bestir thyself also in our affairs and those
of the Apostolic See, wherefore thou wilt be gladdened by our very
special grace."

It is not to be doubted that Adrian had been informed by his legates of
the condition of the church in Zurich; still we may be allowed to
conjecture at least, why he made another attempt upon Zwingli. Of
German descent and himself a friend and judge of German science,
conscious moreover of an honest purpose, he might perhaps have
cherished the hope, that he would be better able to exert a reconciling
influence upon the Germans than his Italian predecessor. On the Saxon
Reformer, over whom ban and outlawry had already been pronounced, such
a thing was no longer possible; but the Switzer was untouched as yet.
Still the Pope was greatly mistaken in regard to him. It was not the
person but the court, which Zwingli would avoid. Let us hear what he
has to say in regard to the relation in which he stood to the latter,
as it appears in the 'Explanation of the Final Discourse:'

"For three whole years now I have preached the Gospel in Zurich with
earnestness, for which the Papal Cardinals, Bishops and Legates, whilst
the city has not been well spoken of, have often sought to blind me by
their friendship, prayers, threats, and promises of large gifts and
benefices; these I did not wholly reject, having accepted a pension of
50 florins, which they paid me yearly (indeed they would have given me
100, but I would not be enticed); I had declined it in the year 1517,
though they would not stop it till three years after in 1520, when I
refused it in my own hand writing. (I acknowledge my sin before God and
all men; for prior to 1516 I adhered too closely to the authority of
the Pope, and deemed it becoming to receive money from him, although I
always gave the Roman envoys to understand in plain language, when they
exhorted me not to preach anything against the Pope: they should not at
all expect me to suppress a single word of the truth for the sake of
money, on which account they might either take it back or not, as it
pleased them). When now I had laid down the pension, they saw well I
would have nothing more to do with them, and then they made public my
refusal and receipt, both of which stood in one letter, through a
spiritual father, a preacher-monk, for the purpose of driving me off
from Zurich by it. But in this they failed, because the honorable
Council knew well that I had not spared the Pope in my