nues were to be transferred to the hospital and
the poor of that congregation, which paid the tithe to the Chapter.

But affairs had already come to such a pass, that even well-meant and
judicious changes, if not immediately carried out, no longer gave
satisfaction. A wild zeal for innovation also found vent in frequent
brutish expressions and disorderly scenes. If unpopular canons or
chaplains appeared at mass in the church, they were publicly derided;
their chronicles were stolen; leaves were torn from a guide-book for
the celebration of festivals put up in the choir, and then scattered at
the door of the provost's house; and one night the stocks and gallows,
emblems of the temporal jurisdiction of the monastery were partly
destroyed and partly erected in a different place. By others the lamps
in the Church of the Virgin were broken, and the oil spilled, whilst
they mutually sprinkled themselves with the holy water. Similar things
happened in St. Peter's Church. In the country, a priest even ventured
to read mass in slippers and red breeches. They began to call pictures
idols, and the examples of the kings and prophets of the East, who
contended against the idolatry of their age in every possible way, were
arrayed as worthy of imitation before the imaginations of fanatics, who
grew more excited, especially as they became acquainted with the Old
Testament. A production, composed in this spirit by Lewis Haetzer, under
the title of "Decree of God, as to how we ought to deal with Images,"
was at that time widely circulated.

From this disposition of mind proceeded an event, which attracted
attention and aroused indignation throughout the Confederacy, and
prepared trouble for the government in Zurich. Directly before the
city, in Stadelhofen, there stood on a pedestal of stone, an immense
image of the Savior on the Cross, carved out of wood. It was put up by
one family, as a monument of devotion, and was now under the care of a
miller dwelling in the neighborhood. Many passers-by still did
reverence to it. This was a source of great provocation to a number of
enthusiasts, who afterwards went over to the Anabaptists, and
especially to Nicholas Hottinger, a shoemaker by trade, a man not
without culture, possessed of some property, versed in the Scriptures
and of a decided character, which, in connection with his natural
eloquence, gave him great influence over his associates. It is told of
him, that he offered a bucket of w