[29] Sebastian Wagner was born at Schaffhausen in 1476. He studied at Paris under Lascaris, taught theology in the Franciscan monastery at Zurich, then at Constance. He adopted the Reformation, and, returning to his native town, became its reformer.
[30] Herminjard, Correspondance des Réformateurs, etc. ii. 95 n.
[31] Herminjard, Correspondance des Réformateurs, etc. ii. 55.
[32] Ibid. ii. 99 n.
[33] Ibid. ii. 98 n.
[34] Nicholas de Watteville, born in 1492, was canon of St. Vincent in Bern, protonotary apostolic, prior of Montpreveyres, and provost of Lausanne. He visited Rome in 1517, and there received the Abbey of Montheron; and the year following he was made a papal chamberlain to Pope Leo x. He gave up all his benefices on December 1st, and soon afterwards married Clara May, a nun who had left the convent of Königsfeld. He was always a great admirer of William Farel, and often interfered to protect the impetuous Reformer from the consequences of his own rashness. His younger brother, J. J. de Watteville, became Advoyer or President of Bern, and was a notable figure in the history of the Reformation in Switzerland. The family of de Watteville is still represented among the citizens of Bern.
[35] As early as June 15th, 1523, the Council of Bern had issued an ordinance for the preachers throughout their territories, which enjoined them to preach publicly and without dissimulation the Holy Gospel and the doctrine of God, and to say nothing which they could not establish by true and Holy Scripture; to leave entirely alone all other doctrines and discussions contrary to the Gospel, and in particular the distinctive doctrines of Luther. Later (May 21st, 1526), at a conference held between members of the Council of Bern, deputies from the Bernese communes, and delegates from the seven Roman Catholic cantons, it was agreed to permit no innovation in matters of religion. This agreement was not maintained long; and the Bernese went back to their ordinance of June 1523. It seems to have been practically interpreted to mean that preachers might attack the power of the Pope, and the doctrines of Purgatory and the Invocation of Saints, but that they were not to say anything against the current doctrine of the sacraments. Cf. Decrees of the Council of Bern, quoted in Herminjard, Correspondance des Réformateurs dans les pays de langue française, (Geneva, 1878), i. 434 n., ii. 23 n., also 20.
[36] Herminjard, Correspondance, etc., ii. 123, 138, 199, 225, etc. In Sept. 1530, Bern wrote to the Bishop of Basel, who had imprisoned Henri Pourcellet, one of Farel’s preachers: “Nous ne pouvons d’ailleurs pas tolérer que ceux qui partagent notre foi chrétienne soient traités d’une telle manière,” p. 277.
[37] Sources: E. F. K. Müller, Die Bekenntnisschriften der reformierten Kirche (Leipzig, 1903), pp. 1-100; Hospinian, Historia Sacramentaria, 2 vols. (Geneva, 1681).
Later Books: Ebrard, Das Dogma vom heiligen Abendmahl und seine Geschichte (Frankfurt a M. 1845-46), vol. ii.; Schweizer, Die protestantischen Centraldogmen in ihrer Entwickelung innerhalb der reformierten Kirche (Zurich, 1854-56); Hundeshagen, Die Konflikte des Zwinglianismus, Lutherthums, und Calvinismus in den Bernischen Landkirchen 1522-1558, nach meist ungedruckten Quellen dargestelt (Bern, 1842); compare also vol. i. 352 ff.