Read Ebook: The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli by Hottinger Johann Jakob Porter Thomas C Thomas Conrad Translator

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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.

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 Caesar, 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 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."

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.

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."

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. 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.'

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.

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 JohnOEchslin 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 , 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,OEchslin, 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.

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. 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.

"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 , 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.

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," "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 Judae, 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.

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 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.

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

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.

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 , 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.

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