CHAPTER IV. BASLE AND ITS BEAUTIFUL

I

CATHEDRAL.

N the northwestern corner of Switzerland, ma

jestically located on the west side of the blue,

rapidly flowing Rhine, lies the aristocratic, wealthy city of Basle. It is an old town, having been originally founded by the Romans as a camp. Its religious centre is its beautiful cathedral, built of red sand-stone, covered with a brightly colored roof and its end being flanked by two towers. The present building was built in 1365, and is 213 feet long and 106 wide. In it, before the reformation, was held one of the great reforming councils of the Catholic Church (1431-1449), which, however, did not reform that church. The cloisters that adjoin the cathedral are interesting, for they were the resort of Erasmus, the oracle of his day, who prepared the way for the reformation in Europe. Basle came very nearly being the birth-place of the reformation instead of Zurich and Wittenberg, for "Erasmus laid the egg of the reformation and Luther hatched it," is the old proverb. Erasmus, though a famous scholar, had not the moral courage to be a reformer and did not break with Rome. It

was left for Luther and Zwingli to do what he did not do, so he missed the great opportunity of his life. However he had an important influence in the preparation for the reformation as by the publication of his Greek Testament in 1516, which led Zwingli to become a reformer.*

Before the reformation broke out, several interesting scenes occurred there. Hither Zwingli came as a boy of ten (1494) to study three years at the parochial school of St. Theodore's Church. Here he first began to reveal his remarkable abilities, especially in oratory and music. Later, in 1505, he returned here to complete his education for the priesthood and spent about a year as a teacher in the parochial school of St. Martin's Church, and also in attending the university. It was at this time that he met the great crisis of his life. Thomas Wyttenbach was lecturing at the university as teacher of Greek. He introduced Zwingli to the study of the New Testament. He planted two seedthoughts in the mind of young Zwingli, that made him the future reformer. One was, that the time would come, when not the church, but the Bible,

*Erasmus died 1536, in the house of Froebenius, the printer, at 18 Baumleingasse, Basle.

would be the ultimate authority in religion. The other was, that sins are forgiven, not by the Virgin Mary, but through the ransom of Christ. Wyttenbach later followed his illustrious pupil into Protestantism, and became the reformer of Biel, Switzerland. But he has been forgotten in the greater fame of his illustrious pupil, Zwingli, just as Ananias, who baptized Saul at Damascus, is forgotten in his great convert Paul.

But another man than Erasmus or Wyttenbach was destined to become the reformer of Basle, Ecolampadius. His real name was Hausschein, meaning "the light of the house," which he latinized, according to the custom of the day, into Ecolampadius. He was a mild and gentle reformer, not having the impetuosity of either Luther or Zwingli, more like Melancthon, yet without the latter's vacillating and compromising spirit; for though mild, he was yet firm as a rock. His scholarship was of the highest order, as is shown by the fact that one of his books, the "Dialogue," influenced Melancthon to lower views of the Lord's Supper. Ecolampadius became the twin reformer with Zwingli of German Switzerland. As a boy, he had been disgusted with the immorality and pro

fanity of the priests. He attended Basle University and later returned again to Balse (1518), to aid Erasmus publish the second edition of his Greek New Testament, when he received the degree of doctor from the university. But he soon went away to Augsburg. He finally entered a monastery to seek refuge for his soul. But dissatisfied with it, he soon left it, saying, "I have lost the monk but I have found the Christian."

In 1522 he came to Basle as assistant priest of St. Martin's Church. Others as Capito at the cathedral had before him tried to introduce the doctrines of the reformation, but there had been no permanent results. But Ecolampadius' work told. In 1523 he was elected lecturer on the Bible at the university. In 1524 William Farel, from France, visited Basle and had a disputation, which created a sensation and exerted an influence for Protestantism. Ecolampadius began preaching the evangelical Gospel quietly but clearly. When the conference was held at Baden (1526) he was the leader for the Reformed as Zwingli dared not be present. He there made a great impression by his learning and piety. This conference made an impression on Basle, as did the conference at Bern (1528). Fi