Zwingle, by a power not their own, caused many rays of the glorious light
of Truth to shine upon benighted nations, and disturbed the slumbers of
the corrupted church. Great were, and still are the blessings derived
from the great struggle. Many of the bonds of Satan were broken, and
many a heavy burdened soul found its long desired rest. Yet how soon was
even the brightness of this morning dimmed, and how little progress did
the cause of the Reformation make after the departure of the immediate
instruments in the great movement.

In Switzerland, not inaptly called the cradle of the English Reformation,
the Cantons which, in the first instance received the truth and joined
the Protestant cause, continue still to bear the same name, but not one
which at that time retained the designation of Catholic, has since become
Protestant: and at Geneva, where Calvin taught, and where his doctrines
are still professed, opinions which were not less abhorrent to him than
the worst of the errors of popery, are openly maintained. Those who now
preach the vital truths of the Reformation, are the _few_ not the _many_.

In England, the iron rule of Elizabeth in ecclesiastical matters, and in
particular her requirement of uniformity with respect to the "rags of
Rome," checked the real progress of the Reformation in the English
church, but by a reaction which in the ordering of Divine Wisdom, often
makes the wrath of man to praise him, it appears to have been the means
of raising up an increased antagonism to error, in the persons of men
willing to suffer and to die for the cause of truth. It will perhaps be
admitted that at many periods of the history of what is called the
English church, whilst its nominal members numbered a large proportion of
the whole population, the actual number of the genuine disciples of
Christ within its pale were in small compass. The revival in some
measure, of the spirit of its reformers, even in opposition to the letter