he impropriety of all individual resistance to authority,
Zwingli agreed with Luther, and just as severely condemned everything
that bore the character of riot or rebellion; but entertained, on the
other hand, far more liberal views concerning the rights of the people,
in their collective capacity, against their rulers; and here, supported
by passages from the Old Testament, whilst Luther relied exclusively on
the New, he developed a theory (an assemblage of propositions), which
must have no doubt appeared suspicious to the German Reformers, living
as they did under monarchical forms of government, and indeed, just as
readily as his freer exposition of the words of the Lord's Supper,
might have called forth that saying of Luther: "You have quite another
spirit than we."

"Where a prince is overbearing and a wanton spendthrift," so he writes,
"and the people undutiful and devoted to their own advantage, there
tumults break out. But this also does not happen without that Divine
Providence, which has numbered all the hairs of our heads, and by
which the wantonness of the tyrant and the recklessness of the people
are alike controlled. A seditious people are led only by wild passions;
by rage and fury, not by reason. Rulers should then take care not
to give occasion to the people to rebel. If they are truly wise and
God-fearing, if they practice justice and equity, then God will not
give them up to the wrath of the multitude; for He is mightier than
they and does not forsake them, who trust in him and serve him. And we
must warn the people also not to plunge themselves into ruin by
sedition. Tumults are generally excited by those who aspire after
honors and riches. Now, that it may not seem as if Christians care more
for the human than the divine, they should obey even tyrants in things,
that only oppress the body, and pay taxes to them, so that the Gospel
may not be reviled on their account. A whole nation, on the other hand,
can and should, in a lawful manner, with moderation and the fear of
God, resist the unjust power of the tyrant, and if they do it not, then
will they be punished by God along with the wicked prince. And how we
may deal with such rulers, is shown by the clear example of Saul, whom
God repudiated, although he had chosen him at first. Indeed if such
wanton kings be not thrust away, the whole nation will be punished for
it. Hence, when Manasseh, King of Judah, had done the most wicked
abominations, 'thus s