[Luther] completely liberated the Faustian personality-- the intermediate person of the priest, which had formerly stood between it and the Infinite, was removed. And now it was wholly alone, self-orientated, its own priest and its own judge. But the common people could only feel, not understand, the element of liberation in it all. They welcomed, enthusiastically, indeed, the tearing-up of visible duties, but they did not come to realize that these had been replaced by intellectual duties that were still stricter. Francis of Assis had given much and taken little, but the urban Reformation took much and, as far as the majority of people were concerned, gave little.
The holy Causality of the Contrition-sacrament Luther replaced by the mystic experience of inward absolution "by faith alone." [...] This visible link with the Infinite, [in the consecrated person of the Priest, with its 'character indelebilis',] Protestantism destroyed. [...] ...the very illumination of [Saint Bernard] soul showed him the Mary-world of living nature, all-pervading, ever near, and ever helpful. [...] For [Luther] life was desperate battle against the Devil, and that battle he called upon everyone to fight. And everyone who fought it fought alone.