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Footnotes
1. J. F. Gerhard
Goeters, (Ludwig Hatzer, Spiritualist und Antitrinitater, 1957,
p. 94), supports the hypothesis that when at Strasbourg Sattler still
had some hope of working in unity with Bucer and Capito, i.e., of winning
them and their Reformation as a whole for movement in the direction of
Anabaptism. Goeters underlines that the Strasbourg twenty articles differ
from the Schleitheim Seven Articles chiefly in that Strasbourg
recognizes no necessity for a pastoral office, while Schleitheim does.
This suggests that the final abandonment of the vision of successful conversation
with the Reformers did not come until early 1527.
2. The earliest
explicit testimony to this tradition is in a tract of Leopold Scharnschlager
which quotes article VI regarding government (ARG, 1956, p. 212).
See also H. Strieker, MGB, 21, 1964, p. 15.
3. Ian Kiwiet,
Pilgram Marpeck, Kassel, 1957, pp. 43ff.; cf. also George Huntston
Williams, The Radical Reformation, Philadelphia, 1962, p.182; cf.
below p. 48, note 33.
4. See below
pp. 126 ff.
5. "They
included the sum of what they hold which is contrary both to us and to
the papists, in Seven Articles. . ." Calvin, Brieve Instruction,
op. cit., p. 44.
Thus it was most appropriate that Calvin
should take this text as the outline of his own refutation. Zwingli likewise
considered the Seven Articles a most appropriate outline for a
refutation; immediately upon receiving the first manuscript from Berchtold
Haller of Bern he responded at length with a letter, answering point by
point, on April 28, 1527 (Z, vol. IX, letter No. 610, p. 108); again the
use of the Seven Articles in Zwingli's Elenchus is a testimony
to their representative character. It cannot be the concern of this volume
to review at length these refutations by the Reformers or the substantial
dillerences between them; we shall refer to the Zwingli and Calvin texts
only as they assist us in textual criticism.
6. Beatrice Jenny,
Das Schleitheimer Tauferbekenntnis, Thayngen, 1951, p. 39.
7. See below
especially pp. 60, 127 ff.
8. This thrust
of the position against which the Brotherly Union is directed is
evident especially in the introductory paragraphs of Michael Sattler's
cover letter. Reference to a similar concern can be seen as well in the
later tracts (below pp. 108 ff). 149,170,172).
9. Zwingli points
to the same danger in his tract of December 1524, "Wer Ursache gibt
zu Aufruhr" (Z, Ill, pp. 374 ff). A major source of social unrest,
Zwingli says, is those persons who misinterpret gospel preaching as a
loosening of sound moral requirements. This topic was later to become
one of the standing disagreements between the Anabaptists and the official
Protestantism (cf. Harold Bender, "Walking in the Resurrection,"
MQR, XXXV, April 1961, pp. 96 If.). The popularity of contextual
ethics in American Protestantism in the late 1960s is further testimony
that such a position is quite thinkable in Protestant circles.
10. Cf. below
note 39 a further reference to this theme.
11. Cf. note
5 above.
12. Note above
survey of printing, 13 f.
13. Z, VI, p.
106. His major treatise, Contra Catabaptistarum Strophas Elenchus,
"Refutation of the Catabaptists' Knaveries" (1527) was Zwingli's
final settlement with the Anabaptist issue, his only Latin writing on
the subject. In addition to the Seven Articles it also refutes
a "confutation booklet," written perhaps by Conrad Grebel and
directed specifically against Zwingli himself (Yoder, Gesprache,
pp. 91 If.). The Elenchus is available in English translation;
see below note 28.
The term catabaptist used here predominantly
by Zwingli was borrowed from Oekolampad, but did not establish itself,
being replaced progressively by anabaptist. The German prefix wider
can mean either "counter-" or "re-"; thus the appellation
widertauff can bear three or four possible meanings: (a) anti-baptism
in the sense of being practiced in opposition to the traditional infant
baptism; (b) anti-baptism in the sense of being a perversion or a parody
of the true sacrament; (c) re-baptism; (d) it might even mean "immersers"
(kata- also means "down" or under.") This would seem to
have been Oekolampad's understanding. Zwingli's usage of kata- is intended
to preserve the force of the German polyvalence of meaning, with the accent
on the sense of perversion (b above). Cf. Fritz Blanke's extensive explanatory
note, Z, VI, p. 21, note I.
14. CR,
XXXV, p. 54.
15. James M.
Stayer, whose work on this theme, "The Doctrine of the Sword in the
First Decade of Anabaptism," Cornell PhD dissertation 1964, gives
the most attention to chronological development, divides the entire treatment
into the periods "before and after the impact of Schleitheim."
Clarence Bauman, Gewaltlosigkeit 1m Tiiufertum,
Leiden, 1968, calls Schleitheim "the most important document for
the time of the founding of Anabaptism" (p. 45).
Hans J. Hillerbrand, Die Politische
Ethik des Oberdeutschen Tiiufertums, Leiden/Koln 1962, and "The
Anabaptist View of the State" (MQR, XXXIL April IQ58, pp.
83 If.), disregards the aspect of chronological development and therefore
gives more attention to later and longer texts.
16. Blaupot ten
Cate, Geschiedenis der Doopsgezlnden in Groningen, emz. 1842, L
pp. 258 If., and Hulshof, Geschiedenls van de Doopsgezinden te Straatsburg
van 1525 tot 1557, Amsterdam, 1905, p. 229. This is a part of a letter
reporting on the major Anabaptist conference in Strasbourg in 1557, one
of the major landmarks in relation between South German Anabaptists and
the Mennonites of the Netherlands. The letter was translated into Dutch
before 1587, and has been preserved only in that version.
17. Cf. above
note 2.
18. Z, VI, pp.
107-155. Translation see below, note 28.
19. UP SO.
20. The print
identified above 13 as A.
21. The print
identified above 13 as B.
22. Rudolf Wolkan,
Geschichtsbuch der Hutterischen Bruder, Vienna, 1918, p. 42.
23. Josef Beck,
Die Geschichtsbucher der Wiedertiiufer. . . ,Vienna, 1883, pp.
41 ff.
24. Lydia Muller,
Glaubenszeugntsse Oberdeutscher Taufsgesinnten, Leipzig, 1938,
p.37.
25. First printed
in MQR, XIX, No.4, October 1945, pp. 247 ff., and then in Wenger's
Doctrines of the Mennonites, Scottdale, 1952; reproduced from Wenger
by Harry Emerson Fosdick: Great Voices of the Reformation, New
York, 1952; John H. Leith, Creeds of the Churches, Garden City,
1963; and Robert L. Ferm, Readings in the History of Christian Thought,
New York, 1964, pp. 528 ff.
26. "In
this so brief, so clear, so easily retained way they rendered a service
to the Anabaptists of their day and later, for which they cannot be grateful
enough. Certainly they did what they did in all simplicity of heart, and
with no ideas of world conquest. They were driven by no other goal than
to be responsible for their church, according to God's will for her. They
had really nothing at all to do with high ideals; they rather set rules,
prescriptions and proscriptions, by means of which the church in I the
present can guide her doing and her leaving undone. Thereby they performed
a good work in the interest of a future of which they themselves could
hardly think. . They thus brought firmness and definiteness into the spiritual
movement in which they had been placed. They saved it from the danger
of becoming a chaos of unstable, confused, and confusing ideas, of floating
groups, fostered by the most varied ten- dencies, mostly contradictory,
even though [they were] mostly (not always) well- meaning people. Through
their formulation they drew the boundaries of their movement and made
it possible that an ordered fellowship, an organization, modest as it
, was, came into being. By creating such solid forms for the unique Christianity
of ;it; their brotherhood, Sattler and his fellow elders preserved it
from diffusion, helped it through the somber days of bloody persecution,
and assured it a future. Not a single trait of the 'Brotherly Union' do
we fail to find again in the later Mennonite brother- hood. Hardly a phrase
does not recur." Cramer, BRN, V. 1909, p. 593. Cramer's first
statement of the significance of Schleitheim is found in his article Mennoniten
in RPTK Vol. XII, p. 600.
Our own estimation of the significance of
the meeting was first stated independently of Cramer in Gesprache, pp.
98 f.: "That it could happen, that in the course of a meeting men
could change their opinions and come to unity, is not only a striking
rarity in the history of the Reformation; it is also the most important
event in the whole history of Anabaptism. Had it not happened, the Anabaptism
of Grebel, Blaurock, ,{Mantz, and Sattler would have died out together
with its founders. But now it has taken on a viable form and was in a
position to resist the licentiousness of the fanatics, the coercion of
Christian governments and the persuasiveness of the preachers."
A very similar judgment is made by W. Kohler:
"Not the least important significance of the Schleitheim articles
was the creation of an order for the small communities, which in their
combat against the established church could so easily disintegrate into
anarchy and fanaticism." Flugschrlften, p. 285. At the occasion of
the 1957 unveiling of a memorial to Sattler in the village church at Rottenburg,
N. van der Zijpp, then dean of European Mennonite historians, spoke: "Sattler,
like Menno Simons, was no founder but rather an organizer of the Anabaptists.
For both of them it was necessary to lead a spiritual movement, lively,
fervent, prophetic, effervescent, into the path of an organized church.
For a spiritual movement like that in Zürich in the years 1525- 1526
cannot always remain 'movement,' unless it is ready to abandon itself
to the danger of ending in the great sea of fanaticism. Sattler knew quite
clearly: the movement had to have form, and he struggled for a form which
would at the same time set boundaries and yet preserve freedom. He chose
as his slogan' the fence of Holy Scripture,' just as Menno Simons later
emphasized the value of the letter of Holy Scripture. That, perhaps, contains
also a danger. But where is the gospel of Jesus Christ perfectly safe
among us earthly men?
"The deed of Sattler, like the later
one of Menno Simons, set the Anabaptist movement on a solid rock, yea,
it saved the church." (Das Evangelium von Jesus Christus in der Welt:Vortrage
und Verhandlungen der Sechsten Mennonitischen Weltkonferenz, Karlsruhe,
1958, p. 340).
27. Friedmann,
op clt., "The Schleitheim Confession. . ." p. 82 If. Wenger,
op clt., "The Schleitheim Confession of Faith" p, 243 ff. Fritz
Blanke, "Beobachtungen zorn Altesten Tiiuferbekenntnis," ARG,
XXXVII, 1940, pp, 242 If. ME, Vol. I, p. 447.
Heinrich Bohmer, Urkunden zur Geschichte
des Bauemkrieges und der Wiedertaufer, De Gruyter, Berlin, 1933, pp, 25
If.
28. Samuel Macauley
Jackson, who translated Zwingli's Elenchus in his Selected Works of Huldreich
Zwingli (Philadelphia and New York, 1001) pp. 123-258, thereby also translated
the Seven Articles into English at secondhand. Jackson was ignorant
of the existence of the German original and of the document's historical
importance. He referred to the text only as "the confession of the
Bernese Baptists." This was probably the first English translation
of the text, since Calvin's "A Short Instruction. . ," published
in London in 1549, included only snatches from the Schleitheim text. W,
J. McGlothlin, who was more aware than Jackson of the significance of
the German original, but was still unaware of the existence of several
printings in the six- teenth century,reproduced the "Bernese Baptist"
translation as Jackson had lifted it from the Elenchus, in his
Baptist Confessions of Faith, Philadelphia, 1911, pp. 3 If.,from
where it was taken by Wm. Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions, 1959, 22
ff. The translation by Wenger (see above note 25), which did the most
to make American scholars aware of the significance of Schleitheim, is
the only modern one before the present re-edition.
29. Pierre Widmer
and John Yoder, "Princlpes et Doctrines Mennonites," Brussels
and Montbeliard, 1955, pp. 49-55.
30. Heinold Fast,
Der linke Flugel der Reformation; Klassiker des Protestantismus, Band
IV; Sammlung Dietrich, Bremen, 1962, pp. 60 If. Fast has also prepared
the definitive re-edition of the original text, soon to appear in Band
II (Ost-Schweiz) of Quellen zur Geschichte der Taufer in der Schweiz,
Zwingli-Verlag, Zürich, editors L.von Muralt and H. Fast.
31. A most significant
concept in the thought of Michael Sattler is that of Vereinigung, which,
according to the context, must be translated in many different ways, In
the title we render it "Union"; here in the salutation it can
most naturally be translated "reconciliation" or "atonement";
later in the text, in the passive participle form, it will mean "to
be brought to unity," Thus the same word can be used for the reconciling
work of Jesus Christ, for the procedure whereby brothers come to a common
mind, for the state of agreement in which they find themselves, and for
the document which states the agreement to which they have come, Fast
suggest that here, in connection with "the blood of Christ,"
the meaning might be "fellowship"; cf: 1 Cor,10:16.
32. Or, literally,
"ordered"; the rendering of J. C, Wenger, "scattered everywhere
as it has been ordained of God our Father," is a good paraphrase
if "ordained" may be understood without sacramental or predestinarian
connotations.
33. This term
"aliens" or "foreigners" was interpreted by Cramer
BRN, 605, note 1, in a geographic or political sense, as referring to
non-Swiss. Kiwiet, op. clt., p. 44,takes for granted the same meaning
and says more sharply that the Swiss Anabaptists broke communion with
the German ones. This understanding is impossible for several reasons:
There was no such strong sense of national
identity, divided on clear geographic lines, in the 1520s; Sattler and
Reublin, leaders in the meeting, were not Swiss;
The libertines whom Schleitheim had in mind,
although Denck (or Bucer) might have been included, were (if Anabaptist)
surely mostly Swiss; namely, the enthusiasts of St. Gall (H.Fast "Die
Sonderstellung der Taufer in St. Gallen and Appenzell, "Zwlngllana
XI, 1960, pp. 223ff.), and Ludwig Hatzer.
This term has a quite different reference;
it is an allusion to Eph. 2:12 and 19, testifying to the reconciling effect
of the gospel on men who previously had been alienated by unbelief.
34. "Direct"
and "teach" have as their object "the same," i.e.,
the "work of God partially begun in us." Wenger's paraphrase,
"direct the same and teach [us)" is smoother but weakens the
striking image of a "work of God" within man which can be "partially
begun," "cast down," "directed," and "taught."
There is, however, ground for Bohmer's conjecture that the original may
have read keren (guide) rather than leren (teach).
35. The "Langer
Randen" and the "Hoher Randell' are hills overlooking Schleitheim
and not, as a modem reader might think, a reference to the fact that Schleitheim
is near the (contemporary, political) border.
The original reads "Schlaten am Randen."
A good half-dozen villages in southern Germany bear the names Schlat,
Schlatt, or Schlatten. One, near Engen in Baden, also is identified as
"am Randen," and until recently was held by some to have been
the place of origin of the Seven Articles. The evidence, now generally
accepted, for Schleitheim near Schaffhausen, is easily surveyed:
J. J. Riiger, a Schaffhausen chronicler,
writing around 1594, identifies Schleitheim with the Seven Articles;
In the local dialect, the equivalent of ei in modem German is long a as
in Schlaten, whereas the other villages Schlatten or Schlat have a short
a; Being subject to overlapping jurisdictions and therefore hard to police,
the Klettgau, and Schleitheim on its edge, were relatively safe and accessible
for Anabaptists and thus a most fitting meeting place linking the major
centers in southwest Germany and northeast Switzerland. This was the first
area where Sattler's colleague W. Reublin had been active after his expulsion
from Zürich early in 1525. This juridical situation continued through
the century; Anabaptism was still alive in the Kiihtal above Schleitheim
as late as Riiger's writing. Prof. F. Blanke reviews the question of place
in Z, VI, pp. 104 f.; cf. also Werner Pletscher, "Wo Entstand das
Bekenntnis von 1527?" MGB, V, 1940, pp. 20 f.
36. According
to Bohmer, one line of print was misplaced in imprint A. The text seems
to say literally, "we were assembled in points and articles."
The verb here is again "verelnlgt." Wenger's translation, "we
are of one mind to abide in the Lord" is the best paraphrase but
sacrifices the passive verbal construction which is important to the writer.
The "points and articles" may well have stood elsewhere in the
sentence in the original text: "we have been united in points and
articles" or "to stand fast in the Lord in these points and
articles."
37. Beginning
with the parenthesis "(the praise and glory be to God alone),"
the closing phrases of this paragraph refer not simply to a common determination
to be faithful to the Lord, but much more specifically to the actual Schleitheim
experience and the sense of unity (Verelnlgung) which the members had
come to in the course of the meeting. "Without contradiction of all
the brothers" is the formal description and "completely at peace"
is the subjective definition of this sense of Holy Spirit guidance. Zwingli
considered the very report that "we have come together" to be
the proof of the culpable, sectarian, conspiratorial character of Anabaptism
(Elenchus, Z, VI, p. 56).
38. 1 Cor. 14:33.
39. Ds. H. W.
Meihuizen has recently asked with great thoroughness "Who were the
'False Brethren' mentioned in the Schleitheim Articles?" (op. clt.,
pp. 200 ff.). Meihui- zen's method is to survey the entire Reformation
scene, Anabaptists of all shadings as well as Reformers, especially those
at Strasbourg whom Sattler had recently left. Comparing the known theological
positions of these men with the Schleitheim state- ments, Meihuizen concludes
that Schleitheim must have been aimed against Denck, Hubmaier, Hut, Hiitzer,
Bucer, and Capito. One can agree with this description of the positions
in question, without being convinced that the meeting was this clearly
directed against a few particular men who were specifically not invited.
If anyone person was meant, it would most likely be Hiitzer, whom Sattler
had just been with in Strasbourg, and who was the only one of these who
could be accused of libertinistic leanings. For present purposes, i.e.,
in order to understand the meaning of this document, it suffices to be
clear from the internal evidence (in agreement with Mei-huizen):
That some persons previously attached to
some of the positions condemned were present at Schleitheim in order to
be participants in the event of "being brought to unity"; the
"false brothers" referred to by the cover letter were therefore
not only state-church Reformers but at least some of them were within
Anabaptism;
That the greatest emphasis in the Seven
Articles themselves falls on those points of ultimate theological
separateness from the Reformed: baptism, relation between ban and the
supper, sword, oath. Here the list is so parallel to the document from
Strasbourg that one surmises that Sattler may have been developing his
outline already when he was at Strasbourg; That in the juxtaposition of
the cover letter and the Seven Articles, Sattler affirms an inner
linkage between the positions of the marginal Anabaptists and Spiritualists
who differed from the Zürich-Schleitheim stream, and those of the
evangelical Reformers.
40. H. W. Meihuizen
reads the phrase "to their own condemnation" as meaning that
the Schleitheim assembly took action to excommunicate the libertines whom
the text here refers to. "The Concept of Restitution in the Anabaptism
of Northwestern Europe," MQR, Vol. XLIV, April 1970, p. 149.
This is not possible. The verb ergeben refers to the libertines' abandoning
themselves to lasciviousness, not to the Anabaptists' action. In order
to enable this interpretation Meihuizen must omit the parentheses which
are in the original.
41. "Glieder"
(members) has in German only the meaning related to the image of the body;
the overtone of "membership" in a group, which makes the phrase
"members of God" unusual in modern English, is not present in
the original.
42. Gal. 5:24.
43. The use of
the first person singular here is the demonstration that the introductory
letter was written, probably after the meeting, by an individual.
44. This is the
conclusion of the introductory letter and of the epistolary style. The
"cover letter" is not in the Bern manuscript, and the Seven
Articles probably circulated most often without it.
45. With one exception, every article begins
with the same use of the word Vereinigt as a passive participle,
which we have rendered thus literally as a reminder of the meaning of
Vereinigung for Sattler.
46. Here the
printed version identifies the following Scripture texts (giving chapter
number only): Mt. 28:19; Mk. 16:6; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:36; Acts 16:31-33;
19:4.
47. Nachwandeln,
to walk after, is the nearest approximation in the Schleitheim text to
the concept of discipleship (Nachfolge) which was later to become especially
current among Anabaptists.
48. Two interpretations
of this phrase are possible. "To be inadvertently overtaken"
might be a description of falling into sin, parallel to the earlier phrase
"somehow slip and fall." This would mean that sin is for the
Christian disciple partly a matter of ignorance or inattention. Cramer,
BRN, p. 607, note 2, and Jenny, p. 55, seek to explain that all sin is
somehow inadvertent; i.e., that at the time of a sinful decision one is
deceived and not fully aware of its gravity. Calvin (with some grounds
in the phrasing of the French translation) misunderstood this text to
mean that the Anabaptists would distinguish between forgivable and unforgivable
sins, with only the inadvertent ones being within the scope of the congregation's
reconciling concern. Or the reference may be to the way the guilty person
was discovered.
49. The printed
version inserts "or banned."
5O. This reference
to Mt. 18 is the only Scripture reference in the earliest hand- written
text. "Rule of Christ" or "Command of Christ" is a
standard designation for this text, Cf, J. Yoder: "Binding and Loosing,"
Concern 14, Scottdale, 1967, esp. pp. 15 If, Other Scripture allusions
identified in the footnotes are not labeled in the text, This abundant
citation of scriptural language without being concerend to indicate the
source of quotation is an indication of the fluency with which Anabaptists
thought in biblical vocabulary; it is probably also an indication that
they thought of those texts as expressing a meaningful truth rather than
as "proof texts."
51. At this point
Walter Kohler, the editor of the printed version, suggests the text Mt.
5:23. If "the ordering of the spirit" relates specifically to
"before the break- ing of bread" and means to point to a Scripture
text, this could be a likely one; or 1 Cor. 11 could also possibly be
alluded to; but "ordering of the spirit" is not the usual way
in which the Anabaptists refer to a Bible quotation, The phrase can also
mean a call for a personal and flexible attitude, guided by the Holy Spirit,
in the application of the concern for reconciliation.
52. This is the
one point at which the word Vereinigt is not used at the beginning
of an article, presumably because it occurs later in the same sentence.
53. Vereinigt:
here the word has none of the meanings detailed above, but points to still
another; to the work of God in constituting the unity of the Christian
Church.
54. 1 Cor. 10:21,
Some texts have here "Saint Paul."
55. Most ecumenical
debate about the validity of sacraments focuses upon either the sacramental
status of the officiant or the doctrinal understanding of the meaning
of the emblems, It should be pointed out that the Anabaptist understanding
of close clmmunion refers not to the sacrament but to the participants,
It is invalidated not by an unauthorized officiant or an insufficient
concept of sacrament, but by the absence of real community among those
present.
56. Note the
shift from "world" to "they." "The world"
is not discussed in- dependently of the people constituting the unregenerate
order.
57. 2 Cor.6:17.
58. Rev, 18:4
If. Some texts read "which the Lord intends to bring upon them."
59. Vereinigt.
60. The printed
version adds "and flee."
61. The prefix
wider can mean either "counter" or "re-" (modern wieder-),
Both meanings of course apply to the Reformation churches of Strasbourg
and the Swiss cities, which are meant here; they are both anti-popish
(having broken with the Roman communion) and re-popish (having retained
or reinstated certain characteristics of Catholicism), Earlier translations
have chosen the rendering "papist and anti-papist," but the
other reading carries a greater pointedness of meaning, and is supported
by Zwingli's translation. Thus the claim that the new Protestant churches
are at some points copies of what was wrong with Catholicism is already
taken for granted in early 1527.
62. Gazendienst.
The Bern manuscript and the early prints read Gottesdienst ("worship");
but Zwingli, who had other manuscripts as well, translated "idolatry."
Since the next two words both deal with church attendance, "idolatry"
is less redundant. "Idolatry" was a current designation in the
whole Zwinglian movement for the place of statues and pictures in Catholic
worship.
63. Ktlchgang,
literally meaning church attendance, has no congregational dimension to
it but refers to the conformity to established patterns of those who,
while perhaps sympathizing with the Anabaptists, still avoided any public
reproach by regularly being seen at the state church functions.
64. The Bern
manuscript reads Burgschaft, i.e., a guarantee or security supporting
a promise, and belongs in the economic and social realm. If "unbelief"
here refers to a lack of sincerity, then the "guarantees and commitments
of 'unbelief' would mean such matters as signing notes and mortgages and
affidavits in less than good faith. Martin Luther held strongly that such
guarantees, even in good faith, were not only unwise but immoral since
the guarantor puts himself in the place of God. ("On Trading and
Usury, 1524," in Works of Martin Luther, Muhlenburg, Philadelphia,
1001, Vol. IV, pp. 9 If.). His argument is thus very parallel to that
of the Anabaptists on the oath. A more likely view is that "unbelief'
is synonymous with "worldly," and the reference is rather to
guilds and social clubs. Zwingli translates with foedera, "covenants."
Bullinger bears out this interpretation by reprimanding the Anabaptists
at length (Von dem unverschampten Frafel. . . , pp. cxxi to cxxviii) for
their opposition to associations and societies (pundtnussen und gselschafften),
concord and friendship(vertrag unnd fruntschafft) with unbelievers, and
seemly temporal joy (zymliche zytliche froud). The later printed text
changed Burgschaft to Burgerschaft (citizenship), which
is less in place in Art. IV. In April 1527 Zwingli was unsure what it
meant but leaned toward "serving as a guarantor" (Z, IX, p.
112); by August when he wrote the Elenchus he interpreted it as
"citizenship," perhaps as referring to the Anabaptists' refusal
to perform the citizen's oath. But if Burgerschaft should mean citizenship,
the "commitments of unbelief' still must mean some kind of involvement,
legal, economic, or social, with unbelievers (Z, VI, p. 121). Lk. 16:15's
reference to "abominations" may be alluded to.
65. The printed
version adds" doubtless."
66. The printed
version reads "unchristian and."
67. Mt. 5:39.
68. 1 Tim. 3:7.
Interpreters are not clear where the focus of Art. V lies. Its first thrust
is a call for the shepherd to be a morally worthy person, i.e., a critique
of the practice of his being appointed on the grounds of his education
or social connections without regard to moral stature. Zwingli's translation
moves the accent by translating "the shepherd should be one from
the congregation," i.e., not someone from elsewhere. As Zwingli knew,
the Anabaptists also rejected the naming of a minister to a parish by
a distant city council, and he let that knowledge influence his translation.
69. The printed
version adds, "to lead the brothers and sisters in prayer, to begin
to break bread. . . ."
70.1 Cor. 9:14.
71. The change
in number here from "a shepherd" to "if they sin"
is explained by the fact that this sentence is a quotation from 1 Tim.
5:20.
72. "Cross"
is already by this time a very clear cliche or "technical term"
designating martyrdom.
73. Perhaps "installed"
would be less open to the sacramental misunderstanding. Verordnet has
no sacramental meaning.
74. "Law"
here is a specific reference to the Old Testament. Significantly the verb
here is not verordnet but merely geordnet; conveying even less of a sense
of permanence or of specific divine institution. It should be noted that
in this entire discussion "sword" refers to the judicial and
police powers of the state; there is no reference to war in Art. VI; there
had been a brief one in IV.
75. "Without
the death of the flesh" is the clear reading of the earliest manuscript.
Zwingli, however, understood it "toward the putting to death of the
flesh," a possible allusion to 1Cor. 5; the dillerence in the original
in only between a and o.
76. Mt. 11:29.
77. In. 8:11.
78. Jn. 8:22.
79. Ltc:. 12:13.
8O. Two interpretations
are possible for "did not discern the ordering of His Father."
This may mean that Jesus did not respect, as being an obligation for Him,
the service in the state in the office of king, even though the existence
of the state is a divine ordinance. More likely would be the interpretation
that Jesus did not evaluate the action of the people wanting to make Him
king as having been brought about (ordered) by His Father.
81. Mt. 16:24.
82. Mt. 20:25.
83. Rom. 8:30.
84. 1 Pet. 2:21.
85. Phil. 3:20.
86. Here the
printed version adds Mt. 12:25: "For every kingdom divided against
itself will be destroyed." The reference to solidarity with Christ
as Head echoes directly points 4 ff. of the Strasbourg letter.
87. Mt. 12:25.
88. Mt. 5:34-37.
89. Heb. 6:7
ff.
90. Mt. 5:35.
91. Zwingli's
translation fills in the argument here: "if it is bad to swear, or
even to use the Lord's name to confirm the truth, then the apostles Peter
and Paul sinned: for they swore."
92. Lk. 2:34.
93. The difference
in tense between "taught" and "says" is in the original;
it results from the fact that Scripture references are always given in
the present: "Christ says," "Paul says," "Peter
says."
94. This concludes
the Seven Articles.
95. Vereinigt.
96. A second
reference to 2 Cor. 6: 17.
97. Tit. 2:11-14.
98.24 February.
99. This document
has no title; the title chosen here reflects the label given it in the
(modern) table of contents of the volume of archival materials UP 80 in
the State Archive of Bern. No earlier full translation into English has
been published; the text has been digested by Delbert Gratz, Bernese Anabaptists,
Scottdale, 1953, p. 25, and by Robert Friedmann, MQR, 1955, p.
162. Jean Seguy published a translation and commentary in Christ Seul
(journal of the French Mennonites) No.1 (p. 13) and No.2 (p. 5), 1967.
The text seems to be in the same hand as the copy of the Seven Articles,
so that it may be assumed to have circulated together with them and been
seized at the same time. (Cf. p. 32.)
100. May mean
either: "in the providence of God the Word is preached to us,"
whereby "Ordnung" would refer to the workings of God in bringing
about Reformation and gospel preaching; or "the Word of God is preached
according to the divine pattern," with the emphasis on the rediscovery
of the true divinely willed church order. The following "whereby"
may accordingly refer either to the preaching or to the proper ordering.
101. 1 In. 2:8.
102. Sich "ben:
perhaps includes an element of rote learning of gospel narrative and teaching,
since literacy and the possession of Bibles was still rare.
103. "Read"
includes exposition. "Readings" had been one of the earliest
names given to the study meetings held in Zürich and St. Gall prior
to the foundation of Anabaptist congregations.
104. "The
one to whom God has given the best understanding shall explain it"
may mean that, for every particular passage, whoever understands its meaning
should speak up. Then we would have a picture of a meeting with no settled
leadership, with no controlling role for the "shepherd" who
was called for by Schleitheim Article V. Then one might infer, as does
Jean Seguy, that this text testifies to a time before the Schleitheim
decisions, when congregations functioned without a named leader. It is,
however, also possible that "the one to whom God has given the best
understanding" may be a circumlocution for a spontaneously recognized
leader in the local group.
105. This "reading"
may well be rote recitation. This reference to the Psalter is one of the
very rare early Anabaptist references to non-congregational devotional
exercises. It may be a further trace (see above p. 23, note 19) of an
inheritance from monasticism.
106. 1 Tim. 2:8.
107. Mt. 18:
IS, cf. above note so.
108. The common
fund is seen here as a special purse for specific needs, not as a total
communism of consumption such as was established not much later in Moravia.
It is significant that the non-Hutterian Anabaptists also considered themselves
to be following the economic example of the early Jerusalem Christians.
109. Rom. 14:17.
The assumption that the congregation would frequently gather around a
simple meal may be linked to their avoidance of social clubs and guilds
(above p. 38, Art. IV.)
110. The Lord's
Supper, specifically identified as such, is evidently distinguished from
the rest of the meal, even though both were practiced as often as the
brothers met. (Cf. Art. 1).
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