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

princes. The Augustine convents sent numerous
recruits to carry on the war. These had been
planted, like Papal barracks, all over Germany, but
now Rome's artilllery was turned against herself.
This was specially the case in Nuremberg,
Osnabruck, Ratisbon, Strasburg, Antwerp, and in
Hesse and Wurtemberg. The light shone into the
convents of the other orders also, and their inmates,
laying down their cowls and frocks at the gates of
their monasteries, joined their Brethren and became
preachers of the truth. Great was the wrath of
Rome when she saw her soldiers turning their arms
against her. A multitude of priests became obedient
to the faith, and preached it to their flocks. In other
cases flocks forsook their priests, finding that they
continued to inculcate the old superstitions and
perform the old ceremonies. A powerful influence
was acting on the minds of men, which carried
them onward in the path of the Reformed faith,
despite threats and dangers and bitter persecutions.
Whole cities renounced the Roman faith and
confessed the Gospel. The German Bible and the
writings of Luther were read at all hearths and by
all classes, while preachers perambulated Germany
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