There are decisive reasons against the authenticity of this letter.--I. In 1525, Kolb was pastor at Wertheimer; he did not remove to Berne until 1527. (See Zw. Epp. p. 526.)--M. de Haller, indeed, very arbitrarily substitutes 1527 for 1525: this correction was no doubt very well meant; but here, unfortunately, Haller is at variance with Salat and Tschudi, who, although they do not agree as to the day on which this letter was alluded to in the diet, are unanimous as to the year, which with both is clearly 1525.--II. There is a difference as to the manner in which this letter was divulged; according to one version, it was intercepted; according to another, some of Kolb's parishioners communicated it to an inhabitant of the smaller cantons who chanced to be at Berne.--III. The original is in German; but Zwingle always wrote in Latin to his learned friends; and besides, he saluted them as their _brother_, and not as their _servant_.--IV. If we read Zwingle's letters, we shall see that it is impossible to find two styles more unlike than that of the pretended letter and his. Zwingle would never have written a letter to say so little; his epistles are generally long and full of news. To call the paltry jest preserved by Salat _a letter_, is mere mockery.--V. As an historian Salat deserves little confidence, and Tschudi appears to have copied him with a few variations. It is possible that a man of the smaller cantons may have had communication from some Bernese of Zwingle's letter to Haller, which we have mentioned in our second volume (p. 359), where Zwingle employs this same comparison of the bears with much dignity, which moreover occurs in all the authors of that time. This may have suggested to some wag the idea of inventing this spurious letter as addressed by Zwingle to Kolb. [Sidenote: CLARA KAY.] But in vain did they seek to stifle the Reformation in Berne. It was advancing on every side. The sisters of the convent of the Island had not forgotten Haller's visit. Clara May and several of her friends, anxiously pondering on what they ought to do, wrote to the learned Henry Bullinger. "St. Paul," replied he, "enjoins young women not to make vows, but to marry, and not to live in idleness under a false show of piety. (1 Timothy v. 13, 14.) Follow Jesus Christ in humility, charity, patience, purity, and kindness."[550] Clara, praying for help from on high, resolved to adopt this advice, and renounce a life so contrary to the Word of God, invented by men, and fraught with temptation and sin. Her father Bartholomew, who had spent fifty years on the battle-field or in the council-chamber, heard of his daughter's resolution with delight. Clara left the convent. [550] Euerem Herrn Jesu nachfolget in Demuth. Kirchh. Ref. v. B. 60. [Sidenote: BASLE.]