History of the Great Reformation Part 48

No;--not if priests and bishops were appointed, as Rome pretends, to form a mystic bond between the Church and our Lord; Yes--if they were established, as the Bible declares, only to satisfy that law of order by virtue of which all society should have a directing power. The opinions of the Swiss Reformers in this respect were not doubtful. The grace which creates the minister comes from the Lord, thought they; but the Church examines this grace, acknowledges it, proclaims it by the elders, and in every act in which faith is concerned, it can always appeal from the minister to the Word of G.o.d. _Try the spirits--prove all things_, it says to the faithful. The Church is the judge of controversies;[899] and it is this duty, in which it should never be found wanting, that it was now about to fulfil in the disputation at Berne.

[899] _Judex controversiarum_--1 John iv. 1; 1 Thess. v. 21.

The contest seemed unequal. On one side appeared the Roman hierarchy, a giant which had increased in strength during many centuries; and on the other, there was at first but one weak and timid man, the modest Berthold Haller. "I cannot wield the sword of the Word," said he in alarm to his friends. "If you do not stretch out your hands to me, all is over." He then threw himself trembling at the feet of the Lord, and soon arose enlightened and exclaiming, "Faith in the Saviour gives me courage, and scatters all my fears."[900]

[900] Fides in Dominum me animat, ut nihil verear. (Zw. Epp. ii. p.

123.)

Yet he could not remain alone: all his looks were turned towards Zwingle: "It was I who took the bath at Baden," wrote colampadius to Haller, "and now it is Zwingle who should lead off the bear-dance in Berne."[901]--"We are between the hammer and the anvil," wrote Haller to Zwingle; "we hold the wolf by the ears, and know not how to let him go.[902] The houses of De Watteville, Noll, Tremp, and Berthold are open to you. Come, then, and command the battle in person."

[901] An allusion to the dispute at Baden, a celebrated bathing-place, and to the arms of Berne. (Ibid. p. 118.)

[902] Lupum auribus tenemus. (Zurich MS.)

[Sidenote: A CHRISTIAN BAND.]

Zwingle did not hesitate. He demanded permission of the Council of Zurich to visit Berne, in order to show there "that his teaching was full of the fear of G.o.d, and not blasphemous; mighty to spread concord through Switzerland, and not to cause troubles and dissension."[903]

At the very time that Haller received news of Zwingle's coming, colampadius wrote to him: "I am ready, if it be necessary, to sacrifice my life. Let us inaugurate the new year by embracing one another to the glory of Jesus Christ." Other doctors wrote to the same effect. "These, then," cried Haller with emotion, "these are the auxiliaries that the Lord sends to my infirmity, to aid me in fighting this rude battle!"

[903] Neque ad perturbationem nostrae almae Helvetiae. (Zw. Epp. ii. p.

120.)

It was necessary to proceed with circ.u.mspection, for the violence of the oligarchs and of the Five Cantons was well known.[904] The doctors of Glaris, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Constance, Ulm, Lindau and Augsburg, a.s.sembled at Zurich, to proceed under the same escort as Zwingle, Pellican, Collin, Megander, Grossman, the commander Schmidt, Bullinger, and a great number of the rural clergy, selected to accompany the reformer. "When all this game traverses the country,"

said the pensioners, "we will go a-hunting, and see if we cannot kill some, or at least catch them and put them into a cage."

[904] Oligarchae in angulis obmurmurent. (Ibid. p. 123.)

Three hundred chosen men, selected from the companies of Zurich and from the parishes within its precincts, donned their breastplates and shouldered their arquebuses; but in order not to give the journey of these doctors the appearance of a military expedition, they took neither colours, fife, nor drum; and the trumpeter of the city, a civil officer, rode alone at the head of the company.

[Sidenote: OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE.]

On Tuesday the 2d of January they set out. Never had Zwingle appeared more cheerful. "Glory be to the Lord," said he, "my courage increases every day."[905] The burgomaster Roust, the town-clerk of Mangoldt, with Funck and Jaekli, both masters of arts, and all four delegated by the council, were on horseback near him. They reached Berne on the 4th of January, having had only one or two unimportant alarms.

[905] Crescit, Domino gloria, mihi animus in hac pugna. (Zw. Epp.

Vadiano.)

The Cordeliers' Church was to serve as the place of conference.

Tillmann, the city architect, had made arrangements according to a plan furnished by Zwingle.[906] A large platform had been erected on which were placed two tables, and around them sat the champions of the two parties. On the evangelical side were remarked, besides Haller, Zwingle, and colampadius, many distinguished men of the Reformed Church, strangers to Switzerland, as Bucer, Capito, and Ambrose Blarer. On the side of the papacy, Dr. Treger of Friburg, who enjoyed a high reputation, appeared to keep up the fire of the combat. As for the rest, whether through fear or contempt, the most famous Roman doctors were absent.

[906] Tillmannus urbis architectus loc.u.m juxta tuam deformationem operabit. (Ibid. ii p. 123.)

The first act was to publish the regulations of the conference. "No proof shall be proposed that is not drawn from the Holy Scriptures, and no explanation shall be given of those scriptures, that does not come from Scripture itself, explaining obscure texts by such as are clear." After this, one of the secretaries, rising to call over the roll, shouted with a loud voice that re-echoed through the church,--The Bishop of Constance! No one replied. He did the same for the bishops of Zion, Basle, and Lausanne. Neither of these prelates was present at this meeting, either in person or by deputy. The Word of G.o.d being destined to reign alone, the Roman hierarchy did not appear. These two powers cannot walk together. There were present about three hundred and fifty Swiss and German ecclesiastics.

[Sidenote: CHRIST, THE SOLE HEAD.]

On Tuesday, 7th January, 1528, the burgomaster Vadia.n.u.s, of St. Gall, one of the presidents, opened the disputation. After him the aged Kolb stood up, and said: "G.o.d is at this moment agitating the whole world, let us, therefore, humble ourselves before him," and he p.r.o.nounced with fervour a confession of sins.

When this was done, the first thesis was read. It was thus drawn up.

"The Holy Christian Church, of which Christ is the sole head, is born of the Word of G.o.d, abideth in it, and listeneth not to the voice of a stranger."

ALEXIS GRAT, a Dominican monk,--"The word _sole_ is not in Scripture.

Christ has left a vicar here below."

HALLER.--"The vicar that Christ left is the Holy Ghost."

TREGER.--"See then to what a pa.s.s things have come these last ten years. This man calls himself a Lutheran, that a Zwinglian; a third, a Carlstadtian; a fourth an colampadist; a fifth, an Anabaptist......"

BUCER.--"Whosoever preacheth Jesus as the only Saviour, we recognize as our brother. Neither Luther, nor Zwingle, nor colampadius, desires the faithful to bear his name. Besides, you should not boast so much of a mere external unity. When antichrist gained the upperhand throughout the world, in the East by Mahomet, in the West by the Pope, he was able to keep the people in unity of error. G.o.d permits divisions, in order that those who belong to him may learn to look not to men, but to the testimony of the Word, and to the a.s.surance of the Holy Ghost in their hearts. Thus then, dearly beloved brethren, to the Scriptures, the Scriptures![907] O Church of Berne, hold fast to the teaching of Him who said, _Come unto me_, and not, _Come unto my vicar_!"

[907] Darum fromme Christen! Zur Schrift, zur Schrift! (Acta Zw. ii.

p. 92.)

The disputation then turned successively on Tradition, the Merits of Christ, Transubstantiation, the Ma.s.s, Prayer to the Saints, Purgatory, Images, Celibacy, and the Disorders of the Clergy. Rome found numerous defenders, and among others, Murer, priest of Rapperswyl, who had said: "If they wish to burn the two ministers of Berne, I will undertake to carry them both to the stake."

[Sidenote: REMARKABLE CONVERSION.]

On Sunday, the 19th of January the day on which the doctrine of the Ma.s.s was attacked, Zwingle, desirous of acting on the people also, went into the pulpit, and reciting the Apostles' Creed, made a pause after these words: "He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of G.o.d the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." "These three articles," said he, "are in contradiction to the Ma.s.s." All his hearers redoubled their attention; and a priest, clothed in his sacerdotal vestments; who was preparing to celebrate the holy sacrifice in one of the chapels, stopped in astonishment at Zwingle's words. Erect before the consecrated altar on which lay the chalice and the body of the Saviour, with eyes fixed upon the reformer, whose words electrified the people, a prey to the most violent struggles, and beaten down by the weight of truth, the agitated priest resolved to sacrifice every thing for it. In the presence of the whole a.s.sembly, he stripped off his priestly ornaments, and throwing them on the altar, he exclaimed: "Unless the Ma.s.s reposes on a more solid foundation, I can celebrate it no longer!" The noise of this conversion, effected at the very foot of the altar, immediately spread through the city,[908] and it was regarded as an important omen. So long as the Ma.s.s remains, Rome has gained everything: as soon as the Ma.s.s falls, Rome has lost all. The Ma.s.s is the creative principle of the whole system of Popery.

[908] Das lachet menklich und ward durch die gantzen Stadt kundt.

(Bulling, i. p. 436.) In this and other quotations, we preserve the orthography of the times.

[Sidenote: ST. VINCENT'S DAY.]

Three days later, on the 22d January, was the feast of St. Vincent, the patron of the city. The disputation that had been carried on during Sunday was suspended on that day. The canons asked the council what they were to do. "Such of you," replied the council, "as receive the doctrine of the theses ought not to say Ma.s.s; the others may perform divine worship as usual."[909] Every preparation was accordingly made for the solemnity. On St. Vincent's eve the bells from every steeple announced the festival to the inhabitants of Berne.

On the morrow the sacristans lit up the tapers; incense filled the temple, but no one appeared. No priests to say Ma.s.s, no faithful to hear it! Already there was a vast chasm in the Roman sanctuary, a deep silence, as on the field of battle, where none but the dead are lying.

[909] Bullinger says, on the contrary, that the council positively forbade the Ma.s.s. But Bullinger, who is a very animated writer, is not always exact in diplomatic matters. The council would not have come to such a resolution before the close of the discussion. Other contemporary historians and official doc.u.ments leave no room for doubt on this point. Stettler, in his Chronicle, pars ii. p. 6, ad annum 1528, details these proceedings as in the text.

In the evening it was the custom for the canons to chaunt vespers with great pomp. The organist was at his post, but no one else appeared.

The poor man left thus alone, beholding with sorrow the fall of that worship by which he gained his bread, gave utterance to his grief by playing a mourning-hymn instead of the majestic _Magnificat_: "Oh, wretched Judas, what hast thou done, that thou hast thus betrayed our Lord?" After this sad farewell, he rose and went out. Almost immediately, some men, excited by the pa.s.sions of the moment, fell upon his beloved organ, an accomplice in their eyes of so many superst.i.tious rites, and their violent hands broke it to pieces. No more Ma.s.s, no more organ, no more anthems! A new Supper and new hymns shall succeed the rites of Popery.

On the next day there was the same silence. Suddenly, however, a band of men with loud voices and hasty steps was heard. It was the Butchers' Company that, at this moment so fatal to Rome, desired to support it. They advanced, carrying small fir-trees and green branches, for the decoration of their chapel. In the midst of them was a foreign priest, behind whom walked a few poor scholars. The priest officiated; the sweet voices of the scholars supplied the place of the mute organ, and the butchers retired proud of their victory.

[Sidenote: PAPIST BITTERNESS.]

The discussion was drawing to a close: the combatants had dealt vigorous blows. Burgauer, pastor of St. Gall, had maintained the real presence in the Host; but on the 19th January he declared himself convinced by the reasonings of Zwingle, colampadius, and Bucer; and Matthias, minister of Saengen, had done the same.

A conference in Latin afterwards took place between Farel and a Parisian doctor. The latter advanced a strange argument. "Christians,"

said he, "are enjoined to obey the devil;[910] for it is said, _Submit unto thine adversary_ (Matt. v. 25); now, our adversary is the devil.

How much more, then, should we submit to the Church!" Loud bursts of laughter greeted this remarkable syllogism. A discussion with the Anabaptists terminated the conference.

[910] Nos tenemur obedire diabolo. (J. J. Hottinger, iii. p. 405.)

The two councils decreed that the Ma.s.s should be abolished, and that every one might remove from the churches the ornaments he had placed there.

Immediately twenty-five altars and a great number of images were destroyed in the cathedral, yet without disorder or bloodshed; and the children began to sing in the streets (as Luther informs us):[911]--

By the Word at length we're saved From a G.o.d in a mortar brayed.