Good brethren, the Lord Vicar makes use of much art, to divert you from
your purpose by his rhetorical flourishes. We inquire not how long a
thing may have been in use? We would speak of the truth as it presents
itself in the Divine Law. To this, mere usage ought to give way. We are
told of a Christian assembly, though I hope there is one such here in
this chamber. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, said
our Lord, I am in their midst. There are also _bishops_ enough here
among us; for the overseers and teachers of congregations have been so
styled by the Apostles, not powerful princes, ruling far and wide, as
we have them now-a-days. And wherefore should we need judges, when we
have the Holy Scripture itself here in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin
languages, and scholars, who understand these languages as well as any
at those universities? But even were this not the case, there are at
least so many Christian spirits amongst us, that with the help of God
it should become plain to us, which party interprets the Scripture
truly, and which falsely. And lastly, touching the Nuremberg business,
I may tell you, dear Lords, that I can produce, if necessary, three
letters, received from there very lately, but they contain not one word
about a decree actually published. Pope, bishops, prelates would
indeed, for the most part, be adverse to any meeting of the kind. And
you of Zurich ought to esteem it a great favor and a call of God, that
such a thing has happened among you."
A long pause ensued, till the burgomaster rose up, and once more
exhorted the opponents to come forth. No body stirred. "For the sake of
Christian charity"--said Zwingli--"I beg every one, who thinks my
doctrine erroneous, to speak out his thoughts. I know there are several
here, who have accused me of heresy; I may be compelled to call them
out by name." No one ventured to confront the powerful champion, whose
thorough knowledge they feared, whose attack on the episcopal
ambassador they had just witnessed, and whose unsparing mode of combat
they knew.
"Where now"--cried a voice from the door--"are the boasters behind the
wine-bottle and on the streets? Here is the man for you." It was
Gutschenkel of Bern, one of those knaves, who, because fools by
profession, escape the censure which their unbecoming speeches deserve.
Already it seemed, that with the laughter of Zwingli's friends, and the
inglorious flight of his opponents, the whole thing would come to an
end, when Jacob Wagner, pastor of Neftenbach, by a question cunningly
thrown out, in regard to the offence of the pastor of Fislispach
imprisoned at Constance, induced the Vicar-General to say something
about this man. With an assumed air of pity Faber spoke of his
ignorance, and how he himself, by explaining passages of Scripture, had
brought him to acknowledge his former errors. But these very same
errors Zwingli had also taught, and immediately he challenged Faber to
quote the victorious passages. "Good reason"--replied the Vicar
General--"had the wise man in the Old Testament, when he said: 'The
fool is easily taken in his speech.' I had firmly declared I would not
dispute." This beginning, certainly unexpected by the majority of the
audience, was followed by a prolix homily on the origin of heresies;
the battles of the Pope and Christendom against them; words of Roman
historians on the value of unity; the rareness of the gift of
interpreting languages, of which he himself could not boast; in short,
every thing but that which was demanded. Yet even here Zwingli never
suffered him to wait for an answer, but just as often as the Vicar,
with unwearied volubility renewed his digressions, he brought him back
to the passages demanded. Doctor Sebastian Hofmeister also began to
press Faber, and Leo Judæ likewise. The latter, for a short time back
people's priest at St. Peter's, was again united with his friend
Zwingli in Zurich. Sorely perplexed, the Vicar cried out: "A Hercules
could not stand against two;" but the simple method of defeating them
all, by a quotation of the passages, was still far from his thoughts.
Then rose up his companion. Doctor Martin Blausch, to secure for him a
retreat, if possible; but he also only dwelt on generalities, the
doctrines of the church, fathers, and the right of decision by
the church. "The good Lord fails to speak; the good Lord has not
rightly looked at the words," and similar gibes fell from Zwingli's
lips--proofs rather of confidence in the truth of his cause and
contempt of his opponents, than of the clemency, which lends to victory
a higher worth. After the silencing of the embassy of Constance, the
burgomaster called once more for other combatants, but in vain. Zwingli
had the last word. The crowd dispersed at noon.
The interval was used by the Council for drawing up its decision, which
was published to the meeting, again called together in the afternoon,
and ran thus: "All ye, who, answering our summons for the purposes
assigned, have appeared before us today, we give to understand. A year
is now gone, since an embassy of our gracious Lord of Constance was
here at our council-house, before the burgomaster and the Small and
Great Councils, on business of a similar kind. Then the request was
preferred by us to our gracious Lord, to call together in his diocese
learned men and preachers for the examination of the prevailing
doctrines; so that a unanimous resolution might be passed, by which
every one might be guided. But since, up to this time, perhaps for
obvious reasons, nothing special has been done by him in the matter,
and the dissension among the clergy and laity continually increases,
the burgomaster. Council and the Great Council of the city of Zurich,
have again taken the case in hand; and since now; after the offer of
Master Ulric Zwingli to render an account, no one has risen up, no one
has dared to refute by the Sacred Scriptures the articles he his
furnished, although he has repeatedly called on those who revile him as
a heretic--we, after mature counsel, have decided, and it is our
earnest opinion, that Master Ulric Zwingli shall go on and continue, as
heretofore, to proclaim the Holy Gospel and the real Sacred Scripture,
according to the Spirit of God and his ability. Also, all the other
priests of the people, pastors and preachers, in our city, canton and
dependencies, shall not do otherwise, nor preach, except what they may
be able to prove by the Holy Scripture. Likewise, they shall not
henceforth call each other hard names, nor use other words of reproach.
For they who act personally in this, we will deal with in such a
manner, that they shall see and find that they have done wrong."
"God be praised!"--said Zwingli--"He will have his Word rule in heaven
and on earth, and to you, my Lords of Zurich, he will doubtless grant
strength and power to establish his truth in your canton."
Once more the Vicar General essayed to speak. Now, for the first time,
it became possible for him to read the articles of Zwingli, and of
course he had to find several that were not sustained by the Holy
Scriptures. "Well then--prove it, Sir Vicar General," said Zwingli. It
can be seen in works on church-history, how Faber, with no little
adroitness and a blinding flow of words, endeavored to point out a
contradiction between several of the syllogisms and some points of Holy
Scripture. Perhaps, too, this would have succeeded before hearers less
instructed; but with the greatest ease his superior antagonist shewed
to the assembly, where in one place he tore words from their
connection, in another distorted the plain sense, sought to give the
later expressions of the Fathers a scriptural sound, and even employed
the arts of a lawyer, in which he himself was evidently conscious of
deceit. "You knew"--said Zwingli--"Sir Vicar General, that we,
formerly, at the university, practised in common such dazzling tricks
of logic, and that I am skilled in them as well as you; but it truly
grieves me, that you as a serious man come still armed with such
sophistries."
Anger began to appear in the assembly. The speeches of the opposing
parties became shorter and more bitter. In order to keep them from
degenerating into abuse, the Councils rose. The assembly dissolved, and
the burgomaster Roist took leave of the by-standers with a smile,
saying: "The sword, with which the pastor of Fislispach was stabbed,
would not come out of its sheath to-day."
Faber by his behavior had fallen low in the estimation of the
Zurichers. The monks alone, whose courage again revived, since the
close of the battle, tried among those with whom they associated, to
point out the circumstance, that the Vicar General had kept the last
word, as a sign of victory. He himself also boasted of it in Constance
after his return, and wherever Zwingli's rough manner or vehement
language afforded an opportunity for censure, it was heaped up and
spread on all sides. "In short"--writes Salat of Luzern, clerk of the
court--"Zwingli pours down far too many scornful words on the head of
the Lord Vicar, that excellent man of honor. Now he calls him Sir Hans,
Sir John, Sir Vicary, plucks the vicar-bonnet off, and this times
without number, and without shame. This was his mode of disputing."
Calmly and with a manifest endeavor, as far as it lay in his power, to
form an unbiassed judgment, an old schoolmaster, Erhard Hegenwald, has
described the transaction; and his narrative is the more worthy of
credence, for the very reason that Faber was so provoked by it, that he
attempted to refute it by a statement of his own. The distinguished
air, which he assumed, the haughty treatment of Hegenwald, the
importance, which he strove to give to his trifling mistakes, the
mixture also of unfounded assertions contained in this production
roused the indignation of the young men of Zurich, six of whom, members
then already for the most part of the Great, and afterwards of the
Small Council, joined in the publication of an answer to Faber, which
they entitled "Hawk Plucking." The rude castigation, the biting and
often also tasteless wit, and the entire absence of all the respect,
which they formerly paid to age and official position, sorely wounded
the Vicar General, who, but that it seemed useless, would have
complained of the "libelous little book" to the government of Zurich.
Thus the hostility of Faber toward Zwingli and his friends soon
extended itself to Zurich also. This champion against the doctrines of
the Reformer became a persecutor of all his adherents--an inexorable
judge to those, who fell into his power. In the end he even laughed at
the tears, which the torture of the rack wrung from one of his victims,
and rejoiced to see him burning at the stake.[4]
Zwingli, although satisfied with the decree of the government, that he
should continue unmolested in his way of teaching, was by no means so
with the turn, which the conference took in the afternoon, through
the tricks of Faber and the sort of protest against his syllogisms as
anti-scriptural, with which the Vicar General had left Zurich. He
resolved to append to each one of these points a detailed explanation
and proof, in a work, which is even now considered the basis of his
system of Christian doctrine, as well as his views in regard to
church and state.[5] "Day and night"--he wrote to his friend Werner
Steiner--"do I labor at this work." It consisted of a volume of 300
closely-printed pages, and was finished in five months, amid daily
preaching and a crowd of other business. New and still more violent
enemies were awakened by its appearance, and, although many boasting
promises of a refutation were made, none ever saw the light.
But with the rapid spread of this work the time had come, when the
influence of the Reformer, hitherto confined mostly to Zurich and its
territory, flowed out in all directions beyond these limits. The Zurich
ambassadors had to witness a prelude of this in a riot at Luzern, where
a disorderly rabble, instigated by several deputies of the diet sitting
at that place, carried past their lodging an effigy of Zwingli with
scoffs and curses, and burnt it with all the formalities used by the
Inquisition. Two months later, in June, Caspar G[oe]ldi, who had been
obliged to leave Zurich on account of mercenary service, complained
before a second diet at Baden, that his daughter had willfully eloped
from the convent of Hermatschweil and married one Schuster at
Bremgarten, and the _landvogt_ of Sorgans likewise, that a priest of
that place had taken to himself a wife. Zwingli's sermons became still
more severe against deserters and pensions. "Confederates,"--said
Caspar of Muelinen--"check Lutheranism in the bud. The preachers at
Zurich have already become masters of their rulers, so that they are no
more able to withstand them. A man is no longer safe there in his own
house. The peasantry refuse to pay their rents and tithes, and great
discord reigns in the city and canton." The resolution was carried in
the Recess, to communicate the complaints to all the governments, in
order to agree if possible on a remedy; especially since the pastor had
meddled also in political affairs, and preached among other things:
"Confederates sell Christian blood and eat Christian flesh."
At Zwingli's request, the articles of the Recess were given to him, so
that he might draw up a vindication. This vindication, which was also
laid before the Great Council at Zurich, shows the undaunted courage of
the man, as well as his assurance of being in the path of duty.
"Wise and gracious Lords,"--wrote he--"I believe indeed that complaints
against me are rife; but to show the justice of them is, as I hope in
God, in the power of no one. I will indeed confess, that I earnestly
rebuke the prevailing vices, in chief that of perfidious bribe-taking,
which is in vogue in nearly all courts and countries. But of my Lords,
the Confederates, I have never spoken improperly. I have named them
perhaps, though not rudely; for, from youth up, nothing has been more
foreign to my nature, except when my fatherland has been evil spoken
of. When obliged to rebuke severely and bear down against vices, then I
have mentioned neither Dalmatians nor Englishmen; and this is my
constant custom. Moreover, by no means do I agree with them, who say,
no body ought ever to be called by name from the pulpit. God has never
commanded this; perhaps the Pope has; but none the less am I of
opinion, that we should not make the Word of God hateful by our
rashness. When, during Lent in the past year, I preached about
eating flesh, I uttered these, among other words: Many a one reviles
flesh-eating as evil and thinks that a great sin, which God has never
forbidden; but to butcher and sell human flesh, he thinks no sin. But
in this I called neither Confederates, nor _landsknechts_, by name.
That I said nothing more, the Great Council of Zurich will bear me
witness. In general, for some time back I have had to endure incredible
lies against me; they have caused me little sorrow, for I thought: The
disciple is not above his master; they lied against Christ, hence it is
no wonder, they lie against thee also. Thus my enemies once said of me,
that I abused the mother of God our Lord, Jesus Christ. I answered them
with a suitable little book. Again they say, I have declared that
neither rents nor tithes should be paid. Item, that I have no regard
for Christ's holy body, and have preached an opinion about it so
scandalous, that I will not repeat it, lest the hearts of pious
Christians might be shocked. And much other stuff of the like sort,
they swear I have preached; but all these, saving your Honors'
presence, are pure lies. Then they tell of me that I have had four
children this year; that I wander about the streets at night; that I am
a gambler; that I am hired by pensions from princes and lords; yet
these also, saving your Honors' presence, are pure lies. Now I would
not again set right these points, touching my morals, if they were not
prejudicial to the good city of Zurich; for, since it would be a great
disgrace to so glorious a city, if it suffered such vices even in a
boy, I need not speak of one, who is devoted to God's Word and the
common salvation of men. As to this, wise and gracious Lords, let it be
far from you to put faith in any one, who speaks what he pleases
against others or myself; for the times are perilous. The devil, who is
an enemy of the truth, has used all his arts to cast down and destroy
it. Therefore it is my humble prayer to Your Worships, that, as
heretofore, if they have somewhat to say to me, or any one somewhat
against me, he or they seek me before my Lords at Zurich, where I am a
citizen and a canon; besides a born Toggenburger and a countryman at
Schwyz and Glarus. Bat, as for as regards the doctrine of Christ, I ask
no other protection from any one, than may serve to prevent
interference against the pure word of God; and each and every one shall
see, if God will, that since I laid hold of the Gospel of Christ, I
have never taught anything, whose ground I did not search into
beforehand, as far as God permitted. Understand this my plain, hasty
letter in the best sense; for it is written without deceitful cunning.
Let it also be made public, so that each and every one can see my
innocence. And may Almighty God keep your State in his grace and honor!
Amen."
There is nothing in the records of the Recesses to show, whether this
vindication was really read before the Diet. It is certain, however,
that it was known to the individual members, among whom, as well as
among the States, opinions concerning Zwingli already began to be
divided, and his adherents were treated with far more mildness in Bern,
Solothurn, Basel and Schaffhausen, than in Luzern, Freiburg and the
three Forest Cantons. In Glarus several of the most influential members
of the government continued to keep up a correspondence with him, or a
friendly feeling toward him; indeed, the government of Bern, as early
as June, 1528, issued a decree, that that only, which could be proved
by the Holy Scripture, should be taught in the pulpit; and, at the
close of the same year, the nuns of K[oe]nigsfeld received permission
to leave the convent, if they desired it.
In this respect, the Council of Zurich had already taken the lead in
the month of June, by doing the same thing for the Sisters at
[OE]denbach. The wealth of this convent was considerable; the nuns,
whose number was rather large, belonged, for the most part, to
distinguished families. It was no easy undertaking, in a time of such
excitement, to keep peace among them, especially because the fiercest
enemies of reform, the Dominican monks, who were devoted to the same
rule of order, had abundant access to them as preachers, as confessors,
and under all possible pretences. The Council, sorry to find this
influence, and tracing it in the quarrels, which already began to arise
in many families, through the instigation of the spiritual sisters,
invited Zwingli to preach in the convent. This had never yet been done
by a so-called secular priest. A part of the nuns refused to hear the
unwelcome speaker. Zwingli therefore printed the discourse, which he
delivered, and sent it to them. Requests were now sent to the
government by one for release from her vows; prayers by another for the
return of their former confessors and preachers. Strife arose in the
convent. Here parents saw with displeasure the resolution of their
daughters to go back into secular life, whilst others were
dissatisfied, because theirs refused to do this. For some time the
Council tried to help matters by rendering access to the convent
difficult, and by obliging Leo Judæ to preach there regularly; but when
the discord was not allayed thereby, permission to leave was granted to
all those who desired to go, with the privilege of taking whatever they
had brought, besides their clothing and furniture. The rest were
allowed to remain in the convent, but were obliged to lay aside the
habit of the order and listen to Leo Judge's preaching. For the
management of the revenues and general control a court of magistrates
was instituted. The number of those, who went back to secular life,
still increased; the aged gradually died off in the convent. Similar
ordinances were passed in relation to the other nunneries in the
territory of Zurich.
It is enough to show, that in these arrangements, the government was
prompted neither by a blind zeal for tearing down, nor a base desire
for the property of the convents. He who looks over the writings of
Zwingli,[6] will soon find, that the Council followed closely the path
marked out by him, and indeed throughout, in the consciousness that
they acted in full harmony with the Holy Scriptures. As another proof
of the bold thinking and fearless language of the Reformer, we will
here quote, if it be only what he says, in the Explanation of his Final
Discourses as to the right disposition of the property of the
suppressed establishments: "The simple-minded shudder at this, because
they think it not right to change the last will of any body; but a
greater fraud lies in this than in other abuses. See: What motive
swayed those, who founded the benefices? Nothing else than because they
were falsely taught, that the mass is a sacrifice. Therefore they
dreamed they were bestowing their possessions on the poor, when they
gave to this object. But now, since we are conscious of the deceit,
that the mass is not a sacrifice, but the food of him, who eats with
faith and spiritual hunger, we may divert the property to the poor, and
withdraw it from idle bellies; yet we do this after their departure.
But here they cry out; See, thus they undertake to do away with
testaments, legacies and last wills! Answer: Here lies the rogue behind
the hedge. Has not every government its own right and custom in the
making of legacies? Who meddles with the appointment of heirs? Who
wishes to act falsely here? You have falsified more than any one else;
for you have tampered with last wills, so that that has been given to
you, which belonged to other lawful heirs, and you have done it by your
parables and false doctrines.[7] Thus what the people have as a civil
right, you claim as a divine right.... See, here we find the real
forgers of wills, who have foisted in their avarice, by pretending that
it was kindly done for the salvation of souls. But they say, if one of
his own free-will gives us his property on his death-bed, is it not
right for us to take it? Answer: no, for thou shouldst have before
given a right Christian understanding to the donor, representing things
thus: Consider not thy temporal property thine own; thou art only a
steward over it. Thou shouldst divide it among the poor, which is
pleasing to God, and shouldst not give it to those, who do not need it.
Thou seest that such property is often used, only to foster pride and
vanity in the temples, even though it is not squandered wantonly. God
has commanded, to give to the poor; do it then; and no one shall be
scandalized, if that which has hitherto been misused, is turned to the
Christian advantage of the poor. For were they who, unknowingly have
contributed to their bellies, still here, they would snatch it again
out of their hands. But no appropriating hand should be laid on it; for
that would be acting the thief, or the robber. The authorities should
wait till the jointures are without a possessor (till the present
incumbents are dead, or have voluntarily relinquished their rights),
and then arrange it with God himself; so that common justice be
maintained and no one led into wickedness."
Why should a people, accustomed to form free judgments on human
affairs, as well as to express their opinions freely concerning them,
oppose with violence such views, founded as they were by Zwingli, at
all points, on the Holy Scriptures? Did not experience also teach that
the Church of Christ has become great in poverty, and straightway been
corrupted by riches? Willingly or unwillingly, the government had to
yield to public opinion, and awaken to a still more lively
consciousness, that, if it would not continually oscillate, without
character, between the old and the new, no escape remained, except in
the way which the welfare and honor of the country pointed out; by
making common cause with the bold and progressive Reformer.
From this feeling, it no longer threw any obstacles in the way of the
public marriage of the clergy in the churches, even that of Leo Judæ,
people's priest at St. Peter's. William R[oe]ubli, then preacher at
Wytikon, anxious to set a striking example, had made a beginning, by
wedding the daughter of a wealthy countryman, amid a concourse of
joyful guests, on the 28th of April, 1523.