"Do not boast so much. You are in Hesse, not in Switzerland. In this country we do not break
people’s necks. Spare such proud, defiant words, till you get back to your Swiss."^866
Zwingli: In Switzerland also there is strict justice, and we break no man’s neck without
trial. I use simply a figurative expression for a lost cause.
The Landgrave said to Luther, "You should not take offense at such common expressions."
But the agitation was so great that the meeting adjourned to the banqueting hall.
The discussion was resumed in the afternoon, and turned on the christological question. I
believe, said Luther, that Christ is in heaven, but also in the sacrament, as substantially as he was
in the Virgin’s womb. I care not whether it be against nature and reason, provided it be not against
faith.
Oecolampadius: You deny the metaphor in the words of institution, but you must admit a
synecdoche. For Christ does not say, This is bread and my body (as you hold), but simply, This is
my body.
Luther: A metaphor admits the existence of a sign only; but a synecdoche admits the thing
itself, as when I say, the sword is in the scabbard, or the beer in the bottle.
Zwingli reasoned: Christ ascended to heaven, therefore he cannot be on earth with his body.
A body is circumscribed, and cannot be in several places at once.
Luther: I care little about mathematics.
The contest grew hotter, without advancing, and was broken up by a call to the repast.
The next day, Sunday, Oct. 3, it was renewed.
Zwingli maintained that a body could not be in different places at once. Luther quoted the
Sophists (the Schoolmen) to the effect that there are different kinds of presence. The universe is a
body, and yet not in a particular place.
Zwingli: Ah, you speak of the Sophists, doctor! Are you really obliged to return to the
onions and fleshpots of Egypt? He then cited from Augustin, who says, "Christ is everywhere
present as God; but as to his body, he is in heaven."
Luther: You have Augustin and Fulgentius on your side, but we have all the other fathers.
Augustin was young when he wrote the passage you quote, and he is obscure. We must believe the
old teachers only so far as they agree with the Word of God.
Oecolampadius: We, too, build on the Word of God, not on the fathers; but we appeal to
them to show that we teach no novelties.^867
Luther, pointing again his finger to the words on the table: This is our text: you have not
yet driven us from it. We care for no other proof.
Oecolampadius: If this is the case, we had better close the discussion.
The chancellor exhorted them to come to an understanding.
Luther: There is only one way to that. Let our adversaries believe as we do.
The Swiss: We cannot.
Luther: Well, then, I abandon you to God’s judgment, and pray that he will enlighten you.
Oecolampadius: We will do the same. You need it as much as we.
(^866) He added, "Wo nicht, so will ich euch auch über die Schnauze fahren, dass es euch gereuen wird, dazu Ursach gegeben zu haben."
(^867) Luther hastily prepared a memorandum for the Landgrave, with quotations from Hilary, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Cyprian, and Irenaeus,
to counteract the quotations from Augustin. See Letters, ed. De Wette, III. 508-511.