In  May  1518,  the  Dominican  published  a  Refutation  of  the
sermon  on  Indulgence  and  Grace :  to  which,  in  the  following
month,  Luther  rephed  by  a  Defence}  on  neither  of  which  is
it  necessary  to  delay.  Already  the  first  mutterings  of  that
controversy  with  Eck,  which  culminated  in  the  Disputation
of  Leipzig,  were  beginning  to  be  heard.  A  more  important
matter  was  that  the  Pope  had  taken  up  the  case.  There  were
those  about  Leo  X,  Dominicans  especially,  who  were,  after  a
fashion,  zealous  for  the  purity  of  the  faith,  and  eager  to  main-
tain the  authority  of  the  Pope  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  believe
that  the  Supreme  Pontiff  himself  cared  much  about  the  theo-
logical aspects  of  the  question.  He  probably  felt  as  a  monarch
might  who  suddenly  saw  an  important  source  of  revenue  in

^  "Weimar  ed.  vol.  i.  pp.  573,  583,     Lbsoher,  vol.  i.  p.  484  ;  Luther's  in
589,  597,  606,  611,  613  {Eesolutiones).       Weimar  ed.  vol.  i.  p.  380.
^  Tetzel'a  pamphlet  will  be  found  in


234  LUTHER'S  NINETY-FIVE  THESES  chap.
