THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
violent character. CEcolampadius called Luther the Saxon idol. A commission consisting of Erasmus, Bar (Ursus), Cantiuncula, and Amerbach, instituted by the council to examine the book of CEcolampadius, rejected it, while the volume aroused opposition outside of Basel. CEcolampadius remained firm in spite of continual attacks by the newly elected Bishop Marius and of gains by the Roman party in the Swiss federation. The Catholic estates of Switzerland aimed a blow at the Reformed by the announcement of a disputation to be held at Baden, a few miles from Basel. It had been prepared in such a way that the victory of the Catholics seemed secure. Zwingli was not present, and Haller of Bern did not speak convincingly, and all seemed to depend upon CEcolampadius who was in daily communication with Zwingli. At the end of the disputation ten voted for CEcolampadius and eighty-two for Eck. But the victory of the Romanists was only apparent, and their hopes of suppressing the Reformation were not fulfilled; the Council of Basel did not give up the established reforms, and even made further changes, decreeing in 1527 that participation in the mass should be left to each individual. But the impatient populace had no sympathy with the slow procedure of the council and demanded the formal introduction of the Reformation. Its introduction in Bern in 1528 greatly excited the Basel population, and on Good Friday and Easter Monday they invaded the churches and destroyed the pictures. The culprits were imprisoned, but the people peremptorily demanded their release. The council ordered the removal of the pictures, but the friends of the Reformation were not satisfied with this action; they wished a uniform regulation of all religious affairs. At Christmas, 1.528, there occurred a new insurrection of the citizens. The Roman Catholics armed themselves, and the Reformed also prepared for defense. CEcolampadius dreaded the outbreak of a civil war and asked Zwingli to mediate. Ambassadors went from Zurich, Bern, Schaffhausen, Muhlhausen, and Strasburg in order to settle the disputes and hinder the shedding of blood. The Roman Catholics sent also their envoys. The ambassadors of Zurich and Bern proposed a disputation to take place on Whitsunday, 1529. This proposition was unanimously adopted at a convention of over 3,000 citizens on Jan. 6, 1529. But when the council, contrary to its former attitude, continued to place obstacles in the way of the Reformation, a general uprising of the people occurred in February, 1529. They vehemently demanded the removal of the Romanist members of the council and of their friends among the clergy. The council at first hesitated, but when the threatening attitude of the people increased, it complied with their demands. On the next day the populace stormed the churches and monasteries and destroyed the pictures. Under the pressure of these events the council ordered the removal of all pictures and the abolition of the mass. Erasmus, Glareanus, Bar, and many citizens left the city. On Feb. 14, 1529, the first Evangelical church service was held in the cathedral and thus the Reformation at Basel was at last firmly established.
Simon Grynaeus and Sebastian Mtinster were called to the university. CEcolampadius was chosen antistes of the clergy and first preacher of the cathedral and in 1531 resumed his lectures. But his chief activity consisted in the regulation of church and school affairs. With his cooperation there appeared on Apr. 1, 1529, the new church order, the constitution of the Reformed Church of Basel.
The reformatory movement of Basel was fortunately completed before the crisis in the fierce struggles concerning the Lord's Supper. In conformity with his treatise of 1525 CEcolampadius stood for the so-called tropical interpretation, with the single modification that he did not 5. Contro- look for the trope in the copula est like versy over Zwingli, but in the term corpus, which the Lord's he explained as figura corporis, " the Supper, figure or sign of my body "; and he rejected the assumption of a corporeal participation on the basis of John vi. He was severely attacked for his symbolical conception by Luther, Brenz, and Pirkheimer. Luther wrote against him and Zwingli his polemical treatise, Dass die Worte Christi noch feststehen, wider
die Schwarmgeister (1527), in which both are designated as irretrievably lost and accused of the sin against the Holy Ghost. The vehement invectives and irritation of spirit between the adversaries seemed to leave little hope of harmony. But the Colloquy of Marburg in Oct., 1529, showed that there was a great and general desire for peace. CEcolampadius especially showed himself obliging and reconcilable. He had zealously aided Butzer's efforts for union, and he manifested the same spirit in the negotiations at Marburg. While an agreement seemed likely on all other points, Luther was irreconcilable on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Zwingli and CEcolampadius made many concessions; they even conceded that for the believers Christ is really present and consumed in the Lord's Supper, but they could not consent to Luther's additional sentence that he is eaten with the mouth and present in his body. The colloquy of Marburg did not end the eucharistic controversies. Luther continued his literary assaults. But still CEcolampadius did not give up hope of a final union. On Sept. 4, 1530, there took place a conference between Capito, Zwingli, and Megander at Zurich for the purpose of drawing up a confession in which they attempted a still closer approach to the Lutheran doctrine. The new formula of union emphasized the real and sacramental presence in the Lord's Supper " for the pure spirit, but not united in the bread or with the bread." Under the pressure of the hostile attitude of the emperor Luther showed himself at last willing to enter an alliance with the Swiss, but this time it was Zwingli who opposed the union on the basis of the new formula which seemed to him too vague and ambiguous, and he was not willing to curtail the truth at the price of political union. Once more, in 1531, CEcolampadius made an effort at reconciliation by advocating the joining of the Schmalkald League and the acceptation of the Tetrapolitana, but Bern and Zurich refused. Thus all sincere efforts for union on the part of (Ecobunpadius were without success; only the bond \wui