r heresy.

Eck put his reports in shape and took them to Rome in person, and a
demand was made for a formal Bull of Excommunication against Martin
Luther.

Word came from Rome that if Luther would amend his ways and publicly
disavow his defense of Huss, further proceedings would cease. The result
was a volley of Wittenberg pamphlets restating, in still bolder
language, what had already been put forth.

Luther was still a good Catholic, and his quarrel was with the abuses in
the Church, not with the Church itself. Had the Pope and his advisers
been wise enough they would have paid no attention to Luther, and thus
allowed opinion inside the Church to change, as it has changed in our
day. Priests and preachers everywhere now preach exactly the things for
which Huss, Wyclif, Ridley, Latimer and Tyndale forfeited their lives.

But the Pope did not correctly gauge the people--he did not know that
Luther was speaking for fifty-one per cent of all Germany.

Orders were given out in Leipzig from pulpits, that on a certain day all
good Catholics should bring such copies of Martin Luther's books as they
had in their possession to the public square, and the books would there
be burned.

On October Ninth, the Bull of Excommunication mentioning Luther and six
of his chief sympathizers reached Wittenberg, cutting them off from the
Church forever.

Luther still continued to preach daily, and declared that he was still a
Catholic and that as Popes had made mistakes before, so had Pope Leo
erred this time. With the Bull came a notice that, if Luther would
recant, the Bull would be withdrawn and Luther would be reinstated in
the Church.

To which Luther replied, "If the Bull is withdrawn I will still be in
the Church."

Bonfires of Luther's books now burned bright in every town and city of
Christendom--even in London.

Then it was that Wittenberg decided to have a bonfire of its own. A
printed bill was issued calling upon all students and other devout
Christians to assemble at nine o'clock on the morning of December Tenth,
Fifteen Hundred Twenty, outside the Elster gate, and witness a pious and
religious spectacle. A large concourse gathered, a pyre of fagots was
piled high, the Pope's Bull of Excommunication was solemnly placed on
top, and the fire was lighted by the hand of Martin Luther.

* * * * *

The Theses prepared by Tetzel had small sale. People had heard all these
arguments before,