Page 20 - 07 Luther's Separation from Rome

worship—the cornerstone laid with the

wages of iniquity! But the very means

adopted for Rome's aggrandizement

provoked the deadliest blow to her power

and greatness. It was this that aroused the

most determined and successful of the

enemies of popery, and led to the battle

which shook the papal throne and jostled the

triple crown upon the pontiff's head.

The official appointed to conduct the sale of

indulgences in Germany—Tetzel by name—

had been convicted of the basest offenses

against society and against the law of God;

but having escaped the punishment due for

his crimes, he was employed to further the

mercenary and unscrupulous projects of the

pope. With great effrontery he repeated the

most glaring falsehoods and related

marvelous tales to deceive an ignorant,