The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 177

a falling off in the offerings, and consequently in the salary of Zwingli,
which was drawn from them. But this caused him only joy as he saw
that the power of fanaticism and superstition was being broken.
The authorities of the church were not blind to the work which
Zwingli was accomplishing; but for the present they forbore to interfere.
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
expressing his gratitude for the honor of a call to this important station,
he proceeded to explain the course which

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