rs refused me, falling back on the resolution of the Council.
I was now compelled to retire, but besought Him, who hears the sighing
of the prisoner, that he would not leave the truth helpless, and that
he would protect His Gospel, which he had commissioned me to preach. On
the ninth the Great Council came together. 'It is unfair,' many were
heard to say, 'if the people's priests are not allowed to appear;' but
the Small Council protested, holding firmly to its resolution.
Nevertheless the vote was carried against its protest, and the majority
decided in favor of our presence with the privilege at the same time of
making replies, if we should find it necessary. Thus, as Livy says, the
greater number did not overcome the better; no, the greater _and_ the
better triumphed. Not in the least degree do I permit myself to censure
the Small Council for this; no: I wish only to show how powerless
intrigues are. Now, after the ambassadors had been introduced, they
suffered us also to enter, _the bishops of Zurich_, Henry Engelhart,
doctor and people's priest at the cathedral of the Virgin--Rudolph
R[oe]schli of St. Peter, and me Ulric Zwingli.

"After the exchange of salutations and the episcopal benediction the
suffragan began with a voice so mild that I never heard a sweeter, so
that if head and heart had only been in unison, Orpheus and Apollo
would have been obliged to yield to him in grace, and Demosthenes and
the Gracchi in eloquence. In vain would I attempt to communicate to you
the discourse entire. It was confused and much too long. Meanwhile I
had noted down the chief points in my tablets. It is greatly to be
deplored--said he--that there are some who teach in a perverse and
rebellious spirit that we are no longer bound to observe human precepts
and ceremonies. Thus not merely the civil laws, but the faith of all
Christendom also must go to the ground. Yet ceremonies are a
_manuduction_ (he employed this word, instead of the German
'introduction,' before men, who did not understand Latin) to virtue.
Indeed ceremonies are a _source_ (he afterwards denied having used the
word) of virtues. We may teach that fasting is superfluous, because
some have dared to separate themselves from other Christians and from
the Church by the eating of meat. We may appeal to the Holy Scriptures
whilst they contain no direct expressions bearing on the subject, go
against the decrees and Councils of the Holy Fathers of the Church,
against mo