In Germany from the Leipsic Disputation to the Diet at Worms - James Aitken Wylie

the Seven Hills fell upon their ear unheeded; all
doctrines and practices were tried by the Bible
alone. Every day Luther took a step forward. New
proofs of the falsehood and corruption of the
Roman system continually crowded in upon him. It
was now that the treatise of Laurentius Valla fell in
his way, which satisfied him that the donation of
Constantine to the Pope was a fiction. This
strengthened the conclusion at which he had
already arrived touching the Roman primacy, even
that foundation it had none save the ambition of
Popes and the credulity of the people. It was now
that he read the writings of John Muss, and, to his
surprise, he found in them the doctrine of Paul–that
which it had cost himself such agonies to learn–
respecting the free justification of sinners. "We
have all," he exclaimed, half in wonder, half in joy,
"Paul, Augustine, and myself, been Hussites
without knowing it! and he added, with deep
seriousness, "God will surely visit it upon the
world that the truth was preached to it a century
ago, and burned?" It was now that he proclaimed
the great truth that the Sacrament will profit no
man without faith, and that it is folly to believe that
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