The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 160

“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 yourselves a frightful deluge
of insurmountable dangers, of present disasters, and eternal desolation....
I might quote many examples from the oracles of God. I might speak of
the Pharaohs, the kings of Babylon, and those of Israel, whose labors
never more effectually contributed to their own destruction than when
they sought by counsels, to all appearance most wise, to strengthen their
dominion. ‘God removeth mountains, and they know it not.”’—Ibid., b.
7, ch. 8.
Luther had spoken in German; he was now requested to repeat the
same words in Latin. Though exhausted by the previous effort, he
complied, and again delivered his speech, with the same clearness and
energy as at the first. God’s providence directed in this matter. The
minds of many of the princes were so blinded by error and superstition
that at the first delivery they did not see the force of Luther’s reasoning;
but the repetition enabled them to perceive clearly the points presented.

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