In the summer of the same year, trained as he already was in the school of the world, he entered into the quiet shades of the cloister. It can scarcely be expected that he will remain there long. First of all, let us take a view of monastic life on its most favorable side, as a school of self-denial, as a place of refuge for more profound study, as a field for the exercise of practical charity. In all these respects it has no doubt served valuable ends. And who will deny that, in times when the will of the strong would endure no restraint, when bloody revenge was thought to be a duty, and when iron bodies, broken by no excess, added deeds of violence to deeds of violence, a milder spirit was awakened in the walls of the cloister, and that pride was humbled there, and self-will subdued?--that in the _God's peace_, which protected its environs, the mechanic, as well as the peasant, found labor and encouragement? And who does not acknowledge the services rendered by particular monasteries, especially those of the Benedictines, in the preservation and multiplication of rare manuscripts--the works of the ancients, that had survived the downfall of the Western Empire and the irruption of barbarian hordes? And even in later times, in our own country, who will not freely own his indebtedness to a Kopp in Muri, a Van der Meer in Rheinau, and the monks of the neighboring St. Blaise,---a Herrgott, Neugart, Eichhorn, and the Abbot Gerbert himself, for a knowledge of the diplomacy and history of the Middle Ages? Who does not honor the Augustines of Mt. St. Bernard, the Gray Sisters and the excellent schools of particular monasteries? But then, on the other side, who will not admit that indolence, false views of life, narrow-mindedness, hypocrisy, and secret and impure practices found a home in a multitude of these establishments? In Zwingli's days, these dark features were most prominent and, we may even say, altogether prevailed. To prove this, not only Protestant, but enough of Catholic witnesses also are at hand. It was well for a man of his spirit and aspirations to spend a few years in the quiet cells of the cloister for the completion of his theological studies, especially since he was exempt from the duty of wasting time in empty ceremonial rites. But after this end was attained, it was easy to foresee that he would again wish himself beyond the narrow walls.