In Switzerland from 1516 to 1525 - James Aitken Wylie

their original fountains in the Sacred Scriptures,
would not tend to abolish the many evils under
which their country confessedly groaned, and at
once purify its private morals, and reinvigorate and
restore its public virtue.
These petitions were received and no further
cared for by those to whom they were presented.
Nevertheless, their influence was great with the
lower orders of the clergy, and the common people.
The manifesto that accompanied them laid bare the
corruption which had taken place in the national
religion, and the causes at work in the deterioration
of the national spirit, and became a banner round
which the, friends of Gospel truth, and the
champions of the rights of conscience, leagued
themselves. Thus banded together, they were abler
to withstand their enemies. The cause grew and
waxed strong by the efforts it made to overcome
the obstacles it encountered. Its enemies became its
friends. The storms that warred around the tree
Zwingli had planted, instead of overturning it,
cleared away the mephitic vapors with which the
air around it was laden, and lent a greater
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