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themselves that weakness was on the side of the Reformation, while
strength was with the emperor and the pope. Had the Reformers
made flesh their arm, they would have been as powerless as the
papists supposed. But though weak in numbers, and at variance with
Rome, they had their strength. They appealed from the decision of
the Diet to the word of God, and from the emperor of Germany to
the King of kings and Lord of lords.
As Ferdinand had refused to regard their conscientious convic-
tions, the princes decided not to heed his absence, but to bring
their Protest before the national council without delay. A solemn
declaration was therefore drawn up, and presented to the Diet:—
“We protest by these presents, before God, our only Creator,
Preserver, Redeemer, and Saviour, and who will one day be our
Judge, as well as before all men and all creatures, that we, for us and
our people, neither consent nor adhere in any ma
the proposed decree in anything that is contrary to God, to his word,
to our right conscience, or to the salvation of our souls.... We ca
assert that when Almighty God calls a man to his knowledge, he
dare not embrace that divine knowledge.... There is no true doctrine
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but that which conforms to the word of God. The Lord forbids
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105
the teaching of any other faith. The Holy Scriptures, with one text
explained by other and plainer texts, are, in all things necessary for
the Christian, easy to be understood, and adapted to enlighten. We
are therefore resolved by divine grace to maintain the pure preaching
of God’s only word, as it is contained in the scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments, without anything added thereto. This word
is the only truth. It is the sure rule of all doctrine and life, and can
never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall
stand against all the powers of hell, whilst all the vanities that are set
up against it shall fall before the face of God.” “We therefore reject
the yoke that is imposed upon us.”
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 Protest denied the right of civil rulers to legislate in matters
between the soul and God, and declared with prophets and apostles,
“We ought to obey God rather than men.” It rejected also the arbitrary
power of the church, and set forth the unerring principle that all
human teaching should be in subjection to the oracles of God. The
protesters had thrown off the yoke of man’s supremacy, and had
exalted Christ as supreme in the church, and his word in the pulpit.
The power of conscience was set above the State, and the authority
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of the Holy Scriptures above the visible church. The crown of
Christ was uplifted above the pope’s tiara and the emperor’s diadem.
The protesters had moreover affirmed their right to freely utter their
convictions of truth. They would not only believe and obey, but teach
what the word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest or
magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness
against religious intolerance, and an assertion of the right of all men
to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences.
The declaration had been made. It was written in the memory of
thousands, and registered in the books of Heaven, where no effort of
man could erase it. All evangelical Germany adopted the Protest as
the expression of its faith. Everywhere men beheld in this declaration
the promise of a new and better era. Said one of the princes to the
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The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4
Protestants of Spires, “May the Almighty, who has given you grace
to confess energetically, freely, and fearlessly, preserve you in that
Christian firmness until the day of eternity.”
Had the Reformation, after attaining a degree of success, con-
sented to temporize to secure favor with the world, it would have
been untrue to God and to itself, and would thus have insured its
own destruction. The experience of those early reformers contains a
lesson for all succeeding ages. Satan’s ma
God and his word has not changed; he is still as much opposed to the
Scriptures being made the guide of life as in the sixteenth century.
In our time there is a wide departure from its doctrines and precepts,
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and there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle,—the
Bible and the Bible only as the rule of faith and duty. Satan is
still working through every means which he can control to destroy
religious liberty. The anti-christian power which the protesters of
Spires repudiated, is now with renewed vigor seeking to reestablish
its lost supremacy. The same unswerving adherence to the word of
God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation, is the only hope of
reform today.
There appeared tokens of danger to the Protestants. There were
tokens, also, that the divine hand was stretched out to protect the
faithful. It was about this time that Melancthon hurried his friend
Grynaeus through the streets of Spires to the Rhine, and urged him
to cross the river without delay. Grynaeus, in astonishment, desired
to know the reason for this sudden flight. Said Melancthon, “An
old man of grave and solemn aspect, but who is unknown to me,
appeared before me, and said, ‘In a minute the officers of justice
will be sent by Ferdinand to arrest Grynaeus.’” On the banks of the
Rhine, Melancthon waited until the waters of that stream interposed
between his beloved friend and those who sought his life. When he
saw him on the other side at last, he said, “He is torn from the cruel
jaws of those who thirst for i
Grynaeus had been on intimate terms with a leading papist doc-
tor; but, having been shocked at one of his sermons, he went to him,
and entreated that he would no longer war against the truth. The
papist concealed his anger, but immediately repaired to the king, and
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obtained from him authority to arrest the protester. When Melanc-
thon returned to his house, he was informed that after his departure
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officers in pursuit of Grynaeus had searched it from top to bottom.
He ever believed that the Lord had saved his friend by sending a
holy angel to give him warning.
The Reformation was to be brought into greater prominence
before the mighty ones of the earth. The evangelical princes had