Basic HTML Version
Protest of the Princes
105
the teaching of any other faith. The Holy Scriptures, with one text
explained by other and plainer texts, are, in all things necessary for
the Christian, easy to be understood, and adapted to enlighten. We
are therefore resolved by divine grace to maintain the pure preaching
of God’s only word, as it is contained in the scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments, without anything added thereto. This word
is the only truth. It is the sure rule of all doctrine and life, and can
never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall
stand against all the powers of hell, whilst all the vanities that are set
up against it shall fall before the face of God.” “We therefore reject
the yoke that is imposed upon us.”
A deep impression was made upon the Diet. The majority were
filled with amazement and alarm at the boldness of the protesters.
The future appeared to them stormy and uncertain. Dissension, strife,
and bloodshed seemed inevitable. But the Reformers, assured of
the justice of their cause, and relying upon the arm of Omnipotence,
were full of courage and firmness.
The Protest denied the right of civil rulers to legislate in matters
between the soul and God, and declared with prophets and apostles,
“We ought to obey God rather than men.” It rejected also the arbitrary
power of the church, and set forth the unerring principle that all
human teaching should be in subjection to the oracles of God. The
protesters had thrown off the yoke of man’s supremacy, and had
exalted Christ as supreme in the church, and his word in the pulpit.
The power of conscience was set above the State, and the authority
[163]
of the Holy Scriptures above the visible church. The crown of
Christ was uplifted above the pope’s tiara and the emperor’s diadem.
The protesters had moreover affirmed their right to freely utter their
convictions of truth. They would not only believe and obey, but teach
what the word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest or
magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness
against religious intolerance, and an assertion of the right of all men
to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences.
The declaration had been made. It was written in the memory of
thousands, and registered in the books of Heaven, where no effort of
man could erase it. All evangelical Germany adopted the Protest as
the expression of its faith. Everywhere men beheld in this declaration
the promise of a new and better era. Said one of the princes to the