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In Switzerland from 1516 to 1525 - James Aitken Wylie

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<strong>In</strong> short, the entire amount realised by the<br />

dissolution of the monastic orders was devoted <strong>to</strong><br />

the relief of the poor, the ministry of the sick, and<br />

the advancement of education. The council did not<br />

feel at liberty <strong>to</strong> devote these funds <strong>to</strong> any merely<br />

secular object.<br />

"We shall so act with cloister property," said<br />

they, "that we can neither be reproached before<br />

God nor the world. We might not have the sin upon<br />

our consciences of applying the wealth of one<br />

single cloister <strong>to</strong> fill the coffers of the State."<br />

The abrogation of the law of celibacy fittingly<br />

followed the abolition of the monastic vow. This<br />

was essential <strong>to</strong> the res<strong>to</strong>ration of the ministerial<br />

office <strong>to</strong> its apos<strong>to</strong>lic dignity and purity. Many of<br />

the Reformed pas<strong>to</strong>rs <strong>to</strong>ok advantage of the change<br />

in the law, among others Leo Juda, Zwingli's<br />

friend. Zwingli himself had contracted in 1522 a<br />

private marriage, according <strong>to</strong> the cus<strong>to</strong>m of the<br />

times, with Anna Reinhard, widow of John Meyer<br />

von Knonau, a lady of great beauty and of noble<br />

189

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