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year, he was able to reckon as many as two thousand persons, who were at least so far his converts as to avow his sentiments. We cannot but give his account of the state of things at this time, as it may serve as an important model for reformers on a smaller scale, and in regions nearer home.

"It is now four years ago that I preached through the whole Gospel of Matthew I then proceeded to the Acts of the Apostles, that the church of Zuric might see in what manner, and by what persons, the Gospel was at first propagated in the world. Next followed the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy; which, as exhibiting the rules of the conduct that becomes Christians, seemed admirably calculated to form a consistent and well-ordered flock. As some now appeared not to be sound in the faith, I deferred the Second Epistle to Timothy till I had gone through that to the Galatians; and then I explained it also. Some pretenders to wisdom then began impiously to say, Who, after all, is Paul? is he not a man like ourselves? Though he might be an apostle, he was but of an inferior order, not one of those who personally conversed with Christ. Aquinas or Scotus is more to be relied on than he.' Such being the case, I next brought forward the two Epistles of Peter, the chief of the apostles, that they might clearly see whether one spirit did not animate both him and Paul, and whether both did not speak the same things. I have since entered upon the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the ple might more fully understand the benefits and the glory of Christ. Hence they will learn, and indeed have in some degree learned, that he is the great High Priest; and that he by his one offering of himself, once offered. hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified.' -Such are the things which we have planted: Matthew, Luke, Paul, Peter have watered them; and God hath given a wondrous increase,-which I will not be the person to proclaim, lest I should seem to seek my own glory, and not that of Christ.

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"Go now and say, if you can, that this plantation is not of our heavenly Father's planting." pp. 355, 356.

There is much more in the same spirit. It was a noble testimony to the power of truth, that, at the end of two years from the commencement of his residence at Zurich, the magistrates published an edict enjoining the preachers to preach nothing which they could not prove from the sacred Scriptures. About

this period, in the year 1520, one year later than the publication of the Papal indulgence in Saxony, Leo X. issued his indulgencies for Switzerland; and Samson his agent in that country was not less daring and profligate in his proceedings, than Tetzel in Germany. On the last Sunday of his stay at Berne be convoked the people by the ringing of the bells, and caused the following graces to be proclaimed :—

"1. That all persons present, who should confess their sins on their knees, and should repeat three paters and three aves, should, by virtue of the merit of Jesus Christ and all the saints, and through the power and grace (or favour) of the pope, receive absolution of all their sins, both guilt and punishment, and should be pure and clean from all sin, as they had been immediately after baptism. 2. That all those who should that day make the circuit of the church, and repeat one devout prayer, should deliver a soul, to be selected by themselves, out of purgatory.' After the whole multitude had fallen on their knees, and recited five paters and as many aves, for the relief of the departed, he cried out, Now all the souls of the Bernese, in whatever place or manner they may have died, arc, altogether and at the same moment, delivered, not only from the pains of purgatory, but from the torments of hell, and are raised to heaven." p. 361.

Such proceedings, some even of the followers of the Church of Rome could not but condemn. Samson was inhibited by the bishop of Constance, from publishing indulgences within the precincts of his see; and, experiencing similar treatment in other places, he was at length obliged to retreat into Italy. Then it was that Zuinglius renounced his pension from the pope, as chaplain of the holy see; and, as he says himself, "I bid a long farewell to the Roman pontiff and his gifts."

In this part of the work are given some interesting sketches of several other reformers - of Leo Jude, Pellican, Paulus Scriptoris, Capito, of that truly eminent servant of God Ecolampadius, and of Zimmerman, to whom Zuinglius is described as giving the following characteristic counsels :

"Go before the senate, and make an address to them worthy of yourself and of him whose religion you profess; suited to touch their consciences, but not to irritate their feelings, and without the least personal allusion to any individual. Deny that you are a Lutheran, but affirm that you are a Christian, Assert your fidelity as a teacher; and appeal, not to your being a native of Switzerland, or of Lucerne, but to the fact that you were never found otherwise than faithful. Appeal also to the affection of your scholars who may accompany you voluntarily, and may entreat the senate not to deprive them of the director of their studies. Take with you as goodly a company of them as you can select some one who is competent to do the thing handsomely, and let him boldly but briefly speak for the rest-setting forth the services they may hope one day to render their country if they are suffered to prosecute their studies under such a master; but what a discouragement it will be to their exertions to be deprived of you.... If possible you must not give up Lucerne. Bear up; if you know not how to do it, the act of bearing up will teach you. But you do know how; and I am persuaded that by your example you will teach others."pp.381,382.

hibiting all such engagements with foreign states. Thus does the Gospel sheath the sword, which ambition and covetousness are so ready to draw.

The years 1521 and 1522 were distinguished by several publications from the pen of Zuinglius, which were forced from him by the controversies of the day. We extract the following passage, as it supplies us with Mr. Scott's just estimate of the two Reformers, Luther and Zuinglius.

"On reading over, however, these three works of Zwingle's, I must confess that I feel the defect which Dr. Milner has noticed in his writings as compared with those of Luther. A fine, elevated, and intrepid spirit pervades them; they are free from that coarseness which often offends us in Luther; they nobly assert the exclusive authority and sufficiency of Scripture, and shew a mind rich in the knowledge of the sacred writings; they maintain the true principles of the Gospel; but it is not with that warm personal feeling of their inestimable worth and indispensable necessity, which ever appears in all that Luther wrote. Christ as our teacher, and our deliverer from the dominion of sin, is more prominent than Christ as our atonement and righteousness. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is there but it does not pervade the frame, as the life's blood of the whole system; the source of warmth, and strength, and comfort, and of all vitality; as we see it to be in the illustrious Saxon. This difference is, no doubt, to be traced,

ment between them, as to the paths in which they had respectively been led with reference to mental conflict and temptation and accordingly I apprehend we shall find that Zwingle, as he went forward, became more thoroughly evangelical both in his views and his feelings; as every spiritually minded Christian will do, in proportion to his advancement in self-knowledge and in the knowledge of God." pp. 406, 407.

The sixteenth chapter opens with some notice of the subject of the mercenary services of the Swiss cantons, to the other nations of Europe. War is horrible enough even when a cause apparently just or necessary forces the sword from the scabbard, and hostility shelters itself under the disguise of patriotism, or national justice. But war simply for gain,—not so much to any discrepancy of sentiwar in which men of the same country often meet in the opposite ranks, war without passion or without pretext, is evidently little better than mercenary murder. It was next to impossible that any mind in the smallest degree imbued with the spirit of the Gospel should not sooner or later oppose itself to such a species of warfare. Accordingly we have, in this and in other parts of the volume, an account of the protests of Zuinglius, and of several of his associates against it. The siege of Milan, in 1522, in which large numbers of the Swiss fell in the ranks both of the besiegers and of the besieged, gave increased force to his remonstrances. The result was, that soon after a law was passed in some of the cantons, pro

A prayer of the Reformer, as quoted by Mr. Scott, is worth recording:

"On thee therefore, I call, O blessed Lord, to perform the work, which thou hast begun, unto the day of thy coming. If I have ever built up any thing erroneously, do thou throw it down. If I have laid any other foundation than thyself, do thou subvert it. Let thy flock, taught and imbued with thy Spirit, come to know, that it can never be wanting in any thing, while it is guided and fed by thee, its true Pastor and Bishop. For thou, O Son of God, art the protector and ad

vocate of all that hope in thee....Thou therefore, O most blessed Vine, whose dresser is the Father, and we the branches, forsake not thy plantation, thy building! Thou hast promised to be with us even unto the end of the world; and hast bid us, when brought before kings and rulers, to be without carefulness, for that the Spirit shall teach us in the same hour what we ought to speak; so that even the unwilling may hear the testimony concerning thee. Put therefore into the mouth of all thy servants, who seek thy glory, and hallow thy name, sound speech, that they may utter before the princes of this world those things which shall be acceptable in thy sight, and serviceable to miserable mortals! Thus shall we, who are members one of another, and one body in thee our sole and ever-living head, become thy one spouse, betrothed to thee, having neither spot nor wrinkle; and she shall be forsaken, who is made up of corruptions and defilements, on account of which the name of God is blasphemed: O thou who livest and reignest, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen." pp. 407, 408.

The year 1523 brings us to the account of the first public disputation, held at Zurich by permission of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, between the contending classes of Papists and Protestants. It is impossible for us to present the details of this conference. It is perhaps enough for us to say, that the triumph of the Reformers was complete. Mr. Scott's observations on the conference, and on the decree of the magistrates which followed, are very valuable. The following is a sample of them:

"Indeed the whole scene before us

must be acknowledged to be striking and extraordinary. The supreme power of the state, and that in times yet papal, convoking such an assembly; itself presiding at the religious discussion, and taking so great interest in the question at issue; yet exercising such perfect abstinence from all authoritative interference with religion, as the decree manifests: all this seems nearly without parallel.

"Little discussion, it is true, took place on this occasion-evidently for no other reason but because the papal advocates dared not enter into debate: yet it was impossible that the proceeding should not be attended with important consequences. The publicity of the transaction; the number and respectability of the parties who attended; the loud and repeated calls made, but without effect, upon the adversaries of the Reformation, to avow and defend their opinions; the exclusive

appeal made to the authority of Scripture, on the one side, and declined by the other: these and numerous other obvious facts could not but make a strong impression, which the persons who had been present would, on their return home, propagate even to distant parts. Popery, it was here clearly ascertained, had no foundation in Scripture to stand upon; nothing, which could bear examination to be urged in its support. Henceforward the Reformation, as far at least as Zurie was concerned, was not the mere work of individuals, connived at but not sanctioned; Zwingle was expressly encouraged to proceed in his work, with the avowed countenance of the state." pp. 449, 450.

The second disputation carried the opponents deeper into many of the controverted topics; and issued, as before, in the complete triumph of the Reformers.

In 1524 Zuinglius availed himself of the privilege, for the universal right to which he had long contended, of marriage. The account he gives of his own circumstances at this time, supplies us with some notion of the unworldly spirit of the more distinguished Reformers. When was any thing great achieved by men tongue-tied by the feverish thirst for earthly distinctions? No greater blessing can be granted to the man who means great things for his church or country, than to feel himself placed almost beyond the pale of possible worldly aggrandisement-to know that, as he has chosen the good part which cannot be taken away, so his choice includes nothing to which the world usually attaches the title of good.

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People talk,' he says, of the rich benefices of the pastors of Zuric, but I can declare that mine this year would not have produced me sixty pieces of gold, unless the heads of our college (the chapter?) had allowed me some advantages. My adversaries swell the amount from sixty to three hundred!-1 do not make this statement as complaining of poverty. God is my witness, that, if ever I feel uneasiness upon that subject, it is only because I cannot, to the extent of my wishes, relieve the number of poor people who need assistance. And indeed, if I corsulted my own ease, I should gladly resign every sixpence of my stipend, to extricate myself from the hazardous services in which I am engaged. But neither the state of the times, nor the improvement of the talent committed to me, will allow me

to retire. As for my wife, apart from her clothes and her ornaments, she does not possess more than four hundred pieces of gold in the world: and, for her ornaments, she so little esteems them, that she has never made any use of them since her marriage with me. The children indeed of her former marriage are rich; (may God give them grace to use their wealth aright!) and from them she receives thirty pieces of gold per annum : I have forborne to claim any further dowry, though I might have done it." pp. 493, 494.

In 1525, our Reformer had the satisfaction to see the sacrifice of the mass abolished at Zurich, and a translation of the Scriptures put into circulation in a considerable

part of Switzerland. We give

Mr. Scott's account of the latter event:

"We may here notice an important measure, of which the first step was about this time taken, and which in Switzerland, as well as in Germany, produced the most powerful and permanent effects. I refer to the giving of the Scriptures to the people in the vulgar tongue. Luther had, in the year 1523, published the Pentateuch and the historical books of the Old Testament, translated from the original Hebrew into the German language. The divines of Zuric now revised his translation, adapted it to the Swiss dialect of the German, and printed it in 1525. With the rest of the sacred writings they proceeded for themselves, and published the remainder of the Old Testament in 1529, and the whole together, revised, in 1531. Leo Jude and Caspar Megander had the principal share in the work: but Zwingle himself, and some others also bore a part in it. About the same time an Anabaptist teacher, a man of learning, published a translation of the Prophets from the original; and to the general fidelity of his version, the learned men of Zuric bore honourable testimony.-Luther's translation of the Old Testament was not completed till two years after that of the Swiss Reformers." pp. 521, 522.

About this period three events are noticed, which greatly contributed to retard the progress of the Swiss Reformation; namely, first the Rustic War, or rebellion of the peasants, which, though it raged in its full fury only in Germany, in some degree extended itself to Switzerland: secondly, the Sacramentarian controversy between Luther and Zuinglius, which still divides their respective followers. And, thirdly, the follies and crimes of the Ana CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 336.

baptists; events which must have crushed the growth of any rising edifice which had not its foundation on the rock of the Scriptures. Some modern writers have endeavoured to cast a doubt over the extravagancies of the Anabaptists; but what will be thought of such a fact as that recorded upon unquestionable authority, of one of the sect having, in the presence of his father and family, demanded, in imitation of Abraham's intended sacrifice of his son, to take off the head of his brother, and of the brother consenting to the decapitation, with these words-" Father, thy will be done ? "

The remainder of the volume is

mainly occupied in tracing the progress of the Reformation, in the four cantons which chiefly favoured it; the opposition of the nine other cantons, and the political separation of these opposite bodies. But the account refers to topics, generally speaking, of too minute a character to allow of our following the steps of the author.

It seems a little premature, at so early a state of the Swiss Reformation, to enter upon any very extended general observations on the subject; but perhaps a few will be pardoned.

And, in the first place, it is essential that we should say something of the mode in which the author has discharged his duty to the public.

The characteristics of the work are honesty, piety, and sound sense. We observe no fact, with regard to which there is not an obvious endeavour to determine the real authority and value: no fair occasion is lost for introducing the observations which suggest themselves to an intelligent and religious mind. And, finally, no observation is made with which it would be easy in any person but a most violent popish partizan to quarrel. This volume has not the liveliness and vigour which characterise that part especially of the church history which is the work of the Dean of Carlisle : 5 G

but it is more carefully composed, and has a clearness and sobriety of style which peculiarly become the historian of the church of Christ. There is one point, with respect to which we are disposed to suggest a doubt; namely, whether the history is not too minutely detailed. Nothing can be less interesting than the history of the squabbles of petty states, even in the best of causes; unless it is possible to connect with the details of these contests the biography of their leaders; and only then, if the narration extends to the history of their minds, as well as of their bodily movements. It is very natural that a writer deeply interested in his employment, and compelled to give much labour to the detection of the minutest particulars and the adjustment of the least important controversies, should attach undue importance to them. But the public are not unlikely to judge differently, and to wish rather for general results than the steps by which they have been perhaps tediously and laboriously accomplished. It is the earnest desire which we feel that the sale of Mr. Scott's volumes should bear some proportion to his labours, that especially prompts this observation. This is a busy age: every man is expected to read every book: life is short: one great characteristic of the times is impatience; and therefore, although Brandt once found thousands of readers of his four folio volumes on the Reformation in the Low Countries, the Reformation itself, with Zuinglius at its head, could now scarcely make its way over such a barrier as a single volume of the same dimensions. Mr. Scott, however, may differ from us as to this point; and if he cannot consent to give a smaller sample of the large and rich harvest he has laid up in his granary, we earnestly hope the public will catch his spirit, and receive with avidity all he is laborious enough to present to them.

while we say a few words on the subject of which this volume treats.

Every eye is familiar with the statements of Protestants, as to the necessity of reform at the period when Zuinglius arose. But Papists at least seem to be less familiar with the language of one of the popes as to this point; and for the sake of any reader who may be unacquainted with the document, we will extract

a part of it. “These troubles,” said Pope Hadrian, "are owing to the sins of men, and especially of the priests and prelates: even those who have sat in the holy chair have been guilty of many abominable actions; many abuses and indecencies have been committed in dispensing the spiritual and ecclesiastical ordinances; all things have been so changed for the worse, that the disease has extended itself from the pope to the meanest of the clergy."

We must still detain our readers

Nor had Switzerland escaped the general corruption. Perhaps, indeed, she was quite as much infected, with less prospect, on account of her retired situation, of a remedy. There are a few particulars, as to the time and mode of cure, which it may be as well to notice.

In the first place, it is remarkable that the spirit of reform arose as soon in Switzerland as in any part of the world. Though less commercial, less intellectual, less visited by the cross lights which had begun to flash along the horizon of Europe, she nevertheless not only partook of the general illumination, but even outshone most of her contemporaries. Can any fact square worse than this with the theory which some self-called rationalists have endeavoured to sustain, that the Reformation was the natural and necessary result of the actual state of things; and that the change which bigots ascribe to an invisible agency, must be traced to the mere progress of literature and civilization? The truth is, that religious reformation, and advancement in letters and civilization, by no means proceeded in every case with corresponding

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