The Story of Switzerland

by Lina Hug; Richard Stead

(1484-1531.)

The age of the Renaissance ushered in a century of intellectual revolution, and wrought remarkable changes in art, in science, in literature, in religion, and in every department of human life and energy. The space at our disposal will permit us to touch only on one of these developments, the religious. But the varying history of religious movement well-nigh fills up the sixteenth century. The revival of learning quickened the spirit of the Reformation, though most of the savants disapproved of the movement, as in the case of Erasmus and Glarean, a famous Swiss scholar. But whilst Luther's training was monastic rather than scholarly, and whilst he was, if anything, opposed to the New Learning, the great Swiss reformer was a scholar of the first order, who drew his profound and liberal ideas from his study of the classics. And it is a curious and noteworthy fact that with the spread of letters in Switzerland, there started up on its soil a host of men of parts[47] who, forming a school of disciples, as it were, espoused the cause of their great leader, Zwingli, and promoted it, each in his own canton. This is one peculiarity of the Swiss Reformation.

The degeneracy of the Church passed all belief, and was, as every one knows, the primary and chief cause of the Reformation on the Continent; but in Switzerland there was yet another cause, quite as important, which gave an impulse to the movement—the calamitous consequences of the mercenary wars, touched upon in previous chapters. Foreign pay had irresistible attractions for captain and man alike, and the country was constantly being drained of its stoutest arms and bravest hearts. It was difficult to over-estimate the baneful effects of this practice on the national welfare, and, of all the noble men who deplored these results, none felt it like Ulrich Zwingli. An enthusiastic scholar, a gifted preacher, a zealous patriot, and a remarkably able politician, he devoted his life to the work of rescuing his people and country from their moral decline. This he proposed to effect by the working of the Divine Word. Luther left the knotty skein of politics to his princely friends to unravel, but Zwingli, on the contrary, shrank from no political difficulties, encumbrances, or complications. To his clear and far-seeing mind social and political reform was inseparably bound up with religious change and progress. The one would be of but little avail without the other, and the great object of his life became the total regeneration of the commonwealth—church and state both.

ULRICH ZWINGLI.
(After Asper.)

Ulrich Zwingli was born at Wildhaus, among the song-loving Toggenburger, in the canton of St. Gall, January 1, 1484. The talented youth was destined for the Church by his father, a highly-respected magistrate, and was sent to school at Basel, and afterwards studied at Bern. Here sprang up his enthusiasm for classical studies under the famous Lupulus, whilst the friars were so struck with his musical talents that they tried hard to keep him in the cloisters. However, in 1500 he left for the University of Vienna, and two years later we find him established as Latin teacher at Basel and a student of the university there. Steeped in the New Learning his attention was now drawn to scriptural studies by the enlightened Wittenbach. At Basel, too, he formed a friendship with the famed Erasmus. Obtaining the degree of magister philosophiæ, in 1506, he was nominated pastor at Glarus, and with regret tore himself away from that seat of learning. During his ten years' ministry at Glarus (a Landsgemeinde canton) his natural taste and talent for politics were brought into play. And though he founded a Latin school for clever youths, and pursued his own studies vigorously, and kept up a vast correspondence with Erasmus, Glarean, and other noted scholars, he was no mere pedant or bookworm, but took a profound interest in the political life of that stirring age. Twice he accompanied the men of Glarus on their Italian expedition as field chaplain, but though he naturally rejoiced at the glory their arms acquired, yet his eyes became fully opened to the disastrous results of the mercenary wars. His direct and unsparing attacks on the Reislaufen and foreign pension system roused such a storm against him that he was forced to take refuge at Einsiedeln, 1516. His two years' quiet retreat in the famous abbey afforded him a glimpse of the flagrant abuses rife in the Church. At first he appealed to the dignitaries of the Church to remedy the evils, but at length, driven no doubt by the sight of the superstitions around him, he introduced those sweeping measures of reform which did away with every vestige of Romanism that remained in the evangelical church. Preaching to the thousands who flocked to the wonder-working image of the Virgin, his sermons, full of force, novelty, and pithy eloquence, rapidly spread abroad his fame. He became friendly with other scholars and religious reformers. Rome made him tempting offers with the view of drawing him away from Switzerland and his life-work, but resisting all her persuasion, he accepted a call to Zurich, as plebanus at the Minster, December, 1518. Zurich was the foremost town of the Confederation, but was justly reputed a dissolute city, not unlike the then Geneva. Its enlightened Council saw in Zwingli a spirited leader.

His opening sermon, on New Year's Day, 1519, stirred his hearers in a marvellous way, and at once stamped him as an evangelical reformer of no common type. He briefly sketched out the plan by which he proposed to be guided in his future sermons. His subjects would be drawn from the Bible only,[48] especially from the New Testament, and he would follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and not human direction. So profound was the impression made by his impassioned and eloquent words that some of the listeners declared him to be a "new Moses who had arisen to save his people from spiritual bondage." The learned Platter writes that during the sermon he "felt himself lifted off the ground by his hair." The very first year of Zwingli's ministry at Zurich, two thousand souls were "saved by the milk of the Holy Gospel." And his practical goodness of heart was attested by his assiduous attention to the sick during the plague of 1519, in which he was himself stricken and brought very near to death. Three hymns composed during this trying time reveal his entire resignation and calm trust in God. Although he fiercely opposed the sale of indulgences there were no thunderings against him from the Vatican, such as were hurled against Luther.[49] The Eidgenossen, being useful to the Papal See, was rather indulged; it was even intimated to the Diet that they should send back from Bern Friar Bernhard Samson, who was preaching with great effect there, should he prove obnoxious. With unflagging zeal and courage Zwingli followed his ideal in politics, viz., to rear a republic on the type of the Greek free states of old, with perfect national independence. Thanks to his influence Zurich in 1521 abolished Reislaufen, and the system of foreign pay. This step, however, brought down on the head of Zurich the wrath of the twelve sister republics, which had just signed a military contract with Francis I. Zwingli addressed to Schwyz a "Holy Exhortation" to serve neither Pope nor Emperor; his exhortation, however, served only to increase the number of his political foes.[50] Relying rather on reason than on force, he prepared the way for his reforms with singular moderation and forbearance.

It was only in 1522 that he began to launch pamphlets against the abuses in the Church-fasting, celibacy of the clergy, and the like. On the 29th of January, 1523, Zwingli obtained from the Council of Zurich the opening of a public religious discussion in presence of the whole of the clergy of the canton, and representatives of the Bishop of Constance, whose assistance in the debate the Council had invited. In sixty-seven theses remarkable for their penetration and clearness he sketched out his confession of faith and plan of reform, and utterly confounded all objections of his opponents by showing the conformity of his theses with the Holy Scriptures. On the 25th of October, 1523, a second discussion initiated the practical consequences of the reformed doctrine—the abrogation of the mass and image worship. Zwingli's system was virtually that of Calvin, but was conceived in a broader spirit, and carried out later on in a far milder manner by Bullinger. To enter into a full comparison of the two systems would, however, be out of place here. The Council gave the fullest approval to the Reformation.

In 1524 Zwingli married Anne Reinhard, the widow of a Zurich nobleman (Meyer von Knonau), and so discarded the practice of celibacy obtaining amongst priests. She made him an excellent wife and help-mate, and bore him four children. The reformer's skill in music was often brought to bear on his children when they were inclined to be unruly; he would soothe them into peace and quietness by his performances on the lute or other instrument. To his stepson Gerald Meyer he was an excellent father. Tall, with grave but winning features, with a kind and generous heart and winning manner, Zwingli's personality was most fascinating. A scholar but no pedant, a plain but vigorous speaker, of sound and practical judgment, with vast stores of learning, and an unusual elevation of mind, he was also broadminded and compassionate. It may be mentioned that he provided on Ufenau Island in Zurich lake a last asylum for Ulrich von Hutten, who had been rejected by Erasmus and driven from Germany.

In 1524 Zwingli began to effect the most sweeping changes with the view of overthrowing the whole fabric of mediæval superstition. In the direction of reform he went far beyond Luther, who had retained oral confession, altar pictures, &c. The introduction of his reforms in Zurich called forth but little opposition. True, there were the risings of the Anabaptists but these were the same everywhere, and the revolt of the peasants was a general feature of the time.[51] Pictures and images were removed from the churches, under government direction, and nothing was left to distract men's attention, for Zwingli aimed at the re-establishment of the primitive Christianity in its pure, simple, and biblical form. The Holy Scriptures, expounded by the elect ministers of God, were to be men's highest guide and support. At the Landgemeinden,[52] called for the purpose, the people gave an enthusiastic assent to his doctrines, and declared themselves ready "to die for the gospel truth." Thus a national Church was established, severed from the diocese of Constance, and placed under the control of the Council of Zurich and a clerical synod. The convents were turned into schools, hospitals, and poor-houses. The famous Chorherrenstift, founded by the Carolingians, was turned into a University College, continuing to be called the Carolinum. This lasted till 1832, when it was formed into the University and Gymnasium of our own days. Zwingli was elected rector, and lectured on theology. He was also devoted to the study of Greek, and on New Year's Day, 1531, had a splendid performance of one of the plays of Aristophanes, for which he himself wrote the accompanying music, grave statesmen joining the professors and students in the representation. Zwingli was now, indeed, the idol of the people, and wielded the sceptre in his little state. Under him Zurich became a centre of learning and religious enlightenment, and its influence spread over other Swiss lands, South Germany and elsewhere.