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HISTORY U; i3i9«
THE CHRISTIAIi CHURCH
PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
NEW YORK
Christianas sum : Cl^ristiam ni^il a me alitmtm poto VOLUME VII
MODERN CHRISTIANITY
THE SWISS REFORMATION
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Copyright, 1892, By PHILIP SCHAFF.
Typography by J. S. Gushing & Co., Boston.
Prbsswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston.
HISTORY
THE EEFORMATIOE"
BY
PHILIP SOHAFF
VOLUME II
THE SWISS REFORMATION
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Copyright, 1892, By PHILIP SCHAFF.
Ttpograph-s bv J. S. CASHING & Co., Boston. Pbbsswork by Berwick k. Smito, Boston.
TO HIS OLDEST AND DEAREST SWISS FRIENDS
Hefa. iFvclicnc (©otiet, ©.©.
HONt>KAUY PROFESSOR, OF THEOLOGY AT NEUCHATEL
AND
IBu. (ficcirg bon SMgss
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IX THE UNIVERSITY OF ztfKICH
THIS VOLUME
OK THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN THEIR NATIVE LAND
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY THE
AUTHOR
PREFACE.
This volume concludes the history of the productive period of the Reformation, in which Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin were the chief actors. It follows the Protestant movement in German, Italian, and French Switzerland, to the close of the sixteenth century.
During the last year, the sixth centenary of the oldest surviving Republic was celebrated with great patriotic enthusiasm. On the first day of August, in the year 1291, the freemen of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden formed "in the name of the Lord " a perpetual alliance for the mutual protection of their persons, property, and liberty, against internal and external foes. On the same day, in 1891, the great event was commemorated in every village of Switzerland by the ringing of bells and the illumination of the mountains, while on the following day — a Sunday — thanksgiving services were held in every cliurch, Catholic and Protestant. The chief festivities took place, from July 31 to Aug. 2, in the towns of Schwyz and Brunnen, and were attended by the Federal and Cantonal dignitaries, civil and military, and a vast assembly of spectators. The most interesting feature was a dramatic representation of the leading events in Swiss history — the sacred oaths of Schwyz, Brunnen, and Griitli, the poetic legend of William Tell, the heroic battles for liberty and independence against Austria, Burgundy, and France, the venerable figure of Nicolas von der Flue appearing as a peacemaker in the Diet at Stans, and the chief scenes of the Reformation, the Revolution, and the modern reconstruction. The drama, enacted in the open field in view of mountains and meadows and the lake of Luzern, is said to have equalled in interest and skill of execution the famous Passion Play of Oberammergau. Similar celebrations took place, not only in every city and village of Switzerland, but also in the Swiss colonies in foreign lands, notably in New York, on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of September.!
1 The celebration has elicited some valuable contributions to the authentic history of Switzerland, which may be added to the literature on p. 3. I mention Dr. W. Oechsli : Die Anfdiige der schiveizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. ZUrich, 1891. — Jos. la. von Ah: Die Bundesbriefe der alien Eidyenossen von 1201 bis 1513. Einsiedeln, 1891. — Pibrrb Vaucheb: Les Commencements de la Confederation Suisse. Lausanne, 1891. — Prof. Georo von Wtss : Eede bei der Bundesfeier der Eidgenossischen polytechn. Schule, und der Hochsclmle Zllrich am 25 Jtili 1801. ZUrich, 1S91. — Denkschrift der historischen u. antiquarischen Gesellsckafi zu Basel. Zur Erinnerung an den Bund der Eidgenossen vom 1. Aug. 1201. Basel, 1891. — The second volume of Dieratjbb's Geschichte der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft appeared at Gotha, 1892, but goes only to the year 1516, when the history of the Reformation began.
vi PKEFACE.
Between Switzerland and the United States there has always been a natural sympathy and friendship. Both aim to realize the idea of a government of freedom without license, and of authority without despotism ; a government of law and order without a standing army ; a government of the people, by the people, and for tlie people, under the sole headship of Almighty God.
At the time of the Reformation, Switzerland numbered as many Cantons (13) as our country originally numbered States, and the Swiss Diet was then a loose confederation representing only the Cantons and not the people, just as was our Continental Congress. But by the revision of the Constitution in 1848 and 1874, the Swiss Republic, following the example of our Constitution, was consolidated from a loose, aristocratic Confederacy of independent Cantons into a centralized federal State, ^ with a popular as well as a cantonal representation. In one respect the modern Swiss Constitution is even more democratic than that of the United States; for, by the Initiative and the Referendum, it gives to the people the right of proposing or rejecting national legislation.
But there is a still stronger bond of union between the two countries than that which rests on the affinity of political institutions. Zwingli and Calvin directed and determined the westward movement of the Reformation to France, Holland, England, and Scotland, and exerted, indirectly, a moulding influence upon the leading Evangelical Churches of America. George Bancroft, the American historian, who himself was not a Calvinist, derives the republican institutions of the United States from Calvinism through the medium of English Puritanism. A more recent writer, Douglas Campbell, of Scotch descent, derives them from Holland, which was still more under the influence of the Geneva Reformer than England. Calvinism breeds manly, independent, and earnest characters who fear God and nothing else, and favors political and religious freedom. The earliest and most influential settlers of the United States — the Puritans of England, the Presbyterians of Scotland and Ireland, the Huguenots of France, the Reformed from Holland and the Palatinate, — were Calvinists, and brouglit with tiiem the Bible and the Reformed Confessions of Faith. Calvinism was the ruling theology of New England during the whole Colonial Period, and it still rules in great measure the theology of the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Baptist Churches.
In the study of the sources I have derived much benefit from the libraries of Switzerland, especially the Stadtbibliothek of Ziirich, which contains the invaluable Simler collection and every important work relating to the Reformation in Switzerland. I take great pleasure in expressing my obligation to Dr. G. von Wyss, president, and Dr. Escher, librarian, for their courtesy and kindness on repeated visits to that librarj'.
Tlie sources on the Reformation in French Switzerland are now made fully accessible by the new critical edition of Calvin's works, by Herminjard's collection of the correspondence of the French-speaking Reformers (not yet completed), and by the publications of the documentary history of Geneva during the period of Calvin's labors, including the registers of the Council and of the Consistory.
1 A Bundesstaat, as distinct from a Staatenhund.