§ 32. THE REFORMATION IN BASEL. 115
saints of God who now live with Christ in eternal blessedness, so as to say that the mother of God is only a woman like other women, that she had more children than Christ, the Son of God, that she was not a virgin before or after his birth," etc. Such severe measures have long since passed away. The mixing of civil and ecclesiastical punishments caused a good deal of trouble. CEcolampadius opposed the supremacy of the State over the Church. He presided over the first synods.
After the victory of the Reformation, fficolampadius continued unto the end of his life to be indefatigable in preaching, teaching, and editing valuable commentaries (chiefly on the Prophets). He took a lively interest in French Protestant refugees, and brought the Waldenses, who sent a deputation to him, into closer affinity with the Reformed churches.^ He was a modest and humble man, of a delicate constitution and ascetic habits, and looked like a church father. He lived with his mother ; but after her death, in 1528, he married, at the age of forty-five, Wilibrandis Rosenblatt, the widow of Cellarius (Keller), who afterwards married in succession two other Reformers (Capito and Bucer), and survived four husbands. This tempted Erasmus to make the frivolous joke (in a letter of March 21, 1528), that his friend had lately married a good-looking girl to crucify his flesh, and that the Lutheran Reformation was a comedy rather than a tragedy, since the tumult always ended in a wedding. He afterwards apologized to him, and disclaimed any motive of unkindness. QEcolampadius had three children, whom he named Eusebius, Alitheia, and Irene (Godliness, Truth, Peace), to indicate what were the pillars of his theology and his household. His last days were made sad by the news of Zwingli's death, and the conclusion of a peace unfavorable to the Reformed churches. The call from Zurich to become Zwingli's successor he declined. A few weeks
1 See Herzog, II. 239 sqq.; Hagenbach, 150 sqq.
116 THE SWISS REFORMATION.
later, on the 24th of November, 1531, he passed away in peace and full of faith, after having partaken of the holy communion with his family, and admonished his colleagues to continue faithful to the cause of the Reformation. He was buried behind the Minster.^
His works have never been collected, and have only historical interest. They consist of commentaries, sermons, exegetical and polemical tracts, letters, and translations from Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Cyril of Alexandria.^
Basel became one of the strongholds of the Reformed Church of Switzerland, together Avith Ziirich, Geneva, and Berne. The Church passed through the changes of German Protestantism, and the revival of the nineteenth century. She educates evangelical ministers, contributes liberally from her great wealth to institutions of Christian benevolence and the spread of the Gospel, and is (since 1816) the seat of the largest Protestant missionary institute on the Continent, which at the annual festivals forms a centre for the friends of missions in Switzerland, Wiirtemberg, and Baden. The neighboring Chrischona is a training school of German ministers for emigrants to America.
§ 33. The Reformation in Crlarus. Tschudi. Glarean.
Valentin Tschudi : Chronik der Reformationsjahre 1521-1533. Mit Glossar und Coiiiinentar von Dr. Joh. Strickler. Glarus, 1888 (pp. 258). Publ. in the " Jalirbuch des historischen Vereins des Kantons Glarus," Heft XXIV., also separately issued. The first edition of Tschudi's Chronik (Bescliryb oder Erzellung, etc.) was published by Dr. J. J. Blumer, in vol. IX. of the "Archiv fiir schweizerische Geschichte," 1853, pp. 332-447, but not in the original spelling and without comments.
^ Malignant enemies spread the rumor that he committed suicide or was fetched by the devil. See Hagenbach, p. 181. A similar rumor was started about Luther's death, and revived in our days by Majunke in Luther's Lebensende, 4th ed. Mainz, 1890, but refuted by Kolde and Kawerau.
- Hess (pp. 413-430) gives a chronological list of his works, which is supplemented by Herzog (II. 255 sqq.). Hagenbach's biography, p. 191 sqq., gives extracts from his sermons and catechetical writings.