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

forces of superstition and despotism, interpreting
themselves through their representatives, the Pope
and the emperor, have said with equal emphasis,
"You shall not advance."
The hour is come, and the decisive battle which
is to determine whether liberty or bondage awaits
the world cannot be postponed. The lists have been
set, the combatants have taken their places, the
signal has been given; another moment and we
shall hear the sound of the terrible blows, as they
echo and re-echo over the field on which the
champions close in deadly strife. But instead of the
shock of battle, suddenly a deep stillness descends
upon the scene, and the combatants on both sides
stand motionless. He who looketh on the sun and it
shineth not has issued His command to suspend the
conflict. As of old "the cloud" has removed and
come between the two hosts, so that they come not
near the one to the other.
But why this pause? If the battle had been
joined that moment, the victory, according to every
reckoning of human probabilities, would have
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