threatened with forcible expulsion and imprisonment. He finally left it in February, 1522, wont to Heidelberg, and afterwards took refuge at Ebernburg with Franz von Sickingen. In the performance of his ecclesiastical du- ties at this place, he introduced an iiuiovation by read- ing the Gospel and Epistles in (ierman instead of Latin, which he aptly compared to the unknown tongues. On Nov. IG, 1522, he left Ebernburg for Frankfort again, and thence went to Basle, and from that time dates his real efficiency as a reformer. He reached Basle at a most critical moment, and he proved just the man needed to guide the movement then in progress ; he was not a stranger, he had many warm friends in Basle ; he under- stood the character of the people ; he was a ripe scliolar and a popular preacher, and bis own religious experi- ence fitted him to appreciate and deal with the difficul- ties encountered by others in their progress from dark- ness to light. Yet his task was not an easy one. While many of the citizens gave him a cordial welcome, the priests and professors looked with an evil eye on the monk who had cast aside his cowl and his vows; even his old patron the bishop, and his old friend Erasmus, to whom while yet in the convent he had written of his acceptance of the Reformation doctrines, received him coldly. Under these circumstances his chances of get- ting a professorship were very small. During the first year he had no office of any kind; yet it was a memorable year in his history, for in the course of it he was brought into contact witli Zwlngli, whose influence mightily quickened his progress in the path of reform, and who more than any other person helped to give to the system of faith and worship afterwards established at Basle its peculiar features. After waiting nearly two years for employment, and when just ready to despair of finding it, the door of entrance into the university was suddenly opened for Q^colampadius, in consequence of a dispute between the council and the professors, which resulted in the deposition of two of the latter. Their places were instantly filled by Qicolampadius and Pellican. The chair of the former was that of Biblical learning — the one of all others for which he was best suited. He began his course of lectures with Isaiah, and long before he had reached the middle of it his lecture-room was unable to hf)ld the crowd of students and citizens who flocked thither, all eager to hear the learned and eloquent expositor. Besides this academic position, Qicolampadius received an appointment as preacher of St. Martin's; but in accepting this pastorate, he frankly told the council and people that he must be allowed to preach the Word with all freedom, and would not consider himself bound to observe useless or pernicious ceremonies. In his lectures he advanced radi- cal views which offended the conservatives and created a breach between him and Erasmus. Thus he spoke against the celibacy of the clergy, thinking that it were better for the interest of the Church that they should remain single, but holding with St. Paul that those who could not abstain should marry, instead of giving a bad example to their congregations, as did many priests of that period. In his sermons he became daily more severe against the abuses of the Roman Cath- olic Church, which he attacked one by one, comparing them with the principles laid down in the Scriptures. In the mean time the discussion on the sacraments broke out; Karlstadt's works were condemned by the Council of Basle in 1525, and the booksellers were forbidden to publish any of (Ecolampadius's writings. The Anabap- tists also ojiposed him. Yet, althougli even his liberty was threatened, he did not flinch, and in 1525 he bap- tized in German, discontinued the mass, and celebrated for the first time the Lord's Supper in the Reformed manner, having himself composed a liturgv for the pur- pose. When the dispute arose between Zwingli and Lu- ther respecting the real presence in the Lord's Supper, CEcolampadius supported the opinions of Zwingli, and published in 1525 De vero intellectii verborum Domini, Hoc est corjms meum — a work of which Erasmus saj-s that
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