As a system of theology Calvinism has no place in this volume. As a mighty force in the organization of ecclesiastical and political disciplines it will demand fair if not full treatment. Contrasted with Lutheranism Calvinism was the real strength of the Reformation. Extinguished in France only after a brutal war, glorious in the Netherlands, the power behind the throne of Elizabeth, forbidding the banns between the rocky fastnesses of Scotland and the sunny plains of France, and in America holding a thin frontier between the seaboard and the savage until the day dawn of a fairer opportunity broke upon the young Republic, this new power justifies all efforts at explanation.