2. What Zwingli Preached at This Time
Zwingli preached frequently at this time against the practice of accepting money; and showed how such practice Two dependencies of Zürich.
would dissolve and overturn a worthy Confederacy. He also opposed alliances with princes and lords for if once entered into every honest man would hold that what had been promised would have to be carried out. Therefore one should contract no alliances, and if God had once helped a people to be rid of alliances one should beware and not enter upon new agreements which would cost much blood. “And I could wish,” said Zwingli, ‘“that one would declare the aliance with the Pope null and void and would send the treaty back with the messenger.” He also said: ’” Against a wolf one raised the hue and cry, but no one really opposed the wolves who destroyed most people.” It was fit and proper that these latter wore red hats and capes; for if one shook them ducats and crowns would be scattered round about;if they were wrung out, the blood of your son, brother, father, and good friend would flow. In short, though Zwingli was accused by divers persons of having winked at the papal enlistments, influenced by the imperialists, nevertheless the fact was that there was nothing he opposed so vigorously. The papal partisans in fact did not love him so dearly, nor he the papists that they were at all likely to have any confidential conferences.
Concerning Choice and Liberty Respecting Concerning Offence and Vexation—whether One Has Power to Forbid Foods at Certain Opinion of Huldreich Zwingli (April 16, 1522)
[[Von erkiesen und fryheit der spysen. Von ergernus und verbóserung.]
[Ob man gwalt hab die spysen zu etlichen zyten verbieten. Meynung Huld-]
[richen Zuinglis. Translated by Lawrence A. McLouth, Professor of German,]
[New York University. In Schuler and Schulthess ed.,i., 1-29; in Egli and.]
[Finsler ed., i., 88-136.]
[This is, as Egli has demonstrated, the expansion of a sermon Zwingli]
[preached on March 23d, 1522, together with an appendix addressed to the]
[chapter of the Great Minster, Zwingli’s church, on the question whether any]
[one had authority to forbid flesh at any particular time. It was the first of]
[Zwingli’s publications in the interest of the Reformation. It shows the]
[practical order of his mind.]
[The Roman Catholic Church has enjoined that in strict fasts there]
[should be only one meal a day and that at it no meat and no product of]
[animals used as food, such as milk, butter, cheese, eggs, should be eaten.]
[The “choice of foods” here spoken of was between allowed foods such as]
[fish, including shell fish, animals which lived on fish, as otters and beavers]
[and certain water fowls, but not wild duck or wild goose. The drink must]
[be of such things as quench thirst, as water, wine, beer, coffee, tea, lemonade,]
[but not fluids which are foods under another form, such as milk and soup.]
[The Church regulations as to fasting were in Zwingli’s day in Zurich enforced]
[by the civil authorities.]
[Zwingli had come to the conclusion that whatever practice lacked Bibli-]
[cal support was not of obligation. He had previous to the Lenten fast that]
[year maintained that it lacked Biblical support, but he did not himself dis-]
[obey thecity regulation. Some of his parishioners were more bold and consist-]
[ent and ate meat. The chief offender was the printer Froschauer, who,]
[under plea that he had an unusually large amount of work to do during this]
[Lent, ate meat with his work-people, and when Zwingli called upon him]
offered some to Zwingli! Zwingli declined, but could not deny that Froschauer was entirely within his rights as a Christian man. The authorities thought differently and cited Froschauer before them. It was then that Zwingli preached this sermon in which he maintains the eating of meat during Lent was not forbidden in the Scriptures. The magistrates were thereby influenced to refrain from punishing Froschauer, and to repeal the ordinance the following year.
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