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From Here to Forever
other hand, could not consent that Rome should again bring under
her control those states that had received the Word of God.
It was finally proposed that where the Reformation had not be-
come established, the Edict of Worms should be enforced; and that
“where the people could not conform to it without danger of revolt,
they should at least effect no new reform, ... they should not oppose
the celebration of the mass, they should permit no Roman Catholic
to embrace Lutheranism.” This measure passed the diet, to the great
satisfaction of the priests and prelates.
Mighty Issues at Stake
If this edict were enforced, “the Reformation could neither be
extended ... nor be established on solid foundations ... where it
already existed.
Liberty would be prohibited. No conversions
would be allowed. The hopes of the world seemed about to be
extinguished.
The evangelical party looked to one another in blank dismay:
“What is to be done?” “Shall the chiefs of the Reformation submit,
and accept the edict? ... The Lutheran princes were guaranteed the
free exercise of their religion. The same boon was extended to all
those of their subjects who, prior to the passing of the measure, had
embraced the reformed views. Ought not this to content them? ...”
“Happily they looked at the principle on which this arrangement
was based, and they acted in faith. What was that principle? It was
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the right of Rome to coerce conscience and forbid free inquiry. But
were not themselves and their Protestant subjects to enjoy religious
freedom? Yes, as a favor specially stipulated for in the arrangement,
but not as a right. ... The acceptance of the proposed arrangement
would have been a virtual admission that religious liberty ought to be
confined to reformed Saxony; and as to all the rest of Christendom,
free inquiry and the profession of the reformed faith were crimes
and must be visited with the dungeon and the stake. Could they
consent to localize religious liberty? ... Could the Reformers have
pleaded that they were innocent of the blood of those hundreds and
2
Idem.