The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 207

in the presence of the emperor and the assembled 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 forwa rd with gloomy countenance and
troubled heart. But Luther, who accompanied them as far as Coburg,
revived their sinking faith by singing the hymn, written on that journey,
“A strong tower is our God.” Many an anxious foreboding was banished,
many a heavy heart lightened, at the sound of the inspiring strains.
The reformed princes had determined upon having a statement of
their views in systematic form, with the evidence from the Scriptures, to
present before the Diet; and the task of its preparation was committed
to Luther, Melanchthon, and their associates. This Confession was
accepted by the Protestants as an exposition of their faith, and they
assembled to affix their names to the important document. It was a
solemn and trying time. The Reformers were solicitous that their cause
should not be confounded with political questions; they felt that the
Reformation should exercise no other influence than that which proceeds
from the word of God.

206