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 Martin Luther and his Revolt against tJie Church 79 own laws, and these hold good only so long as they are not opposed to Christianity and the laws of God ; but when the pope deserves punishment these laws cease to exist, since Christianity would suffer if he were not punished by means of a council. . . . And now I hope we have laid the false and lying specter by means of which the Romanists have kept our timid con- sciences in subjection. We have shown that they are sub- ject, like all the rest of us, to the temporal sword'; that they have no authority to interpret the Scriptures by force and without knowledge; and that they have no right either to prevent a council, or to pledge and bind it in advance to suit their pleasure and thus deprive it of its freedom. And when they do this they are verily of the fellowship of Anti- christ and the devil. and have nothing from Christ but the name.^Z 1 Luther next invites the attention of the German rulers to the pomp of the pope and cardinals for which the Ger- mans must pay. This was a theme which appealed espe- cially to those for whom he was writing. " The pope wears a triple crown, whereas the mightiest kings only wear one:" Yet his office "should be nothing else than to weep and pray continually for Christendom and to be an example of humility." What is the use in Christendom of those who are called 246a. The " cardinals " ? I will tell you. In Italy and Germany there expense , ,11- 1 1 r t0 German} are many rich convents, endowments, holdings, and benefices; f t he and as the best way of getting these into the hands of Rome cardinals, they created cardinals, and gave to them the bishoprics, con- vents, and prelacies, and thus destroyed the service of God. That is why Italy is almost a desert now : the convents are destroyed, the sees consumed, the revenues of the prelacies and of all the churches drawn to Rome ; towns are decayed, and the country and the people ruined because there is no more any worship of God or preaching. Why ? Because the