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

him, they rule for him, and they are accountable to
him. They are the vassals of his throne, the lictors
of his judgment-seat. To him appertains the power
of passing sentence, to them the humble office of
using the sword he has put into their hands in
executing it. In this one immense monarch, the
Pope namely, all authority, rights, liberties are
comprehended. The State disappears as a distinct
and independent society: it is absorbed in the
Church as the Church is absorbed in her head–
occupying the chair of St. Peter. It was against this
hideous tyranny that Protestantism rose up. It
restored to society the Divine monarchy of
conscience. The theocracy of Rome was uprooted,
and with it sank the Divine right of priests and
kings, and all the remains of feudalism.
It was now the beginning of March. Spring had
opened the passes of the Alps, and Charles and his
men-at-arms went on their way to meet the Diet he
had summoned at Augsburg.
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