Early Fathers of the Reformed Church Prepared for Trinity Covenant Church, RCUS Colorado Springs, CO
Ulrich Zwingli 1484-1531	1. Zwingli was born at Wildhaus in the Alps and was reared as a shepherd, but his father saw his possibilities, so at 9 he was sent to his uncle in Wesen to go to school. After one year he was sent to Basle, and then at 13 to Bern, where he learned the new learning of humanism and received a classical education. From there he went to Vienna to study philosophy. To young to enter the priesthood, he returned to Basle, where he met Thomas Wyttenbach, who encourage him to study Greek. “The time is not far distant when the scholastic theology will be swept away, and the old doctrine of the Church established in its room on the foundation of God’s Word. Absolution is a Romish cheat, the death of Christ is the only payment for our sins.” 2. First pastorate: Glarus, 1506. He was appalled when young men went away to fight for the French and for Rome, either dying or returning debauched. He went as a chaplain to Rome, seeing the corruption first hand. He also found an old liturgy in a church near Glarus, where communion was served in both kinds. 3. The study of Greek enabled him to read the New Testament. In 1516 Erasmus published his New Testament. For the first time, he had the bible itself to read. He learned whole epistles of Paul by heart in the Greek. 4. 1516: Second Pastorate: Einsiedeln, and the Abbey of the Black Virgin. He preached to the pilgrims that “Christ is the ransom for sin. Not the Virgin Mary can forgive sin, but Jesus Christ.” Thousands heard in astonishment and went home saying, “Christ alone saves and he saves everywhere.” 5. Indulgences. Zwingli opposed their sale in 1518, saying, “Can your gifts save you? No, Jesus is the only sacrifice, the only gift, the only way.” 6. 1518, Zurich, beginning to preach on New Years Day, 1519, preaching through the Gospel of Matthew. The strain was too great and he broke down, going away to the baths to recover, but returning when the Black Death came to Zurich. He almost died of the plague himself, but recovered, greatly deepened in his faith and consecration to God. 7. The early reformation: a. First idea was to reform the Catholic Church. This not being possible, they broke from that church, but the name Reformers stuck. b. Zwingli’s 67 theses. 1523. The council of Zurich ordered that nothing except what was founded on the Bible should be taught in the churches. Images were cast out of the churches. Zwingli married Anna Reinhard, 1524. In 1525, the Lord’s Supper was served in both kinds. c. Oecolampadius, Zwingli’s co-worker, took the Reformation to Basle. At great conference was held at Berne in 1528, resulting in a great triumph for Berthold Haller and the Reformation. A priest was converted during the preaching of Zwingli at this conference. d. Langrave Philip of Hesse and the Marburg Conference. Luther rejected the hand of Zwingli and the Reformed Churches were destined to be separated from the Lutherans over the Lord’s Supper. 8. 1531. The Second Cappel War. Zwingli went as a chaplain and was slain by a stone. He died under a pear tree. The Papist soldiers burned his body and mixed the ashes with those of swine. He died a martyr, one of the four great first reformers: Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, Oecolampadius. Workers are mortal; God’s Work is Immortal
Henry Bullinger 1504-1575	1. He was miraculously preserved as a boy. Once he was presumed dead of the plague but revived at his funeral, to the astonishment, fear, and joy of all. 2. At 12 he was sent to Emmerich in Germany to study under the Brethren of the Common Life. He studied Latin and sang in the streets like Luther to earn his way. At 15 he went to Cologne to study for the priesthood. He read the fathers and then Luther, and thence to the New Testament. In 1522 he gave up the idea of the priesthood, for he had become a Protestant. He went home to Switzerland and began to teach at the Protestant school at Cappel. 3. 1529 he was called to assist his aged father, pastor of Bremgarten. In 1531 the war drove both to Zurich, where everything was in confusion because of the death of Zwingli. Zurich asked Oecolampadius to come, but meanwhile asked Bullinger to preach. He astonished everyone. When Oecolampadius declined, they called Bullinger. His preaching routed the Romanists who hoped to get advantage at the death of Zwingli. He cared for the wife and family of Zwingli and for refugees from persecution throughout Europe. He started an English theological seminary. He received a goblet from Queen Elizabeth for his service to the English refugees. 4. Bullinger was the author of the Second Helvetic Confession, which Frederick III of the Palatinate incorporated into his will. He was the first Reformed who developed a coherent covenant theology. He differed with Calvin on the Sabbath and it was his view that the Puritans adopted and is the view of the Westminster Confession. Bullinger thought that Sunday was the Sabbath and ought to be observed in the same way that Israel observed the Sabbath. Calvin’s view prevailed in the Heidelberg Catechism. Today the differences are called the Puritan Sabbath and the Continental Sabbath. 5. His great contribution was, along with Calvin, uniting the Northern Swiss Reformed Church with the Southern German Reformed Church in the Zurich [Tigurine] Confession in 1549. 6. Zwingli was the founder of the Reformed Church; Bullinger its preserver; Calvin its organizer.
John Calvin 1509-1564	1. Born at Noyon in Northern France. He studied at Paris and Bourges in France. A man name Wolmar led him to Christ at Bourges, according to J. I. Good. Le Franc claims that Calvin’s parents were Protestants and that he was a Protestant before he went to study at these universities. 2. Pastored the rapidly increasing Reformed Church of Paris, but was forced to flee when Nicolas Cop, the new rector of the University of Paris, gave a lecture prepared by Calvin. Lived as a fugitive for two years. Stayed for a while with his friend du Tillet. 3. With a few Reformed, he observed Protestant communion in a cave; stilled called “Calvin’s Cave.” They pledged with each other to go out and save France for Protestantism. It was not to be, but many of them died as martyrs. He returned to Paris, again had to flee. While on the road to Strassburg he was robbed of everything. He then went to Basle and wrote the first edition of the immortal Institutes, the finest doctrinal work in the history of the church. He was 27. He went to Italy and witnessed under the Pope’s nose. But again he had to flee, and crossed the St. Bernard’s pass into Switzerland. At Aosta, at the southern end of the pass, he stayed at a farm which is now known as “Calvin’s Farm.” 4. Coming into Switzerland he came to Geneva, planning only to spend the night, and go on to Strassburg, hoping to spend a quiet life in scholarship and writing. The reformer of Geneva, Farel, was praying for someone to help him in the city, when he heard that Calvin was there. “This is the man you are seeking,” Farel seemed to hear a voice. He rushed to Calvin and urged him to stay. Calvin refused. Farel warned him of Jonah who refused the call of God. Calvin still refused. “Suddenly Farel, fixing his eyes of fire on him, placing his hands on Calvin’s head, exclaimed in a voice of thunder. ‘May God curse your repose and your studies if in such a necessity you refuse to give us help.’ Calvin trembled in every limb and finally yielded and stayed at Geneva.” [J. I. Good] 5. Except for three years when he was in exile at Strassburg, Calvin would spend his whole life at Geneva, making the town, the people, and the church the model for the Reformed faith throughout the world. Calvin is the father of religious and political liberty throughout the world. America would be inconceivable without his writing and his labors at Geneva.

Copyright, C. W. Powell, New Geneva Seminary, Colorado Springs. 2004. Permission to copy in any form, electronic or written, must be obtained in writing from C. W. Powell, New Geneva Theological Seminary, Colorado Springs, CO.