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The Acts of the Apostles
Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy
counsel determined before to be done.
“And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto Thy
servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word, by stretching
forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by
the name of Thy Holy Child Jesus.”
The disciples prayed that greater strength might be imparted to
them in the work of the ministry; for they saw that they would meet
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the same determined opposition that Christ had encountered when
upon the earth. While their united prayers were ascending in faith
to heaven, the answer came. The place where they were assembled
was shaken, and they were endowed anew with the Holy Spirit. Their
hearts filled with courage, they again went forth to proclaim the word
of God in Jerusalem. “With great power gave the apostles witness of
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,” and God marvelously blessed their
efforts.
The principle for which the disciples stood so fearlessly when, in
answer to the command not to speak any more in the name of Jesus,
they declared, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto
you more than unto God, judge ye,” is the same that the adherents
of the gospel struggled to maintain in the days of the Reformation.
When in 1529 the German princes assembled at the Diet of Spires,
there was presented the emperor’s decree restricting religious liberty,
and prohibiting all further dissemination of the reformed doctrines.
It seemed that the hope of the world was about to be crushed out.
Would the princes accept the decree? Should the light of the gospel
be shut out from the multitudes still in darkness? Mighty issues for
the world were at stake. Those who had accepted the reformed faith
met together, and their unanimous decision was, “Let us reject this
decree. In matters of conscience the majority has no power.”—Merle
d’Aubigne, History of the Reformation, b. 13, ch. 5.
This principle we in our day are firmly to maintain. The banner
of truth and religious liberty held aloft by the founders of the gospel
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church and by God’s witnesses during the centuries that have passed
since then, has, in this last conflict, been committed to our hands.
The responsibility for this great gift rests with those whom God has
blessed with a knowledge of His word. We are to receive this word
as supreme authority. We are to recognize human government as an