In Germany to the Leipsic Disputation - James Aitken Wylie

name he bore; and above that which had been
assigned to Dr. Eck was a representation of St.
George trampling the dragon under foot: a symbol,
as the learned doctor doubtless viewed it, of the
feat he was to perform in slaying with scholastic
sword the dragon of the Reformation. In the middle
of the hall were tables for the notaries-public, who
were to take notes of the discussion.
All are in their places: there is silence in the
hall. Mosellanus ascends the pulpit and delivers the
introductory address. He exhorts the champions to
bear themselves gallantly yet courteously; to
remember that they are theologians, not duellists,
and that their ambition ought to be not so much to
conquer as to be conquered, so that Truth might be
the only victor on the field now about to open.
When the address had terminated, the organ pealed
through the hall of the Pleisenberg, and the whole
assembly, falling on their knees, sang the ancient
hymn — Veni, Sancte Spiritus. Three times was
this invocation solemnly repeated.
The Church now stood on the line that divided
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