| Ulrich Zwingli |
| "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 2:5 |
Ulrich Zwingli (1484 - 1531) was to the Swiss Reformation
what Luther was to the German Reformation. There was substantial agreement
between Zwingli and Luther on cardinal biblical doctrines, however, they had a
sharp disagreement over the Eucharist, wherein Luther maintained the real
presence, which Zwingli opposed. As the principal leader of the reform movement
throughout Switzerland, Zwingli was influential at the Berne Conference where
the mass was abolished. Zwingli's great weakness was his attempt to intermeddle
in politics - a practice contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ - and which
caused him much unnecessary strife. On balance, though, while Ulrich Zwingli
lacked the depth of a Luther or a Calvin, he was nevertheless a powerful
preaching force and a principal instrument of the Lord Jesus Christ in leading
the people out of the darkness and slavery and superstition of Roman Catholicism
into the light of the pure and undefiled truth of scripture.
"Philosophy and divinity 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 earnestly to entreat the Lord to grant me his light,
and although I read the Scriptures only, they became clearer to me than if I had
read all the commentators." D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The
Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter III
"Are there, then, any creatures, any saints, of whom we
should beg assistance? No: Christ is our only treasure." D'Aubigne, History Of
The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter III
"A time will come, and that soon, with God's help, when
Christians will not set great store either by Saint Jerome or any other doctor,
but solely by the Word of God." D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The
Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter V
"With God's aid, I will continue to preach the Gospel, and
this preaching will make Rome totter." D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of
The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter V
"Before the fall, man had been created with a free will, so
that, had he been willing, he might have kept the law; his nature was pure; the
disease of sin had not yet reached him; his life was in his own hands. But
having desired to be as God, he died - and not he alone, but all his posterity.
Since then in Adam all men are dead, no one can recall them to life, until the
Spirit, which is God himself, raises them from the dead." D'Aubigne, History Of
The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter IX
"Christ, very man and very God, has purchased for us a
never ending redemption. For since it was the eternal God who died for us, his
passion is therefore an eternal sacrifice, and everlastingly effectual to heal;
it satisfies the Divine justice for ever in behalf of all those who rely upon it
with firm and unshaken faith." D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The
Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter IX
"Since eternal salvation proceeds solely from the merits
and death of Jesus Christ, it follows that the merit of our own works is mere
vanity and folly, not to say impiety and senseless impudence. If we could have
been saved by our own works, it would not have been necessary for Christ to die.
All who have ever come to God have come to him through the death of Jesus
Christ." D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II,
Book VIII, Chapter IX
"The Christian, delivered from the law, depends entirely on
Jesus Christ. Christ is his reason, his counsel, his righteousness, and his
whole salvation. Christ lives and acts in him. Christ alone is his leader, and
he needs no other guide." D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth
Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter IX
"Works done out of Jesus Christ are worthless." D'Aubigne,
History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter
IX
"The life of a Christian is one perpetual good work which
God begins, continues, and completes." D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of
The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter IX
"I will bear no other name than that of Christ, whose
soldier I am, and who alone is my chief. Never has one single word been written
by me to Luther, nor by Luther to me. And why? That it might be shown how much
the Spirit of God is in unison with itself, since both of us, without any
collusion, teach the same doctrine of Christ with such uniformity." D'Aubigne,
History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol II, Book VIII, Chapter
IX
"All those who maintain that the Gospel is nothing without
the confirmation of the Church, blaspheme God." D'Aubigne, History Of The
Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol III, Book XI, Chapter I
"I have preached that salvation is found in Jesus Christ
alone, and for this reason I am stigmatized throughout Switzerland as a heretic,
a seducer of the people, a rebel... Now, then, in the name of God, here I
stand!" D'Aubigne, History Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century, Vol III,
Book XI, Chapter I