Francis was delighted; but the more decided evangelicals looked upon this idea of an _evangelical_ pope as a dream to be consigned to the Utopia described by Sir Thomas More. An accessory declaration of another kind was to please the king even more. MELANCHTHON. 'As for the Roman pontiff's claim to transfer kingdoms from one prince to another, that concerns neither the Gospel nor the Church; and it is the business of kings to combat that unjust pretension.' Now that these concessions were granted, the reformers were about to make the loud voice of the Reformation heard. BUCER. 'The first of doctrines is the justification of sinners.' MELANCHTHON. 'Remission of sins ought to be accompanied by a change of life; but this remission is not given us because of this new life; it comes to us only through mercy, and is given to us solely because of Christ.' BUCER. 'Thus, then, we have done with the merits ascribed to the observances and prayers of the monks and priests: we have done with all vain confidence in our own works. Let the grace of God be obscured no longer, and the righteousness of Christ be no more diminished! It is on account of the blood of his only Son that God forgives us our sins.' [Sidenote: JUSTIFICATION AND THE MASS.] Francis and his advisers thought that _orthodox_ enough. Even the schoolmen (they said) have used this language in some of their books. They raised no opposition to the opinion of the reformers upon justification by faith.[640] But one point made them uneasy.... What will they say of the mass? This important subject was not forgotten. BUCER. 'What! to be present every day at mass without repentance, without piety, even without thinking of the mysteries connected with it, will suffice to obtain all kinds of grace from God!... No! when we celebrate the sacrament of our Lord's body and blood, there must be a living communion between Christ and the living members of Christ.'[641] [Sidenote: PROTEST AGAINST ABUSES.] MELANCHTHON. 'The mass is the only knot we cannot untie;[642] for it contains such horrible abuses ... invented for the profit of the monks. All impious rites must be interdicted, and others established in conformity with the truth.' 'The mass must be preserved,' said Francis; 'but the stupid, absurd, and foolish legends abolished.'[643]