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From Here to Forever

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    Sale of Indulgences in Switzerland

    In Germany the sale of indulgences was conducted by the infamous Tetzel. In Switzerland the traffic was put under the control of Samson, an Italian monk. Samson had already secured immense sums from Germany and Switzerland to fill the papal treasury. Now he traversed Switzerland, despoiling the poor peasants of their scanty earnings and exacting rich gifts from the wealthy. The Reformer immediately set out to oppose him. Such was Zwingli's success in exposing the friar's pretensions that he was obliged to leave for other quarters. At Zurich, Zwingli preached zealously against the pardonmongers. When Samson approached the place, he secured an entrance by stratagem. But, sent away without the sale of a single pardon, he soon left Switzerland.HF 112.4

    The plague, or Great Death, swept over Switzerland in the year 1519. Many were led to feel how vain and worthless were the pardons they had purchased; they longed for a surer foundation for their faith. Zwingli at Zurich was smitten down, and the report was widely circulated that he was dead. In that trying hour he looked in faith to the cross of Calvary, trusting in the all-sufficient propitiation for sin. When he came back from the gates of death, it was to preach the gospel with greater fervor than ever before. The people themselves had come from attending the sick and the dying, and they felt, as never before, the value of the gospel.HF 113.1

    Zwingli had arrived at a clearer understanding of its truths and had more fully experienced in himself its renewing power. “Christ,” he said, “... has purchased for us a never-ending redemption. ... His passion is ... an eternal sacrifice, and everlastingly effectual to heal; it satisfies the divine justice forever in behalf of all those who rely upon it with firm and unshaken faith. ... Wherever there is faith in God, there a zeal exists urging and impelling men to good works.”8Ibid., bk. 8, ch. 9.HF 113.2

    Step by step the Reformation advanced in Zurich. In alarm its enemies aroused to active opposition. Repeated attacks were made upon Zwingli. The teacher of heresy must be silenced. The bishop of Constance dispatched three deputies to the Council of Zurich, accusing Zwingli of endangering the peace and order of society. If the authority of the church were to be set aside, he urged, universal anarchy would result.HF 113.3

    The council declined to take action against Zwingli, and Rome prepared for a fresh attack. The Reformer exclaimed: “Let them come on; I fear them as the beetling cliff fears the waves that thunder at its feet.”9Wylie, bk. 8, ch. 11. The efforts of the ecclesiastics only furthered the cause which they sought to overthrow. The truth continued to spread. In Germany its adherents, cast down by Luther's disappearance, took heart again as they saw the progress of the gospel in Switzerland. As the Reformation became established in Zurich, its fruits were more fully seen in the suppression of vice and the promotion of order.HF 113.4

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