THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
had the profoundest influence on him, though he grasped more deeply than his teacher the meaning of the faith which is the direct road to the righteousness of God. Among medieval teachers he was most impressed by Bernard of Clairvaux, while in 1516 he came under the influence of the mysticism of Tauler.
Although still devoted to the Roman Catholic Church, Luther had now reached essentially the conclusions which were to lead him to combat her claims. Resting salvation entirely on the grace of God, he held that all the good works of the natural man are sin, and that divine grace 3. The comes solely through the eternal elec-
Doctrine tion and predestination of God. Lu-
of Grace, ther also held with Paul that man is purified by faith inwrought by the divine spirit and word of grace, and that the spirit of God then works inward righteousness in them that believe. Nevertheless, those who are thus regenerate still sin constantly and are without honor or merit, persisting only through pardoning grace and through faith before God. Like the mystics, Luther's concept of the plan of salvation is based on the relation of the individual to God and Christ in faith. Faith is identical with entire devotion, renunciation of all self-righteousness, and surrender of all self-will. Both faith and hope are directed only to Christ, who alone fulfilled the law and bore our sins; while man is justified solely by the imputation of God. While inward righteousness is included in justification, it follows the forgiveness of sins which forms a part of faith. From faith Luther also derives love, and the strength, impulse, and delight to do good. Christ, who dwells in man through faith, himself does all and conquers all; but the deeds of the just are not for his own righteousness, but#for the service of God and man. All this grace is bestowed by the Word, in which dwells Christ, the bread of life; and this bread of life is given outwardly in preaching and the Eucharist, and inwardly by " God's own teaching." That the current ecclesiastical views were opposed to those which formed the center of his belief and life was still unknown to Luther. In contradistinction to the prevailing custom, he held that the bishops should regard preaching as their prime duty, and that sermons should be free from false legends and the opinions of men, nor should the subjects longer be restricted to character and works, but should be devoted especially to faith and justice. Nevertheless, Luther entertained no doubt of the authority of the visible Church, and obedience to her was to him identical with obedience to Christ. The sources for his views at this period are his lectures on the Psalms, Latin sermons beginning with 1515, a preface to Tauler's Deutsche Theologie (1516), a German exegesis of the seven penitential Psalms, theses in Bernhardis of Feldkirchen and Giinther's Disputation (1516- 1517), sermons on the Decalogue (Latin ed., 1518), and a German exegesis of the Lord's Prayer (1517), besides the letters of these years.
The sale of indulgences by Johann Tetzel near Wittenberg incited Luther to a polemic attitude, yet not, in his opinion, against the Church, but for
her honor. He began by assailing the misuse of indulgences, while his dogmatic views concerning
them gradually developed out of the 4. The cardinal principles of his belief. On Ninety-five Oct. 31, 1517, he nailed his ninety- Theses, five theses on the castle church at
Wittenberg, though he had no intention of making a decisive attack nor did he wish them to be generally circulated. The content of the theses was in accord with his sermons : penance was repentance, not priestly confession and satisfaction; mortification of the flesh, implying punishment until entrance into the kingdom of heaven, must coexist with inward repentance; this punishment only is remitted by papal indulgence, which can not remove the actual guilt of the smallest suv being able to grant remission only in virtue of the proclamation and confirmation of divine pardon; the merit of Christ and the saints work grace to the inner and death to the outer man without the cooperation of the pope; the true " treasure of the Church " is the Gospel of the grace of God, though God subjects those whom he forgives to the priests as his representatives. Luther accordingly restricted indulgences to the penalties and works prescribed by the Church, and herein he purposed to express the true intention of the pope, who could scarcely know how they were misused.
Luther's theses spread throughout Germany in two weeks, gaining an unanticipated notoriety. He was egged on still further by his opponents, Tetzel, Silvester Prierias (the papal " master of the palace," q.v.), Johann Eck (prochancellor of In-
golstadt and his chief adversary; q.v.), 5. Denial and Hoogstraten, to all of whom he of the replied individually, though his most Power important work on the questions inof the volved in the controversy was his Pope. Resolutiones disputationum de indul-
gentiarum virtute (1518). Meanwhile he took part in an Augustinian convention at Heidelberg, where he presented theses on the slavery of man to sin and on divine grace. In the course of the controversy on indulgences the question arose of the absolute power of the pope, since the doctrine of the " treasure of the Church " was based on a bull of Clement VI. Luther saw himself branded as a heretic, and .'he pope, who had determined to suppress his vie rs, summoned him to Rome. Yielding, however, t ) the unwillingness of the Elector Frederick to part \ rith his theologian, the pope did not press the matte ■, and the cardinal legate Cajetan was deputed to receive Luther's submission at Augsburg (Oct., 1518). The latter, while professing his implicit obedience to the Church, boldly denied the absolute power of the pope, and appealed first " from the pope not well informed to the pope who should be better informed " and then (Nov. 28) to a general council. Luther now declared that the papacy formed no part of the original and immutable essence of the Church, and he even begar to think that Antichrist ruled the Curia. Hi had already asserted at least the potential fallibility of a council representing the Church, anr), denying the church doctrine of excommunication, he was led by his con-