It was enacted that the edict of Worms should be enforced; that the mass should be reestablished wherever it had been abolished; and that preachers should promulgate no new doctrines.

The minority entered their protest.

They urged that the mass had been clearly proved to be contrary to the Word of God; that the Scriptures were the only certain rule of life; and declared their resolution to maintain the truths of the Old and New Testaments, regardless of traditions.

This _Protest_ was sustained by powerful names--John, Elector of Saxony; George, Margrave of Brandenburg; two Dukes of Brunswick; the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel; the Prince of Anhalt, and fourteen imperial cities, to which were soon added ten more.

Nothing can more decisively show than this the wonderful progress which the Reformation in so short a time had made.