himself undoubtedly advised, only a political conflict. On the one side
appeared to him, imbued as he was with the idea of a purely spiritual
kingdom of God and Christ, a worldly power defending itself not by the
lawful, yea, necessary weapons of science and sound judgment, but by
anathemas and the flames of the faggot, and on the other, those who
wished to attain and defend liberty, without which neither a religion
of the heart nor of the head, nor a faith matured to conviction by the
agreement of both, was possible. With this feeling he wrote to his
friend in Bern: "The peace, about which many now talk so much, is war;
the war, which I wish, peace. There can be no security either for the
truth, or her worshippers, till the ground-pillars of tyranny be
overthrown. Do not lose confidence in me, because I must say this.
With God's help I will prove myself worthy of it." But, even if the
question, according to the judgment of the Reformer, was fairly one of
an external, political nature, when logically carried out, it would
take the form of opinion in some, or of principle in others. Yet never
will such questions be solved by weapons of iron. The blind iron
usually wounds the principle for which it was drawn out, and its
defender first. "Put up thy sword in its sheath," said Christ to Peter,
"for they, who take the sword, shall perish by the sword;" and for
Zwingli it was a prophetic word. Only for material interests, lying
equally before the eyes of all the world; only when the duty of
fighting against the violation of national treaties or human laws, or
else for upholding them, does true policy take up the sword, and in
this respect the statesmanship of Bern seems more prudent; yea, more in
harmony with the Federal Compact, than that of Zurich. But there are
moments in the lives of nations, when prudence will no longer avail,
and energetic action, even passionate endeavor, becomes a necessity. In
such cases each one has to appeal to his own conviction of duty, and
his justification lies in his willingness to sacrifice himself
therefor. Over the corpse of the noble victim, the censuring voice of
posterity is silent.

He, who accompanies the Reformer with undiminished sympathy along his
path, which from this time forth becomes more and more slippery, will
find the truth of what has been said. The grand achievement, which he
desired, perhaps rather anticipated--the formation of a strong league
in the midst of Europe, cont