uld do was
to secure a general statement that the accused man would abide by the
decision of the Holy See, and a promise to keep quiet as long as his
opponents did the same.

Such a compromise was sure to be fruitless, for the champions of the
church could not let the heretic rest for a moment. The whole affair
was given a wider publicity than it had hitherto attained, and at the
same time Luther was pushed to a more advanced position than he had yet
reached, by the attack of a theologian of Ingolstadt, John Eck. When
he assailed the Theses on the ground that they seriously impaired the
authority of the Roman see, Luther retorted:

{69} The assertion that the Roman Church is superior to all
other churches is proved only by weak and vain papal
decrees of the last four hundred years, and is repugnant to
the accredited history of the previous eleven hundred
years, to the Bible, and to the decree of the holiest of all
councils, the Nicene.

[Sidenote: The Leipzig Debate, 1519]

A debate on this and other propositions between Eck on the one side and
Luther and his colleague Carlstadt on the other took place at Leipzig
in the days from June 27 to July 16, 1519. The climax of the argument
on the power of popes and councils came when Eck, skilfully manoeuvring
to show that Luther's opinions were identical with those of Huss,
forced from his opponent the bold declaration that "among the opinions
of John Huss and the Bohemians many are certainly most Christian and
evangelic, and cannot be condemned by the universal church." The words
sent a thrill through the audience and throughout Christendom. Eck
could only reply: "If you believe that a general council, legitimately
convoked, can err, you are to me a heathen and a publican."
Reconciliation was indeed no longer possible. When Luther had
protested against the abuse of indulgences he did so as a loyal son of
the church. Now at last he was forced to raise the standard of revolt,
at least against Rome, the recognized head of the church. He had begun
by appealing from indulgence-seller to pope, then from the pope to a
universal council; now he declared that a great council had erred, and
that he would not abide by its decision. The issue was a clear one,
though hardly recognized as such by himself, between the religion of
authority and the right of private judgment.

His opposition to the papacy developed with extraordinary rapidity.
His study of the Ca