The Life and Times of Ulrich Zwingli (eBook, ePUB)
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Author's Preface."Biographers should not busy themselves so much with deeds, as their moving causes; with what motives, by what means, for what ends and under what circumstances they were performed. If we limit ourselves to a simple detail of facts, our judgment is determined by success; and upright men are condemned as evil or imprudent, because of the unfavorable issue of their endeavors. To set forth the views of Zwingli and the high mark to which he strove to carry everything, were dangerous-would open a wide door to envy and calumniation, and would not be permitted by the government of Zu...
Author's Preface.
"Biographers
should not busy themselves so much with deeds, as their moving causes; with
what motives, by what means, for what ends and under what circumstances they
were performed. If we limit ourselves to a simple detail of facts, our judgment
is determined by success; and upright men are condemned as evil or imprudent,
because of the unfavorable issue of their endeavors. To set forth the views of
Zwingli and the high mark to which he strove to carry everything, were
dangerous-would open a wide door to envy and calumniation, and would not be
permitted by the government of Zurich; since it would be a violation of the Landfriede,
various resolutions of the cities and the Hereditary Union with Austria.
Without this, however, the history of his life would be dry, and posterity
would neither admire nor love Zwingli, but regard him as a thoughtless, foolish
man. The unhappy catastrophe has placed everything in a false light."
The
foregoing remarks of Bullinger show with what caution our forefathers 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. He wrote to his friend, Myconius: "We will never come
together again. No one trusts his neighbor any longer. Surely, surely, we live
in the last times. It is all over with the Confederacy." The passage
above-cited was written perhaps at this juncture. But he soon recovered his
courage. His confidence in God returned with renewed strength, and he then
began that career, which was so active, so noble and so full of blessing. He
continued the work of his illustrious predecessor, and described it also with a
powerful pen and a reverent heart, leaving behind, for thoughtful readers at
least, intimations of what he durst not wholly reveal to his contemporaries.
Three centuries have since gone by, and unrestricted access to archives and
multiplied investigations have brought to light reports and documents hitherto
unknown. From these materials, the author endeavored, fifteen years ago, to delineate
the life and times of Zwingli. That volume was designed for those, who study
history as a science: the aim of this one is 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, let them hear once more the voice of one of the noblest
statesmen of former ages; let them consider his acts, and ponder over his sad
fate. If we regard him merely as a reformer of the Church, he may perhaps
appear to us surrounded by a brighter glory; but history demands a full
representation, and such a representation exhibits him as a man "possessed of
like passions with ourselves." Yet, just in the acknowledgement of his own
infirmities by Zwingli, and in his submission with humble faith to a Higher
Power, do the unmistakable features of true religion shine victoriously above
that worship of self which springs only from vain conceit.-May the following
work produce the same conviction in the mind of the reader!
The volume,
here translated, was published in Zurich in the year 1842, and may be regarded
as the fullest and most reliable history of Zwingli and his times that has yet
appeared; for, in addition to the numerous works, in Latin and German, which
relate to this particular period, the author has had free access to an immense
mass of important and necessary state-papers, long buried in the archives of
the Canton.
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