aith the Lord God of Israel, Behold I am bringing
such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both
his ears shall tingle.' In short, if the Jews had not suffered their
King to riot thus unpunished, God had not punished them. We must pluck
out the offending eye and cut off the diseased hand and foot. How this
is to be done, it is easy to observe. Not by death-blows, wars,
tumults, but by quite other means, for God hath called us to peace.
Does the king or the lord of the common hand choose to do evil? then
let the common hand put him away, or be punished with him. Has he been
elected by a small number of princes? then let those princes know that
his wicked life can be borne with no longer, and he must be deposed.
But here the difficulty arises: the tyrant may rush forth and murder
them. That matters not; it is far more glorious to be put to death for
well-doing, according to God's will than afterward to be slain with the
guilty by the hand of God. But canst thou not endure the way, nor
venture on it? then suffer with the wanton tyrant and be punished at
last along with him, and still the hand of God is stretched-out and
threatening. Is the tyrant chosen by no one? Has he inherited the
kingdom? I do not know what reason such kingdoms have to spare him; for
suppose the born-king is a child or a fool, still they must take him as
their lord. But how can he rule? It must follow, that he is not,
according to the common proverb of a king's son, either a fool or a
king, but both together, a fool and a king. Moreover, the kingdom must
be governed by other wise ones. Were it not better then to make a wise
man king? for 'wo to thee, O land, when thy king is a child!' They
describe a tyrant as one who rules by his own power and after his own
notion. Thus, I do not know whence it comes, that thrones are
hereditary, unless from the common consent of the people. If now there
be a tyrant, this or that individual should not undertake to kill him;
a tumult would arise and the kingdom of God is 'righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost.' But if the entire mass of the people with
one accord, or the greater part of them, though they may be far from
anarchy, depose the tyrant, then God is with them."[4]

Now, in Zwingli's eyes the Emperor was a tyrant of this very stamp,
especially since his reconciliation and close alliance with the Pope.
From this he augured the worst results--the suppression of the
Reformation a