America in Prophecy by Ellen White [Original Edition]

many of them saw and deplored the existing depravity in the
church, and desired a suppression of the abuses suffered by
the German people in consequence of the corruption and
greed of the hierarchy. The legate had presented the papal
member of the Diet to give a true delineation of the effects of
exactness the deceptions and abominations of popery, and
their dire results. In closing he said:
“These are some of the abuses that cry out against
Rome. All shame has been put aside, and their only object
is … money, money, money, … so that the preachers who
should teach the truth, utter nothing but falsehoods, and
are not only tolerated, but rewarded, because the greater
their lies, the greater their gain. It is from this foul spring
hand to avarice. … Alas, it is the scandal caused by the clergy
that hurls so many poor souls into eternal condemnation.
A general reform must be effected.” –Ibid., b. 7, ch. 4.
A more able and forcible denunciation of the papal abuses
could not have been presented by Luther himself; and the fact
that the speaker was a determined enemy of the Reformer,
Had the eyes of the assembly been opened, they would
have beheld angels of God in the midst of them, shedding
beams of light athwart the darkness of error, and opening
minds and hearts to the reception of truth. It was the power
of the God of truth and wisdom that controlled even the
adversaries of the Reformation, and thus prepared the way
for the great work about to be accomplished. Martin Luther
been heard in that assembly.
A committee was at once appointed by the Diet to prepare
an enumeration of the papal oppressions that weighed so
heavily on the German people. This list, containing a hundred
a request that he would take immediate measures for the