How Truth triumphs--Society at Einsidlen--Request to the
Bishops--to the Confederates--The Men of Einsidlen
separate--A Scene in a Convent--A Dinner by Myconius--The
Strength of the Reformers--Effect of the Petitions to
Lucerne--The Council of the Diet--Haller at the
Town-House--Friburg--Destitution of Oswald--Zuinglius
comforts him--Oswald quits Lucerne--First severity of the
Diet--Consternation of the Brothers of Zuinglius--His
Resolution--The Future--The Prayer of Zuinglius.
Meanwhile still higher interests occupied the friends of truth. The
Diet, as we have seen, urged by the enemies of the Reformation, had
ordered the evangelical preachers to desist from preaching the
doctrines which troubled the people. Zuinglius felt that the moment
for action had arrived, and with the energy which characterised him,
called a meeting of the ministers of the Lord, the friends of the
gospel, at Einsidlen. The strength of Christians is neither in carnal
weapons, nor the flames of martyrdom--it is in a simple but unanimous
and intrepid profession of these great truths to which the world must
one day be subjugated. In particular, God calls upon those who serve
him to hold these heavenly doctrines prominently forth in presence of
the whole people without being dismayed by the clamour of adversaries.
Those truths are able of themselves to secure their triumph, and as of
old with the ark of God, idols cannot stand in their presence. The
time had come when God willed that the great doctrine of salvation
should be confessed in Switzerland. It was necessary that the gospel
standard should be planted on some eminence. Providence was going to
draw humble but intrepid men out of unknown retreats that they might
bear a striking testimony in presence of the nation.
[Sidenote: MEETING AT EINSIDLEN.]
Towards the end of June and the beginning of July, 1522, pious
ministers were seen proceeding in all directions towards the
celebrated chapel of Einsidlen on a new pilgrimage.[871] From Art, in
the canton of Schwitz, came its curate, Balthasar Traschel; from
Weiningen near Baden, curate Staheli; from Zug, Werner Steiner; from
Lucerne, canon Kilchmeyer; from Uster, curate Pfister; from Hongg,
near Zurich, curate Stumpff; from Zurich itself, canon Fabricius,
chaplain Schmid, the preacher of the hospital, Grosmann, and
Zuinglius. Leo Juda, curate of Einsidlen, most cordially welcomed all
these ministers of Jesus Christ to the ancient abbey. Since the time
when Zuinglius took up his residence in it, this place had been a
citadel of truth, and a hotel of the just.[872] In like manner had
thirty-three bold patriots, resolved to break the yoke of Austria, met
two hundred years before in the solitary plain of Grutli. The object
of the meeting at Einsidlen was to break the yoke of human authority
in the things of God. Zuinglius proposed to his friends to present
earnest addresses to the cantons, and to the bishop, praying for the
free preaching of the gospel, and at the same time for the abolition
of compulsory celibacy, the source of so many irregularities. The
proposal was unanimously adopted.[873] Ulric had himself prepared the
addresses. That to the bishop was first read. It was dated 2nd July,
1522, and signed by all the evangelists we have mentioned. The
preachers of the truth in Switzerland were united in cordial
affection. Many others besides sympathised with the party at
Einsidlen: such were Haller, Myconius, Hedio, Capito, Œcolampadius,
Sebastian Meyer, Hoffmeister, and Wanner. This harmony is one of the
finest traits in the Swiss Reformation. These excellent persons always
acted as one man, and remained friends till death.
[871] Thaten sich zusammen etliche priester. (Bullinger MS.)
[872] Zu Einsidlen hätten sie alle Sicherheit dahin zu gehen und dort
zu wohnen. (J. J. Hottinger, Helv. K. Gesch., iii, 86.)
[873] Und wurden eins an den Bischoff zu Constantz und gmein
Eidtgnossen ein Supplication zu stellen. (Bullinger MS.)
[Sidenote: ADDRESS TO THE BISHOP.]
The men of Einsidlen were aware that it was only by the power of faith
that the members of the Confederation, divided by foreign enlistments,
could become one body. But their views were carried higher. "The
celestial doctrine," said they to their ecclesiastical head, in the
address of 2nd July, "that truth which God the Creator has manifested
by his Son to the human race now plunged in evil, has been long veiled
from our eyes by the ignorance, not to say the malice of certain men.
But God Almighty has resolved to re-establish it in its primitive
condition. Join yourself to those who demand that the multitude of the
faithful return to their head, who is Christ.[874] For our part we
have resolved to promulgate his gospel with indefatigable
perseverance, and at same time with such wisdom that none can
complain.[875] Favour this enterprise; astonishing, perhaps, but not
rash. Be like Moses on the march at the head of the people coming out
of Egypt, and overthrow the obstacles which oppose the triumphant
progress of truth."
[874] Et universa Christianorum multitudo ad caput suum quod Christus
est redeat. (Supplicatio quorundam apud Helvetios Evangelistarum. Zw.
Op. iii, 18.)
[875] Evangelium irremisso tenore promulgare statuimus.... (Ibid.)
After this warm appeal, the evangelists met at Einsidlen came to
celibacy. Zuinglius had no longer any demand to make on this head for
himself, having already one answering the description given by Paul of
what a minister's wife ought to be, _grave, sober, faithful in all
things_. (1 Tim. iii, 2.) But he thought of his brethren, whose
consciences were not yet like his, emancipated from human ordinances.
He sighed moreover for the time when all the servants of God might
live openly and without fear in the bosom of their own family,
_keeping their children_, says the apostle, _in subjection, with all
gravity_. (1 Tim. iii, 4.) "You are not ignorant," said the men of
Einsidlen, "that hitherto chastity has been deplorably violated by the
priests. When on the consecration of the servants of the Lord he who
speaks for all is asked, 'Are those whom you present righteous? He
answers--They are righteous. Are they learned? They are learned. But
when he is asked--Are they chaste? he answers: As far as human
weakness permits.'[876] Everything in the New Testament condemns
licentiousness: every thing in it sanctions marriage." Then follows
the quotation of a great number of passages. "Wherefore," they
continued, "we implore you by the love of Christ, by the liberty which
he has purchased for us, by the misery of so many weak and wavering
souls, by the wounds of so many ulcerated consciences, by every thing
human and divine; ... allow that which was rashly done to be wisely
repealed, lest the majestic edifice of the Church fall with fearful
uproar, and drag boundless ruin after it.[877] See with what storms
the world is threatened. If wisdom interpose not it is all over with
the priesthood."
[876] Suntne casti? reddidit: Quatenus humana imbecillitas permittit
(Ibid., iii, 18.)
[877] Ne quando moles ista non ex patris cœlestis sententia
constructa, cum fragore longe perniciosiore corruat. (Ibid., 24.) Lest
one day that edifice, not built according to the view of the heavenly
parent, fall with a much more dreadful crash.
[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FROM EINSIDLEN.]
The petition to the Confederation was of greater length. The band of
Einsidlen addressing the confederates, thus conclude: "Honoured
Sirs,--we are all Swiss, and you are our fathers. There are some among
us who have shown themselves faithful in combat, in plague, and other
calamities.[878] It is in the name of true chastity that we speak to
you. Who knows not that we could satisfy sensual appetite far better
by not submitting to the laws of a legitimate union? But it is
necessary to put an end to the scandals which afflict the church of
Christ. If the tyranny of the Roman pontiff would oppress us, fear
nothing, brave heroes! The authority of the Word of God, the rights of
Christian liberty, and the sovereign power of grace, guard around
us.[879] We have the same country, we have the same faith, we are
Swiss, and the valour of our illustrious ancestors always manifested
its power by an indomitable defence of those oppressed by injustice."
[878] Amica et piu paraenesis ad communem Helvetiorum civitatem
scripta, ne evangelicæ doctrinæ cursum impediant, etc. (Zw. Op. i,
89.)
[879] Divini enim verbi auctoritatem, libertatis Christianæ et divinæ
gratiæ præsidium nobis adesse conspicietis. (Zw. Op. i, 63.)
Thus in Einsidlen itself, in this old rampart of superstition, which
is still, in our day, one of the most famous sanctuaries of Roman
superstition, Zuinglius and his friends boldly raised the standard of
truth and freedom. They appealed to the heads of the State and the
Church. They fixed their thesis, like Luther, both on the gate of the
episcopal palace and on that of the national council. The friends met
at Einsidlen parted calm, joyful, full of hope in that God to whom
they had committed their cause. Some passing near the battle-field of
Morgarten, others over the chain of the Albis, and others again by
different valleys or mountains, all returned to their posts. "There
was truly something grand in these times,"[880] says Henry Bullinger,
"in men thus daring to put themselves forward, rallying around the
gospel, and exposing themselves to all dangers. But God defended them
so, that no evil reached them: for God preserves his people at all
times." It was indeed something grand, it was a great step in the
progress of the Reformation, one of the brightest days of religious
revival in Switzerland. A holy confederation was formed at Einsidlen.
Humble and courageous men had seized the sword of the Spirit, which is
the Word of God, and the shield of faith. The gauntlet was thrown
down, and the challenge given, not by a single man, but by men of
different cantons, ready to sacrifice their lives. It only remained to
await the battle.
[880] Es wass zwahren gros zu denen Zyten. (Bullinger MS.)
[Sidenote: SCENE IN A CONVENT.]
Everything announced that it was to be fierce. Five days after (7th
July), the magistracy of Zurich, wishing to give some satisfaction to
the Roman party, summoned before them Conrad Grebel and Claus
Hottinger, two of those extreme men who seemed desirous to go beyond
the bounds of a wise Reformation. "We forbid you," said Burgomaster
Roust, "to speak against the monks or on controverted points." At
these words, a loud noise was heard in the chamber, says an ancient
chronicle. God was so manifestly in favour of the work, that people
were everywhere anticipating signs of his interposition. All present
looked around in astonishment, without being able to discover the
cause of this mysterious circumstance.[881]
[881] Da Hess die Stube einen grossen Knall. (Füsslin Beytr. iv, 89.)
But indignation was carried to its greatest height in convents. Every
meeting held in them, whether for discipline or festivity, witnessed
some new attack. One day, when a great festival was celebrated in the
convent of Fraubrunn, the wine having got into the heads of the
guests, they began to shoot the most envenomed arrows at the
gospel.[882] What especially excited the rage of these priests and
monks was the evangelical doctrine--that in the Christian Church there
ought to be no sacerdotal caste above believers. Only one friend of
the Reformation, a simple layman, Macrin, schoolmaster at Soleure, was
present. He at first shunned the contest by changing his seat to
another table. But at last, no longer able to endure the furious
invectives of the guests, he stood up boldly, and exclaimed, "Yes, all
true Christians are priests, and offer sacrifice according to the
words of St. Peter, '_You are a royal priesthood_.'" At these words,
one of the most intrepid bawlers, the dean of Burgdorff, a tall, stout
man, with a stentorian voice, uttered a loud laugh. "You little Greeks
and school rats! You a royal priesthood!... Beautiful priesthood!...
Mendicant kings!... priests without prebends and benefices!"[883] And
instantly all the priests and monks fell with one accord on the
impudent laic.
[882] Cum invalescente Baccho, disputationes, imo verius jurgia....
(Zw. Ep. i, 230.) With the progress of the wine disputes, nay, rather
brawls, began.
[883] Estote ergo Græculi ac Donatistæ regale sacerdotium. (Ibid., p.
230.)
But it was in Lucerne that the bold step of the men of Einsidlen was
to produce the strongest sensation. The Diet had met in this town, and
complaints arrived from all quarters against the rash preachers who
were preventing Helvetia from quietly selling the blood of her sons to
the stranger. On the 22nd July, as Oswald Myconius was entertaining
canon Kilchmeyer, and several other friends of the gospel, at dinner,
a boy, sent by Zuinglius, knocked at the door.[884] He was the bearer
of the two famous petitions from Einsidlen, and of a letter from
Zuinglius, which requested Oswald to circulate them in Lucerne. "My
advice is, that the thing be done quietly, by degrees, rather than all
at once; but, for the love of Christ, it is necessary to forsake
everything, even wife."
[884] Venit puer, quam misisti, inter prandendum.... (Ibid., p. 209.)
[Sidenote: STATE OF MATTERS AT LUCERNE.]
Thus the crisis approached in Lucerne: the shell had fallen, and could
not but burst. The guests read the petitions. "May God bless this
beginning,"[885] said Oswald, looking up to heaven, and then added,
"This prayer must, from this moment, be the constant occupation of
our hearts." The petitions were forthwith circulated, perhaps with
more ardour than Zuinglius had requested. But the moment was singular.
Eleven individuals, the flower of the clergy, had placed themselves in
the breach: it was necessary to enlighten men's minds, to fix the
irresolute, and gain over the most influential members of the Diet.
[885] Deus cœpta fortunet! (Ibid., p. 210.)
Oswald, in the midst of this labour, did not forget his friend. The
young messenger had told him of the attacks which Zuinglius had to
endure from the monks at Zurich. Writing him the same day, he says,
"The truth of the Holy Spirit is invincible. Armed with the shield of
the Holy Scriptures you have remained conqueror, not in one combat
only, nor in two, but in three, and the fourth is now commencing....
Seize those powerful weapons which are harder than diamond! Christ, in
order to protect his people, has need only of his Word. Your struggles
give indomitable courage to all who have devoted themselves to Jesus
Christ."[886]
[886] Is permaneas, qui es, in Christo Jesu.... (Zw. Ep. p. 210.)
At Lucerne, the petitions did not produce the result anticipated. Some
pious men approved of them, but these were few in number. Several,
fearing to compromise themselves, were unwilling either to praise or
blame.[887] "These folks," said others, "will never bring this affair
to a good end!" All the priests murmured, grumbled, and muttered
between their teeth. As to the people, they were loud against the
gospel. A rage for war was awakened in Lucerne after the bloody defeat
of Bicoque, and engrossed all thoughts.[888] Oswald, who was an
attentive observer of these different impressions, felt his courage
shaken. The evangelical future which he had anticipated for Lucerne
and Switzerland seemed to vanish. "Our people," said he, uttering a
deep sigh, "are blind to the things of heaven. In regard to the glory
of Christ, there is no hope of the Swiss."[889]
[887] Boni qui pauci sunt, commendant libellos vestros; alli non
laudant nec vituperant. (Ibid., p. 210.)
[888] Belli furor occupat omnia. (Ibid.)
[889] Nihil ob id apud Helvetios agendum de lis rebus quæ Christi
gloriam possunt augere. (Ibid.)
[Sidenote: KILCHMEYER. HALLER. MEYER.]
Wrath prevailed, especially in the Council and the Diet. The pope,
France, England, and the empire, all around Switzerland, was in
agitation after the defeat of Bicoque, and the evacuation of Lombardy
by the French under Lautrec. Were not political interests at that
moment complicated enough before these eleven men came with their
petitions to mingle religious questions with them? The deputies of
Zurich alone were favourably disposed to the gospel. Canon Xylotect,
afraid for his own life and that of his wife, (he had married into one
of the first families in the country,) had refused, with tears of
regret, to repair to Einsidlen and sign the addresses. Canon
Kilchmeyer had shown greater courage. He, too, had everything to
fear. "Condemnation threatens me," he writes to Zuinglius, on the 13th
August; "I await it without fear...." As he was writing these words,
an officer of the council entered the room, and cited him to appear
next day.[890] "If they put me in irons," said he, continuing his
letter, "I claim your help; but it will be easier to transport a rock
from our Alps than to move me a finger's breadth from the word of
Jesus Christ." The regard which was deemed due to his family, and the
resolution which they had taken to let the storm fall upon Oswald,
saved the canon.
[890] Tu vero audi. Hæc dum scriberem, irruit præco, a Senatoribus
missus... (Zw. Ep. 213.)
Berthold Haller, probably because he was not a Swiss, had not signed
the petitions. But full of courage, he, like Zuinglius, expounded the
gospel according to Matthew. A vast crowd filled the cathedral of
Berne. The word of God operated more powerfully on the people than
Manuel's dramas. Haller was summoned to the Town House; the people
accompanied their good-natured pastor, and remained around the spot.
The council was divided. "This concerns the bishop," said the leading
men. "The preacher must be handed over to my lord of Lausanne." The
friends of Haller trembled at these words, and told him to withdraw as
quickly as possible. The people flocked round, and accompanied him to
his house, where a great number of burghers remained in arms prepared
to make a rampart of their bodies in defence of their humble pastor.
The bishop and council were overawed by this energetic demonstration,
and Haller was saved. Haller was not the only combatant at Berne.
Sebastian Meyer at this time refuted the pastoral letter of the Bishop
of Constance, and in particular the formidable charge, "that the
gospellers teach a new doctrine, but that the old doctrine is the
true." "To be wrong for two thousand years," said Meyer, "is not to be
right for a single hour; otherwise the heathen ought to have adhered
to their belief. If the most ancient doctrines must carry the day,
fifteen hundred years are more than five hundred years, and the gospel
is more ancient than the ordinances of the pope."[891]
[891] Simmi. Samml. vi.
[Sidenote: MYCONIUS PERSECUTED.]
At this period the magistrates of Friburg intercepted letters
addressed to Haller and Meyer by a canon of Friburg, named John
Hollard, a native of Orb. They imprisoned, then deposed, and at last
banished him. John Vannius, a chorister in the cathedral, shortly
after embraced the evangelical doctrine; for in the Christian warfare
one soldier no sooner falls than another takes his place. "How could
the muddy water of the Tiber," said Vannius, "subsist beside the pure
water which Luther has drawn from the spring of St. Paul." But the
chorister's mouth was also closed. Myconius wrote to Zuinglius,
"Scarcely will you find in Switzerland men more averse to the gospel
than the Friburghers."[892]
[892] Hoc audio vix alios esse per Helvetiam, qui pejus velint sanæ
doctrinæ. (Zw. Ep. p. 226.)
Lucerne ought to have been stated as an exception. This Myconius knew.
He had not signed the famous petitions, but his friends had if he had
not, and a victim was required. The ancient literature of Greece and
Rome began, thanks to him, to shed some light in Lucerne; numbers
arrived from different quarters to attend the learned professor, and
the friends of peace were charmed with sounds sweeter than those of
halberds, swords, and cuirasses, which alone had hitherto resounded in
the warlike city. Oswald had sacrificed everything for his country. He
had quitted Zurich and Zuinglius; he had lost his health; his wife was
pining;[893] his son was in childhood; if even Lucerne rejected him he
could nowhere hope for an asylum. But no matter; factions have no
pity, and the thing which ought to excite their compassion stimulates
their rage. Herbenstein, burgomaster of Lucerne, an old and valiant
warrior who had gained a distinguished name in the wars of Suabia and
Burgundy, followed up the deposition of the teacher, and wished to
banish, from the canton, with himself, his Greek, his Latin, and his
gospel. He succeeded. On coming out of the Council, after the sederunt
at which Myconius had been deposed, Herbenstein met the Zurich deputy,
Berguer. "We are sending you back your schoolmaster," said he to him
ironically, "get a good lodging for him." "We won't let him sleep in
the open air,"[894] immediately replied the courageous deputy. But
Berguer promised more than he could perform.
[893] Conjux infirma. (Ibid. p. 192.)
[894] Veniat! efficiemus enim ne dormiendum sit ei sub dio. (Ibid., p.
216.) Let him come, we will see to it that he do not sleep in the open
air.
[Sidenote: OSWALD PERSECUTED.]
The news given by the burgomaster were but too true, and were soon
intimated to the unhappy Myconius. He is deposed and banished, and the
only crime laid to his charge is that of being a disciple of
Luther.[895] He looks all around but nowhere finds a shelter. He sees
his wife, his son, and himself, all three feeble and sickly, exiled
from their country, and Switzerland, all around agitated by a
whirlwind, which breaks and destroys every thing that stands in its
way. "Here," said he then to Zuinglius, "is poor Myconius banished by
the council of Lucerne.[896]... Whither shall I go? I know not....
Assailed yourself by these furious storms how could you shelter me? I
cry then in my distress to that God who is the first in whom I hope,
who is ever bountiful, ever kind, and who never calls upon any to
seek his face in vain. May He supply my wants!"
[895] Nil exprobrarunt nisi quod sim Lutheranus. (Ibid.)
[896] Expellitur ecce miser Myconius a Senatu Lucernano. (Ibid., p.
215.)
Thus spoke Oswald, and he was not obliged to wait long for a word of
consolation. There was one in Switzerland inured to the battles of the
faith. Zuinglius drew near to his friend, and comforting him, thus
expressed himself, "The blows by which men attempt to overthrow the
house of God are so violent, and the assaults which they make upon it
so frequent that not only do the wind and rain beat upon it, as our
Saviour predicted, (Matt. vii, 27,) but the hail and the thunder.[897]
Had I not perceived the Lord guiding the ship I should, long ere now,
have cast the helm into the sea, but I see him amid the tempest,
strengthening the tackling, arranging the yards, stretching the sails,
what do I say? commanding the very winds.... Should I not then be a
coward unworthy of the name of a man if I abandoned my post and fled
to a shameful death? I confide entirely in his sovereign goodness. Let
him govern, transport, hasten, retard, precipitate, arrest, break
down, let him even plunge us to the bottom of the abyss, we fear
nothing.[898] We are vessels which belong to him. He can use us as he
pleases, for honour or disgrace." After words thus full of faith
Zuinglius continues. "As to your case this is my opinion. Present
yourself before the council, and there deliver an address worthy of
Christ and of yourself, that is to say, proper to touch and not to
irritate men's hearts. Deny that you are a disciple of Luther, declare
that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. Let your pupils surround you,
and let them speak, and if all this does not succeed, come to your
friend, come to Zuinglius, and consider our home as your own
fireside."
[897] Nec ventos esse, nec imbres, sed grandines et fulmina. (Zw. Ep.
p. 217.)
[898] Regat, vehat, festinet, maneat, acceleret, moretur, mergat!...
(Ibid.)
[Sidenote: OSWALD PERSECUTED.]
Oswald, strengthened by these words, followed the noble counsel of the
Reformer, but all his efforts were useless. The witness to the truth
behoved to quit his country. His enemies in Lucerne were so loud
against him, that the magistrates would not allow any one to give him
an asylum. Broken-hearted at the sight of so much enmity, the
confessor of Jesus Christ exclaimed, "All that now remains for me is
to beg from door to door to sustain my miserable life."[899] Shortly
after, the friend and most powerful assistant of Zuinglius, the first
man in Switzerland who had united literary instruction with the love
of the gospel, the reformer of Lucerne, and at a later period one of
the leaders of the Helvetic church, was obliged, with his sickly wife
and little boy, to quit this ungrateful city, where, out of all his
family, the only one who had received the gospel was a sister. He
crossed its ancient bridges, and bade adieu to those mountains which
seem to rise from the bosom of the lake of Waldstetten up to the
clouds. Canons Xylotect and Kilchmeyer, the only friends whom the
Reformation yet numbered among his countrymen, followed shortly after.
And, at the moment when this poor man, with two feeble companions,
whose existence depended on him, with his eye turned towards its lake,
and shedding tears for his deluded country, took leave of those
sublime scenes which had surrounded his cradle, the gospel itself took
leave of Lucerne, and Rome reigns in it to this day.
[899] Ostiatim quærere quod edam. (Ibid., p. 245.)
Shortly after the Diet itself, which was assembled at Baden, stung by
the petitions of Einsidlen, (which, being printed, produced a great
sensation,) and urged by the Bishop of Constance to strike a blow at
innovations, had recourse to measures of persecution, ordered the
authorities of the villages to bring before it all priests and laymen
who should speak against the faith, seized, in its impatience, on the
evangelist, who happened to be nearest at hand, Urban Weiss, pastor of
Filispach, who had been previously released on caution, made him be
brought to Constance, and then gave him up to the bishop, by whom he
was long kept in prison. "Thus," says the Chronicle of Bullinger, "the
persecution of the gospel by the confederates commenced, and that at
the instigation of the clergy, who have at all times delivered Jesus
Christ to Herod and Pilate."[900]
[900] Uss anstifften der geistlecten, Die zu allen Zyten Christum
Pilato und Herodi vürstellen. (MS.)
[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS TO HIS BROTHERS.]
Zuinglius was not to escape his share of trial. Blows to which he was
most sensible were then struck at him. The rumour of his doctrines and
his contests had passed Santis, penetrated the Tockenburg, and reached
the heights of Wildhaus. The pastoral family from whom the Reformer
had sprung were moved. Of the four brothers of Zuinglius, some had
continued peacefully to occupy themselves with their mountain toils,
whilst others, to the great grief of their brother, had quitted their
flocks and served foreign princes. All were alarmed at the news which
rumour brought as far as their chalets. They already saw their brother
seized, dragged perhaps to Constance to his bishop, and a pile erected
for him at the same place which had consumed the body of John Huss.
These proud shepherds could not bear the idea of being called the
brother of a heretic. They wrote to Ulric, describing their sorrow and
their fears. Zuinglius replied, "So long as God permits, I will
perform the task which he has entrusted to me, without fearing the
world and its proud tyrants. I know the worst that can happen to me.
There is no danger, no misfortune which I have not long carefully
weighed. My own strength is mere nothingness, and I know the power of
my enemies, but I know also that I can do everything through Christ
strengthening me. Were I silent, some other would be constrained to do
what God now does by me, and I would be punished by God. Cast far from
you all your anxiety, my dear brothers. If I have a fear, it is that I
have been gentler and more easily persuaded than is suitable for this
age.[901] What shame, you say, will be cast on all our family if you
are burnt, or put to death in some other way![902] O, dearly beloved
brethren! the gospel derives from the blood of Christ this wondrous
nature, that the most violent persecutions far from arresting, only
hasten its progress. Those only are true soldiers of Christ who fear
not to bear in their body the wounds of their Master. All my labours
have no other end than to make men know the treasures of happiness
which Christ has acquired for us, in order that all may flee to the
Father through the death of his Son. If his doctrine offends you, your
anger cannot stop me. You are my brothers, yes, my own brothers, the
sons of my father, and the offspring of the same mother ... but if you
were not my brethren in Christ, and in the work of faith, my grief
would be so extreme that nothing could equal it. Adieu. I will never
cease to be your true brother, provided you do not yourselves cease to
be the brethren of Jesus Christ."[903]
[901] Plus enim metuo ne forte lenior, mitiorque fuerim. De semper
casta Virgine Maria. (Zw. Op.i. p. 104.)
[902] Si vel igni vel alio quodam supplicii genere tollaris e medio.
(Ibid.)
[903] Frater vester germanus nunquan desinam, si modo vos fratres
Christi esse perrexeritis. (Ibid., p. 107.)
[Sidenote: PRAYER OF ZUINGLIUS.]
The confederates seemed to rise against the gospel as one man. The
petitions of Einsidlen had been the signal. Zuinglius, concerned for
the lot of his dear Myconius, saw in this misfortune only the
beginning of calamity. Enemies in Zurich: enemies abroad--a man's own
relatives becoming his enemies,--a furious opposition on the part of
monks and priests,--violent measures of the Diet and the
councils,--rude, perhaps bloody, assaults on the part of the partisans
of foreign service,--the highest valleys of Switzerland, the cradle of
the confederation, sending forth phalanxes of invincible soldiers to
save Rome, and, at the sacrifice of life, annihilating the growing
faith of the sons of the Reformation--such was the prospect at which
the penetrating mind of the Reformer shuddered when he beheld it in
the distance. What a prospect! Was not the work, scarcely well begun,
on the point of being destroyed? Zuinglius, thoughtful and agitated,
spread all his anguish before his God. "O Jesus," said he, "you see
how wicked men and blasphemers stun the ears of thy people with their
cries.[904] Thou knowest that from my infancy I have hated disputes,
and yet in spite of myself thou hast ceased not to urge me on to the
combat.... Wherefore, I confidently call upon thee, as thou hast begun
so to finish. If in any thing I have built up improperly, beat it down
with thy mighty hand. If I have laid some other foundation beside
thine let thy powerful arm overthrow it.[905] O most beloved vine, of
which the Father is the vine-dresser, and of which we are the
branches, forsake not thy offspring.[906] For thou hast promised to be
with us, even to the end of the world!"
[904] Vides enim, piissime Jesu, aures eorum septas esse nequissimis
susurronibus, sycophantis, lucrionibus.... (Zw. Op. iii, p. 74.) For
thou seest, O most beloved Jesus how these ears are beset with
whisperers, sycophants, and lovers of lucre.
[905] Si fundamentum aliud præter te jecero, demoliaris. (Ibid.)
[906] O suavissima vitis, cujus vinitor, Pater, palmites vero nos
sumus; stationem tuam ne deseras. (Ibid.)
It was on the 22nd of August, 1522, that Ulrich Zuinglius, the
Reformer of Switzerland, when he saw violent storms descending from
the mountains on the frail bark of faith, thus expressed the troubles
and hopes of his soul in the presence of his God.