general conn, il si be abandoned for the present, as a Lutheran at heart. When he designated the rule of
d that peace and order in the empire could only be ] fasting as an ordinance of man. the Council of Zurich,
in 1522, took his part against the bishop of Constance
ana cnai peace ami ortter in the eni]
maintained by mutual forbearance. After long nego-
REFORMATION
REFORMATION
Zwingli's first reforming work. Von Ertiesen und Frey- h, it ill r Spyseni which was published at this time, gave a new impulse to the movement. In the same year, Zwingli, in the name of the reformatory party among the clergy, addressed the Diet of Lucerne and the bish- op of Constance in behalf of a free preaching of the Gospel; he also demanded the abolition of priestly celi- bacy. In accordance with Zwingli's wish, the Council of Zurich arranged on Jan. 29, 1523, a religious confer- ence, at which Zwingli presented the reformatory doc- trines he had preached in sixty-seven articles, and de- fended them sq successfully that the Council of Zurich charged all the preachers to preach the pure Gospel in the same manner. Soon after, Zwingli received an ef- ficient colaborer in his reformatory efforts by the ap- pointment of Leo Judse as Lent priest at Zurich. Sev- eral events signalized at this time the steady advance of the cause. The council allowed nuns to leave their convents, several of the clergy married without hin- drance, a German baptismal service was introduced, and the cathedral chapter, at its own request, received new and suitable ordinances. In other cantons, especially in Lucerne, Fribourg, and Zug, a violent opposition was manifested against the Reformation, but in Zurich its success was fully secured. The council convoked a new conference for October 26, upon images and the mass, to which all Swiss bishops and cantons were invited, but only Schaffhausen and St. Gall sent delegates. No champion for images and mass was found at the con- ference, and the Council of Zurich concluded to promote the reformation of the canton by diffusing the proper instruction in the country districts, for which purpose Zwingli, the abbot Von Cappel, and Conrad Schmidt, commander of the knights of St. John at Kussnacht, were appointed. With the assent of the council, Zwin- gli published his Christian Introduction, which was to explain to the people more fully the meaning of the religious Reformation. Soon new reformatory meas- ures were adopted by the council. The shrined pictures in the churches were shut up, and every priest was left free to celebrate mass or not as he chose (Dec, 1523). On Whit-Sunday, 152-1, the work of removing the im- ages from the churches was begun, and it was com- pleted in thirteen days. The abolition of many other usages followed in rapid succession; and the transfor- mation in religious service was completed by the cele- bration on April 13, 14, and 16, 1525, of the Lord's sup- per again in its original simplicity in the great min- ster. The publication of Zwingli's I)e Vera et Falsa Religione and the first part of the Zurich translation of the Bible likewise gave a favorable impulse. Be- yond Zurich, the Reformation was carried through in nearly the whole canton of Appenzell, and in the town of Miihlhausen; a broad foundation was laid in Berne by the preaching of the prudent Berchtold Haller; in Basle, Wolfgang Fabricius Capito and Caspar Hedio were the first preachers, and in 1524 the authorities conceded to John CEcolampadius those conditions in regard to reform under which he accepted an appoint- ment as minister. The Reformation also gained a firm ground in Schaffhausen and St.. Gall. The majority of the cantons were, however, still opposed to the Refor- mation, and the Diet of Lucerne (Jan., 1525) endeav- ored to satisfy the longing for a reformation without rending the Church. Its decrees, however, did not go into effect; and the Catholic cantons, in accordance with the advice of Dr. Eck, arranged a new religious dispu- tation at Baden (May 19, 1526), where CEcolampadius acted as the spokesman of the Reformed theologians. Though both parties claimed the victory, the Refor- mation continued to make progress. In the summer of 1526, the Grisons granted religious freedom : in April, 1527, the Reformed party obtained a majority in the Council of Berne, which, after a new disputation at Berne (Jan. 6, 1528), officially introduced the Reforma- tion. Decisive measures for securing the preponder- ance of the Reformation were taken in 1528 bv St. Gall,
and in 1529 by Basle and Glarus. As the most zeal- ous of the Catholic cantons, especially Sehwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Valais, and Fribourg, resorted to forcible measures for the suppression of the Reforma- tion, Zurich and Constance, on Dec. 25, 1527, formed a defensive alliance under the name of Burgher Rights. It was joined in 1528 by Berne and St. Gall; in 1521) by Biel, Miihlhausen, Basle, and Schaffhausen; in 1530 by Strasburg, which had been repelled by the German Protestants. The landgrave of Hesse also was received into it in 1530, at least by Zurich and Basle. In the meanwhile fiveCatholic cantons — Lucerne, Zug, Sehwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden — had concluded ( April, 1529) a league with king Ferdinand for the maintenance of the old faith. A war declared by Zurich in 1529 against the five cantons was of short duration, and the peace was favorable to the former. In 1531 the war was renewed, and the forces of Zurich were totally defeated at Cap- pel, Zwingli himself finding his death. The peace which Zurich and Berne were forced to conclude was, on the whole, humiliating ; it recognised, however, and secured both confessions of faith. Soon after the bat- tle of Cappel, CEcolampadius died (Nov. 23, 1531) of grief for the losses of the Reformed Church. Henry Bullinger in Zurich, and Oswald Myconius in Basle, now became the leading spirits among the Reformed, whose strength was greatly impaired by internal dis- sensions and by the progress of the Anabaptists. The Catholic cantons succeeded in arresting the further spread of the Reformation in German Switzerland, and in repressing it by force in some free districts and in parts of the cantons Soleure and Glarus; but in the remainder of the Reformed cantons, especially in Zurich and Berne, the population steadfastly continued to ad- here to the cause of religious reform.