The Reformation was making progress in other parts of Switzerland. In 1521, Walter Klarer, a young man of Appenzel, returned to his native canton from the university of Paris. Luther's writings fell into his hands, and, in 1522, he preached the evangelical doctrine with all the ardour of a young convert. An innkeeper, named Rausberg, a wealthy and pious man, and a member of the council of Appenzel, opened his house to all the friends of truth. Bartholomew Berweger, a famous captain, who had fought for Julius II and for Leo X, having at this time returned from Rome, began forthwith to persecute the evangelical ministers. One day, however, remembering how much vice he had seen at Rome, he began to read the Bible, and to attend the sermons of the new preachers; his eyes were opened, and he embraced the gospel. Seeing that the crowds could not be contained in the churches, he proposed that they should preach in the fields and the public squares, and, notwithstanding of keen opposition, the hills, meadows, and mountains of Appenzel, thenceforward often echoed with the glad tidings of salvation.
MURDER AND ADULTERY.
The reformed doctrine, ascending the Rhine, made its way as far as ancient Rhætia. One day, a stranger from Zurich crossed the river, and waited on the saddler of Flasch, the frontier village of the Grisons. Christian Anhorn, the saddler, listened in astonishment to the language of his visitor. "Preach," said the whole village to the stranger, who was called James Burkli. He accordingly took his station in front of the altar. A number of persons arrived, with Anhorn at their head, and stood round to defend him from a sudden attack while he preached the gospel. The rumour of this preaching spread far and wide; and, on the following Sunday, an immense crowd assembled. Shortly after, a great proportion of the inhabitants of the district desired to have the Lord's Supper dispensed to them according to its original institution. But one day the tocsin suddenly sounded in Mayenfield; the people ran in alarm; and the priests, after pointing out the danger which threatened the Church, hastened at the head of the fanatical population to Flasch. Anhorn, who was working in the field, astonished at hearing the sound of bells at so unusual an hour, hastened home and concealed Burkli in a deep hole dug in his cellar. The house was by this time surrounded; the door was forced open, and the heretical preacher everywhere searched for in vain. At length the persecutors withdrew.[863]
The Word of God spread over the extent of the ten jurisdictions. The curate of Mayenfield, on returning from Rome, to which he had fled infuriated at the success of the gospel, exclaimed, "Rome has made me evangelical," and became a zealous reformer. The Reformation soon extended to the league of "the House of God." "Oh!" exclaimed Salandronius to Vadian, "if you but saw how the inhabitants of the mountains of Rhætia cast far from them the yoke of the Babylonish captivity!"
Shocking disorders hastened the day when Zurich and the neighbouring districts were to shake off the yoke. A married schoolmaster wishing to become a priest, obtained his wife's consent, and they separated. The new curate was unable to keep his vow of celibacy, but not to outrage his wife's feelings quitted the place where she lived, and, having taken up his residence in the diocese of Constance, formed a licentious connection. His wife hastened to the place. The poor priest took compassion on her, and dismissing the person who had usurped her rights, took back his lawful spouse. The procurator-fiscal forthwith drew up a charge against him: the vicar-general began to move; the council of the consistory deliberated ... and the curate was ordered to abandon his wife or his benefice. The poor wife left the house weeping bitterly, and her rival returned in triumph. The Church declared itself satisfied, and thenceforth let the adulterous priest alone.[864]
THE MARRIAGE OF ZUINGLIUS.
Shortly after a curate of Lucerne eloped with a married woman, and lived with her. The husband went to Lucerne and taking advantage of the priest's absence brought away his wife. While returning they were met by the seducer, who immediately attacked the injured husband, and gave him a wound of which he died.[865] All good men felt the necessity of re-establishing the divine law, which declares marriage honorable in all.[866] The evangelical ministers had taught that the law of celibacy was of merely human origin, imposed by Roman pontiffs in opposition to the Word of God, which, when describing a true bishop, represents him as a husband and father. (1 Tim. iii, 2 and 4.) They saw at the same time, that of all the abuses which had crept into the Church none had caused more numerous vices and scandals. They considered it not only as a thing lawful but as a duty in the sight of God to withdraw from its authority. Several of them at this time returned to the ancient practice of apostolic times. Xylotect was married. Zuinglius also married at this period. No lady was more respected in Zurich than Anna Reinhard, widow of Meyer of Knonau, the mother of Gerold. From the arrival of Zuinglius she had been one of his most attentive hearers: she lived in his neighbourhood, and he observed her piety, modesty, and fondness for her children. Young Gerold, who had become as it were his adopted son, brought him into closer connection with his mother. The trials already endured by this Christian woman, who was one day to be the most cruelly tried of all the women whose history is on record, had given her a gravity which made her evangelical virtues still more prominent.[867] She was now about thirty-five years of age, and her own fortune amounted only to four hundred florins. It was on her that Zuinglius, on looking out for a companion for life, turned his eye. He felt how sacred and intimate the conjugal union is. He termed it "a most holy alliance."[868] "As Christ," said he, "died for his people, and gave himself to them entirely, so ought husband and wife to do and suffer every thing for each other." But Zuinglius, when he took Anna Reinhard to wife, did not immediately publish his marriage. This was undoubtedly a culpable weakness in a man otherwise so resolute. The light which he and his friends had acquired on the subject of celibacy was not generally diffused. The weak might have been offended. He feared that his usefulness in the Church might be paralysed if his marriage were made public.[869] He sacrificed part of his happiness to these fears—fears to which, though respectable perhaps, he should have been superior.[870]
HOW TRUTH TRIUMPHS.