More than ten years passed before this new principle began to work off
the putrid carcass of mediæval religion which lay stretched over the
stifled and suffocating Church of Christ. There were yet many steps
and stages in the preparation for what was to come. But from that time
forward everything moved toward general regeneration by means of that
marrow doctrine of the Gospel: _Salvation by loving faith in the merit
and mediation of Jesus alone_.
Staupitz counseled the young monk to study the Scriptures well and
whatever could aid him in their right understanding, and gave orders
to the monastery not to interfere with his studies.
On May 2, 1507, he was consecrated to the priesthood.
Within the year following, at the instance of Staupitz, Frederick the
Wise appointed him professor in the new University of Wittenberg.
May 9, 1509, he took his degree of bachelor of divinity. From that
time he began to use his place to attack the falsehoods of the
prevailing philosophy and to explore and expose the absurdities of
Scholasticism, dwelling much on the great Gospel treasure of God's
free amnesty to sinful man through the merits and mediation of Jesus
Christ, on which his own soul was planted.
Staupitz was astounded at the young brother's thorough mastery of the
sacred Word, the minuteness of his knowledge of it, and the power with
which he expounded and defended the great principles of the evangelic
faith. So able a teacher of the doctrines of the cross must at once
begin to preach. Luther remonstrated, for it was not then the custom
for all priests to preach. He insisted that he would die under the
weight of such responsibilities. "Die, then," said Staupitz; "God has
plenty to do for intelligent young men in heaven."
A little old wooden chapel, daubed with clay, twenty by thirty feet in
size, with a crude platform of rough boards at one end and a small
sooty gallery for scarce twenty persons at the other, and propped on
all sides to keep it from tumbling down, was assigned him as his
cathedral. Myconius likens it to the stable of Bethlehem, as there
Christ was born anew for the souls which now crowded to it. And when
the thronging audiences required his transfer to the parish church, it
was called the bringing of Christ into the temple.
The fame of this young theologian and preacher spread fast and far.
The common people and the learned were alike impressed by his
originality and power, and rejoiced in the electrifying clearness of
his expositions and teachings. The Elector was delighted, for he began
to see his devout wishes realized. Staupitz, who had drunk in the more
pious spirit of the Mystic theologians, shared the same feeling, and
saw in Luther's fresh, biblical, and energetic preaching what he felt
the whole Church needed. "He spared neither counsel nor applause," for
he believed him the man of God for the times. He sent him to
neighboring monasteries to preach to the monks. He gave him every
opportunity to study, observe, and exercise his great talents. He even
sent him on a mission to Rome, more to acquaint him with that city,
which he longed to see, than for any difficult or pressing business
with the pope.