On Sunday, the 19th of January the day on which the doctrine of the Mass was attacked, Zwingle, desirous of acting on the people also, went into the pulpit, and reciting the Apostles' Creed, made a pause after these words: "He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." "These three articles," said he, "are in contradiction to the Mass." All his hearers redoubled their attention; and a priest, clothed in his sacerdotal vestments; who was preparing to celebrate the holy sacrifice in one of the chapels, stopped in astonishment at Zwingle's words. Erect before the consecrated altar on which lay the chalice and the body of the Saviour, with eyes fixed upon the reformer, whose words electrified the people, a prey to the most violent struggles, and beaten down by the weight of truth, the agitated priest resolved to sacrifice every thing for it. In the presence of the whole assembly, he stripped off his priestly ornaments, and throwing them on the altar, he exclaimed: "Unless the Mass reposes on a more solid foundation, I can celebrate it no longer!" The noise of this conversion, effected at the very foot of the altar, immediately spread through the city,[908] and it was regarded as an important omen. So long as the Mass remains, Rome has gained everything: as soon as the Mass falls, Rome has lost all. The Mass is the creative principle of the whole system of Popery. [908] Das lachet menklich und ward durch die gantzen Stadt kundt. (Bulling, i. p. 436.) In this and other quotations, we preserve the orthography of the times. [Sidenote: ST. VINCENT'S DAY.] Three days later, on the 22d January, was the feast of St. Vincent, the patron of the city. The disputation that had been carried on during Sunday was suspended on that day. The canons asked the council what they were to do. "Such of you," replied the council, "as receive the doctrine of the theses ought not to say Mass; the others may perform divine worship as usual."[909] Every preparation was accordingly made for the solemnity. On St. Vincent's eve the bells from every steeple announced the festival to the inhabitants of Berne. On the morrow the sacristans lit up the tapers; incense filled the temple, but no one appeared. No priests to say Mass, no faithful to hear it! Already there was a vast chasm in the Roman sanctuary, a deep silence, as on the field of battle, where none but the dead are lying. [909] Bullinger says, on the contrary, that the council positively forbade the Mass. But Bullinger, who is a very animated writer, is not always exact in diplomatic matters. The council would not have come to such a resolution before the close of the discussion. Other contemporary historians and official documents leave no room for doubt on this point. Stettler, in his Chronicle, pars ii. p. 6, ad annum 1528, details these proceedings as in the text.