The pope, as well as his legate Cajetan, (fid every
thing to bring over the elector^ his master, to their
des^ ; that he might be sent to Rome, and delivered
up to their vindictive indignation : but that prince
was too wise and cautious to comply with their re-
quest : and when Luther was about to quit Saxony,
not to give lus sovereign any uneasiness, the latter,
finding it his interest to keep such a man as an
ornament to his university, assured him pf his pro-
tection. The German reformer, however, was in a
perilous situation still ; and for hjls safety, published
an appeal to a general council, which he maintained
was superior to the pope; whose infallibility he
began to call in question. ,

He continued his inquiries from one doctrine to
another, and having till now litde thought that his
actions would hate such an effect as to produce a
revolution, he began to form higher ideas ti^s call,
and that it was nothing less than to assert the ^herty
of mankind.
• • V 1

iMhei^s ea^onim«iittMji{m, and jmmtetanoe.
The €ourt of Rome p«fcMied, with all fovmaB-

9



14 LIFE OF LVTHER.
ties, a buU of excommunication against Luther, June
15, 1520 ; in which not only himself, hut his follow-
ers and protectors, were outlawed and condemned
as hereticks ; which all the princes and subjects of
the empire were called upon to seize and deliver
into the han^of justice : but Luther's undaunted
spirit acquired additional fortitude from such an in-
stance of opposition. He complained of the impiety
and iniustibe of the pope, and boldly declared him
to be toe man of m, or antichrist ; and exhorted aD
christian princes to shake off his yoke.
