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

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ft139 As in St. Gall and Appenzell; see Cornelius, II. 64 sq.
ft140 A. Baur, who sides altogether with Zwingli, must nevertheless admit
(II. 187) that “the majority of the Swiss Anabaptists were quiet and
honorable people of earnest character and unblemished reputation as
citizens.”
ft141 Zwingli, Opera, III. 364.
ft142 Egli (Die Zürcher Wiedertäufer, p. 93) thinks that if he consented, he
did it with reluctant heart, not, like Calvin in the case of Servetus, with
a strong sense of duty. Keller (Die Reformation, p. 407, note) asserts,
on the strength of Hübmaier, that Zwingli preached in 1525 that
Anabaptists should be beheaded “according to the imperial laws,” but
there is no proof of this, and Baur (II. 180) denies it. Comp. the
correspondence of Capito with Zwingli on the case of Manz, Opera,
VIII. 16, 30, 44. Capito of Strassburg was disturbed by the execution
of Manz, who had died so heroically, as reported (mortem obiise
magnifice, p. 16); but Zwingli assured him that the magistracy
condemned him to death reluctantly and from necessity (quam coacte
Senatus judicis partem tandem usurpavit). This is, of course,
unsatisfactory. Banishment in this case, as in that of Servetus, would
have been severe enough.
ft143 Burrage defends Hätzer against the charges of immorality (p. 200
sqq.) but Keim and Cornelius (II. 59) sustain them.
ft144 Baur, II. 173 sq. Zwingli’s letter to Capito, Jan. 1, 1526, published by
Rud. Stähelin, Briefe aus der Reformationszeit (Basel, 1887), p. 20.
ft145 l.c. II. 67 sq.
ft146 A. Baur (Zw. Theol., II. 811) says on this misunderstanding: “Luther
warf von Anfang an Zwingli mit Münzer und Karlstadt zusammen.
Kein Vorwurf und Vorurtheil gegen Zwingli ist ungerechter, aber auch
kein Vorwurf glänzender widerlegt, als dieser, und zwar eben durch
die Klarheit und Bestimmtheit, mit welcher Zwingli seine Principien
gegen die Wiedertäufer entfaltet. Im Gegentheil; die maasslose
Subjectivität die bei Münzer, Karlstadt, bei den Wiedertäufern zum
Ausbruch kommt, und die solche Willkühr bleibt, auch wenn sie sich
auf den Buchstaben der Schrift beruft, ist das vollständige Gegentheil
der Principien Zwingli’s.”
ft147 He called Zwingli “optimus vir,” in a letter to Bullinger, written nine
years later (1538).