History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume II Part 38

Movements in Switzerland--Source of the Reformation--Democratic Character--Foreign Service--Morality--The Tockenburg--An Alpine Hut--A Pastoral Family.

At the moment when the decree of the Diet of Worms appeared, a continually increasing movement was beginning to shake the quiet valleys of Switzerland. The voice which was heard in the plains of Upper and Lower Saxony was answered from the bosom of the Helvetic mountains by the energetic voices of its priests, its shepherds, and the citizens of its warlike cities. The partisans of Rome, seized with terror, exclaimed that a vast and dreadful conspiracy was every where formed against the Church. The friends of the gospel filled with joy, said, that as in spring a living breath is felt from the streams which run into the sea up to the mountain tops, so, throughout all Christendom, the Spirit of G.o.d was now melting the ices of a long winter, and covering with verdure and flowers the lowest plains as well as the steepest and most barren rocks.

Germany did not communicate the truth to Switzerland, nor Switzerland to France, nor France to England. All these countries received it from G.o.d, just as one part of the world does not transmit the light to another part, but the same shining globe communicates it directly to all the earth. Christ, _the day-spring from on high_, infinitely exalted above all mankind, was, at the period of the Reformation as at that of the establishment of Christianity, the divine fire which gave life to the world. In the sixteenth century one and the same doctrine was at once established in the homes and churches of the most distant and diversified nations. The reason is, that the same Spirit was every where at work producing the same faith.

[Sidenote: MOVEMENTS IN SWITZERLAND.]

The reformation of Germany and that of Switzerland demonstrate this truth. Zuinglius had no intercourse with Luther. There was, no doubt, a link between these two men; but we must search for it above the earth. He who from heaven gave the truth to Luther, gave it to Zuinglius. G.o.d was the medium of communication between them. "I began to preach the gospel," says Zuinglius, "in the year of grace, 1516, in other words, at a time when the name of Luther had never been heard of in our country. I did not learn the doctrine of Christ from Luther, but from the word of G.o.d. If Luther preaches Christ, he does what I do; that is all."[599]

[599] ...1516, eo scilicet tempore, quum Lutheri nomen in nostris regionibus inauditum adhuc erat...doctrinam Christi non a Luthero, sed ex verbo Dei didici. (Zwinglii Opera, curant. Schulero et Schulthesio, Turici, 1829, vol. i, p. 273, 276.)

But if the different reformations, which all proceeded from the same Spirit, thereby acquired great unity, they also received certain peculiar features, corresponding to the different characters of the people among whom they took place.

We have already given a sketch of the state of Switzerland at the period of the Reformation,[600] and will only add a few words to what we have already said. In Germany, the ruling principle was monarchical, in Switzerland it was democratic. In Germany the Reformation had to struggle with the will of princes; in Switzerland, with the will of the people. A mult.i.tude are more easily led away than an individual, and are also more prompt in their decisions. The victory over the papacy on the other side of the Rhine was the work of years, but on this side of it required only months or days.

[600] First Volume.

[Sidenote: FOREIGN SERVICE.]

In Germany, Luther's person stands forth imposingly from the midst of his Saxon countrymen. He seems to struggle alone in his attack on the Roman Colossus, and wherever the battle is fought, we see his lofty stature on the field of battle. Luther is, as it were, the monarch of the revolution which is being accomplished. In Switzerland, several cantons are at once engaged in the contest. We see a confederacy of Reformers, and are astonished at their numbers. No doubt there is one head which stands elevated above the rest, but no one has the command.

It is a republican magistracy, where each presents his peculiar physiognomy, and exercises his separate influence. We have Wittemberg, Zuinglius, Capito, Haller, colampadius. Again, we have Oswald Myconius, Leo Juda, Farel, and Calvin, and the Reformation takes place at Glaris, Bale, Zurich, Berne, Neufchatel, Geneva, Lucerne, Schafausen, Appenzel, St. Gall, and in the Grisons. In the Reformation of Germany, one scene only is seen, and that one level like the country around; but in Switzerland, the Reformation is divided, as Switzerland itself is divided by its thousand mountains.

So to speak, each valley has its awakening, and each Alpine height its gleams of light.

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

Switzerland stood in need of a reformation. It is true there was among the Helvetians a simplicity and good-nature, which the polished Italians thought ridiculous, but, at the same time, it was admitted that by no people were the laws of chast.i.ty more habitually transgressed. Astrologers ascribed this to the constellations;[601]

philosophers, to the ardent temperament of this indomitable population; and moralists, to the principles of the Swiss, who regarded trick, dishonesty, and slander as much greater sins than uncleanness.[602] The priests were prohibited from marrying, but it would have been difficult to find one of them who lived in true celibacy. The thing required of them was, to conduct themselves not chastely, but prudently. This was one of the first disorders against which the Reformation was directed. It is time to trace the beginnings of this new day in the valleys of the Alps.

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

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

[Sidenote: AN ALPINE COTTAGE.]

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

[603] The Tokenburg.

At a quarter of a league from the church near Lisighaus, on the side of a path which leads into the pastures beyond the river, a solitary house is still standing. The tradition is, that the wood used in building it was cut upon the very spot.[604] Everything indicates that it must have been erected at a very remote period. The walls are thin.

The windows have little round panes, and the roof is formed of slabs, on which stones are laid to prevent the wind from carrying them away.

In front of the house there is a limpid gushing spring.

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

[Sidenote: A PASTORAL FAMILY.]

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

[605] Diss Geschlacht der Zwinglinen, wa.s.s in guter Achtung diesser Landen, als ein gut alt ehrlich Geschlacht. (H. Bullinger's Histor.

Beschreibung der Eidg. Geschichten.) This valuable work existed only in ma.n.u.script in 1837, and was communicated to me by the kindness of M. J. G. Hess. In the quotations I preserve the orthography of the period and of the ma.n.u.script. The friends of history have since caused it to be printed.

[606] Ein verrumbter Mann. (Ibid.)

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

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

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

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

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

CHAP. II.

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

The good amman was delighted with the happy presages in his son. He perceived that Ulric would be able to do something else than herd his cows on Mount Sentis, singing the shepherd's song. One day he took him by the hand and proceeded with him towards Wesen. He traversed the verdant ridges of the Ammon, avoiding the wild and precipitous rocks which border the lake of Wallenstadt. On arriving at the town, he called upon his brother the dean, to whom he intrusted the young mountaineer, in order that he might ascertain what his talents were.[611] The leading feature in his character was an innate horror at falsehood and a great love of truth. He himself relates that one day, when he was beginning to reflect, the thought struck him that falsehood should be punished more severely than even theft; "for,"

adds he, "veracity is the parent of all the virtues." The dean soon loved his nephew as if he had been his son; delighted with his sprightliness, he entrusted his education to a schoolmaster who in a short time taught him all that he knew himself. Young Ulric, when ten years of age, having given indications of a high order of intellect,[612] his father and his uncle resolved on sending him to Bale.

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

[612] Und in ihm erschinen merkliche Zeichen eines edlen Gemuths.

(Ma.n.u.script de Bullinger.)

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

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

Ulric entered the school of St. Theodore, which was taught by Gregory Binzli, a man of an affectionate and gentle temper, at this period rare among teachers. Young Zuinglius made rapid progress. The learned disputes which were then fashionable among the doctors of universities had even descended to the youth in schools. Ulric took part in them.

He exercised his growing strength against the children of other schools, and was always victorious in those struggles which formed a kind of prelude to those by which the papacy was to be overthrown in Switzerland.[613] His success excited the jealousy of rivals older than himself. The school of Bale was soon outstripped by him as that of Wesen had been.

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

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

[614] Ab eo in adyta cla.s.sicorum scriptorum introductus. (Ibid.)

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

[615] Und als er wol singen kndt lkten Ihn die prediger Mnchen in da.s.s Kloster. (Bullinger, M.S.)

[Sidenote: JETZER. APPARITIONS.]