[479] An exposition of the same principles may be seen in the speeches of MM. de Broglie and Royer-Collard, at the period of the famous debates on the law of sacrilege in France 1824. [480] Dorum habend ir unser Herren kein rächt zu inen, sy zu töden. Bull. Chron. p. 127. Meantime acts of a similar nature were continually taking place. A curate of Saint Peter's, one day remarking in front of the church a number of poor people ill fed and with tattered garments, said to one of his colleagues, as he turned his eyes on the costly ornaments of the saints: "I should like to strip these idols of wood to procure clothing for these poor members of Jesus Christ." A few days later, at three o'clock in the morning, the saints and all their ornaments disappeared. The council flung the curate into prison, notwithstanding he protested his innocence of this proceeding. "What!" exclaimed the people, "is it these logs of wood that Jesus ordered us to clothe? Is it on account of these images that he will say to the righteous: _I was naked, and ye clothed me_?" Thus, the greater the resistance, the higher soared the Reformation; and the more it was compressed, the more energetically did it spring forward, and threaten to overthrow all that withstood it. CHAPTER III. The Disputation of October--Zwingle on the Church--The Church--Commencement of Presbyterianism--Discussion on the Mass--Enthusiasts--The Language of Discretion--Victory--A Characteristic of the Swiss Reformation--Moderation--Oswald Myconius at Zurich--Revival of Literature--Thomas Plater of the Valais. [Sidenote: DISPUTATION OF OCTOBER.] Even these excesses were destined to be salutary; a new combat was needed to secure fresh triumphs; for in the things of the Spirit, as in the affairs of the world, there is no conquest without a struggle; and as the soldiers of Rome stood motionless, the conflict was to be brought on by the undisciplined sons of the Reformation. In fact, the magistrates were embarrassed and agitated; they felt the necessity of having their consciences enlightened, and with this view they resolved to appoint another public disputation in the German language, in which the question of idols should be examined according to Scripture.