On  the  south  wall  was  a  pulpit  of  old  roughly  hewn  boards."
"  Por  all  the  world,"  he  goes  on  to  say  with  pardonable
enthusiasm,  "  it  had  the  look  which  the  painters  give  to  the
stable  in  Bethlehem,  where  Christ  was  born."  It  was  in  this
humble  place  that  Luther  first  established  his  fame  as  an  orator ;
here,  we  must  suppose,  that  the  Elector  heard  him,  greatly
approving  both  the  matter  and  the  manner  of  his  preaching.
For  when  it  was  a  question  of  his  taking  his  doctor's  degree,
and  so  whoUy  devoting  himself  to  theology,  it  was  Frederick
who  provided  the  necessary  funds.^  Long  afterwards  Luther
used  to  point  out  the  pear  tree  in  the  convent  garden  under

1  Coll.  vol.  i.  pp.  162,  163 ;  vol.  ili.  ^  The    receipt  whicli   Luther  gave

p.  169  ;    3'.  T.  vol.  iii.  p.  185  ;  vol.  iv.  to   Frederick's   chamberlains    for   the

p.  688  ;  Lauterbach,  p.  64  ;  Mathesius,  fifty  gulden  required  for  this  purpose,

p.  6  A  ;  Erl.  0pp.  Lat.  vol.  iv.  p.  264  fortunately  survives  to   contradict    a

{Enarr.  in  Genesin);    ibid.    D.S.  vol.  scandalous  story,  which  Cochlaeus,  p.  4,

xxiii.  p.  10  (Vorrede  awf  den  Unterricht  rather  insinuates  than  openly  affirms.
der  Visitatorn) ;   ibid.  vol.  xxvii.  p.  90  De  W.  vol.  i.  p.  11 ;   conf.  vol.  vi.  p.
(  Von  dem  Papsthum  zu  Rom) ;  ibid.  vol.  3  ;   Burkhardt,  Luther's  Brief wechsel,

xxxi.  pp.    327,   328  (Von  der  Wwikel-  p.  1.
messe) ;  Kolde,  Staupitz,  p.  241.
