e for them.
Princes and emperors have granted the pope vast privileges, by which in
course of time he has become their master, till now all men bow down and
kiss his feet. Where he was given an inch, he has taken an ell....
Christ told Saint Peter to feed his lambs. But the popes with their
satellites have long since ceased to feed Christ's lambs, and for
centuries have done naught but fleece and slaughter them, not acting
like faithful shepherds, but like ravening wolves."[147] This vehement
language must have pleased the king. If bishops were not entitled to
worldly goods, it was an easy task to confiscate their property to the
crown. A like incentive called forth the question: whether any authority
can be found in the Bible for monastic life. The question, in that form,
permitted no reference to the Fathers. So Galle cited the command of
Jesus: "Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor;" and he
further commended monastic life as a step on the way to heaven.[148]
Petri replied that monks did not sell all they had and give to the poor,
but clung fast to their possessions, bringing vast treasures into the
monasteries with them.[149]

The disputation, while strengthening the hands of Petri, caused a
momentary shout of opposition to the king. The cry arose that he was
introducing strange and novel faiths. His faiths perhaps were novel, but
they were not strange. The strangest feature in the matter was the
position taken by the king. By this time, there can be no question, he
was at heart with Luther; yet, judging from his own assertions, he was a
firm defender of the Church. The king's duplicity, of course, is easily
explained. He wished to rob the Roman Catholics of their power without
incurring their ill-will. He intended to reform their doctrines, and at
the same time spread abroad the notion that these doctrines had reformed
themselves. Some time before the disputation, he had written to the
north of Sweden to explain his views. "Dear friends," he courteously
began, "we hear that numerous reports have spread among you to the
effect that we have countenanced certain novel doctrines taught by
Luther. No one can prove, however, that we have countenanced aught
except the teaching of God and his Apostles. For the faith given us by
our fathers we shall battle so long as life remains, and die, as our
fathers died before us, in the faith. The seditious libels spread by
Sunnanvaeder and his followers have occasioned a