|
 From
“History of the Reformation,” by J. H. D’Aubigne (1847);
we quote re. Ulrich Zwingli (1484 - 1531) and his regard for
Scripture. Zwingli preached “restoration” instead of
reformation. He is particularly known for teaching that in the
Lord’s Supper the true body of Christ is present by the
contemplation of faith, and not in essence or reality.
Zwingli
went farther than merely acknowledging at this early period the
grand principle of evangelical Christianity— the infallible
authority of Holy Scriptures. He perceived moreover, how we
should determine the sense of the Divine Word: “They have a
very mean idea of the Gospel,” said he, “who consider as
frivolous, vain, and unjust, all that they imagine does not
accord with their own reason. Men are not permitted to wrest the
Gospel at pleasure that it may square with their own sentiments
and interpretation.” “Zwingli turned his eyes to heaven,”
says his best friend, “for he would have no other interpreter
than the Holy Ghost himself.”
Such,
at the commencement of his career, was the man whom certain
persons have not hesitated to represent as having desired to
subject the Bible to human reason. “Philosophy and divinity,”
said he, “were always raising objections. At last I said to
myself: I must neglect all these matters, and look for God’s
will in his Word alone. I began (continues he) to earnestly
entreat the Lord to grant me his light, and although I read the
Scriptures only, they became clearer than if I had read the
commentators.”
|
|
He
compared Scripture with itself; explaining obscure passages by
those that are clear. He soon knew the Bible thoroughly, and
particularly the New Testament. When Zwingli thus turned towards
Holy Scripture, Switzerland took its first step toward the
Reformation. Accordingly, when he explained the Scriptures,
every one felt that his teaching came from God, and not from
man.
Zwingli
did not, however, contemn the explanations of the most
celebrated doctors: in after-years he studied Origen, Ambrose,
Jerome, Augustine, and Chrysostom, but not as authorities. “I
study the doctors,” said he, “with the same end as when we
ask a friend: How do you understand this passage?” Holy
Scripture, in his opinion, was the touchstone by which to test
the holiest doctors themselves.
Zwingli’s
course was slow, but progressive. He did not arrive at the
truth, like Luther, by those storms which impel the soul to run
hastily to its harbour of refuge; he reached it by the peaceful
influence of Scripture, whose power expands gradually in the
heart.
Zwingli
was not fully converted to God and to his Gospel until the
earlier years of his residence at Zurich; yet the moment when,
in 1514 or 1515, this strong man bent the knee before God, in
prayer for the understanding of his Word, was that in which
appeared the first glimmering rays of the bright day that after
wards beamed upon him.”
[Previous
Article]
[Next
Article]
|
