herewith he laid the document together and said:
'You are alas! without this, too highly exasperated against each other;
take a little knife, first cut off the seals, and then slit the
parchment into long strips, give it to the scribe in a little cap, that
he may throw it into the fire.' What became of the seals I do not
know."

Joyfully the Zurichers marched to their homes; Zwingli with anxiety in
his heart. He gave utterance to it in the following verses, which he
also set to music:

Now mount the chariot, O Lord,
We know not where to go.
Thy hand must now uplift the sword
And smite the haughty foe.

God, for thy honor and our land
Blast Satan's progeny,
And teach thy faithful flock to stand
Ever more firm in Thee.

To bitter strife, O put an end!
And waken love anew;
Kind hearts to parted brethren send,
Old feelings warm and true.

The _Landfriede_ (General Peace) was concluded; quiet appeared to be
restored in the Confederacy. Then a foreign country laid claim to the
Swiss Reformer. In the spring of 1529, the majority of the princes and
cities, assembled at the Imperial Diet in Spire, endeavored to check
the progress of the Reformation in Germany, by stringent resolutions.
Conflicting doctrines in regard to the Lord's Supper especially, should
not be allowed. No more ecclesiastical innovations were to be permitted
until approved at an ecumenical council. The states of the Empire,
which were already inclined to the Gospel, entered protests against
this compulsory act, and received thence the name of Protestants. The
most active of these Protestants was the _landgrave_ Philip of Hesse.
Resolved to carry through the rising opposition, even against the
Emperor himself if necessary, he directed his chief attention to the
maintenance and establishment of concord among the Protesters
themselves. Although the Confederates, from the nature of their special
compacts (_buende_) and their struggles after national independence,
had actually more and more torn lose from connection with the German
Empire, they were still always formally counted as belonging to
it,--indeed, said so themselves, whenever it suited their advantage.
But, just before the election of the then reigning Emperor, the Diet,
in the name of the collective cantons, wrote a complimentary letter to
t