CHAPTER V.

ZWINGLE'S REMOVAL TO ZURICH-PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION-PUBLIC CONFERENCE. 1518-1523.

ZWINGLE's reputation was now greatly increased, and the fame of his learning and courage spread in all directions. In the year 1518, he was elected preacher in the Cathedral at Zurich, and as this new appointment opened a still wider field for usefulness, he accepted it without delay. Zurich was an independent city, and the capital of the Canton of the same name. It was likewise infested by the vices, then but too common in Switzerland, and which marked the degeneracy of the age. Religion was treated almost with contempt. The severity of ancient manners and morals had departed, and insubordination among the poor, and luxury and avarice among the higher classes, had banished the virtues of former times. "Letters wanted a restorer, both the governors and the governed an intrepid censor, and fainting religion an orator capable of restoring its influence over the people." This task seemed to be assigned by Providence to Zwingle and he executed it, with firmness and fidelity. On the first of January, 1519, he com

menced his public services. He took occasion, to censure the superstition, hypocrisy, idleness, and intemperance of the people, while he exhorted the magistrates to be impartial in the administration of justice, to protect widows and orphans, and to preserve the liberty of the country by avoiding foreign bribes and alliances. The latter part of this exhortation alluded to a miserable policy then adopted by the Swiss. Instead of preserving a strict neutrality among the contending nations by which they were surrounded, a measure equally recommended by a due regard for peace and for the morals of the citizens, they were in the habit of forming leagues with foreign States, which were frequently the cause of great suffering. These leagues, generally entered into from mercenary motives, served only to involve them in the calamities of wars, with which they as a people had no concern.

The stern rebuke of the new preacher was not without its good effect. Many were aroused and reformed by it: while others, whose interest and vices were attacked, manifested great indignation. The clamors of the discontented did not intimidate Zwingle, nor were they able to destroy his growing influence. His popularity and power became great, and gave him new strength in his warfare against the corruptions of popery.

In 1518 Leo sent one Samson, a Franciscan monk, into Switzerland, to carry on the traffic in indulgences. This emissary imitated the shameless effrontery of Tetzel; but the Swiss appear not to have been so bigoted in their attachment nor so complete in their subjection to the holy see as the Germans. A stop was soon put to the undertaking of Samson. The bishop of Constance, resenting it as an interference with his authority, ordered his parish priests to shut their doors against the papal agent, and exhorted Zwingle to defend the rights of the episcopacy. The Reformer had already raised his voice in condemnation of the abuse, not indeed because it was an indignity to his superior, but because it was ruinous to the morals of the people. He succeeded in converting to his opinion the deputies of the thirteen cantons, then assembled in a diet at Zurich, and they ordered the Franciscan to quit the country; an injunction which he immediately obeyed by a hasty retreat into Italy.

The deference of the Swiss to the counsels of Zwingle did not however long continue. His efforts for a reform in morals were too searching and zealous to suit the majority. He preserved the respect and affection of the inhabitants of Zurich, and was held in high esteem by them until the time of his death. But his stern integrity, his pacific policy, and his disapprobation of

the vices, ambitious projects, and foreign alliance of the rulers, made him many enemies in the other cities and cantons. To this cause, rather than to any severe measures adopted by the court of Rome, we must refer most of the difficulties with which the Reformation had to contend in Switzerland; and therefore it will be necessary to glance at the political affairs of that country.

The thirteen Cantons and free cities of Switzerland were united into one body, somewhat after the manner of the United States. This combination was called the Helvetic Confederacy, from the ancient name of a portion of the country over which it extended. The general government was composed of deputies or representatives from the several towns and cantons, who formed what was termed the Diet. The Swiss were also connected in some degree with the German Empire. During the contest for the imperial crown, of which an account has already been given, both of the rival candidates endeavoured to secure the aid of the Confederacy. Zwingle, always anxious to prevent his country from entangling herself with the affairs of other nations, strove to persuade his fellow-citizens not to listen to the promises of either, and to maintain a strict neutrality with reference to the contest. His judicious advice was neglected, and the Diet recommended the choice of the king of Spain. A war broke out

between the Emperor and Francis almost as soon as the former ascended his new throne, and both princes again applied for the assistance of the Helvetic League. The French monarch prevailed with all the members except Zurich, who rejected the proposed alliance, as inconsistent with the support which had just been rendered to Charles. This refusal increased the strong animosity already felt by the other cantons towards the Reformer and his coadjutors; and the sufferings they experienced in consequence of their illadvised union with the French had no tendency to allay their anger.

While matters were in this state, the Pope, in virtue of an alliance made some years before with the Swiss, demanded of them a supply of troops, to aid in the defence of his kingdom. This was the pretended, but not the real object of his holiness. In conjunction with Charles, he had laid a plan to wrest Milan and other cities from France. The connexion which twelve of the cantons had already formed with Francis, put it out of their power to comply with the requisition of Leo. Zurich alone was at liberty, and felt in honor bound to furnish a body of three thousand men. When this force joined the united armies of the Pope and the Emperor, promises and bribes were employed to induce them to assist in executing the design of the campaign.