Note 464 — CCCXXXV.—To the Pastors and Doctors of the Church of Zurich.[464]

See the preceding letter. The Council of Zurich having received the letter of that of Geneva, and having consulted Bullinger and his colleagues regarding the reply which they would require to make, did not hesitate to give a deliverance in favour of Calvin, and against the demands of the Libertines. They accordingly exhorted the magistrates of Geneva to maintain their ecclesiastical laws, "as good and conformable to the prescriptions of the Divine word, and as particularly necessary in an age in which men are becoming more and more wicked." Although the discipline then in operation at Zurich differed essentially from that of Geneva, in being less rigorous, yet the Seigneurs of Zurich pronounced a eulogy upon that of the latter, "inasmuch as it was framed in a manner adapting it to the time, the place, and the persons; and that every Church ought to persevere in those usages which she has received and holily established, according to the word of God."—Ruchat, Hist. de la Reformation, tom. vi. pp. 67, 68. The reply of the Seigneurs of Berne was less explicit. They limited themselves to the declaration, that excommunication was not in force among them, but that they had certain regulations, of which they forwarded them a copy.