The Roman-catholic party did not dissemble the check they had received. "Our cause is falling," said the friends of Rome.[918] "Oh! that we had had men skilled in the Bible! The impetuosity of Zwingle supported our adversaries; his ardour was never relaxed. That brute has more knowledge than was imagined.[919] Alas! alas! the greater party has vanquished the better."[920] [918] Ruunt res nostræ. (Letter of the priest J. de Muller, an eye-witness of the discussion. Rachat. i. p. 575.) [919] Doctior tamen hæc bellua est quam putabam. (Ibid.) [920] Vicitque pars major meliorem. (Ibid.) The Council of Berne, desirous of separating from the Pope, relied upon the people. On the 30th January, messengers going from house to house convoked the citizens; and on the 2d February, the burgesses and inhabitants, masters and servants, uniting in the cathedral, and forming but one family, with hands upraised to heaven, swore to defend the two councils in all they should undertake for the good of the State or of the Church. [Sidenote: EDICT OF REFORM.] On the 7th February 1528, the council published a general edict of Reform, and "threw for ever from the necks of the Bernese the yoke of the four bishops, who," said they, "know well how to shear their sheep, but not how to feed them."[921] [921] Bull. Chron. i. p. 466. At the same time the Reformed doctrines were spreading among the people. In every quarter might be heard earnest and keen dialogues, written in rhyme by Manuel, in which the pale and expiring Mass, stretched on her deathbed, was loudly calling for all her physicians, and finding their advice useless, at last dictating with a broken voice her last will and testament, which the people received with loud bursts of laughter. The Reformation generally, and that of Berne in particular, has been reproached as being brought about by political motives. But, on the contrary, Berne, which of all the Helvetic states was the greatest favourite of the court of Rome--which had in its canton neither a bishop to dismiss nor a powerful clergy to humiliate--Berne, whose most influential families, the Weingartens, Manuels, Mays, were reluctant to sacrifice the pay and the service of the foreigner, and all whose traditions were conservative, ought to have opposed the movement. The Word of God was the power that overcame this political tendency.[922] [922] Hundeshagen, conflicte der Bernerkirche, p. 22. [Sidenote: THE REFORM ACCEPTED.]