ds with the declarations of Holy Scripture. It is enough to
remark, that it rests upon the idea, so deeply rooted in the human
spirit, of the duty of sacrifice. But what is true sacrifice? At
bottom, nothing else than offering up to Him, from whom we have
everything and by whom we are. In such offering--in offering at the
same time from the purest love for man, Christ has gone before us all.
That the perpetual presence of his sacrifice, therefore, must
strengthen us in faith and love, we all agree. But then there is a
difference between the sensuous and the spiritual apprehension of the
fact. Zwingli taught that Christ offering himself must not be looked
for in a host made of meal, but in his living image, the helper of the
needy. "He who receives one of these, receives me"--so he himself once
said. This was the plain, practical view, which Zwingli maintained not
only in this Conference, but in his whole system of doctrine also.

This practical view has for centuries now exerted its influence amongst
us, and with whatever reason we may be censured for other things--that
there is a sense of active benevolence amongst us can never be denied.
Here, Zurich, hold firm! Here is thy rock! May thy Church lean on it
with wisdom, in youthful strength! Then need she dread neither time,
nor science, nor Jacobins, nor Jesuists. Religion, that flower of life,
has its root neither in the vague dreams of the rustic, nor in the
naked formulas of the philosopher, but in noble, unpretending acts.
Here the real and the ideal, the beautiful and the time meet for their
eternally necessary mutual strengthening and purification.[12]

Owing to the nature of the subject, the Conference assumed a more
peaceful and scientific cast, and at times became quite familiar. Even
Zwingli, especially after the commander Schmied had again spoken in his
mild, conciliatory manner, confessed to his most persevering opponent,
Steinlin, people's priest at Schaffhausen, that he had learned much
from him, and desired, that, if severe expressions sometimes fell from
his lips, they should not be laid too much to heart. "Many"--said
he--"there are, who catch up only the bitter things said by me, and so
too it happens with that learned gentleman, Martin Luther, whom they
are willing to imitate in naught, save the sharpness of his language,
which nevertheless he often utters out of true, ardent love; but the
pious, faithful heart and its struggles after truth, remain u