The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli

by Johann Jakob Hottinger

DANGERS OF THE REFORMATION AND ZWINGLI'S BATTLE AGAINST THEM.

In our times we hear such frequent use of the word radicalism. What is its true meaning, according to its derivation? Action, that penetrates to the roots. We can imagine a good radicalism, which would tear out by the roots all the evil growth of life, and also a bad, which would uproot all that is good. The first strives to unite, the second to divide. Experience teaches that neither the one, nor the other, is continually prosperous. Why? Because new tares and wheat spring up anew; and again why? Christ has given us the reason: Because the Lord of the harvest has put off the time of separation. Should this make us indifferent, and negligent in the cultivation of the garden?--We would soon feel the merited results in its dreary desolation. No, it ought to teach us that to every individual his daily labor is appointed, and to every generation of men its conflict; that none can so finish its task, or will so finish it, that the succeeding durst sit down at ease; but that one is the most fortunate which has foresight enough to separate the good and the worthless plants in their earliest stages, the better to cherish the former and as much as possible to keep down the latter. What then is the great, the most important want of political and social life? It is--education. But mere instruction is not education. For in that case the best men would come from the institutions, which are most richly endowed, and yet experience so often teaches us directly the contrary. Indeed, the most important part of education, more influential yet than instruction, without which the latter would be eternally defective, is example. And here again we are referred to the Word of Christ, which summons us to look for fruit. This is the doctrine of religion; to call fruit into life, is the task of the church. Let her see to providing example, and the school instruction, and let both strive honestly to unite knowledge with example. Then only can, then only will their influence be harmonious.

He who pens these remarks is not concerned about the objection, which may be made: What will example, what will all our endeavor to call into existence nobler examples avail, if a one-sided training of the understanding to mock at example and laugh to scorn everything noble in life, teaches that the highest good is to be sought in base, private advantage? if all our means of correction, all authority to interfere be given up? The element of the church is faith--faith in the inward power of truth and goodness, which does not suffer itself to be disheartened by results that appear insignificant, or even by the momentary preponderance of evil. He who has it not, let him not devote himself to her service. They who have it, let them secure a circle of operation as free as possible; and this is the course of wisdom for rulers.

Let us now return to Zwingli, a man in whom such faith and knowledge were joined, and learn to know him also in his battle with the dangers, into which his bold undertaking led him.

The public religious conferences had wakened in the city of Zurich a spirit of inquiry, not, it is true, of that unrestricted kind which seeks a philosophical basis for the dogmas of faith, according to the deductions of human reason, but of that higher order, which looks to their agreement with Holy Scripture. When this was settled, investigation was at an end; but in the settlement there were peculiar difficulties. Who would warrant the accuracy of the translation, when disputes arose? Who would decide whether the obscurer passages should be understood according to the bare sound of the words, or if a more spiritual meaning were applicable?--Synods? Church Councils? They were necessary, indispensable for the maintenance of order in the church. They could work very beneficially for the improvement and spiritualization of systems of doctrine. But to surrender to them the deciding power in matters of faith--that would have been a return to the abandoned principle of Catholicism. To this prelacy and intolerance would have been joined inevitably. Or should every individual be left to decide according to his own caprice? How then could divisions, sects and endless controversies be avoided?

Here again faith lent her aid, faith in the inward truth of the Divine Word. It ought to vindicate, it will vindicate itself, the more it is preached by an educated ministry, which believes in its teachings. In this conviction Zwingli and his friends found their support and did not heed the dangers and the temporary confusion, produced by the overthrow of existing ecclesiastical forms in Zurich.

Just in proportion as the Holy Scriptures became known through the press and the pulpit, interpreters arose on all sides. Here it was simplicity, there presumption, and in the majority passion or selfish projects, which prompted them. By this means the people, a short time before so sensible and quiet, were evidently disturbed and excited. Most pernicious dogmas like these--that learning was superfluous, that Christians ought to own no property, that a nation of brothers needed no government--they attempted to support by the language of Scripture, which was distorted, falsely translated, or torn out of its connection. The general ignorance was too great not to favor the growth of imposture; and the ambition, avarice and debauchery of numbers afforded too many opportunities of temptation to cunning seducers, who spared no amount of travel, writing and dissimulation in order to win adherents and increase the army of dupes. Now let us consider the most important facts.

From their eager violation of existing church usages with unholy parade, and their notorious behavior at the Second Religious Conference we have become acquainted with several leaders of this disorderly party, Conrad Grebel, William Rœubli and Simon Stumpf. Two others, Felix Manz and John Brœdlein, were added; the first of whom by his scientific culture, and the second by his strength of character, as well as by his stubbornness and pride, which did not indeed allow of entire harmony of feeling, soon drew attention, as among the most dangerous.

Manz, like many others in that dissolute age, the intelligent son of a clergyman, had acquired a considerable knowledge of the Hebrew language, little known at that time, and when the want of instruction in it began to be generally felt, he thought himself specially called to become a teacher of it. And had a place been immediately created for him and richly endowed out of the revenues of the newly organized Chapter of Canons, it is highly probable, at least if Bullinger's representation of the man be true, that he would have chosen the nobler path of pure scientific activity. But this was not done, and with Grebel he appeared at the head of the insurgents. In the house of his mother at Zurich, in the New Town, he instituted a nightly meeting, where at first a slight dissatisfaction with the course, which the work of reform had taken, was expressed only in general terms; but by degrees more decided projects were matured--to possess themselves, if possible, with the direction of affairs, and, as they styled it, to found a new church. To this plan they next sought to win over Zwingli. Stumpf and Manz, as he himself tells us, had repeated conversations with him on this subject. They begged him to bring no doctrines into the pulpit, except such as they would agree upon among themselves beforehand. "No one"--said Manz still further--"is to be received into our church, who has not the assurance in himself that he is without sin."--"And will you belong to it?" asked Zwingli with a stern look. Manz was silent; but from that time forth, he and his associates began to calumniate the Reformer everywhere and throw obstacles into his path.

But the actual outbreak of disturbances was occasioned by Brœdlein. A year before, whilst pastor at Quarten, in the bailiwick of Sargan, he had made himself conspicuous. With Rœubli he was among the first of the clergy, who violated the rules of fasting and the vow of celibacy. He had done both in the assurance of evangelical right and Christian liberty; and when the landvogt spoke to him about it, he made answer not in the most courtly terms: The landvogt ought to punish the lewd and adulterous persons who swarm in his neighborhood, instead of him and his virtuous wife. He was bound rather to protect him, and compel the other clergy to marry. The special sanctity of the priesthood was at an end. If one steals, then you should hang him, even though he would anoint his whole body with oil. The tale-bearers had lied about him like rogues. "Still"--he concluded in a tone somewhat more moderate--"I build my hopes not on men of this world. That much you ought to know of me. God has numbered all the hairs of my head, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without His will, so neither can any one injure me or my wife, if it be not His will, and therefore, dear landvogt, you need send neither thirty nor a hundred men to fetch her. If she has sinned against God, then send the smallest child, and she must come. But if you wish to take, or cause her to be taken from me by force, then know, that you act against God, divine righteousness and the Gospel. Yet I will not repel force by force. I once indeed thought it necessary to do this; but God has commanded me otherwise, and hence I may not teach it to my brethren."

In fact, the landvogt, at the requisition of the ruling cantons, threw him into prison. How he escaped is not known. After the Religious Conferences in Zurich we find him as assistant at Zollikon, and here he seems to have been the first to introduce into Switzerland the doctrines of the Anabaptists, which elsewhere had caused so much dissension. Of all, who sought by means of these doctrines to create discord, to make a show or found a party, we can say, that, without exception, they were men of narrow minds, or, in worse cases, hypocrites with dishonorable private aims. Though it cannot be denied, that in later times respectable men have lived in our country under the name of Anabaptists, and are even yet to be found, still their moral worth springs not from their otherwise innocent mode of baptism, but from their religious exercises, their simple way of living, and the good examples, which they have before their eyes. Yet here also we durst not forget, that it is not the part of history to examine articles of faith, but to keep to events and the external phenomena of life.

In May, 1424, when the decree of the government was issued for the abolition of images and the mass, it was told in Zurich, that the inhabitants of Zollikon, roused by the preaching of Brœdlein, had broken down the images and altars in the church and even carried away the baptismal font; that the doctrine had spread among them, that it was unchristian to baptise children, because no examples of it were found in the Gospel, although frequent mention was made of the baptism of adults; that in fact a deluded multitude had desired to be baptised again; that it had been granted to them by several, who set themselves up for apostles; that some ran about in the houses preaching, explaining the Scriptures and administering the Supper; that others, and those often the most simple, pretended to prophesy; and that in general an improper and blasphemous game was carried on in religious matters. They were informed also that Manz and Grebel had appeared there, and the foolish movement was beginning to spread over the surrounding country.

Whilst a portion of the people fell in with such follies, disturbances arose at the same time in the opposite quarter. The majority of the inhabitants of Meilen would no longer suffer their two priests, who had married, to enter the church. They broke into their houses, wasted their wine and provisions, and it was only with difficulty that the government succeeded in bringing about a sort of compromise between the shepherds and their flock.

A month later followed the so-called "Storming of Ittingen." The landvogt in the Thurgau had taken the reformer Œchsli prisoner, and was conveying him by night to the tower at Stein. He cried out for help; the watchful citizens of Stein, on the strength of documents, which gave the right to do this only to them, hurried after, to set him at liberty. Their neighbors of Stammheim, in the canton of Zurich, joined them, and the whole country was soon in motion; but the captors had a considerable start, and the Thur, swollen to the full, prevented the passage of the excited multitude. In a rage they then fell upon Ittigen, the hated monastery of the Carthusians. It was plundered, and set on fire by some one, who was never found out; which act, as is easy to imagine, awakened the earnest interference of the Confederates.

They who were most deserving of punishment fled. Zurich herself cast into prison some others, who were suspected, on account of their prominent place among the insurgents, and not powerful enough to make resistance. These were Hans Wirth, sub-vogt at Stammheim, with his two sons, both priests, and Burkhart Ruetiman, sub-vogt at Nusbaumen. But the Confederates demanded the delivery of the prisoners at Baden before the court of the ruling cantons, since the criminal act was committed in the Thurgau, and not in the canton of Zurich. The Council of Zurich had to comply. But in Baden the prisoners were tried for other things than the transactions in the Thurgau, put to the rack, and with the exception of one of Wirth's sons, actually executed. The sentence was unjust. Not even the most remote personal participation in the plundering and burning of Ittingen could be proved against them. For the part they took in the removal of the images at Stammheim, which chiefly kindled the hatred of the Confederates, they were not responsible to them. That the government had delivered up these men, so beloved in the circle of their home, to such a fate, produced a very unfavorable impression on the inhabitants of the northern part of the canton, the more so, because the condemned had met death in a brave and Christian manner, and aided not a little to increase the disorders, which afterwards prevailed there.

At this juncture the flame broke out in the German provinces lying beyond the Rhine. Thomas Muenzer, at a later period leader of the Saxon Anabaptists, had come to Basel in Frickthal, and Waldshut in Cleggau. In Waldshut he made the acquaintance of the preacher at that place, Balthasar Huebmeier, who, though a man possessed of an honest will, a tolerable knowledge of Scripture and great courage, was yet apt to lend a willing ear to everything new and striking. When preaching at Regensburg he had raised a riot against the Jews, then founded a chapel for pilgrims, then turned to the doctrines of Luther, and was just now as ready to embrace those of the Anabaptists.

Through him Waldshut became for a short time the chief seat of this disorder, from which, in church and state, such hazardous consequences were to be feared. First led by Muenzer, and after he had gone to the Hartz Mountains, by Simon Rœubli, who had been expelled from the territory of Zurich, Huebmeier set himself up as the apostle of Anabaptism, and, according to his own confession, rebaptized the greater part of the inhabitants of Waldshut. The warnings of the Austrian government, at first mild and then earnest, had no effect upon them, and the demand for the dismission of the obnoxious preachers was also in vain. On the contrary, similar fanatics and adventurers of every sort streamed thither from all sides, and when Austria armed herself for severe measures, formal resistance was determined on. Volunteers for this purpose were obtained chiefly from the territories of Zurich. At the first news of the outbreak the government sent a courier to demand their return; but after hearing an address from Rudolph Collin, who, formerly a canon at the Minster, was obliged to leave the territory of Luzern on account of his adherence to the Reformation, and had now joined them with upright feelings and an honest purpose, they declared they would rather die than return home. And their answer won for them immediately a party in the Council. "We are attracted"--so they wrote--"to the Christian brethren at Waldshut, who sigh under oppressive tyranny, not by money, nor for our own private ends--only for the defence of God's Word and from a regard to the honor of Zurich. The Spirit of the Lord has called them to arms; there is no seditious person among them; their captain is Jesus Christ."

Meanwhile, affairs in Waldshut took a turn, which might have been foreseen by the prudent. The noise of war drowned the devotions of piety. It was a matter of indifference, whether psalms or frivolous songs were sung in the camp. Nay, it fared worse with the former. Huebmeier himself, at his trial, tells of a supper in the house of a merchant, where he sat at the side of the captain amid music and hurrahs. And what the further aims of these pious warriors were is shown by a letter still extant, written by one of them to the "dear brother and image in God, Heiny Aberly in Zurich," which contains the following: "See, that you send us yet forty or fifty well-armed, Christian fellows; for if there were more of us here, we would then be a council of affairs against the enemy and my lords (the government of Zurich); and if we would again be warned home and then go, it would serve to the damage and hindrance of the kingdom of God."

This unholy proceeding was soon detected by Collin and other men of honor. They returned home, obedient to the renewed summons of the government. Those who staid behind no longer concealed their plan of open resistance; and this spreading over the surrounding country entered also the boundaries of Zurich.

The first news of it was received by the government from the landvogt of Eglisau. The payment of taxes and villanage were refused. A deputy of the Council was pelted with stones. The rebellion extended more and more into the mountain regions. A swarm of insurgents fell upon the monastery of Rueti--the abbot having escaped with the money, jewels and archives--and rioted and caroused there. In many parishes the alarm was sounded; the house of the Knights of St. John at Bubikon was surprised and met a fate similar to that of Rueti. The government with great difficulty succeeded in producing a momentary calm, by a decree inviting the excited country people to hand in their demands and wishes in writing. This was done by the districts of Grueningen, Kyburg, Greifensee, Eglisau and Andelfingen, and thus it soon came to light in what close connection these disturbances in Zurich stood with those, which then, under the name of the Peasant's War, set a great part of Germany in a blaze. Streams of blood and executions by thousands suppressed it there. In Switzerland such dreadful scenes could be prevented.

Still, the complaints, handed in by the districts of Zurich just named, were closely copied after the twelve articles, which the rebellious peasants of Germany everywhere demanded of their lords. But if reasons for rebellion are to be sought in the tyranny of many nobles, as well as in the confused ideas of the people, then, instead of finding abuses in Switzerland, in the canton of Zurich, there was less cause for complaint against the oppression of the people by the government at no period of her history.

The Council therefore, conscious of an upright purpose and strengthened by the increase of the city-guilds, took the points of complaint, which were presented, into consideration. To yield as far as was fair and just, to hold firmly to all that was sustained by sealed treaties and documents, was the general leading principle. It is true, another might have been embraced, that which has been wrought into our existing political life and immoveably planted there, the principle of entire equality, and the rather because the feeling that it was not altogether foreign to the Gospel, was expressed in the memorials of the people. But the contest for and against this principle could not be carried on by one government; duty and prudence enjoined a rigid maintenance of rights guaranteed by documents as long as possible. Upon another field, that of science, and where the Gospel would be appealed to, theological science, it must be decided beforehand. On this field Luther and Zwingli actually carried on the battle and both showed the impropriety of using passages of Scripture, and of wresting them from their true meaning, in the affairs of state.

The government of Zurich on her side kept simply to the letter of the articles received from the different districts. These, agreeing in the main points, still varied as to special privileges, customs and the annoyance of some parts of the canton by others.^[1] All were examined and its own answer sent to each district. The reply to the first point, which was the same to all, ran thus: "Since you have declared, that you will have no lords for protectors, save God and the city of Zurich, it needs no answer and is clear of itself, that we will have one God, and My Lords are only your natural lords and superiors in temporal affairs, for they have not obtained dominion over you by any kind of tyranny or warlike power, but bought it freely and with ready money. Let them then retain it; for we all should give to God what is due to Him, and to worldly authority what is due to it; and My Lords hope, that you, their subjects, will also find it so."

Although considerable relief was promised in regard to some of the points complained of, still the envoys of the Council, who were appointed to convey the answer into the different districts, nowhere met with a favorable reception. The universal cry was that nothing further could be done without an assembly of the people, and on Whitmonday, June 5th, an announcement was made to this effect, with a call to the oldest man of every household to appear on the field near Tœss.

It is not at all necessary, in our day, when such things are so common, to describe this first convention of the people. The only difference between it and ours, consisted in this, that no formal resolutions were drawn up beforehand, and no one undertook, or understood how, to preside. Hence the mass was broken up into groups of blustering declaimers or curious spectators, among whom the deputies of the government went about, pacifying here, instructing there, and again perhaps using threats; but "We are to be bidden no longer"--resounded again and again from the incensed multitude--"We wish the cities to get used to walking; for ourselves we will ride once as lords of the day." The popular landvogt, Lavater of Kyburg, succeeded in persuading several of the most influential to pacify their friends and neighbors. But the citizens of Winterthur took the wisest course. They invited the entire host into their town, entertained them liberally, and thus made them forget their enterprise for a while.

But the matter was soon taken up again. And for this the inhabitants of the region between the rivers Rhine and Thur were chiefly to blame. In closer connection with their German neighbors, and excited at the same time by grievances suffered in consequence of the Storming of Ittingen, they meditated a separation from Zurich; in any case they intended to deal with the government not in the character of subjects, but in that of an independent party. Meanwhile the government seeing the importance of the crisis, roused itself for prompt action. First of all, some of its prominent members were empowered to raise troops and money, and in general to make all arrangements for defence in the city itself. Then it was resolved to appeal, as before, to all the districts of the canton, that still remained peaceful, viz: those on the lake, in Limatthal, in the free bailiwicks and in the so-called Neuamt, (new bailiwick). The same mode of proceedure, observed before, was again employed: a delegation from the Council, their explanations and inquiries, and a request for a written answer.

Information in regard to all that had occurred was given to the assembled congregations in the form of a long vindication. They were again reminded of the endeavors of the government to keep aloof from every dangerous foreign influence and maintain the Gospel; and then the points of grievance, handed in by the turbulent districts, and the answers sent by the government were laid before them: "More than a thousand florins have My Lords expended already on account of these people, especially those on the other side of the Thur, and their disorderly doings. How miserably the assembly at Tœss ended, you will all have learned by this time, and that a new one, still more numerous, is announced to meet at Kloten. Our Lords hope, that, if you are invited, you will not go, but if they desire it, and you do, let it be only to warn them back to duty; and although we believe everything good of you, that yet you will inform the government of your mind, the rather because the people of the lake have been one with the city of Zurich from time immemorial and esteemed as burghers of the same, and it is hoped will be so forever."

Of the answers sent in, as far as they are still extant, the most characteristic may be here quoted:

"To the notice"--wrote Manedorf--"which Our Lords have laid before us concerning a strange convocation in the duchy of Kyburg and several manors, our answer is: When our Lords agreed, with their whole canton, to give the go-by to all princes and lords, and thereby spared the blood of many honest people, then we gave them praise and thanks therefor, and it is our earnest will and opinion that Our Lords ought to adhere to that and punish all who transgress their prohibition, whether for the French or other lords, each one according to his desert. For this we are willing to pledge person and property, and so we have already signified to Our Lords. Since they have read before us the articles and grievances, under which the honest people of the manors think they lie, we confess that we have no part at all in them. And since Our Lords have come a second time to learn what our feelings may be toward them, in regard to the preachings of the Holy Gospel, we again pray them to keep steadfastly to it, and if any one, whoever he may be, wishes to oppress them in this, we cheerfully pledge to them our honor, our lives, our property, and whatever else God has given us. Thus, it is again our humble prayer and desire that you have the Holy Gospel, aforenamed, still preached more and more, and hope that by God's Word many things, of which the poor man now complains, may be done away. But it seems to us, that selfishness yet prevails, and is little willing to relieve the common man, and that there are several preachers, who, after beginning to preach the Holy Gospel, now deceive themselves. Since then we learn, that Our Lords have banished several preachers from their territory,^[2] although they knew they preached nothing but the Holy Word of God and what they knew could be proven by the same, it yet grieves us and it is our humble prayer, that whoever he may be, preacher or peasant, who is enlightened by God to preach the Holy Gospel and prove it by Holy Scripture, that you let him do it, so that this Holy word may come to light; though it strikes us, as above stated, that several preachers have wilfully deluded themselves. Further, when Our Lords were concerned, lest war should arise against the confederates, they sent guns to us everywhere in the canton, but now demand them back again, which appears strange to us, since just at this very time they are building bulwarks in the city. If war is to be feared, then there will be fresh need of the guns; but if you are building bulwarks against us, then God have pity! But we hope He will send his grace and peace between us all. Lastly, since Our Lords have informed us that the people of Kyburg and the manors will assemble again on next Thursday at Kloten, and perhaps send to us, to learn our feelings toward them, and that we ought to send thither two honorable men, who may promote peace and quiet, we answer, that, up to this time, no one, either from the duchy or elsewhere, has come with a request to our congregation. But should any one come, then will we act upon his summons in a proper manner."

"We have"--write the people of Kilchberg--"listened to Our Lords' oral and written notice, long as it is, and entrust this business to our Lords. They are wise and sensible enough to know what may serve the interests of the city and of us in the country, and how to order matters to our well-pleasing, and we will always stand by Our Lords, as good, honest people. And hence we pray, that, if we should send any one to Kloten, Our Lords will not take it amiss; because we do it for no other purpose than to give good counsel and advise them to disperse."

The congregation of Thalweil likewise report, that they "heard the articles read; that they were long and much of them they could not understand, and therefore could give but brief answers. Hence they would let the former answers remain; that they were willing to place person and property at the disposal of Our Lords, as far as concerns the fatherland, and they must stand aloof from foreign lords. They would send to Kloten like they of Kilchberg."

Still more confiding was the answer from Horgen: "The congregation of the people of the bailiwicks deplore that the notice and demand should be necessary. They also will send no one either to Kloten or elsewhere, if Our Lords or the Canton desire it, for they wish to speak and to do their best, always to be obedient to Our Lords and adhere faithfully to the Word of God. We entrust the matter to Our Lords, who know well what may be to the praise and honor of them and the city."

In the name of the "honest men of Hœngg," the envoys of the Council were informed, that they would not lay anything to the charge of others, but whatever their loving neighbors on Lake Zurich and in the free bailiwicks would agree upon, that would satisfy them also; and they were ready to place wholly at the disposal of Our Lords, in the hour of need, their persons and property.

They of Regensberg complained, that several of their neighbors had threatened, that, if they did not go to Kloten on Thursday, "they would run through their houses." Therefore they had appointed "two discreet and honorable men; but still would pledge their person and property to Our Lords."

The letter from the bailiwick of Regenstorf bears strong marks of a clerical pen: "Since, in these perilous times, various dissensions have arisen between you. Our Lords, and some parts of the canton, touching tithes, interest and other grievances, out of which sundry conspiracies and meetings have grown and prospered so far, that a part has subscribed the other article and still subscribes; all which is better known to you than to us; what will result from it no one can tell; many fear more evil than good; may God overrule all for the best!--Hitherto we have abstained from all further progress in these affairs. But now, since one cries out, 'not so,' and another, 'may be so,' and we have been invited to a meeting of the Kyburgers, and their deputies, and have had the seventeen articles shown to us--and since, after all this, very lately, the honorable Master Jos von Kusen and Master Wegmann were sent to us by you with friendly greetings, and withheld nothing touching affairs now current and your labor and trouble therewith, and explained to us particularly, by word and writing, about the three communities of Kyburg, Grueningen and Greifensee, and several other matters, and asked us for our answer--we then resolved with one accord, that it would be too difficult to communicate such a reply at once, and therefore desired a postponement till to-day; and now this again is the will, vote and opinion of our community, assembled anew concerning this business, that we will still, and so long as you act in a Christian manner and faithfully, according to the Divine Word, place our lives and property at your disposal. For although, if we thought to complain much were fit and proper and would help us, we would lay certain grievances and articles before you, yet, on the other hand, we remember the teachings of the holy Evangelists and Apostles--which warn you and us, and show how one part ought to conduct itself toward the other--and your diligence, love, concern and labor with and toward us, though we therein have perceived that you have also slackened somewhat; so, then, we live in hope that you will continue to act as true fathers are bound to do toward their sons, masters toward faithful servants and pious rulers toward their subjects; and establish whatsoever is profitable, peaceful and Christian, and, on the other hand, that you will blot out and uproot whatsoever is ungodly, unjust and unfair, and therefore, we commit the whole business to you, as our loving lords; for such we esteem you according to the flesh, and in conclusion, pray you take not our delay amiss."

Our last quotation will be from the memorial of a general assembly in Freiamt, which contains the following singular passage: "After we learned from you, our Lords, many articles of the bailiwicks 'beyond you,' we find in them some things, which please us, and some which do not. But yet it is our wish to remain as aforetime, and be obedient to you, our Lords. But as several things have been referred to us by the other bailiwicks, they ought to be discussed at Metmenstetten, and arbitrators, who will act for the best, in all these matters sent thither. We wish to keep free from sedition with our persons and property, as much as we can, and trust that you will treat us also as you treat the other bailiwicks. Furthermore, we hope that you will suffer that article to remain to us, whereby no man may be seized or ridden over, who has law on his side, as the bailiff's roll shows, and also, as regards army-service in conjunction with the confederates, that it may continue as hitherto. How you treat with the cities,^[3] it does not concern us. Touching the clergy, this is our opinion: If we give to them as heretofore, then they also ought not to deprive us of anything. They often go away and visit each other, by which we lose the administration of the several sacraments. And we thought, if we came before you, Our Lords, you would believe them rather than us; which has occasioned offence to the whole parish."

By these memorials the government was convinced that in a great part of the canton, and especially the more wealthy and intelligent portion, there was still determination enough to support order, and hence it durst venture to summon deputies from the turbulent districts in sufficient numbers to a conference before the Great Council. With them all the preachers of these districts were invited, and the negotiations took place on 22d of June, 1525; concerning which the protocol expresses itself substantially in the following manner:

"Whereas, ye deputies from the duchy of Kyburg and the territories of Eglisau, Greifensee, Grueningen Andelfingen, Buelach, Neuamt and Ruemlang, together with all the curates and preachers, have sat to-day before My Lords in behalf of the articles, in which the members of the several communities have thought themselves to be aggrieved, and especially in regard to the tithe, and these things have truly come to light--that heretofore the aforenamed preachers have frequently preached from the pulpit and elsewhere, and other persons have asserted in taverns behind their wine, that, according to the divine law and justice, no one is bound to pay tithes, whereby the common people have become seditious and strengthened in such a belief--and whereas in order to reach the bottom of this matter, it has been discussed and handled in various meetings, and explained at length by Master Ulric Zwingli, that in the beginning the tithe was laid for a pious purpose, though afterward perverted and abused, but yet that it was a just debt and can be fairly complained of by no one--it shall be henceforth the concern of the government that the whole tithe be restored to its right channel and applied to the wants of the needy. Because, moreover, the deputies of the abovenamed communities have made it appear, that these disorders have sprung from the clergy alone and their inconsistent preaching, and they have thus been taught and instructed, and hence have given the whole business into the hands of My Lords; and because they have framed excuses for themselves from the speeches of these clergy, since several of them have spoken and preached more for disorder and strife than brotherly unity, be this answer, after a fair hearing, given to the rebels, that they at once go home and busy themselves in peaceful affairs, and if there are any good-for-nothing people in their own dioceses, who wish to stir up discord, disorder and rebellion, that they drive them off, so that we may not again witness such improper and wanton doings, as lately happened at the monasteries of Tœss and Rueti; then will My Lords, as soon as other business permits, sit upon their articles, and with the help of Master Ulric Zwingli and other learned and sensible men, take counsel, and see what, according to the Divine Word, can be remitted, and what not. But in the meantime, every man must pay interest and tithes in church and state, according to the decree last issued." Then this special admonition was directed to the clergy: "That they shall look well and truly into the Holy Scriptures, busy themselves with the plain preaching of the Gospel, practice the same, and strive more after peace than discord; for if they do not so, the refractory will be punished according to his desert and as opportunity allows."

By these proceedings the malcontents were silenced for the present, but the government felt that something more was needed for the restoration of order. At a time, when the religious movements occasioned new and unforseen expenses to the State, it could not abandon any of its former sources of revenue. Hence the tithe-question was clothed with special importance. All the tithes were not church-property; a part of them belonged to strangers, to whom the government was bound to give its protection, and to the same protection the church also had a claim, which was not done away, but only changed. Besides a mere declaration on the part of the government, that the tithe must be paid, nothing more was done. But conviction had to be wrought in the public mind, and to do this, again devolved on Zwingli.

But before he laid the subject before the people, he endeavored to settle whatever was unstable and wavering in the opinions of the Great Council, so that the authorities might proceed the more firmly in their line of action. Still the belief prevailed among many of the members, that the tithe was purely a religious affair, and this position was strongly maintained by the Secretary, am Gruet, who, Bible in hand, met Zwingli with his own weapons. It is true, that here he could only appeal to the Old Testament, but this yet held too important a place in Zwingli's system of doctrines, to suffer the Reformer lightly to reject its authority for an isolated case. He showed, however, in a long and spirited debate with am Gruet, before the Great Council and a crowd of other hearers, that the Levitical priesthood, for whom the tithe had been introduced into the Old Testament, came to an end with the Gospel; and by this, according to his view, the question had been brought back from the sphere of religion into that of civil law. But neither am Gruet, on the one side, nor the Anabaptists on the other, were disposed to let him slip with so cheap a victory. Am Gruet would yield nothing, and in fact the following passage is found in the protocol of the Great Council, "that neither of the two contending parties has so triumphed that the other is obliged to yield, and that My Lords are not displeased with the warning and exposition of their Secretary, but think he has acted according to his duty and his oath." But the decisive battle, which now drew near, was first to be fought with the Anabaptists.

During the interval, Zwingli prepared for the people a detailed exposition of the rights of the church and state to the tithe, which the government then used as a general and final decree for the disturbed districts. The scrupulous payment of the great tithe^[4] for the future was also enjoined upon them in an earnest tone. In regard to the so-called little tithe, the government promised strict inquiry, the removal of abuses, and a diminution of it, as far as possible.

In the greater part of the canton, through the cautious language of the Council, the exhortations of the more sensible, and the conviction, which won its way into the minds of many, civil order was re-established. One of the creators of disturbance, Suesstrunk by name, was indeed put to death by the sword, and the pastor of Westenbach, who especially distinguished himself by his ill-timed discourses, was thrown into prison for several days and punished with a fine--acts easy to be explained, when we consider the severity of punishments in that age and the grievous losses, which the state suffered by this insurrection.

Only one district of the Canton was not yet pacified: the territory of Grueningen. Here the Anabaptists still retained numerous adherents, and these Anabaptists and their fierce battle with Zwingli are the objects to which we must now turn our attention.

The Holy Scripture is the great record of the religious education of the human race. It shows us man primeval in the unconscious innocence of nature; then the patriarchal era with its simple, uniform manners along with its untamed passion; and then again the most active intercourse of nations, the most savage wars, the hierarchical state and the elective and hereditary monarchy. It gives us lofty poetry in the Psalms, the grandest didactic poem in the Book of Job, and a collection of proverbs, the fruit of the ripest experience and knowledge of life. It makes us acquainted with idolatry in its most fearful degeneracy, and then, with the adoration of one God and the conflict, rising to the highest pitch of heroism, against this degeneracy. But this God is a mere national God, to be known only within the confined limits of the Jewish state, living personally only here, in and with the people. We see the consequences of this contracted view: hate instead of love, stubbornness instead of docility, stagnation instead of progress. With this first period the books of the Old Testament close.

Is it possible to understand the Gospel, which now follows, in its grandeur, truth, purity and love, without a knowledge of the age, which preceded it? or the prejudices, against which, He, who revealed it, had to contend? We find varying opinions among those who wrote it--the stamp of diverse authorship; here Judaistic narrowness, there freer elevation, homely simplicity, and again deep glow and feeling. We even find contradictions, historical and chronological, and yet, what unity in all that is essential--what agreement in all that contributes to peace in life and comfort in the hour of death; in all that determines our actions and confers worth upon them! Are there any other writings, for whose investigation, for whose explanation, so much sagacity, so much science, so much conscientiousness are demanded? Such are the questions, which very naturally crowd upon us, when we once more survey the man, in whom all these qualifications are joined, as he goes forth to battle with a multitude of others, who possess them only partially and hence dangerously.

And thus we return again to those disturbers, before alluded to, in the bosom of the Reformed party, who assailed Zwingli more boldly than any monk, and whose scientific culture, adroitness, and, in the end, desperation, prepared for him a far more violent conflict. Conrad Grebel has already been represented to us as morally and physically depraved. The higher spirit, which once attracted Zwingli's entire love to him as a youth, richly endowed by nature, had not yet sunk so far, that it did not show some clear sparks, and sometimes even break out into a momentary blaze.

But when he saw that Zwingli penetrated his inmost soul, understood, pitied and then despised him, he conceived the most intense bitterness against him, which at last deepened into hatred--hatred that stopped at no means to secure revenge. Gathering all his strength, nerving all his powers to their highest pitch, his self-confidence increased; the various modes of interpretation, which isolated passages of the Holy Scriptures admit, made it possible for him to maintain, with a tolerable appearance of truth and certainty, dogmas at variance with those of Zwingli. The support, which he found from those of like mind, the followers who adhered to him, awakened in the head of this fanatic the delusion that he had received a call to be a prophet, and pictured to him a final victory over Zwingli, or at least placed in view the crown of martyrdom, in which latter, one and another of them, perhaps, saw, not without an inward satisfaction, an atonement for the conscious guilt of their former lives. Here again, the simple presentation of the facts will furnish proof for this opinion.

"May God and our Lord Jesus Christ grant it!" wrote Martin Luther, in the beginning of the year 1525, "since a new storm is brewing. I had almost settled down to rest, thinking the battle over, when all at once this rises up, and it happens to me as the wise man says: If a man leave off, then he must begin again. Doctor Andrew Carlstadt has deserted us and become our bitterest enemy." This defection of Carlstadt, who wished to proceed in the work of reformation more thoroughly than Luther, demanding the destruction of images, and setting very little value on external worship, was spoken of with praise everywhere, and especially at Waldshut, by Thomas Muenzer, during his visit to the borders of Switzerland, about the middle of the year 1524. Muenzer likewise professed these same principles, yea, was ready, for his part, to go still further than Carlstadt himself. Just at this time, the fanatical proceedings in Zollikon, before described, the breaking of the images there and the removal of the baptismal font, took place. That Grebel and Manz were privy to this, and made frequent journeys to and from Zollikon, appears with entire certainty from reports afterward received. With Muenzer they did not become personally acquainted. Before they could accomplish this, he had traveled back to Germany; but his influence on Swiss affairs is evident from two letters sent to him soon after by Grebel and his friends.

"Dear brother Thomas," began one of them, "for God's sake, do not be surprised, that we address thee without title and urge thee as a brother to communicate with us by writing in the future, and that we, uninvited and unacquainted with thee, have ventured to open up a correspondence. God's Son, Jesus Christ, has prompted and impelled us to this act of friendship and brotherhood, and to make known the following points. Moreover thy work in two small volumes, on 'Faith Feigned,' have encouraged us. Hence, if thou wilt take it kindly, it shall be a source of good to us, if God will. Thou shouldst also know that thou along with Carolostadtius art esteemed amongst us as the purest proclaimer and preacher of the pure Word of God, although ye are little thought of by the lazy theologians and doctors at Wittemberg. We are also thus reprobate toward our learned pastors. With them everything depends on man, everything is done by him, so that they preach a sinful, pleasant Christ, and good discrimination is wanting to them, as thou shewest in thy little books, which have beyond measure instructed and strengthened us poor folks." But then, passing over the chief point, re-baptism, which had won for them a party in Zurich, and as a badge of confession, as a banner, had enabled them to keep together--they thus continue: "Because thou also hast uttered thy protest against infant-baptism, we trust thou actest not against the eternal word, wisdom and command of God, according to which we ought to baptise believers alone, and thou baptisest no child. If thou, or Carolostadius will not write in full against infant-baptism with all that belongs thereto, why and how we ought to baptise, then will I, Conrad Grebel, try my hand and complete what I have begun, against all who hitherto (except thee) have written on baptism at large and deliberately, and maintained the senseless, blasphemous form of infant-baptism; but if God do not prevent then am I, and then will I and all of us be sure of persecution from the learned and other people." Grebel also wrote to Luther and informed Muerner of it, in his second letter, in which, moreover, he warns him not to preach resistance against princes with carnal weapons. "For if thou must suffer on account of thy doctrines know indeed that it cannot be otherwise. Christ must still suffer in his members. But he will strengthen them and keep them firm unto the end. God grant his grace to thee and us. For our parsons are also fierce and wrathful toward us, and call us villains in the open pulpit and Satannas in angelos lucis convertos (wicked spirits in the garb of angels of light). In time we will see this persecution pass over us. Therefore pray God for me."^[5]

In accordance with this view, Grebel and his friends prudently avoided stirring up any formal rebellion. And there is nothing at all to show that they had any direct share in the political movements, which we have already narrated, although their doctrines concerning the fraternal communion of Christians and the unscripturalness of tithes and rents, as they uttered them in general terms, could not but exert an indirect influence upon them. But in these discourses they always added exhortations to a resistance merely passive. By this means they attracted a crowd of followers, persons of excitable feelings and women especially, just in proportion as the doctrine of martyrdom stood high in the Catholic church. Indeed it often seemed as if persecution was only delayed too long for these people. Grebel thus wrote to Vadianus: "They talk of disturbers. They can be known by their fruits--decrees of exile and executions by the sword. I do not think the persecution will be delayed." But neither Zwingli nor the government thought of such a proceeding. They freely confessed that this would only aggravate the evil.

First then, because already, at sundry times, whole troops of these deluded creatures from Zollikon and the neighboring country, had come into the city, clad in sackcloth and ashes, and girt about with ropes, and cried out in the public squares: "Wo to Zurich!" and because a so-called confession of one of their number, a former monk, who usually went by the name of George Blaurock (Bluecoat) and whom his disciples hailed as a second Paul, was spread far and wide and made a great noise, the government ordered a conference to be held with them at the council-house. The following are the literal contents of Blaurock's Confession: "I am a door. He who enters by me will find pasture, but he who enters elsewhere, is a thief and a murderer, as it is written: I am a good shepherd; a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep; so I also give my body and life and soul for my sheep, my body to the tower and my life to the sword, or fire, or the wine-press, where it will be pressed out of the flesh as the blood of Christ on the cross. I am a beginner of baptism and the bread of the Lord, along with my chosen brethren, Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz. Therefore, the Pope with all his followers is a thief and a murderer; in like manner, Luther with all his followers is a thief and a murderer; Zwingli also and Leo Judæ with all their followers are thieves and murderers, until they make this same confession also. I have asked my gracious Lords of Zurich, and still ask them, for leave to dispute with Ulrich Zwingli and Leo Judæ; I may not obtain it, but yet I await the hour, which my Heavenly Father has ordained therefor."

This hour came on the 17th of January, 1525. Bullinger, who was personally present, gives a description, but only a brief one, of the event. The Great Council, the scholars and the clergy were there; Manz, Grebel, Blaurock, Rœubli, Ludwig Hætzer, of whose work against images we have before spoken, were the chief antagonists of Zwingli. The latter began with an acknowledgment, that for some years he had himself been of the opinion, that it were better to postpone the baptism of infants to a more advanced age, but, after mature reflection, had reached a different conviction, which he thought sustained by the true sense of the Holy Scriptures, and then he unfolded this in an extended conversation with the Anabaptists. Whoever desires a more thorough knowledge of his views on this point will find them in his work on "Baptism, Re-baptism and Infant Baptism."^[6] His main arguments for the latter were the following: Baptism is the external sign of admission into the society of Christians. To have received it once is sufficient. Adults were baptised by the Apostles, because they who first joined the church were of full age. The Holy Scriptures contain indeed no example of infant-baptism; but then just as little can be proven from them, that it was not practised. Mention of it occurs in the very oldest church-fathers. It took the place of circumcision, which had been commanded in the Old Testament, and strengthened the obligations of Christian parents, whilst it became to the children themselves a pledge and perpetual token of fidelity to Him who lovingly bade little children even to be brought to Him.

Light triumphed over darkness, science over sophistry, calmness over passion and stubbornness, the church over the sect, and the friend of reason and order over the demagogues. But it was a victory known only to the higher and educated classes; the people remained, and now the fanatics appealed to them, giving out everywhere, that Zwingli had not been able to withstand them. They held firmly to the letter, that resort of all intriguers and wranglers. Meanwhile, the Council resolved, the next day, that all children should be baptised within a week, that they, who would not permit it, should be banished from the canton; and that the congregation in Zollikon should restore the baptismal font. Grebel and Manz were enjoined to keep the peace. There was to be no more controversy about baptism, but, if desired, other articles of faith might be discussed. Rœubli, Brœdlein and Ludwig Hætzer received an order to leave the district within eight days.

But now resistance began with appeals to the Scripture, that we ought to obey God rather than men. Rœubli, Brœdlein and Hætzer left the canton; but the first kept up an exciting correspondence with his followers, from Waldshut, whither he had betaken himself, and Brœdlein, from Hallan. The latter wrote: "John, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to preach the Gospel, to the pious Christians, called of God, in the Christian congregation at Zollikon. Ye know, dear brethren, how I proclaimed to you the Word of God faithfully, clearly, simply, and did not deal with it as treacherous landlords, who pour water into the wine; ye know, how I have had courage, to live among you, to labor with my own hands and burden no one; ye know also, that for the truth's sake I have been driven from you by the will of God; finally, ye know, how faithfully I have warned you not to fall away from grace. This very day I call heaven and earth to witness that I taught you the truth. Abide in it, and ye are God's, and He is yours, and ye are blessed. Fall away from it, and ye are children of wrath, and God is far from you; ye are wretched orphans, and will flee before the moth. O how ardent and joyful have I been, since I came from you! Verily, I have not wept, but sung. O how glad I will be, if God suffers me to return to you again! When I had gone some distance, Christ came to us; yea, Christ in the person of his disciple; for a pious brother of Bern, Christian by name, traveled with us as far as Kloten, and left us the next day. Verily, verily, I often slipped on the road, but did not fall. Verily, verily, when we got over Eglisau, I and Wilhelm (Rœubli) despaired of our lives. I thought God had forsaken us. We lost the right path, and wandered about all that day, even among sticks and bushes. But God had thus willed it. Shortly we came to pious people and at last to Hallan. I left my wife and children there, and we went over to Schaffhausen. Verily, we found there our dear brother, Conrad Grebel. We visited Doctor Sebastian (Hofmeister) and took supper with him. Verily, he is of one accord with us in the matter of baptism. Would to God, it stood better with him in other things. We returned again to Hallan. The day after, Wilhelm went to Waldshut. On the next Sunday after Candlemas, I preached in Hallan and found a great harvest there, but few reapers. The people earnestly desired to hear me, and to this very day desire it. The clergy are as they may be. Antichrist still rules powerfully among the people. Pray God to enlighten them. Dear brethren, abide in faith, love and hope. Let no one terrify you. He who preaches to you any other Gospel, than I have preached, let him be accursed. Greet one another with the kiss of peace. Beware of every brother, who acts disorderly and not according to that, which he and you have learned. Beware of false prophets, who preach for pay. Shun them. Exhort ye one another and continue in the doctrine, which ye have received. The peace of God be with you all!"

That a letter of this sort--that the incessant exhortation and preaching of the leaders of the fanatics, who remained behind, bore legitimate fruit, was soon apparent from a succession of extravagant scenes in all parts of the canton. In entire districts the women particularly rose up. Troops of them streamed together, if any of these apostles came into the neighborhood, and begged from them re-baptism, or a sermon. The edicts of the government were praised by some, but scorned by others; even the clergy assailed them and strife sprang up in the churches. We have a lively picture of a scene of this kind in a letter from the Commander Schmied. "In the action taken"--he writes--"before the congregation at Eck, on account of your edict. My Lords, Pastor Bodmer, of Esslingen, called for Christian excommunication, i.e. the overthrow and rejection of your authority in the matter of baptism. Thereupon Master Laurence told him, that he and his followers had hitherto prevented Christian excommunication. Then Pastor Bodmer walked up and said to Master Laurence: You lie like a vagabond and knave, and if he abused him as a Baptist, he did not speak like a gentleman. Sir Burgomaster! That such a worthy and Christian man as Master Laurence should be called a vagabond and knave before his own church, and that by a Baptist, as was certainly done, is to me intolerable, and I ask that he may be helped to his just rights, so that such things occur not again. There was such an uproar in the church--they all rose up, joined together, pressed forward and crowded so knavishly through each other, that Master Laurence could not observe who did it. Then the subvogt commanded peace. Such an outbreak did this Baptist produce."

This, and reports of a similar character, which were sent in from the canton, induced the government to place Grebel, Manz, and some dozen of the most stiff-necked rebels of respectable education in the monastery of the Augustines, where Zwingli and the two other people's priests of the city received orders to visit them frequently. It was hoped they would be finally set right. But what a triumph it was for them, when they succeeded in puzzling Zwingli with one of his own assertions! He had said that no one, according to the New Testament, had been baptised a second time. Did he not know that Paul rebaptised those twelve in Ephesus, who had already been baptised by John?^[7] The report of this victory over the hitherto invincible champion spread through the canton with amazing rapidity. "He is fallen," so they cried, "the false prophet, the great dragon; the Spirit of the Lord is with us. The Gospel will now be everywhere brought to light. Away with taxes! Away with the sword! No Christian will wish to be a ruler! We are all brethren. Sell your goods, lay all together on one heap. Let there be no poor any longer and no rich!" A second conference before a select assembly had now but little influence. The matter must be decided before the people, and Zwingli began to arm himself for the work. Meanwhile, he grappled with the subject in his sermons. He showed the difference between the baptism of John and that of Paul, brought out the antagonism between the letter and the spirit, and unfolded the consequences of the doctrines of the deluded fanatics, in such a clear, lively and convincing manner, that a storm of applause resounded through the church at the close of one of these sermons. The city was won.

But the canton yet remained. "Zwingli has the advantage in the protection of the government and the city," they cried. "Those, who are best able to contend with him, have been exiled, or not permitted to appear. Had it been otherwise, he must have yielded." Many honest, well-meaning people believed this; and the following petition, sent into the government, seems to have sprung from such a belief: "Honorable, wise, gracious Lords, we are indeed free to confess, that you have trouble and labor on our account, and on the other hand, that we are daily involved in great anxiety. Now, we are willing to suffer, and call upon God to help you and us to peace, which can indeed be brought about, if Your Worships propose a public conference, and invite other people to it; let them be those, who have been cast out because of this business, and others also. Then, whatever is established from the Word of God, to that we pledge you our bodies and our lives, our honor and our goods. But if indeed you wish an answer from us, it can be nothing else, than the public confession, that we have not grace from God to talk with Master Ulric, so that he can understand us, or ability to speak straight from the heart.

"Therefore, we pray you, gracious Lords, to permit one or two men at our cost to enter your city with a sufficient assurance of a safe return, since they durst not travel every road for the sake of the Divine Word, because Master Ulric himself has not hitherto shown them much favor. These shall point out on our behalf all the Scriptures, so that every man may thoroughly perceive whether he has been right or wrong in his views of them. Oh God! we desire nothing else than truth and righteousness, in which by the grace of God we wish to continue till death. Then, as we have always declared to you, gracious Lords, we will pledge our bodies and lives to Your Worships and to the Word of God and Divine righteousness, gracious Lords! Let the matter, for God's sake, come before a public conference, as in the case of images and the mass. Believe us truly; we wish to do what is right. May God help us thereto! We hope and know that the truth of the Divine Word will come clearly to light, and Your Worships will be content with us. Give us, therefore, for the sake of God and his mercy, a favorable answer."

Upon this, Zwingli himself requested the government to institute a public conference, and the order for it was drawn up on Monday, November 6th, 1525, with a full and free safe-conduct for all those, who thought themselves in a condition to defend their variant doctrines. Zwingli, Leo Judæ and Caspar Grossman, people's priests at the Dominican church, were selected as champions to make reply; and Wolfgang Joner, abbot at Cappel, the Commander Schmied, Sebastian Hofmeister of Schaffhausen, and Vadianus of St. Gall, as presidents for the occasion. The Anabaptists appeared in numbers under their leaders, Manz, Grebel and Blaurock; many of them had come from distant countries; the department of Grueningen, at the command of the government, sent thither twelve deputies. Scarcely had the conference opened at the Council House, in presence of the Two Hundred and a crowd of hearers, who filled up all the chamber, when a newly arrived troop of fanatics pressed in with the cry: "O Zion! O Zion! Rejoice O Jerusalem!" and threw everything into confusion. To prevent such disturbances and to obtain more room, the assembly removed to the church of the Great Minster. Here the battle continued for three days, from morning till late in the evening. Speech was denied to no one: access to none, who wished to hear. Public opinion grew more favorable to the people's priests. On the third day the attacks of the Anabaptists became weaker; their self-confidence vanished. Only one of them, who had repeatedly asserted that he could end the contest with one word, but had still been held back by his associates, who themselves thought him too wild, broke through at last and placed himself, with an inflamed visage, and all the motions of a conjurer, before the people's priest, and cried out: "Zwingli, I conjure thee, by the living God, to tell us the truth." The latter answered very calmly: "That shalt thou hear. Thou art as clownish and seditious a peasant, and as simple as any Our Lords have in the canton." A universal roar of laughter followed, and the act was closed.

The government then issued a public statement concerning the events of this controversy, which, along with other things, concluded with the following words: "After the Anabaptists and their followers have disputed three days, from morning till evening, in our Council House and the Great Minster, in our presence and that of a large crowd of men and women, and every Baptist has spoken all he had to say, without let or hindrance, it has at last been found from the most powerful arguments, based upon the Word of God, that Master Ulric Zwingli and his associates have fairly conquered the Anabaptists, annihilated re-baptism, and upheld the baptism of infants. It has also been clearly evident, during the entire conference, that the creators, defenders, sectarians and wranglers of Anabaptism have played their part in a wicked, bold, and shameless spirit, in that they, a sect and conspiracy against the commandment of God, have undertaken and devised means to bring us over to them, in their contempt of all temporal authority and planting of disobedience, and destruction of love toward our fellow-men; for they think themselves better than other Christians and without sin, as all their words and works, and even their behavior plainly show." Subjoined was an order forbidding any further cases of re-baptism on pain of a fine, or threats of severer punishment, if that did not prove sufficient. Manz, Grebel, Blaurock and the other leaders of the sect were brought before the Council and earnestly exhorted to confess their errors, but in vain. They were thrown into the Tower. Whilst there, means were found to compose an address, which was soon widely spread and roused up the most stubborn of their followers to new resistance. Hence, when the landvogt Berger made known the edict of the government in Grueningen, many of the inhabitants publicly declared they would not submit to it. He then summoned more than a hundred of the most zealous men and women to the castle. Here the twelve deputies, who were at the conference in Zurich assured them with one accord, that Zwingli had conquered, begged them to renounce their errors, reasoned with them, along with the landvogt, the whole day, and when at last each was asked for his decision, thirteen yielded; all the others persevered in their opposition.

Meanwhile, the prisoners in Zurich led the government to hope, that if their liberty were restored, they would behave peacefully. It was granted; but immediately they scattered themselves through the canton, and the flame broke out anew. This was also increased by Hubmeyer, who after the taking of Waldshut by the Austrians in December, 1525, came to Zurich as a fugitive, and, having likewise held a conference with Zwingli, Leo Judæ and Myconius, in presence of the Councils, declared himself overcome and ready for a recantation from the pulpit of the Frauminster Church. Instead of which, to the great surprise of the congregation, he began again to advocate rebaptism. Zwingli, who occupied the second pulpit, on the opposite side, interrupted him at once and brought him to silence.^[8] He excused himself afterwards by saying, that he knew not what he did, the devil must have been in him, and then once more recanted in the Frauminster and the church at Gossau, in the department of Grueningen.

But now the lovers of order and quiet were everywhere fully aroused. The government was universally censured for its forbearance, and most of all in the department of Grueningen itself. The landvogt was importuned for severer measures. "It is truly a great thing"--he wrote to the Council--"that you, gracious Lords, have for the third time caused a conference to be held with these people, who speak openly of all the conferences and your desire to do justice, in the most insolent fashion, in spite of your edict, and are not willing to acknowledge they have done wrong. Hence the magistracy have written and prayed the Council and advised, that they come together again on Tuesday, to take the business boldly in hand, for it is publicly declared: 'I hear indeed, if My Lords only receive five pounds, it matters little what the Baptists talk or say concerning all the conferences and edicts; they do no wrong.' In this way great injustice will be done you. Therefore do not take this amiss from me; for the magistracy with your assistance would have passed a far different judgment on the Baptists, and plans would have been formed, which would have produced peace, quiet and obedience. The fines would have been laid on the great disturbers, strife-makers, hedge-preachers and baptisers, and not on poor, simple, miserable men, not on women and children, of whom many have been deluded; yet these are fined as heavily as the chief actors in the play. Henceforth the business must be taken in hand boldly; you will not find me wanting."

In fact the government was now fully alive to the emergency. As soon as any one was convicted of having repeated baptism, he was seized and thrown into prison. The prisons became crowded; Manz, Grebel, Blaurock and fifteen others were confined in the so-called New Tower.^[9] Their sentence was severe: "Nothing shall be given them but bread and water, and they shall lie on straw and thus be left to die in the Tower. Let it then be the business of every one to forsake his projects and errors and be obedient."

The extravagances of the Anabaptists of St. Gall, which were then carried to the maddest extreme, might really have contributed to the severity of this sentence. Grebel, during an earlier sojourn there, had sown the seed, of which these were the ripened fruits. They burnt the Bible, because it said: "The letter kills." They sported with puppets; led about dancing apes tied to a string; wept childishly, and were comforted with apples, and cast off all their clothes, because they must become like little children, of whom alone was the kingdom of heaven. Yea, in the end, one of them, Leonard Schucker, desired the death of his brother, because God had commanded it. He drew his sword and struck off his head in the presence of his father and all his sisters.

Thus, at last, the fruits showed, in a more lively manner than all the learned conferences, what was to be thought of the dogmas of this sect; and yet the prisoners in Zurich still had secret friends. An opportunity was given them to escape by night, which they used, and once more spread through the canton, pretending that the Angel of the Lord had delivered them from prison, as he formerly had Paul and Silas. But now the pious jugglery came to a close. A law was passed, that whoever, belonging to the canton, would hereafter rebaptise an adult, he should be drowned without mercy. Nevertheless it was done by Blaurock and Manz, as well as by Filk and Raimann, two natives of the department of Grueningen They were all apprehended. Blaurock, because a foreigner, was whipped with rods and banished from the canton; the other three were drowned in the Limath on the 5th of January, 1525. They persevered to the last in their stubbornness, or constancy, to maintain which Manz was even encouraged by his aged mother. Their behavior left no impression on the people, who were sick of these foul doings.

The great length of the sentence delivered shows how anxious the government was to be justified in its acts, and in deed the public weal seemed, after what had gone before, to demand such an issue. Of Grebel's end no report has reached us. But to later times has been left the problem of the thorough instruction of the people, toleration in matters of faith, contempt where morals, and punishment, sore punishment, where the sanctity of the law has been invaded.