Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/872

 842 ZWINGLI continued the landgrave. For a moment it seemed as if they would unite. Luther him- self relates that Zwingli, bursting into tears, approached him, holding out his hand. Luther rejected him, repeating over and over: "You have a different spirit from ours!" After some further consultation, terms of mutual peace and good will, if not of unity, were agreed upon, and they signed articles drawn up by Luther himself at the request of both par- ties, stating the points on which they had all agreed. Zwingli returned to Zurich Oct. 19, 1529, only to find new troubles in his father- land. Between friends and foes of the refor- mation the lines had now been drawn. Three cities and cantons stood on one side, and five cantons on the other. The" reformed free cities demanded: 1, that their calumniators should be duly punished ; 2, that the poor people, who had been driven from house and home on ac- count of their faith, should be permitted to re- turn; 3, that the religious doctrines of one district should be tolerated in others. To these demands the five Catholic cantons, Schwytz, Uri, Unterwalden, Lucerne, and Zug, would not agree. The Zurichers resolved to obtain their rights by force. Zwingli favored prompt warfare. Bern also favored forcible measures, but recommended first merely a withdrawal of the means of subsistence from their opponents, a measure which only exasperated them. A treaty of peace, concluded at Kappel, June 25, 1529, did not long stand sacred. Zwingli was filled with apprehension. Even Zurich was not free from internal dissensions. Discour- aged, he proposed to withdraw from the city, but yielded to entreaty, and consented to re- main. Ministers passing through the Catholic cantons were arrested, and one, Jacob Kaiser, was burned. To punish these acts, the reformed cantons cut off their supplies, whereupon the Catholics commenced hostilities. On Oct. 9, 1531, a company of soldiers from Lucerne passed over the borders and committed de- predations. On the 10th vessels laden with soldiers sailed up the lake of Zug, and 8,000 men came to rendezvous in Zug. This took the Zurichers by surprise; but they gathered their forces, and Zwingli received orders to accompany the army as chaplain. He was dis- couraged, yet was not without faith. "Our cause," said he to his friends, "is a righteous one, but badly defended. It will cost me my life, and the life of many an upright man who wishes to restore to religion its original purity, and to his country its ancient morals. But God will not forsake his servants ; he will help even when you believe all is lost. My confidence is in him alone. I submit myself to his will." The odds were great, 8,000 men against 1,900, and the conflict terrible. After the battle had begun, the captain of arque- busiers proposed to await on the heights with the banner the arrival of the reinforcements that were coming from Zurich. Zwingli op- posed this. He could not look on while his brethren were shot down in battle. " In the name of God," he exclaimed, "will I go to them, to die with them, or to aid in their deliverance." The Zurichers were brave, but too few ; and their enemies prevailed. While stooping down to console a dying soldier, a stone hurled by the vigorous arm of a Wald- stadter struck Zwingli on the head, and closed his lips. He rose again, when two blows upon the leg struck him down. Twice more he sprang up ; but a fourth time he was thrust by a lance, when he staggered and fell be- neath his wounds. Prowling over the field after the battle in search of plunder, two sol- diers came near to the reformer without recog- nizing him. They asked him whether he de- sired a priest to confess. He could not speak, but gave the sign, "No." They told him that, as he could not speak, he should at least think in his heart of the mother of God, and call upon the saints. Zwingli shook his head, and kept his eyes fixed on heaven. The sol- diers, now, infuriated, began to curse him, adding : " We doubt not you are one of the heretics of this city." A fire had been kin- dled near the spot; and one of the soldiers, curious to know who it was, turned Zwingli's face toward the light. Suddenly he dropped him surprised, saying : " I think it is Zwingli." At that moment Captain Fockinger, a mer- cenary from Unterwalden, drew near, hav- ing just heard the last words of the soldier. "Zwingli!" he exclaimed, "that vile heretic Zwingli! that rascal! that traitor!" Then raising his sword, he struck the dying reformer on the throat, exclaiming in a violent passion : "Die, obstinate heretic!" The body lay on the field over night. In the morning, at the demand of a mob, it was tried, formally con- demned to be quartered for treason against the confederation, and then burned for heresy. The sentence was carried out by the execu- tioner of Lucerne. The ashes were mingled with the ashes of swine, and the furious multi- tude, rushing upon the remains, flung them to the winds of heaven. Zwingli has been cen- sured for his confidence in the virtue of the civil arm. He believed that the fatherland be- longed to Christ and the church, and must be defended for their sake ; and that Switzerland could only give itself to Christ so far and so long as it was free. He was a man of fine appearance, prepossessing manners, polite ad- dress, pleasing conversation, extensive and sound learning, and brilliant genius. He has been represented as having been, more than any other of the reformers, radical and revolu- tionary in his reformatory movements ; but Dr. Ebrard, in his " History of the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper," shows that this charge " is no better than a pure fiction of fancy, or theological prejudice;" that Zwingli was fully as conservative as Luther, and much more so than Calvin, in the matter of doctrine and worship. (See LORD'S SUPPER, and REFORMED CHURCH.) Among all his writings, Zwingli has