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The Great Controversy
The authorities of the church were not blind to the work which
Zwingli was accomplishing; but for the present they forbore to inter-
fere. Hoping yet to secure him to their cause, they endeavored to win
him by flatteries; and meanwhile the truth was gaining a hold upon the
hearts of the people.
Zwingli’s labors at Einsiedeln had prepared him for a wider field,
and this he was soon to enter. After three years here he was called to
the office of preacher in the cathedral at Zurich. This was then the most
important town of the Swiss confederacy, and the influence exerted
here would be widely felt. The ecclesiastics by whose invitation he
came to Zurich were, however, desirous of preventing any innovations,
and they accordingly proceeded to instruct him as to his duties.
“You will make every exertion,” they said, “to collect the revenues
of the chapter, without overlooking the least. You will exhort the
faithful, both from the pulpit and in the confessional, to pay all tithes
and dues, and to show by their offerings their affection to the church.
You will be diligent in increasing the income arising from the sick,
from masses, and in general from every ecclesiastical ordinance.” “As
for the administration of the sacraments, the preaching, and the care
of the flock,” added his instructors, “these are also the duties of the
chaplain. But for these you may employ a substitute, and particularly in
preaching. You should administer the sacraments to none but persons
of note, and only when called upon; you are forbidden to do so without
distinction of persons.”—Ibid., b. 8, ch. 6.
Zwingli listened in silence to this charge, and in reply, after ex-
pressing his gratitude for the honor of a call to this important station,
he proceeded to explain the course which he proposed to adopt. “The
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life of Christ,” he said, “has been too long hidden from the people. I
shall preach upon the whole of the Gospel of St. Matthew, ... drawing
solely from the fountains of Scripture, sounding its depths, comparing
one passage with another, and seeking for understanding by constant
and earnest prayer. It is to God’s glory, to the praise of His only Son, to
the real salvation of souls, and to their edification in the true faith, that
I shall consecrate my ministry.”—Ibid., b. 8, ch. 6. Though some of
the ecclesiastics disapproved his plan, and endeavored to dissuade him
from it, Zwingli remained steadfast. He declared that he was about to
introduce no new method, but the old method employed by the church
in earlier and purer times.