History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume II Part 45

_The Monk_ (in a solemn tone).--"The pope is above the bishop. I enjoin you not to deprive your flock of this distinguished grace."

_The Dean._--"Should it cost me my life, I won't open my church."

_The Monk_ (with indignation).--"Rebellious priest! in the name of our most holy lord the pope, I p.r.o.nounce against you the greater excommunication, and will not absolve you till you ransom your unheard-of audacity at the price of three hundred ducats."...

_The Dean_ (turning on his heel and retiring).--"I will know how to answer before my lawful judges: as for you and your excommunication I have nothing to do with them."

_The Monk_ (transported with rage).--"Impudent brute! I am on my way to Zurich, and will there lay my complaint before the deputies of the Confederation."[725]

[725] Du freche Bestie ... etc. (Bullinger MS.)

_The Dean._--"I can appear there as well as you, and this instant I set out."

[Sidenote: INTERNAL WRESTLINGS OF ZUINGLIUS.]

While these things were taking place at Bremgarten, Zuinglius, who saw the enemy gradually approaching, kept preaching vigorously against indulgences.[726] Vicar Faber of Constance encouraged him, promising him the bishop's support.[727] "I know," said Samson, while proceeding towards Zurich, "that Zuinglius will attack me, but I will stop his mouth." Zuinglius was in truth too much alive to the value of pardon by Christ not to attack the paper indulgences of these men. Often, like Luther, he trembled because of sin; but in the Saviour found deliverance from his fears. This modest but brave man was advancing in the knowledge of G.o.d. "When Satan frightens me," said he, "by crying to me: You do not this, and you do not that, and yet G.o.d commands them!--immediately the soft voice of the gospel consoles me, saying: What thou canst not do (and a.s.suredly thou canst do nothing,) Christ does for thee." "Yes," continues the pious evangelist, "when my heart is agonised because of my powerlessness, and the feebleness of my flesh, my spirit revives at the sound of this glad news: Christ is thy innocence! Christ is thy righteousness! Christ is thy salvation! Thou art nothing, thou canst do nothing! Christ is the Alpha and the Omega!

Christ is all, and can do all.[728] All created things will forsake and deceive thee, but Christ, the Holy and Righteous One, will receive and justify thee...." "Yes," exclaims Zuinglius, "He is our righteousness, and the righteousness of all who shall ever appear as righteous before the judgment seat of G.o.d!..."

[726] Ich prengete streng wider des Pabsts Abla.s.s ... (Zw. Op. ii, 1st part, p. 7.)

[727] Und hat mich darm gestarkt: er welle mir mit aller traw byston.

(Ibid.)

[728] Christus est innocentia tua; Christus est just.i.tia et puritas tua; Christus est salus tua; tu nihil es, tu nihil potes; Christus est ? et O; Christus est prora et puppis; Christus est omnia.... (Zw. Op. i, p. 207.)

Indulgences could not stand a moment when confronted with such truths; and hence Zuinglius never hesitated to attack them. "No man," said he, "is able to forgive sins. Christ alone, very G.o.d and very man, is able to do it.[729] Go, buy indulgences ... but rest a.s.sured you are not at all forgiven. Those who vend forgiveness of sins for money are the companions of Simon Magus, the friends of Balaam and the amba.s.sadors of Satan."

[729] Nisi Christus Jesus, verus Deus et verus h.o.m.o... . (Ibid. p.

412.)

Dean Bullinger, still warm from his conference with the monk, arrived at Zurich before him. He came to complain to the Diet against this shameless dealer and his traffic. Envoys from the bishop had arrived for the same purpose. They made common cause, and promised to support each other. The spirit which animated Zuinglius breathed upon this town, and the council of State resolved to oppose the monk's entry into Zurich.

[Sidenote: SAMSON DISMISSED.]

Samson had arrived in the suburbs, and alighted at an inn. One foot was already on the stirrup preparatory to his entry, when deputies from the council arrived, and while making the customary offer of wine to him as a papal envoy, intimated to him that he might dispense with appearing in Zurich. "I have something to communicate to the Diet in the name of his holiness," replied the monk. It was a trick. However, it was resolved to admit him; but as he spoke only of his bulls he was dismissed, after being compelled to retract the excommunication which he had p.r.o.nounced against the dean of Bremgarton. He went off in a rage, and the pope shortly after recalled him to Italy. A car drawn by three horses, and loaded with the money of which his lies had robbed the poor, preceded him on the steep tracts of St. Gothard, which eight months before he had crossed in poverty, without style, merely the bearer of a few papers.[730]

[730] Und fuhrt mit Ihm ein threspendiger Schatz an gelt, den er armen luthen abgelogen hat. (Bullinger, MS.)

On this occasion the Helvetic showed more firmness than the Germanic Diet. The reason was, because no cardinals and bishops sat in it.

Hence the pope deprived of these supports dealt more gently with Switzerland than Germany. In other respects, the affair of indulgences, which played so important a part in the Reformation of Germany, is only an episode in that of Switzerland.

CHAP. VIII.

The Labours of Zuinglius--The Baths of Pfeffers--G.o.d's time--The Great Death--Zuinglius seized with the Plague--His Enemies--His Friends--Convalescence--General Joy--Effect of the Plague--Myconius at Lucerne--Oswald encourages Zuinglius--Zuinglius at Bale--Capito called to Mentz--Hedio at Bale--An Unnatural Son--Preparation for Battle.

Zuinglius did not spare himself. His many labours called for some relaxation, and he was ordered to the baths of Pfeffers. "Ah!" said Herus, one of the pupils who lodged with him, and who thus expressed the feeling of all who knew Zuinglius, "had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, a brazen throat, as Virgil expresses it; or rather had I the eloquence of Cicero, how could I express all I owe you, and all that I feel at this separation."[731] Zuinglius, however, set out and reached Pfeffers through the astonis.h.i.+ng gorge formed by the impetuous torrent of the Jamina. He descended into that infernal abyss, as the hermit David called it, and arrived at the baths, which are perpetually agitated by the das.h.i.+ng of the torrent, and bedewed by the spray of its foaming water. Where Zuinglius lodged it was so dark that candles were burnt at mid-day. He was even a.s.sured by the inmates, that frightful phantoms sometimes appeared in the darkness.

[731] Etiamsi mihi sint linguae centum, sint oraque centum, ferrea vox, ut Virgilius ait, aut potius Ciceroniana eloquentia. (Zw. Ep. p. 84.)

[Sidenote: G.o.d'S TIME].

Even here Zuinglius found opportunity to serve his Master. His affability won the heart of several of the patients, among others a celebrated poet, Philip Ingentinus, professor at Friburg, in Brigau,[732] who thenceforward became a zealous supporter of the Reformation.

[732] Illic tum comitatem tuam e sinu uberrimo profluentem, non injucunde sum expertus. (Zw. Ep. p. 119.) Then I had the pleasure of experiencing your affability, the offspring of an exhuberant heart.

G.o.d watched over his own work, and was pleased to hasten it.

Zuinglius' defect lay in his strength. Strong in body, strong in character, strong in talents, he was to see all these varieties of strength broken, that he might thereby become such an instrument as G.o.d loves to employ. He stood in need of a baptism, that of adversity, infirmity, feebleness, and pain. Such a baptism Luther had received at that period of agony when the cell and long pa.s.sages of the convent of Erfurt resounded with his cries. Zuinglius was to receive it by being brought into contact with sickness and death. The heroes of this world--the Charles Twelfths and Napoleons--have a moment which is decisive of their career and their glory, and it is when they all at once become conscious of their strength. There is an a.n.a.logous moment in the life of G.o.d's heroes, but it is in a contrary direction; it is when they recognise their impotence and nothingness; thenceforth they receive strength from on high. Such a work as that of which Zuinglius was to be the instrument is never accomplished by man's natural strength; it would immediately wither away like a tree transplanted after its full growth, and when in full leaf. A plant must be feeble in order to take root, and a grain of corn must die in the ground before it can yield a full return. G.o.d led Zuinglius, and with him the work of which he was the stay, to the gates of the grave. It is from among bones and darkness, and the dust of the dead, that G.o.d is pleased to take the instruments, by means of which he illumines, regenerates, and revives the earth.

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS ATTACKED BY THE PLAGUE.]

Zuinglius was hidden among the immense rocks which hem in the furious torrent of the Jamina, when he unexpectedly learned that the plague, or as it was termed "_the great death_,"[733] was at Zurich. This dreadful scourge broke out in August, on St. Lawrence day, lasted till Candlemas, and carried off two thousand five hundred persons. The young people who lodged with Zuinglius had immediately left, conformably to directions which he had given. His house was empty, but it was to him the very moment to return. He hurriedly quitted Pfeffers, and reappearing in the bosom of his flock, now decimated by the plague, he immediately sent to Wildhaus for his young brother Andrew, who wished to attend him. From that moment he devoted himself entirely to the victims of this dreadful scourge. Every day he preached Christ and his consolations to the sick.[734] His friends delighted to see him safe and sound in the midst of so many fatal darts,[735] still felt a secret alarm. Conrad Brunner, who himself died of the plague a few months after, writing him from Bale said; "Do good, but at the same time remember to take care of your life." It was too late: Zuinglius was seized with the plague. The great preacher of Switzerland was stretched on a bed from which, perhaps, he was never again to rise. He communed with himself, and turned his eye heavenward. He knew that Christ had given him a sure inheritance, and disclosing the feelings of his heart in a hymn remarkable for unction and simplicity, of which, not being able to give the antique and expressive phraseology, we have endeavoured to preserve the rhythm and literal meaning, he exclaimed:--

My door has opened ...

Death appears.[736]

My G.o.d! my strength!

Dispel all fears!

Oh, Jesus! raise Thy pierced arm, And break the sword That caused alarm.

But if my soul In life's mid-day Thy voice recalls,[737]

Then I obey.

Ah! let me die, For I am thine; Thy mansions wait Such faith as mine.

[733] Der Grosse Tod. (Bullinger, MS.)

[734] Ut in majori periculo sis, quod in dies te novo exponas, dum invisis aegrotos. (Ibid., MS. 87.) Chateaubriand had forgotten this fact, and thousands similar to it, when he said, "the protestant pastor abandons the poor man on his death-bed, and rushes not into the midst of the plague." (Essai sur la Literature Anglaise.)

[735] Plurimum gaudeo te inter tot jactus telorum versantem, illaesum, hactenus eva.s.sisse. (Ibid.)

[736] Ich mein der Tod, Syg an der Thur. (Zw. Op. ii, 2nd part, p. 270.)

[737] Willit du dann glych Tod haben mich In mitts der Tagen min So soll's willig sin. (Ibid.)

[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS ATTACKED BY THE PLAGUE.]

Meanwhile the disease gains ground, and this man, the hope of the Church and of Switzerland, is beheld by his despairing friends as about to become the prey of the tomb. His senses and strength forsake him. His heart becomes alarmed, but he is still able to turn towards G.o.d, and exclaims:--

My ills increase; Haste to console; Terrors overwhelm My heart and soul.

Death is at hand, My senses fail, My voice is choked, Now, Christ! prevail.[738]

Lo! Satan strains To s.n.a.t.c.h his prey; I feel his hand, Must I give way?

He harms me not, I fear no loss, For here I lie Before thy cross.