[533] Interea surgere Zwinglius ad ensem suum. Zw. Opp. iii. 411.--Uli is an abridgment of Ulrich. Zwingle had been priest at Glaris. But these isolated attacks could not paralyze the movement by which Zurich was carried onward, and which was beginning to shake all Switzerland. They were pebbles thrown into a torrent to check its course. Everywhere its waters were swelling, threatening to sweep away the most formidable obstacles. The Bernese having informed the people of Zurich that several states had refused to sit with them in future in the diet: "Well, then," replied these men of Zurich with calmness, and raising their hands towards heaven, as the heroes of Rutli in old time, "we have the firm assurance that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in whose name the confederation was formed, will not desert us, and will at last, of his great mercy, make us sit at the right hand of his sovereign majesty."[534] Possessing such faith the Reformation had nothing to fear. But would it gain similar victories in the other states of the confederation? Would not Zurich remain alone on the side of God's Word? Would Berne, Basle, and other cantons remain subject to the power of Rome? This we shall soon see. Let us therefore turn towards Berne, and study the progress of the Reformation in the most influential state of the confederation. [534] Bey Ihm zuletzt sitzen. Kirchhofer Ref. v. Bern. p. 55. CHAPTER VII. Berne--The Provost Watteville--First Successes of the Reformed Doctrines--Haller at the Convent--Accusation and Deliverance--The Monastery of Königsfeldt--Margaret Watteville to Zwingle--The Convent opened--Two Champions--Clara May and the Provost Watteville. [Sidenote: BERNE--THE WATTEVILLES.] Nowhere was the struggle likely to be so severe as at Berne, for there the Gospel counted both powerful friends and formidable adversaries. At the head of the reforming party were the banneret John Weingarten, Bartholomew May, member of the Smaller Council, his sons Wolfgang and Claudius, his grandsons James and Benedict, and above all, the family of the Wattevilles. The avoyer James Watteville, who since 1512 had occupied the first station in the republic, had early read the writings of Luther and Zwingle, and had often conversed about the Gospel with John Haller, pastor of Anseltingen, whom he had protected against his persecutors. [Sidenote: THE ADVERSE PARTY AT BERNE.]