It is impossible to {196} estimate the numbers of the new sect.

In 1534 Aleander said there were thirty thousand Lutherans in Paris alone.

On the contrary Rene du Bellay said that there were fewer in 1533 than there were ten years, previous.
[Sidenote: Protestant progress] True it is that the Protestants were as yet weak, and were united rather in protest against the established order than as a definite and cohesive party.

Thus, the most popular and successful slogans of the innovators were denunciation of the priests as anti-Christs and apostates, and reprobation of images and of the mass as idolatry.

Other catchwords of the reformers were, "the Bible" and "justification by faith." The movement was without a head and without organization.