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

priesthood. This was not a body Catholic, it was a
caste, a third party, which stood between God and
the laity, to conduct all transactions between the
two. But when the Church revives at this great era,
she is seen to be not a mutilated body, a mere
fragment; she stands up a perfect, a complete
society.
The Protestants agreed to demand that their
Confession should be read publicly in the Diet.
This was a vital point with them. They had not
kindled this light to put it under a bushel, but to set
it in a very conspicuous place; indeed, in the midst
even of the princedoms, hierarchies, and powers of
Christendom now assembled at Augsburg. To this,
however, obstacles were interposed, as it was
foreseen there would be. The Confession was
subscribed on the 23rd of June; it was to be
presented on the 24th. On that day the Diet met at
three o'clock of the afternoon. The Protestant
princes appeared and demanded leave to read their
Confession. The legate Campeggio rose and began
to speak. He painted the bark of Peter struggling in
a tempestuous sea, the great billows breaking over
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