CHAPTER XXXV.

Zurich and Zwingle.-Banishment of Protestants from Locarno.

others of that ilk, Such as these are,

THE Stork Inns! I know not why the hotels should be likened to such fowl as the Stork, the Vulture, and unless it be on account of their long bills. however, somewhat favorite appellations for the inns of Germany and Switzerland, and a tired traveller may find himself very comfortable in their hospitalities, not reckoning without his host. A man may spend delightfully at Zurich much more time than we did, whether he be lodged at the Stork, the Stag, the Bear, the Lion, the Peacock, the Black Eagle (if he can find any such inns in the place), or at the hotel Baur, to which Mr. Murray will direct him. I like a pleasant title for an inn; there is something friendly and attractive in it. The Quid pro Quo would be an excellent cognomen; whether you render it something for somebody, or sure of your money's worth, or entertainment for man and beast. There is more inn-ward significance in the titles of Inns, than most men dream of; and probably a philosophic traveller would find many a cud of contemplation both curious and instructive, should he set himself to trace the character and habits of nations in the names and sign-pictures of their inns, from the St. George and the Dragon of merry England, to the Three Kings of Germany, and the Hotel of the Universe in France.

Zurich is a town of about 15,000 inhabitants, much given to manufacturing and literature, careful of cducation, prudent, and industrious, prosperous, ancestral, old-fashioned. You see here a Cathedral of the tenth century, where Zwingle preached in the sixteenth. Noble heroic times and spirits were here during the fires of the Reformation. Coverdale's old Bible, the first entire

English version of the Scriptures, was printed here in 1535; and here great men, driven from England by the fatal reign of Mary, came to worship as exiles, where in the enjoyment of the hospitality of Zurich, they could cherish their faith, and wait for God to help them. One of the greatest helps God ever gave to the English Reformers was the bringing them to this place and to Geneva, where the forms of glory in creation were so grandly in unison with the excitement of their souls under the discoveries of divine truth, and where they learned such lessons of freedom from the republican simplicity of the Reformation out of England. There they saw those wonders of the world, unseen before for ages, those early simple forms of government, unhierarchical, unmonarchical, in the Church without a bishop, and the State without a king.

I am not afraid of fatiguing my readers with landing-places of good poetry, and they may be glad to see, what perhaps some of them have not seen, a copy of the verses, which the Poet Montgomery tells us appeared in nearly all the Genevan editions of that translation of the Bible, which was made during the reign of Queen Mary, by those illustrious exiles, John Knox, Miles Coverdale, Anthony Gilby, Christopher Goodman, and others. This translation of the Bible may in some measure be considered as one of the results of Queen Mary's fires.

On the incomparable treasure of the Holy Scriptures.

"Here is the Spring, where waters flow

To quench our heat of sin;

Here is the Tree, where Truth doth grow,
To lead our lives therein.

Here is the Judge, that stints the strife,
Where men's devices fail;

Here is the Bread, that feeds the Life,
That Death cannot assail.

The tidings of Salvation dear

Come to our ears from hence;

The Fortress of our Faith is here,
And Shield of our defence.

12

Then be not like the Hog, that hath

A pearl at his desire,

But takes more pleasure at the trough,
And wallowing in the mire.

Read not this Book, in any case,

But with a single eye;

Read not, but first desire God's grace

To understand thereby.

Pray still in Faith, with this respect,

To fructify therein;

That knowledge may bring this effect,
To mortify thy sin.

Then happy thou, in all thy life,
What so to thee befalls;

Yea, double happy thou shalt be,

When God by death thee calls."

Of a clear sunset the view of Zurich down the Lake is most superbly beautiful. There is a mixture of grandeur in its beauty, owing to the magnificent outline of distant mountains, without which it might be somewhat tame. But any scenery would be tame after a few weeks spent from Night till Morn and Morn till Eve, by sunlight and moonlight, amidst mountains covered or crowned with snow. It is surprising what an exciting, passionate effect those piles of snow hanging in the horizon produce upon the mind; you never tire of the sight, nor lose your sense of its novelty and sublimity; and when you are without it, you desire it; a portion of the mind of creation seems abstracted. It is like the great sea in the landscape.

Zurich presents many points and sights of interest, but of all the things offered to the stranger, the pet lions to me have been Zuinglius' own old Bible, with his own notes in the margin, and two or three letters from the lovely Lady Jane Grey in her own most beautiful hand-writing. Zuinglius' notes were most frequent, I observed, upon the minor prophets; a very characteristic indication, if it might be taken for a proof of his preferences in the Word of God. For there is a fire, a boldness, and a straightforward simple energy and plainness of dealing in the minor pro

phets, which wonderfully marked the character of the Swiss Reformer. The prophets Amos and Hosea would be likely to be favorites with him. He called no man master on earth, and labored faithfully for his Master in Heaven. He and Luther and Melancthon must have had a joyful meeting with one another, and with Paul and Peter and John, and other old disciples and worthies. How they talked over the scenes of the Reformation and of the great primeval spread of the gospel beginning at Jerusalem!

The Reformers, as well as the Apostles, worked and wrote, much of their time, with Death full in view; and there is nothing like that to give fire to a man's thoughts, fervor to his feelings, and such an carnestness and solemnity of tone to his utterances, as will compel men to heed them. Almost every word was like a last word, and like a testimony amidst the fire. While this was the case, their communications one with another, and with the people, had a grave sublime impression and prophecy of danger and of suffering, very powerful upon a soul under the seizure of divine truth and grace. There was little room for declamation, or superficial or artificial eloquence, in such circumstances; everything came straight from the soul, and went straight to the soul, driven by conviction. Life was a great solemn tragedy. The bare utterance of truth was like storming a breach at the mouth of cannon. Hence the decisive energy, conciseness, and power of the Reformers.

It is not so now in Germany; the new reformation is indeed a revolution, but of a much lower kind; the Spirit of God evidently thus far has much less to do with it, and though it is doubtless one of God's great shakings and overturnings, in preparation for the administration of the Spirit, it must be regarded thus far principally as preparation. The Question now is Religious Liberty; in the first Reformation it was Religious LIFE: there lies the difference. After Life comes Liberty, but you are not so sure that after Liberty comes Life. Men may mistake license for liberty, even in religion; and as in the Canton de Vaud, license and despotism may go hand in hand, imposing fetters on the Church and on the soul.

Zurich owes much of the prosperity and learning by which it

is distinguished, to its hearty acceptance and defence of the doctrines and followers of the Reformation. It is a most impressive lesson to compare the history of Zurich at the north, with that of Locarno at the south, of the Swiss territory. About the year 1530 a devout monk from Milan, Beccaria by name, came to Locarno as an earnest teacher of Evangelical Truth. The Romish governor of the bailiwick had the preacher thrown into prison, hoping in this way to stop the fire of the Reformation from spreading. But it had already burned too deep and too far; the people surrounded the castle of the governor and compelled him to release their preacher, who afterwards escaped into the Val Misocco. The next step of the governor, under authority of the seven Romish Cantons, was to command all the disciples of the Reformation to attend mass, under pain of outlawry. The Pope, by his Nuncio with the Priests, continued to aggravate the persecution, until the resolution was taken to banish the Protestants with their families from their homes for ever. The decree was issued in March, 1555. In the town-hall of Locarno, one hundred and fifty followers of the Reformed faith received sentence of exile, and immediately set out, amidst all the severity of the season, across savage mountains, to find a kinder home, where the beliefs so dear to conscience, and so sacred to the sight of God, would be revered by man, and permitted in their cherished exercise.

From that period, the decay of Locarno in industry and prosperity followed, while Zurich received a new source of wealth and an additional element of art and refinement. "The evan

gelical confederates," says Zschokke, "welcomed them with true Christian charity, and more than a hundred of these unfortunate exiles, amongst whom were many affluent and learned men, as Orelli, Muralt, and others, found an asylum at Zurich, where their families are distinguished to the present day. By their means the art of weaving silk was introduced into Zurich; they also established mills and dyeing houses, and contributed so much by their industry to the prosperity of the town, that its celebrity was soon extended far beyond the limits of Switzerland."

After the sentence of banishment from Locarno had been pronounced by the deputies, the Pope's Nuncio, with a couple of