History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume II Part 40

[628] Fabelgedicht vom Ochsen und etlichen Thieren, iez loufender dinge begriffenlich. (Ibid. p. 257.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS IN ITALY.]

In April, 1512, the confederates rose anew at the bidding of the cardinal, for the deliverance of the Church. Glaris was in the foremost rank. The whole population was brought into the field, ranged round their banner with their landaman and their pastor. Zuinglius behoved to march. The army pa.s.sed the Alps, and the cardinal appeared amidst the confederates with the presents given him by the pope,--a ducal hat adorned with pearls and gold, and surmounted by the Holy Spirit, represented under the form of a dove. The Swiss escaladed the fortresses and towns, swam rivers in the presence of the enemy, unclothed, and with halberds in their hands; the French were every where put to flight; bells and trumpets resounded, and the population flocked from all quarters; the n.o.bles supplied the army with wine and fruits in abundance; the monks and priests mounted on platforms, and proclaimed, that the confederates were the people of G.o.d taking vengeance on the enemies of the Lord's spouse; and the pope becoming prophet, like Caiaphas of old, gave the confederates the t.i.tle of "Defenders of the liberty of the Church."[629]

[629] De Gestis inter Gallos et Helvetios, relatio H. Zwinglii

This sojourn of Zuinglius in Italy was not without its effect, in reference to his vocation of Reformer. On his return from this campaign, he began to study Greek, "in order," says he, "to be able to draw the doctrine of Jesus Christ from the very fountain of truth."[630] Writing to Vadian, 23rd February, 1513, he says, "I have resolved so to apply myself to the study of Greek, that none will be able to turn me from it but G.o.d. I do it not for fame, but from love to sacred literature." At a later period, a worthy priest, who had been his school companion, having come to pay him a visit, said to him, "Master Ulric, I am a.s.sured that you are tainted with the new heresy, that you are a Lutheran." "I am not a Lutheran," said Zuinglius, "for I knew Greek before I heard of the name of Luther."[631] To know Greek, to study the gospel in the original tongue, was, according to Zuinglius, the basis of the Reformation.

[630] Ante decem annos, operam dedi graecis literis, ut ex fontibus doctrinam Christi haurire possem. (Zw. Op. i, p. 274, in his Explan.

Artic. dated 1523.)

[631] Ich hab graecae konnen, ehe ich ni nut von Luther gehot hab.

(Salat. Chronik. MS.)

Zuinglius did more than recognise, at this early period, the great principle of evangelical Christianity--the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures. Besides this, he understood how the meaning of the divine Word ought to be ascertained. "Those," said he, "have a very grovelling idea of the Scriptures who regard whatever seems to them at variance with their own reason as frivolous, vain, and unjust.[632]

Men have no right to bind the gospel at pleasure to their own sense, and their own interpretation."[633] "Zuinglius raised his eye to heaven," said his dearest friend, "unwilling to have any other interpreter than the Holy Spirit himself."[634]

[632] Nihil sublimius de evangelio sentiunt, quam quod, quidquid eorum rationi non est consentaneum, hoc iniquum, vanum et frivolum existimant. (Zw. Op. i, p. 202.)

[633] Nec posse evangelium ad sensum et interpretationem hominum redigi. (Ibid., p. 215.)

[634] In clum suspexit, doctorem quaerens Spiritum. (Osw. Myc. Vit.

Zw.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS AND LUTHER. ZUINGLIUS AND ERASMUS.]

Such, from the commencement of his career, was the man, whom some have not scrupled to represent as having wished to subject the Bible to human reason. "Philosophy and theology," said he, "ceased not to raise up objections against me. I, at length, arrived at this conclusion, 'We must leave all these things, and seek our knowledge of G.o.d only in his Word.' I began," continues he, "earnestly to supplicate the Lord to give me his light, and though I read only the text of Scripture, it became far clearer to me than if I had read a host of commentators." Comparing the Scriptures with themselves and explaining pa.s.sages that were obscure by such as were more clear,[635] he soon had a thorough knowledge of the Bible, especially the New Testament.[636] When Zuinglius thus turned toward the Holy Scriptures, Switzerland took her first step in the Reformation. Accordingly, when he expounded the Scriptures, every one felt that his lessons came from G.o.d, and not from man.[637] "Work all divine!" here exclaims Oswald Myconius; "thus was the knowledge of heavenly truth restored to us!"

[635] Scripta contulit et obscura claris elucidavit. (Ibid.)

[636] In summa, er macht im, die H. Schrifft, Insonders da.s.s N. T.

gantz gemein. (Bullinger, MS.)

[637] Ut nemo non videret Spiritum doctorem, non hominem. (Osw. Myc.

Vit. Zw.)

Zuinglius did not, however, despise the expositions of the most celebrated doctors: at a later period, he studied Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, but not as authorities. "I study the doctors," says he, "with the same feelings with which one asks a friend, 'What do you understand by this?'" The Holy Scripture was, according to him, the touch-stone by which the most holy of the doctors were themselves to be tested.[638]

[638] Scriptura canonica, seu Lydio lapide probandos. (Ibid.)

Zuinglius's step was slow, but progressive. He did not come to the truth like Luther amid those tempests which compel the soul to seek a speedy shelter. He arrived at it by the peaceful influence of Scripture, whose power gradually gains upon the heart. Luther reached the wished-for sh.o.r.e across the billows of the boundless deep; Zuinglius, by allowing himself to glide along the stream. These are the two princ.i.p.al ways by which G.o.d leads men. Zuinglius was not fully converted to G.o.d and his gospel till the first period of his sojourn at Zurich; yet, in 1514 or 1515, at the moment when the strong man began to bend the knee to G.o.d, praying for the understanding of his Word, the rays of that pure light by which he was afterwards illumined, first began to gleam upon him.

At this period, a poem of Erasmus, in which Jesus Christ was introduced addressing man as perishing by his own fault, made a powerful impression on Zuinglius. When alone in his study, he repeated the pa.s.sage in which Jesus complains that all grace is not sought from him, though he is the source of all that is good. "ALL!" said Zuinglius, "ALL!" And this word was incessantly present to his mind.

"Are there then creatures, saints, from whom we ought to ask a.s.sistance? No! Christ is our only treasure."[639]

[639] Da.s.s Christus unser armen seelen ein einziger Schatz sey. (Zw.

Op. i, p. 398.) Zuinglius says in 1522 that he had read the poem of Erasmus eight or nine years before.

Zuinglius did not confine his reading to Christian writings. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the sixteenth century is the profound study of the Greek and Roman authors. The poetry of Hesiod, Homer, Pindar, enraptured him, and he has left us commentaries, or characteristics, on the two last poets. It seemed to him that Pindar spoke of his G.o.ds in such sublime strains that he must have had some presentiment of the true G.o.d. He studied Cicero and Demosthenes thoroughly, and learned from them both the art of the orator and the duties of the citizen. He called Seneca a holy man. The Swiss mountaineer loved also to initiate himself in the mysteries of nature, through the writings of Pliny. Thucydides, Sall.u.s.t, Livy, Caesar, Suetonius, Plutarch, and Tacitus, taught him to know the world. He has been censured for his enthusiastic admiration of the great men of antiquity, and it is true that some of his observations on this subject cannot be defended. But if he honoured them so much, it was because he thought he saw in them not human virtues, but the influence of the Holy Spirit. The agency of G.o.d, far from confining itself to ancient times within the limits of Palestine, extended, according to him, to the whole world.[640] "Plato," said he, "has also drunk at the Divine source. And if the two Catos, if Camillus, if Scipio had not been truly religious, would they have been so magnanimous?"[641]

[640] Spiritus ille clestis non solam Palestinam vel creaverat vel fovebat, sed mundum universum...... (col. et Zw. Ep. p. 9.) That celestial Spirit had created and continued to cherish not only Palestine, but the whole world.

[641] Nisi religiosi nunquam fuissent magnanimi. (Ibid.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS IN REGARD TO ERASMUS.]

Zuinglius diffused around him a love of letters. Several choice youths were trained in his school. "You offered me not only books, but also yourself," wrote Valentine Tschudi, son of one of the heroes of the wars of Burgundy; and this young man, who at that time had already studied at Vienna and Bale, under the most celebrated teachers, adds, "I have never met with any one who explained the cla.s.sics with so much precision and profundity as yourself."[642] Tschudi repaired to Paris, and was able to compare the spirit which prevailed in that university, with that which he had found in the narrow Alpine valley, over which impend the gigantic peaks and eternal snows of the Dodi, the Glarnisch, the Viggis, and the Freyberg. "How frivolously," says he, "the French youth are educated! No poison is so bad as the sophistical art in which they are trained--an art which stupifies the senses, destroys the judgment, brutifies the whole man. Man is thenceforth, like the echo, an empty sound. Ten women could not keep pace with one of these rhetoricians.[643] In their prayers even they present their sophisms to G.o.d, (I know the fact,) and pretend, by their syllogisms, to constrain the Holy Spirit to hear them." Such, then, were Paris and Glaris; the intellectual metropolis of Christendom, and a village of Alpine shepherds. A ray of the Divine Word gives more light than all human wisdom.

[642] Nam qui sit acrioris in enodandis autoribus judicii, vidi neminem. (Zw. Ep. p. 13.) For I have never seen any one so acute and judicious in unravelling authors.

[643] Ut nec decem mulierculae .... uni sophistae adaequari queant (Zw.

Ep., p. 13.)

CHAP. IV.

Zuinglius in regard to Erasmus--Oswald Myconius--The Vagrants--colampadius--Zuinglius at Marignan--Zuinglius and Italy--Method of Zuinglius--Commencement of Reform--Discovery.

A great man of this age, Erasmus, had much influence on Zuinglius, who, as soon as any of his writings appeared, lost no time in procuring it. In 1514, Erasmus had arrived at Bale, and been received by the bishop with marks of high esteem. All the friends of letters had immediately grouped around him. But the monarch of the schools had no difficulty in singling out him who was to be the glory of Switzerland. "I congratulate the Swiss nation," wrote he to Zuinglius, "that by your studies and your manners, both alike excellent, you labour to polish and elevate them."[644] Zuinglius had a most ardent desire to see him. "Spaniards and Gauls went to Rome to see t.i.tus Livy," said he. He set out, and on arriving at Bale, found a personage of about forty years of age, of small stature, a frail body, a delicate look, but a remarkably amiable and winning address.[645] It was Erasmus. His affability removed the timidity of Zuinglius, while the power of his intellect overawed him. "Poor," said Ulric to him, "as Eschines, when each of the scholars of Socrates offered a present to his master, I give you what Eschines gave--I give you myself."

[644] Tu, tuique similes optimis etiam studiis ac moribus et expolietis et n.o.bilitabitis. (Ibid., p. 10.)

[645] Et corpusculo hoc tuo minuto, verum minime inconcinno, urbanissime gestientem videre videar. (Ibid.) Methinks I see you with your diminutive, but by no means inelegant, person, showing the greatest politeness.

[Sidenote: OSWALD MYCONIUS.]

Among the literary men who formed the court of Erasmus, the Amerbachs, the Rhenans, the Frobeniuses, the Nessens, the Glareans, Zuinglius observed a youth from Lucerne, of twenty-seven years of age, named Oswald Geisshusler. Erasmus h.e.l.lenising his name, had called him Myconius. We will often designate him by his surname, to distinguish the friend of Zuinglius from Frederick Myconius, the disciple of Luther. Oswald, after studying first at Rothwyl with Berthold Haller, a young man of his own age, next at Berne, and lastly at Bale, had in this last town been appointed rector of the school of St. Theodoret, and afterwards of that of St. Peter. The humble schoolmaster had a very limited income; but, notwithstanding, had married a young girl of a simplicity and purity of soul which won all hearts. We have already seen that Switzerland was then in a troubled state, foreign wars having stirred up violent disorders, and the soldiers having brought back to their country licentiousness and brutality. One dark and cloudy winter day, some of these rude men, in Oswald's absence, attacked his quiet dwelling. They knocked at the door, threw stones, and applied the grossest expressions to his modest spouse. At last they burst open the windows, and having forced their way into the school and broken every thing to pieces, made off. Oswald arrived shortly after. His little boy, Felix, ran out to meet him crying, while his wife, unable to speak, showed signs of the greatest terror.

He understood what had happened, and at that moment, hearing a noise in the street, unable to restrain himself, he seized a musket, and pursued the villains as far as the burying ground. They retreated, intending to defend themselves. Three of them rushed upon Myconius and wounded him, and, while his wound was being dressed, these wretches again attacked his house, uttering cries of fury. Oswald says no more of the matter.[646] Such scenes frequently occurred in Switzerland at the beginning of the sixteenth century, before the Reformation had softened and disciplined manners.

[646] Erasmi, Laus Stult.i.tiae, c.u.m annot. Myconii.

The integrity of Oswald Myconius, his thirst for science and virtue, brought him into connection with Zuinglius. The rector of the school of Bale was alive to all that was grand in the curate of Glaris. Full of humility, he shunned the praises bestowed upon him by Zuinglius and Erasmus. "You schoolmasters," often said the latter, "I esteem as highly as I do kings." But the modest Myconius did not think so. "I only crawl along the ground," said he. "From infancy I had always a feeling of littleness and humility."[647]

[647] Equidem humi repere didici hactenus, et est natura nescio quid humile vel a cunabulis in me. (Osw. Myc. Vit Zw.) Hitherto I have learned to creep on the ground; and there is in me naturally, even from the cradle, a feeling of the humble.

[Sidenote: COLAMPADIUS.]

A preacher who had arrived at Bale about the same time as Zuinglius was attracting attention. Of a mild and pacific disposition, he led a tranquil life; slow and circ.u.mspect in conduct, his chief pleasure was to labour in his study, and produce concord among Christians.[648] He was named John Hausschein, in Greek colampadius, that is, "light of the house," and was born of wealthy parents in Franconia, a year before Zuinglius. His pious mother longed to consecrate to literature and to G.o.d the only child whom He had left her. The father intended him first for a mercantile life, then for law. But as colampadius was returning from Bologna, where he had been studying law, the Lord, who designed to make him a lamp in the Church,[649] called him to the study of theology. He was preaching in his native town when Capito, who had known him at Heidelberg, procured his appointment as preacher at Bale. There he proclaimed Christ with an eloquence which filled his hearers with admiration.[650] Erasmus admitted him to his intimacy.

colampadius was enraptured with the hours which he spent in the society of this great genius. "In the Holy Scriptures," said the prince of literature, "one thing only ought to be sought, viz., Jesus Christ."[651] As a memento of his friendship he gave the young preacher the commencement of John's Gospel. colampadius often kissed this precious pledge of affection, and kept it suspended to his crucifix, "in order," said he, "that I may always remember Erasmus in my prayers."

[648] Ingenio miti et tranquillo, pacis et concordiae studiosissimus.

(Melch. Ad. Vit. c., p. 58)

[649] Flectente et vocante Deo, qui eo in domo sua pro lampade usurus erat. (Melch. Ad. Vit. c. p. 46.)