ill; and also, if it be consistent with that divine will,
to remove all victory from our enemies and bring forth the honor of His
Word, as well as grant us grace to live in accordance with his will. Of
course this work should begin at home; for there is need to let all the
people in the city and canton know with what violence and treachery
some of the Confederates have acted toward us, all which has been borne
with a patient. Christian spirit, in hope of a change for the better;
that now no choice is left but to defend ourselves in a knightly
fashion, or else to renounce God and His Word; and that it is the
determination of the good city of Zurich to lose everything: state,
goods, town, country, body and life, rather than abandon the truth she
has professed. Each and every district ought to be commanded, in case
any one is not willing thus seriously and honestly to stand by the Word
of God, the city and the canton, to notify him in the beginning, that
he must go off in three days under suitable conditions. But whoever has
courage enough to pledge soul, honor, life and property to God's Word
and the city of Zurich, to him shall be said that you have received
such and such counsels, and that you yourselves act wholly for God, and
will protect yourselves and Him from all harm." These counsels now
follow. They furnish proofs of his knowledge of foreign and domestic
relations as well as the arts of political life and stratagems of war.
He afterward shows how they ought to conduct themselves toward the
Emperor, France, other neighbors, every canton of the Confederacy,
their allies and the common territories. He unfolds the advantages of
striking the first blow, of surprises in war; he enters even into the
nature and use of various kinds of weapons. But then, he concludes:
"These crude and smoke-stained plans I have hastily brought together
for the sake of certain violent and dishonest persons, who, beyond all
propriety and in the teeth of the Federal Compact, threaten the good
city of Zurich with war. Still, I have an undoubting hope that Almighty
God will not let the pious people of the Confederacy suffer for the
treachery of a few, nor permit us thus to sit in judgment on each
other. I have prayed from the bottom of my heart, that he will defend
his city in some other way than the one here pointed out, and cause the
pious, common people to dwell peacefully together in one Confederacy."
How deeply concerned he was in guiding t