The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 173

his early training, were such as to prepare him for his future mission.
Reared amid scenes of natural grandeur, beauty, and awful sublimity,
his mind was early impressed with a sense of the greatness, the power,
and the majesty of God. The history of the brave deeds achieved upon
his native mountains kindled his youthful aspirations. And at the side
of his pious grandmother he listened to the few precious Bible stories
which she had gleaned from amid the legends and traditions of the
church. With eager interest he heard of the grand deeds of patriarchs
and prophets, of the shepherds who watched their flocks on the hills of
Palestine where angels talked with them, of the Babe of Bethlehem and
the Man of Calvary.
Like John Luther, Zwingli’s father desired an education for his
son, and the boy was early sent from his native valley. His mind
rapidly developed, and it soon became a question where to find teachers
competent to instruct him. At the age of thirteen he went to Bern, which
then possessed the most distinguished school in Switzerland. Here,
however, a danger arose which threatened to blight the promise of his
life. Determined efforts were put forth by the friars to allure him into
a monastery. The Dominican and Franciscan monks were in rivalry for
popular favor. This they endeavored to secure by the showy adornments
of their churches, the pomp of their ceremonials, and the attractions of
famous relics and miracle-working images.
The Dominicans of Bern saw that if they could win this talented
young scholar, they would secure both gain and honor. His extreme
youth, his natural ability as a speaker and writer, and his genius for music
and poetry, would be more effective than all their pomp and display, in
attracting the people to their services and increasing the revenues of their
order. By deceit and flattery they endeavored to induce Zwingli to enter
their convent. Luther, while a student at school, had buried himself in
a convent cell, and he would have been lost to the world had not God’s
providence released him. Zwingli was not permitted to encounter the

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