Protestantism in Switzerland - James Aitken Wylie

question. Both felt that it was the duty of the
Protestant States to put forth their political and
military strength in the way of repelling force by
force. They meditated the forming of a great
Christian republic, embracing the Reformed Swiss
cantons, the free cities of Southern Germany, and
the Protestant Saxon States in Central and Northern
Germany. Zwingli even turned his eyes to Venice,
where a Protestant movement of a promising kind
had recently presented itself. He sent an
ambassador to the republic, who came back with a
secret assurance of aid in case of need. The
Reformer was not without hope of enlisting France
in the league. Overtures to that effect had in fact.
been made by Francis I., who seemed not unwilling
to leave the path of violence on which he had
entered, and take under his wing the Reformation
of his country. This Protestant alliance was meant
to extend from the Adriatic to the German Ocean,
forming a Protestant power in Central Europe
sufficient to protect conscience and the free
preaching of the Gospel. This display of strength,
Zwingli believed, would hold in check the emperor
and the Pope, would be a rampart around the
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