52 THE SWISS REFORMATION.
the meritoriousness of human works, the fasts, pilgrimages, celibacy, purgatory, etc., as unscriptural commandments of men.
The following are the most important of these theses : —
1. All who say that the gospel is nothing without the approbation of the Church, err and cast reproach upon God.
2. The sum of the gospel is that our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, has made known to us the will of his heavenly Father, and redeemed us by his innocence from eternal death, and reconciled us to God.
3. Therefore Christ is the only way to salvation to all who were, who are, who shall be.
4. Whosoever seeks or shows another door, errs — yea, is a murderer of souls and a robber.
7. Christ is the head of all believers who are his body ; but without him the body is dead.
8. All who live in this Head are his members and children of God. And this is the Church, the communion of saints, the bride of Christ, the Ecclesia cathoUca.
15. Who believes the gospel shall be saved; who believes not, shall be damned. For in the gospel the whole truth is clearly contained.
16. From the gospel we learn that the doctrines and traditions of men are of no use to salvation.
17. Christ is the one eternal high-priest. Those who pretend to be highpriests resist, yea, set aside, the honor and dignity of Christ.
18. Christ, who offered himself once on the cross, is the sufficient and perpetual sacrifice for the sins of all believers. Therefore the mass is no sacrifice, but a commemoration of the one sacrifice of the cross, and a seal of the redemption through Christ.
19. Christ is the onl}' Mediator between God and us.
22. Christ is our righteousness. From this it follows that our works are good so far as they are Christ's, but not good so far as they are our own.
24. Christians are not bound to any works which Christ has not commanded. They may eat at all times all kinds of food.
26. Nothing is more displeasing to God than hypocrisy.
27. All Christians are brethren.
28. Whatsoever God permits and has not forbidden, is right. Therefore marriage is becoming to all men.
34. The spiritual [hierarchical] power, so called, has no foundation in the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of Christ.^
35. But the secular power [of the state] is confirmed by the teaching and example of Christ.^
1 Zwingli means the worldly power and splendor of the pope and the bishops, and quotes against it the lessons of humility, Matt. 18: 1: 1 Pet. 5:1-3: '^ Die Hohe nach der die pdpst und hishqf strytend, hat Iceinen Grund." See his Uslegung or defence of the Articles, Werke, I. 346 sq.
2 For this he quotes Luke 2 : 5 and Matt. 22 : 21.
§ 18. THE PUBLIC DISPUTATIONS. 53
37, 38. All Christians owe obedience to the magistracy, provided it does not command what is against God.^
49. I know of no greater scandal than the prohibition of lawful marriage to priests, while they are permitted for money to have concubines. Shame '.^
50. God alone forgives sins, through Jesus Christ our Lord alone.
57. The Holy Scripture knows nothing of a purgatory after this life.
58, 59. God alone knows the condition of the departed, and the less he has made known to us, the less we should pretend to know.
66. All spiritual superiors should repent without delay, and set up the cross of Christ alone, or they will perish. The axe is laid at the root.
§ 18. The Public Disputations. 1523.
The first disputation was held in the city hall on Thursday, Jan. 29, 1523, in the German language, before about six hundred persons, including all the clergy and members of the small and large councils of Zurich. St. Gall was represented by Vadian ; Berne, by Sebastian Meyer ; Schaffliausen, by Sebastian Hofmeister. Q^colampadius from Basle expected no good from disputations, and declined to come. He agreed with Melanchthon's opinion about the Leipzig disputation of Eck with Carlstadt and Luther. Nevertheless, he attended, three years afterwards, the Disputation at Baden. The bishop of Constance sent his general vicar. Dr. Faber, hitherto a friend of Zwingli, and a man of respectable learning and an able debater, with three others as counsellors and judges. Faber declined to enter into a detailed discussion of theological questions which, he thought, belong to the tribunal of councils or of renowned universities, as
1 In the Uslegung (I. 352 sq.) he explains Rom. 13:1: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers." " Every soul," he says, " means every livihg man, and includes popes, bishops, priests, monks and nuns. Every power is from God; consequently, also, a bad magistracy, with which God punishes our sins (Isa. 3: 4). Then we must also obey the pope, even a bad one, because he is set over us by God for punishment. This I believe firmly, but I believe also that God will lead us out of this captivity, as he led Israel out of Egypt through his servant Moses."
2 " Pfui der Schande," is added in the German text. In the Swiss dialect, " Pfitch der Schand ! " (I. A. 156). In the defence of this article (I. 378 sq.), Zwingli strongly illustrates the evil effects of the lewd life of the unmarried clergy upon the morals of the laity. "It is easy," he says, " to command chastity; but no one is able to keep it without the grace of God." Concerning his own case, see § 7, p. 27.