to describe this first convention of the people. The only difference
between it and ours, consisted in this, that no formal resolutions were
drawn up beforehand, and no one undertook, or understood how, to
preside. Hence the mass was broken up into groups of blustering
declaimers or curious spectators, among whom the deputies of the
government went about, pacifying here, instructing there, and again
perhaps using threats; but "We are to be bidden no longer"--resounded
again and again from the incensed multitude--"We wish the cities to get
used to walking; for ourselves we will ride once as lords of the day."
The popular _landvogt_, Lavater of Kyburg, succeeded in persuading
several of the most influential to pacify their friends and neighbors.
But the citizens of Winterthur took the wisest course. They invited the
entire host into their town, entertained them liberally, and thus made
them forget their enterprise for a while.
But the matter was soon taken up again. And for this the inhabitants of
the region between the rivers Rhine and Thur were chiefly to blame. In
closer connection with their German neighbors, and excited at the same
time by grievances suffered in consequence of the Storming of Ittingen,
they meditated a separation from Zurich; in any case they intended to
deal with the government not in the character of subjects, but in that
of an independent party. Meanwhile the government seeing the importance
of the crisis, roused itself for prompt action. First of all, some of
its prominent members were empowered to raise troops and money, and in
general to make all arrangements for defence in the city itself. Then
it was resolved to appeal, as before, to all the districts of the
canton, that still remained peaceful, viz: those on the lake, in
Limatthal, in the free bailiwicks and in the so-called Neuamt, (new
bailiwick). The same mode of proceedure, observed before, was again
employed: a delegation from the Council, their explanations and
inquiries, and a request for a written answer.
Information in regard to all that had occurred was given to the
assembled congregations in the form of a long vindication. They were
again reminded of the endeavors of the government to keep aloof from
every dangerous foreign influence and maintain the Gospel; and then the
points of grievance, handed in by the turbulent districts, and the
answers sent by the government were laid before them: "More than a
thousand florins have My Lords expended already on account of these
people, especially those on the other side of the Thur, and their
disorderly doings. How miserably the assembly at T[oe]ss ended, you
will all have learned by this time, and that a new one, still more
numerous, is announced to meet at Kloten. Our Lords hope, that, if you
are invited, you will not go, but if they desire it, and you do, let it
be only to warn them back to duty; and although we believe everything
good of you, that yet you will inform the government of your mind, the
rather because the people of the lake have been one with the city of
Zurich from time immemorial and esteemed as burghers of the same, and
it is hoped will be so forever."
Of the answers sent in, as far as they are still extant, the most
characteristic may be here quoted:
"To the notice"--wrote _Manedorf_--"which Our Lords have laid before us
concerning a strange convocation in the duchy of Kyburg and several
manors, our answer is: When our Lords agreed, with their whole canton,
to give the go-by to all princes and lords, and thereby spared the
blood of many honest people, then we gave them praise and thanks
therefor, and it is our earnest will and opinion that Our Lords ought
to adhere to that and punish all who transgress their prohibition,
whether for the French or other lords, each one according to his
desert. For this we are willing to pledge person and property, and so
we have already signified to Our Lords. Since they have read before us
the articles and grievances, under which the honest people of the
manors think they lie, we confess that we have no part at all in them.
And since Our Lords have come a second time to learn what our feelings
may be toward them, in regard to the preachings of the Holy Gospel, we
again pray them to keep steadfastly to it, and if any one, whoever he
may be, wishes to oppress them in this, we cheerfully pledge to them
our honor, our lives, our property, and whatever else God has given us.
Thus, it is again our humble prayer and desire that you have the Holy
Gospel, aforenamed, still preached more and more, and hope that by
God's Word many things, of which the poor man now complains, may be
done away. But it seems to us, that selfishness yet prevails, and is
little willing to relieve the common man, and that there are several
preachers, who, after beginning to preach the Holy Gospel, now deceive
themselves. Since then we learn, that Our Lords have banished several
preachers from their territory,[2] although they knew they preached
nothing but the Holy Word of God and what they knew could be proven by
the same, it yet grieves us and it is our humble prayer, that whoever
he may be, preacher or peasant, who is enlightened by God to preach the
Holy Gospel and prove it by Holy Scripture, that you let him do it, so
that this Holy word may come to light; though it strikes us, as above
stated, that several preachers have wilfully deluded themselves.
Further, when Our Lords were concerned, lest war should arise against
the confederates, they sent guns to us everywhere in the canton, but
now demand them back again, which appears strange to us, since just at
this very time they are building bulwarks in the city. If war is to be
feared, then there will be fresh need of the guns; but if you are
building bulwarks against us, then God have pity! But we hope He will
send his grace and peace between us all. Lastly, since Our Lords have
informed us that the people of Kyburg and the manors will assemble
again on next Thursday at Kloten, and perhaps send to us, to learn our
feelings toward them, and that we ought to send thither two honorable
men, who may promote peace and quiet, we answer, that, up to this time,
no one, either from the duchy or elsewhere, has come with a request to
our congregation. But should any one come, then will we act upon his
summons in a proper manner."
"We have"--write the people of _Kilchberg_--"listened to Our Lords'
oral and written notice, long as it is, and entrust this business to
our Lords. They are wise and sensible enough to know what may serve the
interests of the city and of us in the country, and how to order
matters to our well-pleasing, and we will always stand by Our Lords, as
good, honest people. And hence we pray, that, if we should send any one
to Kloten, Our Lords will not take it amiss; because we do it for no
other purpose than to give good counsel and advise them to disperse."
The congregation of _Thalweil_ likewise report, that they "heard the
articles read; that they were long and much of them they could not
understand, and therefore could give but brief answers. Hence they
would let the former answers remain; that they were willing to place
person and property at the disposal of Our Lords, as far as concerns
the fatherland, and they must stand aloof from foreign lords. They
would send to Kloten like they of Kilchberg."
Still more confiding was the answer from _Horgen_: "The congregation of
the people of the bailiwicks deplore that the notice and demand should
be necessary. They also will send no one either to Kloten or elsewhere,
if Our Lords or the Canton desire it, for they wish to speak and to do
their best, always to be obedient to Our Lords and adhere faithfully to
the Word of God. We entrust the matter to Our Lords, who know well what
may be to the praise and honor of them and the city."
In the name of the "honest men of _H[oe]ngg_," the envoys of the
Council were informed, that they would not lay anything to the charge
of others, but whatever their loving neighbors on Lake Zurich and in
the free bailiwicks would agree upon, that would satisfy them also; and
they were ready to place wholly at the disposal of Our Lords, in the
hour of need, their persons and property.
They of _Regensberg_ complained, that several of their neighbors had
threatened, that, if they did not go to Kloten on Thursday, "they would
run through their houses." Therefore they had appointed "two discreet
and honorable men; but still would pledge their person and property to
Our Lords."
The letter from the bailiwick of _Regenstorf_ bears strong marks of a
clerical pen: "Since, in these perilous times, various dissensions have
arisen between you. Our Lords, and some parts of the canton, touching
tithes, interest and other grievances, out of which sundry conspiracies
and meetings have grown and prospered so far, that a part has
subscribed the other article and still subscribes; all which is better
known to you than to us; what will result from it no one can tell; many
fear more evil than good; may God overrule all for the best!--Hitherto
we have abstained from all further progress in these affairs. But now,
since one cries out, 'not so,' and another, 'may be so,' and we have
been invited to a meeting of the Kyburgers, and their deputies, and
have had the seventeen articles shown to us--and since, after all this,
very lately, the honorable Master Jos von Kusen and Master Wegmann were
sent to us by you with friendly greetings, and withheld nothing
touching affairs now current and your labor and trouble therewith, and
explained to us particularly, by word and writing, about the three
communities of Kyburg, Grueningen and Greifensee, and several other
matters, and asked us for our answer--we then resolved with one accord,
that it would be too difficult to communicate such a reply at once, and
therefore desired a postponement till to-day; and now this again is the
will, vote and opinion of our community, assembled anew concerning this
business, that we will still, and so long as you act in a Christian
manner and faithfully, according to the Divine Word, place our lives
and property at your disposal. For although, if we thought to complain
much were fit and proper and would help us, we would lay certain
grievances and articles before you, yet, on the other hand, we remember
the teachings of the holy Evangelists and Apostles--which warn you and
us, and show how one part ought to conduct itself toward the other--and
your diligence, love, concern and labor with and toward us, though we
therein have perceived that you have also slackened somewhat; so, then,
we live in hope that you will continue to act as true fathers are bound
to do toward their sons, masters toward faithful servants and pious
rulers toward their subjects; and establish whatsoever is profitable,
peaceful and Christian, and, on the other hand, that you will blot out
and uproot whatsoever is ungodly, unjust and unfair, and therefore, we
commit the whole business to you, as our loving lords; for such we
esteem you according to the flesh, and in conclusion, pray you take not
our delay amiss."
Our last quotation will be from the memorial of a general assembly in
Freiamt, which contains the following singular passage: "After we
learned from you, our Lords, many articles of the bailiwicks 'beyond
you,' we find in them some things, which please us, and some which do
not. But yet it is our wish to remain as aforetime, and be obedient to
you, our Lords. But as several things have been referred to us by the
other bailiwicks, they ought to be discussed at Metmenstetten, and
arbitrators, who will act for the best, in all these matters sent
thither. We wish to keep free from sedition with our persons and
property, as much as we can, and trust that you will treat us also as
you treat the other bailiwicks. Furthermore, we hope that you will
suffer that article to remain to us, whereby no man may be seized or
ridden over, who has law on his side, as the bailiff's roll shows, and
also, as regards army-service in conjunction with the confederates,
that it may continue as hitherto. How you treat with the cities,[3] it
does not concern us. Touching the clergy, this is our opinion: If we
give to them as heretofore, then they also ought not to deprive us of
anything. They often go away and visit each other, by which we lose the
administration of the several sacraments. And we thought, if we came
before you, Our Lords, you would believe them rather than us; which has
occasioned offence to the whole parish."
By these memorials the government was convinced that in a great part of
the canton, and especially the more wealthy and intelligent portion,
there was still determination enough to support order, and hence it
durst venture to summon deputies from the turbulent districts in
sufficient numbers to a conference before the Great Council. With them
all the preachers of these districts were invited, and the negotiations
took place on 22d of June, 1525; concerning which the protocol
expresses itself substantially in the following manner:
"Whereas, ye deputies from the duchy of Kyburg and the territories of
Eglisau, Greifensee, Grueningen Andelfingen, Buelach, Neuamt and
Ruemlang, together with all the curates and preachers, have sat to-day
before My Lords in behalf of the articles, in which the members of the
several communities have thought themselves to be aggrieved, and
especially in regard to the tithe, and these things have truly come to
light--that heretofore the aforenamed preachers have frequently
preached from the pulpit and elsewhere, and other persons have asserted
in taverns behind their wine, that, according to the divine law and
justice, no one is bound to pay tithes, whereby the common people have
become seditious and strengthened in such a belief--and whereas in
order to reach the bottom of this matter, it has been discussed and
handled in various meetings, and explained at length by Master Ulric
Zwingli, that in the beginning the tithe was laid for a pious purpose,
though afterward perverted and abused, but yet that it was a just debt
and can be fairly complained of by no one--it shall be henceforth the
concern of the government that the whole tithe be restored to its right
channel and applied to the wants of the needy. Because, moreover, the
deputies of the abovenamed communities have made it appear, that these
disorders have sprung from the clergy alone and their inconsistent
preaching, and they have thus been taught and instructed, and hence have
given the whole business into the hands of My Lords; and because they have
framed excuses for themselves from the speeches of these clergy, since
several of them have spoken and preached more for disorder and strife than
brotherly unity, be this answer, after a fair hearing, given to the rebels,
that they at once go home and busy themselves in peaceful affairs, and if
there are any good-for-nothing people in their own dioceses, who wish
to stir up discord, disorder and rebellion, that they drive them off,
so that we may not again witness such improper and wanton doings, as
lately happened at the monasteries of T[oe]ss and Rueti; then will My
Lords, as soon as other business permits, sit upon their articles, and
with the help of Master Ulric Zwingli and other learned and sensible
men, take counsel, and see what, according to the Divine Word, can be
remitted, and what not. But in the meantime, every man must pay
interest and tithes in church and state, according to the decree last
issued." Then this special admonition was directed to the clergy: "That
they shall look well and truly into the Holy Scriptures, busy
themselves with the plain preaching of the Gospel, practice the same,
and strive more after peace than discord; for if they do not so, the
refractory will be punished according to his desert and as opportunity
allows."
By these proceedings the malcontents were silenced for the present, but
the government felt that something more was needed for the restoration
of order. At a time, when the religious movements occasioned new and
unforseen expenses to the State, it could not abandon any of its former
sources of revenue. Hence the tithe-question was clothed with special
importance. All the tithes were not church-property; a part of them
belonged to strangers, to whom the government was bound to give its
protection, and to the same protection the church also had a claim,
which was not done away, but only changed. Besides a mere declaration
on the part of the government, that the tithe must be paid, nothing
more was done. But conviction had to be wrought in the public mind, and
to do this, again devolved on Zwingli.
But before he laid the subject before the people, he endeavored to
settle whatever was unstable and wavering in the opinions of the Great
Council, so that the authorities might proceed the more firmly in their
line of action. Still the belief prevailed among many of the members,
that the tithe was purely a religious affair, and this position was
strongly maintained by the Secretary, am Gruet, who, Bible in hand, met
Zwingli with his own weapons. It is true, that here he could only
appeal to the Old Testament, but this yet held too important a place in
Zwingli's system of doctrines, to suffer the Reformer lightly to reject
its authority for an isolated case. He showed, however, in a long and
spirited debate with am Gruet, before the Great Council and a crowd of
other hearers, that the Levitical priesthood, for whom the tithe had
been introduced into the Old Testament, came to an end with the Gospel;
and by this, according to his view, the question had been brought back
from the sphere of religion into that of civil law. But neither am
Gruet, on the one side, nor the Anabaptists on the other, were disposed
to let him slip with so cheap a victory. Am Gruet would yield nothing,
and in fact the following passage is found in the protocol of the Great
Council, "that neither of the two contending parties has so triumphed
that the other is obliged to yield, and that My Lords are not
displeased with the warning and exposition of their Secretary, but
think he has acted according to his duty and his oath." But the
decisive battle, which now drew near, was first to be fought with the
Anabaptists.
During the interval, Zwingli prepared for the people a detailed
exposition of the rights of the church and state to the tithe, which
the government then used as a general and final decree for the
disturbed districts. The scrupulous payment of the great tithe[4] for
the future was also enjoined upon them in an earnest tone. In regard to
the so-called little tithe, the government promised strict inquiry, the
removal of abuses, and a diminution of it, as far as possible.
In the greater part of the canton, through the cautious language of the
Council, the exhortations of the more sensible, and the conviction,
which won its way into the minds of many, civil order was
re-established. One of the creators of disturbance, Suesstrunk by name,
was indeed put to death by the sword, and the pastor of Westenbach, who
especially distinguished himself by his ill-timed discourses, was
thrown into prison for several days and punished with a fine--acts easy
to be explained, when we consider the severity of punishments in that
age and the grievous losses, which the state suffered by this
insurrection.
Only one district of the Canton was not yet pacified: the territory of
Grueningen. Here the Anabaptists still retained numerous adherents, and
these Anabaptists and their fierce battle with Zwingli are the objects
to which we must now turn our attention.
The Holy Scripture is the great record of the religious education of
the human race. It shows us man primeval in the unconscious innocence
of nature; then the patriarchal era with its simple, uniform manners
along with its untamed passion; and then again the most active
intercourse of nations, the most savage wars, the hierarchical state
and the elective and hereditary monarchy. It gives us lofty poetry in
the Psalms, the grandest didactic poem in the Book of Job, and a
collection of proverbs, the fruit of the ripest experience and
knowledge of life. It makes us acquainted with idolatry in its most
fearful degeneracy, and then, with the adoration of _one_ God and the
conflict, rising to the highest pitch of heroism, against this
degeneracy. But this God is a mere national God, to be known only
within the confined limits of the Jewish state, living personally only
here, in and with the people. We see the consequences of this
contracted view: hate instead of love, stubbornness instead of
docility, stagnation instead of progress. With this first period the
books of the Old Testament close.
Is it possible to understand the Gospel, which now follows, in its
grandeur, truth, purity and love, without a knowledge of the age, which
preceded it? or the prejudices, against which, He, who revealed it, had
to contend? We find varying opinions among those who wrote it--the
stamp of diverse authorship; here Judaistic narrowness, there freer
elevation, homely simplicity, and again deep glow and feeling. We even
find contradictions, historical and chronological, and yet, what unity
in all that is essential--what agreement in all that contributes to
peace in life and comfort in the hour of death; in all that determines
our actions and confers worth upon them! Are there any other writings,
for whose investigation, for whose explanation, so much sagacity, so
much science, so much conscientiousness are demanded? Such are the
questions, which very naturally crowd upon us, when we once more survey
the man, in whom all these qualifications are joined, as he goes forth
to battle with a multitude of others, who possess them only partially
and hence dangerously.
And thus we return again to those disturbers, before alluded to, in the
bosom of the Reformed party, who assailed Zwingli more boldly than any
monk, and whose scientific culture, adroitness, and, in the end,
desperation, prepared for him a far more violent conflict. Conrad
Grebel has already been represented to us as morally and physically
depraved. The higher spirit, which once attracted Zwingli's entire love
to him as a youth, richly endowed by nature, had not yet sunk so far,
that it did not show some clear sparks, and sometimes even break out
into a momentary blaze.
But when he saw that Zwingli penetrated his inmost soul, understood,
pitied and then despised him, he conceived the most intense bitterness
against him, which at last deepened into hatred--hatred that stopped at
no means to secure revenge. Gathering all his strength, nerving all his
powers to their highest pitch, his self-confidence increased; the
various modes of interpretation, which isolated passages of the Holy
Scriptures admit, made it possible for him to maintain, with a
tolerable appearance of truth and certainty, dogmas at variance with
those of Zwingli. The support, which he found from those of like mind,
the followers who adhered to him, awakened in the head of this fanatic
the delusion that he had received a call to be a prophet, and pictured
to him a final victory over Zwingli, or at least placed in view the
crown of martyrdom, in which latter, one and another of them, perhaps,
saw, not without an inward satisfaction, an atonement for the conscious
guilt of their former lives. Here again, the simple presentation of the
facts will furnish proof for this opinion.