was unseemly and exaggerated. The result was that erroneous views as to the effect of indulgences began to spread among the simple and credulous, some being so far misled as to think that if they only contributed this money to the building of St. Peter's at Rome they would be exempt from all penalty for sins, paying little heed to the other conditions, such as sorrow for sin, and purpose of amendment. Hence, many were led to declaim against the procedure of the zealous friar. These protests were the near mutterings of a storm that had long been gathering, and that was soon to shake all Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.
Martin Luther.—Foremost among those who opposed and denounced Tetzel was Martin Luther (1483–1546), an Augustine
monk, and a teacher of theology in the university of Wittenberg. He was of humble parentage, his father being a poor miner. The boy possessed a good voice, and frequently, while a student, earned his bread by singing from door to door. The natural bent of his mind, and, if we may believe a somewhat doubtful legend, the death of a friend struck down at his side by lightning, led him to resolve to enter a monastery and devote himself to the service of the Church. Before Tetzel appeared in Germany, Luther had already earned a wide reputation for learning and piety.
The Ninety-five Theses.—The form which Church penances had taken in the hands of Tetzel and his associates, together with other circumstances, awakened in Luther's mind doubts and ques-
