than all of them. Let us not cease imploring him by earnest prayer; he will grant us an upright mind and good understanding, and lead us from evil ways into paths of righteousness. Such are the ways of the Lord. Amen.
Schwyz, beware of foreign lords, they will only cause you disgrace.
XII Petition of Certain Preachers of Switzerland to the
Most REVEREND LORD Huco, BisHoP ΟΕ CONSTANCE, THAT HE WILL NOT SUFFER HIMSELF TO BE PERSUADED TO MAKE ANY PROCLAMATION TO THE INJURY OF THE GOSPEL, NOR ENDURE LONGER THE SCANDAL OF HAR-LOTRY, BUT ALLOW THE PRIESTS TO MARRY WIVES OR AT LEAST WOULD WINK AT THEIR MARRIAGES
(Jury 2, 1522)
d the Most Reverend Father and Lord in Christ, Hugo of Hohenlandenberg, Bishop of Constance, the undersigned offer obedient greeting.
[[Suplicatio (sic) quorundam apud Helvetios euangelistarum ad R. D.]
[Hugonem episcopum Constantiesem ne se induci patiatur, ut quicquam in]
[preiudicium euangelii promulget neve scortiationis scandalum ultra ferat, sed]
[presbyteris uxores ducere permittat aut saltem ad eorum nuptias conniveat.]
[In Schuler and Schulthess ed., iiij 17-25. In Egli and Finsler ed., i., 197—]
[209 Translated by Mr. Henry Preble.]
[first was in Latin and addressed to the bishop of Constance, and the second]
[in German and addressed to the Diet. The suppliants were perfectly aware]
[that they would receive no answer. The bishop had no authority to grant]
[any such request and the Diet would surely not presume to mitigate an]
[ecclesiastical ordinance. What they hoped to effect was the creation of a]
[popular sentiment in favour of allowing the preaching of the new views, and]
[especially, for this is what they really most desired, the marriages which they]
[intended to make or had made.]
[The enforced celibacy of the clergy has always been a ground of com-]
[plaint by both clergy and laity, and the source of much immorality. But]
[the idea underlying it is noble. An ideal clergy is one wholly devoted to the]
[Church, finding in her the complete satisfaction of their intellectual and]
[spiritual nature and in her service their joy and peace. This devotion is]
[more easily obtained in the celibate state, as the Apostle Paul declares (I 150]
Petition anent the Marriage of Priests — rs: Your Excellency will perhaps wonder, Most Reverend Father, what this unusual action of writing a letter to yourself means, and not without reason. For nature has ordained that the unexpected should create not only wonder, but at times even a feeling of dumfoundedness. Yet we would have you to be entirely free and undisturbed in regard to this matter which we are laying before you. For we do not come to your Excellency in regard to anything very troublesome, but to find help. For we are so sure that you are both a most pious lord and a most loving father that there is nothing we do not promise ourselves from you. And this the fact itself shows, for we should never have ventured to write to your Fatherhood unless we had had thorough confidence in it. We desire, therefore, humbly to beg you to listen kindly to what we are going to disclose a little later, to hear it graciously, and to take it in good part. This is demanded both by the matter itself, which drives us to this appeal, and by the office which you fill as a loving father. The matter itself, to come to it at last, is this: Your Most Reverend Fatherhood knows how for a long time the heavenly teachings which God, the Creator of all things, willed to have made plain unto the poor race of men by one no way inferior to himself, by his Son, in all things his equal, have, not without the utmost loss to the cause of salvation, been lying hidden through the ignorance, not to say evil intentions, of certain persons, and how rudely, when he had determined to recall and renew those teachings in our day by a sort of second revelation, certain persons attack or defend them. For all the efforts of these defenders are aimed at putting an end to the whole conflict by the first onset, and if they fail in this they collapse utterly, but the attacking party are so shamelessly persistent in their contention that though thrown upon their backs by the boss of the shield of Holy Writ and pierced
[Cor., vii, 32). But the history of those churches whose clergy are obligated]
[to live celibate lives abundantly testifies to the impossibility of getting these]