power of the Pope, the
celibacy of the clergy, the rules of fasting and the like, but pushed
into the foreground, on the contrary, as the most important, those
touching the Muss, because they could assail the view of Zwingli and
[OE]colampadius on the Lord's Supper in part with Luther's own
arguments. A letter from Erasmus against this view also came to their
aid, which was, according to a report, extant in the university of
Paris, read at Baden with great applause, and did the more injury to
the Reformers, the higher the opinion of Erasmus was prized by liberal
theologians.

Amid all this, [OE]colampadius knew how to keep his ground manfully.
His quiet demeanor and moderation served him no less than his learning,
in which he was scarcely inferior to Zwingli himself. One of the
Catholic party is said to have cried out, whilst he was speaking: "O if
the long, yellow man were only on our side!" His external appearance,
as, clad in simple clothing, he appeared in a rough-hewn, unadorned
pulpit, was only the more dignified in contrast with the richly carved
throne on which Eck, Faber and their distinguished friends sat in
silken robes, puffed up, and hung around with golden chains and
crosses. At the close of the Conference, the latter declared the
victory theirs. This decision was likewise ratified by the four
presidents, the majority of the deputies of the Diet and by far the
greater number of the attendant scholars and clergymen. Only ten of the
latter came out, over their own signatures, in favor of
[OE]colampadius, and with him against the justness of the theses put
forth by Eck and Faber. Berchthold Haller, along with several others,
retired before the termination of the Conference. Before the assembly
broke up, Thomas Murner appeared, by permission of the presidents, and
read aloud forty propositions, which he had posted up as the errors and
blasphemous assertions of Zwingli, on the church-doors at Baden, and
declared himself ready publicly to prove as such against him; but since
the challenged party had staid away in a cowardly fashion, he could, in
accordance with all law, human and divine, proclaim him, this tyrant of
Zurich, and his followers, dishonorable, perjured, sacrilegious and
God-forsaken people, of whose company every honest man ought to be
ashamed, and shun them as persons unclean and ripe for damnation.
Zurich had to endure this, which was reported to her, and a haughty
letter from the deputies of th