issue lay in the hands of the Bernese. Without them, Zurich was no
longer able to carry on the war. The favorable moment had passed. Time
had been given to the Five Cantons to gather and strengthen their army.
The sight of their collective force raised the courage of individuals.
In numbers they were not inferior to the Zurichers; surpassed them
rather. And then, they beheld an abundance of provisions in the
Zurichan camp, whilst in theirs, and at home in their vallies, want and
famine prevailed, on account of the prohibition against importation.
The assurance of this accessible and needful booty whetted their thirst
for combat. To know that the power of deciding lay with the present
leaders of the Bernese, made the prospect intolerable to Zwingli. He
found in the _schultheiss_ Diesbach, their general, a lukewarm friend
of the Reformation, and in him and most of the others advocates, rather
than opposers, of pension-taking. The latter practice found such
special favor among the Bernese Counsellors, that even Nicholas Manuel,
otherwise one of the most powerful heads of the Evangelical party,
declared before the assembly of the Zurichan leaders in the camp at
Cappel, that Zwingli's demand on the Five Cantons for the abolition
of pensions need expect no support from Bern. This drew angry words
from the Reformer: "Well then! we can put the question to the whole
commons-at-war; we can also send an embassy to Bern herself, to learn
how the city and canton think. I know it and can prove it by writings,
which I promise to produce, that that people, as well as ours,
abhor pensions. Who maintain them? Some great families, who live by
them."--"It will come to this," replied Hans Escher, "we must first put
questions everywhere; the councils of leaders are no longer of any
account; one has just as much to say as another; squire and knight,
common man and captain; now, let all, for my sake, cry out at once;
then at least we will be done with the matter; if we ourselves cannot
strike because of discord, then let the others strike." Zwingli
confessed that he had gone too far, and smothered his chagrin. He had
hoped for a victory of principles, but now saw only the possibility of
a temporary compromise, achieved by political arts. The men, from whom
there was nothing to hope in support of the Reformation, in one canton,
and everything to fear in regard to the others, stood at the helm and
saw their power continually secured by foreign influence and foreign
gold. He beheld the times coming, when the old Adam would again awaken
in Zurich herself. Earlier or later, the seed sown, so he foreboded,
must be again stifled and the tender fruit sunk under the rank growth
of sprouting weeds.
Meanwhile the arbitrators in Steinhausen did all they could, and when
Bern used just as decided language against the Five Cantons as against
Zurich, then a treaty was formed, with which the statesmen of the
latter canton said they would be satisfied. First of all, the
Territories were to be left to their own free choice in matters of
religion; to declare for one system or the other. The alliance with
King Ferdinand was to be abolished and its documents annihilated.
Doctor Murner was to be arraigned before the Confederates in Baden, to
answer for defamation of Zurich and Bern. These were the chief
articles. What the Five Cantons should pay as costs of the war, and
indemnification to the surviving family of Jacob Kaiser, was left to
the arbitrators to determine afterward. But Zurich and Bern were
expressly empowered, if the conditions binding on the Five Cantons were
not fulfilled, to continue the interdict against the exportation of
provisions, until they would comply. It was simply uttered as a wish
that the Five Cantons would also abolish pensions.
The leaders of the armies communicated the rough draft of the treaty to
their several governments. In Bern it was received with universal joy.
"We permit you," wrote the government to her members in the field, "to
omit, in the affair of the Unterwaldners, whatever might waken strife
anew, be it so far only as is consistent with our honor. It is hoped,
being now again united, as was necessary, we will be able to bestow a
glance on our foreign enemies. Henceforth no more strangers, be they
Burgundians, Netherlanders, Austrians, Lorrainers or others should be
allowed to threaten our borders with impunity. We should, after the
manner of our fathers, defend ourselves. Sound the Five Cantons and
tell us, if they would refuse to arm." Just this, meanwhile, was the
most difficult point. Under various pretexts they tried to put off the
delivery of the deeds of the Austrian alliance. Then Zurich ordered
those of her militia, who were already prepared for a return home, to
stay, and called back others, who had marched off. The arbitrators
begged. The Bernese threatened; the Banneret, Peter im Haag, said: "If
the document be not produced immediately, we will fetch it in
procession." At last, on the 25th of June, about 2 o'clock in the
night, it was brought to Cappel. What further happened, is related by
Thomas Platter, an eye-witness, in these words: "As every one was now
up, they came together into a room, and the _amman_ of Glarus took the
document; for he had all along been the chief umpire. He gave it to a
scribe to open; it was terribly broad and long; the like I have never
seen, and I think it had nine seals on it; one large one, that was
golden. Then the scribe began and read a long preface of titles, such
as one reads on the square at Basel, on St. John's day; after that, the
Five Cantons, also, under the titles by which they are known. They had
made a league. Then the _amman_ struck his hand upon the document and
said: 'It is enough.' Then one behind me, who was doubtless a Zuricher,
cried out: 'Read the thing through, that we may hear how traitorously
they would have dealt with us.' The _amman_ turned to him and spake:
'How read it through? You must hack me into little pieces first, before
I will suffer it.' Therewith he laid the document together and said:
'You are alas! without this, too highly exasperated against each other;
take a little knife, first cut off the seals, and then slit the
parchment into long strips, give it to the scribe in a little cap, that
he may throw it into the fire.' What became of the seals I do not
know."
Joyfully the Zurichers marched to their homes; Zwingli with anxiety in
his heart. He gave utterance to it in the following verses, which he
also set to music:
Now mount the chariot, O Lord,
We know not where to go.
Thy hand must now uplift the sword
And smite the haughty foe.
God, for thy honor and our land
Blast Satan's progeny,
And teach thy faithful flock to stand
Ever more firm in Thee.
To bitter strife, O put an end!
And waken love anew;
Kind hearts to parted brethren send,
Old feelings warm and true.
The _Landfriede_ (General Peace) was concluded; quiet appeared to be
restored in the Confederacy. Then a foreign country laid claim to the
Swiss Reformer. In the spring of 1529, the majority of the princes and
cities, assembled at the Imperial Diet in Spire, endeavored to check
the progress of the Reformation in Germany, by stringent resolutions.
Conflicting doctrines in regard to the Lord's Supper especially, should
not be allowed. No more ecclesiastical innovations were to be permitted
until approved at an ecumenical council. The states of the Empire,
which were already inclined to the Gospel, entered protests against
this compulsory act, and received thence the name of Protestants. The
most active of these Protestants was the _landgrave_ Philip of Hesse.
Resolved to carry through the rising opposition, even against the
Emperor himself if necessary, he directed his chief attention to the
maintenance and establishment of concord among the Protesters
themselves. Although the Confederates, from the nature of their special
compacts (_buende_) and their struggles after national independence,
had actually more and more torn lose from connection with the German
Empire, they were still always formally counted as belonging to
it,--indeed, said so themselves, whenever it suited their advantage.
But, just before the election of the then reigning Emperor, the Diet,
in the name of the collective cantons, wrote a complimentary letter to
the Electoral Princes, under cover of the privilege due to them as
members of the Empire. Now also the resolutions of the Imperial Diet
were communicated by the Emperor, and a demand made upon them for their
execution. It is easy to imagine that the Protestant Princes would
strive likewise to gain them over to their party. Philip of Hesse
especially, looked toward Zurich and Zwingli. Early in April, he had
addressed him from Spire. He desired a personal interview. At the same
time it might serve to heal the dispute between the Saxon and Swiss
Reformers, which had taken a disagreeable turn, and contributed more
than anything else to make the cause of the Gospel suspicious in the
eyes of the Catholics, yea, even hateful to them. The chief obstacle in
the way of an understanding lay in the manner of seeking it--by a
general formula, a declaration drawn up in words, though the Gospel
itself did not contain such a thing. Few in that age had the sound
judgment of the later _landgrave_ William of Hesse, who, in the year
1566, wrote to Bullinger: "What Christ, the Chief Schoolmaster, has not
seen fit to explain, we men should not undertake to explain for
ourselves." _That_ Christ, offering himself up in love, would continue
to live in all the members of his church to the remotest ages, and so
declared at the last breaking of bread and pouring out of wine in the
circle of his disciples, must be clear to every reader of the Gospel.
_Whether_ and _how_ he continues to live in them, deeds only can show:
the confession of the heart, not that of the lips, which Christ himself
does not require of us.
But when, in spite of this, such a thing was required, it was
necessarily apprehended in a plainer sense by some of the Reformers,
and in a more profound one by others, according to the individual
peculiarities; at the same time it was regarded as more free or more
binding according to the spirit of the nations and the governments,
which they represented. This will best appear from the history viewed
in its connection.
It has already been intimated in this work that the mass, in view of
its significance and determining power, forms the ground-work of the
_cultus_, or form of worship in the Catholic Church. Yet Catholic
writers themselves have admitted and publicly expressed it, that, long
before the Reformation, dangerous ideas concerning the mass prevailed
among the people, which, fostered designedly by the clergy, and even by
the Popes, led to great abuses, being employed, through the founding of
masses for souls, to entice immense sums of money from pious
superstition. We may suppose, that the Reformers turned their attention
chiefly to these abuses, and first of all were obliged to attain for
themselves a right view of the design of the Lord's Supper. According
to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the bread and wine were
changed, by the consecration of the priest, into the real body and
blood of Christ, so that thus, by the transaction of the mass, the
personal Christ was once more sacrificed, as it were, and in this way
the redemption of mankind by the sufferings and death of Christ
dwelling in mass, was, in a certain measure, daily renewed, for the
salvation of all the living, or even the departed, for whom mass was
founded.
This mode of representation was unanimously rejected by the Reformers;
but in order to prove it invalid, they had to resort to explaining the
words of the Gospel, and here they began to diverge more and more from
each other. We all know, that Christ simply expressed himself thus:
"Take, eat; this is my body, broken for you; do this in remembrance of
me;" that after supper he also took the cup, saying: "This cup is the
New Testament in my blood; as oft as ye drink of it, do it in
remembrance of me." Zwingli, with his searching glance, his methods of
examination, strengthened by the study of the lively, vigorous authors
of antiquity, his penetration into the spirit of language and his
dislike to everything contrary to the course of nature, ordained by God
himself, soon arrived at a mere allegorical exposition of these words,
and understood by the expression, _This is_, simply, _This signifies_.
But he did not entertain this view alone. Before he ventured to utter
it publicly, a Dutch jurist, Cornelius Horn, had actually done it.
Zwingli caused his work to be printed in Switzerland, and promoted its
circulation. In the Conference at Zurich touching the mass, he for the
first time came out openly as an advocate of this view; but he did not
satisfy the bulk of his hearers. The not unlearned under-clerk, Joachim
am Gruet, opposed him, even attacked him, in a second Conference before
the Councils and scholars, with tolerable success, and availed himself
of the objection, against the reference of the Reformer to a multitude
of Scripture passages, where Christ in parables likewise made use of
the word "_is_," plainly instead of "signifies," that they were only
parables, whilst the Supper was a transaction so solemn, that such an
arbitrary, audacious mode of interpretation could in no wise be
admitted. How Zwingli was at first embarrassed by this objection, and
how he afterward succeeded in refuting it, he may tell us in his own
language.
"Undoubtedly," says he in one of his works,[4] "no easy task was before
me, namely, to cite an example for my mode of interpretation, derived
from no parable. I began to think over it, to look for it everywhere;
in vain! I could find nothing. The 13th of April was at hand;[5] I tell
the truth; (willingly would I keep silent, for I well know many will
make a mock of it; but it is God's finger; my conscience constrains me
to speak), early in the morning, before the break of day, I dreamed
that I, yet full of chagrin, was once more attacked in battle with the
under-clerk, and so beaten that I could discover no way of escape, and
my tongue refused to do its office. This anguish tormented me in an
incredible manner, as such things do in dreams, during the deceitful
night. (I wish to tell it only as a dream, although it concerns me
much; although that is important enough for me; which I have learned,
thanks be to God! through whose power alone anything is possible). As
by the stroke of an enchanter's wand, I saw a comforter stand before
me, (whether he was white or black, I cannot say; I relate a dream).
'Wherefore, thou awkward one,' he asks, 'dost thou not oppose him with
the passage in the twelfth chapter of the second book of Moses? It _is_
the Lord's passover.' I awoke, sprang out of bed, looked at the
passage, thought over it and preached from it in the morning before
the congregation, and, as I hope with sufficient power. The sermon
swept the mists from the eyes of all those, who, on account of the
above-mentioned difficulty, had not been able to obtain a clear view,
and three days after, on the festival of the resurrection, such a
passover of the Lord was celebrated, as I have never yet seen, and the
number of those, who hankered after the flesh-pots of Egypt was less
than any one would have ventured to hope."
In the beginning, Luther also had looked at this mode of
interpretation, but discovered in the bias of his mind greater
difficulties, to which others of an external nature were added. As
early as the year 1524, he had written to the "Christians at
Strassburg:" "This I confess--if any one had been able to assure me
five years ago that there was nothing in the Sacrament but bread and
wine, he would have done me the greatest service. I then endured such a
severe temptation and so struggled and writhed, that I would willingly
have been delivered, for I plainly saw that by it I could have dealt
the heaviest blow against the Papacy; but I am fast and cannot get out.
The text is too powerful here and will not suffer itself to be wrested
of its meaning by words." The thing, which had especially awakened his
dislike to the Zwinglian view, and which he does not here tell us, was
the circumstance, that, before Zwingli had yet expressed himself
publicly in regard to the Lord's Supper, Doctor Carlstadt had come out
in Saxony with a still bolder interpretation, by which he attempted to
break up the connection of Christ's own words of institution in such a
way, that half of them lost all their meaning. In a violent work, that
met with approval in many places, he then spread abroad this
interpretation. This Carlstadt was to Luther a glowingly-hated stone of
offence, which everywhere laid in his way. Whilst Luther was in the
Wartburg, he had headed the furious image-stormers in Wittemberg. He
now made his home in Orlamuend, where he supplanted the preacher,
disregarded all the ordinances of the Elector, and excited the people
to such a degree, that when Luther went into the country, at the
command of the Prince, to restore order, he was pelted with dirt and
stones, and pursued with the cry: "Drive off, in the name of a thousand
devils, and break your neck!" Deprived of his situation, after such
doings, Carlstadt went to Strassburg, and then to Switzerland.
Meanwhile, his writings were forbidden by the Council at Strassburg.
Zwingli, on the other hand, declared this to be unjust, because
Carlstadt's writings contained neither godless nor fanatical errors.
Henceforth Luther began to transfer his hatred against Carlstadt more
and more to Zwingli, although the latter, in his work, "On true and
false Religion," only excused Carlstadt's interpretation, but in no
wise approved, rather assailed it; and when [OE]colampadius also issued
his treatise on the Lord's Supper, Luther came out openly in the most
passionate letters against the Swiss Reformers. "For myself," says
he, in one of them, "I confess, that I do not think Zwingli a Christian
with all his doctrines, for he holds and teaches no part of the
Christian faith rightly, and has become seven times worse than when he
was a Papist, according to Christ's judgment: 'The last state of that
man shall be worse than the first.' I make such a confession, that I
may be without blame before God and the world, because I have no share
in Zwingli's doctrines, nor will have to all eternity!"[6]
To allay this strife was the task which the _landgrave_ Philip of
Hesse, proposed to himself. This Prince, then in his twenty-fifth year,
a man of scientific culture, an indefatigable ruler, beloved by his
people and feared by his more powerful neighbors, on account of his
decided and enterprising character, was the soul of the Protestant
party. To the Elector of Saxony, who, possessed of more prudence and
timidity, stood along with him at its head, he wrote: "Rather would I
give up body and life, land and people, than abandon God and his Word."
At his court lived Duke Ulric, of Wuertemberg, an exile, driven from
his country by the Emperor, and the Swabian League, but undaunted,
eager for war, and continually busied with plans for recovering his
princely seat. At an earlier period he had spent some time in
Switzerland and became personally acquainted with Zwingli, and through
him the _landgrave_ was also brought into connection with the Reformer.
Thinking clearly and feeling dearly; imbued also with the spirit of the
Holy Scriptures, he thought, if stubbornness did not prevent it, a
mutual understanding was yet possible, and resolved to spare no pains
in order to attain it. Zwingli and [OE]colampadius willingly consented
to his proposal of a Conference. They only wished it to be held in
Strassburg, because Zwingli especially despaired of receiving
permission from the Zurich Council for the dangerous journey to
Marburg, the residence of the _landgrave_, and so long an absence. The
consent of the Saxons was more difficult to obtain. Melancthon from
timidity, and because he did not wish to break fully with the
Catholics, reconciliation with whom he thought yet possible, and Luther
from dislike avoided the Conference; the former even privately
requested the Elector not to permit them to go. "It is not well," he
said, "for the _landgrave_ to have much to do with the Zwinglians; he
has taken, moreover, a greater liking to them, than is necessary; for
the matter has come to such a point, that acute people, like the
_landgrave_, regard it with the deepest interest, and the understanding
seizes readily upon what it comprehends, especially if men of learning,
who can give the matter from Holy Scripture, are inclined that way, and
we know that many scholars now adhere to Zwingli."
It is clear that the Swiss were regarded by the Saxons as radical
stormers, unprincipled innovators, who, amid their mountains and their
republican affairs had forgotten all respect for law and order. "I am
sick;" wrote Melanchton to one friend, "an indescribable anguish of
soul torments me; I can scarcely breathe. Thou knowest wherefore. The
Elbe has fearfully overflowed its banks. Even in Hesse I saw a great
stone torn out of the side-walk of a church by the might of the floods,
as though done by the contrivances of art. Still other signs happen.
Christ defend us!" and to another: "Rather would I die, than live to
see this Zwinglian affair pollute our just cause." Luther spoke thus
against the _landgrave_ himself: "I know well what the devil is after.
God grant I may be no prophet; for if it were not a false trick, but a
real purpose among them to seek peace, they would not attempt it in
such a glorious fashion through great and mighty princes; for we, by
God's grace, are not so savage and wild, that they could not long ago
have tendered to us, as they yet can, the humble endeavors for peace,
of which they boast; but I know that I will not basely give way to
them. I cannot; because I am so fully persuaded that they err, and are
themselves, moreover, unsettled in their opinions." At last, Melanchton
made the proposal to invite some Papists to the Conference as
witnesses, though in fact rather to pave the way for their final
consent; and for a long while yet, both he and Luther wished to have
[OE]colampadius as an opponent, and protested against the appearance of
Zwingli.
But such spectres were not visible to the _landgrave_ Philip. He was
one of those princes, who, conscious of their own power and of love to
their people, by whom in turn they are beloved, can look without fear
even on republican affairs; a man in whom faith lived, and who without
hesitation, therefore, suffered the spirit to live; and, acting thus,
hoped, with youthful assurance, to calm down the violent combatants by
his influence, if he could only get a personal interview with them.
This appears best from his own words: "Dear Master Erhard," so he wrote
some years after this period, to another of the zealots in the
Eucharistic controversy, the Wuertemberg preacher, Erhard Schnepf, "I
hear that you will not leave Blarer (preacher at Constance) unmolested
in the confession, with which Luther and Philip (Melanchton) are still
satisfied, but press upon him with sophistical language, and have made
many persons anxious lest you would break down more than you build up,
which I myself do not yet accuse you of, but should it happen, it will
grieve many a pious man. Hence, it is my prayer, that you will proceed
gently; be no disputer of words, but a promoter of faith, love and good
works, and not, as the old proverb says, 'raise a spoon and break a
bowl;' for you might have a zeal, when you have reached a sure
understanding, to press it upon others and yet not reach the heart; and
besides, to speak humanly, do great injury to the Gospel; as, for
example, many pious people might be brought thereby to persecution and
ruin, when the matter was not even worth talking about. Therefore
proceed wisely, that you may not become a partaker of such blood and
such destruction. It will not do to plunge thus into matters. The
Apostles acted prudently; they did not thus reject people for trifling
errors. I point this out to you, as one, who heartily desires you to
treat of things, that will promote the cause of the Gospel, unity, and
love also. Understand yourself, and do not go further than God allows.
Let not the old Adam lord it over the new. You have not been preaching
long. It is needful to exhort you. Adieu."
Guided by such a noble endeavor to restore harmony among the
Protestants, he pursued his mark with unwearied zeal, and obtained the
consent of the Elector of Saxony, (who now required his learned men to
attend the Conference), and at length that also of Luther and
Melanchton, who, under date of July 8th, 1529, wrote to him as follows:
"Since Your Princely Grace has received our two letters, and still
insist upon our coming to Marburg, in the confident hope that concord
will result from it, we wish with a cheerful and ready mind to
contribute our part thereto, and by God's grace, if sound and well,
will appear at Marburg on the day appointed. The Father of all mercy
and unity grant His spirit that we may come together not in vain--for
profit and not injury. Amen. Christ be Your Princely Grace's Governor
and Guide!"