The Latin Works of
Huldreich Zwi
Translated for the late
Samuel Macauley Jackson and Published under the Auspices of the
American Society of Church History
Volume Three
Edited, with Notes, by
Clarence Nevin Heller
With Introductions by
George Warren Richards and a Preface by
William Walker Rockwell
Philadelphia The Heidelberg Press
Copyright, 1929 BY THE
American Society of Church History
HE earliest truly comprehensive treatise on Protestant theology is here presented in English for the first time. To be sure, Melanchthon’s famous Loci Theologici of 1521 antedates by four years Zwingli’s De Vera et Falsa Religione, but it does not deal with the full-orbed Protestant faith, emphasizing rather special points then in controversy. A venerated teacher of mine, the late Professor Wilhelm Herrmann of Marburg, once declared that he could predict most of the arguments that would be employed in a new book on systematic divinity by merely analyzing the sequence of topics in its table of contents. By this test, Melanchthon is seen to have been influenced by the sequence used by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans;1 whereas Zwingli presents an original and far more comprehensive plan of arrangement2 and, therefore, justifies the claim that among Protestant system-builders he is the pioneer.
Zwingli’s reply to his critic, Jerome Emser, which is called for short the Antibolon (1524), also finds a place in this present volume, for Zwingli quotes it frequently and at length in his True and False Religion.
The Latin text here followed is that of the third volume of the critical edition : Huldreich Zwinglis Samtliche Werke unter Mitwirkung des Zwingli-V ereins in Zurich herausgegeben von Emil Egli, Georg Finsler und Walther Kohler (Leipzig, 1914). Since the Great War the publication of this series has been resumed by the firm of Heinsius in Leipzig.
Translations of both these treatises were prepared nearly a generation ago for the late Professor Samuel Macauley Jackson,
’See Philippi Melanthonis Opera quae Supersunt Omnia, ed. H. E. Bindseil, vol. XXI (Brunsvigae, 1854) p. 82, also p. 74.
’Egli, Finsler and Kohler, III, 912.
D.D., LL.D., of New York University. The True and False Religion was translated by Henry Preble, Esq., of New York, a classical philologian. To make his version conform more closely to the dialect of theologians, it was later reviewed by the Reverend Charles Tupper Baillie, B.D., now pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Bloomington, Illinois. The Reply to Emser was translated by Professor George William Gilmore, M.A., of New York. Both translations have now been carefully revised and annotated by Clarence Nevin Heller, Litt.D., Librarian of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in the United States at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
At the suggestion of several members of the American Society of Church History, each tract is preceded by an historical, analytical, and interpretative introduction prepared by the Reverend George W. Richards, D.D., LL.D., D.Th., President and Professor of Church History in the Seminary at Lancaster. Dr. Richards has used certain material from the German prefaces in the Egli and Finsler edition, as specifically authorized in a letter of its editors printed in facsimile in the first volume of the present series. It is hoped that these introductions will enable students to understand Zwingli more readily and will win fresh appreciation of his importance in the evolution of Protestant thought.
The present volume is the third of a series of five or six projected by Dr. Jackson, author of the well-known biography of Zwingli (1901). In a circular signed on March 29, 1912, a few months before his death, Dr. Jackson directed that “in case his own editorial labors should be interfered with by invalidism or death, the work will be brought to completion under the supervision of the American Society of Church History and under the immediate direction of the Secretary of this Society, the Rev. Professor William Walker Rockwell.” The Society duly accepted this project, but had no money to appropriate for the purpose.
As stated in the Preface to Volume II, the Reverend James I. Good, D.D., was for many years most active in making financial preparations to insure publication. Since Dr. Good’s death, which occurred at Philadelphia on January 21, 1924, there has been reprinted from the Papers of the American Soci-
PREFACE ety of Church History (second series, volume VIII, 1928) the memorial address by Dr. Richards, which appraises his services to the cause of church history in the United States.
Dr. Good was chairman of a committee appointed by the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States on the publication of the Latin works of Zwingli in translation. The first volume appeared in 1912 ; the second in 1922. Some of the funds which make possible the publication of the present volume were procured from private individuals and some by appropriations of denominations belonging to the Western Section of the Alliance of Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian System (see volume II, page vi).
After Dr. Good’s death, Dr. George W. Richards, of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in the United States at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served as chairman of the committee. The funds held by Dr. Good were paid to him by the administrator of the estate. To supplement that money, the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States, meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1926, appropriated six hundred dollars for the publication of the present volume.
The projected fourth volume will contain Zwingli’s writings on the Eucharist, to be edited by Professor Robert Hastings Nichols, Ph.D., D.D., of the Auburn Theological Seminary. In the opinion of the undersigned, it is not fair to Dr. Nichols to ask him actually to begin the arduous labor of revising and editing Mr. Preble’s translations until money is raised to guarantee their publication As Eucharistic doctrines held a central place in sixteenth century discussions, the fourth volume— an important aid to understanding the Protestant Reformation— will be a large one.
To complete the publication of the Latin Works will require a fifth volume. The slow progress of the critical edition of Egli, Finsler and Kohler makes it difficult to give as yet a list of all that it should include. Many parts of it are on hand in Mr. Preble’s translations.
The extensive and valuable correspondence of Zwingli has also been translated on the basis of the old edition of Schuler and Schulthess. This should be revised in accordance with the critical text of Egli, Finsler, and Kohler and printed, probably
PREFACE as a sixth and concluding volume.
May the public-spirited labors of Drs. Jackson, Good, and Richards be rewarded before long by the completion of the project of making available in English, the language spoken by the largest linguistic group of Protestants, the Latin works of a valiant Protestant pioneer.
William Walker Rockwell.
New York, April 27, 1929.
Preface, by William Walker Rockwell iii
1. Commentary on True and False Religion
Introduction, by George Warren Richards … 1
Translation
Address to Francis I 43
To the Reader 54
The Word “Religion” 56
Between whom Religion Subsists 58
Religion 87
The Christian Religion r 98
The Gospel 118
Repentance 131
The Law 137
The Sin Against the Holy Ghost 153
The Keys 157
The Church. I 176
The Church. II. (Reply to Emser ) 366
The Sacraments 179
Marriage. I 184
Baptism 185
The Eucharist 197
Confession 253
The other Sacraments 256
Marriage. II 257
Invocation of Saints 267
Prayer 279
Purgatory 283
Magisterial Office 293
Offence 318
Statues and Images 330
Epilogue 337
II. Reply to Emser
Introduction, by George Warren Richards 344
Translation
Address to Emser 360
The Church 366
The Intercession of Saints 382
The Mass 392
Purgatory 394
The Works of Huldreich Zwingli
Commentary on True and False Religion