Unfortunately, Luther has always had some disciples who were more Lutheran than himself. Kunz and Sebastian Meyer were of that number. Dissatisfied with Calvin’s confession, which to them was an irksome yoke, they were eager to shake it off. A new minister, just then called to Berne, joined them; but as he was endowed with a quiet, prudent, and tractable disposition, he constantly sought, although a decided follower of Luther, to moderate his two violent colleagues. This was Simon Sulzer. He was an illegitimate son of the Catholic provost of Interlaken, and had spent his earliest youth in the châlets and on the magnificent Alps of the Hasli. Haller had afterwards found him in a barber’s shop where he was earning a living in a humble way; and discovering his great abilities, he had recommended him to the council. In 1531 Sulzer became Master of Arts at Strasburg. The council of Berne had then intrusted to him the task of directing the establishment of schools in all the places of the canton which had none. He had afterwards applied himself to theology; had gone to Saxony for the purpose of holding intercourse with Luther, and on his return had been named professor of theology at Berne, as successor of Megander. Step by step he became the most influential representative in Switzerland of the system which aimed at union with the German reformer.[580] Kunz, whose aim was the same, was not only a votary of tradition, in opposition to the Scriptural spirit of the Genevese minister, but he was also a man actuated by strong personal enmities. Calvin, although he did not wholly approve of Megander, had emphatically signified the pain which he had felt at his deprivation. ‘What a loss to the Church,’ he wrote to Bucer, January 12, 1538, ‘and how the enemies of the Gospel will exult when they see that we begin to banish our pastors; and that instead of considering how to overcome the powerful adversaries in whose presence we stand, we are inflicting mortal wounds on one another. This news of the deprivation of Megander has struck us as sharp a blow as if we had been told that great part of the Church of Berne had fallen down.[581] I admit that there was a mixture of what is human in his cause. But would it not be better to retain such a man and forgive him that trifling weakness, than to deprive him of his ministry, to the dishonor of God and of his Word, to the great injury of the Church, and with serious risk for the future? True, Sebastian Meyer and Kunz remain; but what can the former do except ruin the cause of the Gospel by his extravagances,[582] and by the violent outbreaks in which, when he is no longer master of himself, he indulges? As for Kunz, I can hardly trust myself to say what he is. Farel tells me that when he had lately to do with him, he never saw any beast more furious. His countenance, his gestures, his words, and his very complexion, said he, reminded him of the Furies.’[583] It is true that Calvin wrote