Since the Roman curia would not reform the church, Luther said, the German princes had that right and responsibility. Playing on the German leaders’ sense of national pride, he urged them to implement some two dozen church reforms. In the process, Luther set forth the famous doctrine that every Christian is a priest. The work’s large first printing sold out in two weeks.

In the excerpt here, Luther explains how the “Romanists” have barricaded themselves from reform—and he then demolishes their barricades.

The time for silence is past, and the time to speak has come. ...

The Romanists have very cleverly built three walls around themselves. Hitherto they have protected themselves by these walls in such a way that no one has been able to reform them. As a result, the whole of Christendom has fallen abominably.

In the first place, when pressed by the temporal power, they have made decrees and declared that ...

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