Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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young preachers, Comander, Gallicius, Blasius, Pontisella, Fabricius, and
Hartmann. Sebastian Hofmeister of Schaffhausen was present as a listener,
and wrote an account of the speeches. f221
Comander composed for the occasion eighteen theses,—an abridgment of
the sixty-seven conclusions of Zwingli. The first thesis was: “The Christian
Church is born of the Word of God and should abide in it, and not listen to
the voice of a stranger” (John 10:4, 5). He defended this proposition with a
wealth of biblical arguments which the champions of Rome were not able
to refute. There was also some debate about the rock-passage in Matt.
16:18, the mass, purgatory, and sacerdotal celibacy. The Catholics brought
the disputation to an abrupt close.
In the summer of the same year (June 26, 1526), the Diet of Ilanz
proclaimed religious freedom, or the right of all persons in the Grisons, of
both sexes, and of whatever condition or rank, to choose between the
Catholic and the Reformed religion. Heretics, who after due admonition
adhered to their error, were excluded and subjected to banishment (but not
to death). This remarkable statute was in advance of the intolerance of the
times, and forms the charter of religious freedom in the Grisons. f222
The Diet of Ilanz ordered the ministers to preach nothing but what they
could prove from the Scriptures, and to give themselves diligently to the
study of the same. The political authority of the bishop of Coire was
curtailed, appeals to him from the civil jurisdiction were forbidden, and the
parishes were empowered to elect and to dismiss their own priests or
pastors. f223
Thus the episcopal monarchy was abolished and congregational
independency introduced, but without the distinction made by the English
and American Congregationalists between the church proper, or the body
of converted believers, and the congregation of hearers or mere nominal
Christians.
This legislation was brought about by the aid of liberal Catholic laymen,
such as John Travers and John Guler, who at that time had not yet joined
the Reformed party. The strict Catholics were dissatisfied, but had to
submit. In 1553 the Pope sent a delegate to Coire and demanded the
introduction of the Inquisition; but Comander, Bullinger, and the French
ambassador defeated the attempt.