Zwingli now resolved to marry, and on the 2d of April, 1524, led Anna Reinhart,[17] in whom he found the guardian angel of his earthly existence, before the altar, to take the pledge of fidelity in the presence of God and the congregation. Henceforth the priests wished to be, above all, Christians; but to all Christians without exception, the call has been made according to the language of the Apostle, to become priests by inward consecration, priests without love of power and without the spirit of caste.
FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD:
Footnote [1] A French province, according to the prevailing opinion in former times, a strong hold of sectarianism, of heresy so-called.
Footnote [2] All three were then known for their decided adherence to the old church-order.
Footnote [3] In Erfurt Luther had studied. At Wittemberg he taught.
Footnote [4] A writer of that ago says of him, using indeed colors somewhat dark: "We ought rather to call Faber a cruel judge than a doctor or bishop. Throughout all Germany and the neighboring countries his severity is known. Scarcely a hangman in our fatherland has executed so many as have been condemned by the unrighteous sentences of Faber." And at the close, in a simple narrative of Hans Huglin of Lindau, who was burnt as a heretic, we read: "While the poor miserable man was compelled to groan thus (he had been on the rack), the Vicary sat there and laughed. When the poor man saw this, he said: O, dear Sir, why do you laugh at me; I am but an abandoned creature, who am not worth laughing at. Laugh over yourself, and God forgive you; you know not what you do. At which words the Vicary, who looked at him still more wickedly, was ashamed to laugh and grew very red; since which all the world has pitied the poor man."
Footnote [5] Printed entire under the title of "Uslegen und Grand der Schlussreden," in the first volume of Zwingli's works, edited by Schuler and Schultheiss.
Footnote [6] Explanation of the Final Discourses, viz, the 26, 27, 33, 64th, et cet.
Footnote [7] He, who is acquainted with history in its sources, knows that this assertion of Zwingli is by no means maliciously snatched from the air. It cannot indeed be charged against all convent-property; but, to illustrate the mode, in which a part at least of such acquisitions were obtained during the Middle Ages, I will insert here a document, which was preserved in their archives by our forefathers of Zurich, expressly for the information of posterity, and which, drawn up on parchment and furnished with the seal of State, is still extant. The monasteries had plainly fallen off from their original severe rules. For the better understanding of it, the orthography and punctuation only are brought nearer to modern style.
"To all, who see this letter or hear it read, we, the Council of Zurich, whose name are written after, make known, that we saw the letter of the burghers of Strassburg, entire, true, and sealed with their public seal, as stands hereafter written. And that we and our successors after us, if a similar case arise in our midst, may be able to judge the more correctly, we have, with the leave of our burghers, willingly, publicly and unanimously written this letter from the heart, and publicly sealed it with our burghers' great seal, for a perpetual and eternal record.