f grace,
that they claim the keys for the pope at least in such a manner
that we may buy them by giving money and everything that we
possess. But it is an utter calamity when they preach their
laws, authority, bans, indulgences and the like, in place of the
Gospel. That is what the Lord calls the smiting of the fellow
servants by the evil servant, who should rather feed them.

[Sidenote: Herod and the Romanists]

I will use a plain illustration, so that any one may see the
difference between the true and the false interpretation of these
words of Christ. The high-priest of the Old Testament wore, by
divine appointment, an official robe. When King Herod elevated
himself over the people of Israel, he took that robe, and
although he did not use it himself, yet he usurped the authority
to regulate its use, and the people were forced to pay for that
to which God had given them the right. The same is true now. The
keys have been given to the whole Church[65] as has been proved
above.[66] But along come the Romanists, and although they never
use them themselves nor exercise their office, yet they take to
themselves authority over the use of the keys, and we are forced
to buy with money what is in reality our own, given by Christ.
And, not satisfied with this, they apply the words of Christ
concerning the keys, not to the keys nor to their use, but to
their usurped power and authority over the keys, so that the
power of the keys, freely given by Christ, is now captive in the
hands of the Romanists; and both the power of the keys and the
power over the keys are supposed to come from the one word of
Christ, just as if Herod had said that it was his power of which
Moses was speaking, when he spake of the robe of the high-priest.

In like manner, a tyrant could obtain possession of a last
testament, and explain the words, wherein the property is
bequeathed to the heir, to mean that authority is given him over
this testament, to decide whether he will allow its provisions to
come to the heir gratuitously or for a price. So it is also with
the power of the keys and the authority of the pope, understood
as coming from one and the same word [of Scripture], whereas the
two things are not only different, but the authority claimed is
more than the power of the keys; and yet they make of it one and
the same thing.

[Sidenote: What is Meant by the Rock]

Their argument, that the external authority of the pope is
conferred in the wo