The Pope.—"Likewise we excommunicate and curse all pirates and corsairs...."
LUTHER AND THE POPE.
Luther.—"Who then is the greatest of pirates and corsairs if it be not he who robs souls, chains them, and puts them to death?"
The Pope.—"Particularly those who sail upon our sea."
Luther.—"Our SEA!... Saint Peter, our predecessor, said, 'Silver and gold have I none,' (Acts, iii, 6.) Jesus Christ said, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; but it shall not be so with you.' (Luke, xxii, 25.) But if a waggon loaded with hay must, on meeting with a drunken man, give way to him, à fortiori must St. Peter and Jesus Christ himself give way to the pope."
The Pope.—"Likewise we excommunicate and curse all who falsify our bulls, and our apostolic letters...."
Luther.—"But the letters of God, the Scriptures of God, all the world may condemn and burn."
The Pope.—"Likewise we excommunicate and curse all who detain provisions which are on the way to Rome...."
Luther.—"He barks and bites like a dog threatened to be deprived of his bone."[450]
The Pope.—"Likewise we condemn and curse all who keep back judicial rights, fruits, tithes, revenues, appertaining to the clergy."