ness frequent scenes of this kind.
And in what troubled shapes, did not the events of the day, the
delusion of the crowd, and the avarice of those who made again of them,
array themselves, when in the stillness of the evening or the night,
the Gospel opened to him its fountains of light, warmth, and living
sacrifice. No doubt this conviction of the unworthiness of this trade,
carried on with lost men, was confirmed, and the impulse to come out at
once and maintain stout battle against all these powers of darkness,
more and more strengthened. Though somewhat before, yet now more than
ever the feeling, that such a conflict must come, paved his way; the
eyes of thousands were seeking some, who would undertake it, and were
turned with desire to every one, gifted with a resolute spirit; and
many friendly voices told him, that on his efforts the hopes of the
father-land chiefly rested. "This is he"--said John [OE]chslin in Stein
to his friend Fabricius--"of whom I cannot say enough,--he, who towers
above all other Swiss,--he, who has spread around him here a better
civilization." "He"--the German Nesenus wrote to him--"who has humbled
our monks, those spiritual tyrants, has done more for the true doctrine
of Christ, than he who has beaten the ferocious Turks. Go on, my
Zwingli, in the work begun for the blessing of your nation." "You show
us"--is contained in a letter of Rhenanus from Basel--"the true
doctrine of Christ, sketched intuitively, as it were, on a tablet; you
inform us, that Christ was sent into the world for this purpose--to
communicate to us the will of his Father; that he commands us to
despise earth with its riches, its honors, its power, its pleasures and
every thing of this kind, and seek after the heavenly father-land; that
he teaches us peace, unity and all the lovely charities of life
(nothing else is Christianity), as of old, Plato, who is truly worthy
of being counted a great prophet, dreamed of them in his republic; that
he would lift us above a state of abject dependence on country,
parents, kindred, health, and all the blessings of earth, and convince
us that poverty and the other miseries of life are in no wise evil.
These doctrines Christ has confirmed by his life, more glorious than
that of any man. Would that Helvetia had many, who could so exhibit Him
to us! Such alone have power to improve our national character. And our
people are by no means incapable of improvement."

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