“Thanks be to God Lancaster, Pa., January, 1929.
(March, 1525)
[DE VE RA ET FALSA RELIGIONE Huldrychi Zuinglij Com- mentarius. Indicem capitum totius operis inue- nies in fine libri. TIGVRI in aedibus Christopheri Fro- schouer. Anno M. D. XXV. Mense Martio. Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis & one rati estis, & ego requiem vobis praestabo. Matt 11. 456 octavo pages, of which pages 18-452 are numbered 2-446. The numbers jump írom 320 to 331. Page 1, Title; pages 2-15, Dedication; pages 15-16, To the reader; pages 17-452, Text; pages 453-454, Errata; page 455, Index; page 456, Froschauer’s printer’s device.
Another edition was printed in 1525, entitled: DE VERA ET FALSA RELI- GIONE, HULDRYCHI Zuinglij Commentarius. Matth. XI. Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis & onerati estis, & ego requiem vobis praestabo. Then Froschouer’s printer’s device. TIGVRI EX OFFICINA FROSCHOVIANA. At the end of the dedication to Francis I. signed: Ez Tiguro, Anno M. D. XXV. 456 octavo pages, of which pages 17-453 are numbered 1-437; pages 453-454, Index; pages 455-456 blank. Printed in Opera Zwinglii, tom. II, fol. 158b-242b; Schuler and Schultess ed., vol. 3, pp. 147-325; Egli-Finsler ed., vol. 3, pp. 628-912.
A German edition, translated by Leo Jud and published by Froschauer n 1526 has the title: Von ware und falschem Glouben Commentarius, 42 ist, underrichtung, Huldyrch Zwinglins. Vertütschet durch Leonem Jud… Getruckt zü Zürich by Christoffel Froschouer, M. D. XXVI. —608 octavo pages, of which pages 29-605 are numbered by leaves. On pages 26-28 is Leo Jud’s dedication to Wilhelm von Zell. For the chapter on the Eucharist Jud used a translation by three unknown persons, of which three editions were published by Froschauer in 1525.
A partial modern German translation by Walter Kohler is in Ulrich “Zwingli: Eine Auswahl aus seinen Schriften, Zurich, 1918, pp. 484-608.
The following English translation, made by Mr. Henry Preble, was revised by the editor.]
To the most Christian King of France, Francis, the first of that name, grace and peace from the Lord. Huldreich Zwingli
WE all know, most illustrious King, what an impertinence it is for one of the crowd to venture to address one of the great leaders in the Christian world, as in these days we see not a few doing, who under color of a Christian profession persist in obtruding upon men of eminence in ways the very effrontery of which shows that they have not a particle of Christian spirit. For the Christian spirit causes no annoyance, so far is it from asserting itself in a forward or disrespectful manner. Yet we know, too, how outrageous and utterly unworthy of him it is for a prince to be so arrogant and swollen with pride as to suffer none to approach him except those few whom he has chosen out of all mankind to advise him and to attend him upon every possible occasion. For what else is this than to surround the prince with a barrier which it is unlawful to overleap, and, indeed, in the nature of a crime to imagine oneself across? Who would not call such a prince the most wretched of men, as being the slave of those very persons who to all appearance are his slaves? Not that it is not the sacred duty of a king or a prince to hear good counsel, to reverence the old, to honor the prudent, and to have a high regard for the wise; but that often —such is human life—those who are honored overmuch by princes for some unquestionably real and extraordinary merit, as soon as they see they have completely won the confidence of their prince, straightway degenerate, and take advantage of him for their own ends. This result we see at many courts.
Pardon my language. The laws and customs of the Kings of the French are so little known to me that I am wholly ignorant regarding the men by whom Your Highness is hedged about. There are, to be sure, not a few princes who are surrounded by such a crowd of greedy courtiers that, if an audience were granted, you could much more quickly get what you desire from a thousand kings than work your way through their serried ranks. They are like the sleepless dragon that, according to the tales of the poets, guarded the golden fleece. Such are in these days certain bishops in mitre and purple, who 80 encompass the most powerful kings that it would be strange how the kings can endure the continual sight of them or the bishops never leave, were it not that the latter take very great care to let no knowledge reach the kings that might betray