On Luther's return from Rome he was made a doctor of the holy Scriptures, and his career as a reformer may be said to have commenced. The system of indulgences had reached a scandalous height. The idea that it was in the power of the church to forgive sin had gradually grown into the notion, which was.widely spread, that the pope could issue pardons of his own free will. which, being dispensed to the faithful, exonerated them from the co"sequences of their transgressions. The sale of these pardons had become an organized part of the papal system. Money was largely needed at Rome, to feed the extravaganc,es cf the papal court; and its numerous emissaries sought every where to raise funds oy the sale of " indulgences," as they were called, for the sins of frail humanity: the principal of these was John Tetzel, a Dominican friar, who had established himself at Jfiterhoch, on the borders of Saxony. Luther's indignation at the shameless traffic which this man carried on, finally became irrepressible: "God willing," he exclaimed, " I will beat a hole in his drum." Ile drew out 95 theses on the doctrine .of indulgences, which he nailed up on tbe gate of the church at Wittenberg, and which he offered to maintain in the university against all impugners. The general purport of these theses was to deny to the pope all right to forgive sins. "If the sinner was truly contrite, he received complete forgiveness. The pope's absolution had no value in and for itself." This sudden and bold step of Luther was all that was necessary to awaken a wide spread excitement. The news of it spread rapidly far and wide. It seemed " as if angels had carried it to the ears of all men." Tetzel waS forced to retreat from the borders of Saxony to Frankfort-on-the-Oder, where he drew out and published a set of counter-theses, and publicly committed those of Luther to the flarnes. The students at Wittenberg retaliated by burning Tetzel's theses. The elector refused to interfere, and the excitement increased as new combatants—Hochstratten, Pricrias, and Eck—entered the field. Eck was an able man, and an old friend of Luther's, and the argument between him and the reformer was especially vehement.
At first the pope, Leo X., took little heed of the disturbance; lie is reported even to have said when he heard of it that "Friar Martin was a nian of genius, and that he did not wish to have him molested." Some of the cardinals, however, saw the real charac ter of the movement, which gradually assumed a seriousness evident even to the pope; and Luther received a summons to appear at Rome and anSwer for his theses. Once again in Rome, it is unlikely he would ever have been allowed to return. His university and the elector interfered, and a legate was sent to Germany to hear and determine the case. Cardinal Cajetau was the legate, and lie was but little fitted to deal with Luther. He would enter into no argument with him, but merely called upon lihn to retract. Luther refused, and iled from Augsburg, whither lie had gone to meet tbe papal repre sentative. The task of negotiation was then undertaken byRitz, a German and envoy of the pope to the Saxon court, and by his greater address a temporary peace was obtained. This did not last long. The reformer was too deeply moved to keep silent. "God hurries and drives me," he said; " I am not master of myself; I wish to be quiet, and am hurried into the midst of tumults." Dr. Eck and he held a memorable
disputation at Leipsie, in which the subject of argument was no longer merely the question of indulgences, but the general power of the pope. The disputation, of course, came to no practical result; each controversialist claimed the victory-, and Luther in the meantime made progress in freedom of opinion, and attacked the papal system as a whole more boldly. Erasmus and Hutten joined in the conflict, which waxed more loud and threatening.
In 1520 the reformer published his famous address to the " Christian nobles of Germany." This was followed in the same year by a treatise On the Babytonidt Cap tivity of the Church. In these works, both of which circulated widely, and powerfully influenced many minds, Luther took firmer and broader ground: he attacked not only the abuses of the papacy and its pretensions to supremacy, but also the doctrinal system of the church of Rome. " These works," Millie says, " contain the kernel of the whole reformation." The papal bull was issued against him; the dread document was burned 'before an assembled multitude of doctors, students, and citizens at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg. Germany was convulsed with excitement. Eck (who had been the chief agent in ob•Aining the bull) fled from place to place, glad to escape with his life, and Luther was dverywhere the hero of the hour.
Charles V. had at this time succeeded to the empire, and he convened his first diet of the sovereigns and states at Worms. The diet met in the beginning of 1521; an order was issued for the destruction of Luther's books, and he himself was summoned to appear before the diet. This was, above all, what lie desired—to confess the truth before the assembled powers of Germany. He resolved to obey the summons, come what would. All Germany was moved by his heroism; his journey resembled a triumph; the threats of enemies and the anxieties of friends alike failed to move him. "I am resolved to enter Worins," he said, " although as many devils should set at ine as there are tiles on the house-tops." His appearance and demeanor before the diet, and the firmness with which he held his ground, and refused to retract, all make a striking picture. "'Unless I be convinced," he said, "by Scripture and reason, I neither can nor dare retract anything, for my conscience is a captive to God's word, and it is neither safe nor right to go agaiust conscience. There lotake my stand. I can do no otherwise. So help me, God. Amen." On his return from Worms he was seized. at the instigation of his Mend, the elector of Saxony, and safely lodged in the old castle of the 1Vartburg. The affair was made to assume an aspect of violence, but in reality it was designed to secure him from the destruction which his conduct at Worms would certainly have provoked. Ile remained in this shelter for about a year, concealed in the guise of a knight. His chief employ ment was his translation of the Scriptures into his native language. He composed various treatises besides, and injured his health by sedentary habits and hard study. His imagination became morbidly excited, and he thought he saw and heard the evil one. mocking him while engaged in his literary tasks. On one occasion lie hurled his ink stand at the intruder, and made him retreat. The subject of the personality and pres ence of Satan was a familiar one with Luther, and he has many things about it in his Table-talk.