2. In 1516, Zwingle openly declaimed against many Catholic abuses, such as monastic vows, pilgrimages, worship of relics, and indulgences. He also taught that the Bible was the only standard of religious truth. In 1518, one Samson came into Switzerland to sell indulgences. The year following Zwingle opposed him and drove him from Zurich. Four years later the Swiss Reformer was accused of heresy by adherents of the Roman pontiff, and brought before the council of Zurich. He presented sixty-seven doctrinal propositions before the council which he agreed to defend by the scriptures against all opposers. The council before which his cause was tried decided that the controversy must be settled by an appeal to the Bible, and Zwingle triumphed. At the conclusion of the hearing the council decreed that the Reformer should be allowed to teach as he had formerly done unmolested; and that no preacher in the canton should teach any doctrine he could not prove by the Bible. The year following--1524--the council reformed the public worship, that is, they adopted the principles and methods of worship proposed by Zwingle. {253} 3. In 1531, the Catholics in the surrounding cantons attacked Zurich, and early in the battle, Zwingle, while leading the Protestant forces, was slain, his body hacked to pieces and afterwards burned. [See note 1, end of section.] 4. John Calvin.--Zwingle was succeeded in the leadership of the Swiss Reformers by John Calvin, a talented but austere man, a native of Noyon, France. [See note 2, end of section.] He more than any other man--Luther excepted--influenced the character of the Protestant churches. He held many views that were at variance with those of Zwingle. The latter taught that civil rulers possessed absolute power in religious matters, and subjected the ministers altogether to their authority. Calvin held that the church should be free and independent of the state; that it should govern itself by its own officers whom the church and not the state should appoint; he limited the power of the state over the church to giving it external protection. Zwingle recognized a gradation of officers in the Christian church; Calvin held that all were equal. Suitable persons appointed and ordained with the consent of the members of the church, constituted, in his theory of church government, a legitimate ministry to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. But for the government of the church a number of men were chosen by the people from among the most venerable and respectable of the congregation. These men were called presbyters or elders. They were all equal in authority, and even the preaching minister was in no sense superior to them in office.