History of the Great Reformation Part 65

[Sidenote: ZWINGLE AT BREMGARTEN.]

From this moment he displayed new zeal. On the one hand, he endeavoured to revive harmony and courage in Zurich; on the other, he set about arousing and exciting the allied cities to increase and concentrate all the forces of the Reformation. Faithful to the political character he imagined he had received from G.o.d himself--persuaded that it was in the doubts and want of energy of the Bernese that he must look for the cause of all the evil, the Reformer repaired to Bremgarten with Collin and Steiner, during the fourth conference of the diet, although he incurred great danger in the attempt. He arrived secretly by night, and having entered the house of his friend and disciple, Bullinger, he invited the deputies of Berne (J. J. de Watteville and Jur Hag) to meet him there with the greatest secrecy, and prayed them in the most solemn tone earnestly to reflect upon the dangers of the Reform. "I fear," said he, "that in consequence of our unbelief, this business will not succeed. By refusing supplies to the Five Cantons, we have begun a work that will be fatal to us. What is to be done? Withdraw the prohibition? The cantons will then be more insolent and haughty than ever. Enforce it?

They will take the offensive, and if their attack succeed, you will behold our fields red with the blood of the believers, the doctrine of truth cast down, the Church of Christ laid waste, all social relations overthrown, our adversaries more hardened and irritated against the Gospel, and crowds of priests and monks again fill our rural districts, streets, and temples......And yet," added Zwingle, after a few instants of emotion and silence, "that also will have an end." The Bernese were filled with agitation by the solemn voice of the reformer. "We see," replied they, "all that is to be feared for our common cause, and we will employ every care to prevent such great disasters."--"I who write these things was present and heard them,"

adds Bullinger.[1173]

[1173] These words are in Latin: Haec ipse, qui haec scribo, ab illis audivi, praesens colloquio. (Bull. ii. p. 49.)

[Sidenote: THE APPARITION.]

It was feared that if the presence of Zwingle at Bremgarten became known to the deputies of the Five Cantons, they would not restrain their violence. During this nocturnal conference three of the town councillors were stationed as sentinels in front of Bullinger's house.

Before daybreak, the reformer and his two friends, accompanied by Bullinger and the three councillors, pa.s.sed through the deserted streets leading to the gate on the road to Zurich. Three different times Zwingle took leave of Bullinger, who was erelong to be his successor. His mind was filled with a presentiment of his approaching death; he could not tear himself from that young friend whose face he was never to see again; he blessed him amidst floods of tears. "O my dear Henry!" said he, "may G.o.d protect you! Be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to his Church!" At length they separated; but at that very moment, says Bullinger, a mysterious personage, clad in a robe as white as snow, suddenly appeared, and after frightening the soldiers who guarded the gate, plunged suddenly into the water, and vanished. Bullinger, Zwingle, and their friends did not perceive it; Bullinger himself sought for it all around, but to no purpose;[1174]

still the sentinels persisted in the reality of this frightful apparition. Bullinger in great agitation returned in darkness and in silence to his house. His mind involuntarily compared the departure of Zwingle and the white phantom; and he shuddered at the frightful omen which the thought of this spectre impressed upon his mind.

[1174] Ein menschen in ein schneeweissen Kleid. (Bull. ii. p. 49.)

[Sidenote: FRIGHTFUL OMENS.]

Sufferings of another kind pursued Zwingle to Zurich. He had thought that by consenting to remain at the head of affairs, he would recover all his ancient influence. But he was deceived: the people desired to see him there, and yet they would not follow him. The Zurichers daily became more and more indisposed towards the war which they had at first demanded, and identified themselves with the pa.s.sive system of Berne. Zwingle remained for some time stupefied and motionless before this inert ma.s.s, which his most vigorous exertions could not move. But soon discovering in every quarter of the horizon the prophetic signs, precursors of the storm about to burst upon the ship of which he was the pilot, he uttered cries of anguish, and showed the signal of distress. "I see," exclaimed he one day to the people from the pulpit, whither he had gone to give utterance to his gloomy forebodings,--"I see that the most faithful warnings cannot save you: you will not punish the pensioners of the foreigner......They have too firm a support among us! A chain is prepared--behold it entire--it unrolls link after link,--soon they will bind me to it, and more than one pious Zuricher with me......It is against me they are enraged! I am ready; I submit to the Lord's will. But these people shall never be my masters......As for thee, O Zurich, they will give thee thy reward; they will strike thee on the head. Thou willest it. Thou refusest to punish them; well! it is they who will punish thee.[1175] But G.o.d will not the less preserve his Word, and their haughtiness shall come to an end." Such was Zwingle's cry of agony; but the immobility of death alone replied. The hearts of the Zurichers were so hardened that the sharpest arrows of the reformer could not pierce them, and they fell at his feet blunted and useless.

[1175] Straafen willt sy nitt, des werden sy dich straafen. (Bull. ii.

p. 52.)

But events were pressing on, and justified all his fears. The Five Cantons had rejected every proposition that had been made to them.

"Why do you talk of punishing a few wrongs?" they had replied to the mediators; "it is a question of quite another kind. Do you not require that we should receive back among us the heretics whom we have banished, and tolerate no other priests than those who preach conformably to the Word of G.o.d? We know what that means. No--no--we will not abandon the religion of our fathers; and if we must see our wives and our children deprived of food, our hands will know how to conquer what is refused to us: to that we pledge our bodies--our goods--our lives." It was with this threatening language that the deputies quitted the Diet of Bremgarten. They had proudly shaken the folds of their mantles, war had fallen from them.

The terror was general, and the alarmed citizens beheld everywhere frightful portents, terrific signs, apparently foreboding the most horrible events. It was not only the white phantom that had appeared at Bremgarten at Zwingle's side: the most fearful omens, pa.s.sing from mouth to mouth, filled the people with the most gloomy presentiments.

The history of these phenomena, however strange it may appear, characterizes the period of which we write.

On the 26th July, a widow chancing to be alone before her house in the village of Castelenschloss, suddenly beheld a frightful spectacle--blood springing from the earth all around her![1176] She rushed in alarm into the cottage......but, oh horrible! blood is flowing everywhere--from the wainscot and from the stones;[1177]--it falls in a stream from a basin on a shelf, and even the child's cradle overflows with it. The woman imagines that the invisible hand of an a.s.sa.s.sin has been at work, and rushes in distraction out of doors, crying murder! murder![1178] The villagers and the monks of a neighbouring convent a.s.semble at the cry--they succeed in partly effacing the b.l.o.o.d.y stains; but a little later in the day, the other inhabitants of the house, sitting down in terror to eat their evening meal under the projecting eaves, suddenly discover blood bubbling up in a pond--blood flowing from the loft--blood covering all the walls of the house. Blood--blood--everywhere blood! The bailiff of Schenkenberg and the pastor of Dalheim arrive--inquire into the matter--and immediately report it to the lords of Berne and to Zwingle.

[1176] Ante et post eam purus sanguis ita acriter ex dura terra effluxit, ut ex vena incisa. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 627.)

[1177] Sed etiam sanguis ex terra, lignis, et lapidibus effluxit. (Zw.

Epp. ii. p. 627.)

[1178] Ut eadem excurreret caedem clamitans. (Zw. Ep. ii. p. 627.)

[Sidenote: THE COMET.]

Scarcely had this horrible recital--the particulars of which are faithfully preserved in Latin and in German--filled all minds with the idea of a horrible butchery, than in the western quarter of the heavens there appeared a frightful comet,[1179] whose immense train of a pale yellow colour turned towards the south. At the time of its setting, this apparition shone in the sky like the fire of a furnace.[1180] One night--on the 15th August as it would appear[1181]--Zwingle and George Muhler, formerly abbot of Wettingen, being together in the cemetery of the cathedral, both fixed their eyes upon this terrific meteor. "This ominous globe," said Zwingle, "is come to light the path that leads to my grave. It will be at the cost of my life and of many good men with me. Although I am rather shortsighted, I foresee great calamities in the future.[1182] The Truth and the Church will mourn; but Christ will never abandon us." It was not only at Zurich that this flaming star spread consternation.

Vadia.n.u.s being one night on an eminence in the neighbourhood of St.

Gall, surrounded by his friends and disciples, after having explained to them the names of the stars and the miracles of the Creator, stopped before this comet, which denounced the anger of G.o.d; and the famous Theophrastus declared that it foreboded not only great bloodshed, but most especially the death of learned and ill.u.s.trious men. This mysterious phenomenon prolonged its frightful visitation until the 3d September.

[1179] Ein gar eschrocklicher comet. (Bull. ii. p 46.) It was Halley's comet, that returns about every 76 years. It appeared last in 1835.

[1180] Wie ein fhuwr in einer ess. (Ibid.) Perhaps Bullinger alludes in this way to the phenomenon remarked by Appian, astronomer to Charles V., who observed this comet at Ingoldstadt, and who says that the tail disappeared as the nucleus approached the horizon. In 1456, its appearance had already excited great terror.

[1181] Cometam jam tribus noctibus viderunt apud nos alii, ego una tantum, puto 15 Augusti. (Zw. Epp. p. 634.)

[1182] Ego caeculus non unam calamitatem expecto. (Ibid. p. 626.)

When once the noise of these omens was spread abroad, men could no longer contain themselves. Their imaginations were excited; they heaped fright upon fright: each place had its terrors. Two banners waving in the clouds had been seen on the mountain of the Brunig; at Zug a buckler had appeared in the heavens; on the banks of the Reuss, reiterated explosions were heard during the night; on the lake of the Four Cantons, ships carrying aerial combatants cruised about in every direction. War--war;--blood--blood!--these were the general cries.

[Sidenote: NEW MEDIATIONS.]

In the midst of all this agitation, Zwingle alone seemed tranquil. He rejected none of these presentiments, but he contemplated them with calmness. "A heart that fears G.o.d," said he, "cares not for the threats of the world. To forward the designs of G.o.d, whatever may happen,--this is his task. A carrier who has a long road to go must make up his mind to wear his waggon and his gear during the journey.

If he carry his merchandise to the appointed spot, that is enough for him. We are the waggon and the gear of G.o.d. There is not one of the articles that is not worn, twisted, or broken; but our great Driver will not the less accomplish by our means his vast designs. Is it not to those who fall upon the field of battle that the n.o.blest crown belongs? Take courage, then, in the midst of all these dangers, through which the cause of Jesus Christ must pa.s.s. Be of good cheer!

although we should never here below see its triumphs with our own eyes. The Judge of the combat beholds us, and it is he who confers the crown. Others will enjoy upon earth the fruits of our labours; while we, already in heaven, shall enjoy an eternal reward."[1183]

[1183] Zw. Opp. Comment. in Jeremiam. This work was composed the very year of Zwingle's death.

Thus spoke Zwingle, as he advanced calmly towards the threatening noise of the tempest, which, by its repeated flashes and sudden explosions, foreboded death.

VI. The Five Cantons, a.s.sembled in diet at Lucerne, appeared full of determination, and war was decided upon. "We will call upon the cities to respect our alliances," said they, "and if they refuse, we will enter the common bailiwicks by force to procure provisions, and we will unite our banners in Zug to attack the enemy." The Waldstettes were not alone. The Nuncio, being solicited by his Lucerne friends, had required that auxiliary troops, paid by the Pope, should be put in motion towards Switzerland, and he announced their near arrival.

[Sidenote: DECEITFUL CALM.]

These resolutions carried terror into Switzerland; the mediating cantons met again at Arau, and drew up a plan that should leave the religious question just as it had been settled by the treaty of 1529.

Deputies immediately bore these propositions to the different councils. Lucerne haughtily rejected them. "Tell those who sent you,"

was the reply, "that we do not acknowledge them as our schoolmasters.

We would rather die than yield the least thing to the prejudice of our faith." The mediators returned to Arau, trembling and discouraged.

This useless attempt increased the disagreement among the Reformed, and gave the Waldstettes still greater confidence. Zurich, so decided for the reception of the Gospel, now became daily more irresolute! The members of the council distrusted each other; the people felt no interest in this war; and Zwingle, notwithstanding his unshaken faith in the justice of his cause, had no hope for the struggle that was about to take place. Berne, on its side, did not cease to entreat Zurich to avoid precipitation. "Do not let us expose ourselves to the reproach of too much haste, as in 1529," was the general remark in Zurich. "We have sure friends in the midst of the Waldstettes; let us wait until they announce to us, as they have promised, some real danger."

It was soon believed that these temporizers were right. In fact the alarming news ceased. That constant rumour of war, which incessantly came from the Waldstettes, discontinued. There were no more alarms--no more fears! Deceitful omen! Over the mountains and valleys of Switzerland hangs that gloomy and mysterious silence, the forerunner of the tempest.

[Sidenote: ZURICH FOREWARNED.]

Whilst they were sleeping at Zurich, the Waldstettes were preparing to conquer their rights by force of arms. The chiefs, closely united to each other by common interests and dangers, found a powerful support in the indignation of the people. In a diet of the Five Cantons, held at Brunnen on the banks of the Lake of Lucerne, opposite Grutli, the alliances of the Confederation were read; and the deputies, having been summoned to declare by their votes whether they thought the war just and lawful, all hands were raised with a shudder. Immediately the Waldstettes had prepared their attack with the profoundest mystery.

All the pa.s.ses had been guarded--all communication between Zurich and the Five Cantons had been rendered impossible. The friends upon whom the Zurichers had reckoned on the banks of the Lakes Lucerne and Zug, and who had promised them intelligence, were like prisoners in their mountains. The terrible avalanche was about to slip from the icy summits of the mountain, and to roll into the valleys, even to the gates of Zurich, overthrowing everything in its pa.s.sage, without the least forewarning of its fall. The mediators had returned discouraged to their cantons. A spirit of imprudence and of error--sad forerunner of the fall of republics as well as of kings--had spread over the whole city of Zurich. The council had at first given the order to call out the militia; then, deceived by the silence of the Waldstettes, it had imprudently revoked the decree, and Lavater, the commander of the army, had retired in discontent to Rybourg, and indignantly thrown far from him that sword which they had commanded him to leave in the scabbard. Thus the winds were about to be unchained from the mountains; the waters of the great deep, aroused by a terrible earthquake, were about to open; and yet the vessel of the state, sadly abandoned, sported up and down with indifference over the frightful gulf,--its yards struck, its sails loose and motionless--without compa.s.s or crew--without pilot, watch, or helm.

Whatever were the exertions of the Waldstettes, they could not entirely stifle the rumour of war, which from chalet to chalet called all their citizens to arms. G.o.d permits a cry of alarm--a single one, it is true--to resound in the ears of the people of Zurich. On the 4th October, a little boy, who knew not what he was doing, succeeded in crossing the frontier of Zug, and presented himself with two loaves at the gate of the reformed monastery of Cappel, situated in the farthest limits of the canton of Zurich. He was led to the abbot, to whom the child gave the loaves without saying a word. The superior, with whom there chanced to be at this time a councillor from Zurich, Henry Peyer, sent by his government, turned pale at the sight. "If the Five Cantons intend entering by force of arms into the free bailiwicks,"

had said these two Zurichers to one of their friends in Zug, "you will send your son to us with one loaf; but you will give him two if they are marching at once upon the bailiwicks and upon Zurich." The abbot and the councillor wrote with all speed to Zurich. "Be upon your guard! take up arms," said they; but no credit was attached to this information. The council were at that time occupied in taking measures to prevent the supplies that had arrived from Alsace from entering the cantons. Zwingle himself, who had never ceased to announce war, did not believe it. "These pensioners are really clever fellows," said the reformer. "Their preparations may be after all nothing but a French manuvre."[1184]

[1184] Dise ire Rustung mochte woll eine franzosische prattik sein.

(Bull. ii. p. 86.)

He was deceived--they were a reality. Four days were to accomplish the ruin of Zurich. Let us retrace in succession the history of these disastrous moments.

On Sunday, 8th October, a messenger appeared at Zurich, and demanded, in the name of the Five Cantons, letters of perpetual alliance.[1185]

The majority saw in this step nothing but a trick; but Zwingle began to discern the thunderbolt in the black cloud that was drawing near.

He was in the pulpit: it was the last time he was destined to appear in it; and as if he had seen a formidable spectre of Rome rise frightfully above the Alps, calling upon him and upon his people to abandon the faith:--"No, no!" cried he, "never will I deny my Redeemer!"

[1185] Die ewige Bund abgefordert. (J. J. Hottinger, iii. p. 577.) According to Bullinger, this did not take place until Monday.

At the same moment a messenger arrived in haste from Mulinen, commander of the Knights-hospitallers of St. John at Hitzkylch. "On Friday, 6th October," said he to the councils of Zurich, "the people of Lucerne planted their banner in the Great Square.[1186] Two men that I sent to Lucerne have been thrown into prison. To-morrow morning, Monday, 9th October, the Five Cantons will enter the bailiwicks. Already the country-people, frightened and fugitive, are running to us in crowds."--"It is an idle story," said the councils.[1187] Nevertheless they recalled the commander-in-chief Lavater, who sent off a trusty man, nephew of James Winckler, with orders to repair to Cappel, and if possible as far as Zug, to reconnoitre the arrangements of the cantons.

[1186] Ire paner in den Brunnen gesteckt. (Bull. ii. p. 86.)