From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

piece of chalk, and proceeding to trace some
characters upon the velvet cover of the table. When
he had finished, it was found that he had written–
"HOC EST MEUM CORPUS." "Yes," said he,
laying down the bit of chalk, and displaying the
writing to those around the table, "these are the
words of Christ–'This is my body.' From this rock
no adversary shall dislodge me."
No one denied that these were the words of
Christ, but the question was, what was their sense
The whole controversy, on which hung issues to
Protestantism so momentous, turned on this. The
fundamental principle of Protestantism was that the
Word of God is the supreme authority, and that
obscure and doubtful passages are to be interpreted
by others more clear. If this principle were to be
followed on the present occasion, there could be no
great difficulty in determining the sense of the
words of Christ, "This is my body."
The argument of the Swiss was wholly in the
line of the fundamental principle of Protestantism.
Luther had but one arrow in his quiver. His
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