ARTICLE V.

ULRICH ZWINGLI.

BY HENRY S. BURRAGE, d. d.

THE Protestant world has recently celebrated the fourhundredth anniversary of Martin Luther's birth. Never, before, except in the life of our Lord, has such an event touched so many hearts. In the Old World and the New, in sermons and addresses, in stately quarterlies and popular monthlies, in religious and secular journals, the life and work of the great German Reformer have been made to pass before the minds of men. Surely Luther was worthy of such a remembrance. To him, as the one more than any other under God, who made possible what Milton calls "the bright and blissful Reformation," it was fitting that such high honor should be paid. But Luther wrought not alone. ́ In his own land and in other lands there were those in whose hearts glowed the same holy ardor, and whose services in the overthrow of error and the establishment of truth we have abundant occasion to remember, even though-and this is true of Luther as well-we may not be able to approve of all they said and did. Prominent among these reformers of the time of the Reformation was Ulrich Zwingli, whose four-hundredth birthday marks the opening of this new year, and so affords a fitting opportunity for a review of his life and reformatory labors.

Ulrich Zwingli was born January 1, 1484-seven weeks after the birth of Luther-at Wildhaus, a small village in the canton of St. Gall, Switzerland, on the road from Wyl through the Toggenburg to Haag, in the valley of the Rhine. It is the highest village in the Toggenburg, and lofty mountains, their rocky summits covered with snow, inclose it on all sides.

There in the craggy Alpine heights,
Echoing the eagle's cry,

The Lord will choose his witnesses

To live for Christ, or die.

On the outskirts of the village still stands the chalet in which Zwingli, the third of ten children-eight boys and two girls-was born, its timbers blackened with age, and its roof covered with stones to secure the shingles against the blasts of Winter. Of the reformer's mother, Margaret Meili, we only know that she had a brother, John Meili, who was abbot of Fischingen. His father, the ammann or principal magistrate of the village, was a shepherd, as were his neighbors. With the opening of the Spring, as the snows melted, these hardy mountaineers followed their flocks to the mountain pastures, reaching the higher Alps in August, and descending again to the valleys with the advancing Autumn. Breathing the pure air of these snowcapped mountains, and mingling in these delightful pastoral scenes, Ulrich Zwingli spent his early boyhood. "I have often thought," said his friend, Oswald Myconius, "that being brought near to heaven on these sublime heights, he contracted something heavenly and divine."

Very early Zwingli's father seems to have discovered in his son signs of intellectual promise, and he was placed under the care of his uncle, the dean of Wesen, who provided him with a suitable instructor. At ten years of age the boy was sent to Basel, at that time not only the seat of a famous university, but the residence of widely celebrated scholars. Here his instructor was the learned Gregory Bunzli, under whose guidance Zwingli made such rapid progress in his studies that at length Bunzli sent him home, with the suggestion that he should have instruction better suited to his capabilities. Just then Lupulus, one of the most learned men of that time in Switzerland, had opened at Berne a school of high grade, and thither, probably by the advice of the dean of Wesen, the ammann of Wildhaus sent his son. Lupulus was a distinguished classical scholar, and he awakened in the mind of his pupil an inex

tinguishable love for the treasures of antiquity, to which the revival of learning had then only recently recalled the minds of men. Like Luther, Zwingli was an excellent singer, and while at Berne the Dominicans taking note of his fine voice, and also of his splendid intellectual gifts, endeavored to win him to their order, and he yielded so far as to take up his residence among them. This step, however, was displeasing to his father and uncle, and he was immediately summoned home in order to withdraw him from what were evidently regarded as unfavorable influences.

He was now sent to the university at Vienna. Here he devoted himself to the study of philosophy, in which he added new laurels to those he had already secured. Here, also, he made the acquaintance of another Swiss student, Joachim Von Watt, afterwards better known as Vadian, with whom he was destined to be closely united in his reformatory labors. In 1502, at eighteen years of age, Zwingli returned to Wildhaus. His studies, however, had awakened within him such a longing for an increase of knowledge that he was unwilling to shut himself up in his native village; and he again made his way to Basel, where he received employment as a teacher in one of the schools of the city, and prepared himself for his master's degree, which he took in 1506.

It was about this time, November, 1505, that there came to Basel one who exerted an important influence on the mind of Zwingli. It was Thomas Wyttenbach, a companion of Reuchlin at Tübingen. A man of liberal spirit and of great culture, he gathered around him at once the young men of the university, who welcomed the prophetic words: "The time is not far distant when the scholastic theology will be abolished and the primitive teaching of the Church restored." Indeed, in this the new teacher himself led the way, maintaining that in the death of Christ is the only ransom for the forgiveness of sins, and insisting upon the necessity of faith alone in order to salvation. These words, and others like them, made a powerful impression

on Zwingli, and throughout his life he repeatedly acknowledged his indebtedness to Thomas Wyttenbach.

In 1506, while he was in Basel, and before he had been ordained, Zwingli was chosen priest at Glarus, the capital of the canton of the same name. The pope, it seems, had a candidate for this position in the person of one of his favorites, the son of a distinguished family in Zürich; but the people declined to receive him, and Zwingli, having been ordained by the bishop of Constance, preached his final sermon at Rapperswyl, celebrated his first mass in the village church at Wildhaus, and toward the end of the year entered upon his work in Glarus.

His labors as a parish priest did not, by any means, withdraw Zwingli's attention from the ancient classics, and he prosecuted his studies in this direction assiduously. In 1512 he accompanied the soldiers of his canton into Italy, in a campaign against the French. On his return he devoted himself to the study of the Greek language, desiring "to draw the teachings of Christ from the fountain," he said; “I must neglect all these matters"-referring to philosophy and theology-"and look for God's will in his Word alone." In 1514 we find him in correspondence with Erasmus, and in the following year he visited Erasmus at Basel.

Soon after, in 1516, on account of his determined opposition to the employment of Swiss soldiers in the service of foreign powers, Zwingli brought upon himself the hatred of the French party in Glarus, and was constrained to withdraw from the place, although the majority of his people were faithful to him, and begged him to remain. Receiving an invitation to Einsiedeln he removed thither. Einsiedeln was then, as it is now, the seat of a famous abbey founded in the time of Charlemagne. Over its gate was this inscription: "Here may be obtained complete remission of sins;" just as now printed circulars promise “forgiveness of sins for two hundred days to those who make a pilgrimage to the Madonna of Einsiedeln, and who pray with their whole heart to the Holy Virgin the prayer there pre

scribed." Zwingli's soul seems to have been stirred by the scenes he witnessed daily. Addressing a crowd of pilgrims who had been lured to Einsiedeln, he exclaimed: "Think not that God is in this temple more than in any other part of creation. Wherever he has fixed your dwelling he encompasses you, and hears you as much as at our lady at Einsiedeln. What power can there be in unprofitable works, weary pilgrimages, offerings, prayers to the Virgin and the saints, to secure to you the favor of God? What signifies the multiplying of words in prayer? God looks upon the heart, and our heart is far off from God." For three years Zwingli labored in this spirit at Einsiedeln; and, as a result of his earnest words, the number of pilgrims greatly diminished. "Christ alone saves us, and he saves everywhere," he said, and the glad tidings were carried to every part of Switzerland.

Zwingli's work as a reformer, however, may be said to have commenced at Zürich, whither he was called as preacher at the cathedral in December, 1518. This was a position that called for the exercise of his best gifts, and with a desire to use them for the glory of God in the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, Zwingli repaired to Zürich, and entered upon the duties of his office. His first sermon he preached on New Year's day, 1519. He was then thirtyfive years of age, of fine personal appearance, above the middle height, with a clear, strong voice, which easily reached every part of the large cathedral. On the following day, which was Sunday, he commenced a series of sermons on the Gospel of Matthew. To the canons of the cathedral he said: "The history of Jesus has been too long kept out of public view. It is my purpose to lecture on the whole of the Gospel according to Matthew, drawing from the fountains of Scripture alone, sounding all its depths, comparing text with text, and putting up earnest and increasing prayers that I may be permitted to discover what is the mind of the Holy Spirit." Crowds flocked to hear him, and at once the testimony was on all lips, "The like we never heard before."