From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

influential communities. Every day princes, counts,
and free cities press forward to enroll themselves in
the Protestant host and serve under the Protestant
banner; and in many cases where the ruler remains
on the side of Rome, a not inconsiderable portion
of his subjects have forsaken the old faith and
embraced the Reformation.
Wider still does the light spread. It breaks out
on all sides. The skies of Bohemia, Moravia, and
Hungary have brightened anew– and already in
these countries have been laid the foundations of a
powerful Protestant Church, destined, alas! to sink
all too soon under the gathering tempests of
persecution. In Denmark and Sweden the
Reformation is marching on to its establishment.
The Protestant standard has been planted on the
shores of Zurich, and the neighboring cantons are
rallying round it. The Alps brighten from one hour
to another, and the radiance with which they glow
is reflected on the plains of Northern Italy. In
France, at the court of Francis I., and in the
Sorbonne, so jealous of its fame for orthodoxy,
there are men who are not ashamed to confess that
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