Meanwhile the disease gains ground, and this man, the hope of the Church and of Switzerland, is beheld by his despairing friends as about to become the prey of the tomb. His senses and strength forsake him. His heart becomes alarmed, but he is still able to turn towards God, and exclaims:-- My ills increase; Haste to console; Terrors overwhelm My heart and soul. Death is at hand, My senses fail, My voice is choked, Now, Christ! prevail.[738] Lo! Satan strains To snatch his prey; I feel his hand, Must I give way? He harms me not, I fear no loss, For here I lie Before thy cross. [738] Nun ist est um Min Zung ist stumm ........ Darum ist Zyt Das du min stryt. (Zw. Op. ii, part ii, p. 271.) Canon Hoffman, sincere in his own belief, could not bear the idea of allowing Zuinglius to die in the errors which he had preached. Accordingly he waited on the provost of the Chapter, and said to him, "Think of the danger of his soul. Does he not give the name of fantastical innovators to all the doctors who have appeared for the last three hundred and eighty years and more--to Alexander Hales, St. Bonaventura, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, and all the canonists? Does he not maintain that their doctrines are the dreams which they dreamed in their cowls within the walls of their cloisters? Better had it been for the town of Zurich that Zuinglius had, for a series of years, destroyed our vintage and harvest! There he lies at the brink of death! Do, I beseech you, save his poor soul!" It would seem that the provost was more enlightened than the canon, and deemed it unnecessary to convert Zuinglius to St. Bonaventura and Albert the Great. He was left at peace. The whole town was in mourning. All the faithful cried to God night and day, beseeching him to restore their faithful pastor.[739] Terror had passed from Zurich to the mountains of the Tockenburg, where also the plague had appeared. Seven or eight persons had perished in the village, among them a servant of Nicolas, a brother of Zuinglius.[740] No letter was received from the Reformer, and his young brother Andrew wrote, "Tell me, my dear brother, in what state you are. The abbot and all our brothers desire to be remembered." As the parents of Zuinglius are not mentioned it would seem that they were now dead. [739] Alle glaubige rufften Gott treuwillich an, dass er Ihren getreuwen Ihirten wieder ufrichte. (Bullinger, MS.) [740] Nicolao verò Germano nostro, etiam obiit servus suus, attamen non in ædibus suis. (Zw. Ep. 88.) [Sidenote: RUMOUR OF HIS DEATH.]