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Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolt 311 Luther's teachings did not attract much attention until the year 1517, when he was thirty-four years old. Then something occurred to give him considerable prominence. 525. Luther's Theses on Indulgences (1517). The fact has already been mentioned that the popes had undertaken the re- building of St. Peter's, the great central church of Christendom ( 491-492). The cost of the enterprise was very great, and in order to collect contributions for the purpose Pope Leo X ar- ranged for an extensive distribution of indulgences 1 in Germany. In October, 1517, Tetzel, a Dominican monk, began preach- ing indulgences in the neighborhood of Wittenberg and making claims for them which appeared to Luther irreconcilable with Christianity as he understood it. He therefore, in accordance with the custom of the time, wrote out a series of ninety- five statements in regard to indulgences. These theses, as they were called, he posted on the church door and invited anyone interested in the matter to enter into a discussion with him on the subject. Luther did not intend to attack the Church and had no expectation of creating a sensation. The theses were in Latin and addressed, therefore, only to learned men. 526. Luther's Address to the German Nobility (1520). Of Luther's popular pamphlets the first really famous one was his Address to the German Nobility, in which he calls upon the rulers of Germany, especially the knights, to carry out a reform of the Church, since he believed that it was vain to wait for the popes and bishops to do so. Luther denied that there was anything so sacred about a clergyman that he could not be dismissed by a ruler if he did not properly perform his holy duties. Luther 1 An indulgence was a pardon, issued usually by the Pope himself, which freed the person to whom it was granted from a part or all of his suffering in purgatory. It did not forgive his sins or in any way take the place of true repentance and confession ; it only reduced the punishment which a truly contrite sinner would otherwise have had to endure, either in this world or in purgatory, before he could be admitted to heaven. It is a common mistake of Protestants to suppose that the indulgence was forgiveness granted beforehand for sins to be committed in the future. There is absolutely no foun- dation for this idea. A person proposing to sin could not possibly be contrite in the eyes of the Church, and even if he had secured an indulgence, it would, according to the theologians, have been quite worthless.