Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

But, let it come;
With joy I’ll rise,
And bear my yoke
Straight to the skies.
58
§ 14. THE OPEN BREACH. CONTROVERSY
ABOUT FASTS. 1522.
Zwingli was permitted to labor in Zurich for two years without serious
opposition, although he had not a few enemies, both religious and political.
The magistracy of Zurich took at first a neutral position, and ordered the
priests of the city and country to preach the Scriptures, and to be silent
about human inventions (1520). This is the first instance of an episcopal
interference of the civil authority in matters of religion. It afterwards
became a settled custom in Protestant Switzerland with the full consent of
Zwingli. He was appointed canon of the Grossmünster, April 29, 1521,
with an additional salary of seventy guilders, after he had given up the
papal pension. With this moderate income he was contented for the rest of
his life.
During Lent, 1522, Zwingli preached a sermon in which he showed that
the prohibition of meat in Lent had no foundation in Scripture. Several of
his friends, including his publisher, Froschauer, made practical use of their
liberty.
This brought on an open rupture. The bishop of Constance sent a strong
deputation to Zurich, and urged the observance of the customary fasts. The
magistracy prohibited the violation, and threatened to punish the offenders
(April 9, 1522). f75 Zwingli defended himself in a tract on the free use of
meats (April 16). f76 It is his first printed book. He essentially takes the
position of Paul, that, in things indifferent, Christians have liberty to use or
to abstain, and that the Church authorities have no right to forbid this
liberty. He appeals to such passages as 1 Cor. 8:8; 10:25; Col. 2:16; 1 Tim.
4:1; Rom. 14:1–3; 15:1, 2.
The bishop of Constance issued a mandate to the civil authorities (May
24), exhorting them to protect the ordinances of the Holy Church. f77 He
admonished the canons, without naming Zwingli, to prevent the spread of
heretical doctrines. He also sought and obtained the aid of the Swiss Diet,
then sitting at Lucerne.