resence. They all
agreed that it was now too late to recall the prohibition, except the
Five Cantons would first yield. Such a step of weakness would only
render them more overbearing. But to carry it out, and yet remain at
peace, was still more doubtful. The oppressed would rise up, and then
all the injury, resulting from the invasion, and every kind of
reproach, would be heaped upon them. Whether Zwingli gave any further
counsel, is not stated in Bullinger's narrative. He simply adds, "the
Bernese promised to do their best." At all events, the Reformer
departed with a heavy heart. As if conscious that he would never meet
again on earth the friend, who went with him as far as the city-gate,
he took leave of him with weeping eyes, repeating three times the
words: "God keep thee, dear Henry, and be thou faithful to the Lord
Christ!"

This scene occurred on the night of St. Laurence's day, and just at
that time, according to Bullinger, the famous comet of 1531 first
became visible. Zwingli gazed at it from the churchyard of the Great
Minster. "What can it portend?" was the question put to him by the
abbot George Mueller of Wettingen, in accordance with the belief of the
age. "It will cost me, my George, me and many an honorable man his
life. The truth and the Church will suffer calamity, but God will not
forsake them!" In the pulpit he spake in a similar strain: "Thou wilt
not punish pride, Zurich. Well then! thou wilt be punished thyself; a
hedge of thorns will bristle about thy head. The chain is forged, which
will twist my neck and that of many a pious Zuricher. Still, God will
maintain His Word, and pride will have its fall."

It seems that he was already familiar with the thought of an early
death. Indeed, who knows if he did not desire it? What could vindicate
him in the face of his accusers and enemies raging on all sides, like
perseverance to the end, like death in defence of his cause, the
freedom of that Gospel, from which alone he could hope for a better
future, the regeneration of his fatherland, of humanity? He may indeed
at this crisis have glanced back over his past life, and examined
himself, whether he was as blameless as he was steadfast, whether the
good spirit had not forsaken him. A clear conscience could bear witness
that he had never sought anything, save the truth and the welfare and
honor of his country. Perhaps in solitary moments the question may have
come up before him: "Art thou equally cont