CHAPTER II.

PROGRESS OF THE CONTROVERSY CONCERNING INDULGENCES CONDUCT OF THE POPE - LUTHER'S INTERVIEWS WITH CAJETAN, AND MILTITZ-DISPUTE AT LEIPSIC-LUTHER EXCOMMUNICATED-BURNS THE PAPAL BULL-1517-1520.

THE bold conduct of Luther greatly incensed Tetzel. He denounced the fearless monk as a heretic answered his attack in a publication containing one hundred and six propositions: and publicly burnt his challenge at Frankfort. Some of the zealous students of the university resented this last action, and, by way of retaliation, committed to the flames the writings of Tetzel. But their conduct on this occasion was severely censured by Luther; "he knew better," he said, "the rules of ecclesiastical subordination, and had more regard to his own character, than to stigmatize in such a manner a person so high in office." He did not, however, retreat from the position he had taken, but continued to write, and preach, and to expose with great plainness the growing abuse. Wherever he went he bore strong and faithful testimony against a corruption, so injurious to the souls of men and the good of the Church. This courageous deportment

led to the belief, that he was even thus early secretly encouraged by the Elector, of Saxony. This impression he took care to contradict; "he desired to stand alone the shock of the contest, and protested that property, reputation, and honors were of no estimation with him, compared with the defence of the truth."

The Dominican monks felt that their whole order had been insulted in the person of their brother Tetzel, and they began to pour out their rage upon Luther, and to urge the Pope to crush him. At first, Leo resisted their importunities; "brother Martin," was the reply he made, "is a man of very fine genius, and these squabbles are the mere effusions of monastic envy." But his Holiness soon found it necessary to abandon his wit and tone of indifference. The matter was found to be serious. Not only the venders of indulgences cried out against the man who had interrupted their traffic, but even the Emperor, Maximilian I. represented the heresy as dangerous and popular. Decided measures were loudly called for; and the Pontiff, with a rashness equal to his previous apathy, summoned Luther to appear at Rome within sixty days, and answer to the charges brought against him. He also wrote to the Elector of Saxony to obtain his assistance in securing the person of the heretic. Frederic was a man of much caution, and not prepared as

yet to support the reformer openly; but he was also a man of too much wisdom and too strict a sense of justice, to allow him to be condemned without a fair trial, and accordingly, in compliance with the wishes of Luther's friends, he insisted that his cause should be heard in Germany. To this arrangement the Pope was obliged to consent, and he ordered Luther to appear before his legate, Cardinal Cajetan, then attending the Diet at Augsburg.*

* All the knowledge concerning the government of the German Empire, which the reader will need in order to understand the allusions to it in this sketch, will probably be found in the following extracts from Robertson's History of the Reign of Charles V. vol. I, pages 184, 187.

name,

"It (the German Empire) was complex body, formed by the association of several States, each of which possessed sovereign and independent jurisdiction within its own territories. Of all the members which composed this united body the Emperor was the head. In his all decrees and regulations with respect to points of common concern were issued; and to him the power of carrying them into execution was committed. But this appearance of monarchical power in the Emperor was more than counter-balanced by the influence of the Princes and states of the empire, in every act of administration. No law extending to the whole body could pass, no resolution that affected the general interest could be taken, without the approbation of the Diet of the empire. In this assembly, every sovereign prince and state of the Germanic body had a right to be present, to deliberate and to vote. The decrees or Recesses of the Diet, were

Having obtained assurances of his safety from the Emperor, the Reformer arrived at the place appointed, October, 1518, and had several interviews with his judge. At first he was mildly admonished to confess his errors. In reply he requested to have those errors pointed out. They were declared to be the denial of certain doctrines concerning indulgences, set forth in the decrees of the popes. To this Luther answered, that these decrees were of inferior authority to the Scriptures, which no where countenanced such doctrines. The legate urged that the Pope alone could decide upon the meaning of the Scriptures. The Reformer asked time for reflection and retired.

When he again appeared before Cajetan, he expressed his attachment to the Pope, and offered the laws of the empire, which the emperor was bound to ratify and enforce."

During a long period all the members of the Germanic body assembled, and made choice of the person whom they appointed to be their head. But amidst the violence and anarchy which prevailed for several centuries in the empire, seven princes, who possessed the most extensive territories, and who had obtained an hereditary title to the great offices of State, acquired the exclusive privilege of nominating the Emperor, and they were dignified with the appellation of Electors."

The Elector of Saxony was one of the seven princes above mentioned, and derived his title from that circumstance.

to submit to the lawful determination of the Church, and to retract his errors the moment they were shown to be inconsistent with the Bible. All this was of no avail. The legate insisted upon an unconditional recantation. "Every thing," as Luther afterward said, "would, I doubt not, have been settled in the most peaceable and affectionate manner, if I would have but written down six letters, Revoco, I recant." This, notwithstanding the advice of some of his more timid friends, he nobly refused to do. He waited a few days for another message from the Cardinal; but he received none, and, being fearful of violence to his person, he, according to a legal usage, appealed from the Pope ill-informed, to the Pope better-informed; an act, by which he still admitted the jurisdiction of the Pontiff, although he denied that of his legate. Having taken this step in compliance with the recommendation of his lawyers, he left the city. A friendly senator ordered the gate to be opened, and he departed on horseback. He rode without boots, spurs, or sword, and was so fatigued with his journey, that when he alighted at night, he fell instantly down among the straw in the stable.

The reader will naturally suppose that in these interviews with Cajetan, Luther made every proper concession. He did not call in question the in