History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII - Amazing Discoveries

552 Pages·2004·2.3 MB·English

by  Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII:
Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation.
by
Philip Schaff
About History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The
Swiss Reformation. by Philip Schaff
Title: History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The
Swiss Reformation.
URL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8.html
Author(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893)
Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian CLassics Ethereal Library
First Published: 1882
Print Basis: Third edition, revised
Source: Electronic Bible Society
Date Created: 2002-11-27
Contributor(s): whp (Transcriber)
Wendy Huang (Markup)
CCEL Subjects: All; History;
LC Call no: BR145.S3
LC Subjects: Christianity
History
History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Philip Schaff
Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation.
Table of Contents
About This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. ii
History of the Christian Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 1
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 2
Postscript. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 5
Preface to the Second Edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 6
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 6
Switzerland before the Reformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 6
The Swiss Reformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 8
The Genius of the Swiss Reformation compared with the German. . . . . p. 10
Literature on the Swiss Reformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 12
Zwingli's Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 15
The Zwingli Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 15
Zwingli's Birth and Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 18
Zwingli in Glarus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 19
Zwingli in Einsiedeln. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 23
Zwingli and Luther. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 25
The Reformation In Zurich. 1519-1526. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 27
Zwingli called to Zurich. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 27
Zwingli's Public Labors and Private Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 28
Zwingli and the Sale of Indulgences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 30
Zwingli during the Pestilence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 30
The Open Breach. Controversy about Fasts. 1522. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 34
Petition for the Abolition of Clerical Celibacy. Zwingli's Marriage. . . . . p. 35
Zwingli and Lambert of Avignon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 37
The Sixty-seven Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 37
The Public Disputations. 1523. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 39
The Abolition of the Roman Worship. 1524. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 41
The Reformed Celebration of the Lord's Supper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 42
Other Changes. A Theological School. The Carolinum. A System of
Theology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 43
The Translation of the Bible. Leo Judae. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 44
Church and State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 45
Zwingli's Conflict with Radicalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 47
The Baptismal Controversy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 51
Persecution of the Anabaptists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 54
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The Eucharistic Controversy. Zwingli and Luther. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 56
The Works of Zwingli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 57
The Theology of Zwingli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 58
Spread Of The Reformation In Switzerland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 63
The Swiss Diet and the Conference at Baden, 1526. . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 63
The Reformation in Berne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 65
The Reformation in Basel. Oecolampadius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 68
The Reformation in Glarus. Tschudi. Glarean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 73
The Reformation in St. Gall, Toggenburg, and Appenzell. Watt and
Kessler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 77
Reformation in Schaffhausen. Hofmeister. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 80
The Grisons (Graubünden). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 81
The Reformation in the Grisons. Comander. Gallicius. Campell. . . . . p. 84
The Reformation in the Italian Valleys of the Grisons. Vergerio. . . . . . p. 89
Protestantism in Chiavenna and the Valtellina, and its Suppression. . . . p. 95
The Congregation of Locarno. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 97
Zwinglianism in Germany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 98
The Civil War Between The Roman Catholic and Reformed Cantons. . . . p. 99
The First War of Cappel. 1529. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 99
The First Peace of Cappel. June, 1529. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 102
Between the Wars. Political Plains of Zwingli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 104
Zwingli's Last Theological Labors. His Confessions of Faith. . . . . . . . p. 105
The Second War of Cappel. 1531. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 107
The Death of Zwingli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 109
Reflections on the Disaster at Cappel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 111
The Second Peace of Cappel. November, 1531. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 114
The Roman Catholic Reaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 116
The Relative Strength of the Confessions in Switzerland. . . . . . . . . . p. 118
Zwingli. Redivivus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 118
The Period Of Consolidation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 120
Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 120
Heinrich Bullinger. 1504-1575. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 121
Antistes Breitinger (1575-1645). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 126
Oswald Myconius, Antistes of Basel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 127
The Helvetic Confessions of Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 129
The Preparatory Work. From 1526 To 1536. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 131
Literature on Calvin and the Reformation in French Switzerland. . . . . p. 131
The Condition of French Switzerland before the Reformation. . . . . . . p. 138
William Farel (1489-1565). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 140
Farel at Geneva. First Act of the Reformation (1535). . . . . . . . . . . . p. 144
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The Last Labors of Farel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 146
Peter Viret and the Reformation in Lausanne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 147
Antoine Froment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 149
John Calvin And His Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 150
John Calvin compared with the Older Reformers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 150
Calvin's Place in History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 152
Calvin's Literary Labors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 155
Tributes to the Memory of Calvin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 157
From France To Switzerland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 179
Calvin's Youth and Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 179
Calvin as a Student in the French Universities. a.d. 1528-1533. . . . . . p. 184
Calvin as a Humanist. Commentary on Seneca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 186
Calvin's Conversion. 1532. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 187
Calvin's Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 189
The Open Rupture. An Academic Oration. 1533. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 191
Persecution of the Protestants in Paris. 1534. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 192
Calvin as a Wandering Evangelist. 1533-1536. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 194
The Sleep of the Soul. 1534. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 195
Calvin at Basel. 1535 to 1536. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 196
Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 197
From Basel to Ferrara. The Duchess Renée. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 209
Calvin's First Sojourn And Labors In Geneva. 1536-1538. . . . . . . . . . p. 210
Calvin's Arrival and Settlement at Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 211
First Labors and Trials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 212
The Reformers introduce Order and Discipline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 213
Expulsion of the Reformers. 1538. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 216
Calvin In Germany. From 1538-1541. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 219
Calvin in Strassburg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 219
The Church of the Strangers in Strassburg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 222
The Liturgy of Calvin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 223
Calvin as Theological Teacher and Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 226
Calvin at the Colloquies of Frankfurt, Worms, and Regensburg. . . . . . p. 227
Calvin and Melanchthon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 231
Calvin and Sadolet. The Vindication of the Reformation. . . . . . . . . . p. 240
Calvin's Marriage and Home Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 251
Calvin's Second Sojourn And Labors At Geneva. 1541-1564. . . . . . . . p. 260
The State of Geneva after the expulsion of the Reformers. . . . . . . . . p. 260
Calvin's Recall to Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 262
Calvin's Return to Geneva. 1541. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 264
The First Years after the Return. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 267
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Survey of Calvin's Activity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 270
Constitution And Discipline Of The Church Of Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 272
Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 272
Calvin's Idea of the Holy Catholic Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 273
The Visible and Invisible Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 279
The Civil Government. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 282
Distinctive Principles of Calvin's Church Polity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 285
Church and State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 287
The Ecclesiastical Ordinances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 289
The Venerable Company and the Consistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 292
Calvin's Theory of Discipline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 294
The Exercise of Discipline in Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 297
Calvin's Struggle with the Patriots and Libertines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 299
The Leaders of the Libertines and their punishment: -- Gruet, Perrin,
Ameaux, Vandel, Berthelier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 303
Geneva Regenerated. Testimonies Old and New. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 311
Calvin's Theology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 316
Calvin's Commentaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 316
The Calvinistic System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 324
Predestination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 328
Calvinism examined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 341
Calvin's Theory of the Sacraments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 348
Baptism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 349
The Lord's Supper. The Consensus of Zuerich. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 352
Theological Controversies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 355
Calvin as a Controversialist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 355
Calvin and Pighius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 356
The Anti-Papal Writings. Criticism of the Council of Trent. 1547. . . . . p. 358
Against the German Interim. 1549. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 359
Against the Worship of Relics. 1543. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 361
The Articles of the Sorbonne with an Antidote. 1544. . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 364
Calvin and the Nicodemites. 1544. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 365
Calvin and Bolsec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 367
Calvin and Castellio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 371
Calvinism and Unitarianism. The Italian Refugees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 375
Calvin and Laelius Socinus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 378
Bernardino Ochino. 1487-1565. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 380
Caelius Secundus Curio. 1503-1569. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 387
The Italian Antitrinitarians in Geneva. Gribaldo, Biandrata, Alciati,
Gentile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 387
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The Eucharistic Controversies. Calvin and Westphal. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 391
Calvin and the Augsburg Confession. Melanchthon's Position in the
Second Eucharistic Controversy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 394
Calvin and Heshusius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 399
Calvin and the Astrologers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 402
Servetus: His Life. Opinions, Trial, And Execution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 404
The Servetus Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 404
Calvin and Servetus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 409
Catholic Intolerance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 412
Protestant Intolerance. Judgments of the Reformers on Servetus. . . . . p. 415
The Early Life of Servetus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 421
The Book against the Holy Trinity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 423
Servetus as a Geographer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 426
Servetus as a Physician, Scientist, and Astrologer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 428
Servetus at Vienne. His Annotations to the Bible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 429
Correspondence of Servetus with Calvin and Poupin. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 430
“The Restitution of Christianity”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 433
The Theological System of Servetus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 435
The Trial and Condemnation of Servetus at Vienne. . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 446
Servetus flees to Geneva and is arrested. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 449
State of Political Parties at Geneva in 1553. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 450
The First Act of the Trial at Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 452
The Second Act of the Trial at Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 454
Consultation of the Swiss Churches. The Defiant Attitude of
Servetus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 457
Condemnation of Servetus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 458
Execution of Servetus. Oct. 27, 1553. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 460
The Character of Servetus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 461
Calvin's Defence of the Death Penalty for Heretics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 463
A Plea for Religious Liberty. Castellio and Beza. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 465
Calvin Abroad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 468
Calvin's Catholicity of Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 468
Geneva an Asylum for Protestants from all Countries. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 470
The Academy of Geneva. The High School of Reformed Theology. . . . p. 470
Calvin's Influence upon the Reformed Churches of the Continent. . . . . p. 472
Calvin's Influence upon Great Britain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 477
The Closing Scenes In Calvin's Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 479
Calvin's Last Days and Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 479
Calvin's Last Will, and Farewells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 484
Calvin's Personal Character and Habits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 489
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Theodore Beza. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 495
Life of Beza to his Conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 496
Beza at Lausanne and as a Delegate to the German Princes. . . . . . . p. 498
Beza at Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 500
Beza at the Colloquy of Poissy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 500
Beza as the Counsellor of the Huguenot Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 502
Beza as the Successor of Calvin, down to 1586. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 504
Beza's Conferences with Lutherans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 506
Beza and Henry IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 506
Beza's Last Days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 507
Beza's Writings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 509
Appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 512
Indexes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 517
Index of Scripture References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 517
Greek Words and Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 519
Hebrew Words and Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 521
German Words and Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 521
French Words and Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 535
viii
History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Philip Schaff
Christianity. The Swiss Reformation.
This volume constitutes the second part of
THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION
by Philip Schaff
It is included as Volume VIII in the 8-volume
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Volume VII in this series, on the German
Reformation, constitutes the first part of
this 2-volume unit on he The History of the
Reformation
HISTORY
of the
CHRISTIAN CHURCH1
by
PHILIP SCHAFF
professor of church history in the union theological seminary
new york
Christianus sum: Christiani nihil a me alienum puto
VOLUME VIII.
MODERN CHRISTIANITY
THE SWISS REFORMATION
This is a reproduction of the Third Edition, Revised
1 Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1997. This material
has been carefully compared, corrected¸ and emended (according to the 1910 edition of Charles Scribner's Sons) by The Electronic
Bible Society, Dallas, TX, 1998.
History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Philip Schaff
Christianity. The Swiss Reformation.
PREFACE.
This volume concludes the history of the productive period of the Reformation, in which Luther,
Zwingli, and Calvin were the chief actors. It follows the Protestant movement in German, Italian,
and French Switzerland, to the close of the sixteenth century.
During the last year, the sixth-centenary of the oldest surviving Republic was celebrated
with great patriotic enthusiasm. On the first day of August, in the year 1291, the freemen of Uri,
Schwyz, and Unterwalden formed, in the name of the Lord "a perpetual alliance for the mutual
protection of their persons, property, and liberty, against internal and external foes. On the same
day, in 1891, the great event was commemorated in every village of Switzerland by the ringing of
bells and the illumination of the mountains, while on the following day—a Sunday—thanksgiving
services were held in every church, Catholic and Protestant. The chief festivities took place, from
July 31 to Aug. 2, in the towns of Schwyz and Brunnen, and were attended by the Federal and
Cantonal dignitaries, civil and military, and a vast assembly of spectators. The most interesting
feature was a dramatic representation of the leading events in Swiss history—the sacred oaths of
Schwyz, Brunnen, and Grütli, the poetic legend of William Tell, the heroic battles for liberty and
independence against Austria, Burgundy, and France, the venerable figure of Nicolas von der Flue
appearing as a peacemaker in the Diet at Stans, and the chief scenes of the Reformation, the
Revolution, and the modern reconstruction. The drama, enacted in the open field in view of
mountains and meadows and the lake of Luzern, is said to have equalled in interest and skill of
execution the famous Passion Play of Oberammergau. Similar celebrations took place, not only in
every city and village of Switzerland, but also in the Swiss colonies in foreign lands, notably in
New York, on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of September.2
Between Switzerland and the United States there has always been a natural sympathy and
friendship. Both aim to realize the idea of a government of freedom without license, and of authority
without despotism; a government of law and order without a standing army; a government of the
people, by the people, and for the people, under the sole headship of Almighty God.
At the time of the Reformation, Switzerland numbered as many Cantons (13) as our country
originally numbered States, and the Swiss Diet was then a loose confederation representing only
the Cantons and not the people, just as was our Continental Congress. But by the revision of the
Constitution in 1848 and 1874, the Swiss Republic, following the example of our Constitution, was
consolidated from a loose, aristocratic Confederacy of independent Cantons into a centralized
federal State,3with a popular as well as a cantonal representation. In one respect the modern Swiss
Constitution is even more democratic than that of the United States; for, by the Initiative and the
Referendum, it gives to the people the right of proposing or rejecting national legislation.
But there is a still stronger bond of union between the two countries than that which rests
on the affinity of political institutions. Zwingli and Calvin directed and determined the westward
2 The celebration has elicited some valuable contributions to the authentic history of Switzerland, which may be added to the literature
on p. 3. I mention Dr. W. Oechsli: Die Anfänge der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. Zürich, 1891.—Jos. Ig. von Ah: Die Bundesbriefe
der alten Eidgenossen von 1201 bis 1513. Einsiedeln, 1891—Pierre Vaucher: Les Commencements de la Confédération suisse. Lausanne,
1891.—Prof. Georg von Wyss: Rede bei der Bundesfeier der Eidgenössischen polytechn. Schule, und der Hochschule Zürich am 25 Juli
1891. Zürich, 1891.—Denkschrift der historischen u. antiquarischen Gesellschaft zu Basel. Zur Erinnerung an den Bund der Eidgenossen
vom 1. Aug. 1291. Basel, 1891.—The second volume of Dierauer’sGeschichte der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft appeared at Gotha,
1892, but goes only to the year 1516, when the history of the Reformation began.
3 Bundesstaat, as distinct from a Staatenbund.
2