lic members, meanwhile destroying
church pictures and statues. "It was indeed a spectacle so sad to the
superstitious," Oecolampadius wrote to Capito, "that they had to weep
blood. . . . We raged against the idols, and the mass died of sorrow."

A somewhat similar development took place in Berne, St. Gall,
Schaffhausen, and Glarus. The favorite instrument for arousing popular
interest and support was the disputation. Such an one was held at
Baden in May and June, 1526. Zwingli declined to take part in this and
the Catholics claimed the victory. This, however, did them rather harm
than good, for the public felt that the cards had been stacked. A
similar debate at Berne in 1528 turned that city completely to the
Reformation. A synod of the Swiss Evangelical churches was formed in
1527. This made for uniformity. The publication of the Bible in a
translation by Leo Jud and others, with prefaces by Zwingli, proved a
help to the Evangelical cause. [Sidenote: 1530] This translation was
the only one to compete at all successfully with Luther's.

The growing strength of the Protestant cantons encouraged them to carry
the reform by force in all places in which a majority was in favor of
it. Zwingli's far-reaching plans included an alliance with Hesse and
with Francis I to whom he dedicated his {158} two most important
theological works, _True and False Religion_ and _An Exposition of the
Christian Faith_. [Sidenote: April, 1529] The Catholic cantons
replied by making a league with Austria. War seemed imminent and
Zwingli was so heartily in favor of it that he threatened resignation
if Zurich did not declare war. This was accordingly done on June 8.
Thirty thousand Protestant soldiers marched against the Catholic
cantons, which, without the expected aid from Austria, were able to put
only nine thousand men into the field. Seeing themselves hopelessly
outnumbered, the Catholics prudently negotiated a peace without risking
a battle. [Sidenote: First Peace of Cappel] The terms of this first
Peace of Cappel forced the Catholics to renounce the alliance with
Austria, and to allow the majority of citizens in each canton to decide
the religion they would follow. Toleration for Protestants was
provided for in Catholic cantons, though toleration of the old religion
was denied in the Evangelical cantons.

This peace marked the height of Zwingli's power. He continued to
negotiate on equal terms with Luther, and he sen