Part 28

"In Germany the people were full of excitement. The Church had opened a vast market on earth. The crowd of customers, and the cries and jests of the sellers, were like a fair—and that, a fair held by monks. The article which they puffed off and offered at the lowest price, was, they said, the salvation of souls. These dealers travelled through the country in a handsome carriage, with three outriders, made a great show, and spent a great deal of money. … When the cavalcade was approaching a town, a deputy was dispatched to the magistrate: 'The grace of God and St. Peter is before your gates,' said the envoy; and immediately all the place was in commotion. The clergy, the priests, the nuns, the council, the schoolmasters, the schoolboys, the trade corporations with their banners, men and women, young and old, went to meet the merchants, bearing lighted torches in their hands, advancing to the sound of music and of all the bells, 'so that,' says a historian, 'they could not have received God Himself in greater state.' The salutations ended, the whole cortege moved towards the church, the Pope's bull of grace being carried in advance on a velvet cushion, or on a cloth of gold. The chief indulgence-merchant followed next, holding in his hand a red wooden cross. In this order the whole procession moved along, with singing, prayers, and incense. The organ pealed, and loud music greeted the hawker monk and those who accompanied him, as they entered the temple. The cross he bore was placed in front of the altar; the Pope's arms were suspended from it. … One person especially attracted attention at these sales. It was he who carried the great red cross and played the principal part. He wore the garb of the Dominicans. He had an arrogant bearing and a thundering voice, and he was in full vigour, though he had reached his sixty-third year. This man, the son of a goldsmith of Leipsic, named Dietz, was called John Dietzel, or Tetzel. He had received numerous ecclesiastical honours. He was Bachelor in Theology, prior of the Dominicans, apostolic commissioner and inquisitor, and since the year 1502 he had filled the office of vendor of indulgences. The skill he had acquired soon caused him to be named commissioner-in-chief. … The cross having been elevated and the Pope's arms hung upon it, Tetzel ascended the pulpit, and with a confident air began to extol the worth of indulgences, in presence of the crowd whom the ceremony had attracted to the sacred spot. The people listened with open mouths. Here is a specimen of one of his harangues:—'Indulgences,' he said, 'are the most precious and sublime gifts of God. This cross (pointing to the red cross) has as much efficacy as the cross of Jesus Christ itself. Come, and I will give you letters furnished with seals, by which, even the sins that you may have a wish to commit hereafter, shall be all forgiven you. I would not exchange my privileges for those of St. Peter in heaven; for I have saved more souls by my indulgences than the Apostle by his discourses. There is no sin so great, that an indulgence cannot remit it. Repentance is not necessary. But, more than that; indulgences not only save the living, they save the dead also. Priest! noble! merchant! woman! young girl! young man!—harken to your parents and your friends who are dead, and who cry to you from the depths of the abyss: "We are enduring horrible tortures! A small alms would deliver us. You can give it, and you will not!"' The hearers shuddered at these words, pronounced in the formidable voice of the charlatan monk. 'The very instant,' continued Tetzel, 'the piece of money chinks at the bottom of the strong box, the soul is freed from purgatory, and flies to heaven.' … Such were the discourses heard by astonished Germany in the days when God was raising up Luther. The sermon ended, the indulgence was considered as 'having solemnly established its throne' in that place. Confessionals were arranged, adorned with the Pope's arms; and the people flocked in crowds to the confessors. They were told, that, in order to obtain the full pardon of all their sins, and to deliver the souls of others from purgatory, it was not necessary for them to have contrition of heart, or to make confession by mouth; only, let them be quick and bring money to the box. Women and children, poor people, and those who lived on alms, all of them soon found the needful to satisfy the confessor's demands. The confession being over—and it did not require much time—the faithful hurried to the sale, which was conducted by a single monk. His counter stood near the cross. He fixed his sharp eyes upon all who approached him, scrutinized their manners, their bearing, their dress, and demanded a sum proportioned to the appearance of each. Kings, queens, princes, archbishops, bishops, had to pay, according to regulation, twenty-five ducats; abbots, counts, and barons, ten; and so on, or according to the discretion of the commissioner. For particular sins, too, both Tetzel in Germany, and Samson in Switzerland, had a special scale of prices."

_J. N. Merle D'Aubigne, The Story of the! Reformation, part 1, chapter 6 (or History of the Reformation, book 3, chapter 1)._

ALSO IN: _M. J. Spalding, History of the Protestant Reformation, part 2, chapter 3._

PAPACY: A. D. 1517. Luther's attack upon the Indulgences. His 95 Theses nailed to the Wittenberg Church. The silent support of Elector Frederick of Saxony. The satisfaction of awakened Germany.

"Wittenberg was an old-fashioned town in Saxony, on the Elbe. Its main street was parallel with the broad river, and within its walls, at one end of it, near the Elster gate, lay the University, founded by the good Elector—Frederic of Saxony—of which Luther was a professor; while at the other end of it was the palace of the Elector and the palace church of All Saints. The great parish church lifted its two towers from the centre of the town, a little back from the main street. {2446} This was the town in which Luther had been preaching for years, and towards which Tetzel, the seller of indulgences, now came, just as he did to other towns, vending his 'false pardons'—granting indulgences for sins to those who could pay for them, and offering to release from purgatory the souls of the dead, if any of their friends would pay for their release. As soon as the money chinked in his money-box, the souls of their dead friends would be let out of purgatory. This was the gospel of Tetzel. It made Luther's blood boil. He knew that what the Pope wanted was people's money, and that the whole thing was a cheat. This his Augustinian theology had taught him, and he was not a man to hold back when he saw what ought to be done. He did see it. On the day [October 31] before the festival of All Saints, on which the relics of the Church were displayed to the crowds of country people who flocked into the town, Luther passed down the long street with a copy of ninety-five theses or Statements [see text below] against indulgences in his hand, and nailed them upon the door of the palace church ready for the festival on the morrow. Also on All Saints' day he read them to the people in the great parish church. It would not have mattered much to Tetzel or the Pope that the monk of Wittenberg had nailed up his papers on the palace church, had it not been that he was backed by the Elector of Saxony."

_F. Seebohm, The Era of the Protestant Revolution, part 2, chapter 3 (c)._

"As the abuse complained of had a double character, religious and political, or financial, so also political events came in aid of the opposition emanating from religious ideas. Frederick of Saxony [on the occasion of an indulgence proclaimed in 1501] … had kept the money accruing from it in his own dominions in his possession, with the determination not to part with it, till an expedition against the infidels, which was then contemplated, should be actually undertaken; the pope and, on the pope's concession, the emperor, had demanded it of him in vain: he held it for what it really was—a tax levied on his subjects; and after all the projects of a war against the Turks had come to nothing, he had at length applied the money to his university. Nor was he now inclined to consent to a similar scheme of taxation. … The sale of indulgences at Jüterbock and the resort of his subjects thither, was not less offensive to him on financial grounds than to Luther on spiritual. Not that the latter were in any degree excited by the former; this it would be impossible to maintain after a careful examination of the facts; on the contrary, the spiritual motives were more original, powerful, and independent than the temporal, though these were important, as having their proper source in the general condition of Germany. The point whence the great events arose which were soon to agitate the world, was the coincidence of the two. There was … no one who represented the interests of Germany in the matter. There were innumerable persons who saw through the abuse of religion, but no one who dared to call it by its right name and openly to denounce and resist it. But the alliance between the monk of Wittenberg and the sovereign of Saxony was formed; no treaty was negotiated; they had never seen each other; yet they were bound together by an instinctive mutual understanding. The intrepid monk attacked the enemy; the prince did not promise him his aid—he did not even encourage him; he let things take their course. … Luther's daring assault was the shock which awakened Germany from her slumber. That a man should arise who had the courage to undertake the perilous struggle, was a source of universal satisfaction, and as it were tranquillised the public conscience. The most powerful interests were involved in it;—that of sincere and profound piety, against the most purely external means of obtaining pardon of sins; that of literature, against fanatical persecutors, of whom Tetzel was one; the renovated theology against the dogmatic learning of the schools, which lent itself to all these abuses; the temporal power against the spiritual, whose usurpations it sought to curb; lastly, the nation against the rapacity of Rome."

_L. Ranke, History of the Reformation in Germany, book 2, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN: _J. Köstlin, Life of Luther, part 3, chapter 1._

_C. Beard, Martin Luther and the Reformation, chapter 5._

See, also, GERMANY: A. D. 1517-1523.

PAPACY: A. D. 1517. The Ninety-five Theses of Luther.

The following is a translation of the ninety-five theses:

"In the desire and with the purpose of elucidating the truth, a disputation will be held on the underwritten propositions at Wittemberg, under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Monk of the Order of St. Augustine, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and ordinary Reader of the same in that place. He therefore asks those who cannot be present and discuss the subject with us orally, to do so by letter in their absence. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ in saying: 'Repent ye,' etc., intended that the whole life of believers should be penitence.

2. This word cannot be understood of sacramental penance, that is, of the confession and satisfaction which are performed under the ministry of priests.

3. It does not, however, refer solely to inward penitence; nay such inward penitence is naught, unless it outwardly produces various mortifications of the flesh.

4. The penalty thus continues as long as the hatred of self—that is, true inward penitence—continues; namely, till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

5. The Pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties, except those which he has imposed by his own authority, or by that of the canons.

6. The Pope has no power to remit any guilt, except by declaring and warranting it to have been remitted by God; or at most by remitting cases reserved for himself; in which eases, if his power were despised, guilt would certainly remain.

7. God never remits any man's guilt, without at the same time subjecting him, humbled in all things, to the authority of his representative the priest.

8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and no burden ought to be imposed on the dying, according to them.

9. Hence the Holy Spirit acting in the Pope does well for us, in that, in his decrees, he always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity.

10. Those priests act wrongly and unlearnedly, who, in the case of the dying, reserve the canonical penances for purgatory.

11. Those tares about changing of the canonical penalty into the penalty of purgatory seem surely to have been sown while the bishops were asleep.

12. Formerly the canonical penalties were imposed not after, but before absolution, as tests of true contrition.

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13. The dying pay all penalties by death, and are already dead to the canon laws, and are by right relieved from them.

14. The imperfect soundness or charity of a dying person necessarily brings with it great fear, and the less it is, the greater the fear it brings.

15. This fear and horror is sufficient by itself, to say nothing of other things, to constitute the pains of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair.

16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven appear to differ as despair, almost despair, and peace of mind differ.

17. With souls in purgatory it seems that it must needs be that, as horror diminishes, so charity increases.

18. Nor does it seem to be proved by any reasoning or any scriptures, that they are outside of the state of merit or of the increase of charity.

19. Nor does this appear to be proved, that they are sure and confident of their own blessedness, at least all of them, though we may be very sure of it.

20. Therefore the Pope, when he speaks of the plenary remission of all penalties, does not mean simply of all, but only of those imposed by himself.

21. Thus those preachers of indulgences are in error who say that, by the indulgences of the Pope, a man is loosed and saved from all punishment.

22. For in fact he remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which they would have had to pay in this life according to the canons.

23. If any entire remission of all penalties can be granted to anyone, it is certain that it is granted to none but the most perfect, that is, to very few.

24. Hence the greater part of the people must needs be deceived by this indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalties.

25. Such power as the Pope has over purgatory in general, such has every bishop in his own diocese, and every curate in his own parish, in particular.

26. The Pope acts most rightly in granting remission to souls, not by the power of the keys (which is of no avail in this case) but by the way of suffrage.

27. They preach man, who say that the soul flies out of purgatory as soon as the money thrown into the chest rattles.

28. It is certain that, when the money rattles in the chest, avarice and gain may be increased, but the suffrage of the Church depends on the will of God alone.

29. Who knows whether all the souls in purgatory desire to be redeemed from it, according to the story told of Saints Severinus and Paschal.

30. No man is sure of the reality of his own contrition, much less of the attainment of plenary remission.

31. Rare as is a true penitent, so rare is one who truly buys indulgences—that is to say, most rare.

32. Those who believe that, through letters of pardon, they are made sure of their own salvation, will be eternally damned along with their teachers.

33. We must especially beware of those who say that these pardons from the Pope are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to God.

34. For the grace conveyed by these pardons has respect only to the penalties of sacramental satisfaction, which are of human appointment.

35. They preach no Christian doctrine, who teach that contrition is not necessary for those who buy souls out of purgatory or buy confessional licences.

36. Every Christian who feels true compunction has of right plenary remission of pain and guilt, even without letters of pardon.

37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has a share in all the benefits of Christ and of the Church, given him by God, even without letters of pardon.

38. The remission, however, imparted by the Pope is by no means to be despised, since it is, as I have said, a declaration of the Divine remission.

39. It is a most difficult thing, even for the most learned theologians, to exalt at the same time in the eyes of the people the ample effect of pardons and the necessity of true contrition.

40. True contrition seeks and loves punishment; while the ampleness of pardons relaxes it, and causes men to hate it, or at least gives occasion for them to do so.

41. Apostolic pardons ought to be proclaimed with caution, lest the people should falsely suppose that they are placed before other good works of charity.

42. Christians should be taught that it is not the mind of the Pope that the buying of pardons is to be in any way compared to works of mercy.

43. Christians should be taught that he who gives to a poor man, or lends to a needy man, does better than if he bought pardons.

44. Because, by a work of charity, charity increases, and the man becomes better; while, by means of pardons, he does not become better, but only freer from punishment.

45. Christians should be taught that he who sees anyone in need, and, passing him by, gives money for pardons, is not purchasing for himself the indulgences of the Pope, but the anger of God.

46. Christians should be taught that, unless they have superfluous wealth, they are bound to keep what is necessary for the use of their own households, and by no means to lavish it on pardons.

47. Christians should be taught that, while they are free to buy pardons, they are not commanded to do so.

48. Christians should be taught that the Pope, in granting pardons, has both more need and more desire that devout prayer should be made for him, than that money should be readily paid.

49. Christians should be taught that the Pope's pardons are useful, if they do not put their trust in them, but most hurtful, if through them they lose the fear of God.

50. Christians should be taught that, if the Pope were acquainted with the exactions of the preachers of pardons, he would prefer that the Basilica of St. Peter should be burnt to ashes, than that it should be built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.

51. Christians should be taught that, as it would be the duty, so it would be the wish of the Pope, even to sell, if necessary, the Basilica of St. Peter, and to give of his own money to very many of those from whom the preachers of pardons extract money.

52. Vain is the hope of salvation through letters of pardon, even if a commissary—nay the Pope himself—were to pledge his own soul for them.

53. They are enemies of Christ and of the Pope, who, in order that pardons may be preached, condemn the word of God to utter silence in other churches.

54. Wrong is done to the word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or longer time is spent on pardons that [than] on it.

55. The mind of the Pope necessarily is that, if pardons, which are a very small matter, are celebrated with single bells, single processions, and single ceremonies, the Gospel, which is a very great matter, should be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, and a hundred ceremonies.

56. The treasures of the Church, whence the Pope grants indulgences, are neither sufficiently named nor known among the people of Christ.

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57. It is clear that they are at least not temporal treasures, for these are not so readily lavished, but only accumulated, by many of the preachers.

58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and of the saints, for these, independently of the Pope, are always working grace to the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell to the outer man.

59. St. Lawrence said that the treasures of the Church are the poor of the Church, but he spoke according to the use of the word in his time.

60. We are not speaking rashly when we say that the keys of the Church, bestowed through the merits of Christ, are that treasure.

61. For it is clear that the power of the Pope is alone sufficient for the remission of penalties and of reserved cases.

62. The true treasure of the Church is the Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.

63. This treasure, however, is deservedly most hateful, because it makes the first to be last.

64. While the treasure of indulgences is deservedly most acceptable, because it makes the last to be first.

65. Hence the treasures of the Gospel are nets, wherewith of old they fished for the men of riches.

66. The treasures of indulgences are nets, wherewith they now fish for the riches of men.

67. Those indulgences, which the preachers loudly proclaim to be the greatest graces, are seen to be truly such as regards the promotion of gain.

68. Yet they are in reality in no degree to be compared to the grace of God and the piety of the cross.

69. Bishops and curates are bound to receive the commissaries of apostolic pardons with all reverence.

70. But they are still more bound to see to it with all their eyes, and take heed with all their ears, that these men do not preach their own dreams in place of the Pope's commission.

71. He who speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons, let him be anathema and accursed.

72. But he, on the other hand, who exerts himself against the wantonness and licence of speech of the preachers of pardons, let him be blessed.

73. As the Pope justly thunders against those who use any kind of contrivance to the injury of the traffic in pardons.

74. Much more is it his intention to thunder against those who, under the pretext of pardons, use contrivances to the injury of holy charity and of truth.

75. To think that Papal pardons have such power that they could absolve a man even if—by an impossibility—he had violated the Mother of God, is madness.

76. We affirm on the contrary that Papal] pardons cannot take away even the least of venial sins, as regards its guilt.

77. The saying that, even if St. Peter were now Pope, he could grant no greater graces, is blasphemy against St. Peter and the Pope.

78. We affirm on the contrary that both he and any other Pope has greater graces to grant, namely, the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc. (1 Corinthians xii. 9).

79. To say that the cross set up among the insignia of the Papal arms is of equal power with the cross of Christ, is blasphemy.

80. Those bishops, curates, and theologians who allow such discourses to have currency among the people, will have to render an account.