32 THE SWISS REFORMATION.
pended too much on Jerome and other Fathers instead of the Scriptures. He told Cardinal Schinner in 1517 that popery had poor foundation in the Scriptures. Myconius, BuUinger, and Capito report, in substantial agreement, that Zwingli preached in Einsiedeln against abuses, and taught the people to worship Christ, and not the Virgin Mary. The inscription on the entrance gate of the convent, promising complete remission of sins, was taken down at his instance.^ Beatus Rhenanus, in a letter of Dec. 6, 1518, applauds his attack upon Samson, the restorer of indulgences, and says that Zwingli preached to the people the purest philosophy of Christ from the fountain."^
On the strength of these testimonies, many historians date the Swiss Reformation from 1516, one year before that of Luther, which began Oct. 31, 1517. But Zwingli's preaching at Einsiedeln had no such consequences as Luther's Theses. He was not yet ripe for his task, nor placed on the proper field of action. He was at that time simply an Erasmian or advanced liberal in the Roman Church, laboring for higher education rather than religious renovation, and had no idea of a separation. He enjoyed the full confidence of the abbot, the bishop of Constance, Cardinal Schinner, and even the Pope. At Schinner's recommendation, he was offered an annual pension of fifty guilders frdm Rome as an encouragement in the pursuit
1 The inscription was, "Hie est plena remissio omnium peccatornm a culpa et a poena." But the sermon against the worship of saints, pilgrimages and vows, of which Bullinger speaks (I. 81), was preaclied later, in 1522, at the Feast of Angels, during a visit of Zwingli to Einsiedeln. See Pestalozzi, Leo Judce, p. 16, and Gieseler, III. i. p. 138.
- Opera, VII. A. 57 : "liisimus abunde veniarum institorem [Bernh. Samson], quern in litferis tuis graphice depinxisti. . . ." Then he complains that most of the priests teach heathen and Jewish doctrines, but that Zwingli and his like " purissimam Christi pkilosophiam ex ipsis fontibus populo proponere, non Scoticis et Gabrielicis inlerpretationibus depravatam ; sed ab Augustino, Ambrosio, Cypriano, Hieronymo, germane et sincere expositam." Rhenanus contrasts the Fathers with the Scholastics, Duns Scotus, and Gabriel Biel
§ 8. ZWINGLI IN EINSIEDELN. 33
of his studies, and he actually received it for about five years (from 1515 to 1520). Pucci, the papal nuncio at Zurich, in a letter dated Aug. 24, 1518, appointed him papal chaplain (Accolitus Capellanus), with all the privileges and honors of that position, assigning as the reason " his splendid virtues and merits," and promising even higher dignities. ^ He also offered to double his pension, and to give him in addition a canonry in Basle or Coire, on condition that he should promote the papal cause. Zwingli very properly declined the chaplaincy and the increase of salary, and declared frankly that he would never sacrifice a syllable of the truth for love of money ; but he continued to receive the former pension of fifty guilders, which was urged upon him without condition, for the purchase of books. In 1520 he declined it altogether, — what he ought to have done long before.^ Francis Zink, the papal chaplain at Einsiedeln, who paid the pension, was present at Zwingli's interview with Pucci, and says, in a letter to the magistracy at Zurich (1521), that Zwingli could not well have lived without the pension, but felt very badly about it, and thought of returning to Einsiedeln.3 Even as late as Jan. 23, 1523, Pope Adrian VI., unacquainted with the true state of things, wrote to Zwingli a kind and respectful letter, hoping to secure through him the influence of Zurich for the holy see.*
1 See the letter of Anthonius Puccius to Zwingli in Opera, VII. A. 48 sq. The document of the appointment, with the signature and seal of the papal legate, dated Sept. 1, 1518, is kept in the city library at Zurich.
2 Zwingli speaks of this pension very frankly and with deep regret in a letter to his brothers (1522), and in his Exposition of the Conclusions (1523). WerJce, I. A. 86 and 354.
3 Opera, VII. A. 179 : "Ipse arbiter interfui, quum Domino Legato Pucci ingenue fassus est, ipsum pecunice causa rebus Papoi agendis nan inserviturum," etc.
* Opera, VII. A. 266. The Pope addresses Zwingli " Dilecte fili," praises his " egregia virtus," assures" him of his special confidence in him and his best wishes for him. At the same time the Pope wrote to Francis Zink to spare no effort to secure Zwingli for the papal interest ; and Zink replied to Myconius, when asked what the Pope offered in return, "Omnia usque ad thronum papalem." Zwingli despised it all. Ibid. p. 266, note.