This quote reminded me of a particular debate that happens on the subject of abortion.
"Two of the main areas of controversy during Zwingli’s early years in Zürich’s pulpit were the abolition of the mass and the removal of images and icons. While Zwingli opposed the mass and preached accordingly, he believed that it could only be abolished gradually. As Zwingli and Jud advised the council, “the mass should be abolished and replaced by an evangelical service, but out of respect for weaker brethren this change should be made slowly.”
Such insistence on patience, however, earned Zwingli enemies in unexpected places. For many, Zwingli’s patience looked like compromise. In fact, Zwingli’s fiercest local detractors were not the Catholic-sympathizing residents of Zürich who opposed evangelical reforms, but the rural preachers, iconoclasts, pacifists, and Anabaptists who insisted on a complete and immediate reformation of the church, without delay.
But Zwingli’s gradualist approach to reform won the day. On June 8, 1524, the Zürich City Council agreed to remove images from churches, “so that many [may] turn themselves from the idols entirely to the living true God. But the reformation of Zürich taught Zwingli about the need to fight, not only a long-war, but a multi-front one. It required near superhuman political savvy to convince the old Catholic elements of the need for reform while constraining the radical reforming elements from rash and precipitous actions. All of this displayed Zwingli’s patience, even a willingness to be misunderstood, and an unrelenting trust in God’s sovereignty."