matters of faith, we ought to refer ourselves to the word of God contained in the Scriptures, to regard as superfluous all that was unknown; and as false, all that was contrary to them. The time was not yet come for unfolding the consequences of this maxim; it was necessary to prepare the minds of men to receive the new light, and Zwingle thought that this could not be done better than by insisting upon the practice of all the Christian virtues, while most of the preachers of his time recommended nothing to their flocks but the external exercises of devotion." pp. 20, 21.

Whilst resident at Glaris he was offered the situation of preacher to the convent at Einsiedeln, in the canton of Schweitz, which he accepted. At this place he found se veral individuals addicted, like himself, to letters, and feeling the same spirit of hostility to existing abuses; among whom was the well-known Leo Jude, who translated the Bible into German. The description given of their daily conferences is very interesting. No Council, perhaps, ever assembled for a higher purpose, and none ever formed its plans, and executed them with more effect.

"John Reuchlin, or Capnio, revived the study of Hebrew in Germany, which he recommended as necessary to correct the faults of the Vulgate. The enemies of letters, of fended at his zeal for the Hebrew, accused him of being more a Jew than a Christian; they even surprised from the Emperor an order, which happily was not executed, for destroying all the Hebrew books. Capuio composed in his justification an apology, which the universities of Paris and Cologne ordered to be burnt. The author would probably have undergone the same fate, had he not found powerful protectors at the court of the Emperor and of Leo X. Capnio died at Stutgard in 1523, at a very advanced age. V. Hermann von der Hardt. Hist. Lit. Ref.

p. 2d."

their consequences, and subjected them to a severe examination. The new horizon which opened upon them as they advanced in their researchies, produced different effects upon them, according to their different dispositions. One embraced with heat and enthusiasm all that appeared to him the truth; another, of a calmer temper, suspected the attraction of novelty; a third calculated the consequences to be expected from a chauge in received opinions. Each, in short, viewed the object in a different light: what escaped one was perceived by another; and thus they were mutually enlightened and assisted. All were animated by that ardour which is only found at those periods when men awake from the slumber of ignorance and barbarism.' pp. 57–59.

It was on the day appointed for the commemoration of the supposed miraculous consecration of the Abbey of

Einsiedeln, that Zuinglius, imagining the minds of his auditors in a measure prepared for the attempt, struck the first public and decisive blow at the reigning evils. An immense crowd was drawn together to listen to the annual discourse. In the midst of this vast assembly Zuinglius mounted the pulpit. "By an exordium full of warmth and feeling he disposed the mind to collectedness and attention;" and then, alluding to the cause of their present meeting, broke forth as follows:

O Cease to believe that God resides in this temple more than in every other place. Whatever region of the earth you may in habit, he is near you, he surrounds you, he grants your prayers, if they deserve to be granted; but it is not by useless vows, by long pilgrimages, offerings destined to adorn senseless images, that you can obtain the divine favour : resist temptations, repress guilty desires, shun all injustice, relieve the unfortunate, console the afflicted; these are the works pleasing to the Lord.'" p. 62.

"Did these chosen of God at whose feet you come hither to prostrate yourselves, enter into heaven by relying on the merit of another? No, it was by walking in the path of the law, by fulfilling the will of the Most High, by facing death that they might remain faithful to their Redeemer. Imitate the holiness of their lives, walk in their footsteps, suffering yourselves to be turned aside neither by dangers nor seductions; this is the honour that you ought to pay them. But in the day of trouble put your trust in none

sometimes doubted whether the ministers of our own days touch often and strongly enough on the moral evils incident to a state of war, or teach with sufficient energy how much nobler it is to forgive than to punish.

As a preacher, the labours of Zuinglius were unremittingly pursued. It may gratify our clerical readers especially, to see a sketch of the plan by which he effectually besieged the citadel of Popery.

"On my arrival at Zurich," says he, "I began to explain the Gospel according to St. Matthew. I added an exposition of the Acts, to shew my audience in what manner the Gospel had been diffused. I then went on to the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, which may be said to contain the rule of life of a true Christian. Perceiving that false teachers had introduced some errors with respect to the doctrine of faith, I interpreted the Epistle to the Galatians; this I followed by an explanation of the two Epistles of St. Peter, to prove to the detractors of St. Paul, that the same spirit had animated both these apostles. I came, at length, to the Epistle to the Hebrews, which makes known, in its full extent, the benefits of the mission of Jesus Christ. In my sermons (he adds) I have employed neither indirect modes of speech, nor artful insinuations: it is by the most simple language that I have endeavoured to open to every one his disease, according to the example of Jesus Christ himself." p. 119.

We know not that a better prescription has, in the progress of ages, been discovered for those to employ, who now inherit his office as the physicians of souls.

brethren. It further requires the Christian to expect salvation from God alone, and Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Master and Saviour, who giveth eternal life to them that believe on him." p. 129. In a paper soon after addressed by him to the Swiss governments, he thus supplicates for freedom to preach the Gospel: "Fear nothing from granting us this liberty: there are certain signs by which every one may know the evangelical preachers. He who, neglecting his private interest, spares neither pains nor labours to cause the will of God to be known and revered, to bring back sinners to repentance, and give consolation to the afflicted, is undoubtedly in unison with Christ." This definition may perhaps assist some individuals who, even in this more liberal age, have, with the title, shared the reproach of Zuinglius.

In the year 1523, in order to give greater publicity to his opinions, and to prove the scriptural basis upon which they rested, he solicited of the great council of his country a public colloquy, in which he should defend, and any others might attack, his principles. Our readers may be curious to see the articles which he proposed to discuss, as they contain a sort of summary of the controversy between the two great parties. The following extract contains the most important of them:

sacrifice, but the commemoration of the sa

longs to the secular magistrates, to whom all Christians ought to submit themselves. God has not forbidden marriage to any class of Christians; therefore it is wrong to interdict it to priests, whose celibacy has become the cause of great licentiousness of manners.Confession made to a priest ought to be considered as an examination of the conscience,

and not as an act which can deserve absolution. To give absolution for money, is to become guilty of simony.-Holy writ says nothing of purgatory; God alone knows the judgment that he reserves for the dead; since he has not been pleased to reveal it to us, we ought to refrain from all indiscreet conjectures. No person ought to be molested for his opinions; it is for the magistrate to stop the progress of those which tend to disturb the public tranquillity."" pp. 147, 148. It need scarcely be said that the reformer found little difficulty in maintaining the ground he had taken. We shall quote (for the edification, if he pleases, of the Archdeacon of Sarum) the delineation of the true Church of Christ, with which the speech of Zuinglius closes. "Certainly there is a church that cannot err, and which is directed by the Holy Spirit. It is composed of all true believers, united in the bonds of faith and charity; but this church is visible only to the eyes of its divine Founder, who alone knoweth his own. It does not assemble with pomp, it does not dictate its decrees in the manner of the kings of the earth; it has no tem poral reign; to fulfil the will of God is the only care by which it is occupied." p. 154. The speech which he on the evening of the same day addressed to the Council is highly impressive, and is quoted for the express benefit of Professor Marsh. The Grand Vicar, his opponent, having objected to the difficulties of Scripture, Zuinglius replied-"the Scripture explains itself, and has no need of an interpreter. If men understand it ill, it is because they read it amiss. It is always consistent with itself, and the Spirit of God acts by it so strongly, that all readers may find the truth there, provided they seek for it with a sincere and humCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 123.

ble heart. Thanks to the invention of printing, the sacred books are now within the reach of all Christians; and I exhort the ecclesiastics here assembled to study them unre. mittingly." p. 156.

The course of Zuinglius, though always pursued with moderation, became daily more rapid. Another conference was appointed, in which he again conquered. Soon after he succeeded in obtaining a decree of the council, that all images should be banished from the churches, if approved by the majority of members in each church. The other cantons now began to take alarm, States, engaged never to permit the and, in the general Council of the establishment of what they then (and Dr. Butler has recently) called

the " new doctrine" in Switzerland. But notwithstanding this, Zuinglius from the council the reform of vaproceeded. In 1525, he obtained rious abuses; and among the rest, the entire abolition of the Mass. The account of the first celebration of the sacrament according to the ideas of Zuinglius, will interest our readers. It was on Easter Sunday.

"A table covered with a white cloth, unleavened bread, and cups filled with wine, recalled the remembrance of the last repast of our Redeemer with his disciples. The first priest, who was Zwingle himself, announced to the faithful, that the religious would become to each of them the pledge of act which they were about to celebrate salvation, or the cause of perdition, according to the dispositions they might bring to it; and he endeavoured, by a fervent prayer, to excite in all their hearts repentance for past faults, and a resolution to live a new life. After this prayer, Zwingle and the two ministers who assisted him, presented mutually to each other the bread and the cup, pronouncing at the same time the words uttered by Jesus Christ at the institution of the last supper; they afterwards distributed the symbols of the body and blood of the Redeemer to all the Christians present, who listened with the most profound and reverent attention to the reading of the last words of our Lord, as they have been transmitted to to us by his beloved disciple. A second prayer, and hymns full of the expression of Z

love and gratitude towards Him who had voluntarily endured a cruel and ignominious death to save repentant sinners, terininated this solemn and affecting ceremony. Zwingle was of opinion, that to celebrate the Lord's Supper in this manner, was to bring it back to its ancient simplicity, and to unite all that could render it useful. The event

proved that he was not mistaken; the churches could scarcely contain the immense crowd that came to participate in this religious solemnity, and the good works and numerous reconciliations which followed it, proved the sincerity of the devotion with which it was attended." pp. 199-201.

Nor did he stop here. In process of time the temporal powers of the ecclesiastics were lessened; the union of the church and the execusive accomplished; the monasteries suppressed; and a college so founded, and such professors seated in its chairs, as ensured, under God, a body of enlightened men to water the seed which Zuinglius had planted.

We have dwelt so long upon the first Part of this volume, that we shall do little more than advert to some of the chief topics of the second Part, the rise of the Anabaptists; the contest with Luther; and the war of the Swiss Cantons, unhappily terminating with the death of Zuinglius.

On the subject of the Anabaptists, so much is known by all the readers of the most common history of this period, that we think ourselves at liberty to be almost silent. Muntzer was the head of the sect; he, arriv. ing on the borders of Switzerland, communicated his notions to Mantz and Grebel, two disappointed partizans of Zuinglius. They henceforward preached against infant baptism; attacked Zuinglius by the title of the "Old Dragon;" entered the town girded with ropes and branches of willow; proclaimed approaching judgment upon all sects but their own; displayed on all occasions the most insulting contempt for the authority of their rulers; preached a community of goods; denied the necessity of all laws and magistrates; forbid 'all Christians

to take arms for their country, or to pay tax or impost; and, at length, suffered the punishment due to those who erect the religion of Christ into an instrument of tumult and rebellion.

The contest of Zuinglius with Luther, is an event of still higher interest. It is universally known that the father of the Reformation, though the triumphant enemy of prejudice, remained himself a sad victim to his early opinions on the subject of the Eucharist. Though he would not allow, with the Papists, the bread and wine, before his eyes, to be nothing but the body and blood of Christ, he asserted them to be, at the same time, bread and wine, and the sacred body and blood. To this error Zuinglius opposed himself: at first with caution; then, as his views cleared, with greater force; and at length he, together with his distinguished friend Ecolampadius, both published upon the subject, and discussed it in a public conference with Luther at Marpurg. It is characteristic of human nature, that those who are wrong are the most violent; and certainly Luther, in this instance, made good this aphorism. But it is the transcendent merits of Luther alone which make such errors a matter of surprise to us. He has been called the morning star of the Reformation: but even these luminous bodies, though perhaps the mighty suns of systems, are sometimes shaded by a cloud, and shed a diminished lustre. Perhaps the faults of Luther yield his enemies no higher triumph than that of saying, he was not a perfect man; a title for which he would have been the last to contend.

The conflicts of the Swiss Cantons are, however, the main subject of the second part of this interesting volume. Through these we feel it impossible to follow the author. It may be sufficient to observe, that Zurich, for a time, stood the sole bulwark of Protestantism amidst her native mountains; that, after a time,