§ 32. THE KEFOIIMATION IN BASEL. 109
Hebrew Scriptures. Erasmus gave him the testimony of being the best Hebraist (after Reuchlin). At Tiibingen he formed a friendship with Melanchthon, his junior by fifteen years, and continued on good terms with him notwithstanding their difference of opinion on the Eucharist. He delivered at Weinsberg a series of sermons on the Seven Words of Christ on the Cross, which were published by Zasius in 1512, and gained for him the reputation of an eminent preacher of the gospel. *
In 1515 he received a call, at Capito's suggestion, from Christoph von Utenheim, bishop of Basel (since 1502), to the pulpit of the cathedral in that city. In the year following he acquired the degree of licentiate, and later that of doctor of divinity. Christoph von Utenheim belonged to the better class of prelates, who desired a reformation within the Church, but di-ew back after the Diet of Worms, and died at Delsberof in 1522. His motto was : " The cross of Christ is my hope ; I seek mercy, not works." ^
fficolampadius entered into intimate relations with Erasmus, who at that time took up his permanent abode in Basel. He rendered him important service in his Annotations to the New Testament, and in the second edition of the Greek Testament (concerning the quotations from the Septuagint and Hebrew). The friendship afterwards cooled down in consequence of their different attitude to the question of reform.
In 1518 CEcolampadius showed his moral severity and zeal for a reform of the pulpit by an attack on the prevailing custom of entertaining the people in the Easter season with all kinds of jokes. "What has," he asks, "a preacher of repentance to do with fun and laughter ? Is it necessary for us to yield to the impulse of nature ? If we can crush our sins by laughter, what is the use of repenting in sackcloth
1 " S'pes mea crux Christi ; gratiam, non opera qncero." The motto of Gersoii and many mystics.
110 THE SWISS EEFOKMATION.
and ashes ? What is the use of tears and cries of sorrow ? . . . No one knows that Jesus laughed, but every one knows that he wept. The Apostles soAved the seed weeping. Many as are the symbolic acts of the prophets, no one of them lowers himself to become an actor. Laughter and song were repugnant to them. They lived righteously before the Lord, rejoicing and yet trembling, and saw as clear as the sun at noonday that all is vanity under the sun. They saw the net being drawn everywhere and the near approach of the judge of the world." 1
After a short residence at Weinsberg and Augsburg, Qicolampadius surprised his friends by entering a convent in 1520, but left it in 1522 and acted a short time as chaplain for Franz von Sickingen at Ebernburg, near Creuznach, where he introduced the use of the German language in the mass.
By the reading of Luther's writings, he became more and more fixed in evangelical convictions. He cautiously attacked transubstantiation, Mariolatry, and the abuses of the confessional, and thereby attracted the favorable attention of Luther, who wrote to Spalatin (June 10, 1521) : " I am surprised at his spirit, not because he fell upon the same theme as I, but because he has shown himself so liberal, prudent, and Christian. God grant him growth." In June, 1523, Luther expressed to Q^colampadius much satisfaction at his lectures on Isaiah, notwithstanding the displeasure of Erasmus, who would probably, like Moses, die in the land of Moab. " He has done his part," he says, " by exposing the bad ; to show the good and to lead into the land of promise, is beyond his power." Lutlier and CEcolampadius met personally at Marburg in 1520, but as antagonists on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, in which the latter stood on the side of Zwingli.
In Nov. 17, 1522, CEcolampadius settled permanently in Basel and labored there as preacher of the Church of St. Martin and professor of theology in the University till his
1 De Risu Puschali, printed by Frobenius at Basel, 1518.