ny_.--He was not the
cause of the Reformation, only its most powerful and efficient agency,
for the Reformation would have taken place in time had Luther never
appeared. Somebody would have led the phalanx, and, indeed, Luther,
led steadily on in his thought and researches, became a reformer and
revolutionist almost before he was aware.

He began (1517) by preaching against the sale of indulgences. He
claimed that works had been made a substitute for faith, while man is
justified by faith alone. His attack on indulgences brought him in
direct conflict with one Tetzel, who stirred up the jealousy of other
monks, who reported Luther to Pope Leo X.[5] Luther, in a letter to
the pope, proclaimed his innocence, saying that he is misrepresented
and called heretic "and a thousand ignominious names; these things
shock and amaze me; one thing only sustains me--the sense of my
innocence." He had pinned his ninety-five theses on the door of the
church at Wittenberg. In writing to the pope he claimed that these
were set forth for their own local interest at the university, and that
he knows not why they "should go forth into all the earth." Then he
says: "But what shall I do? Recall them I cannot, and yet I see their
notoriety bringeth upon me great odium."

But Luther, in spite of the censure of the pope and his friends, was
still an ardent adherent to the papal power and the authority of the
church. He says to the pope: "Save or slay, kill or recall, approve or
disapprove, as it shall please you, I will acknowledge you even as the
voice of Christ {383} presiding and speaking in you." In writing to
Spalatine, he says that he may err in disputation, but that he is never
to be a heretic, that he wishes to decide no doctrine, "only I am not
willing to be the slave of the opinions of men."

Luther persisted in his course of criticism. To Staupitz he wrote: "I
see that attempts are made at Rome that the kingdom of truth, _i.e._,
of Christ, be no longer the kingdom of truth." After the pope had
issued his first brief condemning him, Luther exclaimed: "It is
incredible that a thing so monstrous should come from the chief
pontiff, especially Leo X. If in truth it be come forth from the Roman
court, then I will show them their most licentious temerity and their
ungodly ignorance." These were bold words from a man who did not wish
to become a reformer, a revolutionist, or a heretic.

Now the pope regarded this whole affair