Chapter XII: Part 12

In Germany, Luther's person stands forth imposingly from the midst of his Saxon countrymen. He seems to struggle alone in his attack on the Roman Colossus, and wherever the battle is fought, we see his lofty stature on the field of battle. Luther is, as it were, the monarch of the revolution which is being accomplished. In Switzerland, several cantons are at once engaged in the contest. We see a confederacy of Reformers, and are astonished at their numbers. No doubt there is one head which stands elevated above the rest, but no one has the command. It is a republican magistracy, where each presents his peculiar physiognomy, and exercises his separate influence. We have Wittemberg, Zuinglius, Capito, Haller, Œcolampadius. Again, we have Oswald Myconius, Leo Juda, Farel, and Calvin, and the Reformation takes place at Glaris, Bâle, Zurich, Berne, Neufchatel, Geneva, Lucerne, Schafausen, Appenzel, St. Gall, and in the Grisons. In the Reformation of Germany, one scene only is seen, and that one level like the country around; but in Switzerland, the Reformation is divided, as Switzerland itself is divided by its thousand mountains. So to speak, each valley has its awakening, and each Alpine height its gleams of light.

A lamentable period had commenced in the history of the Swiss after their exploits against the dukes of Burgundy. Europe, which had learned to know the strength of their arm, had brought them forth from their mountains, and robbed them of their independence, by employing them to decide the destiny of states on battle-fields. Swiss brandished the sword against Swiss on the plains of Italy and France; and the intrigues of strangers filled these high valleys of the Alps, so long the abode of simplicity and peace, with envy and discord. Led away by the attraction of gold, sons, labourers, and servants, stole away from the chalets of alpine pastures towards the banks of the Rhine or the Po. Helvetic unity was crushed under the slow step of mules loaded with gold. The object of the Reformation in Switzerland--for there too it had a political aspect--was to re-establish the unity and ancient virtues of the cantons. Its first cry was that the Swiss should tear asunder the perfidious nets of strangers, and embrace each other in strict union at the foot of the cross. But the generous call was not listened to. Rome, accustomed to purchase in these valleys the blood which she shed in order to increase her power, rose up in wrath. She set Swiss against Swiss, and new passions arose which rent the body of the nation in pieces.

Switzerland stood in need of a reformation. It is true there was among the Helvetians a simplicity and good-nature, which the polished Italians thought ridiculous, but, at the same time, it was admitted that by no people were the laws of chastity more habitually transgressed. Astrologers ascribed this to the constellations;[601] philosophers, to the ardent temperament of this indomitable population; and moralists, to the principles of the Swiss, who regarded trick, dishonesty, and slander as much greater sins than uncleanness.[602] The priests were prohibited from marrying, but it would have been difficult to find one of them who lived in true celibacy. The thing required of them was, to conduct themselves not chastely, but prudently. This was one of the first disorders against which the Reformation was directed. It is time to trace the beginnings of this new day in the valleys of the Alps.

[601] Wirz, Helvetische Kirchen Geschichte, iii, p. 201.

[602] Sodomitis melius erit in die judicii, quam rerum vel honoris
ablatoribus. (Hemmerlin, de anno jubilæo.)

[Sidenote: AN ALPINE COTTAGE.]

Towards the middle of the eleventh century, two hermits set out from Saint Gall, and proceeding towards the mountains at the south of this ancient monastery, arrived in a deserted valley about ten leagues long.[603] Towards the north, the high mountains of Sentis, the Sommerigkopf, and the Old-Man, separate this valley from the canton of Appenzel. On the south, the Kuhfirsten, with its seven heads, rises between it and the Wallenses, Sargans, and the Grisons, while the eastern side of the valley opens to the rays of the rising sun, and discovers the magnificent prospect of the Tyrolese Alps. The two solitaries having arrived near the source of a small river, (the Thur,) built two cells. The valley gradually became inhabited. On the highest portion of it, 2010 feet above the Lake of Zurich, there was formed, around a church, a village named Wildhaus, or the Wild House, with which two hamlets are now connected, _viz._, Lisighaus, or the House of Elizabeth, and Schœnenboden. The fruits of the earth are unable to grow upon these heights. A green carpet of Alpine freshness covers the whole valley, and rises upon the sides of the mountains, above which masses of enormous rocks lift their wild grandeur towards heaven.

[603] The Tokenburg.

At a quarter of a league from the church near Lisighaus, on the side of a path which leads into the pastures beyond the river, a solitary house is still standing. The tradition is, that the wood used in building it was cut upon the very spot.[604] Everything indicates that it must have been erected at a very remote period. The walls are thin. The windows have little round panes, and the roof is formed of slabs, on which stones are laid to prevent the wind from carrying them away. In front of the house there is a limpid gushing spring.

[604] Schuler's Zwinglis Bildungs Gesch. p. 290.

[Sidenote: A PASTORAL FAMILY.]

In this house, towards the end of the fifteenth century, lived a man named Zuinglius, amman or bailiff of the district. The family of the Zwingles, or Zwingli, was ancient, and in high esteem among the inhabitants of these mountains.[605] Bartholomew, brother of the bailiff, at first curate of the parish, and, after 1487, dean of Wesen, was a person of some celebrity in the district.[606] Margaret Meili, the wife of the amman of Wildhaus, and whose brother John was afterwards abbot of the convent of Fischingen in Thurgovia, had already given birth to two sons, Heini and Klaus, when, on the first day of the year 1484, seven weeks after the birth of Luther, a third son, Ulric, was born in this solitary hut.[607] Five other sons, John, Wolfgang, Bartholomew, James, Andrew, and a daughter, Anna, were afterwards added to this Alpine family. No person in the country was more venerated than amman Zuinglius.[608] His character, his office, his numerous children, made him the patriarch of these mountains. He and all his sons were shepherds. No sooner did the first days of May open upon these mountains than the father and the children departed with their flocks for the pastures, rising gradually from station to station, and so, towards the end of July, reaching the highest summits of the Alps. Then they began gradually to redescend towards the valley, and in autumn the whole population of Wildhaus returned to their humble huts. Sometimes, during the summer, the young people who had been obliged to remain at home, eager for the mountain breezes, set out in bands for the chalets, uniting their voices to the melody of their rustic instruments. On their arrival on the Alps, the shepherds from a distance saluted them with their horns and their songs, and regaled them with a feast of milk. Afterwards the joyous band, by turnings and windings, descended again into the valley, moving to the sound of their pipes. Ulric in his youth doubtless joined occasionally in this amusement. He grew up at the foot of those rocks which seem eternal, and whose tops reach the heavens. "I have often thought," says one of his friends, "that, being brought near to heaven on these sublime heights, he there contracted something celestial and divine."[609]

[605] Diss Geschlächt der Zwinglinen, wass in guter Achtung diesser
Landen, als ein gut alt ehrlich Geschlächt. (H. Bullinger's Histor.
Beschreibung der Eidg. Geschichten.) This valuable work existed only
in manuscript in 1837, and was communicated to me by the kindness of
M. J. G. Hess. In the quotations I preserve the orthography of the
period and of the manuscript. The friends of history have since caused
it to be printed.

[606] Ein verrumbter Mann. (Ibid.)

[607] Quadragesimum octavum agimus, writes Zuinglius to Vadian, 17th
September, 1531.

[608] Clarus fuit pater ob spectatam vitæ sanctimoniam. (Oswald
Myconius, Vita Zwingli.)

[609] Divinitatis nonnihil cœlo propriorem contraxisse. (Ibid.)

There were long winter evenings in the cottages of Wildhaus, and then young Ulric, seated at the paternal hearth, listened to the conversation of the bailiff and the old men of the district. He heard them tell how the inhabitants of the valley had formerly groaned under a heavy yoke. With the old men his heart beat high at the thought of the independence which the Tockenburg had acquired, and which the alliance with the Swiss had secured. A patriotic feeling was kindled in his breast. Switzerland became dear to him; and if any one uttered an unfavourable expression against the confederates, the child instantly stood up and warmly defended their cause.[610] During these long evenings he was often seen quietly seated at the feet of his pious grandmother, with his eyes rivetted upon her, listening to her Bible stories, and devout lessons, as he eagerly received them into his heart.

[610] Schulers Zw. Bildung, p. 291.

CHAP. II.

Young Ulric at Wesen--At Bâle--At Berne--The Dominican
Convent--Jetzer--The Apparitions--The Passion of the Lay
Brother--The Imposture--Discovery and Punishment--Zuinglius
at Vienna--At Bâle--Music at Bâle--Wittembach teaches the
Gospel--Leon Juda--The Curate of Glaris.

The good amman was delighted with the happy presages in his son. He perceived that Ulric would be able to do something else than herd his cows on Mount Sentis, singing the shepherd's song. One day he took him by the hand and proceeded with him towards Wesen. He traversed the verdant ridges of the Ammon, avoiding the wild and precipitous rocks which border the lake of Wallenstadt. On arriving at the town, he called upon his brother the dean, to whom he intrusted the young mountaineer, in order that he might ascertain what his talents were.[611] The leading feature in his character was an innate horror at falsehood and a great love of truth. He himself relates that one day, when he was beginning to reflect, the thought struck him that falsehood should be punished more severely than even theft; "for," adds he, "veracity is the parent of all the virtues." The dean soon loved his nephew as if he had been his son; delighted with his sprightliness, he entrusted his education to a schoolmaster who in a short time taught him all that he knew himself. Young Ulric, when ten years of age, having given indications of a high order of intellect,[612] his father and his uncle resolved on sending him to Bâle.

[611] Tenerrimum ad fratrem sacrificum adduxit, ut ingenii ejus
periculum faceret. (Melch. Ad. Vit. Zw. p. 25.)

[612] Und in ihm erschinen merkliche Zeichen eines edlen Gemüths.
(Manuscript de Bullinger.)

When the child of the Tockenburg arrived in this celebrated city, with an integrity and purity of heart which he seemed to have inhaled from the pure air of his mountains, but which came from a higher source, a new world opened before him. The celebrity of the famous council of Bâle; the university which Pius II had founded in 1460; the printing presses, which revived the master-pieces of antiquity, and circulated over the world the first fruits of the revival of letters; the residence of distinguished men; the Wessels, the Wittembachs, and, in particular, that prince of scholars and luminary of the schools, Erasmus, rendered Bâle, at the period of the Reformation, one of the great foci of light in the west.

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS AT BALE. AT BERNE. DOMINICAN CONVENT.]

Ulric entered the school of St. Theodore, which was taught by Gregory Binzli, a man of an affectionate and gentle temper, at this period rare among teachers. Young Zuinglius made rapid progress. The learned disputes which were then fashionable among the doctors of universities had even descended to the youth in schools. Ulric took part in them. He exercised his growing strength against the children of other schools, and was always victorious in those struggles which formed a kind of prelude to those by which the papacy was to be overthrown in Switzerland.[613] His success excited the jealousy of rivals older than himself. The school of Bâle was soon outstripped by him as that of Wesen had been.

[613] In disputationibus, quæ pro more tum erant inter pueros usitatæ,
victoriam semper reportavit. (Osw. Myc. Vit. Zw.)

Lupulus, a distinguished scholar, had just opened at Berne the first learned school that was founded in Switzerland. The bailiff of Wildhaus and the curate of Wesen resolved to send their child thither, and Zuinglius, in 1497, quitting the smiling plains of Bâle, again drew near to the high Alps, where he had spent his childhood, and whose snowy tops, gilded with the rays of the sun, he could see from Berne. Lupulus, a distinguished poet, introduced his pupil to the sanctuary of classic literature, a sanctuary then unknown, only a few of the initiated having passed the threshold.[614] The young neophyte ardently breathed an atmosphere rich in the perfumes of antiquity. His intellect was developed and his style formed. He became a poet.

[614] Ab eo in adyta classicorum scriptorum introductus. (Ibid.)

Among the convents of Berne, that of the Dominicans held a distinguished place. These monks were engaged in a serious quarrel with the Franciscans. The latter maintained the immaculate conception of the virgin, while the former denied it. In every step the Dominicans took--before the rich altars which decorated their church, and between the twelve pillars on which its arches were supported--they thought only of humbling their rivals. They had observed the fine voice of Zuinglius, and heard of his precocious intellect, and thinking that he might throw lustre on their order, strove to gain him.[615] With this view they invited him to remain in their convent till he should make his noviciate. The whole prospects of Zuinglius were threatened. The amman of Wildhaus having been informed of the bait to which the Dominicans had had recourse, trembled for the innocence of his son, and ordered him forthwith to quit Berne. Zuinglius thus escaped those monastic enclosures into which Luther rushed voluntarily. What happened afterwards may enable us to comprehend the imminent danger to which Zuinglius had been exposed.

[615] Und als er wol singen kœndt lœkten Ihn die prediger
Mœnchen in dass Kloster. (Bullinger, M.S.)

[Sidenote: JETZER. APPARITIONS.]

In 1507 great excitement prevailed in the town of Berne. A young man of Zurzach, named John Jetzer, having one day presented himself at this same Dominican convent, had been repulsed. The poor youth in despair had returned to the charge, holding in his hand fifty-three florins and some pieces of silk. "It is all I possess," said he, "take it, and receive me into your order." He was admitted on the 6th January among the lay brothers. But the very first night a strange noise in his cell filled him with terror. He fled to the Carthusian convent, but was again sent back to that of the Dominicans.

[Sidenote: IMPOSTURE.]

On the following night, being the eve of the feast of St. Matthew, he was awoke by deep sighs, and perceived at his bedside a tall phantom in white. "I am," said a sepulchral voice, "a soul escaped from the fire of purgatory." The lay brother trembling, replied, "God save you; for me, I can do nothing." Then the spirit advanced towards the poor friar and, seizing him by the throat, indignantly upbraided him with his refusal. Jetzer in terror exclaimed, "What then can I do to save you?" "Flagellate yourself for eight days till the blood comes, and lie prostrate on the pavement of the chapel of St. John." So answered the spirit, and disappeared. The lay brother gave information of the apparition to his confessor, a preacher of the convent, and by his advice submitted to the discipline required. The rumour soon spread throughout the town that a soul had applied to the Dominicans to be delivered from purgatory. The Franciscans were deserted, and every one ran to the church to see the holy man lying prostrate on the ground. The soul from purgatory had intimated that he would reappear in eight days. On the night appointed it in fact did appear, accompanied by two other spirits that were tormenting it and howling horribly. "Scotus," said the spirit, "Scotus, the inventor of the Franciscan doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, is among those who like me are suffering these fierce pains." At this news, which soon spread over Berne, the partisans of the Franciscans were still more alarmed. The spirit on disappearing had announced a visit from the Virgin herself. In fact, on the day appointed, the astonished friar saw Mary herself appear in his cell. He could not believe his eyes. She approached him kindly, gave him three of our Saviour's tears, three drops of his blood, a crucifix, and a letter addressed to Pope Julius II, "who," said she, "was the individual chosen by God to abolish the festival of her pretended immaculate conception." Then coming still closer to the bed on which the friar lay, she announced, in a solemn tone, that a great grace was to be conferred on him, and drove a nail into his hand. The lay brother uttered a loud shriek, but Mary wrapt up his hand in a piece of linen which her Son, she said, had worn after his flight into Egypt. This wound was not sufficient to make the glory of the Dominicans equal to that of the Franciscans. Jetzer must have the five wounds of Christ and of St. Francis in his hands, feet, and side. The four others were inflicted, and then, after giving him a draught, he was placed in a hall hung with pictures representing our Saviour's passion. Here having spent whole days fasting, his imagination soon became heated. The doors of the hall were then thrown open from time to time to the public who came in crowds to contemplate with devout astonishment the friar with his five wounds, stretching out his arms, bending his head, and by his positions and gestures imitating the crucifixion of our Lord. Sometimes, out of his wits, he foamed, and seemed about to breathe his last. The whisper went round, "He is enduring the cross of Christ." The multitude, eager for miracles, continually thronged the convent. Men worthy of high esteem, among others Lupulus himself, the master of Zuinglius, were overawed, and the Dominicans, from the height of the pulpit extolled the glory which God was bestowing on their order.

This order had for some years felt the necessity of humbling the Franciscans, and of augmenting the respect and liberality of the people by means of miracles. Berne, "a simple, rustic, and ignorant town," as the sub-prior of Berne described it to the Chapter held at Wimpfen on the Necker, had been selected as the theatre of their operations. The prior, sub-prior, preacher, and purveyor of the convent, had undertaken to perform the leading characters, but they wanted the talent necessary to perform them to the end. A new apparition of Mary having taken place, Jetzer thought he recognised the voice of his confessor, and having said so aloud, Mary disappeared. She soon made her appearance again, to censure the incredulous friar. "This time it is the prior," exclaimed Jetzer, rushing forward with a knife in his hand. The saintess threw a pewter plate at the poor friar's head, and likewise disappeared.

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS AT VIENNA AND BALE.]

In consternation at the discovery which Jetzer had thus made, the Dominicans tried to disencumber themselves of him by means of poison. He perceived it; and, having taken flight, disclosed the imposition. They put on a good countenance, and sent deputies to Rome. The pope committed the decision to his legate in Switzerland, and the bishops of Lausanne and Sion. The four Dominicans being convicted, were condemned to be burnt alive; and on the 1st May, 1509, were consumed by the flames, in presence of more than thirty thousand spectators. The affair made a noise throughout Europe, and by unveiling one of the worst sores of the Church, prepared the Reformation.[616]

[616] Wirz, Helvetische Kirchen Gesch. vol. iii, p. 387. Aushelms
Cronik, iii and iv. No event of the period of the Reformation has
given rise to so many writings. See Haller's Biblioth. der Schw.
Gesch. iii.

Such were the men into whose hands Ulric Zuinglius had nearly fallen. He had studied literature at Berne; he behoved now to devote himself to philosophy, and with this view repaired to Vienna. A youth from St. Gall, named Joachim Vadian, whose genius gave promise to Switzerland of a distinguished scholar and a statesman; Henri Loreti, of the canton of Glaris, commonly called Glarean, and apparently destined to shine among poets; John Heigerlin, son of a forgemaster, and hence surnamed Faber, of a versatile temper, fond of honour and glory, possessing all the qualities indicative of a courtier--such were Ulric's fellow-students and companions in the capital of Austria.

Zuinglius returned to Wildhaus in 1502; but on revisiting his mountains he felt that he had drunk of the cup of science, and could no longer live amid the songs of his brothers and the bleating of their flocks. He was eighteen years of age, and repaired to Bâle,[617] to engage again in literary pursuits, and thus at once master and pupil he taught at the school of St. Martin, and studied at the university; from this time he was able to dispense with assistance from his father. Shortly after, he took the degree of master of arts. An Alsatian, named Capito, nine years older than he, was one of his best friends.

[617] Ne diutius ab exercitio literarum cessaret. (Osw. Myc. Vit. Zw.)

[Sidenote: WITTEMBACH. ZUINGLIUS AND LEO JUDA.]

Zuinglius devoted himself to the study of scholastic theology; for, being called one day to combat its sophisms, he behoved to explore its obscure labyrinth. But the light hearted student of the mountains of Sentis was often seen suddenly to shake off the dust of the school, and, substituting amusement for his philosophic toils, seize the lute, or the harp, or the violin, or the flute, or the tympanon, or the cornet, or the hunting horn, extract joyous sounds from these instruments as in the prairies of Lisighaus, and make his lodgings, or the dwellings of his friends, re-echo with the airs of his country, accompanying them with his voice. In regard to music, he was a true child of the Tockenburg, superior to all.[618] In addition to the instruments we have already named, he played several others. An enthusiast in the art he diffused a taste for it in the university, not from any desire of dissipation, but because he loved thus to relax his mind when fatigued by serious study, and fit himself for returning with greater zeal to difficult labours.[619] None had a gayer humour, a more amiable disposition, or more engaging conversation.[620] He was a vigorous Alpine tree which developed itself in all its gracefulness and strength, and which, never having been pruned, threw out strong branches in all directions. The time was coming when these branches would turn vigorously in the direction of heaven.

[618] Ich habe auch nie von Keinem gehört der in der Kunst Musica ...
so erfahren gewesen. (B. Weysen, Füsslin Beyträge zur Ref. Gesch. iv,
35.)

[619] Ut ingenium seriis defatigatum recrearetur et paratius ad solita
studia redderetur ... (Melch. Ad. Vit. Zw.)

[620] Ingenio amœnus, et ore jucundus, supra quam dici possit,
erat. (Os. Myc. Vit. Zw.)

After he had forced an entrance into scholastic theology he left its arid tracts fatigued and disgusted, having found nothing in it but confused ideas, vain babbling, vain glory, barbarism, and not one sound idea of doctrine. "It is only a loss of time," said he, and waited for something better.

At this time, (November, 1505,) arrived at Bâle Thomas Wittembach, son of a burgomaster of Bienne. Wittembach had till then taught at Tubingen, side by side with Reuchlin. He was in the vigour of life, sincere, pious, skilled in the liberal arts, and mathematics, and well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures. Zuinglius and all the academic youth immediately flocked around him. A spirit hitherto unknown animated his lectures, and prophetic words escaped from his lips: "The time is not distant," said he, "when scholastic theology will be abolished and the ancient doctrine of the Church restored."[621] "The death of Christ," added he, "is the only ransom of our souls."[622] The heart of Zuinglius eagerly received these seeds of life.[623] At this period classical studies began every where to supplant the scholastics of the middle age. Zuinglius, like his preceptors and friends, threw himself into this new course.

[621] Et doctrinam Ecclesiæ veterem ... instaurari oporteat.
(Gualterus, Misc. Tig. iii, 102.)

[622] Der Tod Christi sey die einige Bezahlung für unsere Sünde....
(Füslin Beyr. ii, p. 268.)

[623] Quum a tanto viro semina quædam ... Zuingliano pectori injecta
essent (Leo Jud. in Præf. ad. Ann. Zw. in N. T.) When the great man
had deposited some seeds in the breast of Zuinglius.

Among the students who followed the lessons of the new teacher with the greatest enthusiasm was a young man of twenty-three, of small stature, and a feeble sickly appearance, but whose eye bespoke at once gentleness and intrepidity. This was Leo Juda, son of an Alsatian curate, and whose uncle had fallen at Rhodes, fighting in defence of Christendom, under the standard of the Teutonic knights. Leo and Ulric were on intimate terms. Leo played the tympanon, and had a very fine voice. The joyous melodies of the young friends of the arts were often heard in his lodgings. Leo Juda, at a later period, became the colleague of Zuinglius, and even death could not destroy their sacred friendship.

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS BECOMES CURATE OF GLARIS.]

At this time the office of pastor of Glaris having become vacant, Henry Goldli, a young courtier of the pope, and groom of the stable to his holiness, obtained the appointment from his master, and hastened with it to Glaris. But the Glarian shepherds, proud of the antiquity of their race, and of their battles for freedom, were not disposed to bow implicitly to a piece of parchment from Rome. Wildhaus is not far from Glaris; and Wesen, where Zuinglius' uncle was curate, is the place where the market of the district is held. The reputation of the young master of arts of Bâle had penetrated even into these mountains; and the Glarians, wishing to have him for their priest, gave him a call in 1506. Zuinglius having been ordained at Constance by the bishop, preached his first sermon at Rapperswil, read his first mass at Wildhaus on St. Michael's day, in presence of all his relations and the friends of his family, and towards the close of the year arrived at Glaris.

CHAP. III.

Love of War--Schinner--Pension from the Pope--The
Labyrinth--Zuinglius in Italy--Principle of
Reform--Zuinglius and Luther--Zuinglius and
Erasmus--Zuinglius and the Elders--Paris and Glaris.

Zuinglius immediately engaged in the zealous discharge of the work which his vast parish imposed upon him. Still he was only twenty-two years of age, and often allowed himself to be carried away by the dissipation and lax ideas of his age. A priest of Rome he was like the other priests around him. But even at this period, though the evangelical doctrine had not changed his heart, Zuinglius did not give way to those scandals which frequently afflicted the Church.[624] He always felt the need of subjecting his passions to the holy rule of the gospel.

[624] Sic reverentia pudoris, imprimis autem officii divini, perpetuo
cavit, (Osw. Myc. Vit. Zw.)

A love of war at this time inflamed the quiet valleys of Glaris where there were families of heroes--the Tschudis, the Walas, the Æblis, whose blood had flowed on the field of battle. The youth listened with eagerness to the old warriors when they told them of the wars of Burgundy and Suabia, of the battles of St. James and Ragaz. But alas! it was no longer against the enemies of their liberties that these warlike shepherds took up arms. They were seen, at the bidding of the kings of France, of the emperor, the dukes of Milan, or the holy father himself, descending from the Alps like an avalanche, and rushing with the noise of thunder against the troops drawn up in the plain.

[Sidenote: SCHINNER.]

A poor boy named Matthew Schinner, who was at the school of Sion in the Valais, (it was toward the middle of the latter half of the fifteenth century,) singing before the houses, as young Martin Luther shortly after did, heard himself called by an old man, who, being struck with the frankness with which the child answered his questions, said to him with that prophetic spirit with which man is said to be sometimes endowed when on the brink of the grave, "Thou art to be a bishop and a prince."[625] The expression sunk deep into the young mendicant, and from that moment boundless ambition took possession of his heart. At Zurich and Como the progress he made astonished his masters. Having become curate of a small parish in Valais, he rose rapidly, and being sent at a later period to ask from the pope the confirmation of a bishop of Sion, who had just been elected, he obtained the bishopric for himself, and girt his brow with the episcopal mitre. This man, ambitious and crafty, but often noble and generous, always considered any dignity bestowed upon him as only a step destined to raise him to some still higher dignity. Having offered his services to Louis XII, and named his price, "It is too much for one man," said the king. "I will show him," replied the bishop of Sion, offended, "that I am a man worth several men." In fact he turned towards pope Julius II, who gladly received him, and Schinner succeeded in 1510 in linking the whole Swiss confederation to the policy of this ambitious pontiff. The bishop having been rewarded with a cardinal's hat smiled when he saw that there was now only one step between him and the papal throne.

[625] Helvet Kirch Gesch. von Wirz, iii, p. 314.

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS' POEM, "THE LABYRINTH."]

Schinner's eye was continually turned to the cantons of Switzerland, and as soon as he there discerned any man of influence he hastened to attach him to himself. The pastor of Glaris drew his attention, and Zuinglius soon received intimation that the pope had granted him an annual pension of fifty florins, to encourage him in the cultivation of letters. His poverty did not allow him to purchase books; and the money during the short time that Ulric received it was devoted to the purchase of classical or theological works, which he procured from Bâle.[626] Zuinglius was now connected with the cardinal, and accordingly joined the Roman party. Schinner and Julius II at last disclosed the end which they had in view in these intrigues. Eight thousand Swiss mustered by the eloquence of the cardinal-archbishop, passed the Alps; but famine, war, and French gold obliged them to return to their mountains without glory. They brought back the usual results of these foreign wars,--distrust, licentiousness, party spirit, all sorts of violence and disorder. Citizens refused to obey their magistrates, and children their parents; agriculture and the care of their flocks were neglected; luxury and mendicity kept pace with each other; the most sacred ties were broken, and the confederation seemed on the point of being dissolved.

[626] Wellches er an die Bücher verwändet. (Bullinger MS.)

The eyes of the young curate of Glaris were now opened, and his indignation aroused. He raised his voice aloud to warn them of the abyss into which they were about to fall. In 1510 he published his poem entitled "The Labyrinth." Behind the windings of this mysterious garden, Minos has hidden the Minotaur, that monster, half man half bull, whom he feeds on the flesh of young Athenians. "The Minotaur, ... in other words," says Zuinglius, "sin, vice, irreligion, and the foreign service of the Swiss," devour the sons of his countrymen.

Theseus, a man of courage, wishes to deliver his country, but numerous obstacles arrest him;--first, a lion with one eye; this is Spain and Arragon;--then a crowned eagle, whose throat is opened to devour it; this is the empire;--then a cock, with his comb up, and calling for battle; this is France. The hero surmounts all these obstacles, gets up to the monster, stabs it, and saves his country.

"So now," exclaims the poet, "men wander in a labyrinth, but having no thread to guide them they cannot regain the light. No where is there any imitation of Jesus Christ. A little glory makes us hazard our life, torment our neighbour, rush into strife, war, and combat.... One would say that the furies have escaped from the depths of hell."[627]

[627] Dass wir die höllschen wütterinn'n
Mögend denken abbrochen syn.
(Zw. Op. ed. Schüler et Schulthess, ii, part ii. p. 250.)

A Theseus, a Reformer was required. Zuinglius perceived this, and thenceforth had a presentiment of his mission. Not long after he composed an allegory with a still clearer application.[628]

[628] Fabelgedicht vom Ochsen und etlichen Thieren, iez loufender
dinge begriffenlich. (Ibid. p. 257.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS IN ITALY.]

In April, 1512, the confederates rose anew at the bidding of the cardinal, for the deliverance of the Church. Glaris was in the foremost rank. The whole population was brought into the field, ranged round their banner with their landaman and their pastor. Zuinglius behoved to march. The army passed the Alps, and the cardinal appeared amidst the confederates with the presents given him by the pope,--a ducal hat adorned with pearls and gold, and surmounted by the Holy Spirit, represented under the form of a dove. The Swiss escaladed the fortresses and towns, swam rivers in the presence of the enemy, unclothed, and with halberds in their hands; the French were every where put to flight; bells and trumpets resounded, and the population flocked from all quarters; the nobles supplied the army with wine and fruits in abundance; the monks and priests mounted on platforms, and proclaimed, that the confederates were the people of God taking vengeance on the enemies of the Lord's spouse; and the pope becoming prophet, like Caiaphas of old, gave the confederates the title of "Defenders of the liberty of the Church."[629]

[629] De Gestis inter Gallos et Helvetios, relatio H. Zwinglii

This sojourn of Zuinglius in Italy was not without its effect, in reference to his vocation of Reformer. On his return from this campaign, he began to study Greek, "in order," says he, "to be able to draw the doctrine of Jesus Christ from the very fountain of truth."[630] Writing to Vadian, 23rd February, 1513, he says, "I have resolved so to apply myself to the study of Greek, that none will be able to turn me from it but God. I do it not for fame, but from love to sacred literature." At a later period, a worthy priest, who had been his school companion, having come to pay him a visit, said to him, "Master Ulric, I am assured that you are tainted with the new heresy, that you are a Lutheran." "I am not a Lutheran," said Zuinglius, "for I knew Greek before I heard of the name of Luther."[631] To know Greek, to study the gospel in the original tongue, was, according to Zuinglius, the basis of the Reformation.

[630] Ante decem annos, operam dedi græcis literis, ut ex fontibus
doctrinam Christi haurire possem. (Zw. Op. i, p. 274, in his Explan.
Artic. dated 1523.)

[631] Ich hab græcæ können, ehe ich ni nüt von Luther gehöt hab.
(Salat. Chronik. MS.)

Zuinglius did more than recognise, at this early period, the great principle of evangelical Christianity--the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures. Besides this, he understood how the meaning of the divine Word ought to be ascertained. "Those," said he, "have a very grovelling idea of the Scriptures who regard whatever seems to them at variance with their own reason as frivolous, vain, and unjust.[632] Men have no right to bind the gospel at pleasure to their own sense, and their own interpretation."[633] "Zuinglius raised his eye to heaven," said his dearest friend, "unwilling to have any other interpreter than the Holy Spirit himself."[634]

[632] Nihil sublimius de evangelio sentiunt, quam quod, quidquid eorum
rationi non est consentaneum, hoc iniquum, vanum et frivolum
existimant. (Zw. Op. i, p. 202.)

[633] Nec posse evangelium ad sensum et interpretationem hominum
redigi. (Ibid., p. 215.)

[634] In cœlum suspexit, doctorem quærens Spiritum. (Osw. Myc. Vit.
Zw.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS AND LUTHER. ZUINGLIUS AND ERASMUS.]

Such, from the commencement of his career, was the man, whom some have not scrupled to represent as having wished to subject the Bible to human reason. "Philosophy and theology," said he, "ceased not to raise up objections against me. I, at length, arrived at this conclusion, 'We must leave all these things, and seek our knowledge of God only in his Word.' I began," continues he, "earnestly to supplicate the Lord to give me his light, and though I read only the text of Scripture, it became far clearer to me than if I had read a host of commentators." Comparing the Scriptures with themselves and explaining passages that were obscure by such as were more clear,[635] he soon had a thorough knowledge of the Bible, especially the New Testament.[636] When Zuinglius thus turned toward the Holy Scriptures, Switzerland took her first step in the Reformation. Accordingly, when he expounded the Scriptures, every one felt that his lessons came from God, and not from man.[637] "Work all divine!" here exclaims Oswald Myconius; "thus was the knowledge of heavenly truth restored to us!"

[635] Scripta contulit et obscura claris elucidavit. (Ibid.)

[636] In summa, er macht im, die H. Schrifft, Insonders dass N. T.
gantz gemein. (Bullinger, MS.)

[637] Ut nemo non videret Spiritum doctorem, non hominem. (Osw. Myc.
Vit. Zw.)

Zuinglius did not, however, despise the expositions of the most celebrated doctors: at a later period, he studied Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, but not as authorities. "I study the doctors," says he, "with the same feelings with which one asks a friend, 'What do you understand by this?'" The Holy Scripture was, according to him, the touch-stone by which the most holy of the doctors were themselves to be tested.[638]

[638] Scriptura canonica, seu Lydio lapide probandos. (Ibid.)

Zuinglius's step was slow, but progressive. He did not come to the truth like Luther amid those tempests which compel the soul to seek a speedy shelter. He arrived at it by the peaceful influence of Scripture, whose power gradually gains upon the heart. Luther reached the wished-for shore across the billows of the boundless deep; Zuinglius, by allowing himself to glide along the stream. These are the two principal ways by which God leads men. Zuinglius was not fully converted to God and his gospel till the first period of his sojourn at Zurich; yet, in 1514 or 1515, at the moment when the strong man began to bend the knee to God, praying for the understanding of his Word, the rays of that pure light by which he was afterwards illumined, first began to gleam upon him.

At this period, a poem of Erasmus, in which Jesus Christ was introduced addressing man as perishing by his own fault, made a powerful impression on Zuinglius. When alone in his study, he repeated the passage in which Jesus complains that all grace is not sought from him, though he is the source of all that is good. "ALL!" said Zuinglius, "ALL!" And this word was incessantly present to his mind. "Are there then creatures, saints, from whom we ought to ask assistance? No! Christ is our only treasure."[639]

[639] Dass Christus unser armen seelen ein einziger Schatz sey. (Zw.
Op. i, p. 398.) Zuinglius says in 1522 that he had read the poem of
Erasmus eight or nine years before.

Zuinglius did not confine his reading to Christian writings. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the sixteenth century is the profound study of the Greek and Roman authors. The poetry of Hesiod, Homer, Pindar, enraptured him, and he has left us commentaries, or characteristics, on the two last poets. It seemed to him that Pindar spoke of his gods in such sublime strains that he must have had some presentiment of the true God. He studied Cicero and Demosthenes thoroughly, and learned from them both the art of the orator and the duties of the citizen. He called Seneca a holy man. The Swiss mountaineer loved also to initiate himself in the mysteries of nature, through the writings of Pliny. Thucydides, Sallust, Livy, Cæsar, Suetonius, Plutarch, and Tacitus, taught him to know the world. He has been censured for his enthusiastic admiration of the great men of antiquity, and it is true that some of his observations on this subject cannot be defended. But if he honoured them so much, it was because he thought he saw in them not human virtues, but the influence of the Holy Spirit. The agency of God, far from confining itself to ancient times within the limits of Palestine, extended, according to him, to the whole world.[640] "Plato," said he, "has also drunk at the Divine source. And if the two Catos, if Camillus, if Scipio had not been truly religious, would they have been so magnanimous?"[641]

[640] Spiritus ille cœlestis non solam Palestinam vel creaverat vel
fovebat, sed mundum universum...... (Œcol. et Zw. Ep. p. 9.) That
celestial Spirit had created and continued to cherish not only
Palestine, but the whole world.

[641] Nisi religiosi nunquam fuissent magnanimi. (Ibid.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS IN REGARD TO ERASMUS.]

Zuinglius diffused around him a love of letters. Several choice youths were trained in his school. "You offered me not only books, but also yourself," wrote Valentine Tschudi, son of one of the heroes of the wars of Burgundy; and this young man, who at that time had already studied at Vienna and Bâle, under the most celebrated teachers, adds, "I have never met with any one who explained the classics with so much precision and profundity as yourself."[642] Tschudi repaired to Paris, and was able to compare the spirit which prevailed in that university, with that which he had found in the narrow Alpine valley, over which impend the gigantic peaks and eternal snows of the Dodi, the Glarnisch, the Viggis, and the Freyberg. "How frivolously," says he, "the French youth are educated! No poison is so bad as the sophistical art in which they are trained--an art which stupifies the senses, destroys the judgment, brutifies the whole man. Man is thenceforth, like the echo, an empty sound. Ten women could not keep pace with one of these rhetoricians.[643] In their prayers even they present their sophisms to God, (I know the fact,) and pretend, by their syllogisms, to constrain the Holy Spirit to hear them." Such, then, were Paris and Glaris; the intellectual metropolis of Christendom, and a village of Alpine shepherds. A ray of the Divine Word gives more light than all human wisdom.

[642] Nam qui sit acrioris in enodandis autoribus judicii, vidi
neminem. (Zw. Ep. p. 13.) For I have never seen any one so acute and
judicious in unravelling authors.

[643] Ut nec decem mulierculæ .... uni sophistæ adæquari queant (Zw.
Ep., p. 13.)

CHAP. IV.

Zuinglius in regard to Erasmus--Oswald Myconius--The
Vagrants--Œcolampadius--Zuinglius at Marignan--Zuinglius
and Italy--Method of Zuinglius--Commencement of
Reform--Discovery.

A great man of this age, Erasmus, had much influence on Zuinglius, who, as soon as any of his writings appeared, lost no time in procuring it. In 1514, Erasmus had arrived at Bâle, and been received by the bishop with marks of high esteem. All the friends of letters had immediately grouped around him. But the monarch of the schools had no difficulty in singling out him who was to be the glory of Switzerland. "I congratulate the Swiss nation," wrote he to Zuinglius, "that by your studies and your manners, both alike excellent, you labour to polish and elevate them."[644] Zuinglius had a most ardent desire to see him. "Spaniards and Gauls went to Rome to see Titus Livy," said he. He set out, and on arriving at Bâle, found a personage of about forty years of age, of small stature, a frail body, a delicate look, but a remarkably amiable and winning address.[645] It was Erasmus. His affability removed the timidity of Zuinglius, while the power of his intellect overawed him. "Poor," said Ulric to him, "as Eschines, when each of the scholars of Socrates offered a present to his master, I give you what Eschines gave--I give you myself."

[644] Tu, tuique similes optimis etiam studiis ac moribus et
expolietis et nobilitabitis. (Ibid., p. 10.)

[645] Et corpusculo hoc tuo minuto, verum minime inconcinno,
urbanissime gestientem videre videar. (Ibid.) Methinks I see you with
your diminutive, but by no means inelegant, person, showing the
greatest politeness.

[Sidenote: OSWALD MYCONIUS.]

Among the literary men who formed the court of Erasmus, the Amerbachs, the Rhenans, the Frobeniuses, the Nessens, the Glareans, Zuinglius observed a youth from Lucerne, of twenty-seven years of age, named Oswald Geisshüsler. Erasmus hellenising his name, had called him Myconius. We will often designate him by his surname, to distinguish the friend of Zuinglius from Frederick Myconius, the disciple of Luther. Oswald, after studying first at Rothwyl with Berthold Haller, a young man of his own age, next at Berne, and lastly at Bâle, had in this last town been appointed rector of the school of St. Theodoret, and afterwards of that of St. Peter. The humble schoolmaster had a very limited income; but, notwithstanding, had married a young girl of a simplicity and purity of soul which won all hearts. We have already seen that Switzerland was then in a troubled state, foreign wars having stirred up violent disorders, and the soldiers having brought back to their country licentiousness and brutality. One dark and cloudy winter day, some of these rude men, in Oswald's absence, attacked his quiet dwelling. They knocked at the door, threw stones, and applied the grossest expressions to his modest spouse. At last they burst open the windows, and having forced their way into the school and broken every thing to pieces, made off. Oswald arrived shortly after. His little boy, Felix, ran out to meet him crying, while his wife, unable to speak, showed signs of the greatest terror. He understood what had happened, and at that moment, hearing a noise in the street, unable to restrain himself, he seized a musket, and pursued the villains as far as the burying ground. They retreated, intending to defend themselves. Three of them rushed upon Myconius and wounded him, and, while his wound was being dressed, these wretches again attacked his house, uttering cries of fury. Oswald says no more of the matter.[646] Such scenes frequently occurred in Switzerland at the beginning of the sixteenth century, before the Reformation had softened and disciplined manners.

[646] Erasmi, Laus Stultitiæ, cum annot. Myconii.

The integrity of Oswald Myconius, his thirst for science and virtue, brought him into connection with Zuinglius. The rector of the school of Bâle was alive to all that was grand in the curate of Glaris. Full of humility, he shunned the praises bestowed upon him by Zuinglius and Erasmus. "You schoolmasters," often said the latter, "I esteem as highly as I do kings." But the modest Myconius did not think so. "I only crawl along the ground," said he. "From infancy I had always a feeling of littleness and humility."[647]

[647] Equidem humi repere didici hactenus, et est natura nescio quid
humile vel a cunabulis in me. (Osw. Myc. Vit Zw.) Hitherto I have
learned to creep on the ground; and there is in me naturally, even
from the cradle, a feeling of the humble.

[Sidenote: ŒCOLAMPADIUS.]

A preacher who had arrived at Bâle about the same time as Zuinglius was attracting attention. Of a mild and pacific disposition, he led a tranquil life; slow and circumspect in conduct, his chief pleasure was to labour in his study, and produce concord among Christians.[648] He was named John Hausschein, in Greek Œcolampadius, that is, "light of the house," and was born of wealthy parents in Franconia, a year before Zuinglius. His pious mother longed to consecrate to literature and to God the only child whom He had left her. The father intended him first for a mercantile life, then for law. But as Œcolampadius was returning from Bologna, where he had been studying law, the Lord, who designed to make him a lamp in the Church,[649] called him to the study of theology. He was preaching in his native town when Capito, who had known him at Heidelberg, procured his appointment as preacher at Bâle. There he proclaimed Christ with an eloquence which filled his hearers with admiration.[650] Erasmus admitted him to his intimacy. Œcolampadius was enraptured with the hours which he spent in the society of this great genius. "In the Holy Scriptures," said the prince of literature, "one thing only ought to be sought, viz., Jesus Christ."[651] As a memento of his friendship he gave the young preacher the commencement of John's Gospel. Œcolampadius often kissed this precious pledge of affection, and kept it suspended to his crucifix, "in order," said he, "that I may always remember Erasmus in my prayers."

[648] Ingenio miti et tranquillo, pacis et concordiæ studiosissimus.
(Melch. Ad. Vit. Œc., p. 58)

[649] Flectente et vocante Deo, qui eo in domo sua pro lampade usurus
erat. (Melch. Ad. Vit. Œc. p. 46.)

[650] Omnium vere spiritualium et eruditorum admiratione Christum
predicavit. (Ibid.) He preached Christ to the admiration of all who
were truly learned and spiritually minded.

[651] Nihil in sacris literis præter Christum quærendum. (Erasmi, Ep.,
p. 403.)

Zuinglius returned to his mountains, his mind and heart full of all that he had seen and heard at Bâle. "I could not sleep," wrote he to Erasmus, shortly after his return, "if I had not conversed for some time with you. There is nothing of which I boast so much as of having seen Erasmus." Zuinglius had received a new impulse. Such journeys often exercise a great influence over the career of the Christian. The disciples of Zuinglius--Valentin, Jost, Louis, Peter, and Ægidius Tschudi; his friends, the landăman Æbli, the curate, Binzli of Wesen, Fridolin Brunnen, and the celebrated professor Glarean, saw with admiration how he grew in wisdom and knowledge. The old honoured him as a courageous servant of his country, and faithful pastors honoured him as a faithful servant of the Lord. Nothing was done in the district without taking his advice. All the good hopeΑγαμονd that he would one day restore the ancient virtue of the Swiss.[652]

[652] Justitiam avitam per hunc olim restitutum iri. (Osw. Myc. Vit.
Zw.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS AT MARIGNAN.]

Francis I, having mounted the throne, and being desirous to vindicate the honour of the French name in Italy, the pope in alarm laboured to gain the cantons. Accordingly, in 1515, Ulric revisited the plains of Italy amid the phalanxes of his fellow-citizens. But the division which French intrigues produced in the army stung him to the heart. He was often seen in the middle of the camp energetically, and at the same time wisely, haranguing his hearers in full armour ready for battle.[653] On the 8th September, five days before the battle of Marignan, he preached in the public square of Monza, where the Swiss soldiers, who remained true to their colours, had reassembled. "Had the counsels of Zuinglius been followed then and afterwards," says Werner Steiner of Zug, "what evils would not our country have been saved!"[654] But all ears were shut to words of concord, prudence, and submission. The vehement eloquence of Cardinal Schinner electrified the confederates, and hurried them impetuously to the fatal field of Marignan. There fell the flower of the Helvetic youth. Zuinglius, who had been unable to prevent all these disasters, threw himself, for the cause of Rome, into the midst of danger. His hand seized the sword. Sad error of Zuinglius! A minister of Christ, he more than once forgot that it was his duty to fight only with spiritual weapons, and he was to see in his own person a striking fulfilment of our Saviour's prophecy, _He who takes the sword shall perish by the sword_.

[653] In dem Heerlager hat er Flyssig geprediget. (Bullinger MS.)

[654] ...In den Schlachten sich redlich und dapfer gestellt mit
Rathen, Worten, und Thaten. (Ibid.)

Zuinglius and his Swiss had been unable to save Rome. The ambassador of Venice was the first in the pontifical city who received news of the defeat of Marignan. Delighted, he repaired at an early hour to the Vatican. The pope came out of his apartment half dressed to give him an audience. Leo X, on learning the news, did not disguise his terror. At this moment of alarm he saw only Francis I, and hoped only in him. "Ambassador," said he trembling to Zorsi, "we must throw ourselves into the arms of the king, and cry for mercy." Luther and Zuinglius in their danger knew another arm, and invoked another mercy.[655]