_Eck._--"Very well, I come to the essential point. The venerable doctor calls upon me to prove that the primacy of the church of Rome is of divine institution--I prove it by these words of Christ: '_Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church._' St. Augustine, in one of his epistles, has thus expounded the passage, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, that is to say, on this Peter, I will build my Church.' It is true, Augustine has elsewhere said that, by this rock must be understood Christ himself, but he never retracted his former exposition." _Luther._--"If the reverend doctor would attack me, he should first reconcile these contrary statements of Augustine. It is undeniable that St. Augustine has again and again said that the rock was Christ, and he may perhaps have once said that it was Peter himself. But even should St. Augustine and all the Fathers say that the apostle is the rock of which Christ speaks, I would combat their view on the authority of an apostle, in other words, divine authority;[107] for it is written, '_No other foundation can any man lay than that is laid, namely, Jesus Christ._'[108] Peter himself calls Christ, '_the chief and corner stone on which we are built up a spiritual house_.'"[109] [107] "Resistam eis ego unus, auctoritate apostoli, id est iure divino." (L. Op. Lat. i, p. 237.) [108] 1 Cor. iii, 11. [109] 1 Peter, ii, 4, 5. _Eck._--"I am astonished at the humility and modesty with which the reverend doctor undertakes single-handed to combat so many distinguished Fathers, and to know better than sovereign pontiffs, councils, doctors, and universities.... It would, certainly, be astonishing that God should have concealed the truth from so many saints and martyrs ... and not revealed it until the advent of the reverend father!" [Sidenote: ECK'S STRATEGEM. THE HUSSITES.] _Luther._--"The Fathers are not against me. The distinguished doctors, St. Augustine, and St. Ambrose, speak as I do. '_Super isto articulo fidei, fundata est ecclesia_,'[110] says St. Ambrose, when explaining what must be understood by the rock on which the church is built. Let my opponent then bridle his tongue. To express himself as he does is to stir up strife, not to discuss like a true doctor." [110] On this article of faith the Church is founded. (L. Op. Lat. i, p. 254.)