Peroration.

I doubt not, most pious reader, that you have long missed in us that direction of Paul: Bear with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. But for your missing it, we who are on the side of true baptism are not in fault. For nothing grieves us so much as their audacity. For though, as the apostle continues, we are one body and one soul or spirit, in that we are called to one and the same hope, they are unwilling to hear the apostle’s warning. For secretly they have taught what is not right, doubtless not knowing “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” So it is not strange that they have left us, since they who do not see those things are not of us. It is yours meanwhile to advance in the fear of the Lord, and to guard yourself from the hypocrisy of evil men. Farewell, and pray for the victory for truth. I turn to the “Disputation at Baden,” which everybody says has been distorted intentionally by the printers, but which I have not yet had time to read, so that if it requires refutation at my hands I may give it. Be assured that all this when it was printing was snatched from the jaws of the pen.

I would like to thank Professor Werner L. Gundersheimer for his kindness in reading an early draft of this essay and making several helpful suggestions. Any errors and infelicities that remain, however, are entirely my own.

A good biography is J. Huizinga, Erasmus and the Age of Reformation (New York, 1957). A convenient selection of Erasmus’ writings is W. T. H. Jackson, ed., Essential Works of Erasmus (New York, 1965). Now standard for general Reformation history are G. R. Elton, ed., The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. II, The Reformation, 1520-1559 (Cambridge, 1962), and H. G. Koenigsberger and G. L. Mosse, Europe in the Sixteenth Century (New York, 1970). See also Owen Chadwick, The Reformation (Baltimore, 1964) and the beautifully illustrated and concise work of A. G. Dickens, Reformation and Society in Sixteenth-Century Europe (New York, 1966). Joel Hurstfield, ed., The Reformation Crisis (New York, 1966) offers the diverse views of a number of scholars, and Hans J. Hillerbrand, The Reformation in its Own Words (New York, 1964) collects in translation a large and widely chosen group of sixteenth-century writings. Lewis Spitz, The Protestant Reformation (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966) offers a smaller anthology of source materials. Most of these works have important sections on Zwingli. The most recent survey of spiritual life is Francis Rapp, L’Eglise et la vie religieuse en occident à la fin du Moyen Age (Paris, 1971).

For Luther, see Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (New York, 1950) and Robert H. Fife, The Revolt of Martin Luther (New York, 1957). A convenient selection of Luther’s works is John Dillenberger, Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings (Garden City, N. Y., 1961). For Luther and Zwingli, see below, note 18.

A good survey of the problem of mercenary soldiers during this period is V. G. Kiernan, “Foreign Mercenaries and Absolute Monarchy,” in Trevor Aston, ed., Crisis in Europe 1560-1660 (Garden City, N. Y., 1967), 124-49.

See E. Bonjour, H. S. Offler, and G. R. Potter, A Short History of Switzerland (Oxford, 1952).

Ibid., 71.

The consequences of this revolution are analyzed in A Short History of Switzerland, and the best study of the relation between Zürich’s social and political structure during Zwingli’s lifetime is Norman Birnbaum, “The Zwinglian Reformation in Zürich,” Past and Present, No. 15 (1959), 22-47.

Cited by George R. Potter in “Zwingli and Calvin,” Hurstfield, Reformation Crisis, 32-43.

Hans J. Hillerbrand, The Reformation in Its Own Words (New York, 1964), 118.

Ibid., 119, with a slight revision.

Eng. tr. in G. W. Bromiley, Zwingli and Bullinger, Vol. 24 of The Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia, 1953), 49-95.

“Of the Education of Youth” is in, Zwingli and Bullinger, 96-118.

Birnbaum, “The Zwinglian Reformation in Zürich,” 39.

Eng. tr. in Bromiley, Zwingli and Bullinger, 119-75.

The most comprehensive recent study is George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia, 1962). See also Gordon Rupp, Patterns of Reformation (Philadelphia, 1969).

On Zwingli and the Anabaptists, see Hans J. Hillerbrand, “The Origin of Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 53 (1962), 152-80, and Peter Classen, “Zwingli and the Zürich Anabaptists,” in Gottesreich und Menschenreich. Ernst Staehelin zum 80. Geburtstag (Basel and Stuttgart, 1969), 197-210. Texts from the Anabaptist movement may be found in G. H. Williams, Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers, Vol. 25 of The Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia, 1957). See also Claus-Peter Clasen, Anabaptism, A Social History, 1525-1618 (Ithaca, 1972).

Birnbaum, “The Zwinglian Reformation in Zürich,” 44.

Eng. tr. in Bromiley, Zwingli and Bullinger 176-238.

The texts of these debates may be found in Donald J. Ziegler, ed., Great Debates of the Reformation (New York, 1965), 35-108 and in Carl S. Meyer, Luther’s and Zwingli’s Propositions for Debate (Leiden, 1963).

The best recent study of Zwingli’s influence in Zürich is Robert C. Walton, Zwingli’s Theocracy (Toronto, 1967). For a wider-ranging sociological interpretation, see Guy Swanson, Religion and Regime: A Sociological Account of The Reformation (Ann Arbor, 1967).

Zwingli’s Works, ed. Schuler u. Schulthess, iii., 7-16. Translated from the original Latin by Mr. Henry Preble, New York city.

I. e., City Council, hence the members in it are called councillors, but the Latin form Zwingli used has been allowed to stand. This body was in two parts, the Small Council, which contained only 50 members, and only half of these were on duty at any one time, and the Great Council, also called the Council of the Two Hundred, which included the Small Council. The Great Council was the deciding body on all legislative matters of importance, the Small was the exeutive committee, and both were representative bodies. The chief officer was the burgomaster, here called the President of the Senate. See my biography of Zwingli, pp. 42-44.

Zwingli uses this term of the people’s priests or preachers of the three parish churches in Zurich, viz., the Great Minster, Minster of our Lady, and St. Peter’s. He explains it below.

Henry Engelhard had been people’s priest at the cathedral of Our Lady since 1496. He had also been a canon of the Great Minster, but in 1521 resigned so that Zwingli might be appointed. This act of disinterestedness shows what a fine character he was. He remained ever one of Zwingli’s friends. He died in 1551, a very old man. Rudolph Röschlin, people’s priest at St. Peter’s, was very slow in accepting the Reformation, was at the time of this episcopal visit an old man, and a few weeks after it resigned his place and was succeeded by Zwingli’s bosom friend, Leo Jud.

Zwingli’s Works, iii. 17-25. Translated by Mr. Henry Preble from the original Latin.

This paper explains itself. The revelation it makes is curious. The signers had doubtless desire to preach the gospel as they understood it; but they had a much greater desire to be legally married. They must have known that their bishop had no authority to grant their requests. It should be remarked that when Zwingli and his 10 associates drew up the paper here given they were priests in good and regular standing, and had no idea of leaving the church. Their statements are to be believed. This frank, not to say naive, petition stands against all denials of the unchastity of most of the Swiss clergy. Simultaneously with its issuance Zwingli issued another, written in German (see his Works, i. 30-51), addressed to the government of the Confederacy, which also was a plea for the free course of the gospel, but particularly that if the bishop should allow the priests to marry the government would allow it and protect the married priests.

Works, i. 114-168. Translated from the Zurich German by Lawrence A. McLouth, Professor of German, New York University. The matter between brackets is that given in the Works, i. 158 sqq., as addenda, but here inserted in proper place.

The Protestant Reformation in German Switzerland, as for the most part in Germany and England, was largely dependent upon the good will of princes and other rulers, who joined it for political ends. No one can gainsay the great advantage of their support. So in Zurich Zwingli endeavored to win over to his side the members of the City Council, rightly arguing that if successful he would be able to preach the Reformation through the canton, no matter what might be the opposition. He made his appeal to the magistracy to be allowed to hold a public debate, at which they should sit as judges, and give the victory to that side which presented the stronger arguments. He looked forward with great conffdence to such a public debate, for which he had prepared the way by his preaching and writing and talking ever since he came to Zurich in December, 1518. The City Council took up the idea, and were perhaps flattered by the position they would take in this debate. They issued the invitations to the people of the canton and city of Zurich and to the bishops of Constance and of the adjoining dioceses. Zwingli prepared and had printed 67 Articles as a programme for the debate, and looked forward with great eagerness to the time set, which was the 23d of January, 1523.

On that eventful day six hundred persons—priests and laymen of the canton of Zurich, along with a few delegates from the bishop of Constance and some others—met in the Town Hall and held the debate, which is preserved to us by Erhart Hegenwald, a schoolmaster in Zurich, who informs us that he wrote it from memory immediately after hearing it. His account was edited by Zwingli and published in Zurich. John Faber (or Fabri), Vicar General of the diocese of Constance, one of the ablest disputants on the Roman Church side, bore the brunt of the attacks upon that church. Zwingli was the principal speaker on the other side. Fabri also published his account of the debate. “Ein warlich underrichtung wie es zie Zürich bey de Zwinglin uff den einen und zwentzigsten tag des monats Januarii rest verschine ergangen sey.” (Leipzig? 1523.) In it, naturally, he appeared to greater advantage than in Zwingli’s account, but it seems to have given offence to an enthusiastic portion of the audience, and some of these young men thought they had a good opportunity to bring out a satire in the interests of the new faith, and so they concocted a book which was called “The Vulture Plucked.” “Das gyren rupffen. Nalt inn wie Johann Schmidt Vicarge ze Costentz mit dem büchle darinn er verheiszt ein ware bericht wie es uff den 29 tag Jenner M.D.xxiij. ze Zürich gangen sye sich übersehe hat. Ist voll schimpff unud ernestes.” This was a gross attack upon Fabri, and he was very indignant and appealed to the city authorities of Zurich to bring the offenders to book, but the city authorities regarded the whole affair as a kind of joke and took no action in the matter. The three accounts of this important debate supplemented one another; the one which may be said to be authentic is here translated, the second is somewhat colored in favor of the Roman Church, and the third, which contains a good deal of truth, along with more or less deliberate falsehood, have been properly drawn upon by the editors of Zwingli’s works, and the corrections and additions they have made from the last two accounts are here incorporated.

The result of the debate was the enthusiastic approval of Zwingli’s teachings, and an order from the authorities not only to continue their presentation, but enjoining such teaching upon all the priests of the canton. Thus this debate, which is known as the First Disputation, is of great historical interest as marking the official beginning of the Reformation in German Switzerland.

He was one of Zwingli’s friends and correspondents, and active in the cause of the Reformation, but returned to the Roman Church after Zwingli’s death.

He was a school teacher in Zurich.

Andreas von Valara, who had beea abbot since 1512.

He later went over to the Reformed Church.

Von Hohenlandenberg, d. 1532.

Johannes Heigerlin, commonly called Faber or Fabri, because his father was a smith. He became successively pastor at Lindau, vicar-general of Constance (1516) and bishop of Vienna (1530). Born at Lentkirch, near Lake Constance, in 1478, he died at Baden, near Vienna, May 21, 1541.

Blansch. He wrote later at Constance against the Reformed preachers.

This refers to the 67 Articles he issued preparatory to the Disputation.

That is the vicar-general.

[“You well understood how Zwingli spoke about peace and strife: and the words he spoke you refer to yourself. Zwingli spoke not about the strife of weapons or the discord of the faithful. For you know well that he said: ‘God be thanked that the pious city of Zürich is so inclined to peace, and knows well that this comes from the word of God alone, which they hear and accept so faithfully.’ But I say that the Gospel commands strife between the faithful and the Godless. Do you not know how Christ says in the Gospel of Matt. x. 34, ‘I am not come,’ etc.? How can it be preached in peace? Indeed, if the whole world were believers it might be; otherwise not. For Christ is the stumbling-block, at which many will be offended; these are of the world, and the devil is their Lord, who will untertake to maintain his empire without ceasing with his own?” (Hans Hager in “Gyrenrupfen.”)]

[“You have left out the right sense, namely, that everything should be written down. Now speak and give answer if we did not dispute fore and afternoon about a judge, when Master Ulrich Zwingli declared that he would not suffer any one as judge except all Christian believers. Have you not ears and heard that I have often referred to this opinion; always at times when heretics arose a council was held, and by its means the heretics had been thus subdued? Hereupon I named Arius, Sabellius, Nestorius, Manichee and many others; and what was thus recognized thereby it should remain. For if this were not done and held (have you not heard that I said?), there would be as many beliefs as there are many countries, yea as many as there are cities, villages, estates, houses and people, if one does come with matters pertaining to the interpretation of the Scriptures before the councils. I have further shown that in recent years in such matters as have arisen thus between scholars, and always in times of misunderstanding in regard to the Scripture, the universities have been chosen as judges. But when one of you spoke, his words were considered as flowing from the spirit of God, as if into you alone the spirit of God enters (as St. Paul writes), and you alone were the wine-rooms of Jove, and all secrets of the empire of God were made known in them; but what the holy Fathers spoke, wrote and ordained, and also the speeches of us, the ambassadors, were to be considered as human nonsense, as I have related at length. St. Paul himself awaited and received from the apostles a letter (Acts xv.), in which they wrote: ‘For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and us,’ etc., and yet he was ordained by God as magister, as ‘magister gentium.’ Hence the worthy Master Ulrich Zwingli should justly also await and accept decision and judgment. This was said by me more than once before noon, but never before noon answered by the worthy Master Ulrich. To be sure, after noon he did say a little, but did not better the matter, but as far as he was concerned (as I understood it) made it worse. (Faber.)

“Hereupon Hans Hab, according to ‘Gyrenrupfen,’ answered: ‘It may be that Zwingli forgot to answer in the forenoon; what does that matter? Who would have cared to answer your lengthy nonsense? But didn’t he answer it after dinner? Hence let us sit in judgment upon the XV. chapter of the Acts, then we shall find it is against you, and not for you. You have spoken in this manner, we will now let it be, and as often as one wished to consider the books you have gotten out of it in another fashion.’ Faber continues: In his little book about the choice of food Zwingli has permitted all food, and still it is found in the letter which Paul received at Jerusalem from the twelve apostles that the sacrifice of calves and other meat which was offered to the idols was forbidden. He thinks that this ordinance has expired if there is no more heathenism or idolatry, which I did not answer for good reason. But see whether there be not in Africa still idolatry, and Christians still live among them in the newly-discovered islands,’ etc. Hereupon Hab (ib.) again: ‘Do you not remember that Zwingli said Paul himself did not keep it? Why don’t you look at the Scriptures with him? Faber continues: ‘Not I, but Mr. Fritz v. Anwyl, reported concerning this at the council of Nürnberg. For that I refer to him and your lords of Zürich. But if nevertheless I have said it, then see whether Master Ulrich or I had better information from Nürnberg—look at the decree of Nürnberg. But the new teachers and evangelists from the North do not wish any weight to be given to past or future decrees or councils unless they favor them. But they do rightly; they know that their doctrine would be condemned before even half of the fathers had gathered—they cannot endure the councils. Their song must not only be the song of the angels, but of God, and whatever the pious fathers say only human foolishness.’ (Faber, correction.) How often have you heard from Zwingli that he did not wish to have only two judges, but to have all believers judge whether you or he is corrupting the Scriptures. But you were unable to come to this.” (“Gyrenrupfen.”)]

[“Have you not heard that Zwingli said there was too much of my talk, and I thereupon offered to prove my statements if all things were noted down, for I do not care to speak into the air?” (Faber.)]

[“In which there are many Godfearing curates; also many doctors and real friends of God.” (Bullinger.)]

[“I did not write a book ‘de non revelandis mysteriis,’ but against the rash, against those who in an impious manner handle holy things or Scriptures.’ (Faber.)]

These letters are no longer extant.

[Hager in “Gyrenrupfen” presents the dispute about the council thus: “After this Mr. Fritz, the majordomo, very cleverly presented the command of his master, saying that his master had been surely informed, that in a year there would be a council. Concerning this Zwingli did not wish to speak. Thereupon you immediately began to speak, and rose and said the same as Mr. Fritz had just said, and in a nice way referred to the future council and showed yourself a little more, just as if the matter had not also been commended to you. Thereupon Zwingli arose, and said we should not be led astray by the council; he also had had a letter in which he was informed how the German princes had demanded from the pope that he have a council within a year, but that the pope had formally assented had not yet happened, nor is it possible (he said) that within the space of a year a general council could be gathered together; furthermore the three mightiest lords, King of France, Emperor, and King of England, were at war with each other, who could not easily be conciliated; also that the fixing of the council would be left to the Germans. Hence one could see that the promise of a council was only a postponement, not a definite resolve; but it mattered little whether they had a council or not, for he believed that no man would live to see a council in which the word of God would be allowed to rule. Therefore, even if a council should be held at once, one would not care either, for we would depend upon and preach the word of God; may the councils determine herein what they please.” After this he from Neftenbach arose and spoke.]

[“On the contrary I told how Paul did not boast of the languages when he went to the Corinthians, not ‘in sublimitate sermonis’ or high wisdom. Thus one finds in the life of Hilary that the evil spirit often spoke in Greek and other tongues. And therefore I did not boast, rightly, about the languages, although I brought with me to you from Constance the Hebrew and Greek Bible; also had them both with you at the city hall. Do you think I have never heard or read Hewbrew or Greekʼ” (Faber.)]

[“Am I not right? If you do not do that I shall name those who call me heretic, but I warn you in advance that it is more honest to step forward uncalled.” (Bullinger.) The word of the abbot of Cappel: “Where are they now who wish to burn us?” Bullinger places here.]

A village 12 miles northeast of Zurich.

In Füssli’s Beiträgen, IV., 125-129.

On the border of Switzerland, but in Baden. His name was Urban Weiss. He had announced from his pulpit on his return from the Zurich meeting of August 15, 1522, that he would no longer call upon the Virgin Mary or the saints. He also married. The bishop of Constance complained against him at the Diet of Baden, which wished him arrested, but some friends went surety for him. However, the Diet in November, 1522, ordered his arrest. He was examined in Constance, and apparently as the result of the use of torture recanted and then was liberated.

[Faber accuses Hegenwald of error in the order of his speeches.

“You note me down as if I had made the fourth speech, and bring forth a speech of which truly I would be ashamed, provided I could not erase it by means of the Scriptures better by the grace of God. You have noted me down as if I had immediately broken forth after the speech of Zwingli, which you know is not true. For I learnt long ago from Roman histories that an ambassador should not exceed his authority. This I have not forgotten, that one should not preach unless he be sent. Therefore since I have not been sent by my gracious lord as a combatant, but as a spectator, yea as a peaceful umpire, I did not wish to answer the many speeches and demands; also partly exhortation of Zwingli. And where there had been a long silence, you know that Mr. Ulrich having dared to name several, requested us from Constance urgently, still I maintained silence until the priest (whom you call), v. Mittenbach (Neftenbach), referred to my gracious lord and myself so much and so clearly that I thought, and I also said it to the mighty lord Fritz Jacob v. Anwyl, that I could not leave that unanswered. For although you closed the speech according to your wont, still you omit that the priest says among other things that the bishop of Constance had forbidden to preach the Gospel—write what the Vicar there said—then you will find that I said before, I am not here to suppress the Gospel and St. Paul, for who would do that in view of the tale how the angel had brought and proclaimed to the shepherds upon the pasture when Christ was born the consoling message that in the Gospel was the salvation, yea the way and the truth, in comparing the New and Old Testament; also the four evangelists are the four rivers of Paradise, which make fruitful the whole world with the water of divine grace; it has been arranged with better order, as St. Paul says, and I also have helped in it, since my ‘scholastici doctores’ have been diligently read and underscored by me, so that they also have become dirty from my hands. Thus I have also seen that it would be better and more wholesome to leave sophistry and to bring forward the Gospel and the prophets and also other divine writings. Therefore I held to the first proposition, how this might happen and the Gospel be brought forth, which then is true even if Master Ulrich Zwingli had never come to Zürich. But I was not thus minded, and did not help to arrange the proposition so that the Gospel should be preached in a revolutionary manner, but according to the essential Christian and peaceful understanding. And furthermore I declared the Gospel does not consist in reading, but in the strength of God, yea in the correct interpretation and understanding, and I have proved by two places in the Gospel of Matthew, Matt. iv. 6, where the tempter cites the saying Ps. xc. From this I have shown that also the evil spirit might, as an old scholar, use and know the Scriptures—and Matt. ii. 6, where the scribes cite the saying of Micah of Bethlehem, but omitted the following correct point—thus by means of these two quotations I have well proven that it is not always sufficient to cite the Gospel or the Scriptures (although they have the first seat and the greatest honor), and that the Scriptures do not consist in the reading, but in the correct interpretation; thus and not otherwise it was done. Why didn’t you note that down also for me? Why do you conceal that from me? And in still more unfair and wrongful fashion did you note down this and other of my speeches, how I so often cited the pope and the pope’s affairs.” (Faber, correction.) “When you cited how also the devil had made use of the Scriptures, Zwingli had answered that is what he was there for, to give answer that he had used them correctly. But you do not wish to take hold of the Scriptures.” (Hans Hager in “Gyrenrupfen.”)]

That is not a Latinist.

[“Upon Fathers and councils one no longer depends, unless they prove their case by the Scriptures.” (Bullinger.)]

[Held in the 4th century. Gangra was the capital of ten Asia Minor provinces of Paphlagonia.]

[“ ‘Not a word is written concerning this in the canons of the council of Nicæa.’ To be sure Zwingli said that Paphnutius in the council of Nicæa had been, by which Zwingli means that marriage at that time (although he partly errs) was permitted. Now in the council of Gangra you say in your report Zwingli had said it had been forbidden. How could you lose your memory in such fashion that you could write such? On the contrary he said that it had been permitted in the council of Gangra, and doubtlessly he based this upon another pamphlet, which he called ‘Apologeticum,’ and written in Latin quatering (see Latin version). Rogo nunc ut concilio parendum, etc. You do him wrong, now I must take his part. Furthermore beware, my pamphlet here will be read the sooner by those who are at Zürich and accepted as good. Zwingli also has referred to the Carthaginian council. In the first place I showed how there are two kinds of councils, namely, those of the general Christianity, which are called ‘oecumenica’ or ‘universalia’ in Greek and Latin; then the ‘particularia.’ Now it is never found that in the matter of faith the ‘universalia’ were ever opposed to each other. The Carthaginian council was only a special one. And to every bishop was left his free will and opinion; and only later the council of Nicæa was held by 318 Fathers, (thus) they may have had an honest excuse. Why have you omitted this report?” (Faber.) Heinrich Wolf answered thereupon: “Zwingli simply said that in a council Paphnutius with difficulty had secured permission for the marriage of the priests, also spoke well against such statutes. Now you come forward and say that he placed Paphnutius in the Nicæan council, although he said to-day (as I asked him about it) that he had never read about a council which had forbidden marriage, but about popes 500 years after the birth of Christ. But since the papists speak so consistently about the Nicæan council he made his point, how he really had never read carefully the history of this council, and thus had believed you papists. And you have brought forth the Nicæan council, and not Zwingli; then you opposed the Gangrensian council by saying that it was not a general one.” (“Gyrenrupfen.”)]

[“I said even more about the time further back, especially in the time of Cyprian, 1300 years ago, there was intercession of the saints; yes, I shall try it still further back.” (Faber.)]

[“Although I said that I wanted to defend it well against the destroyers of divine gifts and services. But I did not say it. You thought I would say it. Although I did not think of the pope, the ceremonies and many other things, it is no proof that such are useless.” (Faber.)]

Alvarus Pelagius, bishop of Silves, Portugal, d. at Seville, 1352, whose Summa de planctu Ecclesiæ (“The Chief Points of the Church’s Complaint”), written in 1332, published, Ulm 1474, Venice 1560, is a frank statement of the disorders of his time and a plea for the exaltation of the Papal See.

[“Don’t you recollect that I said I do not like to speak concerning the marriage of priests? On account of this I have kept quiet and have omitted to state a better reason. But where have you hidden the fact that I said that from the time of the apostles one does not read that one who was consecrated as subdeacon, deacon, priest or bishop could marry again after his wife had died? Did I not say further that it is thus understood, not alone in the Western, but also in the Eastern Church—in Crete, Corcyra, etc., also in India, in the case of the Presbyter John, and among the Russians? so that any one who took a virgin as wife may be consecrated as priest, but that if she die that he can take no more; in the same manner if he has no wife before he is consecrated he can take none after the consecration; this I have shown. Why do you omit this? It was indeed necessary for you to include the subtile, honorable interruption of one who spoke about the prostitutes; and you also placed Gutschenkel as a character in the comedy. Since the good Master Ulrich consoles himself much in his speeches and writings with a text which he found in XXVII. dist. c., ‘Si quis discernit,’ which is claimed to have been made in Gangrensian council, know then that there were not more than 16 bishops in that council; these made 19 canons against the majority that even desired to abolish holy marriage. But therein they did not reject the state of virginity and widowhood, hence also the marriage of priests was not, as you think, admitted by the pious Fathers. They spoke about the priests who had wives before the consecration—and bethink yourself what councils over 18 bishops would prefer, even although they should prefer it were so, as it is not, as Zwingli says. Now see how the supplication issued by your and our common gracious lord of Constance shall be answered. About the marriage of priests I do not like to speak (several times repeated). Accusations of two wrong quotations were made.” (Faber.)]

The half-witted fellow mentioned above.

Bishop of a city in Upper Thebais; had his right eye gouged out and his left knee-cap injured in the Maximian persecution (305), and was banished to the mines. He appeared in the Nicene Council 325, and was honored as a confessor. When it was proposed to enact a law which forbade the married clergy to continue to live with their wives, Paphnutius declared very earnestly that so heavy a yoke ought not to be laid upon the clergy; that marriage itself is honorable and the bed undefiled; that the Church ought not to be injured by an undue severity. “For all men,” said he, “cannot bear the practice of rigid continence; neither perhaps would the chastity of the wife be preserved.” He favored dissuading clergymen from marrying after ordination, but allowing those who had married prior to ordination to retain their wives. His own known virginity and his sufferings for the cause gave so great weight to his words that he was unanimously sustained by the Council.

He was properly called Sebastian Hofmeister, or in the scholastic form Oikonomos. Because his father was a “wagner,” i. e., wheelwright, he was himself erroneously called Wagner, or in Latinized form Carpentarius. He was born at Schaffhausen in 1476; entered the Barefoot (Franciscan) monks there; studied in Paris the classical tongues and Hebrew, and came home in 1520 as a Doctor of the Sacred Scriptures, and the same year he taught in the Franciscan monastery in Zurich and so came in contact with Zwingli. He embraced the Reformation, and introduced it into Lucerne and into Schaffhausen (both 1523), whither persecution drove him. It is indeed as the Reformer of Schaffhausen that he is best remembered, yet his career there was brief, for in 1525 he had to leave that city. He preached in Zurich (1526) and taught Hebrew in Bern (1528), but died September 26, 1533, as preacher at Zofingen, thirty miles sontheast of Basel. Two of his writings were commonly attributed to Zwingli.

[“I said, one may do that. ‘Must’ and ‘can,’ are they not two different things? The debate was not about ‘must,’ but about ‘can.’ Did you not hear from me about the ladder of Jacob fastened to heaven on which are many rounds? Did you not hear how quickly and speedily Zwingli wished to swing himself up to the cross of Christ? Do you not think if he wished to go to the Lord on the cross that then rightly he would also have found Mary, John and the other people of the Gospel?” (Faber.)]

Born at Gemar, near Rappoltsweilen (or Ribeauville), Elsass, thirty miles southwest of Strassburg, the child of a clerical marriage, 1482; studied at Basel; inclined first to pharmacy, but took up theology, and had Zwingli as his fellow-student under Thomas Wyttenbach; M. A., 1506; became deacon of St. Theodore’s church, Basel; pastor of St. Pilt, four miles east of his birthplace; people’s priest at Einsiedeln in succession to Zwingli, and at his suggestion, 1518; the same, and by the same influence, at St. Peter’s, Zurich, 1522; coadjutor of Zwingli and Bullinger, particularly remembered as principal translator of the Zurich Bible; died in Zurich, June 19, 1542.

Referring to the Sixty-seven Articles issued by Zwingli for the basis of argument in the Disputation.

[“Look, how can you say that to excuse myself I quoted in the beginning the saying of Solon, how then it was written by the wise man Solon that when once he was sitting with scholars, who were debating, and Periander asked him whether he was silent from lack of words or because he was a fool, he answered no fool can keep quiet? Therefore I did not refer to Socrates (as you say), but to the saying of Xenocrates when he was one time asked why he alone kept still and allowed all the others to speak, he had answered that what I sometimes said I regretted, but that which I have not said that I have never regretted. Thus it happened, and not otherwise, and as a witness of the truth I cited the proverb: Audiens sapiens sapientior erit. And as another witness Zwingli interrupted the speech by saying that there was no need of fawning and hypocritical style. Now look how you have hit it?” (Faber.)]

[“Show us that in the Scriptures; the rest is human nonsense.” (Bullinger.)]

[“Zwingli said that if he were only half a man, stood on one leg and closed one eye, he would nevertheless yield not to Jerome.” (Faber.) “Thereupon Heinrich Wolf said ’Such words were heard from his lips, yea never thought of during his lifetime.’ To be sure, when you referred to Jerome in regard to the intercession of the saints, he said the argument which Jerome uses there has no basis in the Scriptures.” (“Gyrenrupfen.”)]

[“You have omitted that Zwingli even spoke against the public Gospel: ‘when one says that the saints accomplished miracles then the devil has done it.’ ” (Faber.) “About the intercession of the saints he promises a separate book: ‘the whole heavenly host will be with me, without suppressing Christ, but rather let him be mediator.’ Luchsinger answers: He (Faber) thinks because Zwingli said something about the wrong craze for miracles, therefore no one should remember that any more, and each one think perhaps something has been said about it; it doubtlessly was as Hans Heyerli (Faber) said. The matter is this: Hans Heyerli and D. Martin Blansch, of Tübingen, wished to prove the intercession of the saints by means of the miracles (which has all occurred now in a roundabout manner, for as every one knows they have attacked no article). Yes, the saints have done miracles. Zwingli answered: Miracles are not a sign of divinity, as Christ himself declares, Matt. vii. 22, but where real miracles do occur through the saints God does them himself, never the saints, as St. Peter speaks in the Acts iii. But there occur many miracles by the aid of the devil, so Matt. xxiv. 24: He also accomplishes miracles, and changes himself into the shape of an angel of light. Thus Zwingli spoke, and that fool distorts it thus.” (“Gyrenrupfen.”)]

Dr. Sebastian Hofmeister.

Sebastian Meyer, born at Neuenburg on the Rhine, in Elsass, twenty miles north of Basel, 1465; studied at Basel and in Germany; became D. D.; entered the Franciscan order; taught in monasteries in Strassburg and Bern; was a rather violent friend of the Reformation. He accepted Lutheran views on the Eucharist, and died in Strassburg, 1545, after preaching in Bern and Augsburg as well as there.

[“How could you say truthfully that you have reported and understood all speeches and rebuttals, when I show to you that you have wronged not only me, but others, also Zwingli. You have omitted from my statements two quotations, with their additions, Matt. xxviii. 20: ‘I am with you,’ etc., and John xiv. 16: ‘I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,’ etc. Do you know now what I said thereupon? Since the appealing to the saints has gone on, also the mass has been held as a sacrifice throughout the whole of Christendom, not only now for a thousand, but for thirteen and fourteen hundred years, and if it were not true or righteous, then Christ would have wickedly forgotten us and the eternal truth; yes, he would have badly kept his word. But he has said: Behold this is a mystery; nor has he also said: Only after 1000 or 1200 years shall I first come again to my bride the churches. He said: Every day unto the end of the world. And although we did not heed these words of Christ, regardless of the fact that his words are everlasting, according to Isaiah, and he alone is the truth, and furthermore cannot lie, according to St. Paul, and he is the one whom St. John calls the faithful and true, and sooner will heaven and earth perish rather than his words, still we would have the other promise of the Holy Ghost, who, it has been promised, will remain with us unto eternity. Hence I do not in great affairs carelessly leave or desert from the Church, but I entrust that rather to Christ. Now what I report has been kept by the Church for so many centuries, hence I would be very careful, since the two things in regard to the saints and the mass are not contrary to the Gosple, and I also can prove it with the Scriptures, and thus I feel like the honest old peasants: when one wishes to abolish their old traditions and praiseworthy usages, which are not contrary to God, they do not like to obey and allow it. And thus I feel in regard to the said sayings, I trust to Christ and God and the Holy Ghost that thus far they have not deserted us, and I say also agree with St. Jerome, that in regard to these matters I shall rightly hold to the faith which I have received from the maternal breast. Although the doctrine of yourself and your brethren would be very acceptable to me, for I would not be allowed to pray, fast or do other good works, but if I did them I should commit a sin, therefore I would probably go to heaven. But since perchance I cannot ask much, therefore I do not wish to lose the intercession of the saints, and especially of the Virgin Mary.” (Faber.)]

[“Bullinger puts here the word of the mayor: And the sword with which he from Fislisbach was murdered does not wish to appear to fight.”]

[“Which has been decided upon in accordance with the debate held.”

[“Zwingli spoke with great joy after the aforesaid decision had been read.” (Bullinger.)]

[“And first here the vicar became angry, saying: My dear gentlemen, I read to-day Master Ulrich’s Articles for the first time, which before I had had no time to glance over.” (Bullinger.)]

[“ ‘You know that it is true that before I or all priests had come to Zürich no one knew your word, whereon the dispute was based, and I tell you that I would have thought sooner of death than that there should be a debate at Zürich concerning the intercession of the saints. Hence you probably marked well that I said I thought I had come to Zürich, but I see I am in Picardy, and this saying I explained to be from the heretic Picard. Hence although I was not prepared nor thought about the matter, still I desired to argue concerning it, and show wherewith I had proved the imprisoned priest to be in error whom you wished to make a bishop, so that you also might fall into the Arian heresy.’ (Faber.) And before he said: ‘Master Ulrich had published the 67 articles only a day before this session, and before any one at Constance or any other city knew a word of it, and Master Ulrich also admitted it may perchance have been issued too late.’ Werner Steiner remarks in writing: ‘These (the Articles) were handed to him by the pastor of Frauenfeld on the journey hither, about 2 or 3 days ago.’ ”]

Picard, the founder of an heretical sect of the Manichean order, the Picardists, in the 15th century. The customary charge of immorality was brought against them. It spread from its home in Picardy to France and Germany, finally to Bohemia, where it was ruthlessly suppressed by the great Hussite leader, Ziska, in 1421.

Twenty-one miles northeast of Zurich.

[From the saying of Luke ix. not six words have been quoted. (“Gyrnrupfen.”)]

[“Also the saying John xvi. 12 I did not refer to, for I knew the verse did not belong here; just as little did I say about fasting Saturdays.” (Faber.) Hereupon Heinrich Wolf maintains he referred to the quotation from John xvi.: Christ still had many things to say to the disciples, but they could not bear it now, and Zwingli answered him, and showed how he had distorted the word of Christ. (“Gyrenrupfen.”)]

[“That I said and say still, that we are bound to hold many things that are not openly written, but which the Church holds and we believe, and furthermore have been reported by the teachers of the first churches as having come to us by order of the 12 apostles; thus I wished to prove that the forty days’ fast, also the Sunday which in the Apocalypse St. John calls ‘diem dominicam,’ was decreed by the 12 disciples; if we do not wish to despise, depose or suppress them, then it is fitting that what so many centuries by Christendom generally, also by the heretics, has been held we should also keep, even if it be not openly printed in the Scriptures.” Furthermore he remarks: “It is a harmful error not to admit anything unless it be expressly described in the Scriptures. The Sadduceans also denied the resurrection because it was not expressed in the Scriptures. I praise you all that you preach the Gospel and St. Paul, for that is the right rock. But what we have also from the time of the 12 apostles you should not cast so carelessly aside. If your speech were true we would be obliged to leave the ‘symbolo apostolorum,’ the ‘homoousio,’ yes from the persons in the Godhead, from free will; we no more could believe that Anna was the mother of Mary,” etc. (Faber.)]

[“And the traditions do not disagree with the Scriptures, so that when the apostles wrote one thing another was opposed to it.” (Bullinger.)]

[Hans Hab remarks: “Faber attacked the Articles severely, but could not prove that they are unchristian. It happened thus, when after dinner the decision was read: Just like the peasant boys, you first began in earnest after the matter was closed, and even then you did not wish to attack any Article, to make it unchristian by means of the Scriptures, as you attacked them, but you raised the Articles in your own hand and said: Now I do not wish to speak as a vicar, but as a John, and I say, Master Ulrich, that your Articles are not like unto the truth, and are not based upon the Gospel and the writings of the apostles.” Zwingli answered: “Sir Vicar, if you had taken off your hat long ago one could have treated about something. But in answer to your speech I spoke thus: You shall prove your wicked speech with the deed, and do well and attack only one Article, so that we may not let this day pass by uselessly, for so well are these Articles founded that heaven and earth must break sooner than one of these Articles. Upon this you answered, as always before, this was not the place to debate, but you wished to debate in writing and have judges. Thereupon Zwingli answered he was indifferent whether one noted down everything that was spoken, but he wanted no judge over the word of God, for the word of God should judge the people, and not the people the word of God. About that you teased Zwingli, whether he would not take those of Zürich as judges? Zwingli replied, no—so much at this time, although much was still thereto.” (“Gyrenrupfen.”)]

[“I shall not be with you always, and then.” (Bullinger.)]

[“In regard to the quotation from Matt. xxviii. 20, Zwingli gave you (Faber) the following answer: It is true that Christ has promised to remain with us to the end of the world. That he also keeps his promise faithfully, ye pious brethren in Jesus Christ, you should have no doubt. God is with us probably as with no council. For we keep His word, and seek the truth from his word alone. Those who do that, God is with them.” (Luchsinger in “Gyrenrupfen.”)].

[“The Scriptures decide themselves in the presence of men.” (Bullinger.)]

[“Did you not also hear that thereupon Zwingli answered: A council never overcame a heretic except with the Scriptures, for it would have been useless if one had tried to overcome Arius in another fashion except by the Scripture. Hence he also stood there, demanding that one listen to the Scriptures in regard to all the Articles; these should be judges over him, and according to that he would allow all Christians to recognize not only several, but all, whether he had used the Scriptures rightly or not; and he asked who was judge between Hilary and Arians, between Jerome and Jovian, between Augustine and the Manicheans; with nothing besides the Scriptures they proved their cause, and thus allowed it to come before all people without a single judge. And what you attacked afterwards, just as if he had boasted of great abilities, that you invented. For Zwingli spoke of the rest who were there thus: There are in the hall probably men as learned in Hebrew, Greek and Latin as at Tübingen, Basel, Freiburg and elsewhere.” (Hans Hab in “Gyrenrupfen.”) He adds thereto: “Zurich has probably as many people learned in the three languages as he and his papists in a heap, and who understand the Scriptures better than those at Lyon and Paris.”]

“A rabbit cheese” is Swiss for a remarkably fine cheese. Glarus, where Zwingli was settled for ten years (1506-1516), was then and is still noted for its cheeses.

[“Where did I speak an unfit, immodest or worthless word, as Zwingli always did with his ridiculing and other things, which for the sake of peace I shall not repeat?” (Faber.) Conrad Aescher answers: “Zwingli has treated the matter with such earnestness that he could not have been more in earnest; to be sure he had to laugh with the rest when you came with your old tales, which we tailors and shoemakers had also learned long ago. But you act like all bad women, blame other people for what they do themselves. Nobody began his speeches with more ridiculing than you; why you smiled so friendly that we were afraid that the stove of the room would become so attached to you that it would run after you. Zwingli has said nothing shameful or immodest, but you have, when you said, where is it forbidden in the Bible that a father may not marry his daughter? and when you said one could live righteously even without the Gospel,” etc. (“Gyrenrupfen.”)]

[“At the end of your account you made the false statement that I said one might still live in a friendly, peaceful and virtuous way even if there were no Gospel. Do you think I am mad, and speak only in unchristian fashion thus? especially as before that I made such a speech in praise of the Gospel, and in my book against Martin Luther I praised so highly and emphasized the Gospel, etc.? And you dare to accuse me of these words which in my life I never thought of? Where were you sitting that you could hear what I said? While several were then speaking every one arose and went away, and no one sitting could have heard me. Do you wish to to know what in the hum of voices, as the people were getting up and leaving, I said? Thus I spoke: One may preach the Gospel and still keep the peace. Zwingli thought it could not be, so I declared it could be. Thus you misquote me. Did not the Gospel come with the peace and the peace with the Gospel? But you say only: God has not sent peace upon earth.” (Faber.) Hans Hager answered him: “Why, how can you deny what one can witness and prove with so many true men, so that I offer to prove it before my lords of Zurich at whatever hour and moment you will? I do not say that it occurred at the end, because it did not occur at the end. It may also have happened to Erhard [Hegenwald] that he forgot it until the end. What does that matter? You said it, no matter when you said it. What does that matter, as long as your had to lie?” (Gyrenrupfen.)]

[“And were very tired of the irrelevant quotations and speeches of the Vicar.” (Bullinger.)]

Wolfgang Roupli (or Joner), son of the mayor of Frauenfeld; became abbot 1521; accepted the Reformation and reformed his monastery. He called there Bullinger, who was Zwingl’s successor, as teacher of the cloister school, 1522.

Printed at Zurich by John Hager. Zwingli’s Works, II., 2, 356-359. Translated from the original German by Prof. Lawrence A. McLouth. Bullinger expressly remarks that Zwingli was the author of the order of the canonical court.

Zwingli’s Works, III., 357-437. Translated from the Latin by Henry Preble and George W. Gilmore.

On Monday, October 26, 1523, the Second Disputation was held in Zurich, again between Zwingli and the representatives of the Old Faith and other clergy, and in that Disputation for the first time the Baptist party in Zurich made their appearance. The subject of the debate was what position the reform party should take in regard to the use of images in the churches and in regard to the sacraments. The Baptist party in Zurich were the radicals. The origin of this party was in a sort of inquiry meeting—that is, some members of Zwingli’s congregation used to meet in a private house and talk over the sermons which they had heard from Zwingli, frequently in his presence. Zwingli may have said in these gatherings a good many things which were not for publication, but he had said enough in his public discourses to show this little group of earnest men that he was on the side of a complete break with the Old Church. Zwingli was a very cautious person, and while he saw plainly that his opinions led logically to very radical reforms, he wished to make haste slowly and come at the changes, which he knew would cause considerable sorrow to many conservative people, by successive steps; but the little group referred to wished to accomplish the same results at once, without tarrying for any, and accordingly they started out without first preparing the people for such action to do the things Zwingli had at heart. Thus they made an attack upon churches and stripped them of their ornaments; they refused to observe the church fasts; and what is of more interest in this connection, they declared that the baptism of infants was unscriptural, and therefore should not be observed. Zwingli was very much distressed at the precipitance of his enthusiastic friends, because such actions were on the side of disorder, and it was very important to guard the growing Reformation from the charge of disorderly conduct. At the same time he could not say that what they did was in itself wrong, as he had himself advocated the removal of all ornaments from the churches, and it is doubtless true that in his earlier addresses from the pulpit he exposed the unbiblical character of the church doctrine upon the general subject of baptism, and probable that he inclined towards ruling out infant baptism, as lacking biblical support.

The followers of a great teacher are frequently guilty of bringing their master into compromising situations, because they make prominent what he thinks of very small account, although it may be in the line of his teaching, and so Zwingli found himself criticised severely in Zurich when his remarks upon infant baptism were repeated. To those who were brought up to regard baptism as necessary to salvation it was a great shock to be told that the ceremony had no validity. To those who believed that the rite of baptism was the Christian obligation in lieu of circumcision, and just as binding, to hear that there was grave doubt whether it should be so considered was to knock the underpinning from their faith. When Zwingli found that opposition to the popular belief and practice upon this point meant that he would be exposed not only to clerical and lay adverse criticism, but probably would lose him his influence with the city magistrates, who were all friends of the Old faith on this doctrine, he devoted a great deal of attention to it, with the result that he convinced himself that as to the subjects of baptism he had been wrong, and henceforth he took the orthodox side. As Zwingli was an honest man and morally courageous, his change of view should be accepted as sincere, and not as time-serving and hypocritical. He soon had a chance to attack his former friends and admirers on other than speculative grounds, because they had been influenced by men like Thomas Muenzer and Balthasar Hubmaier, who were in the stream of the Baptist movement in Germany. Balthasar, indeed, developed into the leading theologian of the Baptists of Switzerland. From Germany the idea came to the little company of Baptists in Zurich to practice the rite of baptism upon believing adults who had already, as the Church claimed, been baptized, upon the theory that only those could be baptized truly who were old enough to have at the time an intelligent comprehension of the doctrines to which they were giving assent, and as this could not have been the case with those “baptized” in infancy, therefore they had never really been baptized. The first of these adult baptisms occurred in a gathering of these Baptists in Zollicon, a little village to the east of Zurich, and was by pouring from a dipper. But these first Baptists in Switzerland cared so little in regard to the mode of baptism that the question does not seem to have been discussed among them, and in the writings of Zwingli is not referred to. This is a curious fact, because the modern Baptist church lays great stress upon a certain mode of baptism.

The elaborate attack upon the Baptists here presented derives additional interest from the two documents that it embodies. The first is the attack upon Zwingli written probably by Conrad Grebel, one of the earliest friends of Zwingli, and the second is the Confession of Faith written by the Baptists of Bern. Zwingli replies to both these documents, quoting them verbally and fully, and this enables us to reconstruct them. The Confession of the Bernese Baptists is in very simple language, showing a very honest and God-fearing mind, and is in itself a triumphant refutation of the charges of fanaticism and immorality which Zwingli brings against them. In fact in this paper Zwingli shows himself up in a very bad light.

This is no place in which to describe the outrageous treatment which the Baptist party received in Zurich and elsewhere through Switzerland. The writer feels the freer to use such a term because he is not himself a Baptist, but he comes to the subject merely as a historical student. He considers that the part which Zwingli played in this wretched business is a serious blot upon his reputation, and reveals a defect in his character. The Baptists were pursued relentlessly; drowning, beheading, burning at the stake, confiscation of property, exile, fines and other forms of social obloquy were employed to suppress them and prevent their increase. The fact shows plainly that the persecuting spirit in the times of the Reformation was just as rife among Protestants as among Roman Catholics, and that the devil was abroad in the hearts of those who considered themselves on both sides as the true servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose tenderness and love must have been greatly tried by thesewicked doings of his friends.

Peace came at last to Switzerland—the peace of the grave-yard and of the sea which gives not up its dead. The orthodox party congratulated themselves upon having got rid of the pestilential heresy of adult baptism, yet the student of history as he looks upon the large, flourishing and world-wide Baptist church of to-day asks himself which side really won the battle for the right of private judgment and liberty of action, the side of the persecutor or the side of the persecuted?

I. e., died by the halter; allusion to the death of Judas.

Since 1523.

Waldshut, Zurich, St. Gall, Schaffhausen, Basel, Coire, Constance, Strassburg, Worms, Ulm.

Empusa was a spectre of huge size, having one leg of brass and one like that of an ass, sent out by Hecate to frighten travelers. It ate human flesh. It sometimes appeared as a beautiful young woman. Proteus was the Old Man of the Sea, who rose at noonday from the flood, came on land and fell asleep among the rocks. If any one could catch him there and hold on to him, notwithstanding his efforts to escape by changing his form, he would be able to learn from him the future with infallible accuracy. Tarandus was a horned animal of Northern lands, perhaps the reindeer.

As appears from the letter of Œcolampadius to Zwingli, dated July 19, 1527 (Zwingli’s Works, viii. 80), it is probable that the writing which called out the answers of Œcolampadius and Zwingli had the title: “Ein Gesprech Balthasar Hubemörs von Fridberg. Doctors. auff Mayster Ulrichs Zwinglens ze Zürich Taufbüechlein. von dem Khindertauff. Die warhayt is untödtlich. Erd. erd. erd. höre das wort des herrens. Hiere.” Nicholspurg 1526 (quarto). Zwingli’s book on Baptism (“Vom Touf, vom widertouf und vom kindertouf”), appeared May 27 1525. It is in his Works, ii. 1, 230-303.

On July 11th in that year Hubmeier issued his “Von dem christlichen Tauf der Gläubigen,” to which Zwingli replied by his “Uiber doctor Balthazars toufbüchlin wahrhafte gründte antwurt (1525) Works, ii. 1, 337-369.

In 1524. Cf. for these matters Zwingli, Works, ii. 1, 230 sqq., 370 sqq. II., pp. 370 ff and 230 ff.

The first was held Jan. 17, 1525.

On March 20, 1525.

The daughter of Zeus, who induced gods and men to do rash and inconsiderate things.

On the north shore of the Lake of Zurich, and five miles from the city.

Balthasar Hubmaier was born at Friedberg, near Augsburg, about 1480, educated at Freiburg in South Germany, became professor of theology at Ingolstadt, and D. D., 1512. In 1516 he went to Regensburg as cathedral preacher and led the attack on the Jews, whose synagogue was destroyed. On its site a Christian chapel was erected, and he was its first chaplain. In 1521 he removed to Waldshut, near the border of Switzerland, and this brought him in contact with the Swiss Reformers. He embraced their teachings and introduced the Reformation into Waldshut, 1524. In that year Hubmaier came under the influence of Thomas Münzer, who confirmed him in the Baptist views he had previously independently imbibed from his Bible study. His accession to the ranks of the Baptists was a great gain of them. He was quickly recognized as their leading theologian. Driven out of Waldshut in December, 1525, when the city was captured by the Austrian troops and the Reformation suppressed, Hubmaier fled to Zurich. But his Baptist views made him suspected there, as the Baptists, or Anabaptists as they were commonly called, were charged with disturbing the public order and were under the ban of the State. Hubmaier was put in prison, tortured, compelled to recant, and finally driven out of the city. He went to Constance, to Augsburg and finally into Moravia, everywhere proclaiming with eloquence and success by voice and pen his Baptist views. There was in those times, when religious liberty was a term unknown to Protestants and Roman Catholics, and when Baptists especially were hunted to death by all non-Baptists, only one possible end to such a career as his. He came into the hands of King Ferdinand of Austria, was taken to Vienna, 1527, and there burnt at the stake, March 10, 1528. He died like a hero. His wife, who courageously exhorted him to firmness, was herself put to death three days later, only it was through the waves of the blue Danube and not through fire that she entered the presence of the Master who looks with pity and forgiving love upon His followers’ vain attempt to bring in His kingdom by the sword. The life of Hubmaier has been written from the sources by Johann Loserth, Brünn, 1893.

That is, Zwingli claims that there were infants in the family although there is no plain scripture proof of it.

Faber, vicar general of Constance. See note on p. 46.

These persons were prominent Baptists. Hans Denk, born at Heybach (Habach), Upper Bavaria, about 1495; was educated at Ingolstadt; and in Augsburg received into the circle of the Humanists (1520); in Basel was proof reader for Cratander and Curio, and thence in the autumn of 1523, on Œcolampadius’ recommendation, went to Nuremberg as principal of a classical school. But his stay was short, for his advocacy of the views of Münzer and Carlstadt made him so detested by the local clergy that he was driven out of the city on January 31, 1524, and ever after was a wanderer. He is found in Muhlhausen, St. Gall and in Augsburg (September, 1525-October, 1526), and there he met Balthasar Hubmaier, and there he was baptized and baptized others. He was now recognized as a leader by the Baptists, which meant that he was a shining mark for persecution. He went to Strassburg and made a stir, quite captivated many people, so the authorities requested him to leave, and he did, on December 26, 1526. On January 20, 1527, he is found in Landau holding a disputation upon Infant Baptism; the next few months he passed at Worms, and there in connection with Haetzer, another Baptist scholar, made a translation of the Prophetical Books, which is still esteemed (published by Peter Schöffer at Worms, April 13, 1527). Again the zeal of the Baptists in defending their views in a public disputation (June 13, 1527,) led to his expulsion from the city. He visited his brethren in South Germany and Switzerland, everywhere at the peril of his life. At last, wearied in body and mind from incessant wanderings and debatings, he came to Basel in the autumn of 1527, and threw himself upon the gentle and generous protection of Œcolampadius, who cheerfully received him and conscientiously, though vainly, strove to convert him. But soon he was attacked by a power no earthly protector could cope with—he fell sick of the plague and died in Basel, November, 1527. He was a pure, honest and noble man and fine scholar.

Ludwig Haetzer (or perhaps oftener written Hetzer, i. e., baiter, as being an objectionable form, and therefore more suitable for a hated “Anabaptist”) was born at Bischofszell, near St. Gall, Switzerland, about 1500; educated at Freiburg im Breisgau, and became proficient in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He lived in the circle of the early Swiss Reformers, and showed himself a brilliant though excitable youth. When chaplain at Wädenschwyl, on the south shore of the Lake of Zurich, and fifteen and a half miles from the city, he published a widely read pamphlet advocating the destruction of the images in the churches, the consequence of which was that on September 29, 1523, the crucifix in one of the city churches was destroyed. In the Second Zurich Disputation (October 26-28, 1523,) he came into prominence, and drew up the official report. In Zurich he remained for months occupied in literary work, but there he joined the radicals, who eventually became the first Swiss Baptist party. In the end of June, 1524, he went to Augsburg, with a letter of recommendation from Zwingli, but returned at the end of the year, and then allying himself with the Baptist party he was ordered from the city, January 21, 1525. He went again to Augsburg, and found employment with the printer Ottmar. But his associations with the dreaded and detested Baptists caused his banishment in the autumn. By way of Constance and Basel, where Œcolampadius received him as he had Denk, he came once more to Zurich and won at length the return of Zwingli’s confidence. But he had not altered his opinions, although out of prudence he concealed them, and when he published a book revealing his Baptist views Zwingli did not stay his banishment from Zurich. So in March, 1526, he was back in Basel. Then, at Strassburg (whence he was banished in the end of December, 1526), and later in Worms, he translated the prophetical books of the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and with Denk issued the volume as already mentioned. The two were expelled (June, 1527,) and Haetzer went again to Augsburg, whence he had to go, in the spring of 1528. These repeated and now long-continued experiences of persecution seem to have broken his spirit. He went to his native village, thence to St. Gall, and finally, in the autumn of 1528, to Constance. There he married Anna, the widow of his Augsburg patron, George Regel. But he was charged with having married also her maid, and so he was arrested for bigamy, and on February 4, 1529, beheaded. But then the Baptists were popularly believed to be capable of all the sins and crimes in the calendar, and the probability is that Haetzer really was innocent of the accusation and died for his faith. Anyhow, his death was considered by many as that of a martyr, and was surely faced with religions ecstacy and commemorated by the Baptists.

The last person to be mentioned in this connection is Jacob Kautz, called by Zwingli under his Latinized name Cucius. He was born at Bockenheim in Prussia, three miles northwest of Frankfort on the Main, about 1500. He entered the priesthood, but a little later accepted the Reformation and preached it at Worms. He took his coloring rather from Zwingli than from Luther, and so was on bad terms with both the Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy in the city. When Denk and Haetzer visited Worms in 1527 they made his acquaintance, and he joined the Baptist company there, which had become quite numerous, and it was he who on Whitsunday (June 9th), 1527, gave out in German the Seven Articles (printed in Zwingli’s Works, viii., 77, both in German and Latin,) as topics for a public debate on June 13th. These Articles of Kautz were as follows:

“I. The external word is not the true, living or eternally abiding Word of God, but only the testimony or indication of the inner to satisfy the demand for external things.

“II. Nothing external, whether word, sign, sacrament or promise, has power to assure, console or make certain the inner man.

“III. The baptism of infants is contrary to the teaching of God given us through Christ.

“IV. In the Lord’s Supper neither the body nor the blood of Christ is corporeally present.

“V. All that was lost in the first Adam is and will be found more richly restored in the second Adam, Christ; yea, in Christ shall all men be quickened and blessed forever.

“VI. Jesus Christ of Nazareth suffered on the cross and made satisfaction for us in no other way than that we should stand in his footsteps and walk in the way which he has opened, and obey the command of the Father, even as the Son did. They who speak, think or believe otherwise of Christ, each in his own way makes out of Christ an idol.

“VII. Just as the literal bite of the forbidden fruit would have harmed neither [Adam] himself nor his descendants if he had not eaten of the same with his mind, so also the bodily suffering of Jesus Christ is not real satisfaction and reconciliation with the Father without internal obedience and the greatest desire to yield to the eternal will.

“Of these articles thus formulated, no one must be judge except only He who speaks and testifies in the hearts of all men, as Scripture says. For no man has been commanded by God to call the truth into judgment, but only to testify.”

It must be confessed that some of these Articles were repugnant to the prevailing orthodoxy, but in a less strenuous time they could have been debated without persecuting those who held them.

There were at that time close connections between the Reformed in Worms and in Strassburg, and many of the Baptists in the former place had come from the latter. Accordingly the Strassburg Reformed pastors issued, on July 2, 1527, a pamphlet entitled: “A faithful warning of the preachers of the gospel in Strassburg against the Articles which Jacob Kautz, preacher at Worms, has lately issued concerning the fruit of the Scripture and the Word of God, Infant Baptism and the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, and other doctrines.”

There is no evidence that the purposed debate ever came off, but the city banished Kautz, along with Denk and Haetzer, and henceforth he was a wanderer. He went first to Augsburg, then to Rothenburg and in the beginning of 1528, to Strassburg. There he had a debate with Capito and Butzer, June, 1528, and remained at liberty till January, 1529, when he was cast into prison for street preaching. He was released only to be banished. He is heard of only twice again. In 1532, he applied in vain for permission to return to Strassburg; in 1536, he was teaching school in Moravīa. The date and place of his death are unknown.

The allusion to a Baptist denial of the whole Old Testament at Worms is to that by the company of Baptists already mentioned as gathered in that place. Grüningen, which is also mentioned in that connection, is a village in the Canton of Zurich, and twelve miles southeast of that city and some three miles back of the north shore of the lake. It was an early Baptist important center and, therefore, a scene of ruthless persecution.

Capito in his letter to Zwingli of June 9, 1527 (see latter’s Works, viii, 76-78) reveals the attitude of the Strassburg Reformed clergy towards the Baptists, to whom he had for a while inclined. He charges them with fantastic belief and fanatic conduct. It is very likely there were mystics and fanatics among them, but testimony from violently prejudiced quarters should be received with caution, for from all that appears, the rank and file of the Baptists were good and God-fearing people.

Allusion to his Commentary on the True and False Religion, see Works, iii., 171.

Phlegethon was one of the five rivers of Hades.

The document is generally attributed to Conrad Grebel, who had been converted by Zwingli from a licentious life, and who became one of his ardent followers. He joined the radical party in Zurich, and when Zwingli would not go their lengths he turned against him, and in letters to Vadian, his brother-in-law, abuses him. See Die Vadianische Briefsammlung, ed. Arbenz, passim. Grebel belonged to a prominent Zurich family. His father was beheaded as a traitor (November, 1526), and he himself was banished from the city for his Baptist faith in 1525, and died of the plague the next year at Maienfeld, in the canton of St. Gall and a couple of miles north of Ragatz.

The editors of Zwingli’s Works think that here, as on p. 155 and elsewhere, is an allusion to Balthasar Hubmaier because, as they say, Œcolampadius announced to Zwingli on July 19, 1527, that there was a rumor that Hubmaier had been burnt at the stake. The rumor was false and the editors made a slip, as this treatise of Zwingli’s is dated July 31, 1527, and the letter of Œcolampadius is really dated August 18, 1527. (Works, viii., 85.) But the allusion probably is to Conrad Grebel, as already stated on p. 155. To burn among the shades it was not absolutely necessary to have been burnt at the stake first.

Allusion to the teaching in Plato’s Republic, Book v.

This village probably was Zollicon, which was five miles out.

Irenæus, Adv. Haer., I., vi., 3. The passage is as follows:

“Some of them are in the habit of defiling those women to whom they have taught the above doctrine, as has frequently been confessed by those women who have been led astray by certain of them, on returning to the Church of God, and acknowledging this along with the rest of their errors. Others of them, too, openly and without a blush, having become passionately attached to certain women, seduce them away from their husbands and contract marriages of their own with them. Others of them again, who pretend at first to live in all modesty with them as sisters, have in course of time been revealed in their true colors, when the sister has been found with child by her [pretended] brother.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Chr. Lit. Co., ed. i., 324.)

Thomas Schinker upon his brother Leonhard.

At the west end of the Lake of Walenstadt, no mean rival of Lake Lucerne, some twenty miles southeast of Zurich. There Zwingli had passed his boyhood in his uncle’s house.

The authorities, with Zwingli’s assent, first forced these oppressed people into holding secret meetings, if they met at all, and now Zwingli taunts them for their secrecy! Alas.

In Switzerland it was the custom to carry side arms in the senate, courts, popular assembly, and even at baptisms. (Edd. Zwingli’s Works.)

He refers here to his antipathy to the foreign military service of the Swiss, which he assailed and condemned. (Edd. Zwingli’s Works.)

Zwingli calls them Coryphaei, the name given to the leaders of the chorus in the Greek drama.

I. e., transfers his real possessions and interests thither.

The name is commonly interpreted “acquisition.”

Modern scholars made the name “Abel” mean “breath” or “vanity.”

“Seth” is now interpreted “substitution.”

Eng. trans. Plutarch on the delay of the Divine Justice, trans. A. P. Peabody. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1885. The Latin title is De sera numinis vindicta. It is one of his Opera moralia; Eng. trans., Plutarch’s miscellanies and essays; trans. revised by W. W. Goodwin, Boston, 1872-74, 5 vols.

This remark shows how extremely liberally-minded Zwingli was.

So taught, e. g., the Gnostics.

Referring probably to some case of recent occurrence and well known to his readers.

The one mentioned as visiting Saul in his blindness (Acts ix. 10-19.

“Gratianum actio” again—“the giving of thanks for.”

This rhetorical figure wherein the part is put for the whole, or a whole for a part, is considered by Zwingli an unanswerable argument. Instances of it are frequent. E. g., the Athenians are often spoken of as if they comprised all the Greeks, and what they did the Greeks are said to have done.

“Tuba” means “trumpet;” can he mean the mosquito?

Book v., chap. ix.

A treatise on the merits and forgiveness of sins, and on the baptism of infants. Migne, x., col. 109 sqq. Eng. trans. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, v., 15—200

Allusion to the Frankfort (on the Main) Autumnal Fair, which was the great book mart at that time; the date of this treatise being July 31, 1527.

He ventured to the drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens, and came so near the earth that he almost set it on fire!

The theory here rejected is known as “Psychopannychia,” the doctrine of the sleep of the soul. It received very elaborate refutation from the youthful Calvin: Psychopannychia, qua refellitur quorundam imperitorum error, qui animas post mortem usque ad ultimum judicium dormire putant. Libellus ante septem annos compositus, nunc tamen primum in lucem aeditus. Reprinted in Calvini Opera, ed. Baum et al., v., col. 165-232; Eng. trans., Calvin’s tracts, vol. iii., 413—490.

According to the tale Epimenides slept fifty-seven years.

Baden is a town only 12 miles northwest of Zurich, but such a centre of the bitterest foes of Zwingli that he did not venture to go thither to attend the Disputation. It was the Old Church’s reply to the Zurich Disputation of 1523, and lasted from May 21st to June 18th, 1526. The Acts were published at Luzern, May 18, 1527.