and possessed of good and spiritual judgment. It will be well to elect them from every part of the city so as to be able to maintain supervision over all. . . .

If there shall be anyone who lays down opinions contrary to received doctrine, he is to be summoned. If he recants, he is to be dismissed without prejudice. If he is stubborn, he is to be admonished from time to time until it shall be evident that he deserves greater severity. . . .

If anyone is negligent in attending worship so that a noticeable offense is evident for the communion of the faithful, or if anyone shows himself contemptuous of ecclesiastical discipline, he is to be admonished. . . .

For the correction of faults, it is necessary to proceed after the ordinance of our Lord. That is, vices are to be dealt with secretly and no one is to be brought before the church for accusation if the fault is neither public nor scandalous, unless he has been found rebellious in the matter. . . .

Let all these measures be moderate; let there not be such a degree of rigor that anyone should be cast down, for all corrections are but medicinal, to bring back sinners to the Lord.”

Sources: Sources of Chinese Tradition by William Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., pp. 854–855. Reproduced with permission of COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS in the format Book via Copyright Clearance Center; The Protestant Reformation, ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1968), pp. 174, 177. Material originally appeared (in slightly modified form) in The Reformation: A Narrative History Related by Contemporary Observers and Participants, ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand (New York: Harper and Row, 1964), pp. 192–194. Used by permission of the author.

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