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worthy to look upon Him, nor to speak of offering Him in sacrifice to the eternal God. If, however, He be not present there, then woe is me if I hold up bread to the people before the Lord our God, and call upon them to worship bread. Therefore let me alone. I shall, if God will, so act and preside over God's house that I may be able to answer to myself before Him and the world." In his old age he retired entirely from the administration of the convent, and committed it to Dr. Theobald, a Swabian, a man, according to Myconius, equally the friend of learning and of piety, and who joyfully hailed the arrival of Zwingle, and was by him speedily gained over to evangelical truth.

At this time Einsiedlin was the most frequent resort of pilgrims for the whole of Southern Germany, Switzerland, and the eastern part of France. The cloister was built in the tenth century, in honour of the Virgin, and tradition affirmed that, on the night preceding its consecration, the Bishop of Constance was praying in it, when suddenly a heavenly hymn, chanted by invisible spirits, resounded in the chapel. All kneeled, and listened entranced. Next day, when the bishop was about to proceed with the consecration, a voice was heard proclaiming three times, "Hold, hold, brother; it is consecrated by God." Leo VIII. forbade, by a bull, all doubt in the truth of this legend. In memory of this Divine consecration its festival was yearly celebrated with great splendour, thousands of pilgrims attending it. Over the gateway of the magnificent abbey is placed the inscription, "Here is complete absolution for the guilt and punishment of sin." Hitherto this delusion, which had served admirably for the enriching of the cloister, had been carefully fostered by the preachers, who magnified the efficacy of the absolution to be obtained, and the miraculous power of the picture of the Virgin, which was preserved in the cloister, but the soul of Zwingle burned with a holy indignation at the dishonour here done to the name of his God and Saviour; and, at the festival of the " Angel Consecration," which took place in 1517, the year after his arrival, and again at that of 1519, he proclaimed with glowing eloquence to vast crowds of pilgrims the grand truths of "The grace of God, everywhere alike present; Christ, and not Mary, the only Salvation." Great was the impression made upon the pilgrims ! Some fled in terror from his words, some hovered uncertain between the faith they had received from their fathers and this doctrine which they had just heard, and which promised a new peace to their souls; others turned to Christ with their whole hearts, and on their way back to their homes proclaimed the glad tidings they had heard in Einsiedlin. The fame of Zwingle, the bold and uncompromising advocate of the truth, resounded through the towns and villages of Switzerland, Swabia, and Alsace, and prepared the hearts of many in these lands for the salvation work to which the Lord his God had called him. The devotees of Mary decreased in number daily, though through their gifts it was that Zwingle was expected to obtain his living; but the poverty of Christ, in the service of truth, was dearer to him than this world's riches in the service of lies.

It was in the year 1518, that a barefooted monk, Samson by name, came

into Switzerland, like Tetzel into Germany with the sanction of Pope Leo X., proclaiming absolution of sins in return for the payment of money. Schwyz was one of the first cantons where this impudent hawker of unhallowed wares began to ply his trade. "I can forgive all sins," he boldly proclaimed; "heaven and hell stand under my dominion, and I sell the merits of Jesus Christ to each and every one who is willing to pay in ready money for an absolution." This blasphemous announcement roused the indignation of our Reformer, and he lifted up his voice to denounce it: "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hath said, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.' It is audacious folly and shameless impudence to say, Run to Rome, buy a ticket of absolution, give this to the monks and that to the priests; if you do so I pronounce you free of all sin.' No; Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice, the only gift, the alone way." The sermon of Zwingle produced such an impression that Samson was forced to quit the canton without having transacted any business, and with the epithets of villain and rogue attached to his name.

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When Zwingle had been two years at Einsiedlin, the office of parish priest became vacant at Zurich. He was asked by one of the canons whether he had any desire to be a preacher of the Word of God in Zurich. "Yes," he replied, "I have the desire; for there is reason to hope that if the grace of God be proclaimed from so renowned a place and accepted there, the rest of Switzerland will follow the example." Many applications were made for the vacant office. Myconius canvassed in the name of his friend for it, and the result was that Zwingle was elected by the votes of seventeen out of the twentyfour cantons. At his recommendation, his dear friend, Leo Juda, was appointed his successor at Einsiedlin. Bullinger describes Zurich before the preaching of the Gospel there, as resembling ancient Corinth for immorality and licentiousness. This state of morals was chiefly caused by the holding of the Confederate Diets in this city, to which so many strangers, along with the servants of princes and nobles, resorted.

Immediately after his arrival, Zwingle proceeded to the Chapter, where the provost and prebendaries were assembled for his installation. A long oration was delivered, setting forth the duties of his office, wherein he was exhorted at great length to look after the maintenance and increase of the funds of the foundation, while only a brief allusion was made to his duty as a preacher. In his reply, Zwingle, after returning thanks for the honour of his election, plainly told them that it was his firm intention to preach the history of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, that the people might not, as hitherto, to the great dishonour of God's name, and Him after whom they were called, know Jesus Christ by name only, while they were ignorant of the history of His life and redemption. He would, therefore, take up first the Gospel of Matthew, expounding it chapter by chapter and verse by verse, not regarding the commentaries of men, but giving the sense according as he had arrived at it by laborious study and earnest prayer. This avowal was received by some present with joy, by others with grief and alarm; and one of the canons rose and expressed a hope that the election they had made might be followed by no bad results; for, in

his opinion, such exposition of the Scripture to the people would do more harm than good. Others warned their new priest against innovations that could result in nothing but evil. But Zwingle replied, "This manner of preaching is no innovation; it is the good old path, trod by the Fathers of the Church, as may be well seen in the homilies of Chrysostom on Matthew, and the reflections of Augustine on John. At the same time he would see to it, to act in such a Christian spirit that no friend of truth should have any just ground of complaint against him." The matter was thus allowed to rest.

It was on Sunday, the new-year's day of 1519, his thirty-sixth birthday, that Zwingle ascended the pulpit of the venerable minister, and proclaimed to a crowded congregation his desire to lead them to Christ, the true well of salvation, since His Gospel is the power of God to salvation to all them that believe." On the hearing of his very first sermon, there were men who had withdrawn themselves from the services of the Church on the ground that the preaching altogether lacked the one thing needful, who now exclaimed, "God be praised, here is a preacher of the truth indeed; he will be our Moses, and will lead us out of Egypt." "Never," says Myconius, "had there been seen a priest in the pulpit with such an imposing appearance, and such commanding power, so that we felt as if a man from the apostolic times were standing in the midst of us."

Very remarkable was the union of heroic courage and wise moderation which the Reformer manifested in his teaching and preaching. He had the most delicate and tender regard for the weak and feeble among his flock. He says concerning himself, "In what I announced and what I withheld, I yielded much to the weak, but all for edification. I would not give strong meat at an unseasonable time, nor cast pearls before swine. I have preached clearly and fully the true salvation, Christ Jesus Himself; calling on those who heard me to expect all good from Him, and to apply to Him in every strait. Yet oftentimes have I so far given way to the weak and foolish-minded, that I have said to them when they began to show their captiousness, Well then, bring your desires to the saints; I will spread out my case before the Lord. Let us see who has taken the best way.' Thus I fed them with milk, till some of those who were most virulent against me, in the end gave themselves wholly to the Lord. For they felt in their own hearts how sweet the Lord is, and that every one who knows Him aright must cry out with the disciples, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.' I held him, and would not let him go."

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It was not the towns-people alone who flocked in crowds to listen to his preaching; those from the country were animated with the same desire to hear the pure word of God from his lips. For their benefit Zwingle began to preach on the Psalms every Friday, which was the market-day in Zurich. Very touching is the way in which he describes in a letter to Myconius the change wrought in these people, not alone in their modes of thinking, but in their whole walk and conversation. And such was the effect of his teaching on the whole town council, that two years after his installation they issued a mandate to the parish priests, curates, and predicants, that they should freely and

everywhere preach the holy Gospels and the Epistles of the holy apostles, and that they should teach only that which they could prove and establish by the said Word of God. But as for the doctrines and commandments that were of man's institution, they should let them alone. This mandate was the first great victory publicly achieved by the preaching of the Gospel in Zurich. It was, however, easier to issue such a mandate than to find men who were able and willing to obey it. Great was Zwingle's joy when, on the dismissal of the pastor at St. Peter's, in Zurich, his beloved friend Leo Juda was elected his successor. This happened in 1522, and the two friends were never again parted till the hand of death came between them.

The limits assigned us in this paper make it impossible to pursue further the history of Zwingle as a reformer, and we pass on to the subject of his marriage and domestic life.

After the episcopal authority had practically passed into the hands of the Council of Zurich, many of the ecclesiastics used the liberty granted them in God's Word, and married. Leo Juda married, in 1523, a nun from the cloister of Einsiedlin. Zwingle, who had been secretly married some time before this, had his nuptials publicly celebrated in the Minster Church, the 2nd April, 1524, to the great joy of all his friends at home and abroad. Merle D'Aubigné, in his "History of the Reformation," terms the delay of the public acknowledgment of his marriage by Zwingle, "a blameable weakness on the part of the otherwise so resolute man." But his Swiss biographer does not at all concur in this censure. He conceives that in this matter Zwingle was actuated by the same wise and temperate regard to the feelings and religious development of his flock, which he manifested in the carrying out of every other reform. Had he made a public celebration of his marriage before the judgment of his people had been strengthened and refined by the preaching of the Word, he could hardly have failed in giving offence and estranging many from the Gospel. As soon as he felt that such a public celebration would give to the majority of his people no offence, but would be regarded by them rather as a confirmation of his evangelical teaching, he delayed it not an hour. His mind (as he says of himself) was ever more inclined to build up than to pull down.

THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL.

III.-IN RELATION TO THE NONCONFORMITY OF ENGLAND. By the Reb. W. M. Statham.

THIS third article is to be occupied with questions concerning ourselves. I do not wish to treat, however, only of Congregational Free Churches, but of all Nonconformity which is after the Evangelical type. By Evangelical,

I do not mean the very narrow and

conventional idea of those who confine the word to their own special interpretation of truth; but Evangelical in the sense of being altogether anti-sacerdotal, as holding

the cardinal doctrines justification by faith alone, redemption by the cross of Christ, and sanctification by the Spirit of God-doctrines which are held by all the Evangelical sects of Christendom. I have said antisacerdotal, because, as one of the Bishops of the Church of England (consistently or not with his own position it is for him to determine) has pointed out in a recent charge, there are two views of Christianity which separate, wide as the poles asunder, the Romanists and Ritualists from the Reformed Churches of Christ! These two are the Sacerdotal and the Evangelistic. The principles underlying each system are wholly and entirely contradictory, and have no moral affinity with each other. The Catholic Revival is a revival of priestism! With the idea of a priest sacerdotalism begins, and all the outworkings of the system are embodied in that, as the branches of the tree already exist in germ in the seedcorn. The conception of a Christian teacher and pastor is exactly the opposite of a priest. The former teaches, illustrates, enforces, and applies a perfected redemption; the latter leaves salvation to be perfected by the instrumentality of his own acts and deeds! The Catholic Revivalists seek to lift the priestly theory into pre-eminence, and by slow and sure degrees to cast out the pastoral theory from the Church of England. What effect their partial or perfect success will have upon the Nonconformist bodies of England, is the consideration which is to occupy us

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nition of the fact that Nonconformist bodies have suffered continued social ostracism and martyrdom for more than two centuries, for their adherence to principle. They have ever said. that it was not right to give assent and consent to a system of compromise, such as Macaulay depicts in his history, and such as that which the Prayer Book manifestly contains. The thorough voluntary aspect of Nonconformity is altogether a later growth; is a result of the everdeepening conviction, not only that it is impolitic to make religion an affair of State, but that it is inconsistent with the nature of Christianity itself. In the earlier epochs of Independency, in her Cromwellian days of rising power, Independent ministers felt no compunction of conscience in exercising their ministerial office in the Established Church, such as it was, broad and comprehensive, and entirely Protestant. Dr. Owen not only took tithes, but maintained the lawfulness of taking them. Independent pastors were ministers of parish churches; preached at Guildhall festivals; and, as a matter of history, it is well known that the Savoy declaration contained no distinct utterance repudiating the Establishment principle. Moreover, historical documents prove that Independents and Presbyterians alike were presented to their livings by patrons, and had a formal induction to their sacred office. Why, then, were their successors in after years deprived of office, and shut out from their posts of pastoral duty, but on the one ground that they could not assent and consent to the sacerdotal element in the Prayer Book. They were not anti-Conformists, they were simply Non-conformists; they

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