Protestantism in Switzerland - James Aitken Wylie

Following in the steps of Zurich, they passed a
law forbidding the foreign service. What deep
wounds had that service inflicted on Switzerland!
Orphans and widows, withered and mutilated
forms, cowardly feelings, and hideous vices had all
entered with it! Henceforward no Bernese was to
be at liberty to sell his sword to a foreign potentate
or shed his own or another's blood in a quarrel that
did not belong to him. In fine, "they made an
inscription," says Sleidan, "in golden letters, upon
a pillar, of the day and the year when Popery was
abolished, to stand as a monument to
posterity."[22]
The foreign deputies did not depart till they had
seen their Excellencies of Bern honor the occasion
of their visit by an act of civic clemency and grace.
They opened the prison doors to two men who had
forfeited their lives for sedition. Further, they
recalled all the exiles. "If a king or emperor," said
they, "had visited our city, we would have released
the malefactors, exhorting them to amendment.
And now that the King of kings, and the Prince
who owns the homage of our hearts, the Son of
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