"Whereas, ye deputies from the duchy of Kyburg and the territories of
Eglisau, Greifensee, Grueningen Andelfingen, Buelach, Neuamt and
Ruemlang, together with all the curates and preachers, have sat to-day
before My Lords in behalf of the articles, in which the members of the
several communities have thought themselves to be aggrieved, and
especially in regard to the tithe, and these things have truly come to
light--that heretofore the aforenamed preachers have frequently
preached from the pulpit and elsewhere, and other persons have asserted
in taverns behind their wine, that, according to the divine law and
justice, no one is bound to pay tithes, whereby the common people have
become seditious and strengthened in such a belief--and whereas in
order to reach the bottom of this matter, it has been discussed and
handled in various meetings, and explained at length by Master Ulric
Zwingli, that in the beginning the tithe was laid for a pious purpose,
though afterward perverted and abused, but yet that it was a just debt
and can be fairly complained of by no one--it shall be henceforth the
concern of the government that the whole tithe be restored to its right
channel and applied to the wants of the needy. Because, moreover, the
deputies of the abovenamed communities have made it appear, that these
disorders have sprung from the clergy alone and their inconsistent
preaching, and they have thus been taught and instructed, and hence have
given the whole business into the hands of My Lords; and because they have
framed excuses for themselves from the speeches of these clergy, since
several of them have spoken and preached more for disorder and strife than
brotherly unity, be this answer, after a fair hearing, given to the rebels,
that they at once go home and busy themselves in peaceful affairs, and if
there are any good-for-nothing people in their own dioceses, who wish
to stir up discord, disorder and rebellion, that they drive them off,
so that we may not again witness such improper and wanton doings, as
lately happened at the monasteries of Tœss and Rueti; then will My
Lords, as soon as other business permits, sit upon their articles, and
with the help of Master Ulric Zwingli and other learned and sensible
men, take counsel, and see what, according to the Divine Word, can be
remitted, and what not. But in the meantime, every man must pay
interest and tithes in church and state, according to the decree last
issued." Then this special admonition was directed to the clergy: "That
they shall look well and truly into the Holy Scriptures, busy
themselves with the plain preaching of the Gospel, practice the same,
and strive more after peace than discord; for if they do not so, the
refractory will be punished according to his desert and as opportunity
allows."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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