rs of age.

Previous to this, however, a profound change of feeling had begun in
him. The death of a friend, and the terror of a thunder-storm, deeply
impressed him. Chancing one day to examine the Vulgate in the university
library, he saw with astonishment that there were more gospels and
epistles than in the lectionaries. He was arrested by the contents of
his newly found treasure. His heart was deeply touched, and he resolved
to devote himself to a spiritual life. He separated himself from his
friends and fellow-students, and withdrew into the Augustinian convent
at Erfurt. Here he spent the next three years of his life--years of
peculiar interest and significance; for it was during this time that he
laid, in the study of the Bible and of Augustine, and with the
assistance of his life-long friend Staupitz, the foundation of those
doctrinal convictions which were afterward to rouse and strengthen him
in his life-long struggle. He describes very vividly the spiritual
crisis through which he passed, the burden of sin which so long lay upon
him, "too heavy to be borne," and the relief that he at length found in
the clear apprehension of the doctrine of the "forgiveness of sins,"
through the grace of Christ.

In the year 1507 Luther was ordained a priest, and in the following year
he removed to Wittenberg, destined to derive its chief celebrity from
his name. He became a teacher in the new university founded there by the
Elector Frederick of Saxony. At first he lectured on dialectics and
physics, but his heart was already given to theology, and in 1509 he
became a bachelor of theology, and commenced lecturing on the Holy
Scriptures. His lectures made a great impression, and the novelty of his
views already began to excite attention. "This monk," said the rector of
the university, "will puzzle our doctors and bring in a new doctrine."
Besides lecturing, he began to preach, and his sermons reached a wider
audience, and produced a still more powerful influence. They were
printed and widely circulated in Germany, France, and England, so that
his doctrines were diffused throughout Europe. His words, as Melancthon
says, were "born not on his lips, but in his soul," and they moved
profoundly the souls of all who heard them. In 1511 he was sent on a
mission to Rome, and he has described very vividly what he saw and heard
there. His devout and unquestioning reverence--for he was yet in his own
subsequent view "a most insane papis