History of the Great Reformation Part 62

These two men were the faithful representatives of their respective nations. In the north of Germany, the princes and n.o.bility were the essential part of the nation, and the people--strangers to all political liberty--had only to obey. Thus, at the epoch of the Reformation, they were contented to follow the voice of their doctors and chiefs. In Switzerland, in the south of Germany, and on the Rhine, on the contrary, many cities, after long and violent struggles, had won their civil liberty; and hence we see in almost every place the people taking a decided part in the Reform of the Church. There was good in this; but evil was close at hand. The Reformers, themselves men of the people, who dared not act upon princes, might be tempted to hurry away the people. It was easier for the Reformation to unite with republics than with kings. This facility nearly proved its ruin. The Gospel was thus to learn that its alliance is in heaven.

[Sidenote: UNION OF THE STATES.]

There was, however, one prince with whom the reformed party of the free states desired to be in union: this was Philip of Hesse. It was he who in great measure prompted Zwingle's warlike projects. Zwingle desired to make him some return, and to introduce his new friend into the evangelical league. But Berne, watchful to avert anything that might irritate the Emperor and its ancient confederates, rejected this proposal, and thus excited a lively discontent in the "Christian City."--"What!" cried they, "do the Bernese refuse an alliance that would be honourable for us, acceptable to Jesus Christ, and terrible to our adversaries?"[1118]--"The Bear," said the high-spirited Zwingle, "is jealous of the Lion (Zurich); but there will be an end to all these artifices, and victory will remain with the bold." It would appear, indeed, according to a letter in cipher, that the Bernese at last sided with Zwingle, requiring only that this alliance with a prince of the Empire should not be made public.[1119]

[1118] Ipsis et n.o.bis honestius, ob religionis et caritatis causam, Christo gratius, ob conjunctas vires utilius, hostibusque terribilius.

(Zw. Epp. ii. p. 481.)

[1119] Tantum recusaverunt aperte agere. (Ibid. p. 487.) The cipher 3 appears to indicate the Bernese.

Still colampadius had not given way, and his meekness contended, although modestly, with the boldness of his impetuous friend. He was convinced that faith was destined to triumph only by the cordial union of all believers. A valuable relief came to reanimate his exertions.

The deputies of the Christian co-burghery, being a.s.sembled at Basle in 1530, the envoys from Strasburg endeavoured to reconcile Luther and Zwingle. colampadius wrote to Zwingle on the subject, begging him to hasten to Basle,[1120] and not show himself too unyielding. "To say that the body and blood of Christ are really in the Lord's Supper, may appear to many too hard an expression," said he, "but is it not softened, when it is added--spiritually and not bodily?"[1121]

[1120] Si potes, mox advola. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 547.)

[1121] Christi corpus et sanguinem adesse vero in cna forta.s.se cuipiam durius sonat, sed mitigatur dum adjungitur animo non corpore.

(Ibid.)

[Sidenote: ZWINGLE'S POLITICS.]

Zwingle was immovable. "It is to flatter Luther that you hold such language, and not to defend the truth.[1122] _Edere est credere._"[1123] Nevertheless there were men present at the meeting, who were resolved upon energetic measures. Brotherly love was on the eve of triumphing: peace was to be obtained by union. The Elector of Saxony himself proposed a concord of all Evangelical Christians: the Landgrave invited the Swiss cities to accede to it. A report spread that Luther and Zwingle were about to make the same confession of faith. Zwingle, calling to mind the early professions of the Saxon Reformer, said one day at table before many witnesses, that Luther would not think so erroneously about the Eucharist, if he were not misled by Melancthon.[1124] The union of the whole Reform seemed about to be concluded: it would have vanquished by its own weapons. But Luther soon showed that Zwingle was mistaken in his expectation. He required a written engagement by which Zwingle and colampadius should adhere to his sentiments, and the negotiations were broken off in consequence. Concord having failed, there remained nothing but war.

colampadius must be silent, and Zwingle must act.

[1122] Haec omnia fieri pro Luthero neque pro veritate propugnandi causa. (Ibid. p. 550.)

[1123] To eat is to believe. (Ibid.)

[1124] Memini dudum Tiguri te dicentem c.u.m convivio me exciperes, Lutherum non adeo perperam de Eucharistia sentire, nisi quod Melancthon ex alio eum cogeret. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 562.)

[Sidenote: HIS FORESIGHT.]

And in truth from that hour Zwingle advanced more and more along that fatal path into which he was led by his character, his patriotism, and his early habits. Stunned by so many violent shocks, attacked by his enemies and by his brethren, he staggered and his head grew dizzy.

From this period the reformer almost entirely disappears, and we see in his place the politician, the great citizen, who, beholding a formidable coalition preparing its chains for every nation, stands up energetically against it. The Emperor had just formed a close alliance with the Pope. If his deadly schemes were not opposed, it would be all over, in Zwingle's opinion, with the Reformation, with religious and political liberty, and even with the Confederation itself. "The Emperor," said he, "is stirring up friend against friend, enemy against enemy: and then he endeavours to raise out of this confusion the glory of the Papacy, and above all his own power. He excites the Chatelain of Musso against the Grisons--Duke George of Saxony against Duke John--the Bishop of Constance against the city--the Duke of Savoy against Berne--the Five Cantons against Zurich--and the Bishops of the Rhine against the Landgrave; then, when the confusion shall have become general, he will fall upon Germany, will offer himself as a mediator, and ensnare princes and cities by fine speeches, until he has them all under his feet. Alas! what discord, what disasters, under the pretence of re-establishing the Empire and restoring religion!"[1125] Zwingle went farther. The reformer of a small town in Switzerland, rising to the most astonishing political conceptions, called for a European alliance against such fatal designs. The son of a peasant of the Tockenburg held up his head against the heir of so many crowns. "That man must either be a traitor or a coward," wrote he to a senator of Constance, "who is content to stretch and yawn, when he ought to be collecting men and arms on every side, to show the Emperor that in vain he strives to re-establish the Romish faith, to enslave the free cities, and to subdue the Helvetians.[1126] He showed us only six months ago how he would proceed. To-day he will take one city in hand, to-morrow another; and so, step by step, until they are all reduced. Then their arms will be taken away, their treasures, their machines of war, and all their power......Arouse Lindau, and all your neighbours; if they do not awake, public liberty will perish under the pretext of religion. We must place no confidence in the friendship of tyrants. Demosthenes teaches us that there is nothing so hateful in their eyes as t?? t?? p??e?? e?e??e??a?.[1127]

The Emperor with one hand offers us bread, but in the other he conceals a stone."[1128] And a few months later Zwingle wrote to his friends in Constance: "Be bold; fear not the schemes of Charles. The razor will cut him who is sharpening it."[1129]

[1125] Quae dissidia, quas turbas, quae mala, quas clades! (Zw. Epp. ii.

p. 429.)

[1126] Romanam fidem rest.i.tuere, urbes liberas capere, Helvetios in ordinem cogere. (Ibid. March 1530.)

[1127] "The freedom of cities." These words are in Greek in the original.

[1128] Caesar altera manu panem ostentat, altera lapidem celat. (Zw.

Epp. March 1530.)

[1129] Incidet in cotem aliquando novacula. (Ibid. p. 544.)

[Sidenote: ADVOCATES RESISTANCE.]

Away, then, with delay! Should they wait until Charles the Fifth claimed the ancient castle of Hapsburg? The Papacy and the Empire, it was said at Zurich, are so confounded together,[1130] that one cannot exist or perish without the other. Whoever rejects Popery should reject the Empire, and whoever rejects the Emperor should reject the Pope.

[1130] Bapst und Keyserthumen habend sich derma.s.sen in einandern geflickt. (Bull. ii. p. 343.)

It appears that Zwingle's thoughts even went beyond a simple resistance. When once the Gospel had ceased to be his princ.i.p.al study, there was nothing that could arrest him. "A single individual," said he, "must not take it into his head to dethrone a tyrant; this would be a revolt, and the kingdom of G.o.d commands peace, righteousness, and joy. But if a whole people with common accord, or if the majority at least, rejects him, without committing any excess, it is G.o.d himself who acts."[1131] Charles V. was at that time a tyrant in Zwingle's eyes; and the reformer hoped that Europe, awakening at length from its long slumber, would be the hand of G.o.d to hurl him from his throne.

[1131] So ist es mit Gott. (Zw. Opp.)

[Sidenote: EMBa.s.sY TO VENICE.]

Never since the time of Demosthenes and of the two Catos had the world seen a more energetic resistance to the power of its oppressors.

Zwingle in a political point of view is one of the greatest characters of modern times: we must pay him this honour, which is, perhaps, for a minister of G.o.d, the greatest reproach. Everything was prepared in his mind to bring about a revolution that would have changed the history of Europe. He knew what he desired to subst.i.tute in place of the power he wished to overthrow. He had already cast his eyes upon the prince who was to wear the imperial crown instead of Charles. It was his friend the Landgrave. "Most gracious prince," he wrote on the 2d November 1529, "I write to you as a child to a father; it is because I hope that G.o.d has chosen you for great events......I dare think, but I dare not speak of them[1132]......However, we must bell the cat at last.[1133]......All that I can do with my feeble means to manifest the truth, to save the Universal Church, to augment your power and the power of those who love G.o.d--with G.o.d's help, I will do." Thus was this great man led astray. It is the will of G.o.d that there be spots even in those who shine brightest in the eyes of the world, and that only one upon earth shall say--"Which of you convinceth me of sin?" We are now viewing the faults of the Reformation: they arise from the union of religion with politics. I could not take upon myself to pa.s.s them by; the recollection of the errors of our predecessors is perhaps the most useful legacy they have bequeathed to us.

[1132] Spero Deum te ad magnas res......quasquidem cogitare sed non dicere licet. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 666.)

[1133] Sed fieri non potest quin tintinnabulum aliquando feli adnectatur. (Zw. Epp. ii.)

It appears already that at Marburg Zwingle and the Landgrave had drawn out the first sketch of a general alliance Against Charles V. The Landgrave had undertaken to bring over the princes, Zwingle the free cities of Southern Germany and Switzerland. He went still further, and formed a plan of gaining over to this league the republics of Italy--the powerful Venice at least--that she might detain the Emperor beyond the Alps, and prevent him from leading all his forces into Germany. Zwingle, who had earnestly pleaded against all foreign alliances, and proclaimed on so many occasions that the only ally of the Swiss should be the arm of the Almighty, began now to look around for what he had condemned, and thus prepared the way for the terrible judgment that was about to strike his family, his country, and his Church.

He had hardly returned from Marburg, and had made no official communication to the great council, when he obtained from the senate the nomination of an amba.s.sador to Venice. Great men, after their first success, easily imagine that they can do everything. It was not a statesman who was charged with this mission, but one of Zwingle's friends, who had accompanied him into Germany, to the court of the future chief of the Empire--the Greek professor, Rodolph Collin, a bold and skilful man, and who knew Italian. Thus the Reform stretched its hands to the Doge and the Procurator of St. Marc. The Bible was not enough for it--it must have the _Golden Book_: never did a greater humiliation befall G.o.d's work. The opinion which Protestants then entertained of Venice may, however, partly excuse Zwingle. There was in that city more independence of the Pope, more freedom of thought, than in all the rest of Italy. Luther himself about this time wrote to Gabriel Zwilling, pastor at Torgau: "With what joy do I learn what you write to me concerning the Venetians. G.o.d be praised and glorified, for that they have received his Word!"[1134]

[1134] Laetus audio de Venetis quae scribis, quod verb.u.m Dei receperint, Deo gratia ac gloria. (7th March 1528. L. Epp. iii. p. 289.)

[Sidenote: PROJECTED ALLIANCE.]

Collin was admitted, on the 26th December, to an audience with the Doge and senate, who looked with an air of astonishment at this schoolmaster, this strange amba.s.sador, without attendants, and without parade. They could not even understand his credentials, in so singular a style were they drawn up, and Collin was forced to explain their meaning. "I am come to you," said he, "in the name of the council of Zurich and of the cities of the Christian co-burghery--free cities like Venice, and to which common interests should unite you. The power of the Emperor is formidable to the Republics; he is aiming at a universal monarchy in Europe; if he succeeds, all the free states will perish. We must therefore check him."[1135] The Doge replied that the Republic had just concluded an alliance with the Emperor, and betrayed the distrust that so mysterious a mission excited in the Venetian senate. But afterwards, in a private conference,[1136] the Doge, wishing to preserve a retreat on both sides, added, that Venice gratefully received the message from Zurich, and that a Venetian regiment, armed and paid by the Republic itself, should be always ready to support the Evangelical Swiss. The chancellor, covered with his purple robe, attended Collin to the door, and, at the very gates of the ducal palace, confirmed the promise of support. The moment the Reformation pa.s.sed the magnificent porticos of St. Marc it was seized with giddiness; it could but stagger onwards to the abyss. They dismissed poor Collin by placing in his hands a present of twenty crowns. The rumour of these negotiations soon spread abroad, and the less suspicious, Capito for example, shook their heads, and could see in this pretended agreement nothing but the accustomed perfidy of Venice.[1137]

[1135] Formidandam rebus-publicis potentiam Caesaris, quae omnino ad Europae monarchiam vergit (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 445.)

[1136] Postea privatim alia respondisse. (Ibid.)

[1137] Perfidiam adversus Caesarem, fidem videri volunt. (Capito, Zw.

Epp. ii. p. 445.)

This was not enough. The cause of the Reform was fated to drink the cup of degradation to the very dregs. Zwingle, seeing that his adversaries in the Empire increased daily in numbers and in power, gradually lost his ancient aversion for France; and, although there was now a greater obstacle than before between him and Francis I.,--the blood of his brethren shed by that monarch,--he showed himself favourably disposed to a union that he had once so forcibly condemned.

Lambert Maigret, a French general, who appears to have had some leaning to the Gospel--which is a slight excuse for Zwingle--entered into correspondence with the reformer, giving him to understand that the secret designs of Charles V. called for an alliance between the King of France and the Swiss Republics. "Apply yourself," said this diplomatist to him in 1530, "to a work so agreeable to our Creator, and which, by G.o.d's grace, will be very easy to your Mightiness."[1138]

Zwingle was at first astonished at these overtures. "The King of France," thought he, "cannot know which way to turn."[1139] Twice he took no heed of this prayer; but the envoy of Francis I. insisted that the reformer should communicate to him a plan of alliance. At the third attempt of the amba.s.sador, the simple child of the Tockenburg mountains could no longer resist his advances. If Charles V. must fall, it cannot be without French a.s.sistance; and why should not the Reformation contract an alliance with Francis I., the object of which would be to establish a power in the Empire that should in its turn oblige the King to tolerate the Reform in his own dominions?

Everything seemed to meet the wishes of Zwingle; the fall of the tyrant was at hand, and he would drag the Pope along with him. He communicated the general's overtures to the secret council, and Collin set out, commissioned to bear the required project to the French amba.s.sador.[1140] "In ancient times," it ran, "no kings or people ever resisted the Roman Empire with such firmness as those of France and Switzerland. Let us not degenerate from the virtues of our ancestors.

His most Christian Majesty--all whose wishes are, that the purity of the Gospel may remain undefiled[1141]--engages therefore to conclude an alliance with the Christian co-burghery that shall be in accordance with the Divine law, and that shall be submitted to the censure of the evangelical theologians of Switzerland." Then followed an outline of the different articles of the treaty.

[1138] Operi Creatori nostro acceptissimo, Dominationi tuae facillimo, media gratia Dei. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 413.)

[1139] Regem admodum desesperare et inopem concilii esse, ut nesciat quo se vertat (Ibid. p. 414.)

[1140] Bis negavi, at tertio misi, non sine conscientia Probulatarum.

(Zw. Epp. ii. p. 422.)

[1141] Nihil enim aequi esse in votis Christianissimi Regis, atque ut Evangelii puritas illibata permaneat. (Ibid. p. 417.)