The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-02-07

rising in the Church, and that good order
might prevail He says of his preaching IN
Einsiedcln: Before human being in our
neighberhood knew Luthers name had be-
gun to preach the Gospel of Christ in 1916;
moreover, never entered the ehancel without
expouuding the words which were read as the
Gospel for morning mass" Therefore, his an
nouncement that he meant to preach from the
Gospel was no new departure for himself, what
ever it may have been for the worshipers.
THE BEGINNING OF REFORM
Zwingli was born ON New Years Day, 1851;
he preached his first sermon in the GrOssmun-
ster at Zurich, on New Years Day, 1919, his
thirty fifth birthday He began, as he had said
he sheuld do, by expounding the Gospel OF Mat
thew, proceeding gradually to the exposition
OF other parts of the New Testament accord
ing TO their own evident meaning. Incident
ally he attacked the evils of society, the PEN
sions paid by foreigners, the idlenesS and
luxury OF the rich, their oppression OF the poor.
The civil as well as the religious reforms which
he was destined to effect were fores5adowed in
his preaching in the first years of Office but it IS
probable that neither Zwingli nor his hearers
then foresaw the extent to which these reforms
afterward developed.
Against one abuse within the Church ZwingIi
spoke clearly from the first. namely against
the sale of pardons. In this he found prompt
support for both the Zurich Local Council and
the Confederate Council condemned the pardon
seller Samson, who had done thriving bust
ness at Bern, and now came to Zurich in
seach of new fields for his wares. The Bishop
of Constance himself looked askance at the
pardon-seller Though he is believed merely
to have preferred selling pardons himself J.
The Confederate Council was inclined to defer
in the matter to the Pope; but happily, the
Pope Leo was 10th to anger the Swiss, and
agreed readily to recall Samson and punish
him if he proved to have committed any Of
Tense. This branch of Zgingli's Reformation
was, therefore, comparatively simple matter.
The next step was less easily disposed of. By
degrees Zwingli had given his preaching a
more decided tone of contradiction to the
former teachings of the Church l. e., he had
come to speak quite openly of Christian free
dom of Interpretation. Hence in Lent, 1922,
several persons ate meat without dispensation,
among them ZwinglIs friend, Christopher Fro
schauer, a printer. This man excused himself,
however, by saying that he had great work,
Pauls Epistles, on hand which must be sent to
Frankfort in time for a certain festival of the
Church, and that he had, therefore, been Obliged
to work night and day; he could not live upon
vegetables while under this strain, and fish was
beyond his means. At the same time he de-
Tended his own right of Interpretation quite
dAtSl L4HlDSll fdcdAOus 91Eft0Mu4lc, tue OlilCk
Zurich priests disapproyed of the independent
judgment of lay persons in church matters,
the Zurich Local Council forbade the eating of
meat during Lent and called upon the bishop
for decision. The bishop promptly sent rep
resentatives TO Zurich, who expounded before
the assembled theoiogians of the town the dan
gers Of innovation. Zwingli defended his
views so successfully that the bishops embassy
was fam to bring the matter before the less
and greater Local Councils in the absence of all
theologians, but the greater council decided to
admit ZwingE and two other theologianS
Zwingli heard the addresses of the embassy
through, and then, with difficulty obtaining
hearing, explained that eating meat in Lent
was not forbidden in the Scriptures admitted
that it was ancient custom, but cautioasd
against making custom law. Meanwhile the
council had punished several persons who had
eaten meat. Thereupon Zwingli published his
first book looking towards general Reforma-
ton" On Choosing and Freedom of Dining !;
On Provoeation and Irritation Whether Any
One Hath Power TO Forbid Eating at Certain
Times"
A SIGNAL FOR OPEN WARFARE.
That was the signal for open warfare. In
May, 1922, the Bishop of Constance made new
effort to silence Zwingli. He wrote to the
Provost and Chapter of the Grossmunster a let
| ter commanding them not only to avoid the
| new doctrine now openly condemned by the
Emperor and Pope, but also to hinder all 9TH
ers in preaching it. He sent similar COM
mand to the Council of Zurich and the Confed-
/ crate Council, then sitting in Lucerne Twin
/ glis answer was characteristic. He sent a
letter by ten Of his friends TO the bishop and
q still more urgent one 70 the Council at Luz
cerne, defending the freedom of preaching the
| Gospel, and urging that the marriage Of priests
be permitted. He then published his second
book, under the title ARCHITECTS: or, Begin
ming and End, in which he proclaimed aloud
the priority of the Scriptures over the Church
| dogma as subject of preaching.
| practical decision must now be reached
Either Zwingii was right or the Bishop of Con-
stance was right. If Zwingli was right he
must be protected from molestation; if the
Bishop of Constance was right Zwingli must
be suppressed. But who should decide? In 1923
the Regierung of Zurich summoned all ecclesi-
astics under its authority to public discussion,
| and informed the Bishop Of Constance of its
action, in order that he might be represented
/ if he wished 10 express himself further. The
| conference was so eminently reasonable and
/ Characteristic a method of arriving at a prac-
/ teal decision, and so fitting means for carry
4 ing out the Swiss Reformation, that I shall
give a somewhat detailed account of it in my
next letter. FIX.