were executed with the greatest violence and irreverence. Zwingli was strongly opposed to such methods, and tried to persuade the council to agree to accomplish the reforms in an orderly way. That the method and extent of the changes to be adopted SECOND might be finally settled, the council called a second DISPUTATION. disputation, which was held in October, 1523, but which concerned itself with the images and pictures in the churches and with the mass, which also Zwingli had vigorously attacked. The result was the same as that of the first, because it was to be tested by the Holy Scriptures, and it was demonstrated that the Old Testament, especially the second commandment, was decidedly opposed to idolatrous worship. The other cantons of Switzerland soon set themselves in opposition to the Reformation that was taking place in Zurich, and hinted to the Zurichers that they were breaking their pledge and their oath. But the courageous followers of Zwingli replied that while they had no thought of breaking their pledge to the other cantons they could not give up their individual belief with reference to these doctrines that were founded on God's own word.' At Easter time, 1525, the first observance of the Lord's Supper according to the reformed method took place. The Roman Catholic administration and reception of the eucharist were connected with an elaborate ritual. After the elements had been consecrated they were elevated for worship, that REFORMED OF THE LORD'S SUP PER. process being called the Elevation of the Host. After CELEBRATION this the communicants came forward, and the priest took a wafer between his fingers and placed it in the mouth of the participant. The cup was never handed to the laity, but was reserved exclusively for the priests. In the reformed celebration the altar was abolished, and in its place tables were arranged, on one side of which sat the men, the women on the other. The tables were spread with white cloths. The ministers entered the altar place and consecrated the elements and then partook of them, after which they handed them to the communicants—the bread upon a wooden tray, the wine in a wooden cup-the people kneeling as they received the bread and wine. A part of the liturgy of the mass was preserved, but the liturgical element of the celebration was very simple. The effect upon the feelings of the participants 1 Compare Möller, iii, 50. The answer was written by Zwingli. The action of the other cantons was elicited by Zwingli's Short Christian Introduction, which had been prepared at the suggestion of the Council of Two Hundred, and by it sent to the bishops and the other cantons. was not unlike that of the best type of modern revival service. People that had been estranged forgave each other and became friends. The members of the congregation were united in bonds of true Christian fellowship, and it could be truthfully said that while all others were engaged in strife these reformed Christians loved one another.' BAPTISMAL RITUAL Other changes in the forms of public worship were soon made. A simple form of baptism was adopted, omitting the rites of exor cism. The sacrament was no longer covered over and its significance obscured by elaborate ceremonial. To the catechumens the ministers gave simple exhortations to virtue and holiness, in which Zwingli believed confirmation, in its original form, to consist. But while these changes were sober and beneficial, others less liable to commend themselves to our judgment were also introduced. All songs were banished, together with the use of the organ for divine worship. The wonder is, however, not that some extremes were resorted to, but that the reaction was so slight. 1 See all sympathetically and fully described in Christoffel, pp. 146–150. 'Bullinger says the organ was abolished because it did not well comport with the apostolic doctrine of 1 Cor. xiv. Christoffel quotes the language of a layman written shortly before the Reformation: "The popes and the priests have completely oppressed us. Firstly, they have discovered the way to fish out all secrets, namely, by the confessional. They next compel us to go to church, but it is only that we may sacrifice our money. On the other hand, they never go to church themselves, except when they hope to get money. Their duty is to come to church to sing, but that they may be obliged to sing less they have set up the organs to do their work. There fails but one thing, and for this they work night and day, and that is, that we may go to hell for them." See his Zwingli, p. 151. CHAPTER XX. SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION TO OTHER CITIES AND CANTONS. 2 MEANTIME the Reformation had taken root in other Swiss cities, and several valuable coadjutors had risen up to support Zwingli's cause. In Basel, Capito had devoted himself to the study of the Bible in the spirit of Erasmus, and had freely criticised the abuses of the Church.' Hedio and Pellicanus were among the Humanists in Basel who stirred up enthusiasm for Luther after the Leipzig Disputation. More important, however, was Ecolampadius, who as early as 1521 had been an ardent disciple of THE REFORM Luther, and who came to Basel in 1522, where he IN BASEL. won great applause by his preaching and his university lectures on the Bible. In vain the bishop forbade attendance upon his lectures. Multitudes were attracted by his utterances. He became a warm friend of Zwingli, whose views he shared on almost every disputed point; and at length, on this account, the friendship which had existed between himself and Luther and Melanchthon was weakened if not destroyed. He continued the proclamation of the pure Gospel and his opposition to the abuses of the Roman Church until, in 1529, he was permitted to witness the introduction of reformed religious services by order of the council. Great was the disgust of Erasmus with these violent proceedings, and he departed from Basel, followed by the Humanists and the university professors in general, who feared that the intellectual revival would suffer from theological and ecclesiastical quarrels. They saw the abuses of the Church of Rome and they were anxious for reform, but they did not want a reformation so radical in its nature as to attract attention away from the Humanistic studies they ardently loved. They believed that the necessary reforms would come about naturally if the studies they were promoting were generally pursued by the people. 4 The theocratic ideas of the Church and State which prevailed in Basel, as in other parts of Switzerland, led to civil penalties for denial of the tenets of the Apostles' Creed, and for blasphemy. 2 Möller, iii, 51. 1 Möller, iii, 51; Hagenbach, i, 269, 270. 'Ibid. Comp. also Hagenbach, i, 275–278. 'See part of his letter to Pirkheimer in Schaff, vii, 112. These penalties were confiscation of property, banishment, and, in extreme cases, death. HALLER AND BERNE. Even earlier than in Basel the Reformation had triumphed in Berne. There the gentle Berthold Haller and the pugnacious Sebastian Meyer preached the true doctrine and spread it among the people. On the main questions at issue the council was characterized by indecision, but they were at least agreed that there should be no disputing, and so they banished Meyer,' as also his opponents, from the city. Being really, however, more inclined toward the Roman than toward the reformed faith, they ordered Haller to begin again the reading of the mass according to the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. Although so mild in his disposition he had the courage of a true reformer, especially under the stimulating influence of Zwingli, and he refused to obey the mandate of the council. A new council, favorable to the reformed cause, was chosen in 1527. They appointed a disputation, which was to take place on January 6, 1528. It lasted nineteen days. There was comparatively little response to the invitation to join in the disputation, it being claimed by the Roman Church that for them the questions proposed for discussion had been already settled by the Baden conference. Nevertheless there were enough participants to give the disputation a show of respectability. Ten theses, which had been written by Haller, were adopted by the hearers, and afterward legalized by the council. The Reformation thus brought about in Berne was 1 For a sample of Meyer's spirit and style see Christoffel, Zwingli, p. 66. 2 The theses were as follows: 1. The holy Christian Church, whose only head is Christ, is born of the Word of God, and abides in the same, and listens not to the voice of a stranger. 2. The Church of Christ makes no laws and commandments without the Word of God. Hence human traditions are no more binding on us than as far as they are founded in the Word of God. 3. Christ is the only wisdom, righteousness, redemption, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Hence it is a denial of Christ when we confess another ground of salvation and satisfaction. 4. The essential and corporal presence of the body and blood of Christ cannot be demonstrated from the Holy Scripture. 5. The mass as now in use, in which Christ is offered to God the Father for the sins of the living and the dead, is contrary to the Scripture, a blasphemy against the most holy sacrifice, passion, and death of Christ, and on account of its abuses an abomination before God. 6. As Christ alone died for us, so he is also to be adored as the only Mediator and Advocate between God the Father and the believers. Therefore it is con trary to the Word of God to propose and invoke other mediators. afterward adopted in the entire canton by a popular vote, few, comparatively, voting against it.' In St. Gallen images had been burned in 1526, and again in 1528, while services according to the reformed order were introduced in 1527. The abbot having died, the abbey itself was abolished and its property confiscated in 1529. It was an act of violence and of injustice, but it was not out of harmony with the entire conception of the external features of the Reformation as it was conducted in Switzerland. After the battle of Cappel, in which Zwingli's valuable life was destroyed, a reaction took place more favorable to the interests of Rome. Nevertheless, St. Gallen remained a Protestant canton. Among the chief agents in the introduction and establishment of the Reformation in this canton was Joachim von Watt, or, as he is generally known, Vadian, a layman and physician and a poet laureate of Maximilian I. Close beside him stood John Kessler, a minister VADIAN AND ST. GALLEN. 7. Scripture knows nothing of a purgatory after this life. Hence all masses and other offices for the dead are useless. 8. The worship of images is contrary to Scripture. Therefore images should be abolished when they are set up as objects of adoration. 9. Matrimony is not forbidden in the Scripture to any class of men, but fornication and unchastity are forbidden to all. 10. Since, according to the Scripture, an open fornicator must be excommunicated, it follows that unchastity and impure celibacy are more pernicious to the clergy than to any other class. All to the glory of God and his holy Word. See Schaff, vii, 104, 105. 'The contribution of the painter and poet, Nicolaus Manuel, to the work of reform in Berne should also be mentioned. The following is a part of his Eaters of the Dead, a comedy enacted by students on Shrove Tuesday, 1522: "The laymen soon our wiles must see, If thou wilt not our helper be. In everything we'll sure be lacking, For all are to the Scripture packing. The printers-whom may Satan seize on !— Are Germanizing all that's reason, The Testaments, both Old and New Would the knaves had their fiery due! E'en every reading peasant lout Can put an honest priest to rout." "The very names of the dramatis personæ indicate the tendency of the poem. There appears Pope Entchristilo [Antichrist], Cardinal Anshelm Hochmuth [Pride], Bishop Chrysostom Wolfsmagen [Wolf's-belly], Prior Frederick Geizsack [Miser], Dean Sebastian Schinddebauren [Flay-the-peasants], Abbot Nimmergnug [Never-satisfied], Purveyor Ohneboden [Bottomless]."-Hagenbach, i, 265. |