THE DISCUSSION—ZWINGLE'S SHARE.
Œcolampadius, on the contrary, with his calm features and noble and patriarchal air, spoke with so much mildness, and at the same time with such courage and ability, that even his adversaries, affected and impressed, said one to another: "Oh! that the tall sallow man were on our side."[660]......At times, however, he was moved when he saw the hatred and violence of his auditors: "How impatiently they listen to me!" said he; "but God will not forsake His glory, and that is all we seek."[661]
Œcolampadius having combated Dr. Eck's first thesis on the real presence, Haller, who had come to Baden after the opening of the conference, entered the lists against the second. But little used to such conferences, of a timid character, tied down by the orders of his government, and embarrassed by the looks of his avoyer Gaspard of Mullinen, a great enemy to the Reformation, Haller possessed not the haughty confidence of his opponent; but he had more real strength. When Haller had finished, Œcolampadius returned to the combat, and pressed Eck so closely, that the latter was compelled to fall back on the customs of the Church. "Custom," replied Œcolampadius, "has no force in our Switzerland, unless it be according to the constitution; now, in matters of faith, the Bible is our constitution."
The third thesis on the invocation of saints; the fourth on images; the fifth on purgatory, were successively discussed. No one rose to contest the truth of the two last, which turned on original sin and baptism.
Zwingle took an active part in the whole of the discussion. The Romish party, which had appointed four secretaries, had forbidden all other persons to take notes under pain of death.[662] But Jerome Walsch, a student from the Valais, who possessed an excellent memory, impressed on his mind all that he heard, and on returning home, hastened to commit it to writing. Thomas Plater and Zimmerman of Winterthur carried these notes to Zwingle every day, with letters from Œcolampadius, and brought back the reformer's answers. Soldiers armed with halberds were posted at all the gates of Baden, and it was only by inventing different excuses that these two messengers evaded the inquiries of the sentinels, who could not understand why they were so frequently passing to and fro.[663] Thus Zwingle, though absent from Baden in body, was present in spirit.
He advised and strengthened his friends, and refuted his adversaries. "Zwingle," said Oswald Myconius, "has laboured more by his meditations, his sleepless nights, and the advice which he transmitted to Baden, than he would have done by discussing in person in the midst of his enemies."[664]
ROMISH BOASTS—ABUSE OF A MONK.
During the whole conference, the Roman-catholics were in commotion, sending letters in every direction and loudly boasting of their victory. "Œcolampadius," exclaimed they, "vanquished by Dr. Eck and laid prostrate in the lists, has sung his recantation;[665] the dominion of the pope will be everywhere restored."[666] These statements were circulated through the cantons, and the people, prompt to believe everything they hear, gave credit to all the vaunts of the Romish partisans.
END OF THE DISCUSSION.
When the dispute was finished, the monk Murner of Lucerne, nicknamed "the tom-cat," stepped forward, and read forty charges against Zwingle. "I thought," said he, "that the coward would come and reply to them; but he has not appeared. Well, then, by every law, both human and divine, I declare forty times that the tyrant of Zurich and all his partisans are traitors, liars, perjurers, adulterers, infidels, robbers, sacrilegers, gallows-birds, and such that every honest man must blush at having any intercourse whatever with them." Such was the abuse which at this time was honoured with the name of "christian controversy," by doctors whom the Romish church should herself disavow.