642 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1530.
this literally, said, “Do not boast so much. You are in Hesse, not in Switzerland. In this country we do not break people’s necks. Spare such proud, defiant words, till you get back to your Swiss.” 1
Zwingli: In Switzerland also there is strict justice, and we break no man’s neck without trial. I use simply a figurative expression for a lost cause.
The Landgrave said to Luther, “You should not take offense at such common expressions.” But the agitation was so great that the meeting adjourned to the banqueting hall.
The discussion was resumed in the afternoon, and turned on the christological question. I believe, said Luther, that Christ is in heaven, but also in the sacrament, as substantially as he was in the Virgin’s womb. I care not whether it be against nature and reason, provided it be not against faith.
Qcolampadius: You deny the metaphor in the words of institution, but you must admit a synecdoche. For Christ does not say, This is bread and my body (as you hold), but simply, This is my body.
Luther: A metaphor admits the existence of a sign only; but a synecdoche admits the thing itself, as when I say, the sword is in the scabbard, or the beer in the bottle.
Zwingli reasoned: Christ ascended to heaven, therefore he cannot be on earth with his body. A body is circumscribed, and cannot be in several places at once.
Luther: I care little about mathematics.
The contest grew hotter, without advancing, and was broken up by a call to the repast.
The next day, Sunday, Oct. 3, it was renewed.
Zwingli maintained that a body could not be in different places at once. Luther quoted the Sophists (the Schoolmen) to the effect that there are different kinds of presence. The universe is a body, and yet not in a particular place.
1 He added, ‘* Wo nicht, so will ich euch auch tiber die Schnauze fahren, dass es euch gereuen wird, dazu Ursach gegeben zu haben.”’
§ 108. THE MARBURG CONFERENCE CONTINUED. 643
Zwingli: Ah, you speak of the Sophists, doctor! Are you really obliged to return to the onions and fleshpots of Egypt? He then cited from Augustin, who says, “Christ is everywhere present as God; but as to his body, he is in heaven.”
Luther: You have Augustin and Fulgentius on your side, but we have all the other fathers. Augustin was young when he wrote the passage you quote, and he is obscure. We must believe the old teachers only so far as they agree with the Word of God.
CEcolampadius: We, too, build on the Word of God, not on the fathers; but we appeal to them to show that we teach no novelties.!
Luther, pointing again his finger to the words on the table: This is our text: you have not yet driven us from it. We care for no other proof.
(Ecolampadius: If this is the case, we had better close the discussion.
The chancellor exhorted them to come to an understanding.
Luther: There is only one way to that. Let our adversaries believe as we do.
The Swiss: We cannot.
_ Luther: Well, then, I abandon you to God’s judgment, and pray that he will enlighten you.
(Ecolampadius: We will do the same. You need it as much as we.
At this point both parties mellowed down. Luther begged pardon for his harsh words, as he was a man of flesh and a! Zwingli begged Luther, with tearful eyes, to forgive him harsh words, and assured him that there were no men
1 Luther hastily prepared a memorandum for the Landgrave, with quotations from Hilary, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Cyprian, and Irenzus, to counteract the quotations from Augustin. See Letters, ed. De Wette, III. 508 511.
644 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
in the world whose friendship he more desired than that ot the Wittenbergers.!
Jacob Sturm and Bucer spoke in behalf of Rirasebiaat and vindicated their orthodoxy, which had been impeached. Luther’s reply was cold, and displeased the audience. He declared to the Strassburgers, as well as the Swiss, “ Your spirit is different from ours.” 2
The Conference was ended. <A contagious disease, called the English sweat (sudor Anglicus), which attacked its victims with fever, sweat, thirst, intense pain, and exhaustion, had suddenly broken out in Marburg as in other parts of Germany, and caused frightful ravages that filled everybody. with alarm. ‘The visitors were anxious to return home. So were the fathers of the Council of Trent, when the Elector Moritz chased the Emperor through the Tyrol; and in like manner the fathers of the Vatican Council hurried across the Alps when France declared war against Germany, and left the Vatican decrees in the hands of Italian infallibilists.
But the Landgrave once more brought the guests together. at his table on Sunday night, and urged upon every one the supreme importance of coming to some understanding. On Monday morning he arranged another private conference between the Saxon and the Swiss Reformers. They met for the last time on earth. With tears in his eyes, Zwingli approached Luther, and held out the hand of brotherhood; but Luther declined it, saying again, “ Yours is a different spirit from ours.” Zwingli thought that differences in non-essentials, with unity in essentials, did not pra
1 As Luther reports the words, ‘‘ Es sind keine Leut auf Erden, mit denen ich lieber wollt’ eins seyn als mit den Wittenbergern.”? In Zwingli’s dialect, “‘ Es werend kine Lit uff Erden, mit denen ich lieber woll’ ins sin, denn mit den Wittenbergern.”’
2 “ Thr habt einen anderen Geist als wir.”’