In 1512 Luther was made doctor of divinity, and Frederic, elector of Saxony, called 'the Wise,' defrayed the expense of his inauguration, which was celebrated with splendour. The reputation of Luther had spread as that of a learned divine and an eloquent preacher. lie was well acquainted with scholastic learning, and tolerably so with the Fathers; he knew Greek, but very little Hebrew ; he had, above all, deeply studied the Scriptures, which was not a common attainment among ecclesiastics in those days. He was zealous and earnest, devo tional in his thoughts, and irreproachable in his morals. In his owu order he was appointed provincial vicar of Nisnia and Thuringia, in which office he evinced much zeal for the maintenance of discipline and piety in the various monastic houses of that province.
In 1517 Pope Leo authorised by a bull the sale of indulgences in Saxony and other parts of Germany, as his predecessor Julius II. had done in France, Poland, and elsewhere, nominally for defraying the expenses of building the new church of St. Peter's, and also for supporting the league of the Christian powers against the Turks, though little of the money derived from the sale was employed for either purpose. [Leo X.] The practice of selling indulgences had existed for some centuries before Luther. Leo addressed the papal commission for the sale iu Saxony to Albert, elector of Mainz and archbishop of Magdeburg, who appointed Tetzel, a Dominican monk, his quostor, to preach and sell the indulgences through the country. Tetzel appears to have executed his mission with the grossest quackery, enhancing his wares in the opinion of his uninformed customers by tho most absurd exaggerations, and going far beyond the received doctrine of the Roman canonists even of that age. Ile pre tended that his indulgences released not only from penance, but from sin altogether, and from any sin of whatever enormity. Luther, who was then professor of theology at Wittenberg, was shocked at these impious assertions, and while sitting at his confessional in the church of his convent he had practical proof of their mischievous effects. Some of his penitents, who had purchased the indulgences, refused to submit to the penance or reparation which be enjoined, saying that Tetzel had released them from every penalty. Luther having refused absolution, they went and complained to Tetzel, who threatened with both spiritual nod temporal punishments all those who denied the efficacy of his indulgences. Luther, little heeding the threats of the Dominican, and being encouraged in his opposition by his own superior Staupitz, who also felt indignant at Tctzel's impudence, drew up ninety five theses or propositions concerning indulgences, in which, drawing the distinction between the canonical penalties inflicted by the Church on the penitent sinner, and the penalties required here or hereafter by Divine justice, he maintained that the pope bed the power of remitting the former only ; that indulgences could not be applicable to the dead , that true contrition of heart and amendment of life would obtain pardon without any papal indulgences; that the true treasures of the Church were contained in the Gospel and in the operation of the Holy Ghost : that at all events, if indulgences be of any avail, they ought to be distributed gratis to the poor, and not to be made an article of trade: and here be exposed in strong colours the avarice, impudence, and licentiousness of the qumstors, and the fearful corruption of principles and conduct among the poor deluded population resulting from the whole system.
Luther enclosed a copy of his propositions in a letter to the Arch bishop of Magdeburg, dated 31st October 1517, beseeching that prelate to interpose to prevent the further spreading of error, and to put a stop to Tetzel's scandalous practices. On the same day Luther affixed another copy of his theses on the gates of the Castle church of Wittenberg, signed with his name, and containing his offer to defend them. This was Luther's first challenge to that power which then kept all Europe in awe, and which he was destined to shake to its very foundations. Though in these celebrated theses there was nothing but what has been maintained by many Roman Catholics, still some of them were certainly at variance with the opinions generally enter tained for three centuries before Luther's time, and also with the claim of infallibility assumed by the popes. From the pulpit of the same church Luther repeatedly expounded his propositions, and was eagerly listened to by crowded audiences. His theses spread with the greatest rapidity, and the main principle upon which they rested, namely, that indulgences could only remit the canonical or temporary penalty, gained ground universally thronghout Germany. Tetzel and his brother Dominicans, after burning Luther's theses, attempted to answer them by counter-propositioua, mainly grounded upon the supreme authority of the pope and his infallibility. But this produc tion injured Tetzel's cause, and a copy of it was publicly burnt by the Wittenberg students. Leo X., when be heard of the dispute, remarked, that it was but a quarrel between monks; and that brother Luther seemed to be a man of parts.