Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/293

 the Christians. To prove this I allege in addition to those already cited the fact that Christ arising from the synagogue entered into Simon's house, which means that having left the old Mosaic law He entered into the new law instituted by Christ Himself, and founded upon Simon, whom He called Peter. Many similar texts are cited by me in my treatise on the Papal Power and the Treasury of the Church. Nor do we read that after Christ entered Simon's house He returned to the synagogue.

From what has been said we have laid an unbreakable and immovable foundation for the true and legal view, namely, that the power of legislation rests with Peter and his successors even unto the end of the world, and consequently that the law, no matter how hard, must be kept. Therefore it is very plain to me that you have committed a grave, indeed, the gravest of crimes in detracting from the papal power, which is boundless, and in burning the book of the Decretals, worthy of all praise. By this crime you have declared yourself a heretic and a despiser of the Catholic faith. Because Christ did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill. But you, in burning the book of the Decretals, which consists of laws, destroyed and tore up laws, so that you may even be called the Antichrist and false Christ. By burning this you sinned worse and more grievously than Judas Iscariot, the Jews and Pilate in killing Christ, because the death of Christ hurt only those who slew Him, but your writings and that burning hurt you and almost innumerable others even unto the death of their souls. Nay, rather, the slayers of Christ did a pious and praiseworthy act, because by the death of Christ the doors of the heavenly kingdom, which were formerly shut, were opened, so that His slayers would have deserved a reward and praise had they done it with good mind and intention. For God is the rewarder of adverbs, not of nouns ; that is, he rewards not the deed, but the mind and heart with which it is done, for God questions the heart. And because Judas through avarice, the