CHAP. Glaris. 1527. S. Gallen. 1526. and themselves by lukewarmness and timidity!) and hence he himself proceeded with great caution. He appears, however, to have been upright on the whole; and the confidence which he expressed in the steadfastness of his flock, and in the final triumph of the truth at Schaffhausen, was, through God's mercy, not disappointed. But the Romanists were for the time emboldened, and failed not to advance wherever their opponents receded. Those who on the approach of death had recourse to the ceremonies of the church were buried with honour, while to others religious rites were refused at their interment; and by external circumstances of this kind the popular mind is frequently more influenced than by the most weighty considerations.1 The state of things in Glaris, at this period, seems to have resembled that at Schaffhausen: though there also it subsequently became more favourable.2 At S. Gallen the reformation decidedly gained ground. It was in the year 1526 that Vadian was elected first magistrate; and under his zealous and able direction the citizens followed closely in the steps of Zuric. A conference was held in the town with some divines of the neighbourhood; after which all images and pictures were removed from the parish church; and a consistory was established for deciding matrimonial causes, and administering ecclesiastical discipline. Superfluous festivals were abolished. Wetter would no more celebrate the mass. Burgawer and some others retained it a few months longer, and then successively discontinued it. The pastors of the town, with those of Appenzel, and some from the lands 1 Ru. i. 394-5, 479-80. Gerd. ii. 324, 349. of the abbey of S. Gallen, and the Rheinthal, met in a kind of synod, and agreed on regulations for their churches, and on renewing their meeting periodically. The next year, after mature deliberation, rules were drawn up for the celebration of the sacraments and other parts of divine service, and for the ordering generally of affairs connected with religion. Extraordinary attention was also paid to the relief of the poor. The citizens founded a house of charity for the reception of those whose necessities required it; and many sold their jewels and other valuables, and gave the proceeds for their support. The magistrates applied to the same object the superfluous funds of the religious houses, and the sums raised by disposing of certain ornaments withdrawn from the churches. Whether the particular measures adopted may be approved or not, let it not be said, with such instances of private as well as public liberality before us, and with even the general practice as presented to us in this history, that the reformation superseded the care of the poor, while the Romish church systematically made provision for them.1 A. D. 1527. 1527. In the Tockenburg a general assembly of the Tocken people was held in the month of August, 1527, burg. at which all the inhabitants, whether naturalborn subjects or not, were allowed to attend— "because," said their governors, religion and the glory of God, which are to be the topics for deliberation, are equally the concern of all men." After this meeting, the images and altars were demolished through a great part of the country. The abbot of S. Gallen, who 1 Ru. i. 395-6, 491-2. Gerd. ii. 326-7, 333. XVII. CHAP. had jurisdiction over the Tockenburg, expostulated strongly against such proceedings, and even appeared personally in the council to oppose them but his efforts were unavailing. The ana baptists. The anabaptists still continued to trouble Switzerland, and ran into incredible extravagances and enormities, amounting in one instance at least to the deliberate commission of murder. A young man, in the presence of his father and a numerous family, demanded to take off the head of his brother, under the pretence of imitating Abraham's sacrifice of his son; and the brother actually submitted to the execution, with the exclamation, "Father, thy will be done!" 1 At this period also it was, that the severe laws against these infatuated people began to be carried into effect in the reformed cantons. But into so painful and revolting a history I am little disposed to inquire, or to add to the statements of my learned predecessor.2 1 Ec. et Z. Epist. fo. 91. Ru. i, 418-421, 453–458. Gerd. ii. 325, 335-6.-See also Scultet. 77-79. Zuing. Op. ii. 7-39, or Epist. 81-113. Milner, v. 496, 504—514. (1095, 1104-1114.) Mantz was drowned by the sentence of the magistrates of Zuric, in January, 1527. It should be observed, that one learned historian of recent date denies, that Zwingle was ever so far wrought upon by the vexatious and even outrageous conduct of the anabaptists, as to countenance capital punishment for simple rebaptization-a crime of which Dr. Milner finds him guilty. Weismann, Introd. in Hist. Sacr. i. p. 1585. Hess roundly denies the reformer's ever having proved unfaithful to his principles of tolerance." pp. 235, 240. But his is not a work of sufficient research to be relied on in such a question. Gerdes in treating of these subjects quotes a sentence of the emperor Maximilian's, which, as coming from such a quarter, deserves to be transcribed. He is reported to have said: "All other things are subject to human laws; religion alone cannot be the subject either of compulsion or of (human) command." Ger. ii. 336. INDEX. Melancthon and Zwingle are here referred to by the initial letters of their names: ACCOUNTABLENESS, what necessary | Argents de paix, 388 to, 197 Adam, imputation of his sin, 267 Æpinus of Hamburg, 135, 168 Agricola, one of the authors of the Albenga, bishop of, at T. 292 Amburg, bailiff of Thurgau, 496 Am-Grut, his opposition to Z. 514, Aristotle, M. on, 212 Arnobius on the Psalms, 562-3 Assurance, M.'s doctrine of, 239- 241: discussed in T. 275, 283 ed with the electoral dignity, 17: Augusti, professor, 177, 185, 189 Augustus, elector of Saxony, 9, 19: 139 Austria reformation eagerly de- Baden publication of indulgences, bishop of, (Chris. d'Utten- Bavaria: diffusion of reformed prin- | Bothan, Jerome, 571 ciples there, 105 Bavarian Articles, the, M. on, 145, Beausobre, remark on, 341 390 Bremgarten, repulse of Samson 408-414 Berlin, letter of M. to, 54 Brucker, on M.'s Common Places, Bishops: encroachments of the popes on, 266: their residence and right, Blaurer, Ambrose, 383, 35.-Thomas, 383 Brugiere, John of Auvergne, 41 Ernest of, 12-14 Philip of, 4. Bucer of Strasburg, 372: his rejec- Bugenhagius, his death, 137 121 Bullinger, senior, repels Samson, Burgawer, Benedict, 419, 473-4, 537, 578 Burgdorf, the dean of, 424, 428 Body of Christ, different senses of, Cæsaremontanus, or Keiserberger, authority of the Greek and Hebrew Calvin, 110: letter of, to M. 49: his Brandenburg, John of, 4: his oppo-Cajetan, cardinal, acknowledged the Bossuet, his cavils against M. 121, 147 Calvinism, in T. 276 Candles, use of at Rome, 297 |