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The Great Controversy
“Most serene emperor, illustrious princes, gracious lords,” said
Luther, “I appear before you this day, in conformity with the order
given me yesterday, and by God’s mercies I conjure your majesty
and your august highnesses to listen graciously to the defense of a
cause which I am assured is just and true. If, through ignorance, I
should transgress the usages and proprieties of courts, I entreat you to
pardon me; for I was not brought up in the palaces of kings, but in the
seclusion of a convent.”—Ibid., b. 7, ch. 8.
Then, proceeding to the question, he stated that his published
works were not all of the same character. In some he had treated of
faith and good works, and even his enemies declared them not only
harmless but profitable. To retract these would be to condemn truths
which all parties confessed. The second class consisted of writings
exposing the corruptions and abuses of the papacy. To revoke these
works would strengthen the tyranny of Rome and open a wider door
to many and great impieties. In the third class of his books he had
attacked individuals who had defended existing evils. Concerning
these he freely confessed that he had been more violent than was
becoming. He did not claim to be free from fault; but even these books
he could not revoke, for such a course would embolden the enemies of
truth, and they would then take occasion to crush God’s people with
still greater cruelty.
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“Yet I am but a mere man, and not God,” he continued; “I shall
therefore defend myself as Christ did: ‘If I have spoken evil, bear
witness of the evil.’ ... By the mercy of God, I conjure you, most
serene emperor, and you, most illustrious princes, and all men of every
degree, to prove from the writings of the prophets and apostles that
I have erred. As soon as I am convinced of this, I will retract every
error, and be the first to lay hold of my books and throw them into the
fire.
“What I have just said plainly shows, I hope, that I have carefully
weighed and considered the dangers to which I expose myself; but
far from being dismayed, I rejoice to see that the gospel is now, as in
former times, a cause of trouble and dissension. This is the character,
this is the destiny, of the word of God. ‘I came not to send peace on
earth, but a sword,’ said Jesus Christ. God is wonderful and terrible
in His counsels; beware lest, by presuming to quench dissensions,
you should persecute the holy word of God, and draw down upon