...ederick C. Ahrens and Abdel Ross Wentz INTRODUCTION The primary importance of this treatise for the present-day reader of Luther lies in its courage... ... for the present-day reader of Luther lies in its courageous interpretation of the sacraments. But it is important also for its place in Luther’s pro... ... also for its place in Luther’s progressive assault upon the total position of the Romans. In An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility 1 Luther dem... ...ion in both kinds and other weighty subjects: here I must take pains lest I listen in vain to these “eminent teachers” 8 of mine. A certain Italian... ... friendly and an unfriendly spirit? A fine fellow, indeed, as you know! But listen to our distinguished distinguisher of “kinds,” 17 to whom the dec... ..., I shall now set forth my own view. In the first place, I do not intend to listen or attach the least importance to those who will cry out that thi... ...f. p. 24 n. 47. The dispute had already been decided by the fifteenthcentury popes: Eugene IV, Sixtus IV, and Alexander VI, who accepted the validity... ...is puffed up solely by the bulls (and they truly are “bulls”) 137 of human popes. Second, because it greatly tends to hypocrisy, by reason of its o... ... 105–106. aforementioned good works and idolatries which are taught by the popes nowadays. But if these most grievous sins do not prevent one’s sal...

...Martin Luther goes through the seven sacraments of the medieval Catholic Church with his interpretation of the Bible. He teaches his opinions on the different pratices taken place within the Catholic Church and what they should or do represent. The book is seemingly set ...

...“Rise up then, you popish flatterers, one and all! Get busy and defend yourselves against the charges of impiety, tyranny, and lèse-majesté against the gospel, and of the crime of slandering your brethren. You decry as heretics those who refuse to contravene such plain and powerful words of Scripture in order to acknowledge t...