Sermons alone did not suffice the evangelicals. It was their great business to make a solemn confession of their faith before the Diet. One day, which it is not easy to determine, but probably about the end of July, 1530, Tausen and his friends appeared before the king, the grandees of the realm, the bishops, and the deputies, and presented, respectfully but boldly, the statement of their faith. Their declaration did not possess the perfect form of Melanchthon’s confession, with which they were at present unacquainted; but it had more clearness and force. While Luther’s friend, from a wish to spare and even to gain over the powerful princes who listened to him, had passed over in silence certain articles which might have given rise to sharp contradiction, Tausen and his brethren did not think it their duty, in the presence of haughty and persecuting bishops, either to soften the statement of their doctrines, or to spare the Romish party.
‘The Holy Scriptures,’ they said, ‘alone and uncorrupted by the interpretations, additions, and fables of men,[292] teach all men how they may obtain salvation from God. (Art. 1 and 2.)
‘He who, in order to obtain eternal life, takes any other way than that which Scripture teaches, is foolish, blind, and incredulous, however wise and however holy he may seem to the world.[293] (Art. 3.)
‘The persecutions, the passion, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of our Lord have been most certainly accomplished, and have been given to us to be our righteousness, the discharge of our debt, the expiation of all our sins.[294] (Art. 7.)
‘The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, who is the comforter of all Christians, renews by diverse gifts of God our spirits and our hearts, establishes and unites the true Church in the faith and in the doctrine of Christ. (Art. 11.)
‘The holy Church is the communion of all those who by one and the same faith have been made righteous and well-beloved sons of God. And we make no account of any other Church, however distinguished in outward appearance, which curses those whom God blesses, rejects those whom God receives, and pronounces heretics those who teach according to the truth.[295] (Art. 12, 13.)