In Switzerland from 1516 to 1525 - James Aitken Wylie

these words in the case of many. They disclosed, it
was felt, the only way by which they could ever
hope to obtain eternal life, and returning to their
homes they published abroad the strange but
welcome tidings they had heard. Thus it came to
pass that this, the chief stronghold of darkness in
all Switzerland, was suddenly converted into a
center of the Reformed light. "A trumpet had been
blown," and a "standard lifted up" upon the tops of
the mountains.
Zwingli continued his course. The well-worn
pilgrim-track began to be disused, the shrine to
which it led forsaken; and as the devotees
diminished, so too did the revenues of the priest of
Einsiedeln. But so far from being grieved at the
loss of his livelihood, it rejoiced Zwingli to think
that his work was prospering. The Papal authorities
offered him no obstruction, although they could
hardly shut their eyes to what was going on. Rome
needed the swords of the cantons. She knew the
influence which Zwingli wielded over his
countrymen, and she thought by securing him to
secure them; but her favors and flatteries, bestowed
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