The defeat was a disaster to Protestant Switzerland not so much on
account of the terms of peace, which were moderate, as because of the
loss of prestige and above all of the great leader. His spirit
however, continued to inspire his followers, and lived in the Reformed
Church. Indeed it has been said, though with exaggeration, that Calvin
only gave his name to the church founded by Zwingli, just as Americus
gave his name to the continent discovered by Columbus. In many
respects Zwingli was the most liberal of the Reformers. In his last
work he expressed the belief that in heaven would be saved not only
Christians and the worthies of the Old Testament but also "Hercules,
Theseus, Socrates, Aristides, Antigonus, Numa, Camillus, the Catos and
Scipios. . . . In a word no good man has ever existed, nor shall there
exist a holy mind, a faithful soul, from the very foundation of the
world to its consummation, whom you will not see there with God."
Nevertheless, Zwingli was a persecutor and was bound by many of the
dogmatic prepossessions of his time. But his religion had in it less
of miracle and more of reason than that of any other founder of a
church in the sixteenth century. He was a statesman, and more willing
to trust the people than were his contemporaries, but yet he was ready
to sacrifice his country to his creed.
For a short time after the death of so many of its leading citizens in
the battle of Cappel, Zurich was reduced to impotence and despair. Nor
was she much comforted or assisted by her neighbors. Oecolampadius
died but a few weeks after his friend; while {160} Luther and Erasmus
sang paeans of triumph over the prostration of their rivals. Even
Calvin considered it a judgment of God. Gradually by her own strength
Zurich won her way back to peace and a certain influence. [Sidenote:
Bullinger, 1504-75] Zwingli's follower, Henry Bullinger, the son of a
priest, was a remarkable man. He not only built up his own city but
his active correspondence with Protestants of all countries did a great
deal to spread the cause of the Evangelical religion. In conjunction
with Myconius, he drew up the first Swiss confession, [Sidenote: 1536]
accepted by Zurich, Berne, Basle, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Muelhausen and
Biel; [Sidenote: 1549] and later he made the agreement with Calvin
known as the Consensus Tigurinus. In this the Zwinglian and
Calvinistic doctrines of the eucharist were harmonized as far as
possible. But while the former decreased the latter increased, and
Geneva took the place of Zurich as the metropolis of the Reformed faith.
SECTION 2. CALVIN
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