SPEIEB.

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glstrate, and the authority of the Word of God above thatof a mere Church—tlie great Bill of Religious Rights as itwere — the Magna Charta of the Conscienee.

These memorable Diets were held at the ancient imperialpalace of Speier, called Retscher (probably a corruption of" HradscJiin,'" the name of the Castle of Prague) and of whiclinow only an old half-hidden wall exists by the side of the bareMethodist-chapel-likeProtestant Church in the "Enge Gasse"(Narrow Lane).

Nor is the civic history of Speier less eventful than thepart it has played in the ecclesiastical revolutions of the world.

kings and Lord of lords, each of us rendering him account for himself, withoutcaring the least in the world about ' majority' or ' minority.'

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'' Adhesion to your doctrine.....would be to act against our conscienee

.....to deny our Lord Jesus Christ, to rejeet His Holy Word, and thus give

Him just reason to deny us in turn before His Father, as He has threatened.

" What! shall we ratify this edict ? Shall we assert that when Almighty Godcalls a man to His knowledge, this man cannot however reeeive the knowledge ofGod ? Oh! of what deadly backsüdings should we not thus become the aecom-plices, not only among our subjeets, but also among yours .'

" For this reason we rejeet the yoke that is imposed upon us.

"Moreover,.....seeing that there is no sure doctrine but such as is con-

formable to the Word of God; that the Lord forbids the teaching of any otherdoctrine; that each text of the Holy Scriptures ought to be explained by otherand clearer texts ; and that this holy book is in all things necessary for the Chris-tian, easy of understanding, and calculated to scatter the darkness: we areresolved, with the grace of God, to maintain the pure and exclusive preaching ofHis only Word, such as it is contained in the biblical books of the Old and NewTestament, without adding anything thereto that may be contrary to it. ThisWord is the only truth; it is the sure rule of all doctrine and of all life, and cannever fail or deeeive us.

" For these reasons, most dear lords, uncles, cousins, and friends, we earnestlyentreat you to weigh carefully our grievances and our motives. If you do notyield to our request, we Protest, by these presents, before God, our onlyCreator, Preserver, Redeemer, and Saviour, and who will one day be our Judge,as well as before all men and all creatures, that we, for us and for our people,neither consent nor adhere, in any manner whatsoever, to the proposed decree inanything that is contrary to God, to His Holy Word, to our right conscienee, tothe salvation of our souls, and to the last decree of Speier."