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The Great Controversy 1888
trusting in the all-sufficient propitiation for sin. When he came back
from the gates of death, it was to preach the gospel with greater fervor
than ever before; and his words exerted an unwonted power. The
people welcomed with joy their beloved pastor, returned to them from
the brink of the grave. They themselves had come from attending upon
the sick and the dying, and they felt, as never before, the value of the
gospel.
Zwingle had arrived at a clearer understanding of its truths, and had
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more fully experienced in himself its renewing power. The fall of man
and the plan of redemption were the subjects upon which he dwelt.
“In Adam,” he said, “we are all dead, sunk in corruption and condem-
nation.” “But Christ has purchased for us an everlasting deliverance.”
“His passion is an eternal sacrifice, and has a perpetual efficacy; it
satisfies the divine justice forever upon behalf of all who rely upon it
with a firm, unshaken faith.” Yet he clearly taught that men are not,
because of the grace of Christ, free to continue in sin. “Wheresoever
there is faith in God, there God himself abides; and wheresoever God
is, there is awakened a zeal which urges and constrains men to good
works.”
Such was the interest in Zwingle’s preaching that the cathedral
was filled to overflowing with the crowds that came to listen to him.
Little by little, as they could bear it, he opened the truth to his hearers.
He was careful not to introduce, at first, points which would startle
them and create prejudice. His first work was to win their hearts to
the teachings of Christ, to soften them by his love, and keep before
them his example; and as they should receive the principles of the
gospel, their superstitious beliefs and practices would inevitably be
overthrown.
Step by step the Reformation advanced in Zurich. In alarm its
enemies aroused to active opposition. One year before, the monk of
Wittenberg had uttered his “No” to the pope and the emperor at Worms,
and now everything seemed to indicate a similar withstanding of the
papal claims at Zurich. Repeated attacks were made upon Zwingle.
In the popish cantons, from time to time, disciples of the gospel were
brought to the stake, but this was not enough; the teacher of heresy
must be silenced. Accordingly the Bishop of Constance dispatched
three deputies to the Council of Zurich, accusing Zwingle of teaching
the people to transgress the laws of the church, thus endangering the