In Germany to the Leipsic Disputation - James Aitken Wylie

carriers and others into his service for the transport
of his merchandise, and recompensing them for the
labor of themselves and their mules by letters of
indulgence, approached within four miles of
Luther. He little suspected how dangerous the
ground on which he was now treading! The Elector
Frederick, shocked at this man's trade, and yet
more at the scandals of his life, had forbidden him
to enter Saxony; but he came as near to it as he
durst; and now at Juterbock, a small town on the
Saxon frontier, Tetzel set up his red cross, and
opened his market. Wittemberg was only an hour
and a half's walk distant, and thousands flocked
from it to Juterbock, to do business with the
pardon-monger. When Luther first heard of Tetzel,
which was only a little while before, he said, "By
the help of God, I will make a hole in his drum:" he
might have added, "and in that of his master, Leo
X." Tetzel was now almost within ear-shot of the
Reformer.
Luther, who acted as confessor as well as
preacher, soon discovered the moral havoc which
Tetzel's pardons were working. For we must bear
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