In Switzerland from 1516 to 1525 - James Aitken Wylie
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Scriptures. Why then did he submit this matter–the<br />
question as <strong>to</strong> which is the true Gospel–<strong>to</strong> the Great<br />
Council of Zurich, the supreme civil authority in<br />
the State?<br />
Zwingli in doing so did not renounce his<br />
theory, but in reconciling his practice with his<br />
theory, in the present instance, it is necessary <strong>to</strong><br />
take in<strong>to</strong> account the following considerations. It<br />
was not possible for the Reformer of Zurich in the<br />
circumstances <strong>to</strong> realize his ideal; there was yet no<br />
Church organisation; and <strong>to</strong> submit such a question<br />
at large <strong>to</strong> the general body of the professors of the<br />
Reformed faith would have been, in their immature<br />
state of knowledge, <strong>to</strong> risk–nay, <strong>to</strong> invite–divisions<br />
and strifes. Zwingli, therefore, chose in preference<br />
the Council of Two Hundred as part of the<br />
Reformed body–as, in fact, the ecclesiastical and<br />
political representative of the Church. The case<br />
obviously was abnormal. Besides, in submitting<br />
this question <strong>to</strong> the council, Zwingli expressly<br />
stipulated that all arguments should be drawn <strong>from</strong><br />
the Scriptures; that the council should decide<br />
according <strong>to</strong> the Word of God; and that the Church,<br />
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