h. His dangerous innovations caused the
suspicion to spring up that he was plotting rebellion against the
authority of the Church. The arrival of the indulgence-hawker Tetzel in
the neighborhood of Wittenberg gave him the long-looked-for occasion to
strike a blow at the sacred teachings of the Church which he had
solemnly promised to support and defend against all heretics, and from
whose teachings he had already apostatized in his heart.

The fact is that Luther was so little conscious of an intention to stir
up strife for his Church that he was probably the most surprised man in
Germany when he observed the excitement which his Theses were causing.
The method he had chosen for voicing his opinion had no revolutionary
element in it. It was an invitation to the learned doctors to debate
with him the doctrinal grounds for the sale of indulgences. Catholic
writers point to the fact that Luther declared at a later time that he
did not know what an indulgence was when he attacked Tetzel. They seek
to prove from this remark of Luther that it was not conscientious
scruples, but the desire to cause trouble in the Church that prompted
Luther to his action. They do not see that this remark speaks volumes
for Luther. By his Theses he meant to get at the truth of the teaching
concerning indulgences. His Theses were written in Latin, not in the
people's language. Others translated them into German and scattered them
broadcast throughout Germany. The Theses are no labored effort to set
up, by skilful, logical argument and in carefully chosen terms, a new
dogma in oppositon [tr. note: sic] to the teaching of the Church, but
they are exceptions hurriedly thrown on paper, like the notes jotted
down by a speaker to guide him in a discussion of his subject. Last, not
least, the Theses, while contradicting the prevailing practise of
selling indulgences, breathe loyalty to the Catholic Church. From our
modern standpoint Luther appears in the Theses as half Protestant, or
evangelical, half Roman Catholic. In his own view he was altogether
Catholic. His Theses were merely a call: Let there be light! Let our
consciences be duly instructed!

We still have a letter which Luther wrote to Pope Leo X about six months
after he had published the Theses. This letter shows in what an orderly
and quiet way Luther proceeded in his attack upon the traffic in
indulgences, and how much he believed himself in accord with the Pope
and the Church. We shall q