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60 tion rather than of complaint against Luther. Pope Leo X. put the whole matter into the hands of Cajetan, his advisor in questions concerning faith and doctrine. That keen-sighted cardinal readily recognized that the point at issue in Luther's theses and other writings was not merely his rejection of indulgences, but also two other propositions of very great importance, (1) that natural man has no power to do what is really good and acceptable to God; (2) that the sinner is justified before God and saved alone through faith in Christ. Soon after, it was on December 8, Cajetan submitted his opinion on the whole controversy in his "tractatus de indulgentiis." The pope, however, thought it wise to wait for further information on Luther before he called him to account.

The desired information soon arrived. Tetzel succeeded in mobilizing his order, that is the order of Dominican monks, against Luther. The Dominican brethren lent their assistance all the more willingly because they were filled with envy, when they saw how Luther drew large numbers of students to Wittenberg, and how through him the Augustinian order forged ahead to honor and respect. Under the leadership of Doctor Rab, prior of the Monastery of St. Paul in Leipzig, to which Tetzel himself belonged, the Dominicans held a meeting of demonstration in Frankfurt a. O., and here decided vigorously to press the charge of heresy against Luther in Rome. And because they possessed a shrewd representative in Nikolaus von Schoenberg, the Dominicans at first gained their purpose. A papal letter was promptly addressed to Staupitz, Luther's superior, commanding him to force Luther to recant. Staupitz passed the demand of the pope on to Luther without any comment of his own. Luther answered May 31, 1518, "I teach men to trust in