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they on their side refused to grant the same freedom to the Reformed party. In spite of the articles in the treaty, they continued to pour forth against the Evangelicals, and specially against Zwingle and the people of Zurich, torrents of invective and abusive libels, and even proceeded to acts of violence, so that the few families of Schwyz and Zug that were devoted to the Reformation were forced to leave these Cantons. War was now inevitable, and from the want of union, the divided counsels, and secret treachery that prevailed among the men of Zurich, Zwingle's mind was filled with the saddest apprehensions. Though ready personally to lay down his life for his convictions, he beheld 'with deepest anxiety the dangers that were thickening around the Church.

During the time that the diets were held at Bremgarten, he took advantage of the darkness of the night to repair to this place in order to discuss with the Bernese deputies the critical situation of the Reformed party. The interview took place in Bullinger's house, and the result is communicated to us by him. Before daybreak Zwingle and his friends left Bremgarten; Bullinger accompanied him part of the way home. At parting Zwingle took farewell of him, three times; boding that he would never see him more. "God preserve thee, dear Henry," were his last words; "remain faithful to the Lord Jesus and His Church.”

All attempts at negotiation were fruitless; and the war for which the five Cantons had long been secretly arming now broke out, and open hostilities were declared against Zurich and Berne. The conduct of the Zurich government continued hesitating and irresolute, though messengers had been despatched from Cappel imploring their aid. There was a party in the council who left no species of machination untried to hinder resolute action, and many precious hours were wasted before it was determined to send forward a detachment of 600 men and artillery. Lavater and Zwingle earnestly urged that a general levy of the people should be made in order to hasten, with as large a body of men as possible, to the rescue of their invaded country; but all their efforts were hampered by treachery within the council. Slowly, and in scanty numbers, the warriors dropped in, and hardly 700 men, instead of 4,000 as were expected, rallied around the great standard which was set up in the Town-hall. Not till noon next day were they in a position to begin the march." Zwingle was appointed by the council field preacher; both friends and enemies urging his appointment, though for different reasons. Nor did he hesitate for a moment to accept this post in the hour of danger. "I stand steadfastly prepared for the worst (he had said shortly before), for God is my stay." Painfully bitter, however, was the farewell he took of his beloved wife and children, whom he had a presentiment he should never see more. He was followed to the field by his much-loved stepson, the young Gerold Myer, and also by his wife's brother, brother-in-law, and son-in-law. When Myconius saw the little troop marching from the town, and Zwingle amongst them, he was seized with such an agony of spirit that he could hardly stand. For a few moments Zwingle was seen leaving his comrades and marching by himself, and one of his friends who followed behind him heard him praying with great fervency, committing himself, soul and body, and especially the Church, to the

Lord. When they were arrived at the top of the Albis, the captain of the sharp-shooters advised them to wait till their number was increased by further accessions. But Zwingle said, "If we wait till the great body of our friends arrive, our help will come too late. I will in God's name go to the brave fellows, and either die with them or help them."

Thus they again set forward, and arrived at Cappel at three in the afternoon. Here the fight had already lasted three hours, though only with cannon. The Zurich artillery, well served and posted, maintained a great superiority over that of the five places. For a time confusion spread in the ranks of the Roman Catholic army, which was spread out on a morass, and lay exposed to the enemy's cannon, so that, as Bullinger thinks, terms of peace would have been readily listened to then. But the saying of Zwingle in the town council had come true: "When they attack us there will then be none to mediate." Some brave men among the Zurichers wished to take advantage of the enemy's confusion, but their leader, who had a brother in the hostile army, and seemed to have his heart there also, refused to give his consent to this surprise which volunteers offered to execute. Shortly after the battle began in earnest; this treacherous and pusillanimous leader fled with rapidity along with the body under his command-traitors, shouting out, "Flee, flee, good men of Zurich; not one will be spared alive." Thus scarcely a thousand men were exposed to eight times that number on the side of the enemy, and yet the battle hung some time in suspense, for the men of Zurich fought like lions, and with the enthusiasm of Christian heroes, willing to offer up their lives for their faith. But numbers overpowered them. Five hundred lay dead on the field of battle ere the remnant was compelled to abandon it.

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Zwingle, the "faithful shepherd," as his biographer calls him, rested among his sheep. He had bent down, soon after the battle began, to comfort with the words of life a fallen countryman, when a stone struck him with such force that he was thrown on the ground. He had hardly raised himself again when a spear pierced him through the body. He was heard to exclaim as he fell, "What does it matter? they may indeed kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul." These were his last words. When the fight was over he was found by a party of soldiers still alive, leaning against a tree where he had fallen, his hands clasped, and his eyes raised heavenward. Will you confess? shall we fetch a priest? they cry to him. Unable to speak, the dying man shook his head in token of a negative. "Then call on the Mother of God and the blessed saints in your heart," they again shouted to him. A second time he shook his head, signifying his faith in what through life he had preached, that Christ is the alone mediator between God and man. "Die then, obstinate heretic," cried an officer, one of the party, and gave him the fatal stab. The savage mercenaries carried their hatred against God's witness to the truth even to his body. It was quartered by the hands of the common hangman, and then burned to ashes.

The hollow sound of the cannonading reached the ears of Zwingle's wife and family in their deserted home, and soon messengers came with the terrible intelligence that her husband, her noble son, Gerold, her brother, her son-in-law,

and many other loved friends had fallen together on the field of battle. All in which her heart most delighted was taken away from her without one last parting word, or look of farewell, or of consolation. Her orphaned children. raised a cry of bitter wailing and mourning, and desolation filled that so lately happy home. But the God of the widow and Father of the fatherless left them not without comfort. Friends, true and tender, were raised up for their help, and all that the tenderest sympathy could do was done to soothe the bitterness of their grief. There is extant a most touching letter sent her by a friend of her husband's, formerly a Carthusian monk, and who had joined the ranks of the Reformers. He addresses her as the honoured and virtuous lady, his beloved in the Lord, and says, "The Father of all consolation cause His face to shine in joy upon you, for there is no one in all this wide world, whoever he may be, that can avail for comfort in a sorrow like yours but Himself alone. Oh, the mournful and lamentable day on which the dear husband, my dear friend Zwingle, with so many brave men, have fallen! But as the head Christ Jesus passed through death into life, so none of His members shall long remain behind Him. Oh, dear good lady, be faithful. Neither you nor we have lost Zwingle and those who fell with him. For he that believeth in Christ hath life eternal; and albeit you sorely miss your dear husband in the house, among the children, by your own side, in the pulpit, and in the midst of his friends, fear not and be not over sorrowful, but think that he is now in God's house, in the midst of all God's children, that he is learning from the mouth of the Divine Wisdom, and enjoying the converse of angels. Courage, my dear friend, for the Lord will not forsake His Church, though He may seem to tarry. She shall yet increase and be victorious. May the merciful and loving God watch over and comfort you and your children, and grant you strength in the Holy Ghost to be conquerors in Christ over all troubles. Remember me and mine in your prayers to God. Memmingen, 9th November, 1531."

Many years before, Anna Zwingle had withdrawn herself from all worldly pleasures and excitements, and found all her joy in her duties as a wife and mother and sister of mercy, but after the sad stroke that left her a second time a widow, she secluded herself still more, devoting herself to the care of the children of her son and daughter by her former marriage, who had been left fatherless along with her own. Her faithful God raised up for her a friend and helper indeed in her husband's noble friend and successor in the Church, Henry Bullinger, who cared with the love of a son for the widow and children of his departed father. He received them into his own house, and cherished them as the members of his own family. He also undertook charge of the education of the children, as if they had been his own. The eldest son, William, survived his father only ten years, and died while a student of theology at Strasburg. Huldreich, the younger, he educated at the High School in Zurich, where he afterwards became deacon at the Minster, and finally theological professor. He also gave him in marriage his eldest daughter. Of Zwingle's two daughters, the younger, Anna, died in early life. The elder, Regula, distinguished for her beauty and her piety, and the striking resemblance she bore to her mother in appearance and character, married in 1541 his

foster son, Rudolf Gualtha, who afterwards became his successor in the Church.

Anna survived her husband seven years. The few notices preserved of her during that period all testify of her devotedness to God and her loving service to her neighbour. She died after a few weeks' illness, gently and quietly as she had lived. Bullinger, after her death, wrote to Vadian, "I could wish for myself nothing more blessed than the end of this noble woman. Gently, her soul passed away like the fading of twilight, and, while praying and commending us all to God, soared upwards and went home to her Lord."

MARION.

THE RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF BENARES, THE SACRED CITY OF THE HINDUS.

By the Reb. M. A. Sherring, W.J., TI.B.

PART I.

THERE are few cities in the world of greater interest to the Christian and the philosopher than Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus. Presiding over the religious destinies of one hundred and eighty millions of people, whom she inspires with her spirit and controls at pleasure, it is a matter, not merely of curiosity, but also of great importance, to know, what part she is likely to take in that extraordinary movement of religious reform which has already commenced in India; for it is self-evident, that, according as Benares declares herself, so she will throw the weight of her tremendous influence in the one scale or in the other. Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, are commercial centres, directing largely the trade of the country. But they do not speak to the masses, who never ask their opinion, and are never guided by their authority on any subject connected with themselves or with their social usages. Benares, on the contrary, is the living oracle of the nation, and governs the Hindu with a

despotic hand, in all his religious rites and practices; about which he cares infinitely more than about anything else.

This city has been linked with the religious history of India during many long ages. There it was that Buddhism, the religion of China, Japan, Burmah, Ceylon, Thibet, and Nepal-the religion of more than one-third of the human race-sprang into existence. Buddha, or, as he was first called, Sakya Muni, was a Rajpoot prince of the second Hindu caste, and was born about a hundred miles to the north of Benares. After spending five years in contemplation as an ascetic, he proceeded to Benares; and there commenced his ministry as a preacher of a new religion. This was in the sixth century before the Christian era. Aided by priests from the sacred city, and sustained undoubtedly by the prestige of its name, Buddhism spread rapidly through Northern India, and, in course of time, to other countries. For seven or eight hundred years, the period of

Buddhist dominancy in India, Benares maintained her religious ascendancy and authority. How long prior to the sixth century, B.C., her high reputation had lasted, it is impossible to say.

That it had continued during the earlier ages of Hinduism, for several hundred years, admits of no doubt. On the decline and fall of Buddhism, from the fifth to the eleventh or twelfth century, Anno Domini, Hinduism gradually regained her ancient position, which she has held securely to the present moment; and the sacred city, without losing in dignity or honour, in turn gradually shifted from the one religion back again to the other. Allusions to Benares are exceedingly abundant in ancient Sanskrit literature; and perhaps there is no city in all Hindustan more frequently referred to. It is evident, therefore, that twenty-five centuries ago, at the least, Benares was famous. When Babylon was struggling with Nineveh for supremacy, when Tyre was planting her colonies, when Athens was growing in strength, before Rome had become known, or Greece had contended with Persia, or Cyrus had added lustre to the Persian monarchy, or Nebuchadnezzar had captured Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of Judæa had been carried into captivity, she had already risen to greatness, if not to glory. Nay, she may have heard of the fame of Solomon, and have sent her ivory,

her

apes, and her peacocks, to adorn his palaces, while, partly with her gold, he may have overlaid the temple

of the Lord.

And now, after the lapse of so many ages, this great city retains most of the freshness and all the beauty of her early youth. For picturesqueness,

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no sight in all the world surpasses that of Benares as seen from the river Ganges. Her massive edifices of various styles of architecture, piled upon its banks in wonderful profusion;-the mosques and minarets, the elaborately-sculptured temples, the ornamented balconies, the huge stone stairs, the gorgeous palaces, stretching along almost as far as the eye can reach,—all combine to produce an effect of charming brilliancy. There are some spots in this world so exquisitely beautiful that in gazing upon them the mind is filled with ecstacy. Such a spot is Benares. Macaulay's graphic description of her appearance towards the close of the last century is applicable to her present state. He speaks of her as a city which in wealth, population, dignity, and sanctity, was among the foremost in Asia. It was commonly believed that half-a-million of human beings was crowded into that labyrinth of lofty alleys, rich with shrines and minarets, and balconies, and carved oriels, to which the sacred apes clung by hundreds. The traveller could scarcely make his way through the press of holy mendicants and not less holy bulls. The broad and stately flights of steps, which descended from these swarming haunts to the bathing places along the Ganges, were worn every day by the footsteps of an innumerable multitude of worshippers. The schools and temples drew crowds of pious Hindus from every province where the Brahminical faith was

known. Hundreds of devotees came thither every month to die; for it was believed that a peculiarly happy fate awaited the man who should pass from the sacred city into the sacred river. Nor was superstition the only

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