Martin Luther and his Revolt against the Church 85 plotting the manifest destruction of the holy Church, he daily scatters abroad much worse fruit and effect of his depraved heart and mind through very numerous books, both in Latin and German, composed by himself, or at least under his name, which are full of heresies and blasphemies, not only new ones but also those formerly condemned by holy councils. 10. Therein he destroys, overturns, and abuses the num- Luther's ber, arrangement, and use of the seven sacraments, received heresies and held for so many centuries by the holy Church, and in enumerated astonishing ways shamefully pollutes the indissoluble bonds of holy matrimony ; and says also that holy unction is a mere invention. He desires also to adapt our customs and practice in the administration of the most holy sacrament of the holy eucharist to the habit and custom of the condemned Bohemians. And he begins to attack confession, — most wholesome for the hearts that are polluted or laden with sins, — declaring that no profit or consolation can be expected from it. Finally, he threatens to write so much more fully of confession that (if it be allowed) not only will all who read his mad writings venture to say that confession is useless, but most of them declare that one should not confess at all, 11. He not only holds the priestly office and order in contempt, but also urges secular and lay persons to bathe their hands in the blood of priests ; and he uses scurrilous and shameful words against the chief priest of our Christian faith, the successor of St. Peter and true vicar of Christ on earth, and pursues him with manifold and unprecedented attacks and invectives. He demonstrates also from the hea- then poets that there is no free will, because all things are determined by an immutable decree. 12. And he writes that the mass confers no benefit on him for whom it is celebrated. Moreover he overthrows the custom of fasting and prayer, established by the holy Church and hitherto maintained. Especially does he impugn the authority of the holy fathers, as they are received by the Church, and would destroy obedience and authority of every kind. Indeed, he writes nothing which does not arouse and
