168
The Great Controversy
proposed decree, in anything that is contrary to God, to His holy word,
to our right conscience, to the salvation of our souls.”
“What! we ratify this edict! We assert that when Almighty God
calls a man to His knowledge, this man nevertheless cannot receive
the knowledge of God!” “There is no sure doctrine but such as is
conformable to the word of God.... The Lord forbids the teaching of
any other doctrine.... The Holy Scriptures ought to be explained by
other and clearer texts; ... this Holy Book is, in all things necessary
for the Christian, easy of understanding, and calculated to scatter the
darkness. We are resolved, with the grace of God, to maintain the pure
and exclusive preaching of His only word, such as it is contained in
the biblical books of the Old and New Testaments, without adding
anything thereto that may be contrary to it. This word is the only truth;
it is the sure rule of all doctrine and of all life, and can never fail or
deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against all
the powers of hell, while all the human vanities that are set up against
it shall fall before the face of God.”
“For this reason we reject the yoke that is imposed on us.” “At the
same time we are in expectation that his imperial majesty will behave
toward us like a Christian prince who loves God above all things;
and we declare ourselves ready to pay unto him, as well as unto you,
gracious lords, all the affection and obedience that are our just and
legitimate duty.”—Ibid., b. 13, ch. 6.
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 principles contained in this celebrated Protest ... constitute
the very essence of Protestantism. Now this Protest opposes two
abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil
[204]
magistrate, and the second the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead
of these abuses, Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the
magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible
church. In the first place, it rejects the civil power in divine things, and
says with the prophets and apostles, ‘We must obey God rather than
man.’ In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown