the beginning of the year 1525, "since a new storm is brewing. I had
almost settled down to rest, thinking the battle over, when all at once
this rises up, and it happens to me as the wise man says: If a man
leave off, then he must begin again. Doctor Andrew Carlstadt has
deserted us and become our bitterest enemy." This defection of
Carlstadt, who wished to proceed in the work of reformation more
thoroughly than Luther, demanding the destruction of images, and
setting very little value on external worship, was spoken of with
praise everywhere, and especially at Waldshut, by Thomas Muenzer,
during his visit to the borders of Switzerland, about the middle of the
year 1524. Muenzer likewise professed these same principles, yea, was
ready, for his part, to go still further than Carlstadt himself. Just
at this time, the fanatical proceedings in Zollikon, before described,
the breaking of the images there and the removal of the baptismal font,
took place. That Grebel and Manz were privy to this, and made frequent
journeys to and from Zollikon, appears with entire certainty from
reports afterward received. With Muenzer they did not become personally
acquainted. Before they could accomplish this, he had traveled back to
Germany; but his influence on Swiss affairs is evident from two letters
sent to him soon after by Grebel and his friends.
"Dear brother Thomas," began one of them, "for God's sake, do not be
surprised, that we address thee without title and urge thee as a
brother to communicate with us by writing in the future, and that we,
uninvited and unacquainted with thee, have ventured to open up a
correspondence. God's Son, Jesus Christ, has prompted and impelled us
to this act of friendship and brotherhood, and to make known the
following points. Moreover thy work in two small volumes, on 'Faith
Feigned,' have encouraged us. Hence, if thou wilt take it kindly, it
shall be a source of good to us, if God will. Thou shouldst also know
that thou along with Carolostadtius art esteemed amongst us as the
purest proclaimer and preacher of the pure Word of God, although ye are
little thought of by the lazy theologians and doctors at Wittemberg. We
are also thus reprobate toward our learned pastors. With them
everything depends on man, everything is done by him, so that they
preach a sinful, pleasant Christ, and good discrimination is wanting to
them, as thou shewest in thy little books, which have beyond measure
instructed and strengthened us poor folks." But then, passing over the
chief point, re-baptism, which had won for them a party in Zurich, and
as a badge of confession, as a banner, had enabled them to keep
together--they thus continue: "Because thou also hast uttered thy
protest against infant-baptism, we trust thou actest not against the
eternal word, wisdom and command of God, according to which we ought to
baptise believers alone, and thou baptisest no child. If thou, or
Carolostadius will not write in full against infant-baptism with all
that belongs thereto, why and how we ought to baptise, then will I,
Conrad Grebel, try my hand and complete what I have begun, against
all who hitherto (except thee) have written on baptism at large and
deliberately, and maintained the senseless, blasphemous form of
infant-baptism; but if God do not prevent then am I, and then will I
and all of us be sure of persecution from the learned and other
people." Grebel also wrote to Luther and informed Muerner of it, in his
second letter, in which, moreover, he warns him not to preach
resistance against princes with carnal weapons. "For if thou must
suffer on account of thy doctrines know indeed that it cannot be
otherwise. Christ must still suffer in his members. But he will
strengthen them and keep them firm unto the end. God grant his grace to
thee and us. For our parsons are also fierce and wrathful toward us,
and call us villains in the open pulpit and _Satannas in angelos lucis
convertos_ (wicked spirits in the garb of angels of light). In time we
will see this persecution pass over us. Therefore pray God for me."[5]
In accordance with this view, Grebel and his friends prudently avoided
stirring up any formal rebellion. And there is nothing at all to show
that they had any direct share in the political movements, which we
have already narrated, although their doctrines concerning the
fraternal communion of Christians and the unscripturalness of tithes
and rents, as they uttered them in general terms, could not but exert
an indirect influence upon them. But in these discourses they always
added exhortations to a resistance merely passive. By this means they
attracted a crowd of followers, persons of excitable feelings and women
especially, just in proportion as the doctrine of martyrdom stood high
in the Catholic church. Indeed it often seemed as if persecution was
only delayed too long for these people. Grebel thus wrote to Vadianus:
"They talk of disturbers. They can be known by their fruits--decrees of
exile and executions by the sword. I do not think the persecution will
be delayed." But neither Zwingli nor the government thought of such a
proceeding. They freely confessed that this would only aggravate the
evil.
First then, because already, at sundry times, whole troops of these
deluded creatures from Zollikon and the neighboring country, had come
into the city, clad in sackcloth and ashes, and girt about with ropes,
and cried out in the public squares: "Wo to Zurich!" and because a
so-called confession of one of their number, a former monk, who usually
went by the name of George Blaurock (Bluecoat) and whom his disciples
hailed as a second Paul, was spread far and wide and made a great
noise, the government ordered a conference to be held with them at the
council-house. The following are the literal contents of Blaurock's
Confession: "I am a door. He who enters by me will find pasture, but he
who enters elsewhere, is a thief and a murderer, as it is written: I am
a good shepherd; a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep; so I
also give my body and life and soul for my sheep, my body to the tower
and my life to the sword, or fire, or the wine-press, where it will be
pressed out of the flesh as the blood of Christ on the cross. I am a
beginner of baptism and the bread of the Lord, along with my chosen
brethren, Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz. Therefore, the Pope with all
his followers is a thief and a murderer; in like manner, Luther with
all his followers is a thief and a murderer; Zwingli also and Leo Judæ
with all their followers are thieves and murderers, until they make
this same confession also. I have asked my gracious Lords of Zurich,
and still ask them, for leave to dispute with Ulrich Zwingli and Leo
Judæ; I may not obtain it, but yet I await the hour, which my Heavenly
Father has ordained therefor."
This hour came on the 17th of January, 1525. Bullinger, who was
personally present, gives a description, but only a brief one, of the
event. The Great Council, the scholars and the clergy were there; Manz,
Grebel, Blaurock, R[oe]ubli, Ludwig Hætzer, of whose work against
images we have before spoken, were the chief antagonists of Zwingli.
The latter began with an acknowledgment, that for some years he had
himself been of the opinion, that it were better to postpone the
baptism of infants to a more advanced age, but, after mature
reflection, had reached a different conviction, which he thought
sustained by the true sense of the Holy Scriptures, and then he
unfolded this in an extended conversation with the Anabaptists. Whoever
desires a more thorough knowledge of his views on this point will find
them in his work on "Baptism, Re-baptism and Infant Baptism."[6] His
main arguments for the latter were the following: Baptism is the
external sign of admission into the society of Christians. To have
received it once is sufficient. Adults were baptised by the Apostles,
because they who first joined the church were of full age. The Holy
Scriptures contain indeed no example of infant-baptism; but then just
as little can be proven from them, that it was not practised. Mention
of it occurs in the very oldest church-fathers. It took the place of
circumcision, which had been commanded in the Old Testament, and
strengthened the obligations of Christian parents, whilst it became to
the children themselves a pledge and perpetual token of fidelity to Him
who lovingly bade little children even to be brought to Him.
Light triumphed over darkness, science over sophistry, calmness over
passion and stubbornness, the church over the sect, and the friend of
reason and order over the demagogues. But it was a victory known only
to the higher and educated classes; the people remained, and now the
fanatics appealed to them, giving out everywhere, that Zwingli had not
been able to withstand them. They held firmly to the letter, that
resort of all intriguers and wranglers. Meanwhile, the Council
resolved, the next day, that all children should be baptised within a
week, that they, who would not permit it, should be banished from the
canton; and that the congregation in Zollikon should restore the
baptismal font. Grebel and Manz were enjoined to keep the peace. There
was to be no more controversy about baptism, but, if desired, other
articles of faith might be discussed. R[oe]ubli, Br[oe]dlein and Ludwig
Hætzer received an order to leave the district within eight days.
But now resistance began with appeals to the Scripture, that we ought
to obey God rather than men. R[oe]ubli, Br[oe]dlein and Hætzer left the
canton; but the first kept up an exciting correspondence with his
followers, from Waldshut, whither he had betaken himself, and
Br[oe]dlein, from Hallan. The latter wrote: "John, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to preach the Gospel, to the pious Christians, called of
God, in the Christian congregation at Zollikon. Ye know, dear brethren,
how I proclaimed to you the Word of God faithfully, clearly, simply,
and did not deal with it as treacherous landlords, who pour water into
the wine; ye know, how I have had courage, to live among you, to labor
with my own hands and burden no one; ye know also, that for the truth's
sake I have been driven from you by the will of God; finally, ye know,
how faithfully I have warned you not to fall away from grace. This very
day I call heaven and earth to witness that I taught you the truth.
Abide in it, and ye are God's, and He is yours, and ye are blessed.
Fall away from it, and ye are children of wrath, and God is far from
you; ye are wretched orphans, and will flee before the moth. O how
ardent and joyful have I been, since I came from you! Verily, I have
not wept, but sung. O how glad I will be, if God suffers me to return
to you again! When I had gone some distance, Christ came to us; yea,
Christ in the person of his disciple; for a pious brother of Bern,
Christian by name, traveled with us as far as Kloten, and left us the
next day. Verily, verily, I often slipped on the road, but did not
fall. Verily, verily, when we got over Eglisau, I and Wilhelm
(R[oe]ubli) despaired of our lives. I thought God had forsaken us. We
lost the right path, and wandered about all that day, even among sticks
and bushes. But God had thus willed it. Shortly we came to pious people
and at last to Hallan. I left my wife and children there, and we went
over to Schaffhausen. Verily, we found there our dear brother, Conrad
Grebel. We visited Doctor Sebastian (Hofmeister) and took supper with
him. Verily, he is of one accord with us in the matter of baptism.
Would to God, it stood better with him in other things. We returned
again to Hallan. The day after, Wilhelm went to Waldshut. On the next
Sunday after Candlemas, I preached in Hallan and found a great harvest
there, but few reapers. The people earnestly desired to hear me, and to
this very day desire it. The clergy are as they may be. Antichrist
still rules powerfully among the people. Pray God to enlighten them.
Dear brethren, abide in faith, love and hope. Let no one terrify you.
He who preaches to you any other Gospel, than I have preached, let him
be accursed. Greet one another with the kiss of peace. Beware of every
brother, who acts disorderly and not according to that, which he and
you have learned. Beware of false prophets, who preach for pay. Shun
them. Exhort ye one another and continue in the doctrine, which ye have
received. The peace of God be with you all!"
That a letter of this sort--that the incessant exhortation and
preaching of the leaders of the fanatics, who remained behind, bore
legitimate fruit, was soon apparent from a succession of extravagant
scenes in all parts of the canton. In entire districts the women
particularly rose up. Troops of them streamed together, if any of these
apostles came into the neighborhood, and begged from them re-baptism,
or a sermon. The edicts of the government were praised by some, but
scorned by others; even the clergy assailed them and strife sprang up
in the churches. We have a lively picture of a scene of this kind
in a letter from the Commander Schmied. "In the action taken"--he
writes--"before the congregation at Eck, on account of your edict. My
Lords, Pastor Bodmer, of Esslingen, called for Christian
excommunication, i.e. the overthrow and rejection of your authority in
the matter of baptism. Thereupon Master Laurence told him, that he and
his followers had hitherto prevented Christian excommunication. Then
Pastor Bodmer walked up and said to Master Laurence: You lie like a
vagabond and knave, and if he abused him as a Baptist, he did not speak
like a gentleman. Sir Burgomaster! That such a worthy and Christian man
as Master Laurence should be called a vagabond and knave before his own
church, and that by a Baptist, as was certainly done, is to me
intolerable, and I ask that he may be helped to his just rights, so
that such things occur not again. There was such an uproar in the
church--they all rose up, joined together, pressed forward and crowded
so knavishly through each other, that Master Laurence could not observe
who did it. Then the _subvogt_ commanded peace. Such an outbreak did
this Baptist produce."
This, and reports of a similar character, which were sent in from the
canton, induced the government to place Grebel, Manz, and some dozen of
the most stiff-necked rebels of respectable education in the monastery
of the Augustines, where Zwingli and the two other people's priests of
the city received orders to visit them frequently. It was hoped they
would be finally set right. But what a triumph it was for them, when
they succeeded in puzzling Zwingli with one of his own assertions! He
had said that no one, according to the New Testament, had been baptised
a second time. Did he not know that Paul rebaptised those twelve in
Ephesus, who had already been baptised by John?[7] The report of this
victory over the hitherto invincible champion spread through the canton
with amazing rapidity. "He is fallen," so they cried, "the false
prophet, the great dragon; the Spirit of the Lord is with us. The
Gospel will now be everywhere brought to light. Away with taxes! Away
with the sword! No Christian will wish to be a ruler! We are all
brethren. Sell your goods, lay all together on one heap. Let there be
no poor any longer and no rich!" A second conference before a select
assembly had now but little influence. The matter must be decided
before the people, and Zwingli began to arm himself for the work.
Meanwhile, he grappled with the subject in his sermons. He showed the
difference between the baptism of John and that of Paul, brought out
the antagonism between the letter and the spirit, and unfolded the
consequences of the doctrines of the deluded fanatics, in such a clear,
lively and convincing manner, that a storm of applause resounded
through the church at the close of one of these sermons. The city was
won.
But the canton yet remained. "Zwingli has the advantage in the
protection of the government and the city," they cried. "Those, who are
best able to contend with him, have been exiled, or not permitted to
appear. Had it been otherwise, he must have yielded." Many honest,
well-meaning people believed this; and the following petition, sent
into the government, seems to have sprung from such a belief:
"Honorable, wise, gracious Lords, we are indeed free to confess, that
you have trouble and labor on our account, and on the other hand, that
we are daily involved in great anxiety. Now, we are willing to suffer,
and call upon God to help you and us to peace, which can indeed be
brought about, if Your Worships propose a public conference, and invite
other people to it; let them be those, who have been cast out because
of this business, and others also. Then, whatever is established from
the Word of God, to that we pledge you our bodies and our lives, our
honor and our goods. But if indeed you wish an answer from us, it can
be nothing else, than the public confession, that we have not grace
from God to talk with Master Ulric, so that he can understand us, or
ability to speak straight from the heart.
"Therefore, we pray you, gracious Lords, to permit one or two men at
our cost to enter your city with a sufficient assurance of a safe
return, since they durst not travel every road for the sake of the
Divine Word, because Master Ulric himself has not hitherto shown them
much favor. These shall point out on our behalf all the Scriptures, so
that every man may thoroughly perceive whether he has been right or
wrong in his views of them. Oh God! we desire nothing else than truth
and righteousness, in which by the grace of God we wish to continue
till death. Then, as we have always declared to you, gracious Lords,
we will pledge our bodies and lives to Your Worships and to the Word of
God and Divine righteousness, gracious Lords! Let the matter, for God's
sake, come before a public conference, as in the case of images and the
mass. Believe us truly; we wish to do what is right. May God help us
thereto! We hope and know that the truth of the Divine Word will come
clearly to light, and Your Worships will be content with us. Give us,
therefore, for the sake of God and his mercy, a favorable answer."
Upon this, Zwingli himself requested the government to institute a
public conference, and the order for it was drawn up on Monday,
November 6th, 1525, with a full and free safe-conduct for all those,
who thought themselves in a condition to defend their variant
doctrines. Zwingli, Leo Judæ and Caspar Grossman, people's priests at
the Dominican church, were selected as champions to make reply; and
Wolfgang Joner, abbot at Cappel, the Commander Schmied, Sebastian
Hofmeister of Schaffhausen, and Vadianus of St. Gall, as presidents for
the occasion. The Anabaptists appeared in numbers under their leaders,
Manz, Grebel and Blaurock; many of them had come from distant
countries; the department of Grueningen, at the command of the
government, sent thither twelve deputies. Scarcely had the conference
opened at the Council House, in presence of the Two Hundred and a crowd
of hearers, who filled up all the chamber, when a newly arrived troop
of fanatics pressed in with the cry: "O Zion! O Zion! Rejoice O
Jerusalem!" and threw everything into confusion. To prevent such
disturbances and to obtain more room, the assembly removed to the
church of the Great Minster. Here the battle continued for three days,
from morning till late in the evening. Speech was denied to no one:
access to none, who wished to hear. Public opinion grew more favorable
to the people's priests. On the third day the attacks of the
Anabaptists became weaker; their self-confidence vanished. Only one of
them, who had repeatedly asserted that he could end the contest with
one word, but had still been held back by his associates, who
themselves thought him too wild, broke through at last and placed
himself, with an inflamed visage, and all the motions of a conjurer,
before the people's priest, and cried out: "Zwingli, I conjure thee, by
the living God, to tell us the truth." The latter answered very calmly:
"That shalt thou hear. Thou art as clownish and seditious a peasant,
and as simple as any Our Lords have in the canton." A universal roar of
laughter followed, and the act was closed.
The government then issued a public statement concerning the events of
this controversy, which, along with other things, concluded with the
following words: "After the Anabaptists and their followers have
disputed three days, from morning till evening, in our Council House
and the Great Minster, in our presence and that of a large crowd of men
and women, and every Baptist has spoken all he had to say, without let
or hindrance, it has at last been found from the most powerful
arguments, based upon the Word of God, that Master Ulric Zwingli and
his associates have fairly conquered the Anabaptists, annihilated
re-baptism, and upheld the baptism of infants. It has also been clearly
evident, during the entire conference, that the creators, defenders,
sectarians and wranglers of Anabaptism have played their part in a
wicked, bold, and shameless spirit, in that they, a sect and conspiracy
against the commandment of God, have undertaken and devised means to
bring us over to them, in their contempt of all temporal authority and
planting of disobedience, and destruction of love toward our
fellow-men; for they think themselves better than other Christians and
without sin, as all their words and works, and even their behavior
plainly show." Subjoined was an order forbidding any further cases of
re-baptism on pain of a fine, or threats of severer punishment, if that
did not prove sufficient. Manz, Grebel, Blaurock and the other leaders
of the sect were brought before the Council and earnestly exhorted to
confess their errors, but in vain. They were thrown into the Tower.
Whilst there, means were found to compose an address, which was soon
widely spread and roused up the most stubborn of their followers to new
resistance. Hence, when the _landvogt_ Berger made known the edict of
the government in Grueningen, many of the inhabitants publicly declared
they would not submit to it. He then summoned more than a hundred of
the most zealous men and women to the castle. Here the twelve deputies,
who were at the conference in Zurich assured them with one accord, that
Zwingli had conquered, begged them to renounce their errors, reasoned
with them, along with the _landvogt_, the whole day, and when at last
each was asked for his decision, thirteen yielded; all the others
persevered in their opposition.
Meanwhile, the prisoners in Zurich led the government to hope, that if
their liberty were restored, they would behave peacefully. It was
granted; but immediately they scattered themselves through the canton,
and the flame broke out anew. This was also increased by Hubmeyer, who
after the taking of Waldshut by the Austrians in December, 1525, came
to Zurich as a fugitive, and, having likewise held a conference with
Zwingli, Leo Judæ and Myconius, in presence of the Councils, declared
himself overcome and ready for a recantation from the pulpit of the
Frauminster Church. Instead of which, to the great surprise of the
congregation, he began again to advocate rebaptism. Zwingli, who
occupied the second pulpit, on the opposite side, interrupted him at
once and brought him to silence.[8] He excused himself afterwards by
saying, that he knew not what he did, the devil must have been in him,
and then once more recanted in the Frauminster and the church at
Gossau, in the department of Grueningen.
But now the lovers of order and quiet were everywhere fully aroused.
The government was universally censured for its forbearance, and most
of all in the department of Grueningen itself. The _landvogt_ was
importuned for severer measures. "It is truly a great thing"--he wrote
to the Council--"that you, gracious Lords, have for the third time
caused a conference to be held with these people, who speak openly of
all the conferences and your desire to do justice, in the most insolent
fashion, in spite of your edict, and are not willing to acknowledge
they have done wrong. Hence the magistracy have written and prayed the
Council and advised, that they come together again on Tuesday, to take
the business boldly in hand, for it is publicly declared: 'I hear
indeed, if My Lords only receive five pounds, it matters little what
the Baptists talk or say concerning all the conferences and edicts;
they do no wrong.' In this way great injustice will be done you.
Therefore do not take this amiss from me; for the magistracy with your
assistance would have passed a far different judgment on the Baptists,
and plans would have been formed, which would have produced peace,
quiet and obedience. The fines would have been laid on the great
disturbers, strife-makers, hedge-preachers and baptisers, and not on
poor, simple, miserable men, not on women and children, of whom many
have been deluded; yet these are fined as heavily as the chief actors
in the play. Henceforth the business must be taken in hand boldly; you
will not find me wanting."