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The Great Controversy
Melanchthon, ‘appeared before me and said, In a minute officers of
justice will be sent by Ferdinand to arrest Grynaeus.’”
During the day, Grynaeus had been scandalized at a sermon by
Faber, a leading papal doctor; and at the close, remonstrated with
him for defending “certain detestable errors.” “Faber dissembled his
anger, but immediately after repaired to the king, from whom he had
obtained an order against the importunate professor of Heidelberg.
Melanchthon doubted not that God had saved his friend by sending
one of His holy angels to forewarn him.
“Motionless on the banks of the Rhine, he waited until the waters
of that stream had rescued Grynaeus from his persecutors. ‘At last,’
cried Melanchthon, as he saw him on the opposite side, ‘at last he is
torn from the cruel jaws of those who thirst for innocent blood.’ When
he returned to his house, Melanchthon was informed that officers in
search of Grynaeus had ransacked it from top to bottom.”—Ibid., b.
13, ch. 6.
The Reformation was to be brought into greater prominence before
the mighty ones of the earth. The evangelical princes had been denied a
hearing by King Ferdinand; but they were to be granted an opportunity
to present their cause in the presence of the emperor and the assem-
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bled dignitaries of church and state. To quiet the dissensions which
disturbed the empire, Charles V, in the year following the Protest of
Spires, convoked a diet at Augsburg, over which he announced his
intention to preside in person. Thither the Protestant leaders were
summoned.
Great dangers threatened the Reformation; but its advocates still
trusted their cause with God, and pledged themselves to be firm to
the gospel. The elector of Saxony was urged by his councilors not to
appear at the Diet. The emperor, they said, required the attendance
of the princes in order to draw them into a snare. “Is it not risking
everything to go and shut oneself up within the walls of a city with a
powerful enemy?” But others nobly declared, “Let the princes only
comport themselves with courage, and God’s cause is saved.” “God is
faithful; He will not abandon us,” said Luther.—Ibid., b. 14, ch. 2. The
elector set out, with his retinue, for Augsburg. All were acquainted
with the dangers that menaced him, and many went forward with
gloomy countenance and troubled heart. But Luther, who accompanied
them as far as Coburg, revived their sinking faith by singing the hymn,