Zwingli of teaching the people to transgress the laws of the church , thus endangering the peace and good order of society . If the authority of the church were to be set aside , he urged , universal anarchy would result . Zwingli replied that he had been for four years teaching the gospel in Zurich , " which was more quiet and peaceful than any other town in the confederacy ." " Is not , then ," he said , " Christianity the best safeguard of the general security ?" --Wylie , b . 8 , ch . 11 . The deputies had admonished the councillors to continue in the church , out of which , they declared , there was no salvation . Zwingli responded : " Let not this accusation move you . The foundation of the church is the same Rock , the same Christ , that gave Peter his name because he confessed Him faithfully . In every nation whosoever believes with all his heart in the Lord Jesus is accepted of God . Here , truly , is the church , out of which no one can be saved ." --D ' Aubigne , London ed ., b . 8 , ch . 11 . As a result of the conference , one of the bishop ' s deputies accepted the reformed faith .
The council declined to take action against Zwingli , and Rome prepared for a fresh attack . The Reformer , when apprised of the plots of his enemies , exclaimed : " Let them come on ; I fear them as the beetling cliff fears the waves that thunder at its feet ." --Wylie , b . 8 , ch . 11 . The efforts of the ecclesiastics only furthered the cause which they sought to overthrow . The truth continued to spread . In Germany its adherents , cast down by Luther ' s disappearance , took heart again , as they saw the progress of the gospel in Switzerland . As the Reformation became established in Zurich , its fruits were more fully seen in the suppression of vice and the promotion of order and harmony . " Peace has her habitation in our town ," wrote Zwingli ; " no quarrel , no hypocrisy , no envy , no strife . Whence can such union come but from the Lord , and our doctrine , which fills us with the fruits of peace and piety ?" -- Ibid ., b . 8 , ch . 15 .
The victories gained by the Reformation stirred the Romanists to still more determined efforts for its overthrow . Seeing how little had been accomplished by persecution in suppressing Luther ' s work in Germany , they decided to meet the reform with its own weapons . They would hold a disputation with Zwingli , and having the arrangement of matters , they would make sure of victory by choosing , themselves , not only the place of the combat , but the judges that should decide between the disputants . And if they could once get Zwingli into their power , they would take care that he did not escape them . The leader silenced , the movement could speedily be crushed . This purpose , however , was carefully concealed .
The disputation was appointed to be held at Baden ; but Zwingli was not present . The Council of Zurich , suspecting the designs of the papists , and warned by the burning piles kindled in the papal cantons for confessors of the gospel , forbade their pastor to expose himself to this peril . At Zurich he was ready to meet all the partisans that Rome might send ; but to go to Baden , where the blood of martyrs for the truth had just been shed , was to go to certain death . Oecolampadius and Haller
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