The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 205

the intrusion of the civil 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 of Jesus Christ. But it goes farther: it lays down
the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles
of God.”—Ibid., b. 13, ch. 6. The protesters had moreover affirmed
their right to utter freely 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 God 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
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.”—Ibid., b. 13, ch. 6.
Had the Reformation, after attaining a degree of success, consented
to temporize to secure favor with the world, it would have been untrue to
God and to itself, and would thus have ensured its own destruction. The
experience of these noble Reformers contains a lesson for all succeeding
ages. Satan’s manner of working against 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 their doctrines and precepts, and there is need of a return
to the great Protestant

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