Of the Antichrist bishops, for I can count above forty bishopries, besides abbeys and cathedrals, which are richer than the bishopries. Now, there are in Germany but eight and twenty principalities, so that the popish bishops are far more rich and powerful than the princes of the empire.
The devil begat darkness; darkness begat ignorance; ignorance begat error and his brethren; error begat free-will and presumption; free-will begat merit; merit begat forgetfulness of God; forgetfulness begat transgression; transgression begat superstition; superstition begat satisfaction; satisfaction begat the mass-offering; the mass-offering begat the priest; the priest begat unbelief; unbelief begat king hypocrisy; hypocrisy begat traffic in offerings for gain; traffic in offerings for gain begat purgatory; purgatory begat the annual solemn vigils; the annual vigils begat church-livings, church-livings begat avarice; avarice begat swelling superfluity; swelling superfluity begat fulness; fulness begat rage; rage begat license; license begat empire and domination; domination begat pomp; pomp begat ambition; ambition begat simony; simony begat the pope and his brethren, about the time of the Babylonish captivity.
After the Babylonish captivity, the pope begat the mystery of iniquity; the mystery of iniquity bagat sophistical theology; sophistical theology begat rejecting of the Holy Scripture; rejecting of the Holy Scripture begat tyranny; tyranny begat slaughtering of the saints; slaughtering of the saints begat condemning of God; condemning of God begat dispensation; dispensation begat willful sin; willful sin begat abomination; abomination begat desolation; desolation begat doubt; doubt begat searching out the grounds of truth, and out of this, the desolator, pope, or antichrist, is revealed.
St Paul complained and said: "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;" and elsewhere: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come: for men shall be lovers of themselves," etc.
When first I read these sentences, I did not look towards Rome, but thought they had been spoken of the Jews and Turks.
In the Old Testament, the year Jubilee was observed every fiftieth year; the pope imitated this with the golden gate; which brought gain and money to the popes; so they afterwards changed the fiftieth year into the five and twentieth, then to the fifteenth, and then to the seventh year, so they might frequently get money.
If I had not been a doctor, Satan had made me work enough to do. It was no slight and easy matter for one to alter the whole religion of popedom, so deeply rooted. But I promised and swore in baptism, that I would hold by Christ, and his Word, that I would steadfastly