n advanced in Zurich. In alarm its enemies
aroused to active opposition. One year before, the monk of Wittenberg had
uttered his "No" to the pope and the emperor at Worms, and now everything
seemed to indicate a similar withstanding of the papal claims at Zurich.
Repeated attacks were made upon Zwingle. In the papal cantons, from time
to time, disciples of the gospel were brought to the stake, but this was
not enough; the teacher of heresy must be silenced. Accordingly the bishop
of Constance dispatched three deputies to the Council of Zurich, accusing
Zwingle of teaching the people to transgress the laws of the church, thus
endangering the peace and good order of society. If the authority of the
church were to be set aside, he urged, universal anarchy would result.
Zwingle replied that he had been for four years teaching the gospel in
Zurich, "which was more quiet and peaceful than any other town in the
confederacy." "Is not, then," he said, "Christianity the best safeguard of
the general security?"(256)

The deputies had admonished the councilors to continue in the church, out
of which, they declared, there was no salvation. Zwingle responded: "Let
not this accusation move you. The foundation of the church is the same
Rock, the same Christ, that gave Peter his name because he confessed Him
faithfully. In every nation whosoever believes with all his heart in the
Lord Jesus is accepted of God. Here, truly, is the church, out of which no
one can be saved."(257) As a result of the conference, one of the bishop's
deputies accepted the reformed faith.

The council declined to take action against Zwingle, and Rome prepared for
a fresh attack. The Reformer, when apprised of the plots of his enemies,
exclaimed, "Let them come on; I fear them as the beetling cliff fears the
waves that thunder at its feet."(258) The efforts of the ecclesiastics
only furthered the cause which they sought to overthrow. The truth
continued to spread. In Germany its adherents, cast down by Luther's
disappearance, took heart again, as they saw the progress of the gospel in
Switzerland.

As the Reformation became established in Zurich, its fruits were more
fully seen in the suppression of vice, and the promotion of order and
harmony. "Peace has her habitation in our town," wrote Zwingle; "no
quarrel, no hypocrisy, no envy, no strife. Whence can such union come but
from the Lord, and our doctrine, which fills us with the fruits of peace
and piety?"(2