The fanaticism of the cantons called for blood; and it was soon seen with what arms Rome intended combating the Word of God. [Sidenote: A PATRIARCHAL FAMILY.] One of Zwingle's friends, the worthy Œxlin,[509] was pastor of Burg upon the Rhine, in the neighbourhood of Stein. The bailiff Am-Berg, who had appeared to listen to the Gospel with delight,[510] being desirous of obtaining that bailiwick, had promised the leading men of Schwytz to root out the new faith. Œxlin, although not within his jurisdiction, was the first upon whom he exercised his severity. [509] See Vol. II. p. 312. [510] Der war anfangs dem Evangelio günstig. Bull. Chr. p. 180. About midnight, on the 7th of July 1524, some persons knocked at the pastor's door; they were the bailiff's soldiers, who entered the house, seized Œxlin, and carried him away prisoner, in defiance of his cries. Thinking they meant to assassinate him, he cried "Murder;" the inhabitants started from their beds in affright, and the village soon became the scene of a frightful tumult, which was heard as far as Stein. The sentinel on guard at the castle of Hohenklingen fired the alarm-gun; the tocsin was rung, and the inhabitants of Stein, Stammheim, and the adjoining places, were soon moving, and inquiring of one another in the darkness what was the matter. At Stammheim lived the deputy-bailiff Wirth, whose two eldest sons, Adrian and John, both young priests full of piety and courage, were preaching the Gospel with great unction. John especially abounded in faith, and was ready to sacrifice his life for his Saviour. This was truly a patriarchal family. Hannah, the mother, who had borne the bailiff many children, and brought them up in the fear of the Lord, was revered for her virtues throughout the whole district. At the noise of the tumult in Burg, the father and the two eldest sons went out like their neighbours. The father was indignant that the bailiff of Frauenfeld should have exercised his authority in a manner contrary to the laws of the country. The sons learned with sorrow that their brother, their friend, the man whose good example they were delighted to follow, had been dragged away like a criminal. Each of them seized a halberd, and in spite of the fears of a tender wife and mother, the father and his two sons joined the band of citizens of Stein with the determination of rescuing their pastor. Unhappily, a number of those miscreants who make their appearance in every disorder had joined the expedition; they pursued the bailiff's officers; the latter, hearing the tocsin and the shouts of alarm, redoubled their speed, dragging their victim after them, and soon placed the river Thur between themselves and their pursuers. [Sidenote: THE MOB IN THE CONVENT OF ITTINGEN.]