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THE

LIFE AND TIMES

OF

ULRIC ZWINGLI

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN

OF

J. J. HOTTINGER.

BY

THE REV. PROF. T. C. PORTER,

OF FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE, LANCASTER, PA.

HARRISBURG:

PUBLISHED BY THEO. F. SCHEFFER.

1856.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
Theo. F. Scheffer, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of
the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Author's Preface.

"Biographers should not busy themselves so much with deeds, as their moving causes; with what motives, by what means, for what ends and under what circumstances they were performed. If we limit ourselves to a simple detail of facts, our judgment is determined by success; and upright men are condemned as evil or imprudent, because of the unfavorable issue of their endeavors. To set forth the views of Zwingli and the high mark to which he strove to carry everything, were dangerous--would open a wide door to envy and calumniation, and would not be permitted by the government of Zurich; since it would be a violation of the Landfriede, various resolutions of the cities and the Hereditary Union with Austria. Without this, however, the history of his life would be dry, and posterity would neither admire nor love Zwingli, but regard him as a thoughtless, foolish man. The unhappy catastrophe has placed everything in a false light."

The foregoing remarks of Bullinger show with what caution our forefathers were obliged to speak of Zwingli's political acts. Indeed, after the battle of Cappel they were looked upon with little favor, even in the Reformed portion of the Confederacy. Bullinger himself, Zwingli's successor, was for the moment filled with despondency. He wrote to his friend, Myconius: "We will never come together again. No one trusts his neighbor any longer. Surely, surely, we live in the last times. It is all over with the Confederacy." The passage above-cited was written perhaps at this juncture. But he soon recovered his courage. His confidence in God returned with renewed strength, and he then began that career, which was so active, so noble and so full of blessing. He continued the work of his illustrious predecessor, and described it also with a powerful pen and a reverent heart, leaving behind, for thoughtful readers at least, intimations of what he durst not wholly reveal to his contemporaries. Three centuries have since gone by, and unrestricted access to archives and multiplied investigations have brought to light reports and documents hitherto unknown. From these materials, the author endeavored, fifteen years ago, to delineate the life and times of Zwingli. That volume was designed for those, who study history as a science: the aim of this one is to present the same results in a popular form. And as our people, now a-days, pay so much attention to what is written and spoken, let them hear once more the voice of one of the noblest statesmen of former ages; let them consider his acts, and ponder over his sad fate. If we regard him merely as a reformer of the Church, he may perhaps appear to us surrounded by a brighter glory; but history demands a full representation, and such a representation exhibits him as a man "possessed of like passions with ourselves." Yet, just in the acknowledgement of his own infirmities by Zwingli, and in his submission with humble faith to a Higher Power, do the unmistakable features of true religion shine victoriously above that worship of self which springs only from vain conceit.--May the following work produce the same conviction in the mind of the reader!

Preface.

The volume, here translated, was published in Zurich in the year 1842, and may be regarded as the fullest and most reliable history of Zwingli and his times that has yet appeared; for, in addition to the numerous works, in Latin and German, which relate to this particular period, the author has had free access to an immense mass of important and necessary state-papers, long buried in the archives of the Canton.

Contents.

[CHAPTER FIRST]

ZWINGLI'S YOUTH. HIS LABORS IN GLARUS AND EINSIEDELN.

Near the source of the river Thur, in Wildhaus, a mountain-village of the Toggenburg, lived the bailiff Ulric Zwingli, with his wife Margaretta Meili, in moderate circumstances and universal esteem. Eight sons and two daughters were the fruit of their marriage. The third of these sons, born on the first of January 1484, seven weeks after Luther's birth-day, received the name of his father. A brother of the bailiff, Bartholomew Zwingli, was chosen by the burghers of Wildhaus, who a short time before had separated from the mother-church of Glarus, as the first pastor of the new congregation. The mother also had a brother of the clerical order, John Meili, abbot of Fischingen. A pious and friendly man, he loved the children of his sister, as if they were his own. In the bosom of an honest family, breathing the pure cool air of a green Alpine region, amid the simple pleasures of a shepherd's life, the little Ulric grew up vigorously, quick-witted, looking out into the world with clear eyes, and though somewhat rude like his countrymen, yet gifted with senses fully alive to the beauties of nature and the harmonies of voice and instrument.

The early signs of promise, which he gave, were the means of opening for him the path to scientific culture. His uncle, being made deacon at Wesen, left Wildhaus in 1487, and took the boy with him. By his help and that of the teacher at Wesen, he was prepared in his tenth year to enter the Theodore School at Little Basel, whither he now went, again supported and recommended, as is probable, by his uncle.

It may not be amiss to introduce some notice of the educational system of that age.

Lowest in rank appear the German schools. Here and there teachers were provided for them by the parish-officers, but in other places the supply was left to accident. Older students, under the name of lehrmeister, traveled around, oftentimes with wives, practising their vocation and hiring themselves out for longer or shorter periods. Two well-painted placards of these strolling masters are preserved in the library at Basel. They exhibit the interior of a school-room. On one the children are sitting and kneeling on the floor with their books, whilst the master, rod in hand is teaching a boy at his desk and his wife a girl in the opposite corner; the other represents a chamber in which older scholars are receiving instruction. The following advertisement is written beneath both:

"Whoever wishes to learn to write and read German in the very quickest way ever found out, though he does not know a single letter of the alphabet, can in a short time get enough here to cast up his own accounts and read; and if any one be too stupid to learn, as I have taught him nothing so will I charge him nothing, be he who he may, burgher or apprentice, woman or girl; whoever comes in, he will be faithfully taught for a small sum, but the young boys and girls after the Ember weeks, as the custom is. 1516."

To all, who were unable to obtain the necessary elementary instruction at home, or even perhaps in the monasteries, these schools were open. Children and adults frequently sat on the same bench. Of course, there was nothing like thorough knowledge among the masters, nothing like a division into classes, or a comprehensive plan of instruction. Just as the natural talent of the teacher was greater or less, were the results better or worse. And yet such was the only education of a large majority of the burghers. Indeed thousands were destitute even of this.

Boys, designed for a higher training, sons of the wealthy, or of the poor, who were so fortunate as to meet with encouragement to a noble effort, passed over into the Latin schools, into one of which we now see Zwingli enter.

In these schools, found in most of the larger and sometimes also in the smaller towns, the teachers were usually clergymen, who received annually a moderate salary and a coat from the public treasury, or oftener still from the revenues of pious foundations. For their better maintenance, where the foundation could not give them a full support, they were permitted to accept school-money and even provisions. The poor scholars earned this money by singing in companies before houses on new-year and other holidays.

The course of instruction embraced three branches: Latin Grammar, Music, (especially the art of singing,) and Logic. The study of the latter, which ought to teach how to give clear expression to thought, was for the most part time wasted amid useless subtleties and verbiage. The reputation of the school depended altogether on the character of the teacher. As soon as he had made himself master of the prescribed course, he either added to it new branches, or at least understood how to render it profitable. But his main endeavor was to stimulate the youthful mind by his own mental activity. To such a teacher hundreds of scholars flocked from all quarters.

The following regulations, taken from one at Bruck, will give us some insight into the state of discipline among schools of this kind.

"The schoolmaster shall take in school at five o'clock in the morning, in summer, and at six in the winter,^[1] give lessons to each one according to his rank, age and capacity, and explain them well and mannerly, hearing them at the proper time, and pointing out to the boys their mistakes and failures, so that by this means they may acquire skill and honor. After lunch, he shall come to school at eleven o'clock, except on festival days, and then at twelve, to give lessons and instruction till four, if that be the usual hour of leaving off work for the day. In the evenings he shall teach them Latin and penmanship faithfully and modestly, and keep them as busy as possible, so that they may get a good and gentle training and be preserved from idle talk, quarrels, and brawls. He shall charge them to talk little and use few words, and when in and out of school to speak with each other in Latin; but with their parents and the people at home they may talk German. He shall teach them the cantum in verse, antiphonies (alternate chanting in choirs), intonations (singing along with the priest), hymns and requiems in various ways, suited to the time and occasion. He shall earnestly exhort them to behave with decorum in the church, the choir, the church-yard and the belfry, to abstain from disputing, shouting, huzzaing and bell-ringing, either in, upon or around the church, and also not to touch the bells, at peril of being stripped and flogged soundly from top to toe. When school is out they shall go together before the charnel-house and each one shall repeat with devotion a pater noster, an ave maria or the psalm de profundis and then return home quietly. Striking each other with satchels, pinching, spitting, fighting and stone-throwing, shall be punished by the rod. The schoolmaster shall beat them with rods, and not with his fist or staff, and particularly not on the head, lest, on account of their youth, he might thereby do great damage to the organ of memory."

Thus the rod was formerly the chief means of school-discipline. And even far into the era of the Reformation a yearly holiday was observed under the name of "The Procession of the Rods," in which all the pupils of the schools went out in the summer to the woods, and came back heavily laden with birch-twigs, cracking jokes by the way and singing:

Ye fathers and ye mothers good,
See us with the birchen wood
Loaded, coming home again;
For our profit it shall serve,
Not for injury or pain.
Your will and the command of God
Have prompted us to bear the rod
On our own bodies thus to-day,
Not in angry, sullen mood,
But with a spirit glad and gay

The greater part of the male students were animated by a wild and reckless spirit, the result of a fickle roving from town to town. The pretext for this course was the necessity of hunting up skilful teachers; but with many it was only love for a career of frolic and idleness. The oldest and strongest scholars, young men of twenty and upwards, each of whom had a different plea to urge, set the example. By the promise of a living free of cost and instruction in the rudiments they attracted to themselves younger boys, who, as soon as they had crossed the boundaries of their father-land, were converted into servants and compelled to beg or steal money and provisions for the common treasury. Thomas Platter, a native of Valais, when a child, nine years of age, followed such a wandering student and traveled with him through Germany as far as the borders of Poland without ever learning to read, until in his eighteenth year, he received for the first time better instruction in Schlettstadt and afterwards in Zurich. He has left us a picture of his student-life in an autobiography, extracts from which are found in a number of works. It can easily be imagined how several thousand scholars of this roving cast, who all subsisted on alms, should frequently meet together in one town. The younger ones, called archers, spent the night in the schoolhouses, and the older (bacchanalians) in little chambers specially reserved for their accommodation. In summer they all lay together in the church-yards with the grass for a bed. Wo to the chickens, the geese and the fruit-trees, where such a troop passed by! Here one man hissed his dogs on them, while there another gave them a friendly welcome, and in return for as much beer as they could drink, obtained information about foreign countries and stories of their travels. The roughest class of teachers often joined them in their revels and often others at the head of their trusty followers sallied out to drive the truants into school, who, when assailed, retreated to the roofs of the houses, sending down showers of stones, till the citizens or the watchmen broke in among them and quelled the riot.

It was Zwingli's good fortune to be saved from such a life of adventure. George Binzli, his teacher in Basel, was, in the words of an old writer, an excellent, not unlearned man, of a very amiable disposition. He took a great liking to Zwingli, who soon stood in the foremost rank among his school-fellows, a master in debate and the possessor of an extraordinary talent for music. At the end of three years he finished his course in the Theodore School, and departed, cherishing an esteem and gratitude, not lost in after life, toward Binzli, by whose advice also he now went to Bern, and entered a higher class under the care of Henry Wœlfli.

At an earlier day Latin was taught chiefly for the purposes of divine worship, which consisted, for the most part, of chanting and the saying of masses in this language, to the common people an unknown tongue. A knowledge of it was derived from stupid manuals, that only furnished the scholars with a stock of words, which, though not well understood even by themselves, were stuffed into their sermons, in order to gain credit for learning with the ignorant multitude.

But after the invention of the art of printing, the most important works of the ancient Romans, extant only in a few very costly manuscripts, were given to the world by the press. These, teachers of ability first took up and studied, and then explained to their scholars. What a wide contrast between such education and that of a former period! Here, instead of corrupt monk's Latin, the young men became acquainted with a highly cultivated, clear, powerful language, and, at the same time also, with the history of the most celebrated republic of antiquity, which, to the Swiss, themselves the citizens of a free country, was full of interest. Wœlfli, we know, followed this path in his teaching. "From him," says Myconius, the biographer and friend of Zwingli, "he obtained his first knowledge of the classic authors (so well preserved through so many centuries), acquired a flowing, harmonious style, and learned how to distinguish facts and exercise his judgment upon them." Wœlfli had visited Jerusalem as a zealous pilgrim, and would often speak of the journey to his scholars, who also saw that he was busied with the history of his native land and that every story of the olden time was sacred in his eyes. But to Zwingli the most pleasant hours were those spent in the practice of music. With astonishing rapidity he learned to play on all the kinds of instruments then known. This attracted the attention of the heads of the Dominicans at Bern. Envious at the greater concourse of people, that crowded to the Franciscans, these monks sought to raise against the fallen reputation of their monastery. To secure for themselves talent, so promising as that of Zwingli, was a thing much to be desired; but happily for himself and for his father-land, the young man rejected their offers. A short time after, four of these cursed hypocrites had to atone by death at the stake for a diversion, just as cruel as it was horrible, the performing of bloody miracles for the deception of pious simplicity.

Zwingli had now lived three years in Bern, and was already fully ripe for the university. With loving remembrances he bade farewell to his faithful teacher, who was yet to become his pupil and in old age dedicate a few sad verses to the hero, who fell at Cappel.

At that time the young Swiss chiefly resorted to the universities of Basel, Paris, Vienna, Cracow and Pavia. That of Vienna was selected for Zwingli, which he entered in the same year (1490), that saw his country triumph over the dangers of the Swabian war. He there united himself in close intimacy with two other gifted fellow-countrymen, Joachim of Waat (Vadianus) from St. Gall, and Henry Loriti (Glareanus) from Glarus. Meanwhile he appears to have devoted more attention to general culture than to such branches of knowledge as might aid him in the exercise of a particular calling. Above all, philosophy had to be studied; a truly noble science, if by it be understood the acquisition of truth, as far as it can be reached by the deductions of human reason. But such was not the character of philosophy then in vogue. Under the tyranny of a degenerate church, the powers of the mind, not permitted to unfold in an element of freedom, were wasted amid trifling and often silly examinations and questions, conducted with a ludicrous show of importance. A certain kind of sagacity often displayed itself in their ingenious replies, and he who could produce the most singular was regarded by many as the most learned.

It does fall within the scope of this description to hold up to ridicule opinions, which others esteem holy. Examples, familiar to those versed in books, are therefore omitted. The dangerous side of this so-called philosophy did not lie so much in isolated expressions as in its whole tendency to cripple the spirit and harden the heart, so that victory might be rendered more sure and easy to the cunning talker, who strove, not for the cause of truth, but for his own private advantage. In the school of the clear-seeing, free-speaking Romans Zwingli soon learned how to sift the scandalous game, carried on under the banners of wisdom, to distinguish fallacy from truth, and to despise from the bottom of his soul this false philosophy, the art of passing off black for white, and of leading both parties by the nose with the same blinding torrent of words, in brief, the whole brood of lies and everything belonging to it.

Although it could only have been through the medium of translations or abridgments, he already seems to have made some acquaintance with the works of the Greeks. In profound speculation and in matters of art and taste they were the teachers of the Romans, who, in spite of national pride, were willing to acknowledge them as such. Even to this day, their sages, Plato and Aristotle, must be studied by all, who are not content with a mere superficial knowledge of philosophy. Their historians entered fully into the character of the persons and of the times, which they portrayed, and in their poets a loftier inspiration ruled. One of these, Pindar, is thus described by Zwingli at a later period: "He is the prince of poets. He has a true, holy, incorruptible mind. Every expression, that he uses, be it ever so common, he makes noble. No one can either give to him or take from him without injury. In him is found a worthy, powerful representation of antiquity. It lives again before our eyes. His poetry flows like a clear stream; all is noble, charming, perfect. In a lofty style he discourses of the gods, and it can be easily seen that he meant thereby the one, divine, heavenly power. No Grecian author serves so well for the interpretation of Holy Scripture, especially of the Psalms and Job, which rival him in sublimity."

The young men turned their attention also to the mysteries of nature, the discoveries in geography and the illimitable kingdom of worlds, revealed to us by a glance at the darkened heavens. In after life Glareanus won for himself considerable fame by his researches in the department of ancient geography, and Vadianus, when quite an old man, gathered around him a troop of burghers from St. Gall, full of wonder and a desire to learn, as they lay encamped, one starry night, on the summit of the Freudenberg, and spoke to them of the motion of the heavenly bodies and the laws, that govern them, and strengthened their hopes of an eternal existence in the immeasurable realms of space.

The three friends, thus closely joined in noble endeavor, lived in daily, social, intercourse with others, whom hereafter, when the more earnest days of manly activity have arrived, we shall find arrayed, as in the cases of Eck and Faber, among the most bitter opponents of Zwingli.

The morals of that period, as every one knows, were loose and corrupt, and only too much opportunity was afforded for indulging in pleasures of every kind, especially in a large city. For young men, left to their own guidance in the heyday of life, it was difficult to keep within proper bounds on all sides. But his love of music, that very thing so severely blamed in after times by hypocritical pietists, was the means of preserving Zwingli from every thing low and mean. His early conviction of the value of time taught him to be very sparing of it, and the lofty ideal, which floated before him and his friends, their youthful plans of future greatness, kept them unsoiled amid the swamps of temptation, till at a later period their place was more effectually supplied by the purer influence of religion.

After a residence of two years abroad the young Switzer came back again to his native mountains, full of vigor, sound in mind and body, and amply prepared to enter upon any professional pursuit. He appears to have remained only a short time at home. The country village was little suited to the prosecution of his further designs. A situation as teacher of languages was offered him in the school of St. Martin at Basel, and he there began his public career in the year 1502. No intelligence has reached us concerning the nature of his labors. He had probably only elementary branches to teach; for the university, as formerly constituted, exerted on the teachers of the foundation-schools under its control, an influence rather paralyzing than encouraging. Nevertheless he conscientiously applied himself to his studies and associated for this purpose with Leo Judæ, who, born two years earlier than Zwingli at Rappersweier in Alsace, stood faithfully at his side in all his later course and will yet receive frequent mention in this history. He also shared with him his love of music.

But now the period had arrived, when in the study of religious doctrine, the end and meaning of their future life began to dawn upon the minds of Zwingli and his friend. At the same time a teacher came to Basel, who was well fitted to waken their love for this science and give a right direction to their active zeal. That man was Thomas Wittenbach of Biel, hitherto professor at Tubingen.

The world had then grown weary of the corruption of the clergy, of their stupid arrogance, of the intolerance, which would restrict the divine favor to the limits of their narrow earthly horizon, and of the search after miracles, which was counted faith, although a denial of true faith, because it would grasp with the hand that which is spiritual and not to be apprehended, except when a beam of divine grace is glowing on the altar of a pure heart. Yet only so much the more did a longing after the communication of clearer light prevail.

It is true indeed that here and there were found pious men, who in humility and childlike simplicity wrought works of love and edified their neighbors, by a redeeming activity and a spotless life. But characters of this kind were suited only to peaceful, not stormy times, which called for bolder leaders. Enemies must be met on their own field, the weapons of the understanding used, and the arguments of science advanced, not in such a way however as to injure simple-minded faith. This was the manner in which Christ opposed the scepticism of the Sadducees and the sophistry of the Pharisees, and this is what is meant by that saying of his, concerning the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove. High hung this garland; but it was worthy of the sweat of the noblest.

Wittenbach knew well how to encourage his pupils to enter the lists and strive after its attainment. Leo Judæ has given authentic testimony to this effect in a letter to the council of Biel. "From your city," writes he, "came forth this man, regarded by the most learned men of that age as a the phœnix on account of his manifold acquirements. Zwingli and I enjoyed his instructions at Basel in the year 1505. Under his guidance, from polite literature, in which he was equally at home, we passed over to the more earnest study of the Holy Scriptures. His sagacity discerned clearly beforehand the events of coming years, the overthrow of the papal doctrine of indulgences and other groundless dogmas, by which, for many centuries, Rome had held unthinking mankind in bondage. Whatever of thorough knowledge we possess, we owe it to him and must remain his debtors as long as we live."

While yet in Basel Zwingli had received the title of Magister (Master of the Liberal Arts,) but he never made any use of it himself. One is our master, he was accustomed to say, Christ.

But now, in the twenty-second year of his age, he must leave Basel also, and enter on the proper business of his life. John Stucki, pastor at Glarus, died in the year 1506. Recommended probably by his uncle, perhaps by his friend Glareanus, the young man was chosen for the important post. The Bishop of Constance consecrated him to the priesthood and ratified the choice.

Through Rappersweil, where he preached his first sermon; through Wildhaus, where he read his first mass, he passed on towards the close of the year, to his new home. Glarus, the chief town of the canton, was inhabited by an active, intelligent population, full of energy and independence. The new teacher, who does not intend to act the part of an unprincipled hireling, must count on finding watchful enemies as well as friends. There is only one means, by which to maintain an erect position, under such circumstances, in a firm adherence to duty and principle, and that is an unfailing support,--trust in a higher power, which never deserts an honest endeavor. With this resolve, under this shield, Zwingli began the practice of his calling, not at all anxious about the judgments of men, nor troubled at the remarks of the multitude. In him ruled the ardent spirit of vigorous youth, averse to every thing that smacked of devotional hypocrisy, full of life and mirth, sometimes verging even on wantonness, and yet so earnest, where the affairs of science, so profound, where those of faith, and so conscientious, where those of the congregation entrusted to his care, were concerned, or those of his country, in whose welfare and honor his heart was bound up. If on this account he was called a friend of sport; if Glareanus wrote to him gaily in monk's Latin: "I am coming to you shortly, and then we will be of good cheer and play on the jews' harp;" and if Dingnauer, who promised him, that neither envy, nor jealousy, nor the moroseness of old age, nor gold, nor iron should cripple his friendship, believed that he must add the warning: "Watch over your heart, conceal your glowing wishes, lest joy be turned into bitter vexation;" we yet read, on the other hand, what he himself wrote to Vadianus at Vienna: "I am now resolved to devote myself to the Greek language and to be drawn away from it no more. This is not done out of vanity, for how little does pretension become me! but from the necessity of a thorough understanding of the Holy Scriptures." We find also that he wrote off the original Greek text of the Epistles of Paul in the form of a small book, in order to have it continually with him, and added in the margin the observations of the most approved commentators. In the year 1522, we hear him thus speak of the manner, in which he tried at that time to penetrate into the spirit of these records: "In my youth I made as much advance in human learning as any one of my age, and when, six or seven years ago, I devoted my whole strength to the study of the Holy Scriptures, the philosophy and theology of the controversialists threw continual difficulties in my way. At last I came to this conclusion. I thought: Thou must lay aside all these and get the meaning of God fresh from his own, simple word. Then I began to implore God for his light, and the Scripture became much clearer to me, although I read it merely, as I would have read many commentaries and interpreters." The letters written by him and to him at this time show us plainly, that those who were committed to his training, especially young men of promise, crowded around him, full of love and reverence, and that he never was weary of giving them counsel, support and recommendation in foreign countries, of watching over their progress and morals, whilst there, and of rejoicing in every evidence of talent and noble purpose and helping to turn them to practical account. Glareanus thanked him for permission to continue his studies abroad, though obliged to give up a benefice in Mollis, where, "like a goat-herd," he had to receive a new election every year. The same friend wrote to him on another occasion: "You are always helping those, who deserve it." Argobast Strub of Vienna was about to dedicate a commendatory poem to him, when death surprised the ingenious youth and the sorrowful Vadianus sent his literary remains to his former teacher as a pledge of love from the departed one. Peter Tschudi wrote to him from Paris, "You are like a tutelar god to us;" and his brother Aegidius in Basel begged him, "Help, that I may be called back to you again, for with no one have I wished rather to live than with you." Valentine Tschudi, the cousin of the two first named, was yet more strongly attached to their beloved master. "Never will I cease," he expresses himself, "to be thankful for your kindnesses, especially when a quartan fever troubled me of late, after my return from abroad and because, on another occasion, when I had left my books behind in Basel, you, although I would not out of modesty venture to be troublesome, called me to you, encouraged me, and offered me your books, your assistance and your influence. And thus your good will toward all students was extended to me also and that not in a general way, for, with special regard to my wants, your extensive and varied stores of knowledge lay at my service." This Valentine Tschudi and Ludwig Rosch, "a yet unbearded youth of the best kind," Zwingli had formerly recommended to Vadianus in Vienna for the study of polite literature. He did a similar favor for his brother Jacob, who "was possessed of extraordinary gifts," and he charged his friend "to clip, to plane and to polish the country youth as long as it was necessary, and should he ever kick at it," he concluded, "you may throw him into prison, until the fit is over."

Thus did this spirited man endeavor to stir up all around him to improvement, and exerted the same influence over the older generation as he did over the young. With the venerable Aebli, who on the first march to Cappel prevented the shedding of fraternal blood, he formed a close friendship. Of his own accord he traveled to Basel to become personally acquainted with the celebrated Erasmus and gained his undivided esteem, for, at a later period, he wrote to him, "Hail to the Swiss people, whose character particularly pleases me, whose studies and morals you and those like you will improve!" And the judge, Falk of Freiburg, who was, it is true, a violent partisan of that period, but at the same time a patron of science, offered him, in case he desired to prosecute his studies for a season in quiet, a beautiful country-seat, which he possessed in the neighborhood of Pavia, with the gratuitous enjoyment of its revenues for two years. Nevertheless, it is possible that he was actuated by the concealed design of winning over a powerful champion to his own purposes.

With all the activity of his spirit, Zwingli appears, during his stay in Glarus, to have kept within the limits of the established church-doctrine in his public discourses. In the exposition of his closing speech he himself places the first beginning of his attempt at the reformation of the church in the year 1516, the same, in which he had already received a call to Einsiedeln. He must first stand firm on his own feet, before he can begin the attack. Hitherto, the Holy Scriptures had been his daily and nightly study, and he knew the greater part of them literally by heart. Before this, he had made his debut as a political reformer, but of his doings in this sphere, we will only be able to judge rightly, when we have taken a view of the relations of the confederates to their neighbors in Upper Italy.

Long before the original articles of the confederacy, the alliance of the three Forest Cantons of Dec. 9, 1315, were concluded, the highways over Mt. Gotthard had become the channels of an active commerce between Germany and Italy. When they were opened for this purpose cannot be clearly shown, but they were certainly so used in the twelfth century. The inhabitants of Uri, and partly also those of Schwytz and Unterwalden supplied the Italian markets with their cattle, and the mountain-valley of Urseren flourished particularly by means of this trade. But they had dangerous neighbors in the turbulent Lavinians on the south side of Gotthard. Here the Swiss and Italians met each other in hostile attitude at an early period; for the first time, as far as we know, in the year 1331. The Lavinians had plundered some merchants on their way to Switzerland, as well as harrassed the people of Urseren who drove their cattle to Bellinzona. They were supported in this course by their landlords, the Visconti, Dukes of Milan. Uri called on Schwytz and Unterwalden for help, and on Zurich also, although it was not then included in the confederacy. The allies marched out and pressed on to Faido, spreading universal terror. The General Vicar of Como mediated a peace; but from that time forth we find the confederates continually entangled in the affairs of Upper Italy. Campaigns of a greater or less extent are undertaken, and treaties struck, broken, and again renewed. The chief business seems to have been the settlement of boundaries.

Perhaps it would have been better, if all that lay on the further side of Gotthard and the Bundtner Alps had remained without any direct communication with Switzerland. There is too wide a difference between the Italian and the German character. But the struggle to secure for their chief products an advantageous market had greater weight with the three shepherd cantons. Sustained by their confederation they soon endeavored, sword in hand, to extend their boundaries southward, and in 1476 Livinen came under the acknowledged sovereignty of Uri, and in 1500 Bellinzona with the adjoining country under that of the Three Cantons. In 1503 these changes were confirmed by France, which then had the upper hand in Lombardy.

This and not as yet a corrupt liking for mercenary service was the original occasion of the campaigns of the confederates in Italy. The battles of Arbedo and Gierniko were fought in support of brethren whom they were bound by oath to help. But by long-continued habit the view, that what was passing on the other side of Gotthard could not be indifferent to their own land, took firm root in the minds of the Swiss statesmen, and therefore it was, that the scandalous game of intrigue and bribery, begun by Louis XI, by which France aimed at the destruction of the Swiss national character, had a good opportunity of unfolding itself on Italian ground, where France under Charles VIII and Louis XII, contrived to increase her own power, by arraying Switzers against Switzers. Nevertheless, there were yet, even in the beginning of the sixteenth century, some among the Swiss soldiers, engaged in the Italian campaigns, who were animated by motives nobler than a thirst for gold or plunder. The duty of upholding sworn treaties, and the hope of working out a lasting peace for a frontier so exposed to invasion might have prompted the more distinguished, but very often the common soldiers were only stimulated by a love for weapons streaming with blood.

The betrayal of Ludovico Sforza, surnamed Il Moro, at Novara, in 1501, had indeed greatly shaken the confidence, hitherto nearly universal, in the fidelity and honor of the Swiss; but even at home indignation was awakened by it, a severe examination instituted, and the chief actor executed at Altorf. Indeed it seems generally to have roused the better feelings of the nation. An oath was demanded against the acceptance of pensions and mercenary service under foreign lords; and a levy was not only refused to the French ambassadors, who had come into the country with new bribes, but their safe-conduct even was recalled. Although such things were enacted by their diet, yet corrupt leaders again practised their lures, and a crowd of reckless youth again gave ear to them. But when France, now strongly established in her domination over Italy by the repeated aid of these deserters, began by degrees to treat them more coldly, and in the end with contempt even, they appear to have become more wise. Instead of remaining quiet within their own borders, they gave free rein to a growing national hatred, which the Emperor and then the Pope, Julius II, well understood how to turn to their own profit.

Indulgences, blessings, consecrated gifts from the Papal Chair were held up before their eyes by their countryman, the cunning, eloquent, indefatigable Cardinal Schinner, whilst the knightly Emperor reminded them that it would be nobler to aid a plundered prince to regain what he had lost than to stand by the haughty robber; and the young Duke of Milan, son of that Ludovico Sforza, since dead, who was taken prisoner at Novara and afterwards escaped to Austria, promised them, in return for their help, the most profitable alliance and the possession of Lugano and Locarno. And here for once, both private advantage and public honor seemed to ran together, and hence resulted an expedition, more numerous and better organized than any former one, not under foreign banners, but under their own, and led by able and experienced commanders, the so-called March, to Pavia. This was the first campaign in which Zwingli was personally present.

In the ardent years of youth the national love of battle glowed even in his bosom. From the most eminent authors of Greece and Rome he had learned much of war and the history of war. He himself tells us with what eagerness he pored over the campaigns of Alexander, narrated by Curtius, and those of Cæsar, written by his own hand. But he did not rest content with deeds of arms merely. The nature of the countries and the character of the people were full of interest to him. He inquired into the causes of wars, and considered their operations and results. In a letter to a friend he thus advises, "Read Sallust's description of the wars of Jugurtha and Cataline's conspiracy. See in the former the insolence, the artifices and the lust of power of a single aristocrat and how far the love of money can lead; in the latter, what gifts can do, and how they can embolden those who are bribed by them. Let Appian of Alexandria then picture to you the distraction of citizens and civil war, with banishment and its consequences. He understands well how to relate briefly every thing that is noteworthy. Whoever begins, can not lay his book down, until he has finished it."

We are by no means to regard Zwingli as an advocate of war. It appeared to him a calamity; but as a calamity, which cannot always be avoided, for which one must be prepared, and that the times of its coming are determined in the plans of superhuman wisdom.

Holding such views and persuaded that the expedition was lawful--in the line of right and duty, he now, in 1512, followed the banner of the Canton Glarus into Italy. According to ancient custom, this was the duty of the pastor of the chief congregation, for where the banner waved, there was the highest power of the country. To every one in the warlike assembly gathered around it, his voice was boldly lifted up. In order to counsel and to guide, it was necessary, that the most intelligent should not be wanting there.

In a Latin letter to his friend Vadianus in Vienna, Zwingli himself has thus narrated the events of this campaign:

"Since an evil report about the Confederates has been spread far and wide, and since even that, which the result proves to have been just and innocent, is abused and misrepresented, I have undertaken to give you a picture, short indeed, but true, of the actual condition of our affairs. Passing over the terms of a treaty of alliance, concluded between the Most Holy Vicegerent of Christ, Julius II, and the Confederates, I would only state, that the King of the French (to whom, even while attacking the Church of Christ, some one gave the flattering title, 'Most Christian') wearied out the Venetians by protracted war, conquered in several hard-fought battles, and captured or laid waste their towns; and also that he took up arms against the anointed Head of the Church; set up, under the guidance of a wicked demon, an antipope, as he is styled, and robbed the Holy See of many large cities, among which was Bologna, mother of the sciences and nurse of the common law. When, at the close of the Easter festival, the august King of Spain beheld the ship of Peter tossing in danger on the threatening waves, the condition of the Church filled him with sorrow. As quick as possible he gathered an army and sent it to the aid of the Papal troops, who since winter had lingered in Middle Italy. Full of valor and skilled in military science, they approached Ravenna by forced marches. But the French tyrant also sent out a strong force to meet the Spaniards and their allies, the Venetians."

"When the enemy came in sight, the Spaniards did not decline battle. They had with them an engineer, possessed of the talent of an Archimedes and a Dædalus. He had invented light sickle-wagons, on each of which stood a small mortar. These they pushed before them. The French army was commanded by the Grandmaitre.^[2] In front he placed the Swabian landsknechts; behind these the Gascons, and a large body of cavalry, on the wings. The most select of these, himself at their head, formed the corps of observation. At the signal of battle, a shower of red-hot balls was discharged by the Spanish army. The landsknechts were startled. 'Why do ye stand?'--the French marshal is said to have cried out. 'Will ye wait to be shot down? O that I had the brave Confederates with me yet!--they who at the sight of any enemy roared like raging lions, fell on him, and pressed into him! Forwards! Whip them, whom you have often whipped before! Set your swords and halberds against the balls!' The landsknechts begin to advance. And now, the Spaniards put fire to the old wheeled-wagons, and, sheltered by them, press on against the centre. A terrific melee ensues. From sheer fatigue they must often rest and repair their broken ranks. The battle lasts from morning till evening. Already the greater part of the landknechts are killed, and the rest fly. The cavalry also, and the Gascons waver. Eight thousand victims cover the field. The Grandmaitre looks toward heaven, gnashes his teeth, and cries out, 'The victory of the Spaniards shall not be bloodless, or I die this day.' He puts spurs to his horse. His trusty followers come after. Bravely fighting he falls. But the enemy, who expected no new attack, are thrown into disorder. The French again press forward, conquer, and take possession of the city. Night only ends the conflict. Hannibal, after the victory at Cannæ, spread no greater terror over Rome and Italy. The fear of the French rule produced universal lamentation. Comfort and assistance were begged for on all sides. The Confederates, in view of this state of things, think, what a dangerous example it would be, if such a raging tyrant were allowed to make war on the Common Mother of all faithful Christians. They quickly assemble and resolve with zeal, to put the affairs of the Church and of Italy into a better condition. A legate of the cardinal (Schinner) makes his appearance, begging and imploring them by their treaty-obligations to set out at once; yet he can offer no more than a gold-florin to the man. It is scarcely credible; but in six days, notwithstanding, 20,000 chosen infantry are brought together, who immediately rush through Graubunden, over the Adige, and down the narrow defiles to Verona, then in the possession of the landsknechts and the Gascons. On the approach of the Confederates they evacuate the city. The Cardinal again appears in the Swiss army and is received with many marks of honor. Intelligence reaches us from the Venetians; who soon come up with 800 mail-clad troopers and 500 light-horse. Full of glad anticipation they behold the imposing array of the Confederates. We advance to a river^[3] (whose name I have not learned) on the other side of which the powerful French army stands strongly intrenched. The bridge, behind which Valleggio lies, was defended by three massive towers. The artillery of the Venetians compels the French to fall back. They take with them what provision they can raise. The army advances to Pontevico, where the enemy again makes a momentary stand. Here a castle is built in the middle of the bridge,^[4] up to which point it had been broken down. In the presence of the foe, but under the protection of the Venetian cannon, a number of volunteers swim over and fetch back the boats, which had been carried to the other side. A bridge is quickly constructed. But by the time the army crossed over, the Frenchmen are in full flight. Only a few shots from the field-pieces are sent after them. Conscious that the state of their affairs is desperate, deprived of the support of the Germans, knowing the enemy with whom they have to deal, believing themselves secure no where, they take refuge in Pavia and await the result. The boldest of the Confederate youth had cut off from them a considerable herd of cattle, on which the army could have subsisted for a long time. Ulric von Sax, leader of the Confederates, just as prudent as he was active, resolves to besiege Pavia for a while, because he thinks it not yet advisable to take it by storm. The French still endeavor to prevent a passage over the Po.^[5] Here an incident happens almost as incredible as it is amusing. In the French camp were 800 landsknechts, survivors of the defeat at Ravenna. Some of our men swim over the Po, in order to take measures for the fastening of a bridge. The landsknechts sally out to prevent this. All the youth of the Confederate army, skilled in swimming, running, jumping, cast off their clothes and, halberd in hand, leap into the Po, to fight with enemies, of whom they say, 'Would that God had given us such for a daily exercise in the art of war.' In fact, they raised a warlike laugh as often as they caught a glimpse of the landsknechts, not because they esteemed them cowardly and despicable antagonists, but because they were found by them on the side of the enemy and beaten oftener than they conquered. Although the landsknechts saw the naked, white bodies, they still fled, giving a free passage over the river. The Confederates now marched on to Pavia, which was surrounded and taken in a few days in the following manner. Some single combats had preceded. Six Frenchmen had called out four confederates and were killed. Two others challenged a chamois-hunter from the Canton of Glarus. This pleased him. One he shot down with his gun; the other he attacked with the sword. The French, trusting the walls as little as their courage, meditate flight and wish to cover it by the landsknechts, whom they address thus, 'You see, brave comrades, be it chance or be it fate, the luck of war has forsaken France. We must think of retreat, if we cannot count on victory. Our camp is full of despair. Your former boldness must expect to-day the most illustrious trial. Act up to your reputation! We, the heavy and the light armed, will occupy that part of the city, which stretches along the Mincio,^[6] before the enemy presses in there and cuts off the way of escape. Thus will we secure the safety of all. If we cannot conquer now, we must try to keep our lives to do it hereafter, as Demosthenes says. So that no one may suspect us of treachery we leave with you the artillery, the pledge of our hope.' The credulous foot-soldiers (landsknechts), trusting their fair speeches, permitted them to march out. But the French have scarcely placed the Mincio (Ticino) behind them, when they take to flight and leave the landsknechts in the lurch. As soon as the citizens of Pavia observe this, they promise, on condition that they are exempted from pillage, a month's pay to each individual in the Confederate and Venetian camps. The former thirsted for a contest with the landsknechts, but this desire was yet to cost them much bitter sweat. The clumsy artillery of the besieging army was drawn up in the park, outside of the city, under the guard of a hundred picked men, from different corps. It was not yet noon, when the women and the more aged citizens, unsuspected by the foot-soldiers, appeared on the walls and let down scaling ladders over them. The hundred, employed as a watch in the park, with some others who joined them, hasten up, climb the walls, and without the knowledge of the rest of the army, try to penetrate into the heart of the city. But the landsknechts have artillery, and they only their short weapons and their fiery courage. Had not the narrow streets checked the former, the Confederates would all have been slain. They try to conceal themselves for the moment behind projections and sheltering walls; but then they suddenly rush out, make themselves masters of two pieces, and turn them against the enemy, who were thus gradually driven back. And now one of the combatants mounts the wall, and proclaims victory and the capture of the city. It is not believed; a stratagem is feared, and it is forbidden to approach the wall. At last, encouraged by the prolonged stentorian cry, some venture to climb up. The landsknechts resist in vain. They become wearied out and are driven into the river. Of 800, only 50 are taken alive. Meanwhile the Confederates march through the gate. The Venetian horsemen pursue the fugitives, but can only overtake a few. Anon, a shout resounds through the city, 'Julius, the Swiss are conquerors.' On the third day, the garrison of the castle surrenders. Eight battering-rams, ten culverins, and ten pieces of smaller artillery are among the trophies. Several had previously belonged to the Venetians. And now at sight of them they embrace and wet them with tears and kiss the escutcheon of St. Mark. So much had the disgraceful loss pained them. The remaining towns send embassies and give in their adherence to the Cardinal and the Confederates. Even Genoa is conquered by the Spaniards, and Asti acknowledges, begging for peace with tied hands, the power of the Holy League. All Italy, the seacoasts of Liguria, and the Lombards are made free by the Confederates. 'We owe to them,' they confess, 'what liberated Greece once owed to Titus Quinctius.' The sound of the trumpet re-echoes through cities, towns, and villages; and bells ring. Scholars, clergy and preachers proclaim from the pulpit; 'Ye are God's people. Ye have humbled the enemies of the Bride of the Crucified.' The army, tarrying some days in Pavia, suppresses a rebellion, which I pass over, because the matter was brought to a happy issue. Then messengers hasten to all parts, in order to bring about a settlement of the affairs of Milan. The Confederate Diet is assembled in Baden, and the following embassies arrive there: legates from his Holiness, Pope Julius II, from the Emperor, from the Cardinal of St. Potentiana (Schinner), legates by proxy of the King of Spain, from the King of France (these half by stealth), from the Duke of Savoy, from the Duke of Lorraine, from the Venetians, from the Milanese; all bent on furthering their own wishes and aims. Here the foresight and craftiness of men must be studied, how they try to bring each other into difficulty, in order to prosecute their own advantage more securely amid the confusion; and how they pretend to desire one thing, in order to gain the contrary. The Emperor in particular ties the knot. He had resolved in secret to restore Maximilian, son of the banished Duke, Ludovico Sforza, to the princely seat. To the astonishment of all, he comes out with the assertion that Lombardy, as a fief of the empire, durst receive its ruler from no one but the head of the empire. This gave little satisfaction to the Confederates. 'The Emperor,' say they, 'had promised to assist us with cavalry; but he went no further than fair words. We, the Pope, and the Venetians have borne the burden of the war. And now, he, who did nothing, comes to carry off the prize.' Yet it does not break out into an open quarrel. Another embassy arrives from the Holy Father, Julius, and the cardinals. It brings to the Confederates the title of honor, 'Liberators of the Church.' Most welcome is this title to them, and most welcome what is added, 'They may ask what they please, the most sacred will be granted to them.' The greater part, yea, all ask for the privilege of bearing the image of the Crucified on their banner; the men of Glarus wish the risen Savior. In the end the resolution is passed to bring back Maximilian, the son of Louis, to the throne of his father. I would have written to you more fully, my dear Vadianus, for this is not the hundredth part, had not a pressure of business prevented me. Judge of this hasty letter with indulgence. It has been the work of not more than three hours."

This, the earliest historical production of Zwingli, that has come down to us, is translated as literally as possible, in order to show the opinion then entertained by him, of political and ecclesiastical relations, his strong youthful spirit, which delighted in the chances of war, and his study of the military art and history of the warlike Romans. The latter is seen in the occasional, mostly well chosen, technical terms, the insertion of short speeches, and the concise, graphic mode of representation. The defective knowledge of geography displayed need not be wondered at, since maps, those indispensable helps, were wholly wanting in that age. In his eyes the Romish church is surrounded with the highest glory, and its sacred head, the Pope, worthy of reverence almost divine. He regards the expedition to Pavia as lawful, exults with national pride in the laurels won, and even the sight of disorders among the haughty conquerors appears to make only a transient impression upon him. But with keen glance he discovers the moving spring of the diplomatic transactions, the elements of discord, and the quarter, from which the most destructive inroads on the life of the republic were to be feared.

For two years it had become plain to him, with what danger this impure game of false statesmanship, this system of bribes, frauds, flatteries, and intimidations threatened the Confederacy, exposed to it on all sides. Two poems, written about the year 1510 or 1511, "The Labyrinth" and "A poetic Fable concerning an Ox and several Beasts," are to be received partly as pictures of the time, and partly as lessons of warning. Vigorous, rich in thought, original in conception, but somewhat rude in language, they exhibit a row of well-drawn single figures, without light and shade, rather than a group disposed by art, and owe more to the exercise of the understanding than to the impulses of the imagination. They deserve to be handed down to posterity only as the productions of an author, who has done greater things. The second winds up in the following nervous style:

"Where Bribery can show its face,
There Freedom has no dwelling place.
And such a blessing Freedom is,
That boldly Sparta, as we wis,
Unto Hydarmes gave reply:
'Freedom must stand by Bravery
Sheltered and guarded evermore.'
Amid the bloody ranks of war,
Amid the fearful dance of death,
Let gleaming swords drawn from the sheath,
And sharp-edged spears and axes be
Thy guardians, golden liberty.
But, where a brutish heart is met
And by a tempting bribe beset,
There noble Freedom, glorious boon!
And name and blood of friends too soon
Are cheaply prized and rudely torn
The oaths in the holy covenant sworn."

In Italy, the honorable closing act of the year 1512 now took place. At the gates of Milan, in presence of the imperial, papal and Spanish deputies, the burgomaster Schmied of Zurich handed over to the young duke Maximilian Sforza the keys of his conquered capital, and the bailiff Schwarzmauer of Zug received him with a Latin oration. It were well, if the intervention of the Confederates in Italian affairs had ended here, and a strong national resolve, to keep what they had won, and leave what is foreign to the care of foreigners, had gained the ascendency. But already baits were again thrown out by the Pope, the Emperor and France, and were soon followed by scenes, more stormy, more disgraceful, more tragic, out of which the battles of Novara and Marignano rise in bloody trappings.

For several years the eyes of Zwingli had been fully opened to the destructive influence, which foreign mercenary service exerted on a free state. Whether he accompanied the banner of Glarus twice, or only once more into Italy cannot now be accurately determined. Bullinger alone states that he was present at Novara, confounding probably this expedition with one of an earlier date. It is certain, however, that he took part in the campaign of 1515, for, six days previous to the battle of Marignano, he preached in the square before the town-hall in Monza. "Had we followed his counsel," says Werner Steiner, who at the side of his father, the landamman of Zug, listened to the sermon,--"much less blood would have been shed, and the Confederates saved from great harm." But dissension reigned in their ranks, which were crippled by French gold and promises, and they, who did remain faithful, lacked one leader around whom to rally.

The terrific battle of Marignano had ended in a dreadful defeat. Voices of lamentation, reproach, and repentance met those, who found their way back to their native land and resounded here and there also from the pulpit. Zwingli, who himself had been an eye-witness of the whole calamity, believed it his duty, as teacher in the chief-town of the little republic, not to keep silent.

Before men of rank and influence, who even in Glarus, though compelled for the moment to remain quiet, soon gave themselves up again, at first cautiously but afterwards without shame, to the seductions of renewed bribery, sticking to that conqueror, who before had rewarded them so gloriously, and began to further the interests of France, instead of those of their own country, he unveiled, without fear or restraint, the ruinous consequences of this scandalous trade, laid bare its secret hiding places and tricks, and encouraged the better spirit of the people to a wholesome resistance. But notwithstanding, the cunning seducers knew how to restrain themselves, and in spite of all, they gained firmer footing, and although the Perpetual Peace, lately concluded with France, did not give them all they sought for, they still received by it a more secure position for further intrigues.

But at length their hatred broke out into open flame against the bold, troublesome speaker--the preacher, who dabbled in politics--the fanner's son of a remote district, who had the presumption to attack the great ones of the land, the old patrician families, and who, though himself not pure, nevertheless cast blame on others. Full of avarice, envy and hypocrisy, the proud, the fault-finders and the spiritual dwarfs met together. They whispered, fanned their rage, shook their heads, reviled, threatened; in a short time they had no rest, till he wished himself away; and hence, at a later period, he thus wrote to Vadianus, "Nothing else could have induced me to change my situation but the intrigues of the French. I am now at Einsiedeln. I would tell you what injury the French faction has done me, if I did not think that you knew it already. I had to take part in affairs, and have suffered and learned to suffer much evil."

We will now examine the charges, that were brought against Zwingli, keeping steadily in view the position as to science, character, and fitness for his calling, which he occupied, when he left Glarus. As the indispensable fruits of a republican form of government we look for freedom to be good and true, decision of character, and the unrestricted development of every nobler feeling and of every kind of profound knowledge. When it protects and fosters such tendencies, and makes good its title to an honorable place among other forms. But when it fails so to do, because of democratic, or aristocratic degeneracy, it then writes its own condemnation. Zwingli began his labors as a republican, in whom the citizen was not lost in the priest. And this we must always bear in mind, so as not to do him injustice, when we see him working as resolutely in the state as in the church. Whether this course can be defended in our time does not concern us. It seemed well in his age, and that it is our business now to describe. The republican feeling of equality gave him, moreover courage to face every opponent with boldness, yet always with argument. He honored the old families, when they practised the old virtues. The man of rank, who sinned against his country, was in his eyes more worthy of punishment than a common person. Meanwhile these views found too much sympathy in the free Canton of Glarus, to allow his enemies to attack him, except in an indirect way. They harped, therefore, so much the more on the third charge, that he even, the fault-finder himself, was not innocent. "Why," say they, "does he rail out continually against French intrigue? Only because he has sold himself to the Papal interest. Is he not in close league with Cardinal Schinner? Is he not his spy, his minion, commissioned by him to distribute the presents of the Pope? Does he not receive letters, testimonials of honor, from the Nuncio? Yes, he--even he who calls us takers of bribes, draws a yearly pension from the Pope."

And certainly it was so, but with this difference--an honorable intention on his part, and a base one on theirs. The scientific and practical qualifications of Schinner and his clear insight into the relations of life were highly esteemed by Zwingli, who looked on him as a strong champion in the contest against French corruption. And in truth this son of a poor shepherd in Valais was no common man. By talent and industry he had raised himself to the bishopric of that Canton. Defeated by an opposing party he had to flee, but was already known to the Pope, from whom he received a Cardinal's hat. Of course he now labored to advance the interests of Rome and the Empire among the Confederates, but at the time when Zwingli became acquainted with him, not by such disreputable means, as afterwards. Any separation from the church was as yet far from the thoughts of the Reformer, although he already desired the correction of existing abuses. What was more natural for him than to seek to win over to his assistance those, who could exert a direct influence in Rome, the Cardinal and the Nuncio? And indeed, a few years later, when he came out manfully against the politics of Rome, he yet distinguished between the person of the Cardinal and his cause, and true to earlier feelings of friendship, defended the former, as long as it was possible. "They,"--wrote he to Myconius--"who blame me for yielding too much to the Cardinal, I suspect are only friends and well-wishers in appearance, and censure me for that which, though it were not altogether reasonable, ought to be allowed on the score of friendship. Rather would I err in thinking well of a bad man, if I did not know him to be bad, than in thinking ill of a good one." The fifty florins, which he drew yearly on the order of the Pope, were laid out only in books and scientific helps, needed for the better exercise of his calling. This pension he gave up of his own accord at a later day.

The main charge, however, was directed against his moral conduct. Not merely gloomy hypocrites, habitual fault-finders, who took offence at every joke, to which his gay humor may have prompted him, and condemned his love of music and society, but unprejudiced, worthy men also regretted that his attentions to the women were not always kept within proper bounds. It were idle to deny, what he himself openly confessed, when he bewailed the errors of his youth and strove to do them away by redoubled zeal and faithfulness to duty. Some excuse may be found for him in the customs of his age. The failings of superiors were then treated with indulgence, and a transgression of this kind received but a mild sentence at the bar of public opinion. His honorable dismissal from Glarus, given to him only with reluctance, shows, also, that in spite of occasional short-comings, his character was held in general esteem. Certainly Catholic writers, since then and even in modern times, have sought to cast a stain on his later work by laying undue stress on this weakness of the Reformer's youth.^[7] The simple question may be put to them, 'Are not Augustine and Jerome counted among your most distinguished saints? And yet you know, or ought to know, what they have confessed--things that Zwingli had never to renounce.'

He was now past his thirty-first year, and in the full vigor of manhood. His national sympathies, the extent of his knowledge, his courage and ability were well known to the inhabitants of Glarus and to many also beyond the limits of the little Canton. As to matters of faith the struggle was yet going on in his own bosom. Here, on the one hand, stood the Church, to whose priesthood he had been consecrated, with her stiff, unbending dogmas, and her stale, lifeless forms, yet esteemed holy, to touch which was regarded as an unpardonable crime in the individual; and there, on the other, eternal truth, superior to the narrow restrictions of human power, raised above decretals and the decisions of Councils, drawing to herself all noble spirits with an irresistible charm, of all objects the most worthy of pursuit and untiring effort--and besides these a third, easily overlooked by the inexperienced youth--by the thinker in his quiet chamber, but not by the practical man, who must mingle directly with the people--the necessity of a higher, a more infallible authority than his own, an authority acceptable to all good men and acknowledged by all. It was well for him that he knew how to connect this with the results of his investigation. Not by ignoring the understanding, not by a cowardly retreat, where others ventured freely to inquire, not by an assent, that feared to ask for proof, lest one should cry out, "Wo to the heretic!"--No! but by boldly examining for himself and using his reason, he only arrived at the more settled conviction of the truth of the Holy Scripture and of the divine power of the faith built thereon. "Take good, strong wine," wrote he to the nuns in Oedenbach, at a later period, "it tastes good to the healthy, makes him glad of heart, strengthens him, warms his blood. But he, who lies sick of a distemper, or fever, and cannot taste it, much less drink it, wonders how those who are healthy can drink it. The fault is not in the wine, but in the disease. So the Divine Word is altogether right in itself, and revealed for the good of men. But he, who cannot bear it, nor understand it, and will not receive it, is sick. Thus let them be answered, who wickedly say, God would not have his Word understood," (we must subject reason to faith) "as if God wished to expose us to danger."

In order to attain completely that firm ground, where settled conviction is the result of the union of faith and knowledge, he could scarcely have done a wiser thing, than to withdraw into the more quiet retreat, which was opened for him in the neighboring Einsiedeln.

Far and wide, throughout the Confederacy, and the surrounding countries, was spread the name and glory of this monastery, which, like St. Gall and Muri, was subject to the rule of Benedict. It dates its origin as far back as the ninth century, and was built on that spot, occupied in the beginning by the hermit's cell of Meinhard, a German count. A legend of a voice, that fell from heaven, when in the following century the Bishop of Constance was dedicating a new chapel there, and of a song of angels repeatedly and distinctly heard, gave rise to the yearly festival of the "Consecration of the Angels," which, when it happened on a Sunday, as it did every seventh year, was celebrated with increased splendor. The story of Meinhard's death and the discovery of his murderers by means of ravens, who followed them, survived among the traditions of the people, and the miracle being accredited by Pope Leo VIII, and the power of granting plenary indulgences allowed to the monastery, vast crowds of pilgrims were attracted thither. By their offerings and the donations of the great it became wealthy. The Abbos enjoyed the rank of a Prince, and the monks, as a body, were descended from noble families. They were a proud, irritable race, and could talk as much almost about the history of their quarrels as of their pious exercises. Conrad of Hohenrechberg, who, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, stood at their head, troubled himself little about incense and choral singing, and thought it a wicked thing in his relations to have forced him to take the cowl. He took a knightly pleasure in the chase, and his heart leapt at the sight of a drawn sword. To cunning and hypocrisy his nature was averse. Whoever was open, simple, and sincerely pious found a friend in him. For learned men he had a great esteem, but from lack of elementary knowledge, was not able to follow their investigations. This he modestly confessed. The reading of the mass he avoided as often as it was possible, and was free to say, "If Christ be in the bread, then indeed I know not how highly you prize yourselves; but I, poor monk, am not worthy to look on him once, and hence decline to offer him. Is he not there?--wo is me! if I offer bread, instead of God, and suffer the people to adore it." When disputes ran too high, he sometimes broke them off with the words, "Why so much talk? Now and at my last hour, I say with David--Have mercy, O God, upon me, according to thy loving-kindness. Enter not into judgment with thy servant. More I do not wish to know." He was a diamond, unpolished, it is true, and carelessly set, but always powerful enough to prevent any interference in the government of his foundation.

At his side, Theobald of Geroldseck, filled the influential post of Administrator. Zwingli himself writes of him, "His share of knowledge is quite moderate, but he knows the value of learning, and particularly seeks intercourse with those, who are possessed of it." By the aid of such persons he desired to increase the prosperity of the monastery, for the advantage and maintenance of whose privileges, he was clothed with power. He was glad therefore to learn that Zwingli was able to accept a call, and in fact an agreement was entered into by the attorneys of the two parties on the 14 April, 1516, at Pfaffikon, on Lake Zurich, in consequence of which Zwingli undertook the office of preacher and pastor, in the capacity of vicar to the people's priest at Einsiedeln, for which boarding at the convent-table, 20 florins at the quarter-fastings, the revenues arising from the penny-offering and requiems, and his own share of the confession-fees were guaranteed to him, and the first complete benefice at the disposal of the Administrator besides. Nevertheless, at their own urgent request, he still remained pastor of his congregation in Glarus, and discharged his duties there by the help of a vicar.

In the summer of the same year, trained as he already was in the school of the world, he entered into the quiet shades of the cloister. It can scarcely be expected that he will remain there long. First of all, let us take a view of monastic life on its most favorable side, as a school of self-denial, as a place of refuge for more profound study, as a field for the exercise of practical charity. In all these respects it has no doubt served valuable ends. And who will deny that, in times when the will of the strong would endure no restraint, when bloody revenge was thought to be a duty, and when iron bodies, broken by no excess, added deeds of violence to deeds of violence, a milder spirit was awakened in the walls of the cloister, and that pride was humbled there, and self-will subdued?--that in the God's peace, which protected its environs, the mechanic, as well as the peasant, found labor and encouragement? And who does not acknowledge the services rendered by particular monasteries, especially those of the Benedictines, in the preservation and multiplication of rare manuscripts--the works of the ancients, that had survived the downfall of the Western Empire and the irruption of barbarian hordes? And even in later times, in our own country, who will not freely own his indebtedness to a Kopp in Muri, a Van der Meer in Rheinau, and the monks of the neighboring St. Blaise,---a Herrgott, Neugart, Eichhorn, and the Abbot Gerbert himself, for a knowledge of the diplomacy and history of the Middle Ages? Who does not honor the Augustines of Mt. St. Bernard, the Gray Sisters and the excellent schools of particular monasteries?

But then, on the other side, who will not admit that indolence, false views of life, narrow-mindedness, hypocrisy, and secret and impure practices found a home in a multitude of these establishments? In Zwingli's days, these dark features were most prominent and, we may even say, altogether prevailed. To prove this, not only Protestant, but enough of Catholic witnesses also are at hand. It was well for a man of his spirit and aspirations to spend a few years in the quiet cells of the cloister for the completion of his theological studies, especially since he was exempt from the duty of wasting time in empty ceremonial rites. But after this end was attained, it was easy to foresee that he would again wish himself beyond the narrow walls.

To this the peculiar character of the monastery of Einsiedeln, as a far-famed place of pilgrimage, contributed. In general there is little to admire in the disposition of any one, who does not find his soul elevated in places hallowed by departed greatness. A noble feeling lay at the bottom of the expeditions to the Holy Sepulchre during the Middle Ages, although they partook of all the rudeness of the time that produced them; and even yet, how many spots are there in the land of Palestine, that awaken, in the bosom of the traveler, meditations, in which earnestness and sorrow mingle. On fields of battle, in haunts, where ruled the leaders and the teachers of mankind, memory works with double power, and even around graves known only to perishing tradition, there lingers for some an imperishable charm. No censure therefore on pilgrimages that spring from such deep impulses!

But when the hand of man ventures to write down in such a place: "Here is plenary absolution from guilt and punishment," when the mortal will forestall the eternal judge, and by the fancy of expiation obtained through such a pilgrimage, the frivolity of the sinner is directly enhanced and the perpetration of grosser crimes encouraged, when money rings in the sanctuary, in whose courts a market is opened for relics and consecrated amulets--who can be angry, if a feeling of indignation flashes through the mind of the clear-sighted thinker, as well as through the believing heart of the truly pious?

But Zwingli was now compelled to witness frequent scenes of this kind. And in what troubled shapes, did not the events of the day, the delusion of the crowd, and the avarice of those who made again of them, array themselves, when in the stillness of the evening or the night, the Gospel opened to him its fountains of light, warmth, and living sacrifice. No doubt this conviction of the unworthiness of this trade, carried on with lost men, was confirmed, and the impulse to come out at once and maintain stout battle against all these powers of darkness, more and more strengthened. Though somewhat before, yet now more than ever the feeling, that such a conflict must come, paved his way; the eyes of thousands were seeking some, who would undertake it, and were turned with desire to every one, gifted with a resolute spirit; and many friendly voices told him, that on his efforts the hopes of the father-land chiefly rested. "This is he"--said John Œchslin in Stein to his friend Fabricius--"of whom I cannot say enough,--he, who towers above all other Swiss,--he, who has spread around him here a better civilization." "He"--the German Nesenus wrote to him--"who has humbled our monks, those spiritual tyrants, has done more for the true doctrine of Christ, than he who has beaten the ferocious Turks. Go on, my Zwingli, in the work begun for the blessing of your nation." "You show us"--is contained in a letter of Rhenanus from Basel--"the true doctrine of Christ, sketched intuitively, as it were, on a tablet; you inform us, that Christ was sent into the world for this purpose--to communicate to us the will of his Father; that he commands us to despise earth with its riches, its honors, its power, its pleasures and every thing of this kind, and seek after the heavenly father-land; that he teaches us peace, unity and all the lovely charities of life (nothing else is Christianity), as of old, Plato, who is truly worthy of being counted a great prophet, dreamed of them in his republic; that he would lift us above a state of abject dependence on country, parents, kindred, health, and all the blessings of earth, and convince us that poverty and the other miseries of life are in no wise evil. These doctrines Christ has confirmed by his life, more glorious than that of any man. Would that Helvetia had many, who could so exhibit Him to us! Such alone have power to improve our national character. And our people are by no means incapable of improvement."

The relation in which Zwingli stood to Geroldseck gave him encouragement to take a bolder step. Whatever he needed in the way of scientific help Geroldseck permitted him to buy for the monastery and was glad to add thus to its treasures. Zwingli was always grateful for his protection and support, and at a later period, when he had left Einsiedeln, gave utterance to the following expression, "You have never looked back, after you laid your hand to the plough. You are indeed the friend of all scholars, but me you have loved like a father, having not only admitted me to your friendship, but to the most intimate confidence of your heart. Go on, as you have begun; stand firmly at your post. God will in the end lead you to the goal. No one can gain the crown, who does not fight bravely for it." Most willingly did he respond to the order of the unprejudiced Administrator, to go, with his friends, Zink, Œchslin, and Schmied, to the convent under the supervision of Einsiedeln, there to relieve the nuns from the duty of singing matins, to recommend to them the reading of the German Bible, and to grant permission to any, who might wish it, to leave the convent and marry.^[8]

But the most powerful weapon of his spirit was the living word. Proceeding cautiously, step by step, he as yet only attacked abuses in Einsiedeln; nevertheless his pulpit discourses made a deep impression, and already the number of pilgrims began to diminish, yea, many brought back again the presents, which they had carried away. Reports are still extant of the sermons preached at the festival of the Consecration of the Angels, in 1517, and those of Whitsuntide, 1518.^[9] The first must have been bold, and according to the testimony of Hedion, who was present, the second were "beautiful, thorough, solemn, comprehensive, penetrating, evangelical, in the power of their language reminding one of the oldest church-fathers." A part of the monks were scandalized, but the Abbot and Geroldseck encouraged and protected the orator.

The attention of Rome was drawn to these things; but it did not at all abandon the hope of winning him back again. A literal and faithful translation of the letter, sent to him from Zurich, on the 14 August 1518, by Antonio Pucei, nuntio of the Apostolic See, is here added:

"Glorious by virtues and merits, commended as well by experience as by the testimony of your honorable fame, you have found such favor in the eyes of our Lord, the Pope and the Apostolic See, that we, full of paternal kindness, keeping in view your person adorned with scientific culture, graciously purpose, according to the authority granted as by our aforesaid Lord, the Pope, to confer on you a title of special dignity. But hereby you perceive in truth, whither our kind disposition toward you would tend, when we now create you--who are a master of arts, whom, we, out of regard to merits already alluded to, would promote and adorn with the title and privileges of a special post of honor,--you, whom we, if you have fallen in any way under any ban, suspension, interdict, or other ecclesiastical sentence, or under any censure or penalty of any court, or of individual men, be its origin what it may, partaking in the operations of our favor, and turning your prayer toward us in relation to the matter, we would now absolve and have known as absolved--you, we now, in the name of our holy Lord, the Pope and the Apostolic See, in accordance with these presents, create an acolyte-chaplain, by the apostolical authority, granted us by the most holy Father in Christ, our Lord, the Lord Leo X, Pope by the decree of God, and exercised by us, and graciously enroll you in the number and society of the other chosen acolyte-chaplains of our Lord, the Pope, and the Romish See. At the same time we grant you the possession and enjoyment of all the privileges, prerogatives, honors, exceptions, favors, liberties, immunities and indulgences, singly and collectively, which belong to the other acolyte-chaplains of our Lord, the Pope and the Apostolic See, or which they in any way hereafter shall be allowed to possess and enjoy, to be used by you freely and in a lawful manner, unrestricted by the apostolic constitutions and commands, or any other kind of impediment whatsoever. Then will you by aspiring after virtue advance from good to better, and become worthy of a still higher place in the presence of our Lord, the Pope and ourselves, and he himself, our Lord, the Pope, and we will thereby be moved to bestow on you more extensive favors and honors. The present document is dispatched to bear witness, and we have allowed it to be ratified by our seal appended thereto."

"An official style," the scientific reader, who looks at this letter may exclaim; but the people, in whose ranks Zwingli ranged himself, understood and needed another kind of language. That which the Church granted to her pliant acolyte-chaplains--freedom from excommunication, the dwellers in the Alps had sometimes ventured to bestow upon themselves on their own authority in moments of power. The complicated sentences and the promises contained in them, in case of fidelity and submission, made, therefore, little impression upon the Reformer. How independent he was, in this respect, even at Einsiedeln, appears from his letter, of 1525, to Valentine Compar, former state-secretary in Uri. "Observe," says he, "dear Valentine, what I will yet publicly make known to the people, now living, that I, both before and since the schism arose, have discoursed and treated with distinguished cardinals, bishops and prelates concerning errors in doctrine, and warned them to begin the correction of abuses, or else they would be involved in greater trouble. Eight years ago at Einsiedeln and then at Zurich I often proved to the Lord Cardinal of Sion, that the whole Papacy rested on a rotten foundation, and this always by appealing to the Holy Scriptures. The noble Sir Diebold von Geroldseck, Master Francis Zink and Doctor Michael Sander, all three yet living are my witnesses; and the above-named Cardinal has frequently expressed himself to me in this way, 'If God restores me again to favor (for he was at that time in disgrace with the Pope), I would then willingly see the pride and falsehood of the Roman Bishop exposed and corrected.' And then, he has not seldom conversed with me about doctrine and the Holy Scripture, and every time would acknowledge the falsehood and his displeasure at it. But how he behaved afterwards, need not be told here."

When, therefore, the Bishop of Constance himself, just at this time, in a pastoral letter to the clergy of his diocese, uttered, in the strongest terms, complaints of their thoroughly corrupt condition, and deplored, that "many of them, without regard to shame and the fear of God, kept lewd women in their houses, and would neither put them away nor do better, and that others were addicted to gambling and oftener to be met with in taverns than in their own rooms, wrangled in the streets, scolded, giving rise to uproar as well as blasphemy against the Savior, his blessed mother, and all the saints of God, wore weapons and clothes altogether unsuited to their condition, entered into unlawful agreements, crept into nunneries and otherwise led abandoned lives at variance with the priestly character," and acknowledged the urgent necessity of a remedy, was it a seditious movement, or not rather a noble effort to help on a good cause, when Zwingli thanked his chief pastor for this, but at the same time begged him to act as well as speak?

It is easy to imagine how such a zealous discharge of the duties of his calling should more and more attract the attention of the public authorities. Wintherthur was anxious to see him in the place of its deceased pastor. He had to decline, because the citizens of Glarus were not willing to release him from his former engagement. In Zurich even, wither he had come on a visit, the number of his admirers continually increased. The burgomaster Roist and his brethren-in-arms at Marignano were acquainted with him since the Italian campaign. To the senator, Jacob Grebel, he was introduced by his son Conrad, at that time one of his warmest admirers. The canons Utinger, Erasmus, Schmied and Engelhart knew and honored his scientific attainments, and even the hostile disposition, which, then already, some of the most resolute defenders of every kind of wickedness cherished toward him, might well have proved a recommendation to all well-disposed people. Thus the way was prepared for a translation to the scene of his future labors, but before this, Einsiedeln was yet to see him coming out boldly against one of the cardinal sins of the Papal Court.

Samson, the auctioneer of writs of indulgence, came to Switzerland, as Tetzel to Saxony. The shameless trade, carried on by both, in the pretended remission of sins, is well known. We will not revive these scandalous scenes, confidently believing, that their repetition in our age would be impossible. Even Zwingli paused a moment, before he ventured to attack openly the corrupter of the people, who was backed, as he asserted, by a commission from the Pope. It was the bishop of his country, who strengthened him for the undertaking. "Hugo, Bishop of Constance"--says he in the letter to Compar already quoted from--"has informed me by his Vicar Johansen Faber, since the Franciscan monk Samson would sell indulgences amongst us, and since he, the bishop had learned that I preached against it, and confirmed me therein, he was willing to stand by me in all fidelity. How could I act otherwise? Had I not to obey a bishop of Constance, whose vicar wrote to me,--even if I had not intended to do the same thing before--to make war on the ensnaring system of indulgences?"

He uttered warnings from the pulpit in Einsiedeln and the natural result was, the monk found so little encouragement in the neighboring Schwyz, that he the more quickly passed on to richer and more willing hearers in Bern.

But now, with this last act, the ministerial labors of the Reformer in Einsiedeln must be brought to a close. Erhard Battman, people's priest at Zurich, was elected a member of the monastery of that place and resigned his post as preacher. The choice of a successor lay with the canons. A majority of the most influential of them, together with several officers of state urgently desired that Zwingli should be chosen. Oswald Myconius, properly Geisshausler, who is since known as the biographer and friend of Zwingli, became an agent in the matter. He was born at Luzern, four years later than Zwingli, and had received a careful education, particularly in the Latin language at Rothweil under an eminent teacher, and afterwards in the High School at Basel. He early became acquainted with the accomplished Glareanus and thanked him especially for his perception of every beautiful and noble tendency in life, and for an introduction to Zwingli, who once came from Glarus to Basel on a visit. It was the learned Netherlander Erasmus chiefly, around whom, all who strove after culture and science with genuine zeal, united themselves in Basel. Even Art found in this genial man recognition and encouragement. The celebrated painter Holbein was his friend, and had furnished spirited illustrations for a book, in which Erasmus had hit off the various follies of the time with wit and humor. This memorial is preserved to this day in the library of the city. In the society of such distinguished men Myconius found his sphere of knowledge enlarged, his judgment corrected and his will strengthened. Three beautiful traits appear prominent in his character--Earnestness, Thoroughness, (by which, not content till he had rightly apprehended the smallest details, he rose higher, step by step, but ever the more securely, for thus Platter, afterwards his scholar, has portrayed him with grateful affection), and then, that which only belongs to pure endeavor, a Modesty, that is not concerned about its own praises but only about the propagation of truth, and springing from this and connected with it, the most cordial esteem and the most devoted friendship, where he discovered true merit in others, and an acknowledgment without envy, where he found in them a greater talent than his own. For this reason he became so intimate with Zwingli and remained so true to him, through all changes, to the end of his life. About the same time that his friend went to Einsiedeln, he himself received a call as teacher in the foundation school at Zurich. Here he soon gained influence and consideration, and it was owing to his efforts that the present invitation was extended to Zwingli, who answered him thus, "See that you tell me of the course of duties, the persons, who are at the head of affairs, the salary and whatever else you can find out. On Wednesday I will dine in Zurich and then we can talk over the matter. I will take no step without your advice. Congratulate, according to usage, in my name the newly elected Provost Frei, as one who is a friend to learning."

Myconius confirmed him in his resolution to offer himself as a candidate for the post; and, some days after, Zwingli laid open his heart to his friend. "A fable"--writes he--"reaches my ears; that Lorenzo Fable, so the Swabian from Graubuenden is called, has preached once before your congregation, and is not wholly unacceptable to the prudent people of Zurich; yet a letter from Michael, the private secretary of the Cardinal, assures me of the contrary. How, said I to myself, is it thus true, that the prophet has the least honor in his own country? Can a Swabian even be preferred to a Switzer, who, on his own territory, would not be regarded as inferior? Yes, indeed! I see well how he strives to gain the applause of the multitude by flattery. I know too that the whole endeavor of the vain man is after that--this Jack Smoke, as I, with our Glareanus, will call fellows of his kidney. Keep this scornful effusion of mine to yourself, dear friend, and continue to work for me, for I will freely confess, the place appears now doubly desirable, since I know, that he hankers after it. Yes, what I would otherwise have borne patiently, would now seem a real disgrace. Indeed I must go against the warning of Paul, who accuses them, that covet, of worldly-mindedness. Already I had proposed to myself, to expound the whole Gospel of Matthew, an undertaking hitherto unheard of in Germany. Let them choose him and they will soon see what he will bring out of his goose-stall. Take this hasty letter in good part. It is more warm than prudent."

Myconius answered, that his friendly letter was welcome, and the more so, because he had given in it a true picture of himself. About Fable he set his mind at ease. Unfavorable reports of him had since arrived; and there was no one in Zurich, who did not laud Zwingli's attainments to the skies. But his life offered another difficulty. A minority at least found fault with it. A part of them saw in his fondness for music a worldly disposition; others said that he had not confined himself in Glarus to good society; and at a very recent date a rumor began to spread abroad, that he had been guilty of too familiar intercourse with a daughter of a citizen of that place. A further examination of his fitness for the office was committed to the Provost Frei and two members of the canonicate, Utinger and Hofmann. The latter, an aged, severe man, formerly a zealous preacher against the mischief of foreign pensions, was particularly anxious to know what might be in the affair. "Write to me about it"--concludes he--"not, because you need first prove to me the falsehood of the charge, but because I wish to contradict those who are ill-disposed."

A letter from Zwingli to the canon Utinger immediately followed, in which he honorably confessed the crime, yet affirmed that he had not been the seducer, but the seduced. With shame and anguish he made this confession, and vowed that, for the future, by daily and nightly searchings and labors, he would keep himself free from stains of this sort. "Nevertheless"--continued he--"if such charges are spread abroad by my enemies, your people must have a poor opinion of me, and if I should be elected, the preaching of the Gospel must suffer damage. It is advisable, therefore, for you to consider well beforehand, what the public sentiment may be, and to listen rather to God than men. Speak frankly about me, with whomsoever you may find it necessary. Show my scrawl," (for that it is and no vindication) "to Myconius, and to any one else you please. I lay my fate in your hands. Whatever the result may be, withdraw not your love; mine for you always remains."

That, after all this, Myconius and Utinger pushed on matters with redoubled zeal; that Hofmann came out on his side; that of the twenty-four canons seventeen cast their votes for him; that in Zurich, and among all the sons of Zurich in foreign lands, the liveliest joy prevailed, shows us that the favorable opinion, held of him, did not suffer much by his confession. It was the same case in the scene of his former labors. The inhabitants of Glarus, to whom he had gone, towards the close of December, in order to resign his post, which he had retained till this time, respected him so highly, that, on the strength of his recommendation, they passed themselves over to the care of Valentine Tschudi. At Einsiedeln, Geroldseck acted in the same way. He chose Leo Judæ, the friend of Zwingli, as his successor in that place. The guardian power of the monastery, the Council at Schwyz, wrote to him, "Although we in part regret that you must leave us at Einsiedeln, yet, on the other hand, we rejoice with you in everything that contributes to your profit and honor." Through Glareanus the tidings came from Paris, "All the Swiss youth, who are here, were delighted; they exulted, particularly the sons of Zurich. What concerns me is, that I have less reason to wish you happiness than to pity my friends in Glarus." Thus then, he who was taking leave, stands in his true image before us, exhibited in his weakness as well as in his prepondering virtue; no saint--only a man; but a man full of courage and faith. Well! let us accompany him to the enlarged sphere of that ministry of his, whose results will endure for ages.

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST:

Footnote ^[1] Dinner was eaten at ten, or at the furthest eleven o'clock.

Footnote ^[2] Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours.

Footnote ^[3] The Mincio.

Footnote ^[4] Over the Oglio.

Footnote ^[5] He confounds it with the Adda, which empties into the Po.

Footnote ^[6] Again a change of names. The Ticino is meant.

Footnote ^[7] Even in representations designed for the people such malevolent charges are found. These exaggerations are to be corrected not by concealment, but by a candid statement of the facts.

Footnote ^[8] This could scarcely have taken place, as may be supposed, during his ministry at Einsiedeln.

Footnote ^[9] He seems to have made his first open attack on the whole system of pilgrimages in the year 1522, when at the invitation of Geroldseck, he preached once more at Einsiedeln, since, in this year, the 14 September fell on a Sunday, the time of the greater festival of the Consecration of the Angels. The government of Schwyz, which had hitherto favored it, now first opened its eyes.

[CHAPTER SECOND]

ZWINGLI IN ZURICH. BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION. POLITICAL AND
ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS UP TO THE FIRST RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE.

Just as Zwingli began his reformation in Switzerland, Martin Luther made his appearance in the German Empire. Many in those times tried to disparage the work of Zwingli by asserting that he only took the words out of Luther's mouth.--Learned men are since divided, some attributing the first step to the one and some to the other. As far as religion is concerned the question is of little consequence. The corruption of the church was the same in Switzerland as in Germany. Both were men of independent character. Each was developed in his spiritual peculiarities, according to his own nature and the custom of his people. But since Zwingli himself has set forth his relation to Luther, it may be worth our while to listen to his own language: "The great and powerful of this world have begun to proscribe and render odious the doctrine of Christ under the name of Luther; so that they, by whom it is preached, are called Lutherans. Thus it happened also to me. But before any one in our country ever heard the name of Luther, I had commenced to preach the Gospel in the year 1516, since I never went into the pulpit without placing before me the words, read in the Gospel of the mass for that day, in order to explain them from the Holy Scripture alone. In the beginning of the year, when I came to Zurich, no one yet knew anything of Luther, except that a book was published by him on indulgences, but it taught me little, for I had already been instructed concerning the fraud of indulgences by a disputation, which my beloved teacher, Thomas Wittenbach of Biel, held at Basel, although during my absence. Who then shall give me the nick-name of Lutheran? And when Luther's little book on the Paternoster appeared, and I had shortly before explained the same Paternoster in Matthew, I well knew, that many pious people suspected me of making that book and adding Luther's name to it. Who then could nick-name me a Lutheran? I point out this with all the circumstances, so that every one may learn, what the base intentions of several noblemen are, when they venture to tack the name of Luther to all, who preach the Gospel, so as thereby to make the doctrine odious to men, by giving you the name of a man, which is truly nothing else than a gross blasphemy, and a sure sign of a corrupt, godless conscience. Luther is, as it strikes me, an excellent soldier of God, who with great earnestness has looked through the Scripture as no one has ever done in a thousand years on earth, and with manly, undaunted spirit, has attacked therewith the Pope of Rome, as no one has ever done like him, as long as the Papacy has endured, yet without receiving abuse from others. But of whom is such an act? of God, or Luther? Ask Luther himself and, I well know, he will say, 'Of God.' Why then do you ascribe the doctrine of other men to Luther, when he himself ascribes it to God? Does Luther preach Christ? Then he does just what I do; although, God be thanked, by him a countless world more will be led to God, than by me and others, whose measure God makes greater or smaller, as he will. Nevertheless I will bear no name but that of my captain, Christ, whose soldier I am, who will give me office and pay as much as seems to him good. Now, I hope, every body will understand, why I do not wish to be nicknamed Lutheran; although I esteem Luther as highly as any man living." He proved by his actions that he spoke the truth, for when the Papal Bull of excommunication against Luther was already sent out, though not yet made known, he strove as far as it was in his power, first by representations to the acting attorney of the Legate in Zurich, and afterwards, by an anonymous publication, to hinder it as much as possible. So Zwingli stood then, acknowledging the high merit of the Saxon Reformer, supporting him, at his side; but now let us turn back to his national career.

The destructive influence of foreign mercenary service and pensions on the character of the people was no less visible in Zurich than in other States of the Confederacy, and the number of families, who were able to resist the charms of gold, displayed freely on all sides, was small, especially in the city. Indeed, the councils and people had, in the year 1513, executed a solemn oath against "Wages and Bribes," as it was called, and two years later, at the rumor of a high-handed breach of it, the people of the lakes rose up and by threats produced the flight of some of the bribed, and the dismissal and punishment of others; but the oath was taken on one day, uproar followed on the second, and then new transgressions on the third. When Zwingli came to Zurich, a suspicion, that had more or less foundation, rested on some of the first men in the government. This was increased by the notorious intrigues of the many foreign embassies, who were present, and their followers also not seldom helped on the demoralization of the city. In Bern the state of morals was better than in Zurich. "The Bernese"--wrote Sebastian Wagner to Zwingli--"appear to me not so morally corrupt as our people of Zurich. Their dress and their manners have a certain air of ancient Swiss simplicity." Bullinger also says, "Before the preaching of the Gospel Zurich was almost like Corinth in Greece. Much lewdness and frivolity prevailed, because diets were held there and many strangers flocked in, where the embassies of lords and princes were staying." George Mangolt of Constance tells us that he heard Zwingli himself say from the pulpit in the year 1520, that on a former visit to Zurich "he found so much wickedness there, that he silently resolved never to become a pastor in that city and prayed God to prevent it," and some years later, when reform began to gain ground, one of his friends, Anthony Dublet, wrote to him from Leyden, "I cannot tell you, what joy possessed me, what comfort stole into my heart, when I heard, that the first state of the Confederacy, your men of Zurich, till now, it seemed, born only for war and murder, more beasts than men, have laid aside their godless avarice joined to a godless cruelty, and in good faith pledged themselves to the simple Gospel and Christ, the Lord, the true Mediator. Truly, God is mighty, who can from such stones raise up children to Abraham!" The number of executions, one of which occurred nearly every month, was not able to keep down outbreaks of the lawless spirit, which ruled the nation, and the sentences of the judges on the bench not seldom bore marks of the rudeness of the age. In the second year of Zwingli's ministry, a witch was burnt, because she confessed on the rack, that she had sold herself to the Devil, had enjoyed connection with him, had ridden on a stick to Schaffhausen, and to an assembly of wicked spirits on the Heuberg, lamed cattle, and conjured up a frost and five hail-storms. New saints also were wantonly manufactured. The journeyman-tailors proclaimed St. Goodman as their patron, left off work, and went dancing about to the music of a drum. The authorities were compelled to interfere with sternness. All this shows the difficulties, that met the Reformer, on the part of the people, to whom he was sent.

And as it regards the government and the clergy his path was in no degree smoother. That some of the most distinguished members of the council were honestly and decidedly national in their feelings cannot be doubted. There is no evidence to show, that the burgomaster Mark Roist ever preferred his private advantage before the public weal, and his son Diethelm also, who sat next his father in the council, was an acknowledged man of honor. The deputy Rudolph Thumeisen had likewise maintained an unspotted reputation, and George Berger and Hans Effinger, even in Italy, among so many degraded characters, proved themselves incorruptible. Hans Edlebach, the treasurer Werdmueller, the banneret Schweizer, and of the younger men, Ulric Funk and Lavater, landvogt at Kyburg, enjoyed universal esteem. But besides these, there was another party, composed of men, who as the crowd says, meant well, though they were weak, and not inaccessible to the corrupting influences of the time, and hence undecided in moments of peril. The second burgomaster Schmied, his successor, the deputy Walder, and the senator Jacob Grebel may be pointed out as belonging to this class. On the other hand, there was yet a third class, who, were ready to desert any cause, and to help on and take part in any bold, disorderly proceeding. Accustomed to splendor and good-living, they had been reduced to poverty by idleness and prodigality, and hence were always in the market for the highest bidder. And yet by reason of their noble descent, and their extensive connections they were able to wield a considerable influence, for most of them were members of the aristocracy. Among these appear the Gœldins, the Stapfers, the Landenbergs, some of the branches of Zieglers and the Rahns, and bold men, like Onofrion Setzstab, who were prepared for any undertaking. Zwingli could foresee in them all, his deadly, and at a later period perhaps his powerful enemies.

Among the clergy, the new people's priest was brought into direct intercourse with the canons, who elected and had control over him. Although they had his kind wishes, he yet resolved, to act freely according to his convictions, supported by a feeling of spiritual superiority. He could scarcely have rejected good counsels from the trustee Utinger, and the canons Erasmus Schmied, Walder, Bachofen and some others perhaps, who at the very first extended to him the hand of friendship. His beginning will appear more difficult when we consider, that they acted by authority, and whoever, supported by it, ventured to come out into more decided opposition against him, could be certain of a strong support. That he therefore had to look for cold respect, but no hearty co-operation from one portion of the circle of his ministerial associates, and secret dislike, yea, even burning hatred from another, might be inferred from the nature of the human passions and the circumstances of the case.

In this way, his position had already become suspicious to the higher, and much more to the lower clergy, on account of their general dislike. The reputation, which had preceded him, made the race of monks tremble, for by their degeneracy, they had fallen into deserved contempt with the mass of the people. Still, distinguished patrons, and adherents in public and private remained true to him. Zwingli could not at least expect skillful opponents from this quarter. Their gross ignorance left them at his mercy. But just in the very consciousness of his superiority lay a temptation, so much the stronger to rash and premature action, and by this the Reformer was threatened with the greatest danger. Thus affairs stood in Zurich, when Zwingli began to teach. He arrived there on the 27 December, 1518, and immediately presented himself to the convent of the canons. Here he was made acquainted with the duties of his office. Of the fourteen articles of direction, the two shortest were those relating to the pulpit. Twice in a year he had to read aloud longer passages from the Gospels, to preach on Sundays, to announce the festivals, and to notify the chapter of the so-called anniversaries, or to see that it was done by one of his two assistants. The other articles treated of his presence in the choir, obedience, style of dress, the reading of the mass, baptism, simony (the selling of benefices or obtaining them by fraud), but especially the care of the revenues of the chapter. All his duties were detailed therein with the greatest precision and minuteness. An article was afterwards added, which made it the duty of the people's priest not to leave the city during seasons of pestilence.

At this meeting Zwingli declared that he regarded preaching as his chief business. First of all, the people must be taught to understand the Holy Scriptures. So it had been in ancient times. But now nothing was heard, except solitary extracts, and even these in a foreign language. He did not pass by the remark, that the church thus orders it, but appealed on the contrary to its oldest statutes, and proved clearly the modern origin and ruinous consequences of the change.

What he had told the canons, he made known to the congregation on the first of January, 1519, and on Sunday the second, began to expound the Gospel of Matthew. It is easy to imagine, that, when he first came out in this unwonted manner, a large number of hearers would be collected to-gether; but to retain them, demanded an inward call, combined with a vast range of knowledge. The applause, which he drew forth, continually increased, for he knew how to attract both the high and the low. His sermons were life-pictures; and this gave them their charm, their power, their practical effect. The doctrine of Christ, designed for all nations and all ages, is so simple, and can be traced back to such a few principles, that by a mere repetition, paraphrase, or exclusive explanation of these only, the most dexterous orator, obliged to appear so often, must become dull and cold; but infinitely rich, and ever new, is life surveyed in the light of this same doctrine. The appearance of Zwingli, not only every week, but almost every day, was, for this reason, always welcome. Now, when the occasion called for it, there were representations of the fate of Jesus and of the apostles; and then again, narratives or pictures from Christian or Jewish, and sometimes even heathen history, events of the day, and praise or blame, which, without fear of offence, he wove into his discourses. "Take it not to yourself, O pious man!" he was accustomed to say. Indeed this mode of preaching raised an excitement nearly like the press in our times. Yet one difference between the old and the new teachers of the people is not to be overlooked. The former employed throughout the rule of the Gospel, and was concerned for the advancement of religious truth and not mere party views.

In proportion, meanwhile, as his knowledge of the people of Zurich and their circumstances increased, his sermons became more direct and pointed. If any one found fault with them, and it came to the ears of the preacher, he might be sure of an answer at the first opportunity. He did not hesitate to speak of them by name, and sometimes gave free play to his wit. Whatever was done, in convent-walls, bar-rooms, and even in the hall of the council, contrary to truth, reason and sound morals, was exposed without mercy from the pulpit. Just then, 1519, the throne of the German Empire became vacant by the death of Maximilian I. Intrigues in regard to the choice of a successor kept the diet assembled in Zurich, in constant employment. Envoys were repeatedly sent to Italy in the service of the Pope; France attempted once more to bring about a closer alliance, and towards the north, in spite of all the dissuasion of the allied powers, whole troops of deserters streamed to the banner of Duke Ulric of Wirtemberg, who, driven from his own capital, was engaged in war against the Swabian League. Amid these circumstances Zwingli took occasion to speak sometimes a word from the pulpit concerning politics. In this, the Gospel gave him less countenance, than the example of those Jewish prophets, who formerly made bold to bring the rule of kings under their examination, warning, or censure. But the times were no longer the same, and such a transgression of the bounds marked out by prudence, might well awaken concern in the bosoms of individual statesmen, who were not deserving of reproach.

And yet amid all, he still gained firmer footing in Zurich. Every man of unbiased feeling was obliged to confess, that he was inspired by religion, and had the welfare of the state as well as the church truly at heart. Moreover, it could not escape any one, familiar with history, that only the most decided measures can eradicate deep-seated corruption. The universal abhorrence of the traffic of indulgences came to his aid. The miserable Samson, after filling his pockets at Bern, had ventured to approach Zurich. Both the spiritual and secular authorities approved of the attacks, which Zwingli made against him. He was prevented from riding into the city. Even the Diet, to which he appealed, would have nothing to do with him, and went so far as to give Felix Grebel, who was setting out for Rome, a commission to lay complaints of him before the Pope. Immediately the monk received evidence of Leo's displeasure. "The thirteen cantons of the Confederacy"--was written to him--"have complained to His Holiness, that, in the promulgation of indulgences, you have fallen into errors, which it were out of place here to enumerate. The Holy Father is much astonished at this, and has given orders, to enjoin upon you in his name, to be subject in all things to the will of the aforesaid lords of the Confederacy. You shall remain there, for the execution of your commission, if they demand it, but in no way oppose them, if they desire you to return to Italy; for it is the will of the Holy Father, that you be entirely obedient to these lords, his well-beloved sons, in all things that can contribute to the welfare of their souls. You will also show this letter to them."

There was great rejoicing over this conclusion of the matter, especially on the part of the General-vicar of the Bishop of Constance, Faber, who had formerly been Zwingli's fellow-student in Vienna, and had since then kept up a certain intimacy with him. Indeed at Zwingli's first bold debut the general-vicar seemed to wish it still closer. "Why"--wrote he to him--"do you make so careful and sparing a use of my friendship? Why do you seem to mistrust me? Do not doubt! Begun under favorable auspices, it will last forever." Still later he invited him to his house, communicated his plans to him, asked his judgment concerning books, and proclaimed aloud his praise, especially where he knew that it would reach Zwingli's ears. But the Reformer looked deeper. Modesty was a prominent trait in his character from youth upwards. In the one appeared the love of the world, the struggle to elevate himself by any means in his power, the vain fancy that he could hood-wink others by the assumption of a mask; in the other, a strong love for truth. Nevertheless, Zwingli wished to avoid a breach with his former friend; and now, especially, when he and the bishop seemed not unwilling to favor further reforms. In reference to this he thus expresses himself in the letter to Valentine Compar already quoted from: "I have sent humble and dutiful letters to the Bishop of Constance, and pointed out to him publicly and privately and in every way, how he ought to apply himself to spreading abroad the light of the Gospel; and that it would redound to the honor of the whole race of Landenberg, if he were the first bishop, who would cause the Gospel to be freely preached; but I do not know how the weather has changed. They, who were so prompt before, have given me no answer, either by mouth, or pen, except, what they have done in general. But this was unlike the former, because (in consequence of it) the vicar let me understand orally and by writing, the Bishop would not endure too much urging from the Pope."

Amid such signs of a storm gathering on all sides, the plague broke out in Zurich towards the close of the summer of 1519. Spreading in almost all the neighboring countries, it reached Switzerland from the east, and penetrated into the secluded vallies of the mountains. Zwingli received the news of its near approach in a bath at Pfeffers, and, mindful of his duty as people's priest, immediately hurried back to Zurich. Seeing the peculiar danger, he sent several young men, who were living in his house, particularly his young brother Andrew, to their homes; but he himself unterrified began to discharge the duties of his office. The result, that was foreseen, followed. He also was laid upon a bed of sickness.

Not for harmony of rhythm, but for the deep inward feeling, which they manifest, the verses composed by him, after he had become convalescent, in two different periods of sickness, are truly remarkable. They show us the sources of his faith and activity, and a character, which even in view of what appeared to be his last hour, remained true to itself. An admirer of Zwingli in modern times, still keeping faithfully to the thoughts, has altered the language to that of our century, and in this form they may also be admitted here.^[1]

But his vigorous constitution surmounted the disease. About the end of autumn signs of convalescence began to appear, and he gave vent to his joy, at the prospect of restoration to life and activity, in the following stanzas:

Thus sickness did not cause him to waver in his settled convictions, but filled him, on the contrary, with new courage. Yet the last poem shows us that a foreboding of a darker fate in the future was by no means strange to him. Indeed, not long after his recovery, he expressed himself still more clearly in a similar strain to his friend Myconius. After a glance at the dangers which surrounded Luther, he continued: "Whatever may befall me, I, already marked out as a victim, look for every thing evil from the clergy and the laity. I only pray Christ for courage to bear all with a manly heart, and that he may crush or strengthen me, his laborer, as may seem good to him, and, should I even fall under excommunication, I will think of Hilary, that learned and holy man, who was banished from Gaul to the deserts of Africa, and of Lucius, who was driven from the Roman See, and afterwards brought back with honor. I will not liken myself to such men, who though greater than I, still endured the greatest evils. But should one glory await me; may it be, to suffer shame for Christ! Yet, let him, who thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

That he could thus express himself to his best friend only by letter and no more see him in person at his side, belonged to the bitter trials of his life at this time. Myconius had just then accepted a call to the highest professorship in his native city Luzern, and Zwingli found himself deprived of half his support, "like an army"--he said--"one of whose wings is cut off in the presence of the enemy." This man, by reason of his moderation, had great influence with the clergy and the laity, and often became a useful mediator between them and the impetuous Zwingli. There was no one now to persuade the Reformer to use milder measures; and the complaints of the canons, summed up in a letter to his superior, the Provost Frei, only provoked him to a repulsive answer. These related chiefly to the imposition of tithes, the main source of revenue to the church, and an unjust burden in the eyes of the majority of the nation. The people's priest was expressly pledged by the statutes, to take care of the conscientious disposition of the tithe, and to insist upon it as a religious duty in his discourses. "Instead of which"--says the letter of the canons--"he denies the divine origin of the tax, and seems to regard it as tyranny, if it be strictly enforced. Is it any wonder that the people stick to him? He makes us odious to the laity, calls the monks 'theologians of the cowl,' and whatever he hears bad of them, he talks about it in the pulpit." It is almost certain, that the Provost, when Zwingli had conversed somewhat earnestly with him concerning these charges, was ashamed of the memorial of his subordinates. At least he cherished no hatred toward his person. On the contrary, some months later, he exerted his utmost influence to induce the chapter of the canons, without consulting a higher spiritual court, to simplify their worship and alter the breviary of the cathedral, "because it is impossible in this age to keep up any longer the multitude of holidays, ceremonies and ecclesiastical customs, which have been accumulating for centuries." In the same manner Zwingli was afterwards, upon his own request, admitted into the number of the canons.^[2]

Thus far in Zurich the external condition of the church remained the same. The agitation was confined to the souls of men. In the mean time this was little felt beyond the limits of the canton. Neither the Confederates, nor the Bishop, nor the Pope, nor his legates found any occasion to interfere; and now again it was from political events, that the first general movement took its rise.

The Perpetual Peace was concluded by Francis I, in the hope of paving the way for a closer alliance with the Confederates. He needed and sought after their soldiers; he wished to take them away from his enemies. He, therefore, sent to them some of his men of business, who were best acquainted with our country and its inhabitants; lavished gold in abundance, and held in his employ some of the most active Swiss as recruiting officers. Among these, Albert von Stein, a Bernese, was the boldest and most indefatigable. He was well known in the canton of Zurich. He had relations and connexions there. His appearance always gave rise to an excitement, and in some districts of the country at least, the youth did not lend an unwilling ear to his voice. When by the election of Charles V. to the throne of the German Empire in the year 1519, the French King saw his hopes vanish, he redoubled his efforts to secure the wished for defensive alliance, and a favorable hearing first of all in Bern and Luzern. Most other places joined with them. Only Zurich, Schwyz, Basel, and Schaffhausen stood out against it. At length, in April 1521, the three latter were also won over. On the 5th of May, the treaty was subscribed in Luzern by twelve states and all the places subject to them, and at the same diet the resolution was passed, to make a last general endeavor, to prevent Zurich from withdrawing by herself.

It is mentioned by Bullinger and all his contemporaries that Zwingli spoke out decidedly against this treaty from the pulpit and whenever he found opportunity; and they seem to infer from the strength and clearness of papers concerning it issued from Zurich, that he had the chief hand in their composition. But the Confederates worked against him with just as much zeal. Not only did envoys from Bern, Luzern, Uri, Unterwalden, Zug and Solothurn, along with the French ambassador Lameth, present, in the name of all the others, petitions, expressions of regard, and even hints at grievous consequences in case of a refusal, but written letters came also from the rural districts and congregations, demanding a subscription of the treaty. Albert von Stein and others like him, were seen traveling repeatedly from place to place throughout the canton.

Under these circumstances the government resorted to a natural expedient. It declared that it must first hear the voice of the people, and then the great council would decide.

Members of the council were sent into all the bailiwicks, to lay before the assembled commons, first the treaty itself, and then, a written explanation of its several articles, and ask their patient examination of it, and also a communication of their views, in writing, to the government. With the league and its significance to the Confederacy the more circumstantial history of the country begins. On the contrary, the real voice of the people ought to be plain to us from the answers of the commons. The records may be quoted in the true-hearted language of the time, and a beginning made with Winterthur.

"On notice brought by our worthy lords, the knight Felix Grebel, Younker Conrad Engelhard and Master Henry Wegmann, who as ambassadors of our gracious, loving lords, the burgomaster, and the Small and Great Councils of the city of Zurich, have sufficiently informed, by written instructions, my lords, the Schultheiss, and the Small and Great Councils of the city of Winterthur concerning the alliance--it is true: my lords, the Schultheiss, and the Small and Great Councils, would have thought advice from them unnecessary, since they have already given it to our lords, the burgomaster, and the Council of the city of Zurich, by their deputy and member. But since they could not be excused and found themselves included with others in the letters of instruction, they have sat upon the business and framed an answer to be given to the twelve cantons, in the hope that it may serve to further peace and unity. And the humble, earnest answer and prayer of my lords, the Schultheiss and the Small and Great Council, is, that some way may be devised, so to arrange matters, that our lords, the burgomaster and the Council of the city of Zurich, may be and remain one with the twelve cantons and the other Confederates, with the further offer, that, if it happen so or not, they will none the less act, as becomes pious, honest people, and place their lives and property at your disposal."

"The four Wards, together with Wipkingen, Seebach, Schwamendingen, and Oerlikon, also Wiedikon and Wollishofen, give answer to the paper read before them concerning the French alliance: first of all, that they thank my lords for their distinguished honor and friendship in laying open before them their cares and trials; therefore, be it their general will and opinion, and urgent desire and prayer, that my lords will be very slow to enter into union and alliances with the French, as well as other foreign princes and lords, since they would have nothing at all to do with the French aforesaid. For each honest man can scarcely raise children enough to send to the French King. Besides, be it also their desire, that the treaties and what they grant, be maintained among the Confederates; and thereto, as pious, true people and subjects, they pledge their lives and property and all else, that God has given them."

"An assembly at Hirslanden and Riespach have with one accord resolved on the cross, that they fervently, earnestly, and with the highest zeal, thank our lords of Zurich for their pious, friendly notice, and for telling them so truly the misery, troubles and dangers of the alliance with the king, brought about and subscribed to by the twelve cantons, and therefore, earnestly beseech our lords aforesaid to remain firm in their honest purpose and intention, and give the go-by to all princes and lords; then will they also pledge to them their souls, honor, lives and property without any reserve, since they would have nothing at all to do with this alliance, as far as lies in their power."

"A general assembly convened at Zollikon have, with great determination and unanimity, given answer, that they are well-pleased with the notice of our lords and their opinion, and that their reason is too weak to praise enough the pious, honest resolution of our lords; therefore they pressingly and earnestly pray our dear lords aforesaid to hold fast to their good resolution and not let themselves be moved therefrom by anybody, and not enter into this French alliance; then will they all together and without exception pledge their souls, honor, lives and property to our lords and stand by them till death."

"A general assembly at Kuessnacht, with one accord make answer: Your community has been sore wondered at and annoyed by the other confederates, who have brought themselves and their posterity into a danger, which will last for a long while, and may result in great damage to their people and cantons. Yet as for all, so the entire assembly with one accord, and with the greatest zeal, thank our lords for the true, friendly commands, brought by our two lords Walter Hans Berger and Thomas Spruenglin of the Small and Great Council, and also for the pious, honorable, just and Christian resolution, to suffer grievance themselves rather than mischief should befall us and our posterity in the course of time. Therefore, the assembly offer the earnest and friendly prayer to our lords, that they will stick to their resolution to give the go-by to all lords, so that they who belong to them can remain unhampered, and every father also be aided by his sons, if he has need to use them for himself. In this, the entire assembly dares to pledge to our lords their lives and property and all that they have, wishing them also to help to punish their own sons, when they will not remain true, and act in a rebellious manner. The assembly also desire our gracious lords, when troublesome persons stray into their city or canton, and act in an unbecoming way, striving to seduce the young men, that they will drive them off by authority, to prevent greater disturbance, which might arise from their overbearing dispositions."

Meila replied in a similar strain; and Mænedorf likewise.^[3]

"A meeting at Stæfa has agreed on this: Because, for several years past it has unfortunately happened, that many honest people have been lost and killed, it ought to be plain now, that it came by treachery, and by means of the same lights, which burn in one confederacy at this day. Therefore they agree that these lights ought to be put out. For such cause it is to be feared, if our people unite with the people of the twelve cantons, that they will be brought to dishonor by them, for it is the common talk, that the twelve cantons wish to appoint the Duke of Wurtemberg, and, if it then go well or ill with the Confederates, that it would be little to the credit of our lords of Zurich and their honest people (it would not redound to their honor to have separated themselves). Therefore, they do not the less think, that the alliance would be neither godly nor right and altogether against the welfare of the soul, and they beseech our lords to withdraw themselves therefrom, if they can, and set the hearts of their honest people at rest, when they can bring it about. Then will they pledge to you their lives and property as far as they can. The assembly at Stæfa would commend themselves to your regard, since they more than others will have to meet with reproaches."

"A general assembly in the department of Grueningen have unanimously resolved to give this answer to our envoys, saying: Worthy lords, to come to us for counsel was not needful, for the reason that we own you as our lords and superiors and willingly esteem you as such. Hence we ought to be rightly obedient to you in all your plans, and cheerfully aid you. But since you desire to know our wishes and feelings, great praise and honor are given on all sides to our gracious, loving lords, who have hitherto pleased us so well, for their excellent management; and it gives us great satisfaction, that you have so faithfully remembered your own, and are not willing, for the sake of money, that they should be bound; and we beseech you by the Most High God to stick to your resolution and give the complete go-by to foreign lords, and foreign wars and foreign money, as clearly shown in the contents of the paper concerning its removal, sworn to, years ago, in Zurich and all its dependencies. So we hope it will be adhered to and followed up. But if any one acts contrary thereto, or has acted, then you, our lords, well know, what punishment is due to him, and therefore we desire that you will consider the profit and honor of our country: so will we pledge to you our lives, honor, goods and everything else, God has given us, as a true child to his father; and will stand by you, like pious, honest people. Further, it is our urgent petition, that by some means you will drive Albert von Stein and others, who serve the French for pay, from your city and canton, so that honest folk be not corrupted and good comrades brought to sorrow, for it would not be to the credit of the city and our lords to have an honest man and his children stirred up to sedition and led astray. And it is also our prayer and desire, that our lords warn the several cantons of the dangers of such an alliance. And to this and all the articles, as here written, and whatever else it may please our lords to add, the honest people of this bailiwick, pledge their lives and goods, as poor folks ought to do to their lords and masters."

"Greifensee is not at all pleased with the alliance, since the up-shot of it would be, to make the king of France our master instead of our gracious, loving lords of Zurich."

Duebendorf, Dietikon and Rieden declare themselves in the same way, thanking, agreeing and resolving; Hœngg likewise, the department of Old Regensperg and New Regensperg, Neuamt; the Schultheiss, Council and general assembly at Buelach; the burgomaster, councils and general assembly of the department of Eglisau; the bailiwicks of Maschwander, Freiamt and Hedingen; Wædenschweil also, and Richtenschweil with the addition: "If our dear lords thus hold fast and keep always in the right way, it is our prayer, though they have heretofore eaten and drunk with the French, that they still drive them off; and that it be done by the Councils in the city and in the country, and finally, that they maintain the hereditary union of His Imperial Majesty, all as they have written."

Horgen adds this request: "Even though it should result in suffering and trial to our lords, to expel the foreign and German French from their city and canton, yet they would then be, neither French nor Imperial, but good Zurichers and Confederates."

"A general assembly at Thalweil has resolved firstly, that the paper which has reached them from Luzern is in no wise acceptable, for they do not believe that such a letter has been prepared honestly and at the command of delegated ambassadors, lords and rulers, but suspect that it has been hatched in corners and is chiefly the production of the German French. Accordingly it is their will and opinion, and very urgent prayer, that our lords will stick to their praiseworthy design not to enter into alliances and treaties either with the French or other foreign lords and ever boldly keep to their honest way--and then, that judgment and authority be immediately exercised, in the city of our lords, against certain German French, who travel about here and there, using haughty and improper language in order to stir up your own and other people--it is the friendly petition of this whole assembly that my lords will drive off such seditious characters, and should this not be done, persons can be found perhaps, who will themselves undertake to drive them off and restore quiet, for the reason that heretofore and now every disturbance has arisen from these German French--so will they place body and blood at the disposal of my lords."

Kilchberg, Altorf, in the upper part of the county of Kyburg, and Kloten give thanks and vote decidedly in favor of declining.

Upper Winterthur, having heard the paper read, resolved to return this answer: "Our lords have hitherto acted honorably and well in other similar affairs, hence, in good hope they will do so in the future, we confide in our lords as honorable men. Therefore it is their humble prayer and desire, that, as far as may be, our lords will not separate themselves from the Confederacy, but continue one with it; so will they ever act as dutiful subjects and pledge to our lords their lives and property and whatever else God has given them."

"The bailiff, council and general assembly at Elggau thus answer, that, not having understanding and skill enough to speak and advise in this or in matters of much less moment, they leave the business in the hands of our lords; yet it is their prayer, that our lords hold the Confederacy in friendship and favor, but none the less will they pledge to our lords their lives and fortunes."

"The burgomaster, bailiff, council and general assembly at Stein vote for declining the alliance, since, if it should be accepted, they would be afraid lest it should prove a great disadvantage and injury to the inhabitants of Stein and cause them sensible loss if war should arise therefrom, namely in their tolls, licenses, market-monies, quarter-dues, pasturing and watches, for lying on the borders they would have to bear the first brunt, and hence wish our lords to care for them in the most faithful manner."

Upper and Lower Stammheim and Marthalen leave the business in the hands of their lords.

"Andelfingen has framed this answer: As our lords have hitherto managed well for us, they are wise and prudent enough to act in this affair. Yet finally, they pray that our lords may remain in peace and quiet and continue one also with the common confederates, and, in case it may be reasonably effected, that our lords do not separate themselves from the Confederacy, desiring which, they place at their disposal their lives and property, and will be found as faithful and obedient subjects."

The opinion of the citizens was altogether the same as that of the great majority of the country-people. Everywhere the heads of corporations were commissioned to make this known to the Council, so that it was resolved in the end, after deliberating a long time yet with little opposition, to give a decided refusal to the alliance. But the answer was sent to the twelve cantons and Francis I., couched in moderate language, that Zurich would honestly hold to the Perpetual Peace with France, faithfully maintain all the treaties sworn with the Confederates, and not separate herself from them but place life and property at their disposal, that she also begged for the continued good will of France and allegiance to the Confederation on the part of the Swiss; and yet at the same time was firmly resolved henceforth to renounce the pensions of princes and foreign alliance, trusting in the help of God.

From now on every public voice in favor of foreign mercenary service was compelled to silence, and its avowed or secret promoters hid their resentment or left the canton. In fact the most notorious among them threw up their citizenship in Zurich. But the entire party of those, who remained in their native country, conceived the fiercest hatred toward Zwingli. "He was blamed," says Bullinger, "most of all for having prevented the union by his preaching and divided a brave confederacy. The distinguished pensioners and soldiers, as well as others, who had heretofore run after him and praised his sermons, now reviled Zwingli as a heretic. Many, to whom religion had never any special charms before, now pretended a great interest on its behalf, saying, they would defend the old, true faith against the heretic Zwingli, yet the secret of their zeal was not in their faith, but in the bags of the royal exchequer. Hence there arose among the other confederates a strong hostility against Zurich and abuse and slander against Zwingli." Still the cause of the people and the uprightness and fidelity, which maintains an oath, triumphed in the end.

The ground-pillar of all national prosperity is confidence, faith on the part of the people in their government, and on that of the government in the sound and just sense of the people. No constitution or laws, sacred as they may be in the eyes of the honorable citizen, no so-called policy, which rests on a system of deceptions, no rude strength of a dominant party, can ever supply the place of faith--faith, which alone inspires to nobler action. Hence the necessity in the state for religion also, which is the same as faith purified In every wise government therefore it will be a chief concern that the religion of the people be a sound one, i.e. one that will be justified by its practical results, for in regard to these only can we look for unanimity of opinion.

Christianity, freed from all the unwarranted additions with which national prejudice, narrowness and love of spiritual domination have striven for centuries to disfigure it, has no reason to shun this trial, out of which it can only come forth more glorious and divine. Of this Zwingli had been fully persuaded by his zealous study of the Holy Scriptures. Hew naturally the idea rose in his mind, to make this trial before the people themselves, who had hitherto been bound in the fetters of a religion, which addressed them only by authority, instead of before councils exclusively composed of clergymen and lords! Still it was a great venture. The weakened eye, when suddenly brought forth from the darkness, is blinded even by the purest light; the healthy one alone can endure the splendor of the sun. And yet upon this very power in a decided majority of his countrymen Zwingli relied, and the memorials, which we have just read, might have fully convinced him that sound sense was really at hand. But ought this claim to be preferred in political matters, and not in ecclesiastical also? Thus much is clear, that from this time forward Zwingli's endeavors took this direction.

If the bishop would deny him a hearing or condemn him contrary to justice, he intended to appeal not to ultra-montane Rome, ignorant of the German language and the German character, but to the judgment of his own nation, to the decision of an independent government entitled to act in the case, and the rule should be the Holy Scriptures, an unassailable code of laws acknowledged by all. And thus the fundamental idea of the Reformed Church naturally arose, which in its development has been more clearly defined rather than corrupted,--limited rather than extended. To follow out and discuss this subject is not our business; hence we turn back to Zwingli.

He had now preached for three whole years in Zurich, and the agitation, as we have seen, was certainly great. Still no one had as yet violated existing church-usages or actually assailed them. No opportunity for public interference on the part of the temporal and spiritual authorities had yet occurred. Indeed it was the policy of the Nuncio to keep in with the influential Reformer, since, as the deputy of a prince then at war with France, he was proscribed by the other twelve cantons, and could only hope for protection in neutral Zurich, where he anxiously sought it.

During Lent in the year 1522 several individuals ventured for the first time to transgress the episcopal ordinance in regard to the eating of meat, in a dissimilar manner it is true. Christopher Froschauer, a printer, having in the course of his business visited the Frankfort Fair, and become thus acquainted with Luther's writings and a witness of the spiritual awakening in Germany, had, when compelled by labor severer than usual, partaken along with his workmen of more strengthening food than was allowed, yet without concealment on the one hand and without seeking publicity on the other. For quite different reasons William Roubli, an outlawed clergyman from Basel, whom Zwingli himself has styled a rash and foolish babbler, and Hans Gunthelm, an impudent deserter, had not only done the same with great parade and loose talk, but had attempted also to induce other families to join them. Gladly did Zwingli's enemies seize this opportunity to lodge complaints before the Council. An investigation was held and Froschauer defended himself with dignity. The Council desired the opinion of the chapter of canons, the three people's priests in the two cathedrals and at the church of St. Peter, and thus the battle began in the very midst of the authorities. The parties were nearly balanced, more talent on the one side, greater numbers on the other.

The result was an affirmation of the rights of the Pope and the bishops, and a feeble explanation, which left the government free scope to act for itself--and it all ended in a simple reprimand to the transgressors. But Zwingli's opponents were by no means satisfied. They applied now to the bishop, and a few days after, Melchior Vattli, suffragan of Constance, John Wanner, cathedral-preacher, and Doctor Brendlin appeared with an embassy to the chapter of canons. At this very first interference of the high ecclesiastical dignitaries, the affair took a direction, which it retained in every step that followed. "What Zwingli himself has to say in regard to this event deserves careful attention.^[4]

"When"--he writes to his friend, the canon Erasmus Fabricius, then pastor at Stein--"on the seventh of April the ambassadors, of whose approach I had already been apprized, had reached Zurich, I wished much to learn what their purpose might be. But night had set in, before my faithful assistant, Henry Luethy, came with the news, that the notarius (as he is called) had an order to summon all the priests to attend early in the morning in the hall of the convent. I esteemed it a good omen, that the business was to be opened by a courser so dull and limping. Scarcely had we assembled on the morrow, when the bishop began in a fashion, which I will portray further on in the conduct of affairs before the Council. The whole speech was violent, threatening and haughty, although he carefully abstained from any personal allusions to myself and even avoided calling me by name. His declamation over, I stepped out, thinking it unbecoming and pusillanimous not to neutralize an address, that might do so much injury, especially because I could perceive by their smothered sighs, and read in the paleness of their faces the strong impression it had made on several priests, who shortly before had been won over to the Gospel and were not yet firm as rocks. Concisely and boldly I replied to the suffragan, in what sense and spirit, let the valiant ones, who have heard me, judge. The most important part of it you will learn meanwhile, when I come to describe the session of the Council. The speakers withdrew from this wing, as though he were beaten or put to flight, and hastened to another field of combat, namely the hall of the Council, where, as some of the members informed me, they brought it forward, likewise sparing my name, yet with the declaration, lest I might perhaps be called in, that they had nothing to do with me. After a short discussion, it was resolved to have as full a meeting of the Great Council as possible on the following day, and also to guard against the admission of the people's priests, as there was no dependence to be placed on them and their language, so unexceptionable, could not be contradicted. Through the whole day I tried my utmost to gain admission for us, but in vain. The burgomasters refused me, falling back on the resolution of the Council. I was now compelled to retire, but besought Him, who hears the sighing of the prisoner, that he would not leave the truth helpless, and that he would protect His Gospel, which he had commissioned me to preach. On the ninth the Great Council came together. 'It is unfair,' many were heard to say, 'if the people's priests are not allowed to appear;' but the Small Council protested, holding firmly to its resolution. Nevertheless the vote was carried against its protest, and the majority decided in favor of our presence with the privilege at the same time of making replies, if we should find it necessary. Thus, as Livy says, the greater number did not overcome the better; no, the greater and the better triumphed. Not in the least degree do I permit myself to censure the Small Council for this; no: I wish only to show how powerless intrigues are. Now, after the ambassadors had been introduced, they suffered us also to enter, the bishops of Zurich, Henry Engelhart, doctor and people's priest at the cathedral of the Virgin--Rudolph Rœschli of St. Peter, and me Ulric Zwingli.

"After the exchange of salutations and the episcopal benediction the suffragan began with a voice so mild that I never heard a sweeter, so that if head and heart had only been in unison, Orpheus and Apollo would have been obliged to yield to him in grace, and Demosthenes and the Gracchi in eloquence. In vain would I attempt to communicate to you the discourse entire. It was confused and much too long. Meanwhile I had noted down the chief points in my tablets. It is greatly to be deplored--said he--that there are some who teach in a perverse and rebellious spirit that we are no longer bound to observe human precepts and ceremonies. Thus not merely the civil laws, but the faith of all Christendom also must go to the ground. Yet ceremonies are a manuduction (he employed this word, instead of the German 'introduction,' before men, who did not understand Latin) to virtue. Indeed ceremonies are a source (he afterwards denied having used the word) of virtues. We may teach that fasting is superfluous, because some have dared to separate themselves from other Christians and from the Church by the eating of meat. We may appeal to the Holy Scriptures whilst they contain no direct expressions bearing on the subject, go against the decrees and Councils of the Holy Fathers of the Church, against most venerable usages, which without the aid of the Holy Ghost could not possibly have endured so long, for Gamaliel once said: If the work be of God, it will stand. Then he reminded the Council that outside of the Church no one can be saved, and as though he had not talked enough, he came back once more to ceremonies. At last he concluded with a neat peroration and rose up to retire along with his companions.

"Sir Suffragan--said I, (I, peasant, ought to have used 'Gracious Lord')--may it please you and your associates to stay, till I have justified myself in my own name and in that of my colleagues? He replied--We have no commission to dispute. I do not intend to dispute but to utter publicly and freely what I have hitherto taught in presence of these honest men, before you, learned scholars and ambassadors present with a commission from the bishop, so that it will be deemed the more worthy of belief if you yourself are obliged to find it true; if not, then let the contrary happen. We have not--said the saffragan--spoken against you, hence there is no need of your vindication. You have indeed kept back my name; but your speech was none the less aimed at me. As the combatant in the water said to his antagonist, you say to me: My blow is not aimed at you, it is aimed at the fish. For this reason you were not to use my name, because you could thus charge me, who am called Zwingli, with the greatest crime in the safest manner. Whilst we were contending in this style, the burgomaster Roist tried to induce the deputies from Constance to give us a hearing. The saffragan answered, that he knew very well whither this thing would lead; that Ulric Zwingli was too violent and rude, so that he could not meddle with him honorably and keep the path of moderation. By what then--I asked--have I ever injured you? Or according to what law must I, an innocent man, zealous for the cause of Christ, be so heavily and bitterly assaulted, and yet not be allowed to defend myself? Indeed--or do I deceive myself? I would have ventured to hope, that the Bishop of Constance, though opposition to the pure doctrines of the Gospel had found foothold elsewhere, before he took the words of others instead of mine, would make himself acquainted with the whole affair, especially through you, whom he has now chosen as his legates on account of your learning. What would you do if in your absence I would turn to the Council and refuse to hear you as judges? And now, since I wish your presence so much, in order to be able to give in an account, how dare you deny me? The deputies repeated what they had said before. If I wished to lay anything before the bishop, in regard to his doctrine, I could write to him. Now--said I--if no arguments can persuade you to show me this favor, I beg you by our common faith, our common baptism, for the sake of Christ our Lord and Saviour, if you durst not listen as ambassadors, do it then as Christians. Here arose an indignant murmur among the councillors and at last, being exhorted by the burgomaster, and feeling themselves the unworthiness of the opposition, they took possession of their former places."

The people's priest began now by referring to the internal harmony of Zurich and her peaceful position toward foreign countries. He asked whether these could be a result of seditious doctrines, and such especially as were derived from the Gospel, which commands us to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's and obey our rulers? He showed what human ordinances were, and denied that he rejected them without discrimination. Their beneficial tendency ought to be proven, and they, who enjoin them, ought to observe them also. He had never encouraged a violation of the rules of fasting, but rather advised them to be kept, in order to spare the weak. Yet he esteemed such restraint pharisaical and in conflict with the letter and spirit of the Gospel. Vattli was about to make objections, when Engelhart drew out his Greek Testament, and, having opened it at the beginning of the fourth chapter of the first epistle to Timothy, handed it to Zwingli. Zwingli translated the passage. Then the suffragan said nothing on this point, but exhorted the Council to respect the decrees of the Fathers and their usages, and not to sunder themselves from the Church. "Do not suffer yourselves to be persuaded, my dear lords"--replied Zwingli--"that anything permitted by us can produce such an effect. Among all people, he who does righteousness and loves God, he who believes the words of Jesus and follows Him, belongs to his Church."--This was succeeded by many speeches on one side and the other, which gradually became so warm that the burgomaster dissolved the meeting. But a unanimous resolution was passed by the Great Council, to request the Bishop, so to influence the highest authorities that by means of a council of learned men and synods an opportunity should be afforded for explanation and reply in regard to the point in dispute. The people's priests were to be exhorted meanwhile to enforce obedience to the rules of fasting.

By this important event, happening in the midst of the highest authorities of the canton, the fire, which had hitherto existed only in scattered sparks was now suddenly fanned into a clear blaze. The laity and priests, the bishop, the government and even the Confederates took steps, which compelled Zwingli, in the course of the same year to vindicate himself on all sides, to buckle on his armor for the conflict and declare himself openly.

The canon Hoffman, stirred up by the legation of the Bishop, was the first to take the field. A good scholar of the old type, pure in his morals, in former years a frank and fearless orator of the people, devoted, as was natural for an old man, to the forms in which he had moved during a long life, he esteemed it a duty to defend them, and that so much the more, because he was summoned to the task by the other clergy. He was lacking, however, in two particulars. According to his own confession he had heard Zwingli but seldom. Still he received as truth what was reported to him about his sermons, and boasted too much of his riper experience against a man scarce forty years old. Making skillful use of these weak points, the armed warrior advanced the more resolutely against the rusted weapons of his antagonist. The old man could not maintain his position. At a later period he once more regained his courage, and certainly it must be said to his honor, that, though vanquished, he did not shun the knightly combat.

With great bluntness, and not to a limited circle of associates like Hoffman, the monks poured out their wrath from the convent-pulpits. The more tasteless, silly, and ridiculous their revilings were, the more did they expose themselves to the edge of Zwingli's keen argument and wit. Without mercy he fell upon these people, among whom, as far as the monasteries of the city are concerned, not a single one is known, to whose praise anything can be said. We need only read his writings to see how, dealing blow upon blow, he pursued them into every corner, and brought out the truth in the clearness of sunlight against their loose harangues. But then, in the pride of victory he suffered himself to run perhaps into an extreme, which did not comport well with the earnestness of the pulpit or of controversy conducted in a dignified manner, and zealous use was made of this fact to his reproach.^[5]

Remarkable phenomena began to develop themselves from this pulpit-battle against the monks. Hot-headed characters, old and young, impelled sometimes by a conviction of the truth, but oftener by conceit and a desire to make a noise in the world, interrupted the awkward preachers in the midst of their discourses, and accused them of teaching error and even lies. A tumult arose in the church. It might easily become a theatre of dishonorable strife. The Council arrested several of the most violent of these stormers and forbade all such disorderly behavior in future. Already the monks were in hopes they had won the day; but Zwingli did not suffer them to escape, and probably at his suggestion the preachers of the three orders were unexpectedly summoned to the house of the provost, where with a deputation from the government, the burgomaster Roist at its head, the three people's priests, the commander Schmied and all the canons were assembled, and Zwingli, being called on, began to read aloud from a written document to each individual, the errors which he had taught. They were greatly amazed, and denied some things, but admitted others. An attempt was now made to have the chapter of canons appointed as umpire and mediator, but Zwingli instantly opposed it with all his might: "I"--said he--"am bishop and pastor in Zurich; to me the care of souls is committed, and I have given my oath thereon, the monks not. They should hear me, not I them. Indeed, if they ever again preach lies, I will mount the pulpit and rebuke them publicly." Only in the conviction of his own strength durst he venture to use such language. Only their felt weakness struck his opponents dumb. Dr. Engelhart and the Commander Schmied also sided with Zwingli. The Councils saw themselves obliged to follow the men of learning, and the burgomaster concluded the act with the words: "Yes, Masters of the Orders, this is also the opinion of my colleagues, that henceforth vi u must preach the Gospel, Paul and the Prophets, and let Scotus, Thomas^[6] and such stuff lie."

The monks, compelled now to restrain themselves somewhat in the pulpit, renewed their attacks the more stubbornly in private houses, confessionals, drinking-gardens and wherever else they could do so with safety. From Bunden, Constance, Luzern and Schwyz reports of their calumnies reached him through his friends. Nothing pained him so much as that he should be charged with distorting the Gospel. "Though I had firmly resolved"--so he says in a sermon--"not to answer those, who invented stories as to how many children were born to me this year, and as to how much money I got from princes and lords, yet I never could bear that such slander should be believed concerning me. Any one may say what he pleases about my morals, but blasphemy I will not tolerate." But then, the best citizens of Zurich roused to the highest pitch of enthusiasm clung to him, especially the younger generation, who trooped around him like a body-guard; and besides these, friends sprang up beyond the canton on all sides, who came out boldly, or watched over him in secret, were active on his behalf, and sympathized in his struggles. In Luzern, Myconius and the canon Kilchmeier advocated his cause even against statesmen and envoys of the Confederacy with danger to themselves, holding out as long as it was possible. In St. Gall, the same thing was done by Vadianus, who had returned from Vienna and settled in his native city; in Constance by the prebendary Wanner, who, when a member of the Episcopal embassy, had been won over by the weight of his arguments; in Bern by the Franciscan, Sebastian Meier, and in Freiburg by the youthful organist Kother, who expressed his love for him in verses after the manner of a capuchin-sermon. Martin Sænger, a native of Graubunden, sent him a poem against his and Luther's enemies, from the fictitious pen of the Abbot von Pfæffers, with the request that he would revise and prepare it for publication. He also received an evidence of faithful friendship in an anonymous letter of a more serious kind, written half in Latin and half in Greek. "Keep a special guard over thy health and life"--so it runs--"for it is high time. Verily thou art everywhere begirt by snares and spies; sharp poison is ready for thee. The knaves durst no longer rail against thee openly. But in secret they are plotting to mingle poisonous mushrooms with thy food, as was done for the Emperor Claudius. Hence take as much care of thyself as possible. If thou art hungry, then eat at home bread, which thine own maid has baked. Abroad thou canst eat nowhere with safety. There are persons living within your walls, who will venture everything to destroy thee. Who they are, from what oracle I have learned their design, I cannot write thee; but it utters more truth than that of the Delphian Apollo; yet it were a gross sin in a priest to give names either by mouth or pen. Thou art sharp-sighted, and able to guess with ease, whence that has come, which, out of brotherly love, could not be withholden from thee. Preserve thyself for thine own sake, for thy followers, for the cause of Christ, whose Gospel is proclaimed by you with such blessed results. Whoever I may be, I am thine. Thou wilt find out hereafter." This was the case. The writer was Michael Hummelberg, preacher at Ravensburg. Of the same import were the warnings of others, to guard the approaches to his dwelling, to take care, if he should be called from home, the breaking of his windows by stones hurled at them, and the attack, which was actually made one night on his assistant as he was about to go forth at the feigned call of a sick person, instead of the people's priest, who was expected by the bandits.

How little power all this had to frighten Zwingli from the course he had marked out for himself, is seen in a yet bolder step, which he took the same year--the sending of a petition to the Bishop of Constance in the Latin language and to the governments of the Confederacy in German, asking them to approve the marriage of priests. No proof is needed to show that the noblest endeavor of man is after self-rule, spiritual purification, the attainment of the supernatural. A few rarely-gifted individuals press up this steep path with ease; by far the greater number follow slowly and with toil. Before deliverance from the fetters of earth, no one achieves a complete victory. This world is a school not the home of perfection. They, who are nearest the goal, know best how far they are yet distant from it. The following reflections are suggested by this subject.

The statesman, zealous for the good of his country, as well as the thinker, busied with the higher interests of mankind in general, must both acknowledge in the difference and mutual wants of the sexes, in their union by marriage, the chief source of all civilization, the ground-pillar of all domestic, social and political well-being. Far be it from us to oppose merely natural impulses to purity of heart, endeavors after improvement, struggles for self-dominion; nay rather, marriage requires and makes all these the more easy. What victories over ease and self, what offerings of renunciation do not our duties to husbands, wives and parents demand? They are only the purer and nobler, because they spring from love, not compulsion. Still more--it is proved by all experience, that just in proportion as the marriage tie is worthily apprehended and held sacred, the heart is at the same time expanded with love for all men, and the sharing of common joys and sorrows in our own families teaches us to understand and share those of others also.

Hence Christianity has declared marriage to be pure and by no means placed him, who feels called to it by God and nature, below another, who has the power or inclination to remain independent in order to labor for the good of his brethren. The latter ought to be highly esteemed, but the choice left free to each one according to his own will, or necessity.

This is not the place to quote the passages, in which the Holy Scriptures speak of marriage, even in the case of preachers of the Gospel, the shepherds of the congregation. They are too numerous, too decided, too striking for any one to overthrow or weaken. Laying hold of these, Zwingli had drawn up the papers just mentioned. Ten of his associates signed with him the one addressed to the Bishop. Others approved of the thing, but did not yet venture to avow it openly. The concluding words of the memorial to the Confederates will here exhibit the character of the author in the clearest light:

"These and many other reasons, derived from the Holy Scriptures, have moved us, O honorable Lords, to petition Your Worships in regard to marriage, which we design to enter into, yea to make known several among us, who have entered into it, that Your Worships may not be adverse thereto, seeing the great scandal thus given to all men; seeing our wounded consciences, with which we daily attend to the administration of God's Word and the sacraments, though everywhere our continual weakness is acknowledged and no peace is left to us. Therefore we exhort Your Worships as our Fathers (for we have all sprung from one glorious Confederacy, and are yours and of yours); by God, our Creator, who made us all of one clay, so that we recognize each other as brethren; by the blood of Jesus Christ, which he shed for all alike, so that no one can claim for himself more than another; by the Holy Ghost, who is God, and in all his illuminations and inspirations has never forbidden marriage to the priesthood, but rather enjoined it: Take pity on us your true and willing servants, so that, though it be not sinful for us before God, it may not be shameful for us before men. And since we have been faithfully devoted to your honor all our lives long at home and abroad, grant us deliverance from this disgrace of unchastity, that we may lead honorable lives among you. For it were indeed unkind, if they, whose honor we have increased, would not at once place us in an honorable position, not only before friends and associates, but strangers also. Not in one hour of calamity only, have we shared love and sorrow with you, and ever adhered to you as good, honest people. We have not been prompted to bring this before Your Worships by a spirit of wantonness, but by a desire after pious, conjugal purity. For had it been by wanton desires, these might have been better gratified by having no wives. We also know well that troubles, cares and labors attend the married estate. We know well how very easily we can, any day, abandon the women with whom we have taken up. Therefore it has not been suggested by wanton desires, but by shame and love for the souls, committed to our care, that they do not become eternally polluted. The greater part of us have worn out our children's shoes, and are nearer 40 than 30 years of age. You should not listen to those who may cry out and cast up unjustly many things against us on the other side. 'How dare they marry? Have they not taken an oath of chastity?' Hear this, gracious Lords! No one has promised chastity in other words than those I will now write. The Bishop, when about to consecrate a priest, asks if he will remain pure; the candidate answers: 'Yes, as far as human frailty can bear and suffer.' See, gracious Lords! with this condition have we sworn and not otherwise. This we can prove by the Lord Bishop himself, but there is no need of it. No one, we hope, will deny it. Since now, neither oath nor promise binds us, and St. Paul speaks as above quoted, suffer yourselves to be moved by this public confession, which we make before you, for, were not the desire of honor so great, we would not have uncovered our shame."

Whatever may be our opinion of this affair, it must be admitted that Zwingli did not wish to appear better than he really was. Nothing was more foreign to him all his life long than hypocrisy. For this we ought not to honor him, but the Lord and blaster, whose word he proclaimed. Wholly unconcerned about the reproach it might occasion, the author took the position we have represented. A noble spirit was never yet injured by candor; but hypocrisy has ruined millions weaker. Truth no less than love is a fundamental requirement of the Gospel.

The astonishment, to which this step gave rise on all sides, can readily be imagined. It was so much the greater, because Zwingli had purposely provided for a wider circulation of the Latin and German memorials, and sent copies of them to his friends for gratuitous distribution. Neither from the Bishop nor the governments did he receive any answer. The decision in the department of Zurich was very decided and of the most favorable character as might be expected. From Luzern, Myconius wrote to him: "Only a few give their approval to your petitions. Many express neither praise nor blame. They say: 'You attempt a thing you can never carry out. The Bishop, yea the Pope cannot grant your request. Only a Council can do it.' The priests are dissatisfied. How the people think, I do not know. This much only I can see, that they neither know, nor wish to know anything about the Gospel. The demon of war has laid hold of them. They are blind to all that is higher." The prebendary Botzheim of Constance informed Vadianus that there was a powerful movement among the people. The canon Kilchmeier at Luzern, and Trachsel, pastor at Art, who had signed with Zwingli, as well as John Zimmerman of Luzern and the assistant Bernhardin of Cham put their lives in jeopardy by betrothing themselves, and were compelled to prepare for flight. Even in Zurich, though individuals gave Zwingli a firm support, there was yet a wide gulf between approval and simple permission of public marriage by the authorities.

Just then the Government of Zurich was obliged to be particularly prudent in its relations to the other Confederates. An immediate result of this step of Zwingli was, that ecclesiastical innovations were for the first time discussed at the diet, in the summer of the year 1522. Urban Weiss, pastor at Fislispach, in the bailiwick of Baden, though a member of the Zurich chapter, as he returned from a meeting of his associates, declared from the pulpit, by their unanimous resolution, that henceforth nothing should be preached, except it could be proven by the Holy Scriptures--hence, that the saints ought to be no longer invoked, that the marriage of priests was in no wise contrary to the commandments of God, and as soon as it was approved, (and he hoped it would be shortly), he intended to take a wife himself. The Bishop complained of him to his superiors at the diet, and new indignation broke loose in their midst. The pastor would have been led off immediately to prison, had not several of the clergy in connection with the congregation prevented it by heavy bail. But, on their return home the deputies found the petition of Zwingli, and this made the prospects of the pastor rather worse, so that at the next sitting of the diet, in the beginning of winter, it was actually resolved to send him to Constance.

But the Confederates gave matter for serious thought to the Council of Zurich not by this act alone. In spite of every refusal of the French alliance, in spite of all the vigilance of the authorities, there were still seventeen captains in that service, who succeeded by cunning arts in enticing to themselves several troops of inveterate deserters and disobedient youth, partly citizens of Zurich and partly of other places, and leading them to the army, for which so severe a chastisement was kept in store at Biocca. Justly indignant, the Council ordered all its officers to bring these seducers captive to Zurich, whenever they would again enter the canton; only if they came of their own accord, to answer for their deeds, a safe conduct should be promised to them. The Confederates declared this proceeding to be a violation of the compact. Zurich appealed to the fourth article of the treaty of Stanz, which was certainly in her favor. But the exasperation increased the more. It rose to a still higher pitch, when Zwingli took occasion from the defeat at Biocca to address a written exhortation "to the oldest Confederates at Schwyz, to beware of foreign lords and to get rid of them." He counted on the aid of his friends there at Einsiedeln, and the clerk of the court, Balthasar Staffer, was his devoted adherent, having at an earlier period received assistance from him during a season of trial in his family. With a perception at once intuitive and full of power he contrasts in this letter the strength of even a small nation, that trusts in God and a good conscience, with the windy boasts of the reigning corruption. "Our ancestors"--says he--"overcame their enemies and established their liberty, by no other power, than that of God. For this end they never slew Christian people for pay, but fought for freedom alone, that their persons, lives, women, children might not be so painfully subject to a licentious nobility. Therefore has God multiplied to them on all sides victory, honor and fortune, so surely, that no lord has ever conquered them, though never so strong; which, without doubt, is not to be attributed to human ability, but to the power and grace of God. Yea, when they defended their fatherland and freedom at Morgarten, Sempach and Næfels, where three hundred and fifty men attacked fifteen thousand for the twelfth time in one day and at last beat them, among whom ye good people of Schwyz had thirty, and in many other places, when they went to battle and returned home always with joy and honor, then they rested in peace, stained by no disgrace. But now, since we are lifted up in our own conceit, and think ourselves wise; since we have become filled with pride and boasting, though it is nothing but air; how should we escape not having shame and loss imputed to us by God, though we have spread our names so far with such vainglory: We have done this; we will do this; we can do this; no one is able to withstand us; as if we had a covenant with death; although a heavy scourging and punishment passes by, may it not yet come over us; since we place our hope in lying and tricks and are protected thereby--just as if we were iron and other men gourds; just as if no one could harm us like the heroes, who saved themselves from the deluge by that enormous pile, the tower of Babel. It is very certain that our pride is not His gift. He waits long, and that only, for us to do better. If we do not, then it will be done unto US as it was done unto Sodom and Gomorrah." This letter alone, or in connection with other reasons, which may have brought it about, actually prevailed at Schwyz, after a stormy meeting, over the national inclination toward the French, and it was resolved for the next 25 years to reject foreign alliances and pensions; Nidwalden also joined in the resolution. As may easily be imagined, this greatly strengthened the hatred against Zwingli. "Thy truly Christian summons to the people of Schwyz"--writes Berthold Haller from Bern--"is severely condemned among us, indeed in the highest degree." Embassies were sent to Schwyz and Nidwalden, to warn them back, and one also to Zurich with the request, that if they wished always to keep apart, they would at least abstain from influencing other members of the Confederacy, and keep careful watch over the seditious libels that issued from their city. The government remained firm to the principles laid down for its guidance in political affairs. Transgressors of the prohibition against desertion and pensions were punished with severity and even executed; in ecclesiastical measures it was at variance and wavering.

Zwingli felt more and more, that, though many individuals on all sides were proud of his course and defended his cause, he yet in reality stood alone; that many mad-caps, coming out far more rudely than he, did him more injury by their eccentricities than they gave him help; that his true friends, unless he continually kept them in breath, informed them and encouraged them, were in danger of yielding to faint-heartedness. Even his faithful Myconius wrote to him in such a moment: "What canst thou do, when the whole world speaks against thee, yea, opposes thee with all its powers?" When some, who, on account of his extraordinary acquirements, had ranged themselves among his most prominent supporters, began to draw back, Vadianus became cooler and Erasmus put into his scanty and formal letters expressions of ill-humor. How worthy of all honor did the man stand here, who did not suffer himself to be bowed by all this!

It was evident to him, notwithstanding that his work, in order to have stability, needed a firmer basis, that the acknowledgment and protection of the government of the canton was indispensable to its success. But the authorities, far more than Zwingli, thought themselves bound to the existing church-order, and no support from them could be counted on against the protest of the bishop. Thus the Reformer had first to come to a clear understanding with them, and the Bishop himself opened the way. He had carefully abstained from instituting an examination of the erroneous doctrines said to be preached in Zurich, after the Council had invited him so to do, and only exhorted the government in general terms to allow no changes in church matters amongst them; on the contrary he addressed a pastoral letter to the collective clergy of his diocese, complaining of manifold heretical teachings, warning against them, yea, condemning them, as well as a special admonition at the same time to the convent of canons at Zurich not to suffer them in their midst. Not less than sixty nine points of complaint and wishes for amendment were contained in it. When the letter was read before the assembly every eye was turned toward Zwingli. "You find yourselves"--said he--"indebted to me for all these accusations. I desire that they be placed in my hands, so that I can answer." This was done, and now he was determined to battle for life and death against the spiritual powers. Hence a glance at their present condition and influence becomes necessary.

On the 1st of December, 1520, Pope Leo X. died, and on the 9th of January the Cardinals had elected his successor Adrian VI. But he did not come to Rome before the 29th of August. Till then, he staid in Spain as vicegerent of Charles V., who was also king of that country. The College of Cardinals, empowered to rule in the interim, had pursued the policy of the deceased Pope in regard to Swiss affairs. Ecclesiastical matters were kept in the background, and Zurich, although verging toward revolt, was treated with special favor, because she not only continued averse to the French alliance, so hated by Rome, but besides this, faithful to former treaties, had dispatched a body of troops for the immediate protection of the Papal government. The short reign of Adrian (he died on the 13th of September, 1523) brought about no change. On the contrary, even by him, who, as Grand Inquisitor in Spain, had seized on Luther's collective writings, brilliant offers were made to Zwingli. Franz Zingg, his friend and the same time chaplain of the Pope, received a commission to treat with him, and expressed himself thus scornfully against Myconius: "In Rome everything will be granted to a bold preacher except the Papal Chair." During the following year, 1523, two letters from Adrian, addressed to Mark Roist and Zwingli, were delivered by the legate Ennius. In the first the burgomaster was assured, that the Pope, fully aware of his public and private services in behalf of the Roman See, would exhort him to persevere in his friendly disposition, that he also was mindful of it, as the legate would detail at large. In the second, to Zwingli, this passage occurs: "Although our legate is enjoined to conduct our affairs with your nation in a public manner, yet, because we have a certain knowledge of thy distinguished merits, and especially love and prize thy loyalty, and also place particular confidence in thy honesty, we have commissioned our chosen Nuncio to hand over to thee separately our letter, and bear witness to our most favorable intentions. We exhort thee also, reverend and faithful in the Lord, to give all credit to it, and with the same disposition, in which we are inclined to remember thy honor and thy profit, to bestir thyself also in our affairs and those of the Apostolic See, wherefore thou wilt be gladdened by our very special grace."

It is not to be doubted that Adrian had been informed by his legates of the condition of the church in Zurich; still we may be allowed to conjecture at least, why he made another attempt upon Zwingli. Of German descent and himself a friend and judge of German science, conscious moreover of an honest purpose, he might perhaps have cherished the hope, that he would be better able to exert a reconciling influence upon the Germans than his Italian predecessor. On the Saxon Reformer, over whom ban and outlawry had already been pronounced, such a thing was no longer possible; but the Switzer was untouched as yet. Still the Pope was greatly mistaken in regard to him. It was not the person but the court, which Zwingli would avoid. Let us hear what he has to say in regard to the relation in which he stood to the latter, as it appears in the 'Explanation of the Final Discourse:'

"For three whole years now I have preached the Gospel in Zurich with earnestness, for which the Papal Cardinals, Bishops and Legates, whilst the city has not been well spoken of, have often sought to blind me by their friendship, prayers, threats, and promises of large gifts and benefices; these I did not wholly reject, having accepted a pension of 50 florins, which they paid me yearly (indeed they would have given me 100, but I would not be enticed); I had declined it in the year 1517, though they would not stop it till three years after in 1520, when I refused it in my own hand writing. (I acknowledge my sin before God and all men; for prior to 1516 I adhered too closely to the authority of the Pope, and deemed it becoming to receive money from him, although I always gave the Roman envoys to understand in plain language, when they exhorted me not to preach anything against the Pope: they should not at all expect me to suppress a single word of the truth for the sake of money, on which account they might either take it back or not, as it pleased them). When now I had laid down the pension, they saw well I would have nothing more to do with them, and then they made public my refusal and receipt, both of which stood in one letter, through a spiritual father, a preacher-monk, for the purpose of driving me off from Zurich by it. But in this they failed, because the honorable Council knew well that I had not spared the Pope in my teachings; that I had not been wrought upon by money; that I had not aided them in their plans, and now for the second time refused a pension; and also, since it was the doctrine of former ages, that I could not be convicted of a violation of honor or my oath. And thus the above-named honorable Council has acknowledged my innocence.--So each and every one may see, if I had wished to enrich myself with the gold of foreign lords, I would not have refused the pension of the Pope, for to receive it from him would have been disgraceful in the least degree to one in clerical orders. But I declare it before the Judge of all men, God, that I have never received pension or wages from prince or lord, or been bribed in any way. And what I do to-day I do alone, because my office demands it of me. I pray also that it may aid in checking the evil. For I would be ever a murderer in the eyes of pious people, if I did not continue to rebuke it severely. I am ready also at all times to give answer to all men for my teachings, my writings and my actions, and dare take it on my soul, that hereafter I will use all diligence to bring the word of God clearly before all men, yet not I will do it, but God, and therefore it deeply concerns me that our glorious Confederacy may remain in existence. Although every one may think of me, as seems good to him, yet I am conscious of innocence in regard to my teaching and actions in that whereof my enemies accuse me. Moreover, though I exceed many men in other faults, yet shall they not injure the truth of God and a pious government. Let each for God's sake regard in the best light my simple explanation of the affair of the foreign lords, which I might have presented with far greater lustre to my reputation, had I desired it. For, a few days back, I received a letter from the Pope and mighty verbal commands, which I have answered by God's grace in a Christian manner, without being moved; since I do not doubt, I would become greater than any other man, if the poverty of Christ were not dearer to me than the splendor of the Papists. Let every one regard it in the best light. Since I must look to the wants of many, who have claims on me elsewhere, I ought not to conceal my innocence of the thing in my own spirit, but reply, after the example of Paul, in a becoming manner; for the enemies of Christ often injure his doctrine through my name, against which they utter falsehood; whom I have followed now and to whom, as I hope, done no injustice."

With this we have enough about Zwingli's relation to the Papal See. That he had broken with it decidedly will be inferred from what has been quoted. By the government also Rome was not particularly feared. It seemed to set more value on its connection with the Bishop, which leads us now to take a glance at affairs in Constance.

Since the year 1496 the episcopal chair in that place was occupied by Hugo of Hohenlandenberg. History has a great deal to tell about his legations in the name of the Emperor, his treaties with the Confederates, his synodal constitutions, his ordinances and his pastoral letters. He was, particularly in his old age, an active, grasping man, restlessly employed in the maintenance and extension of his cathedral chapter, especially of its revenues. Scandalous facts could be adduced to prove the latter. The knowledge of his character made the Confederate governments shy of him, so that he was not always successful in his negotiations with them. In regard to scientific culture he needed foreign support, and when with the beginning of reform circumstances became more difficult, he was forced to a greater dependence on his general-vicar.

In the latter, who was at an earlier period Zwingli's friend, we now find his most bitter and decided enemy. John Heigerlin, son of a smith in the village of Leutkirch, had, according to the prevailing custom, assumed the Latin name of Faber (Smith). To the clerical estate, to which he devoted himself, after completing his studies in Vienna, he brought talent of no common order, and ambition to turn it to the best account. First a popular preacher in Linden, and esteemed likewise as an author, he afterwards accepted a call from the Bishop of Constance, who, as well as the Diocesan of Basle, wished to have him in his service. At the same time the degree of Doctor of the Common Law was conferred on him by the University of Freiburg. With all the better minds of the age he took a lively interest in the awakening of science, which immediately preceded the Reformation. He it was, who chiefly prevailed on the Bishop to declare against the wretched trade in indulgences, and encouraged Zwingli in his battle against it. Every improvement was altogether right in his eyes, if it only proceeded from the priesthood; every light, so long as it remained under its patronage. But nothing is more foreign to the spirit of caste than the fundamental idea of the Gospel, and between Christianity as represented by it and priestdom (by no means to be confounded with churchdom) the antagonism is irreconcilable. Hence all priestdom is in absolute need of supplements to the Gospel; it must have tradition; it cannot give it up without self-destruction. This is not the place to pursue this observation further; but it could not be wholly overlooked, because thus only are we able to account for the sudden change of feeling in a man liberal in other respects. As late as May 1521, he had ridiculed Doctor Eck, Luther's opponent, and accused him of traveling to Rome to offer his services to the Pope against Luther, and yet at the end of the very same year, he himself took the very same road. The extensive circulation of Luther's writings had stirred him up, because by this means religious questions were dragged down to the circle of the people, skillful and unskillful speakers arose among them, individual princes and governments sought to extricate themselves from the fetters of the spiritual power, and against all ordinances of the church, which were not clearly warranted by the Holy Scriptures, a growing indifference prevailed. He himself also wrote from Rome against Luther. "You cunningly strive"--he says in his book--"to subject the spiritual to the worldly, but the Lord will not suffer his anointed (Christos suos) to go to the ground." He came back to Constance completely transformed, and his influence was very soon observable here.

In the abduction of the pastor of Fislispach he had a hand, and the pastoral letter of the Bishop, to which we have alluded, as well as the address to the Zurich chapter of canons had, according to the universal opinion, proceeded from him. We saw that Zwingli put off answering the letter. He took some time for it. But then an ample vindication appeared. "May your Highness, illustrious Chief Shepherd"---he thus begins--"pardon, if I trouble you with this paper in your manifold labors. The Lord procure it a hearing! For six years I have preached the Gospel, and am now represented to thee not as a dutiful guardian, but as a robber and destroyer in the sheep-fold. By their continual, unwearied outcries they have prevailed on you to send an admonition, as illiterate as it is unbecoming, to the chapter of our convent. Thou wouldst have done nothing of the kind of thine accord; thou couldst not have written, of thyself, anything so vain and boasting; thou wouldst also have made known thy thoughts to us in the German language. Therefore I send thee this epistle called Archeteles, because I hope it is the beginning and end of my quarrel with thy counsellors." After this somewhat diffuse introduction follow the sixty-nine points of complaint, again printed, and an answer appended to each one separately. As he proceeds in the letter we see his courage and assurance increase; the style becomes bolder, his judgment more decided, and the interwoven sallies of wit more cutting, till here again in a feeling of triumph, and prompted by the lugubrious tone of the last point of the Bishop, he gives a mock-review of it somewhat in the manner of the litany:

That we may remain in the unity of our Holy Mother, the Church;--for this we beseech thee, O Lord, hear us.

That we may obey our Superiors, i.e. the pious governments;--for this we beseech Thee, hear us.

That Thou wilt teach the false bishops humility enough not to think themselves supreme lords but co-pastors, according to the word of Peter; for this we beseech Thee.

That Thou wilt enlighten them with thy light, first to acknowledge Thy true Church itself;--for this we beseech Thee, hear us.

That Thou wilt open for them the fountains of living water;--for this we beseech Thee, hear us.

From the troubled fountains, which they have dug, out of which no wholesome water flows;--set us free, O Lord.

From the intolerable burdens, which they have piled upon the shoulders of christians;--deliver us, O Lord.

Command them to bear and to do what they require from others.

And if they cannot be brought by other means to make Thy yoke easy to us and Thy burden light--force them to it, O Lord.

From his continued good-will toward Erasmus, Zwingli had sent him a copy of this production. But the tone of it did not please the elder and more considerate friend, although he himself in former years had made sparing use neither of ridicule nor censure. "I adjure thee"--he wrote--"by the honor of the Gospel, to which, as I know, thou hast consecrated thy whole heart, as we are all bound to do, that thou wilt treat serious things in a serious manner, and not forget evangelical modesty and prudence. Take counsel first from thy learned friends, before thou makest anything public. I fear thy apology will bring thee into great danger and be prejudicial to the Gospel." Though Zwingli felt the warning and returned thanks, it was not able to change his mind. For directly after the appearance of the Latin Archeteles he lent a helping hand in the publication of an address designed for the people, which was still more rough in its language. It consisted of comments on the above-quoted pastoral letter of the Bishop, and was edited anonymously and scattered everywhere by the Franciscan, Sebastian Meier of Bern, and his friends. A single passage, and that not one of the most severe, may serve to show its spirit:

"Dost thou see, dear Christian, where the shoe pinches them? They complain that Paul is preached. He pictures them so near to the life, and points out the office of the true bishop. When we preach up this, then a sheep can see, that those horned idols are not bishops but carnival-spectres, and such as the children make on St. Claus' day. Would to God they were as harmless! Why has it not vexed them that Aristotle, Cicero, fables, examples, Scotus, Thomas and silly stories are preached? I will tell thee. It does not injure them in their pomp. But Paul, who is now by common consent preached in many places, is consistent with himself, and pierces them in their princely splendor, voluptuous wantonness, and insatiable avarice. Hence they complain. Dear younkers, because you deal thus with facts and Paul teaches the contrary, what shape will you take, if we preach St. Peter? He snatches off your hoods and shows as well as St. Paul what horned cattle you are."

It is easy to see that writings like these must have made the breach incurable, and we durst suppose, that Zwingli himself perceived the possibility of it, and in such an event was clear in his resolves. The end of the subordinate relation of Zurich to the Bishop, as well as the beginning of a changed order, was closely connected with the Archeteles. For the origin and founding of this new church-government we pass on to the following chapter.

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND:

Footnote ^[1] [Instead of putting these altered versions into our own language, we give the poems as found in the English translation of Merle D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, because the German of Zwingli has there been followed, and their original form and spirit better preserved.--Trans.]

Footnote ^[2] This was the only means, as a letter, sent by Francis Zink from Einsiedeln to the government of Zurich, clearly shows, of keeping him in the city; for it was impossible any longer to pay the two assistants, whom he was bound to maintain, out of his own salary, without the pension of the Pope; nevertheless, in order to gain perfect freedom of speech, instead of accepting the doubling of the Romish allowance just then promised, he declined receiving from the legate what had hitherto been paid. Under these circumstances his friend Henry Engelhart came to his assistance, since, he having also a benefice in the church of Notre Dame (Frauen-Muenster), resigned his post in the cathedral, in Zwingli's favor.

Footnote ^[3] To avoid repetition in the answers, we will hereafter give those only, which contain something new, or characteristic.

Footnote ^[4] Only the first and shorter part of Zwingli's Latin letter is here translated; the second and larger, which, based on numerous passages of Scripture, contains Zwingli's vindication and belongs more to theology than history, will be quoted again merely in its leading features.

Footnote ^[5] Thus, for example, after some cutting expressions, he uses the words:

"Very learned Father,
Full and plump,
Open the swollen syllogism.
Or the foul hoof
Must give way."

Footnote ^[6] Obscure teachers of a former age.

[CHAPTER THIRD]

RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE IN ZURICH. THE GOVERNMENT TAKES THE
PLACE OF THE BISHOP FOR THE PROTECTION AND SUPERINTENDENCE
OF THE NATIONAL CHURCH.

The breach, between the government of Zurich and those, who, up to this time, stood at the head of ecclesiastical affairs, was as yet by no means so decided as in the case of Zwingli. He doubtless wished it might become so. Public conferences on religious subjects had already taken place in Germany, and Zwingli himself had conducted such an one, held between him and Francis Lambert, a Franciscan monk, to a triumphant issue, though only before a narrow circle and in the Latin language. But now he determined to venture battle with his enemies before all the clergy and theologians, and compel them to an open acknowledgement that his doctrine was in conformity with Scripture. With this idea he first of all made his hearers familiar in several sermons. Then, sure of the approval of his design by the majority, he turned to the Great Council with the prayer, that, in the deliberate and entire neglect to act on the part of the Bishop, they would appoint such a public convocation. This gave rise to a lively and earnest debate. It could not escape the older statesmen how readily results, not to be foreseen, flow from a violation of forms, whilst others, looking at events in Germany, the humor of the people, and the growing in difference toward the ordinances of ecclesiastical courts, trembled less at the approaching transformation; nay, the boldest and most decided ardently wished it. In fact, the resolution to grant Zwingli's petition was at last carried. Besides, the Council could justify itself with the Bishop by his own inactivity, by his refusal of the just prayer to institute a synod or convocation of learned men for the examination of the Reformer's doctrine. Thus he had only himself to blame, if part of the power, which he might yet have been able to secure, was already taken from him by the public proclamation of Zurich, dated January 3d, 1523. The substance of this paper is contained in the following extract:

"We, the burgomaster and Small and Great Councils of the city of Zurich, to all the clergy in our diocese our salutation and favorable regard. Discord and dissension have sprung up among us between the preachers. Some believe they have proclaimed the Gospel faithfully and fully; on the contrary others affirm that these same persons sow error, mislead their hearers, and are heretics, whilst they on their part at all times and to every one declare themselves ready to be judged by God's Word. Therefore with the best intentions and for the sake of God's honor, peace and Christian unity, it is our will that ye ministers, pastors and preachers, all in general and each in particular, or even other priests, who may have a mind to speak, to inveigh against or else to instruct the opposite party, appear before us on the day succeeding Emperor Charles' day at early council-time at our council-house, and when ye dispute, to do it with appeal to the genuine Scripture in the German tongue and language. With all diligence will we, with the aid of several learned men, note down, whether it seems good to us, and, if it accord with the Holy Scripture, send each one home with the command to go on or leave off; so that every one may not preach from the pulpit without warrant, only what seems good to him. We will also point out this to our gracious Lord of Constance, so that your Grace or your deputies, as you wish, may be there also. But if any one should be so perverse as not to produce the real Divine Scripture, we will call him to account--of whom we would rather be rid. We hope God will illumine us with the light of his truth, that we may be able to walk as children of the light."

Thus it was no longer the Bishop, nor those, who were spiritual lords heretofore, nor even the Pope, who should declare whether the doctrine preached in Zurich was that of the church. Whether it agreed with the Holy Scripture, this alone should be proven, and whether Zwingli or his opponents had justified themselves as its true interpreters, on that would the government decide--a view indeed directly opposed to the Roman Catholic stand-point. It was a real violation of rule in the Bishop not to lay an interdiction, and, if Zurich still persevered, to break off all ecclesiastical intercourse with her. But revenues were due in the Zurich district; worldly relations existed with its government; these appeared to him to require indulgence. Besides, the number of faithful adherents was still considerable. Should they be abandoned? Might not affairs in some unexpected way take a more favorable turn? Could not the envoys succeed in one thing, if not to prevent a complete revolt, at least to postpone it? Hence the resolution of the Bishop to send notwithstanding an embassy to Zurich. This was composed of John Faber, Fritz von Anwyl, steward of the Bishop, and Doctor Bergenhaus, to whom was yet added Doctor Martin Blausch of Tuebingen.

In the mean time Zwingli, who by no means lost sight of the fact that the government, which was about to assume the place of the Bishop, ought to show itself worthy of the post by its actions and opinions, began more earnestly than ever to watch over the improvement and maintenance of good morals, and with unwearied zeal wove into his sermons to the Councils exhortations to this effect. These were not in vain. Ordinances were passed for the better control of the taverns, of the young people, and the hordes of traveling scholars; singing girls were banished from the city, and even four members of the Small Council, who lived in notorious adultery, were excluded from all its sessions for half a year, in order to reclaim them.

But now Charles' day had come, and universal attention was directed to the grave assembly about to meet on the next morning. The Council had sent a letter of invitation to the diet held at Baden on the first day of the year. This was simply noticed in the recess, without further action, because the matter was thought to concern Zurich alone. No one came, with the exception of Doctor Sebastian Hoffmeister from Schaffhausen, and the Franciscan Sebastian Meier from Bern; the latter, however, of his own accord, without public commission. A few days before, Zwingli had compiled and written down in haste, seventy-six propositions, which contained the sum of what his opponents objected to, and the substance of his doctrines. He concluded this small paper with these words: "Let no one undertake to contend here with sophistry or trifles, but let him come with the Scripture. It is to be regarded as the judge; by it we may find the truth; or rather it has thus been found, as I hope and maintain."

It was the second false step of Faber, that, after such a condition laid down by Zwingli, and approved by the Council, he yet came to Zurich, or did not from the first emphatically protest against it. The very practices of the Roman Church, which were most conspicuous and vulnerable, stood in such direct contradiction to the letter and spirit of the Gospel, that he, who would defend them from the Holy Scriptures, even with the greatest skill, was already beaten beforehand. Not only Zwingli and the more thoroughly instructed of his associates were convinced of this, but, taught by his preaching, the greater part of those present also; among whom were a numerous host of youth, ready for the combat, who had zealously read the Holy Scriptures for themselves. In their varying looks were seen expectation, confidence, and contempt of their enemies. The judicial demeanor of the Councils, the confused behavior of those, who, by their boasting and thoughtless speeches, betrayed their ignorance, the excitement among the mass of the people gave the assembly a peculiar expression. "I thought"--says Faber in a letter describing it--"I had come to Picardy."^[1]

Meanwhile, arming himself with as much firmness as possible, he and his co-deputies took the places assigned them. A hundred and eighty members of the two Councils had arrived. Of the public teachers, doctors, canons and the other clergy few were wanting; and the number of strangers present was also considerable. All the spaces before the open doors, where anything was to be seen or heard, were filled with citizens and country people. In a vacant circle, reserved in the middle, sat Zwingli alone by a table, on which lay copies of the Bible in different languages.

The burgomaster Roist began: "Very learned and worthy Lords, hitherto dissension has frequently arisen in the city and canton of Zurich in regard to the doctrines of our preacher, Master Ulric Zwingli. By some he is reviled as a seducer of the people, by others as a heretic. The disturbance among the priests and laity increases, and every day complaints are laid before my fellow-councilors. From the open pulpit Master Ulric has offered to justify his doctrine, if it be granted him to hold a public disputation in the presence of all, both of the clergy and the laity. We have permitted him to do this in the German language before the Great Council. We have summoned thereto all the people's priests and pastors of our Canton, and entreated also the Very Reverend Lord and Prince, the Bishop of Constance. We thank him particularly for sending us his worthy legation. So, to whomsoever it is displeasing or doubtful, what Master Ulric has uttered in the pulpit here at Zurich; whoever may be able to show, that his preaching and doctrine are seditious or heretical; let him prove his error to him here present from the Divine Scripture, so that my fellow-councilors may be relieved henceforth of the daily complaints about disunion and discord, with which they are troubled by clergy and laity."

The steward of the Bishop now rose up. "My gracious Lord"--said he--"is well aware that at present, in all parts of his princely Grace's diocese, strife and discord, touching doctrines or sermons have sprung up, and since he never has refused, and does not now refuse, to show himself gracious, kind and willing, in all that promotes peace and unity, he has sent us hither as his ambassadors, at the special request and information of an honorable, wise Council at Zurich, where disunion chiefly reigns. Having listened to the reasons of this discord, we are to give them the best advice in the case; nothing else than may redound to the welfare of an honorable Council at Zurich, as well as an estimable priesthood. Therefore we are willing, for the sake of peace and unity, to aid in composing the discord; so that friendship may continue among a worthy priesthood, till my Lord, together with his theologians and prelates, has further considered and decided in regard to the matter."

Thus had the adroit courtier wisely marked out the only position which the episcopal embassy could maintain with honor. Affirming simply the power of the Church to judge and her duty to reconcile those at variance, they ought in no wise to take sides, but rather join with the government as umpire, and at all hazards, have the last word reserved for the Bishop. How much humiliation would not Faber have been spared, if he had not suffered himself to be enticed away from this standpoint by Zwingli!

The latter now took occasion to say: "Of old has God made known his will to the human race. Thus speaks the revelation of his word. In and of itself it is light and clear, but for many years, and still more in our times, it has become so dimmed and obscured by the additions and doctrines of men, that the greater part of those, who now call themselves Christians, know less of nothing than of the Divine will, and are only occupied with a worship of their own devising and a fancied holiness resting on outward works. Into such delusion have they been misled by those, who ought to be their leaders, whilst the truth lies in the Word of Christ, as we learn it from his Gospel and the writings of the Apostles. And since some rise up to proclaim this once more, they are not regarded as Christians, but as corrupters of the Church; yea, reviled as heretics, of which I also am counted one. And, although I know, that, for five years now, I have preached in this city nothing else than the glad message of Christ, this has not yet been able to justify me, as is well known to my Lords of Zurich. Therefore have they, and thanks to them for it! instituted for me a public disputation. I have drawn up a summary in writing, which contains all I have hitherto taught. That it is in conformity with the Gospel, I hope, moreover, in presence of our gracious Lords, to prove to the Bishop of Constance or his deputies. The Spirit of God has prompted me to speak; He also knows why he has chosen one so unworthy. Well then; in His name: Here am I."

Still the vicar-general, Faber, did not give up the hope of winning over a part of the Council at least, by friendly words, warnings, and promises, and warding off the decisive blow. "My esteemed brother, Master Ulric Zwingli"--he began--"assures us that he has always preached the Gospel in Zurich. Indeed I do not doubt it; for what preacher, called of God, ought not so to do? He wishes also to justify himself before the Bishop, in regard to his doctrines. The fact is, I desired him to visit Constance. I would have received him into my own house, shewn him all friendship, and treated him like a brother. But hither I have not come, to discuss evangelical or apostolical doctrines, but to listen, to decide in case of strife, and in general, to aid in guiding everything toward peace and unity, not rebellion; for this is the will of Paul as well as the Gospel. But if we are to touch praiseworthy usages and customs of long standing, then I declare, as ambassador of my Lord of Constance, that I have a command not to appear. Such things, in my judgment, belong only to a universal council of the nations, the bishops, and the theologians; for, what another place will refuse to receive, cannot be decided here, and hence divisions would spring up in the Church. It, therefore, is my honest advice, to postpone, for a while yet, disputations concerning the Papal or Ecclesiastical Constitutions, now so many centuries old; especially since my Lord, the Bishop, is informed, that the Estates of the Empire have determined to hold, within the space of twelve months, a general council at Nuremberg. For, in the end, who would be the judge in such a disputation? At the Universities of Paris, Cologne or Louvain^[2] only, could the necessary learning be found."

"And why not"--Zwingli asked in derision--"at Erfurt, or Wittemberg?^[3] Good brethren, the Lord Vicar makes use of much art, to divert you from your purpose by his rhetorical flourishes. We inquire not how long a thing may have been in use? We would speak of the truth as it presents itself in the Divine Law. To this, mere usage ought to give way. We are told of a Christian assembly, though I hope there is one such here in this chamber. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, said our Lord, I am in their midst. There are also bishops enough here among us; for the overseers and teachers of congregations have been so styled by the Apostles, not powerful princes, ruling far and wide, as we have them now-a-days. And wherefore should we need judges, when we have the Holy Scripture itself here in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages, and scholars, who understand these languages as well as any at those universities? But even were this not the case, there are at least so many Christian spirits amongst us, that with the help of God it should become plain to us, which party interprets the Scripture truly, and which falsely. And lastly, touching the Nuremberg business, I may tell you, dear Lords, that I can produce, if necessary, three letters, received from there very lately, but they contain not one word about a decree actually published. Pope, bishops, prelates would indeed, for the most part, be adverse to any meeting of the kind. And you of Zurich ought to esteem it a great favor and a call of God, that such a thing has happened among you."

A long pause ensued, till the burgomaster rose up, and once more exhorted the opponents to come forth. No body stirred. "For the sake of Christian charity"--said Zwingli--"I beg every one, who thinks my doctrine erroneous, to speak out his thoughts. I know there are several here, who have accused me of heresy; I may be compelled to call them out by name." No one ventured to confront the powerful champion, whose thorough knowledge they feared, whose attack on the episcopal ambassador they had just witnessed, and whose unsparing mode of combat they knew.

"Where now"--cried a voice from the door--"are the boasters behind the wine-bottle and on the streets? Here is the man for you." It was Gutschenkel of Bern, one of those knaves, who, because fools by profession, escape the censure which their unbecoming speeches deserve. Already it seemed, that with the laughter of Zwingli's friends, and the inglorious flight of his opponents, the whole thing would come to an end, when Jacob Wagner, pastor of Neftenbach, by a question cunningly thrown out, in regard to the offence of the pastor of Fislispach imprisoned at Constance, induced the Vicar-General to say something about this man. With an assumed air of pity Faber spoke of his ignorance, and how he himself, by explaining passages of Scripture, had brought him to acknowledge his former errors. But these very same errors Zwingli had also taught, and immediately he challenged Faber to quote the victorious passages. "Good reason"--replied the Vicar General--"had the wise man in the Old Testament, when he said: 'The fool is easily taken in his speech.' I had firmly declared I would not dispute." This beginning, certainly unexpected by the majority of the audience, was followed by a prolix homily on the origin of heresies; the battles of the Pope and Christendom against them; words of Roman historians on the value of unity; the rareness of the gift of interpreting languages, of which he himself could not boast; in short, every thing but that which was demanded. Yet even here Zwingli never suffered him to wait for an answer, but just as often as the Vicar, with unwearied volubility renewed his digressions, he brought him back to the passages demanded. Doctor Sebastian Hofmeister also began to press Faber, and Leo Judæ likewise. The latter, for a short time back people's priest at St. Peter's, was again united with his friend Zwingli in Zurich. Sorely perplexed, the Vicar cried out: "A Hercules could not stand against two;" but the simple method of defeating them all, by a quotation of the passages, was still far from his thoughts. Then rose up his companion. Doctor Martin Blausch, to secure for him a retreat, if possible; but he also only dwelt on generalities, the doctrines of the church, fathers, and the right of decision by the church. "The good Lord fails to speak; the good Lord has not rightly looked at the words," and similar gibes fell from Zwingli's lips--proofs rather of confidence in the truth of his cause and contempt of his opponents, than of the clemency, which lends to victory a higher worth. After the silencing of the embassy of Constance, the burgomaster called once more for other combatants, but in vain. Zwingli had the last word. The crowd dispersed at noon.

The interval was used by the Council for drawing up its decision, which was published to the meeting, again called together in the afternoon, and ran thus: "All ye, who, answering our summons for the purposes assigned, have appeared before us today, we give to understand. A year is now gone, since an embassy of our gracious Lord of Constance was here at our council-house, before the burgomaster and the Small and Great Councils, on business of a similar kind. Then the request was preferred by us to our gracious Lord, to call together in his diocese learned men and preachers for the examination of the prevailing doctrines; so that a unanimous resolution might be passed, by which every one might be guided. But since, up to this time, perhaps for obvious reasons, nothing special has been done by him in the matter, and the dissension among the clergy and laity continually increases, the burgomaster. Council and the Great Council of the city of Zurich, have again taken the case in hand; and since now; after the offer of Master Ulric Zwingli to render an account, no one has risen up, no one has dared to refute by the Sacred Scriptures the articles he his furnished, although he has repeatedly called on those who revile him as a heretic--we, after mature counsel, have decided, and it is our earnest opinion, that Master Ulric Zwingli shall go on and continue, as heretofore, to proclaim the Holy Gospel and the real Sacred Scripture, according to the Spirit of God and his ability. Also, all the other priests of the people, pastors and preachers, in our city, canton and dependencies, shall not do otherwise, nor preach, except what they may be able to prove by the Holy Scripture. Likewise, they shall not henceforth call each other hard names, nor use other words of reproach. For they who act personally in this, we will deal with in such a manner, that they shall see and find that they have done wrong."

"God be praised!"--said Zwingli--"He will have his Word rule in heaven and on earth, and to you, my Lords of Zurich, he will doubtless grant strength and power to establish his truth in your canton."

Once more the Vicar General essayed to speak. Now, for the first time, it became possible for him to read the articles of Zwingli, and of course he had to find several that were not sustained by the Holy Scriptures. "Well then--prove it, Sir Vicar General," said Zwingli. It can be seen in works on church-history, how Faber, with no little adroitness and a blinding flow of words, endeavored to point out a contradiction between several of the syllogisms and some points of Holy Scripture. Perhaps, too, this would have succeeded before hearers less instructed; but with the greatest ease his superior antagonist shewed to the assembly, where in one place he tore words from their connection, in another distorted the plain sense, sought to give the later expressions of the Fathers a scriptural sound, and even employed the arts of a lawyer, in which he himself was evidently conscious of deceit. "You knew"--said Zwingli--"Sir Vicar General, that we, formerly, at the university, practised in common such dazzling tricks of logic, and that I am skilled in them as well as you; but it truly grieves me, that you as a serious man come still armed with such sophistries."

Anger began to appear in the assembly. The speeches of the opposing parties became shorter and more bitter. In order to keep them from degenerating into abuse, the Councils rose. The assembly dissolved, and the burgomaster Roist took leave of the by-standers with a smile, saying: "The sword, with which the pastor of Fislispach was stabbed, would not come out of its sheath to-day."

Faber by his behavior had fallen low in the estimation of the Zurichers. The monks alone, whose courage again revived, since the close of the battle, tried among those with whom they associated, to point out the circumstance, that the Vicar General had kept the last word, as a sign of victory. He himself also boasted of it in Constance after his return, and wherever Zwingli's rough manner or vehement language afforded an opportunity for censure, it was heaped up and spread on all sides. "In short"--writes Salat of Luzern, clerk of the court--"Zwingli pours down far too many scornful words on the head of the Lord Vicar, that excellent man of honor. Now he calls him Sir Hans, Sir John, Sir Vicary, plucks the vicar-bonnet off, and this times without number, and without shame. This was his mode of disputing."

Calmly and with a manifest endeavor, as far as it lay in his power, to form an unbiassed judgment, an old schoolmaster, Erhard Hegenwald, has described the transaction; and his narrative is the more worthy of credence, for the very reason that Faber was so provoked by it, that he attempted to refute it by a statement of his own. The distinguished air, which he assumed, the haughty treatment of Hegenwald, the importance, which he strove to give to his trifling mistakes, the mixture also of unfounded assertions contained in this production roused the indignation of the young men of Zurich, six of whom, members then already for the most part of the Great, and afterwards of the Small Council, joined in the publication of an answer to Faber, which they entitled "Hawk Plucking." The rude castigation, the biting and often also tasteless wit, and the entire absence of all the respect, which they formerly paid to age and official position, sorely wounded the Vicar General, who, but that it seemed useless, would have complained of the "libelous little book" to the government of Zurich.

Thus the hostility of Faber toward Zwingli and his friends soon extended itself to Zurich also. This champion against the doctrines of the Reformer became a persecutor of all his adherents--an inexorable judge to those, who fell into his power. In the end he even laughed at the tears, which the torture of the rack wrung from one of his victims, and rejoiced to see him burning at the stake.^[4]

Zwingli, although satisfied with the decree of the government, that he should continue unmolested in his way of teaching, was by no means so with the turn, which the conference took in the afternoon, through the tricks of Faber and the sort of protest against his syllogisms as anti-scriptural, with which the Vicar General had left Zurich. He resolved to append to each one of these points a detailed explanation and proof, in a work, which is even now considered the basis of his system of Christian doctrine, as well as his views in regard to church and state.^[5] "Day and night"--he wrote to his friend Werner Steiner--"do I labor at this work." It consisted of a volume of 300 closely-printed pages, and was finished in five months, amid daily preaching and a crowd of other business. New and still more violent enemies were awakened by its appearance, and, although many boasting promises of a refutation were made, none ever saw the light.

But with the rapid spread of this work the time had come, when the influence of the Reformer, hitherto confined mostly to Zurich and its territory, flowed out in all directions beyond these limits. The Zurich ambassadors had to witness a prelude of this in a riot at Luzern, where a disorderly rabble, instigated by several deputies of the diet sitting at that place, carried past their lodging an effigy of Zwingli with scoffs and curses, and burnt it with all the formalities used by the Inquisition. Two months later, in June, Caspar Gœldi, who had been obliged to leave Zurich on account of mercenary service, complained before a second diet at Baden, that his daughter had willfully eloped from the convent of Hermatschweil and married one Schuster at Bremgarten, and the landvogt of Sorgans likewise, that a priest of that place had taken to himself a wife. Zwingli's sermons became still more severe against deserters and pensions. "Confederates,"--said Caspar of Muelinen--"check Lutheranism in the bud. The preachers at Zurich have already become masters of their rulers, so that they are no more able to withstand them. A man is no longer safe there in his own house. The peasantry refuse to pay their rents and tithes, and great discord reigns in the city and canton." The resolution was carried in the Recess, to communicate the complaints to all the governments, in order to agree if possible on a remedy; especially since the pastor had meddled also in political affairs, and preached among other things: "Confederates sell Christian blood and eat Christian flesh."

At Zwingli's request, the articles of the Recess were given to him, so that he might draw up a vindication. This vindication, which was also laid before the Great Council at Zurich, shows the undaunted courage of the man, as well as his assurance of being in the path of duty.

"Wise and gracious Lords,"--wrote he--"I believe indeed that complaints against me are rife; but to show the justice of them is, as I hope in God, in the power of no one. I will indeed confess, that I earnestly rebuke the prevailing vices, in chief that of perfidious bribe-taking, which is in vogue in nearly all courts and countries. But of my Lords, the Confederates, I have never spoken improperly. I have named them perhaps, though not rudely; for, from youth up, nothing has been more foreign to my nature, except when my fatherland has been evil spoken of. When obliged to rebuke severely and bear down against vices, then I have mentioned neither Dalmatians nor Englishmen; and this is my constant custom. Moreover, by no means do I agree with them, who say, no body ought ever to be called by name from the pulpit. God has never commanded this; perhaps the Pope has; but none the less am I of opinion, that we should not make the Word of God hateful by our rashness. When, during Lent in the past year, I preached about eating flesh, I uttered these, among other words: Many a one reviles flesh-eating as evil and thinks that a great sin, which God has never forbidden; but to butcher and sell human flesh, he thinks no sin. But in this I called neither Confederates, nor landsknechts, by name. That I said nothing more, the Great Council of Zurich will bear me witness. In general, for some time back I have had to endure incredible lies against me; they have caused me little sorrow, for I thought: The disciple is not above his master; they lied against Christ, hence it is no wonder, they lie against thee also. Thus my enemies once said of me, that I abused the mother of God our Lord, Jesus Christ. I answered them with a suitable little book. Again they say, I have declared that neither rents nor tithes should be paid. Item, that I have no regard for Christ's holy body, and have preached an opinion about it so scandalous, that I will not repeat it, lest the hearts of pious Christians might be shocked. And much other stuff of the like sort, they swear I have preached; but all these, saving your Honors' presence, are pure lies. Then they tell of me that I have had four children this year; that I wander about the streets at night; that I am a gambler; that I am hired by pensions from princes and lords; yet these also, saving your Honors' presence, are pure lies. Now I would not again set right these points, touching my morals, if they were not prejudicial to the good city of Zurich; for, since it would be a great disgrace to so glorious a city, if it suffered such vices even in a boy, I need not speak of one, who is devoted to God's Word and the common salvation of men. As to this, wise and gracious Lords, let it be far from you to put faith in any one, who speaks what he pleases against others or myself; for the times are perilous. The devil, who is an enemy of the truth, has used all his arts to cast down and destroy it. Therefore it is my humble prayer to Your Worships, that, as heretofore, if they have somewhat to say to me, or any one somewhat against me, he or they seek me before my Lords at Zurich, where I am a citizen and a canon; besides a born Toggenburger and a countryman at Schwyz and Glarus. Bat, as for as regards the doctrine of Christ, I ask no other protection from any one, than may serve to prevent interference against the pure word of God; and each and every one shall see, if God will, that since I laid hold of the Gospel of Christ, I have never taught anything, whose ground I did not search into beforehand, as far as God permitted. Understand this my plain, hasty letter in the best sense; for it is written without deceitful cunning. Let it also be made public, so that each and every one can see my innocence. And may Almighty God keep your State in his grace and honor! Amen."

There is nothing in the records of the Recesses to show, whether this vindication was really read before the Diet. It is certain, however, that it was known to the individual members, among whom, as well as among the States, opinions concerning Zwingli already began to be divided, and his adherents were treated with far more mildness in Bern, Solothurn, Basel and Schaffhausen, than in Luzern, Freiburg and the three Forest Cantons. In Glarus several of the most influential members of the government continued to keep up a correspondence with him, or a friendly feeling toward him; indeed, the government of Bern, as early as June, 1528, issued a decree, that that only, which could be proved by the Holy Scripture, should be taught in the pulpit; and, at the close of the same year, the nuns of Kœnigsfeld received permission to leave the convent, if they desired it.

In this respect, the Council of Zurich had already taken the lead in the month of June, by doing the same thing for the Sisters at Œdenbach. The wealth of this convent was considerable; the nuns, whose number was rather large, belonged, for the most part, to distinguished families. It was no easy undertaking, in a time of such excitement, to keep peace among them, especially because the fiercest enemies of reform, the Dominican monks, who were devoted to the same rule of order, had abundant access to them as preachers, as confessors, and under all possible pretences. The Council, sorry to find this influence, and tracing it in the quarrels, which already began to arise in many families, through the instigation of the spiritual sisters, invited Zwingli to preach in the convent. This had never yet been done by a so-called secular priest. A part of the nuns refused to hear the unwelcome speaker. Zwingli therefore printed the discourse, which he delivered, and sent it to them. Requests were now sent to the government by one for release from her vows; prayers by another for the return of their former confessors and preachers. Strife arose in the convent. Here parents saw with displeasure the resolution of their daughters to go back into secular life, whilst others were dissatisfied, because theirs refused to do this. For some time the Council tried to help matters by rendering access to the convent difficult, and by obliging Leo Judæ to preach there regularly; but when the discord was not allayed thereby, permission to leave was granted to all those who desired to go, with the privilege of taking whatever they had brought, besides their clothing and furniture. The rest were allowed to remain in the convent, but were obliged to lay aside the habit of the order and listen to Leo Judge's preaching. For the management of the revenues and general control a court of magistrates was instituted. The number of those, who went back to secular life, still increased; the aged gradually died off in the convent. Similar ordinances were passed in relation to the other nunneries in the territory of Zurich.

It is enough to show, that in these arrangements, the government was prompted neither by a blind zeal for tearing down, nor a base desire for the property of the convents. He who looks over the writings of Zwingli,^[6] will soon find, that the Council followed closely the path marked out by him, and indeed throughout, in the consciousness that they acted in full harmony with the Holy Scriptures. As another proof of the bold thinking and fearless language of the Reformer, we will here quote, if it be only what he says, in the Explanation of his Final Discourses as to the right disposition of the property of the suppressed establishments: "The simple-minded shudder at this, because they think it not right to change the last will of any body; but a greater fraud lies in this than in other abuses. See: What motive swayed those, who founded the benefices? Nothing else than because they were falsely taught, that the mass is a sacrifice. Therefore they dreamed they were bestowing their possessions on the poor, when they gave to this object. But now, since we are conscious of the deceit, that the mass is not a sacrifice, but the food of him, who eats with faith and spiritual hunger, we may divert the property to the poor, and withdraw it from idle bellies; yet we do this after their departure. But here they cry out; See, thus they undertake to do away with testaments, legacies and last wills! Answer: Here lies the rogue behind the hedge. Has not every government its own right and custom in the making of legacies? Who meddles with the appointment of heirs? Who wishes to act falsely here? You have falsified more than any one else; for you have tampered with last wills, so that that has been given to you, which belonged to other lawful heirs, and you have done it by your parables and false doctrines.^[7] Thus what the people have as a civil right, you claim as a divine right.... See, here we find the real forgers of wills, who have foisted in their avarice, by pretending that it was kindly done for the salvation of souls. But they say, if one of his own free-will gives us his property on his death-bed, is it not right for us to take it? Answer: no, for thou shouldst have before given a right Christian understanding to the donor, representing things thus: Consider not thy temporal property thine own; thou art only a steward over it. Thou shouldst divide it among the poor, which is pleasing to God, and shouldst not give it to those, who do not need it. Thou seest that such property is often used, only to foster pride and vanity in the temples, even though it is not squandered wantonly. God has commanded, to give to the poor; do it then; and no one shall be scandalized, if that which has hitherto been misused, is turned to the Christian advantage of the poor. For were they who, unknowingly have contributed to their bellies, still here, they would snatch it again out of their hands. But no appropriating hand should be laid on it; for that would be acting the thief, or the robber. The authorities should wait till the jointures are without a possessor (till the present incumbents are dead, or have voluntarily relinquished their rights), and then arrange it with God himself; so that common justice be maintained and no one led into wickedness."

Why should a people, accustomed to form free judgments on human affairs, as well as to express their opinions freely concerning them, oppose with violence such views, founded as they were by Zwingli, at all points, on the Holy Scriptures? Did not experience also teach that the Church of Christ has become great in poverty, and straightway been corrupted by riches? Willingly or unwillingly, the government had to yield to public opinion, and awaken to a still more lively consciousness, that, if it would not continually oscillate, without character, between the old and the new, no escape remained, except in the way which the welfare and honor of the country pointed out; by making common cause with the bold and progressive Reformer.

From this feeling, it no longer threw any obstacles in the way of the public marriage of the clergy in the churches, even that of Leo Judæ, people's priest at St. Peter's. William Rœubli, then preacher at Wytikon, anxious to set a striking example, had made a beginning, by wedding the daughter of a wealthy countryman, amid a concourse of joyful guests, on the 28th of April, 1523.

A letter came from the Emperor, accompanied by a decree of the Bishop, in which the prohibition of such marriages, the punishment of those who broke their monastic vows, as well as a severer watchfulness against innovating teachers, were strongly enjoined; but it was all in vain. The Council decided, against the wish of the Bishop, that this "mandate" should neither be complied with, nor even acknowledged, and wrote to him; "in the city of Zurich, its courts and its territories, the Gospel and the Divine Word shall be truly proclaimed, but if any one thinks that heretical matters and articles are preached, let him point them out, whereupon fitting action will be taken in the case."

Just in proportion as Zwingli's position became more secure, his views were transferred to the system of government, and the Reformation taking hold thus of political life, new embarrassments were prepared for him by the very men, who originally supported him, and the first traces of dangerous movements from below upward began already to appear.

The time was ripe for his great work. Boldness only was needed, to give the first utterance to that of which the majority were more or less conscious: The deceit, the abuses that have poisoned our civil as well as our religious life must be put down. In such moments, the feeling of deliverance was awakened in every heart: nobler powers, intellectual activities were stirred up; but mingled at the same time with hereditary weakness, seductive vices and passions, whose charms he, who is born of earth, can not wholly resist; and the brave man, who called the movement into life, had soon to contend less with old enemies, already half conquered, than with the new ones rising up on all sides.

This was the prospect which unfolded itself to the Reformer, as early as the year 1523, soon after the first Religious Conference. William Rœubli, the above-mentioned preacher at Wytikon, Simon Stumpf, pastor at Hœngg, and even Zwingli's former scholar, friend and admirer, Conrad Grebel, are known as the first by whom the congregations were disturbed and seduced into dangerous measures. Among several points, based on the Gospel as they pretended, none was more readily seized on by the people than these--that the tithe, according to the Divine Word, should go exclusively to the benefit of the poor, and that the taking of interest for money loaned was forbidden. In fact, deputies from several congregations in the neighborhood of the city appeared before the Council, on June 22d, with the petition, that, since the tithe was eleemosynary under the Gospel, and theirs was uselessly squandered by the canons of the Great Minster, they might be released from the burden. They were plainly rebuked by the Council in a scaled letter. It was not right in the government to support error. But the flame was not in the least smothered by this act; the bait was too tempting---to free themselves, under the shield of religion, from a tax, which often before had been resisted. Rude sermons, for and against the justice of the thing, were multiplied. A book, called "Chief Articles of Christian doctrine against unchristian Usury," written by a Doctor Strauss, and another, entitled "Balaam's Little Ass," were circulated. It was also asserted that Zwingli rejected tithes and interest. Grebel even ventured to write to his brother-in-law, Vadianus, in St. Gall: "You wish for news about the tithe-business. I can say nothing in accordance with sincerity and the Gospel, if I do not say, that the people in our world of Zurich defraud in this matter like tyrants and Turks. 'People of this world' I style the tyrants of our fatherland, who go by the name of 'the assembled fathers,' Decimating fathers they ought to be called. Thou art not perhaps willing to believe me, and yet T see it with my own eyes. Only ask Zwingli, who can tell thee everything better than I can."

Such assertions as this, which were echoing already through the whole Confederacy, the prayers of his friends and the wishes of the government induced Zwingli to declare himself publicly on the subject. This was done in a sermon, which was given to the press under the title: "On Divine and Human Righteousness."

In earlier moments of enthusiasm over the rich fruits of his struggle, from a feeling of the wide difference between evangelical freedom and the pressure of the numerous burdens imposed by a degenerate church, a word may have escaped him, which, joyfully laid hold of, distorted and magnified, gave some color to the reproach, that he wished also to attack civil order and guaranteed rights. This sermon, prepared with mature deliberation and assured confidence, shows how safe his standpoint here was, and that his system did not rest on fragments of knowledge, dark feelings and a mere negative spirit of contradiction, but was based on a profound understanding of the Holy Scriptures, in their entire connection.

In seeking to bring the sense of human justice into harmony with the fulfillment of religious duty, the lower position was assigned to the citizen, in his relations to the state, where, in order to escape just punishment, he is obliged to obey; and the higher to the Christian, in the spiritual kingdom of his Lord and Master, where he is bound to aspire after the noblest things, in a spirit of faith, love and freedom. This will be plain from several passages, taken out of this sermon.

"There are two laws, as well as two kinds of righteousness; a human and a divine. One part of the law regards the inner man alone, for we must love God and our neighbor. But no one can fulfill this command; hence no one is righteous, because God only and He by grace, the pledge of which is Christ, can make us righteous through faith. The other part of the law regards the external man alone, and hence we may be outwardly pious and righteous, and still none the less wicked within. For example: 'Thou shalt not steal,' is a command for external life and piety. 'Thou shalt not covet the property of thy neighbor,' is a command for inward, divine life and righteousness; yet both have respect to one thing, taking. So, if one only does not steal, he is pious in the eyes of men, but may at the same time be unjust before God; for he has a stronger desire and temptation perhaps to seize foreign property, than one who has stolen. He, who does not practise usury, is pious before men; for he may be restrained by force from doing it; but nevertheless he is not pious before God; for he must sell all his goods and give to the poor. Indeed, the rich man is bound to give to the poor, that is, to God. But, though no man can ever fully attain this divine righteousness, yet believers have special delight in conforming to it more and more, and the desire is greater in one than in another, according as God has kindled his fire in our hearts; for he works all things in us. Therefore, the divine righteousness ought to be made known and preached to all men without ceasing, else godliness will vanish, and all men content themselves with lame, human righteousness, and all righteousness be turned into an allegory; for then no one would respect God, but look out only as to how he might be shielded from punishment before men, as for some time back we have grieved to see happen in many cases.^[8]

"We have now seen, as I hope, how widely the divine righteousness differs from what is merely human. Although this human righteousness is not worthy to be called a righteousness, yet we examine it in comparison with that which is divine; yet has God also commanded it, because he has seen in our fallen estate, that our temptations and desires could not follow or do his will. Christ tells us to be obedient to this human righteousness; for he says: Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's. He does not mean to say that the whole world should obey Cæsar, but only that portion of mankind, which was subject to him. Had he found the Jewish nation under the king of Babylon, he would have spoken: Render unto the king of Babylon what is due to the king of Babylon. We must understand this of every several government. If you live under the king of France, then render to him what is due to him; and so on, through the whole catalogue."

After this strict separation of the kingdom of God, revealing itself only in freedom and love; and national life, founded on law, order and obedience, he refers interest and tithes to the province of severe human righteousness. Beyond dispute, it would aid the government in disposing of this matter; but just as resolutely did he warn against misuse in the application, against the encouragement of usury, and against the sanction of unfair contracts by sign and seal; for though written guarantees must be kept inviolate according to human order, yet durst you as little forget that the law of kindness and Christian love toward men is written by God himself in the soul. If wantonly violated, they are waked up in the end, and help themselves, in spite of records and parchments. Then you have the decree and your own folly to thank for it. "This brief opinion"--he adds--"I am ready to maintain by the Holy Scripture."

"In short"--he concludes--"the Divine Word ought to rule over all men, be set before them and truly made known; for we are bound to follow it. But in this, the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ alone can aid our weakness. For the more we discover our guilt, the more we discover the beauty and the almightiness of God, and the love and assurance of his grace, which makes us more pious than we can be in any other way. Besides, though some will be found, who do not release the ungodly and unbelievers from the duty of living according to God's Word, yet God has given us also as the lowest command, not that, living only therein, we may be pious, but that human society may be upheld and protected, and guardians appointed, who may earnestly look to it, that the last vestige of human righteousness also be not swept away. Such guardians are the powers that be, who are no other than they that bear the sword, whom we call worldly authorities. These authorities must not indeed trample on the Word of God; for they punish outward transgressions only, but cannot make righteous or unrighteous inwardly; for that God alone does in the hearts of men."

The weight of such language, uttered from the pulpit and spread abroad by the press, bore heavily on those, who derived advantage from the burdens, which prevailing abuses heaped upon the people. And the canons of the Great Minster were especially concerned in this. Indeed, some were found among them, who not only led a life of idleness, but of debauchery and wanton dissipation, and instead of attending to divine worship, wont out hunting with falcons, leaping over the hedges of the farmers, or dared even to hold carousals in the sacristy itself.^[9] It is true, that, since Zwingli's arrival, they had been obliged to change, in so far as scarcely ever to venture on such things in public, and, that the number of those, who clearly perceived the need of a remedy, was increasing; and at last they induced Zwingli, as he had given advice, before it would be too late, to stretch out a powerful hand for their reformation.

The result was, a resolution of the monastery to bring the matter to the notice of the government. The latter met them with joy; and by a commission from both parties, a revised order was prepared, in conformity with the progress of religious knowledge and theological science, as it certainly agreed also with the original spirit of the foundation, and that of its most distinguished patron, Charlemagne.

In the introduction of a document relating to this subject, drawn up on the 29th of September, 1523, it runs thus: "The reverend Clergy, Provost and Chapter of the Monastery of St. Felix and Regula make known; since, from a good motive, encouraged thereto by the Divine Word, which lays open everything, they see and acknowledge the abuses, of which they are not the authors, having received them by tradition--with the help of God they will exchange them for the better rules of a good Christian life, and cause them to be practised in another and better fashion than heretofore. Besides, they find that the common people, rich and poor, who support them by their toilsome labor, be it by interest or tithes, have had indeed no pleasure in their prevailing customs and misusages, but felt great discontent at the manifold burdens laid upon them." The improvement consisted in the remission of a considerable sum of dues, which were hitherto drawn for ecclesiastical purposes; in the establishment of professorships for the better education of the clergy; in the greater demands made on those, who wished to come forth as preachers; and in the anxiety manifested for suitable religious instruction among congregations under the care of the Canonical Chapter. Among the present canons and chaplains, whose number, exclusive of the people's priest and his assistants, amounted to 60, whoever was fitted for such purposes, him they would commission, but suffered the others, under pledge, of course, to lead a retired life and attend preaching regularly, to retain their benefices till death, when their revenues were to be transferred to the hospital and the poor of that congregation, which paid the tithe to the Chapter.

But affairs had already come to such a pass, that even well-meant and judicious changes, if not immediately carried out, no longer gave satisfaction. A wild zeal for innovation also found vent in frequent brutish expressions and disorderly scenes. If unpopular canons or chaplains appeared at mass in the church, they were publicly derided; their chronicles were stolen; leaves were torn from a guide-book for the celebration of festivals put up in the choir, and then scattered at the door of the provost's house; and one night the stocks and gallows, emblems of the temporal jurisdiction of the monastery were partly destroyed and partly erected in a different place. By others the lamps in the Church of the Virgin were broken, and the oil spilled, whilst they mutually sprinkled themselves with the holy water. Similar things happened in St. Peter's Church. In the country, a priest even ventured to read mass in slippers and red breeches. They began to call pictures idols, and the examples of the kings and prophets of the East, who contended against the idolatry of their age in every possible way, were arrayed as worthy of imitation before the imaginations of fanatics, who grew more excited, especially as they became acquainted with the Old Testament. A production, composed in this spirit by Lewis Hætzer, under the title of "Decree of God, as to how we ought to deal with Images," was at that time widely circulated.

From this disposition of mind proceeded an event, which attracted attention and aroused indignation throughout the Confederacy, and prepared trouble for the government in Zurich. Directly before the city, in Stadelhofen, there stood on a pedestal of stone, an immense image of the Savior on the Cross, carved out of wood. It was put up by one family, as a monument of devotion, and was now under the care of a miller dwelling in the neighborhood. Many passers-by still did reverence to it. This was a source of great provocation to a number of enthusiasts, who afterwards went over to the Anabaptists, and especially to Nicholas Hottinger, a shoemaker by trade, a man not without culture, possessed of some property, versed in the Scriptures and of a decided character, which, in connection with his natural eloquence, gave him great influence over his associates. It is told of him, that he offered a bucket of wine to the hospital, if he would be allowed to destroy the images and votive paintings in the Water Church; and that he intended to give a banquet in honor of Zwingli at Lindenhof, amid a large assembly of country-people. He had often rebuked the possessor of the crucifix for not casting away the object of idolatry; he had even done it in presence of members of the Council, so that the man at last declared he was tired of the business, and though he would never do such a thing himself, Hottinger had the privilege of doing it, as soon as he had made over to him his right to the image. This was effected, and on a clear day Hottinger came with his companions. They threw down the crucifix, and even digged out the pedestal. The wood, they declared should go to the poor.

Although the actors in this scene appealed to the express command of God; although many approved of the deed, and even a portion of the preachers spoke in their favor from the pulpit, it was still in the eyes of others, perhaps of the majority, especially beyond the canton, an act as rebellious as horrible, yea worthy of death; and they threatened, in case the perpetrators were not dealt with in this way, according to their will and confused ideas, such dangerous consequences, that the government was obliged to cast the so-called "Idol Stormers" into prison for a while. The result of an investigation, conducted in common with the three people's priests, convinced the Council, that the quieting of the people, and the introduction of rules of law for the abrogation of customs, which were no longer tenable, could only be looked for, in the way of a conference, as public and thorough as possible, on the doctrine of Scripture concerning images and the mass also, as connected with this subject.

Hence the collective clergy and laity of the canton were invited, in case they were ready to throw any light on the subject, to appear at the council-house on the 26th of October. Similar invitations were sent to the bishops of Constance, Chur and Basel, as well as to the University at the latter place, to the twelve Cantons of the Confederacy, and to the city and abbot of St. Gall.

The call of Zurich for the first religious conference, nine months before, had scarcely been heeded by her sisters of the Confederacy. But now this actual invitation was received in a different manner. With the exception of Schaffhausen, no canton, it is true, ventured to comply with it formally; but from the answers, yet to be quoted, it may be gathered that, having generally deliberated over the matter, they were decidedly averse to the proposal. Bern, and, by her advice, Solothurn also, declined the invitation, with the prayer, that it might not be taken ill on their part; but as injury as well benefit could grow out of events of this kind, not to a single canton merely, but to the whole Confederacy, the general interest ought to have induced them to confer beforehand in common about the topics to be treated of, as well as about those who were to be invited to the conference. The invitation made a disagreeable impression on Luzern. "You inform us"--so runs the letter from this city--"that quarrels and ill-will about spiritual things are rife among you. This we are sorry to hear, and still more sorry that you have not rooted them up long ago, for which neither right nor might were wanting; and even ha it been so, we as pious Christians would have willingly lent you aid. Now you invite us to a conference; but along with our clergy, whom we think pious, we have found in spiritual and temporal affairs, that such insignificant assemblies are wholly unfit to deal with matters pertaining to faith. We do not wish to attack images, far less the mass, upon which our whole faith is founded. We wish to tread in the footsteps of our fathers--to stand by that, which we have inherited from them and been taught by them; for we do not regard them as seducers, but sainted and pious people. We are willing also to have abuses put away; but by them to whom it belongs. Therefore we send no one, and beg you to accept our reasons in the best spirit."

Still more bitter was the refusal of Obwalden: "To serve you we are at all times ready. But now you invite our learned men to you. Hence we speak thus: We have no particularly learned people amongst us; only pious, reverend priests, who expound to us the Gospel and the other Holy Scriptures, as they were expounded to our forefathers; in which we will trust as long as we live, unless the Pope or a Council revoke the doctrine, and are ready to suffer death therefor. We also can not bring ourselves to believe that the Lord God has given more grace to Zwingli, than to the dear saints and teachers, who have suffered martyrdom and death for the faith. We can not see that he leads such a spiritual life, nay, that he is rather inclined to disturbance, than to peace and quiet. Therefore we desire to send no one to him, nor to any like him. Indeed, if we had him, and would find that true, which is told us about him, we would give him such a reward, that he would never do it again."

Basel, where Zwingli's intimate friend Œcolampadius (Hausschein) was now a preacher, and in the year following became a professor, returned no answer. The University looked with disdain on popular theological conferences, where unlearned men even usurped the seat of judgment, and the Council found itself embarrassed between the friends of the old order and the new. Zurich complained of its silence.

The Bishop of Constance, in two successive letters, asked, according to his former practice, for the reference of such an important point to a Church Council; he would be pledged, so to speak, "for both his superiors (the Emperor and the Pope), from the answers and commands received from them in similar cases." In the same strain wrote the truly venerable and aged Bishop of Basel, with the addition: "although we are otherwise inclined with our whole heart to favor you in all possible things (God knows), because we are not unmindful of the many deeds of kindness shown to ourselves and our monastery," From the Diocesan at Chur no reply was received. The Abbot of St. Gall excused himself on account of the shortness of the time, which did permit him to obtain instructions. From the city on the contrary, appeared, along with Vadianus the friend of Zwingli's youth, who three years after rose to the dignity of burgomaster there, the pastor Benedict Burgauer and Doctor Schapeler. Doctor Sebastian Hofmeister, the people's priest Martin Steinlin and Conrad Irmensee, trustee of the monastery of All Saints, arrived from Schaffhausen.

Of the course, the nature and the results of the theological investigations, during the three days devoted to this conference, enough can be learned from church-history.^[10] Our task is to describe the carriage and behavior of the persons engaged in it. They seem to divide themselves into two main classes of a better stamp, and one of a worse; the most prominent speakers were Zwingli, Conrad Schmied, commander of the Knights of St John at Kuessnacht, and Conrad Grebel. A reckless treatment, an absolute rejection of all, that could not be proven before the tribunal of Scripture-interpretation conducted by the natural understanding, marked the character of one class; a sparing of the weak, cautious progress and a horror of tearing down anything, before it could be built up again, marked that of the second. Bolder, springing more from the immediate wants of the age, more politic were the views of the first; milder, more accordant with nature, better agreeing with the spirit of Christianity, were those of the second. Still Zwingli was not lacking in feeling, nor Schmied in understanding Hence they, and their friends likewise, mutually comprehended each other and united in their opposition to the third class, in which, under Grebel's guidance, only the impure elements of stormy passions mingled.

Because there were now only two, though very important, points of discussion, this conference was more lively and animated than the one preceding. The decisive action to be taken in regard to images, held in suspense the multitude of those, whose devotions were made up of genuflections, faith in miracles, and the observance of external rites, whilst on the other hand, the thoughtful and sensible turned their attention rather to the examinations on the mass, which was without doubt the basis of the prevailing worship. This assembly drew together a far greater number than the first, held in the beginning of the year, and in order that digression to irrelevant subjects might not be possible, and that the management might not be attributed to a faction of Zurichers, Vadianus and Schapeler of St. Gall, along with Doctor Hofmeister of Schaffhausen, were chosen as presidents.

Rigidly did they adhere to the rule of order laid down for them by the burgomaster, to suffer no replies to pass which were not sustained by the very language of the Bible, and Hofmeister particularly ordered silence and the disuse of certain expressions, which few in our times would not admit as substantially true, although according to the nature of things they could not be proven by the bare letter of Holy Scripture.

At first, the debate concerning the adoration of images proceeded without much strife. The unscriptural character of the practice was universally acknowledged. Only in appearance, or in order to pave the way for discussion, Gregory Luethy, pastor in Winterthur, raised some objections, but was supported by no one. The word "idolater," which they were so ready to use, carried terror on all sides.

The canon Edlebach, whilst granting all such veneration to be superstitious, was still anxious to preserve at least figurative representations of noble deeds, because "he thought they charm us to imitation."--"This is a use"--answered Zwingli--"which is no use to me; bring the Divine Scripture for it. God has forbidden us to be charmed by any one save Him alone and His Word. Besides, when we have them, they will be honored and esteemed as helpers. And that is at all points against Christ and His Word."

The severity of this answer the canon attributed perhaps to the circumstance, that he was known as a secret adversary of the Reformer, when one of his friends and admirers also rose up, not indeed for the defence of images, but to put in a plea for their merciful treatment and impartial estimation.

This was Commander Schmied. Let us dwell a while upon a character so full of interest. Son of a countryman from the village of Kuessnacht, set apart for study on account of his natural gifts, he came to Basel, where he remained till the ripe age of manhood, and found himself clothed with academical honors. Then he was chosen people's priest at Seengen, and unanimously by the Knights of St. John at Kuessnacht for their commander, in 1519. We know that he here won universal respect, sought to promote religion and science, and in the spirit, which animated the founders of this Order of Knighthood, joined a sincere and active benevolence with courage, honor and morality. Even his external appearance was dignified and engaging.

As the truth of the Gospel was sacred to him, so the spirit of love lived in him, that spirit of the Holy Scriptures, which is eternal, whilst the letter bears the stamp of the age from which it came--the character of the men, by whom it was written; that spirit makes alive, whilst the letter kills.

A shrewd observer, having the confidence of the country-people living under him, he had heard many peculiar expressions about the much-talked-of image-question, and looked as deep into weak as into stronger hearts. Why should the nobler end be done away also with the abuse? How had an elevation to the reign of pure ideas suddenly become possible for thousands, whose feelings heretofore could only be wrought upon through the medium of the senses? Was then the zeal so pure, which glowed in the bosoms of the stormy fanatics, who with axe and hatchet overthrew without discrimination the ornaments of churches and the grotesque creations of superstition,^[11] and before whose gloomy looks the most delicate works of art, from which the grandeur of innocence and the blessedness of love beamed down upon them, found no mercy?

Hence Schmied said: "Let us first put away the idols in our hearts, through the preaching of the Divine Word, before we begin to rattle on the outside. Pictures are the staves of the weak, which we dare not take away, until we have given them strength to walk without. Paul too did not assail the gods and statues of the Athenians, but strove to erect in their hearts a temple to the invisible God, convinced that then idolatry would fall away of itself. In general, we ought not to provoke anger without necessity; and not everything that happens amongst us springs from a pure love of the truth. Such things work injuriously in the Confederacy. We are told the Confederates should not be our God. But yet they are Christian people, and for that reason we ought to spare them."

Who, in our times, will not approve of this mild speech? And to what do the Protestants of this 19th century owe it, that they can hold these views peacefully? that no faith of the letter drives them to a renunciation of innocent feelings, to unrighteous, repulsive severity, and to a stiff and wanton tyranny of creeds, such as meets us in the 17th century? To the progress of science alone--science, which teaches how to distinguish between the letter and the spirit--science, which the coward only fears, which he, who knows her not, only can calumniate.

But how very far in the rear was such science in Zwingli's age! Philology, history, an enlarged knowledge of nature and geography--what light have they not since furnished for the explanation of the Holy Scriptures! With what wonderful rapidity the results of scientific investigation, universally intelligible, are poured out by an unfettered press among the multitude! Questions must now be started, can not be kept back, on which nobody then, or at least a very few, ever thought; and if three centuries ago a knowledge of grammar only was needed for the interpretation of Scripture, there is now need of philosophy also.

Still, in a book designed for general information, we cannot enter deeply into what is scientific. It is enough to shew plainly, that Zwingli must not be judged by the ideas of our age, if in the discussion about images he opposed his friend Schmied.

In the noble feelings of the latter he shared, but surpassed Lim, in a just appreciation of the age and its immediate wants, and in the logical carrying out of a well-weighed system. Only by holding firmly to the very language of Holy Scripture could he keep his ground against his numerous opponents, for only thus far were his hearers able to follow him. We will see hereafter what difficulties he prepared for himself, when, instead of clinging to the letter in explaining the words of the eucharist, he yielded to a freer spirit.

"Well has my lord and brother said"--so Zwingli answered Schmied's objections--"that we ought to put away the false images in our hearts by the preaching of God's Word. I hope too that Leo and I have not been negligent in this; but he has spoken ill, when he calls images 'the staves of the weak.' Where is there any passage of this sort in the Holy Scripture? But we are to follow its plain language. And it is clear as day, that it permits no images, least of all those of gold and silver, of whose value poverty is deprived."

Hofmeister also thought, that, according to the commission he had received, he must admonish the commander to contend only with Scripture. The latter, from respect to the order of the government, did not prolong the colloquy.

So decided was Zwingli's victory, so general the aversion to meet him, that a whole troop of those, who were enemies, carpers and boasters behind his back, now became silent in his presence, when called by name. The manner in which some tried to get out of the affair was quite characteristic. This one played the part of an injured man, and growled out, that no body had a right to ask him as long as he kept his peace; that one naively declared, that he had believed the old, but now he must believe the new; a third, that he would teach nothing bad, that he could understand neither Greek nor Hebrew, and it were well if these languages had never come into the country; a fourth, that he could not fight, his sword having been broken off at the hilt; the prior of the Augustinians said, that he could give answer any moment from the Papal Decrees, and if he was not able to do it, then he would stand there like any other "cowled pate;" and the rest in a similar strain.

Thus the fate of images was decided by an easy battle. "This has been child's play,"--said Zwingli--"but now we come to a more important matter."

Here again we must be reminded, that it belongs to the province of theology, not history, to show in what nearer or more remote connection the doctrine of the mass, as then laid down and practised by the Church, stands with the declarations of Holy Scripture. It is enough to remark, that it rests upon the idea, so deeply rooted in the human spirit, of the duty of sacrifice. But what is true sacrifice? At bottom, nothing else than offering up to Him, from whom we have everything and by whom we are. In such offering--in offering at the same time from the purest love for man, Christ has gone before us all. That the perpetual presence of his sacrifice, therefore, must strengthen us in faith and love, we all agree. But then there is a difference between the sensuous and the spiritual apprehension of the fact. Zwingli taught that Christ offering himself must not be looked for in a host made of meal, but in his living image, the helper of the needy. "He who receives one of these, receives me"--so he himself once said. This was the plain, practical view, which Zwingli maintained not only in this Conference, but in his whole system of doctrine also.

This practical view has for centuries now exerted its influence amongst us, and with whatever reason we may be censured for other things--that there is a sense of active benevolence amongst us can never be denied. Here, Zurich, hold firm! Here is thy rock! May thy Church lean on it with wisdom, in youthful strength! Then need she dread neither time, nor science, nor Jacobins, nor Jesuists. Religion, that flower of life, has its root neither in the vague dreams of the rustic, nor in the naked formulas of the philosopher, but in noble, unpretending acts. Here the real and the ideal, the beautiful and the time meet for their eternally necessary mutual strengthening and purification.^[12]

Owing to the nature of the subject, the Conference assumed a more peaceful and scientific cast, and at times became quite familiar. Even Zwingli, especially after the commander Schmied had again spoken in his mild, conciliatory manner, confessed to his most persevering opponent, Steinlin, people's priest at Schaffhausen, that he had learned much from him, and desired, that, if severe expressions sometimes fell from his lips, they should not be laid too much to heart. "Many"--said he--"there are, who catch up only the bitter things said by me, and so too it happens with that learned gentleman, Martin Luther, whom they are willing to imitate in naught, save the sharpness of his language, which nevertheless he often utters out of true, ardent love; but the pious, faithful heart and its struggles after truth, remain unnoticed."

The earliest traces of a fire, which afterwards broke out destructively, began to appear first on the evening of the second day. Mention has already been made of Conrad Grebel, Zwingli's previous friend and admirer, and also of his father, the councilor Jacob Grebel. The history of this family, truly told, would be a warning for all, who expect from the chances of fortune that happiness, which is only to be found in contentment and a pure conscience. A skillful man of business, frequently employed in the affairs of Zurich and the Confederacy, the father had formed extensive connections. His house in Zurich was always open to the ambassadors of foreign princes and distinguished allies; in consequence of which his expenses gradually became greater than his income. His sons and daughters grew up. Their welfare and that of the family was sought in splendid living. The elder daughter became prioress of the convent of Œdenbach; the younger, at a later period, the wife of Vadianus; she was the most fortunate of the children, the only one happy till a ripe old age. One of the sons entered the service of the Archduke Ferdinand as a gentleman of the bed-chamber; the other, Conrad, lived at Vienna and Paris on sums of money, which the father knew how to obtain from the Emperor, the King of France, and Duke Sforza of Milan. His extravagance aided not a little in the ruin of the family. More and more the father put himself under dangerous obligations to strangers. He did it too, after the penalty of death had been affixed to the taking of foreign pensions. Already had one son been dismissed from the service of the Archduke, and Conrad returned home in shattered health and burdened with debt. The convent at Œdenbach was broken up; the mother tormented by sickness, domestic calamities and her own passionate disposition, increased the general misery. Then the bribery of the father came to light, and an old man, with snow-white hair, he ended his days on the scaffold, in 1526. His dignified behavior, when led to the block, excited universal pity. Some months before he had begged the authorities to pardon his ruined son, the chief cause of his misfortunes.^[13] For himself, he would not do it. What value would a longer life have had in view of such a downfall!

We have anticipated, in order to show the fate of the family in its connection; the thread of our story now leads us back to Conrad. To no common abilities he had joined industry and a thirst for learning in his earlier youth, and knew how to gain the good-will of Zwingli and Vadianus. Many letters bear witness of the friendly relations in which he stood toward both; but his character gradually became worse, and he could not escape the never-failing consequences of debauchery. Not the body only, but the spirit also, sinks under them. Peace vanishes from the soul; insight into the sphere of duty and the relations of life grows dim. Still, at times a nobler feeling awoke within him; he acknowledged the justice of his sufferings, bewailed his folly and strove to break loose from his fetters; but then again he would accuse others, especially his father. How severe and dreadful is the language which he uses in a letter to Vadianus: "My father would discover my crime, if the beam in his own eye did not hinder him from seeing the mote in mine. He does not know what I have had to suffer on his account, since he first caused me to be fed by the Emperor and then by the King of France. Had he taught me to get along with a small patrimony according to the national custom; had he not wished me to soar higher, as my wings grew, in the track of his other son, then would I not be troubled, when the betrayers of the fatherland are cursed, lest my father should be included among them; then would I not, when such are spoken of, grow now red with shame and now pale with fear, lest they should say my father was a French hireling; then would I not be irritated; then would I not be compelled to tremble for a speedy discovery; then would I not have to think of restitution; then perhaps had I never bartered my freedom for gold and my honor for sordid metal. The King flays his people and snatches the food from their mouths like a wolf, that he may adorn his person and fare sumptuously, and would have once been able to bring me to God knows what, if my native city had raised me to honor and dignity. O that it were granted me, to plunge from this misery into another, or to escape both, and reach the shore from the wreck in a happier hour! Is this denied me? then do I set myself against fate and the gods and will brave the torture, till their wrath is satiated in my grave. Glad am 1 that the plague, which still spared many, during the past autumn, has broken out here again in the course of this month!"

Thus, Zwingli's labors in Zurich began to stir up base elements, along with what were truly noble and pure. People, who were lacking in means to rise, and often justly low in public esteem, now called out likewise for change, so that their old incapacity, or their old sins, might be forgotten. The deeper the agitation, the more they hoped to gain. Then already Grebel was numbered among them; the better spirit had wholly forsaken him. Others of a like stamp clustered around him. To stand with Zwingli they would have needed purer morals, more labor of the mind, and above all self-denial. This would not do for them. They must outstrip him therefore, in order to gain their end the more quickly.

It has already been remarked, that the first traces of their disturbing influence appeared at the close of the disputation. Lame, frivolous were the questions about mere externals in the administration of the Supper, the form of the bread, the kind, as how it ought to be brought to the mouth, the time of taking it which Grebel started--difficulties that he would find everywhere; then, supported chiefly by Simon Stumpf, people's priest at Hœngg, he impugned the right of the government to issue ordinances; all evidently designed to produce an excitement, to rouse the spirit of sect, to make himself a party. With generous forbearance Zwingli answered him, but here again Conrad Schmied spoke out against fanaticism and a rage for destruction. He brought the insurgents to silence, and then proceeded to deliver an ample discourse on the need of better instruction, which met with general approbation. His spiritual superiors had hitherto refused, for good reasons, to inform the people. "The more need"--continued he--"is there, that you, dear Sirs, should take the work boldly in hand. For money, you have helped many an earthly prince to his land and his subjects, help then, for God's sake, Christ our Lord to his dominion and honour."

No one opposed this. Then Zwingli spoke one more, begging all to hold firm to the Gospel, and never to despond as long as they leaned upon it. "What is done from the best motives will be misrepresented by falsehood and slander. Thus it had been said here and there yesterday evening that we would now degrade the body and blood of Christ into sleeping-cups. No!"--cried he--"no one certainly wishes to do this." Tears interrupted his speech and many other were heard to weep. "If God will"--said Leo Judæ--"we will all stand by the Gospel, and cheerfully will I, if need be, lay down my life for it. They may kill the body, but the soul they can not kill. The Scripture ought never to be used for quarrelling, or display, but for the improvement of our lives, and if perchance I have spoken too harshly to any one, during the present Conference, I ask his forgiveness." Zwingli did the same. The presidents now laid down their office with a petition for Hottinger and the other prisoners, in which the Abbott of Cappel, the Commander of Kuessnacht and the Provost of the Great Minster joined.

The issue of this Conference formed a new epoch for Zurich. The government prudently resolved to do nothing rashly, to change nothing suddenly. Even images and relics should not be taken from the churches for a while, yet, where it was possible, covered, locked up, but in no case injured. He, who wished to read mass, or to assist in the reading, was permitted once more to do so. The rules of fasting also were to be observed; but the Great Council had already put forth the declaration, that in spiritual affairs it would henceforth be the court of decision with the advice of the people's priest, or bishops, as it styled the pastors of the congregations in a public document.^[14] Hottinger, on account of his rash conduct, was banished from the canton for two years, and Lorenz Hochruetiner, who with foolish obstinacy had repeated the act, for life. Several associates of these "Idol Stormers" had to lay down considerable sums as bail for their peaceful behavior. Simon Stumpf, people's priest at Hœngg, whose name occurs above, was obliged to leave the country, till permission for his return could be granted, "on account of his rough sermons, speeches and other things he had done."^[15]

The most pressing want, just then, was the instruction of the ignorant priests of the people. Hence, by order of the government, Zwingli prepared a small book, under the title of "Christian Introduction," in which the chief articles of evangelical doctrine, and founded on these, a decision against the former dogmas and practices of the Church were brought together in the plainest possible language. This was placed in the hands of all the preachers in the canton, with the summons to adhere to this pattern in their discourses. At the same time it was sent to the governments of the collective states, to the bishops of the Confederacy and to the University of Basel, with the request that it might be tested and refuted, if it contained any points at war with the Gospel. The government, it is to be observed, had made up its mind to wait a full half year for refutations, and then, if nothing arrived, to proceed to the removal of abuses, and the introduction of a new church-order.

The reformation of the state kept pace continually with that of the church. No one was more thoroughly convinced than Zwingli, that the civil was the result of the religious corruption, and vice versa. Soon after the end of the Conference he again delivered a vehement discourse against the mischief of pensions, traces of this evil being still apparent and it required no great penetration to perceive, that it stood in connection with the spirit of fanaticism, which began to show itself toward the close of the disputation. After this discourse, on the 21st of December, 1523, the burgomaster and the councils took an oath against all pensions; on the day before, the entire priesthood had done the same. Transgressors were threatened with capital punishment.

Meanwhile the Bishop of Constance had sent a very detailed report on the Introduction, to the Council of Zurich, with the notice, that in drawing it up he had availed himself of the advice of several universities. A committee, consisting of nine of the most learned clergy, four members of the Small and four of the Great Council, were ordered to give it a careful examination, and on their motion the whole of it was read aloud in the assembly. As Bullinger informs us, "all agreed, that there was little ground for it in the Divine Word."

A similar judgment was passed by another committee, appointed to examine the objections raised against Zwingli, during the present Conference, by the canon Hofmann and several members of the Chapter.