The contest seemed unequal. On one side appeared the Roman hierarchy, a giant which had increased in strength during many centuries; and on the other, there was at first but one weak and timid man, the modest Berthold Haller. "I cannot wield the sword of the Word," said he in alarm to his friends. "If you do not stretch out your hands to me, all is over." He then threw himself trembling at the feet of the Lord, and soon arose enlightened and exclaiming, "Faith in the Saviour gives me courage, and scatters all my fears."[900] [900] Fides in Dominum me animat, ut nihil verear. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 123.) Yet he could not remain alone: all his looks were turned towards Zwingle: "It was I who took the bath at Baden," wrote Œcolampadius to Haller, "and now it is Zwingle who should lead off the bear-dance in Berne."[901]--"We are between the hammer and the anvil," wrote Haller to Zwingle; "we hold the wolf by the ears, and know not how to let him go.[902] The houses of De Watteville, Noll, Tremp, and Berthold are open to you. Come, then, and command the battle in person." [901] An allusion to the dispute at Baden, a celebrated bathing-place, and to the arms of Berne. (Ibid. p. 118.) [902] Lupum auribus tenemus. (Zurich MS.) [Sidenote: A CHRISTIAN BAND.] Zwingle did not hesitate. He demanded permission of the Council of Zurich to visit Berne, in order to show there "that his teaching was full of the fear of God, and not blasphemous; mighty to spread concord through Switzerland, and not to cause troubles and dissension."[903] At the very time that Haller received news of Zwingle's coming, Œcolampadius wrote to him: "I am ready, if it be necessary, to sacrifice my life. Let us inaugurate the new year by embracing one another to the glory of Jesus Christ." Other doctors wrote to the same effect. "These, then," cried Haller with emotion, "these are the auxiliaries that the Lord sends to my infirmity, to aid me in fighting this rude battle!" [903] Neque ad perturbationem nostræ almæ Helvetiæ. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 120.) It was necessary to proceed with circumspection, for the violence of the oligarchs and of the Five Cantons was well known.[904] The doctors of Glaris, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Constance, Ulm, Lindau and Augsburg, assembled at Zurich, to proceed under the same escort as Zwingle, Pellican, Collin, Megander, Grossman, the commander Schmidt, Bullinger, and a great number of the rural clergy, selected to accompany the reformer. "When all this game traverses the country," said the pensioners, "we will go a-hunting, and see if we cannot kill some, or at least catch them and put them into a cage." [904] Oligarchæ in angulis obmurmurent. (Ibid. p. 123.)