The people now at length believe
That priests can all their sins reprieve
At pleasure--that to them is given
Full power to shut or open heaven.
Preach loudly, every high decree,
Of him, the conclave's majesty.
Then, we are kings, the laity slaves:
But if the gospel standard waves
We're lost; for no where does it say,
Make sacrifice, let priests have pay.
The gospel course for us would be,
To live and die in poverty.
Instead of steeds to mark my state,
And chariots on my sons to wait,
A paltry ass must needs supply[862]
A seat for sacred majesty.
No, I cannot take such legacy,
I'll thunder at such temerity;
Let us but will--the world will nod,
And nations adore us as God.
Slighting their rights I mount my throne,
And partition the world among my own;
Vile laity must keep far aloof,
Nor dare to enter our blest roof,
To touch our tribute, or our gold.
Holy water e'en let them hold.
[862] Wir möchten fast kaum Eselein ha'n. (Bern Mausol. iv, Wirz, K.
Gesch. i, 383.)
We will not continue this literal translation of Manuel's drama. The
agony of the clergy on learning the efforts of the Reformers, and
their rage against those who threaten to interfere with their
irregularities, are painted in lively colours. The dissolute manners
of which this piece gave so vivid a representation were too common not
to strike the spectator with the truth of the picture. The people were
excited. Many jibes were heard as they retired from the play in the
street of La Croix; but some who took the matter more seriously, spoke
of Christian liberty and papal despotism, and contrasted the
simplicity of the gospel with the pomp of Rome. The contempt of the
people was soon displayed in the public streets. On Ash Wednesday, the
indulgences were promenaded through the town amid satirical songs. In
Berne, and throughout Switzerland a severe blow had been given to the
ancient edifice of the papacy.
[Sidenote: WALTER KLARER. JAMES BURKLI.]
Sometime after this representation, another comedy was acted at Berne,
but there was no fiction in it. The clergy, council, and corporation
had assembled in front of the Upper Gate, waiting for the skull of St.
Anne, which the famous knight, Albert of Stein, had gone to fetch from
Lyons. At length Stein appeared, holding the holy relic wrapt in a
covering of silk. As it passed, the Bishop of Lausanne knelt down
before it. This precious skull, the skull of the Virgin's mother, is
carried in procession to the church of the Dominicans, and, amid the
ringing of bells, enters the church, where it is placed with great
solemnity on the altar consecrated to it, behind a splendid grating.
But amid all this joy, a letter arrives from the abbot of the convent
of Lyon, where the relics of the saint were deposited, intimating that
what the monks had sold to the knight was a profane bone taken at
random from the burying ground. The trick thus played off on the
illustrious city of Berne filled its citizens with deep indignation.
The Reformation was making progress in other parts of Switzerland. In
1521, Walter Klarer, a young man of Appenzel, returned to his native
canton from the university of Paris. Luther's writings fell into his
hands, and, in 1522, he preached the evangelical doctrine with all the
ardour of a young convert. An innkeeper, named Rausberg, a wealthy and
pious man, and a member of the council of Appenzel, opened his house
to all the friends of truth. Bartholomew Berweger, a famous captain,
who had fought for Julius II and for Leo X, having at this time
returned from Rome, began forthwith to persecute the evangelical
ministers. One day, however, remembering how much vice he had seen at
Rome, he began to read the Bible, and to attend the sermons of the new
preachers; his eyes were opened, and he embraced the gospel. Seeing
that the crowds could not be contained in the churches, he proposed
that they should preach in the fields and the public squares, and,
notwithstanding of keen opposition, the hills, meadows, and mountains
of Appenzel, thenceforward often echoed with the glad tidings of
salvation.
[Sidenote: MURDER AND ADULTERY.]
The reformed doctrine, ascending the Rhine, made its way as far as
ancient Rhætia. One day, a stranger from Zurich crossed the river, and
waited on the saddler of Flasch, the frontier village of the Grisons.
Christian Anhorn, the saddler, listened in astonishment to the
language of his visitor. "Preach," said the whole village to the
stranger, who was called James Burkli. He accordingly took his station
in front of the altar. A number of persons arrived, with Anhorn at
their head, and stood round to defend him from a sudden attack while
he preached the gospel. The rumour of this preaching spread far and
wide; and, on the following Sunday, an immense crowd assembled.
Shortly after, a great proportion of the inhabitants of the district
desired to have the Lord's Supper dispensed to them according to its
original institution. But one day the tocsin suddenly sounded in
Mayenfield; the people ran in alarm; and the priests, after pointing
out the danger which threatened the Church, hastened at the head of
the fanatical population to Flasch. Anhorn, who was working in the
field, astonished at hearing the sound of bells at so unusual an hour,
hastened home and concealed Burkli in a deep hole dug in his cellar.
The house was by this time surrounded; the door was forced open, and
the heretical preacher everywhere searched for in vain. At length the
persecutors withdrew.[863]
[863] Anhorn, Wiedergeburt der Ev. Kirchen in den 3 Bündten. Chur,
1680. Wirz i, 457.
The Word of God spread over the extent of the ten jurisdictions. The
curate of Mayenfield, on returning from Rome, to which he had fled
infuriated at the success of the gospel, exclaimed, "Rome has made me
evangelical," and became a zealous reformer. The Reformation soon
extended to the league of "the House of God." "Oh!" exclaimed
Salandronius to Vadian, "if you but saw how the inhabitants of the
mountains of Rhætia cast far from them the yoke of the Babylonish
captivity!"
Shocking disorders hastened the day when Zurich and the neighbouring
districts were to shake off the yoke. A married schoolmaster wishing
to become a priest, obtained his wife's consent, and they separated.
The new curate was unable to keep his vow of celibacy, but not to
outrage his wife's feelings quitted the place where she lived, and,
having taken up his residence in the diocese of Constance, formed a
licentious connection. His wife hastened to the place. The poor priest
took compassion on her, and dismissing the person who had usurped her
rights, took back his lawful spouse. The procurator-fiscal forthwith
drew up a charge against him: the vicar-general began to move; the
council of the consistory deliberated ... and the curate was ordered
to abandon his wife or his benefice. The poor wife left the house
weeping bitterly, and her rival returned in triumph. The Church
declared itself satisfied, and thenceforth let the adulterous priest
alone.[864]
[864] Simml. Samml. vi.--Wirz, K. Gesch. i, 275.
[Sidenote: THE MARRIAGE OF ZUINGLIUS.]
Shortly after a curate of Lucerne eloped with a married woman, and
lived with her. The husband went to Lucerne and taking advantage of
the priest's absence brought away his wife. While returning they were
met by the seducer, who immediately attacked the injured husband, and
gave him a wound of which he died.[865] All good men felt the
necessity of re-establishing the divine law, which declares _marriage
honorable in all_.[866] The evangelical ministers had taught that the
law of celibacy was of merely human origin, imposed by Roman pontiffs
in opposition to the Word of God, which, when describing a true
bishop, represents him as a husband and father. (1 Tim. iii, 2 and 4.)
They saw at the same time, that of all the abuses which had crept into
the Church none had caused more numerous vices and scandals. They
considered it not only as a thing lawful but as a duty in the sight of
God to withdraw from its authority. Several of them at this time
returned to the ancient practice of apostolic times. Xylotect was
married. Zuinglius also married at this period. No lady was more
respected in Zurich than Anna Reinhard, widow of Meyer of Knonau, the
mother of Gerold. From the arrival of Zuinglius she had been one of
his most attentive hearers: she lived in his neighbourhood, and he
observed her piety, modesty, and fondness for her children. Young
Gerold, who had become as it were his adopted son, brought him into
closer connection with his mother. The trials already endured by this
Christian woman, who was one day to be the most cruelly tried of all
the women whose history is on record, had given her a gravity which
made her evangelical virtues still more prominent.[867] She was now
about thirty-five years of age, and her own fortune amounted only to
four hundred florins. It was on her that Zuinglius, on looking out for
a companion for life, turned his eye. He felt how sacred and intimate
the conjugal union is. He termed it "a most holy alliance."[868] "As
Christ," said he, "died for his people, and gave himself to them
entirely, so ought husband and wife to do and suffer every thing for
each other." But Zuinglius, when he took Anna Reinhard to wife, did
not immediately publish his marriage. This was undoubtedly a culpable
weakness in a man otherwise so resolute. The light which he and his
friends had acquired on the subject of celibacy was not generally
diffused. The weak might have been offended. He feared that his
usefulness in the Church might be paralysed if his marriage were made
public.[869] He sacrificed part of his happiness to these fears--fears
to which, though respectable perhaps, he should have been
superior.[870]
[865] Hinc cum scorto redeuntem in itinere deprehendit, adgreditur,
lethiferoque vulnere cædit et tandem moritur. (Zw. Ep. p. 206.)
[866] Hebrews, xiii, 4.
[867] Anna Reinhard, von Gerold Meyer von Knonau, p. 25.
[868] Ein hochheiliges Bündniss. (Ibid.)
[869] Qui veritus sis, te marito non tam feliciter usurum Christum in
negotio verbi sui. (Zw. Ep. p. 335.) Who feared that Christ would not
use you as a husband so advantageously in the ministry of his Word.
[870] Biographers, most respectable historians, and all the authors
who have copied them, place Zuinglius' marriage two years later, viz.,
in April 1524. Without going at length into the reasons which satisfy
me that this is a mistake, I will merely indicate the most decisive
proofs. A letter from Zuinglius' friend Myconius, 22nd July, 1522,
says, "_Vale cum uxore quam felicissime_." "All happiness to you and
your wife." Another letter from the same friend, written towards the
close of this year, has the words, "_Vale cum uxore_." The contents of
the letters prove that they are correctly dated. But what is still
stronger is, a letter of Bucer, from Strasburg, at the time when the
marriage was made public, 14th April, 1524, (the date of the year is
wanting, but it is clearly 1524.) This letter contains several
passages which show that Zuinglius had been for some time married. In
addition to the one given in the previous note, we quote the
following:--"Professum _palam_ te maritum legi. Unum hoc desiderabam
in te." I read that you openly professed to be a husband. This was the
only thing in you I regretted the want of. "Quæ multum facilius quam
_connubii tui confessionem_. Antichristus posset ferre." These things
Antichrist could bear more easily than _the confession of your
marriage_.--"Αγαμον ab eo, quod cum fratribus ... episcopo
Constantiensi congressus es, nullus credidi." That you were unmarried
I did not believe from your disputes with the friars ... the Bishop of
Constance. "Qua ratione id _tam diu celares_ ... non dubitarim,
rationibus hue adductum, quæ apud virum evangelicum non queant omnino
repudiari" ... etc. On what account you concealed it so long ... I
doubt not you were influenced by reasons which ought not to be
entirely rejected by a Christian man. (Zw. Ep. p. 335.) In 1524, then,
Zuinglius did not marry, but publish his marriage contracted two years
before. The learned editors of the letters of Zuinglius ask, "Num
forte jam Zuinglius Annam Reinhardam, clandestino in matrimonio
habebat?" May not Zuinglius have already been secretly married to Anna
Reinhard? p. 210. This seems to me not a matter of doubt, but a well
ascertained historical fact.
[Sidenote: HOW TRUTH TRIUMPHS.]