With deep emotion he prostrated himself upon the earth , exclaiming : “ Holy Rome , I salute thee !”— Ibid ., b . 2 , ch . 6 . He entered the city , visited the churches , listened to the marvelous tales repeated by priests and monks , and performed all the ceremonies required . Everywhere he looked upon scenes that filled him with astonishment and horror . He saw that iniquity existed among all classes of the clergy . He heard indecent jokes from prelates , and was filled with horror at their awful profanity , even during mass . As he mingled with the monks and citizens he met dissipation , debauchery . Turn where he would , in the place of sanctity he found profanation . “ No one can imagine ,” he wrote , “ what sins and infamous actions are committed in Rome ; they must be seen and heard to be believed . Thus they are in the habit of saying , ‘ If there is a hell , Rome is built over it : it is an abyss whence issues every kind of sin .”’— Ibid ., b . 2 , ch . 6 .
By a recent decretal an indulgence had been promised by the pope to all who should ascend upon their knees “ Pilate ’ s staircase ,” said to have been descended by our Saviour on leaving the Roman judgment hall and to have been miraculously conveyed from Jerusalem to Rome . Luther was one day devoutly climbing these steps , when suddenly a voice like thunder seemed to say to him : “ The just shall live by faith .” Romans 1:17 . He sprang to his feet and hastened from the place in shame and horror . That text never lost its power upon his soul . From that time he saw more clearly than ever before the fallacy of trusting to human works for salvation , and the necessity of constant faith in the merits of Christ . His eyes had been opened , and were never again to be closed , to the delusions of the papacy . When he turned his face from Rome he had turned away also in heart , and from that time the separation grew wider , until he severed all connection with the papal church .
After his return from Rome , Luther received at the University of Wittenberg the degree of doctor of divinity . Now he was at liberty to devote himself , as never before , to the
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