Bucer confuted the large confession of Luther. Brentius opposed their opinions in his exposition upon the gospel of St John; and the other Lutherans persisted resolutely in the condemnation of it.

Erasmus, in 1526, passed a remarkable judgment upon the sentiments of Oecolampadius touching the eucharist, in a letter to Pirckheimerus, who had written a book on the subject against Oecolampadius. The opinion of Oeco• lampadius, says Erasmus, would not displease me, if the 'consent of the church did not hinder me from adopting it: For I discern not what good an invisible substance can do there, or how it can profit any one, if it were. discernable.' Here the good sense of Erasmus suggested to him plain and strong arguments against either transubstantiation, or the real and bodily presence: He thought miracles should be so wrought as to be seen, and that they should never be wrought in vain. Pirckheimerus rallied Erasmus for having said, that he preferred the sentiment of Oecolampadius upon the eucharist to that of others. Erasmus replied, I never said that his sentiment was the best I only said to some friends that I could adopt it, if the authority of the church had approved it; but that I • could not quit the sentiments of the church. I call the church, the consent of the body of Christian people.'

The consequence of these disputes was a division among the reformers into two considerable sects: The Lutherans, and the Zuinglians, or Sacramentarians. The Saxons continued firm to the doctrine of Luther; and that of Zuinglius was received by the Switzers, and some cities of the upper Germany.

All this time, the gospel was preached in no other of the Swiss cantons, than Zurich. The other twelve cantons, therefore, appointed among themselves a disputation to be held at Baden, at which place were assembled the famous Eckius, John Faber, Murner, &c. together with the bishops' legates of Lucern, Basil, Lausanne, &c. The points disputed were, transubstantiation, the propitiation offered in the mass, the invocation of saints, the worship of images, and purgatory. Oecolampadius, with others, disputed against these theses; but came to no other conclusion, than to refer the decision, to the authority of the next general council, when it should be convened.

A conference between the Zuinglians, Lutherans, and Papists, was held at Bern, on the seventh of January, 1528. This disputation was particularly on the proposition of the sacrament; and Oecolampadius, together with

4

Zuinglius,

Zuinglius, Bucer, Capito, Blauretus, and several other Sacramentarians, maintained it against the Papists and Lutherans. It ended in the abolition of the superstitious ceremonies of the Romish church, throughout the canton of Bern. The cities of Constance and Geneva immediately followed the example: But it was not effected in the cities of Basil and Strasburgh till 1529. Oecolampadius was married this year to the widow of Cellarius. It is remarkable, that, after the death of Oecolampadius, she was married to Wolfangus Capito: And lastly, to Martin Bucer. Erasmus laughed at Oecolampadius for his marriage; and said, He hath taken to himself a wife, a pretty girl; probably he designs to mortify the flesh. Some call Lutheranism á tragedy: I call it a comedy, where the distress ends in matrimony.' Yet he afterwards commended him as a divine.

The troubles of Germany increased, and the emperor Charles V. was obliged to call a diet at Spire, in March 1529; in the first place, to require the assistance of the princes of the empire against Solyman, who had taken Buda, and threatened to conquer all Hungary: And in the next place, to find out some way to allay the disputes about religion. The Anabaptists were not permitted to come to this diet: It was also intended to exclude the deputies of Strasburg, and the other cities, who had, contrary to the edicts of the preceding diets, abolished the mass, and other ceremonies, by their own authority. The Catholics laboured all they could to divide the Lutherans, and Sacramentarians; and had accomplished their design, if the Landgrave of Hesse had not prevented their divisions from breaking out. The Lutheran princes protested against the edict published at the diet of Spire; and, for that reason, were called PROTESTANTS. In the following year they presented to the emperor, at the diet of Augsburg, their confession of faith; and entered into a defensive league, at Smalcald, for their common security.

The article of the protestation, which concerned the doctrine of the Sacramentarians, was particularly worded, that the princes might take away the difference between the Lutherans and Zuinglians, without approving the doctrine of the Sacramentarians. Oecolampadius complained, in a letter wrote to Melancthon, that Faber, bishop of Vienna, attempted to procure the condemnation of their opinions: And he desired Melancthon to declare on his side. Melancthon answered him, that he could not approve their opinion, as he found no sufficient reason to depart

depart from the literal sense of the words. He desired Oecolampadius to consider the importance of the question in debate: And adds, it would be convenient that some good men should confer together upon that head. Oecolampadius replied to this letter of Melancthon, and yielded to the necessity of some conferences: But observed, that the persons to be appointed should be men free from passion, and not of contentious spirits; otherwise they would be unable to discover the truth, and only increase their enmity.

The Landgrave of Hesse, in pursuance of these propositions, invited Zuinglius and Luther to a friendly conference at Marpurg, in October following. Both parties were unwilling to accept the proposal: But Oecolampadius prevailed on Zuinglius, Bucer, and Hedio, to embrace it, and repair to Marpurg, where they were followed by Luther, Melancthon, Justus Jonas, Andreas Osiander, Brentius, and Agricola. Before they held their public conference, there was a private meeting between Oecolampadius and Zuinglius, Luther and Melancthon. They disagreed upon the article of the Lord's Supper, and debated it before the Landgrave himself. This conference held three days; wherein Luther kept close to the words of the institution, which he affirmed to be full and positive for the corporal manducation. Oecolampadius asserted, that they ought to be understood metaphorically, and of a spiritual presence; but affirmed, that it did not exclude the corporal. Many authorities and arguments were produced on both sides: Though neither was convinced.

Bucer endeavoured to reconcile the Lutherans and Zuinglians at the diet of Augsburg: But Oecolampadius disapproved of his articles; and his labours to procure an union were ineffectual. In 1531, a civil war broke out between the popish and protestant cantons in Switzerland, in which Zuinglius was killed. The same year the book, published by Servetus about the errors concerning the Trinity, was brought into Switzerland, where it disgusted several of the protestant divines, as it appears from a letter of Oecolampadius to Bucer, dated the fifth of August, 1531, wherein he says, "I have seen our friends of Bern, "who are very much offended with the book intitled De, "Trinitatis Erroribus. I desire you will acquaint Luther, "that this book was printed out of this country, and "without our knowledge. The author impudently af"firms, that the Lutherans do not understand the doc"trine of justification; and our church will be ill spoken

· of,

of, unless our divines make it their business to explode "him. I beseech you to make an apology for our church, "at least in your confutation inscribed to the emperor. "He wrests all the passages of the scripture, to prove "that the Son is not co-eternal and consubstantial with "the Father; and that the man Christ is the Son of God." The magistrates of Basil desired that Oecolampadius would give them his opinion concerning the book of Servetus; and the reformer made a short discourse in their presence, wherein he shewed that it was a pernicious book; but he expressed himself with great moderation. Oecolampadius also wrote two letters to Servetus about his book, wherein he confuted him in a very civil manner, and intreated him to renounce his errors. He blamed Servetus for expressing a greater esteem for Tertullian, than for all the other fathers of the church. Servetus continued an Anti-trinitarian; and some are of opinion, that the Reformation would have made a further progress, if it had not been for that sect.

After the painful sustaining (says Dr Fuller) of so many labours, at home and abroad, he returned to Basil, where he spent the remainder of his life in preaching, reading, writing, publishing, visiting the sick, and also the care of certain adjacent churches, till 1531, when it pleased God to visit him with sickness, that soon confined him to his bed, with the greatest appearance of a speedy dissolution. He sent for the pastors of the place, and welcomed them with a short, pithy oration; in which he exhorted them to remain constant and firm in the purity of the doctrine which they professed. because it was agreeable to the word of God: As to other things, he wished them to be less careful; assuring them, that the all-sufficient God would care for them, and would not be wanting to his church.

His children standing before him, he took them by their right-hand, and gently stroking their heads, he advised them to love God, who would be to them in place of a father.

A little before his death, one of his intimate friends coming to him, he asked him, "What news ?" his friend answered, None. But (said he) " I will tell thee news;" being asked, what it was? he answered, “ Brevi ero apud CHRIS"TUM DOMINUM :" I shall in a short time be with CHRIST my LORD. And laying his hand upon his breast, he said, "Here is abundance of light." In the morning before he died, he repeated the fifty-first psalm; at the end of which he added, "Salva me, Christe Jesu;" save me, O Christ

Jesus;