Now came the historic turning-point, when Luther's deep but yet unconscious break with the Roman Catholic Church revealed itself. In 1517 Johann 'retie]. a Dominican monk, appeared preaching indulgences. Indignant at his abuse of the Church doctrine regulating these, and unable to induce princes and bishops to exclude him, Luther struck the first blow that led to' such startling and far-reaching results. Yet the ninety five theses which he nailed to the door of the Wittenberg church, October 31, seem singular ly moderate; they oppose not indulgences, but `the senseless gabble' of such traffickers as Tet zel: they emphasize the indispensableness of Con trition, and the superiority to indulgence-buying of charity to the poor. In a fortnight these tlfeses. translated from their Latin into Oerman, had spread throughout the country. Yet Luther contemplated no break with the Church. and still acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope.
He now devoted himself to Church history and the study of canon law, for the support of the positions be had taken in the course of the controversy which he had provoked. Meanwhile, lie continued the preparation of popular religious publications, such as an Lruosition of the Ten Commandments and of the Lord's Prayer, a piece of his best work. in 15I8, at a genera! meeting of his Order at Heidelberg. he held a public disputation, in which he attacked the scho lastic methods in theology. Among the disciples there gained was the afterwards distinguished Buser. The same year also he was joined by his ablest helper, Mela neht hon. who took the professor ship of Greek at Wittenberg. That he was feel ing his way to advanced positions appeared in the extensive elaboration of his theses that same year, entitled Resolutions. in this he contested the claim of the Roman Pontiff to be the custo dian and dispenser of the merits of Christ through indulgences, affirming that penances and satisfactions had been instituted, not by Christ, but by the Pope and the Church. These Resolu tions he dedicated to the Pope with a letter the inconsistencies of which indicated that he had not yet reached firm ground except on one point —his unchangeable conviction as to indulgences.
Leo X., at first contemptuous, soon became angry. lle had cited Luther to appear at Rome within sixty days. but before the time expired issued orders for his seizure. The Elector Fred crick procured a change of his place of hearing from Rome to Augsburg before the Papal Legate, Cardinal Cajetan, with a guarantee of safety.
Luther and he merely measured swords and part ed, the Legate insisting on an unconditional re traction. which Luther refused. Luther imme diately published an account of the interview and advanced to a radical position. The Papacy he held to he divinely established only in the sense in which all government is ordained by God; it was not of the essence of the Church.
More sure of himself than ever, Luther's ti midity began to give place to the stern joy of one fighting, as be believes, in a just cause. He affirmed that the opposition was inherently rot ten; he intimated to the Elector's Court preach er. Spalatin. his doubt whether the Pope were the Antichrist or his apostle. The Elector coun seled moderation, and another effort was made for peace. This time the Papal Legate. Aliltitz, took a different tone, largely humoring Luther. but urging him to have regard to the authority of the Church, weakened by his disrespectful at titude to the Pope. it was agreed that Luther should write apologetically to Rome. that both parties should cease the controversy, and that the Pope should submit it to a body of learned divines.
But the kiss of peace which Aliilitz and Luther exchanged at parting was illusive. The conflict was irrepressible. Eck, a Dominican monk, from the first a leader in the attack on Luther, broke the truce by leveling thirteen theses at him, and challenging Carlstadt, Luther's colleague, to dispute them. Carlstadt being overmatched. Luther bad to take the field. Nine summer days in 1519 he and Eck crossed swords at Leipzig in the presence of a distinguished audience. The disputants quickly plunged below the superficial to the central issues. Could there he a true Church without a pope? Eck denied it; Luther affirmed it, interpolating in his Latin speech a German sentence to the effect that the cardinal point of controversy was whether the Papacy was divinely instituted in any other way than the Imperial Government was. On this point be held that the Council of Con-tame (1415) had erred, whereupon Eck refused to debate further with a 'Hussite,' and so they parted. In Luther's published account he struck the keynote of Protestantism, saying that the true Church i the communion of true believer:, real though in visible, and that every lay member who holds tc Holy Scripture is more to be believed than popes and councils who do not hold to it. Hi: doetrines had already spread far and wide. In the year following more than a hundred editions of his books were printed and reprinted.