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THE
LIFE AND TIMES
OF
ULRIC ZWINGLI
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
OF
J. J. HOTTINGER.
BY
THE REV. PROF. T. C. PORTER,
OF FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE, LANCASTER, PA.
HARRISBURG:
PUBLISHED BY THEO. F. SCHEFFER.
1856.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
Theo. F. Scheffer, in the Clerk's Office of the DistrictCourt of
the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Author's Preface.
"Biographers should not busy themselves so much with deeds, astheirmoving causes; with what motives, by what means, for what ends andunder what circumstances they were performed. If we limit ourselves toa simple detail of facts, our judgment is determined by success; andupright men are condemned as evil or imprudent, because of theunfavorable issue of their endeavors. To set forth the views of Zwingliand the high mark to which he strove to carry everything, weredangerous--would open a wide door to envy and calumniation, and wouldnot be permitted by the government of Zurich; since it would be aviolation of the Landfriede, various resolutions of the cities andthe Hereditary Union with Austria. Without this, however, the historyof his life would be dry, and posterity would neither admire nor loveZwingli, but regard him as a thoughtless, foolish man. The unhappycatastrophe has placed everything in a false light."
The foregoing remarks of Bullinger show with what caution ourforefathers were obliged to speak of Zwingli's political acts. Indeed,after the battle of Cappel they were looked upon with little favor,even in the Reformed portion of the Confederacy. Bullinger himself,Zwingli's successor, was for the moment filled with despondency. Hewrote to his friend, Myconius: "We will never come together again. Noone trusts his neighbor any longer. Surely, surely, we live in the lasttimes. It is all over with the Confederacy." The passage above-citedwas written perhaps at this juncture. But he soon recovered hiscourage. His confidence in God returned with renewed strength, and hethen began that career, which was so active, so noble and so full ofblessing. He continued the work of his illustrious predecessor, anddescribed it also with a powerful pen and a reverent heart, leavingbehind, for thoughtful readers at least, intimations of what he durstnot wholly reveal to his contemporaries. Three centuries have sincegone by, and unrestricted access to archives and multipliedinvestigations have brought to light reports and documents hithertounknown. From these materials, the author endeavored, fifteen yearsago, to delineate the life and times of Zwingli. That volume wasdesigned for those, who study history as a science: the aim of this oneis to present the same results in a popular form. And as our people,now a-days, pay so much attention to what is written and spoken, letthem hear once more the voice of one of the noblest statesmen of formerages; let them consider h