Note 35 — Chapter II

As early as June 15th, 1523, the Council of Bern had issued an ordinance for the preachers throughout their territories, which enjoined them to preach publicly and without dissimulation the Holy Gospel and the doctrine of God, and to say nothing which they could not establish by true and Holy Scripture; to leave entirely alone all other doctrines and discussions contrary to the Gospel, and in particular the distinctive doctrines of Luther. Later (May 21st, 1526), at a conference held between members of the Council of Bern, deputies from the Bernese communes, and delegates from the seven Roman Catholic cantons, it was agreed to permit no innovation in matters of religion. This agreement was not maintained long; and the Bernese went back to their ordinance of June 1523. It seems to have been practically interpreted to mean that preachers might attack the power of the Pope, and the doctrines of Purgatory and the Invocation of Saints, but that they were not to say anything against the current doctrine of the sacraments. Cf. Decrees of the Council of Bern, quoted in Herminjard, Correspondance des Réformateurs dans les pays de langue française, (Geneva, 1878), i. 434 n., ii. 23 n., also 20.