Luther's famous protest against the sale of indulgences, published
October 31, 1517, in the form of ninety-five theses, is represented by
Catholic writers as an outburst of Luther's violent temper and an
assault upon the Catholic Church that he had long premeditated. By this
time, it is said, Luther had become known to his colleagues as a
quarrelsome man, loving disputations and jealous of victory in a debate.
His methods of teaching at the university were novel, in defiance of the
settled customs of the Church. His dangerous innovations caused the
suspicion to spring up that he was plotting rebellion against the
authority of the Church. The arrival of the indulgence-hawker Tetzel in
the neighborhood of Wittenberg gave him the long-looked-for occasion to
strike a blow at the sacred teachings of the Church which he had
solemnly promised to support and defend against all heretics, and from
whose teachings he had already apostatized in his heart.
The fact is that Luther was so little conscious of an intention to stir
up strife for his Church that he was probably the most surprised man in
Germany when he observed the excitement which his Theses were causing.
The method he had chosen for voicing his opinion had no revolutionary
element in it. It was an invitation to the learned doctors to debate
with him the doctrinal grounds for the sale of indulgences. Catholic
writers point to the fact that Luther declared at a later time that he
did not know what an indulgence was when he attacked Tetzel. They seek
to prove from this remark of Luther that it was not conscientious
scruples, but the desire to cause trouble in the Church that prompted
Luther to his action. They do not see that this remark speaks volumes
for Luther. By his Theses he meant to get at the truth of the teaching
concerning indulgences. His Theses were written in Latin, not in the
people's language. Others translated them into German and scattered them
broadcast throughout Germany. The Theses are no labored effort to set
up, by skilful, logical argument and in carefully chosen terms, a new
dogma in oppositon [tr. note: sic] to the teaching of the Church, but
they are exceptions hurriedly thrown on paper, like the notes jotted
down by a speaker to guide him in a discussion of his subject. Last, not
least, the Theses, while contradicting the prevailing practise of
selling indulgences, breathe loyalty to the Catholic Church. From our
modern standpoint Luther appears in the Theses as half Protestant, or
evangelical, half Roman Catholic. In his own view he was altogether
Catholic. His Theses were merely a call: Let there be light! Let our
consciences be duly instructed!
We still have a letter which Luther wrote to Pope Leo X about six months
after he had published the Theses. This letter shows in what an orderly
and quiet way Luther proceeded in his attack upon the traffic in
indulgences, and how much he believed himself in accord with the Pope
and the Church. We shall quote a few statements from this letter: "In
these latter days a jubilee of papal indulgences began to be preached,
and the preachers, thinking everything allowed them under the protection
of your name, dared to teach impiety and heresy openly, to the grave
scandal and mockery of ecclesiastical powers, totally disregarding the
provisions of the Canon Law about the misconduct of officials. . . .
They met with great success, the people were sucked dry on false
pretenses, . . . but the oppressors lived on the fat and sweetness of
the land. They avoided scandals only by the terror of your name, the
threat of the stake, and the brand of heresy, . . . if, indeed, this can
be called avoiding scandals and not rather exciting schisms and revolt
by crass tyranny. . . .
"I privately warned some of the dignitaries of the Church. By some the
admonition was well received, by others ridiculed, by others treated in
various ways, for the terror of your name and the dread of censure are
strong. At length, when I could do nothing else, I determined to stop
their mad career if only for a moment; I resolved to call their
assertions in question. So I published some propositions for debate,
inviting only the more learned to discuss them with me, as ought to be
plain to my opponents from the preface to my Theses. [This was, by the
way, a common practise in those days among the learned professors at
universities.] Yet this is the flame with which they seek to set the
world on fire! . . ." (15, 401; transl. by Preserved Smith.)
Luther's publication of the Theses was the act of a conscientious
Christian pastor. Being a priest, Luther had to hear confession. Through
the confessional he learned how the common people viewed the
indulgences: they actually believed that by buying indulgences they were
freed from all the guilt and punishment of their sins. Absolution became
a plain business transaction: you pay your money and you take your
goods. Luther wrote this to his archbishop the same day on which he
published his Theses. "Papal indulgences," he says in the letter to
Albert, Archbishop of Mayence and Primate of Germany, "for the building
of St. Peter's are hawked about under your illustrious sanction. I do
not now accuse the sermons of the preachers who advertise them, for I
have not seen the same, but I regret that the people have conceived
about them the most erroneous ideas. Forsooth, these unhappy souls
believe that, if they buy letters of pardon, they are sure of their
salvation; likewise, that souls fly out of purgatory as soon as money is
cast into the chest; in short, that the, grace conferred is so great
that there is no sin whatever which cannot be absolved thereby, even if,
as they say, taking an impossible example, a man should violate the
mother of God. They also believe that indulgences free them from all
penalty and guilt." (15, 391; transl. by Preserved Smith, p. 42.)
Luther had preached against the popular belief in indulgences,
pilgrimages to shrines of the saints and their relics, for two years
before he published his Theses. He was confident that the Church could
not countenance this belief. Forgiveness of sins is to the penitent in
heart who are sorry for their sins, and their sins are forgiven for
Christ's sake, who atoned for them, and in whom we have the forgiveness
of sin by the redemption through His blood. This is the Scriptural
doctrine of penitence,--that sorrowful, contrite, and believing attitude
of the heart which is the characteristic of true Christians throughout
their lives. Through penitence we become absolved in the sight of God
from all guilt and punishment of our sins, and the minister, by
announcing this fact, is to convey to the penitent the assurance that
his sins have been forgiven. Whatever penances or pious exercises the
Church may impose an sinners who have confessed their sins can only be
imposed as a wholesome disciplinary measure and as aids to the needed
reformation of life. These penances, since they originate in the choice
of the Church, may also be remitted by the Church, and for these
penances the Church may accept a commutation in money, which payment,
however, cannot supersede the paramount duty of the penitent to amend
his sinful conduct. Such were Luther's views in brief outline at the
time he published his Theses. If we are to take modern Catholic critics
of Luther seriously, that has also been the teaching of their Church on
the subject of indulgences. They claim that the good intentions of the
Popes were grossly misinterpreted and the system of indulgences was put
to uses for which it was never intended. If that is the case, why do
they attack Luther for his attempt to have the abuses corrected?
According to their own presentation of the true teaching of the Church
on the subject of indulgences, Luther was the most dutiful son of the
Church in his day in what he did on All Souls' Eve, 1517.
But the Roman teaching on indulgences is not such an innocent affair as
Catholics would have us believe. The practise of substituting for
penances some good work or contribution to a pious purpose had arisen in
the Church at a very early time. "This," says Preserved Smith, who has
well condensed the history of indulgences, "was the seed of indulgence
which would never have grown to its later enormous proportions had it
not been for the crusades. Mohammed promised his followers paradise if
they fell in battle against unbelievers, but Christian warriors were at
first without this comforting assurance. Their faith was not long left
in doubt, however, for as early as 855 Leo IV promised heaven to the
Franks who died fighting against the Moslems. A quarter of a century
later John VIII proclaimed absolution for all sins and remission of all
penalties to soldiers in the holy war, and from this time on the
'crusade indulgence' became a regular means of recruiting, used, for
example, by Leo IX in 1052 and by Urban II in 1095. By this time the
practise had grown up of regarding an indulgence as a remission not only
of penance, but of the pains of purgatory. The means which had proved
successful in getting soldiers for the crusade were first used in 1145
or 1146 to get money for the same end, pardon being assured to those who
gave enough to fit out one soldier on the same terms as if they had gone
themselves.
"When the crusades ceased, in the thirteenth century, indulgences did
not fall into desuetude. At the jubilee of Pope Boniface VIII, in 1300,
a plenary indulgence was granted to all who made a pilgrimage to Rome.
The Pope reaped such an enormous harvest from the gifts of these
pilgrims that he saw fit to employ similar means at frequent intervals,
and soon extended the same privileges as were granted to pilgrims to all
who contributed for some pious purpose at their own homes. Agents were
sent out to sell these pardons, and were given power to confess and
absolve, so that in 1393 Boniface IX was able to announce complete
remission of both guilt and penalty to the purchasers of his letters.
"Having assumed the right to free living men from future punishment, it
was but a step for the Popes to proclaim that they had the power to
deliver the souls of the dead from purgatory. The existence of this
power was an open question until decided by Calixtus III in 1457, but
full use of the faculty was not made until twenty years later, after
which it became of all branches of the indulgence trade the most
profitable."
The reader will note that the indulgence trade in its latest form had
not become a general thing until about six years before Luther's birth.
It was a comparatively new thing that Luther attacked. In our remarks on
monasticism in a previous chapter we alluded to the Roman teaching
concerning the Treasure of the Merits of the Saints, or the Treasure of
the Church. This teaching greatly fructified the theory of indulgences.
It has never been shown, and never will be, how this Treasure
originates. In the work of our Redeemer there was nothing superabundant
that the Scriptures name. He fulfilled the entire Law for man, and His
merits are of inestimable value. But they were all needed for the work
of satisfying divine justice. Moreover, all these merits of Christ are
freely given to each and every believer and cancel all his guilt,
according to the statement of Paul: "Christ is the end of the Law for
righteousness to every one that believeth." As regards the merits of the
saints, which they accumulated by doing good works in excess of what
they were required to do, this is a purely imaginary asset of the papal
bank of Rome. Every man, with all that he is and has and is able to do,
owes himself wholly to God. At the best he can only do his duty. There
is no chance for doing good works in excess of duty. If he were really
to do all, he would only do what it was his duty to do, Luke 17, 10, and
would be told to regard himself, even in that most favorable case, as an
unprofitable servant.
But supposing there were superabundant merits, supererogatory works of
Christ and the saints, who has determined their quantity? Who takes the
inventory of this stock of the papal bank of Rome? Is he the same party
who determines the length of a person's stay in purgatory and can tell
how much he has been in arrears in the matter of goodness and
virtuousness, and how much cash will purchase his release? How is this
intelligence conveyed to purgatory that Mr. So-and-so is free to proceed
to heaven? A multitude of such questions arising in all thinking minds
that want to arrive at rock bottom facts in so serious a matter always
baffle the theologians of Rome. They owe the world an answer on these
questions for four hundred years. Is the world doing Rome an injustice
when it regards the sale of indulgences a pure confidence game in holy
disguise, the offer of a fictitious value for good cash, the boldest and
baldest gold-bricking that mankind has heen [tr. note: sic] subjected
to?
The sale of indulgences which was started in Luther's days was a
particularly offensive enterprise. "It was not so much the theory of the
Church that excited Luther's indignation as it was the practises of some
of her agents. They encouraged the common man to believe that the
purchase of a papal pardon would assure him impunity without any real
repentance on his part. Moreover, whatever the theoretical worth of
indulgences, the motive of their sale was notoriously the greed of
unscrupulous ecclesiastics. The 'holy trade' as it was called had become
so thoroughly commercialized by 1500 that a banking house, the Fuggers
of Augsburg, were the direct agents of the Curia in Germany. In return
for their services in forwarding the Pope's bulls, and in hiring
sellers of pardons, this wealthy house made a secret agreement in 1507
by which it received one-third of the total profits of the trade, and in
1514 formally took over the whole management of the business in return
for the modest commission of one-half the net receipts. Naturally not a
word was said by the preachers to the people as to the destination of so
large a portion of their money, but enough was known to make many men
regard indulgences as an open scandal.
"The history of the particular trade attacked by Luther is one of
special infamy. Albert of Brandenburg, a prince of the enterprising
house of Hohenzollern, was bred to the Church and rapidly rose by
political influence to the highest ecclesiastical position in Germany.
In 1513, he was elected, at the age of twenty-three, Archbishop of
Magdeburg and administrator of the bishopric of Halberstadt,--an
uncanonical accumulation of sees confirmed by the Pope in return for a
large payment. Hardly had Albert paid this before he was elected
Archbishop and Elector of Mayence and Primate of Germany (March 9,
1514). As he was not yet of canonical age to possess even one bishopric,
not to mention three of the greatest in the empire, the Pope refused to
confirm his nomination except for an enormous sum. The Curia at first
demanded twelve thousand ducats for the twelve apostles. Albert offered
seven for the seven deadly sins. The average between apostles and sins
was struck at ten thousand ducats, or fifty thousand dollars, a sum
equal in purchasing power to near a million to-day. Albert borrowed
this, too, from the Fuggers, and was accordingly confirmed on August 15,
1514.
"In order to allow the new prelate to recoup himself, Leo obligingly
declared an indulgence for the benefit of St. Peter's Church, to run
eight years from March 31, 1515. By this transaction, one of the most
disgraceful in the history of the papacy, as well as in that of the
house of Brandenburg, the Curia made a vast sum. Albert did not come off
so well. First, a number of princes, including the rulers of both
Saxonies, forbade the trade in their dominions, and the profits of what
remained were deeply cut by the unexpected attack of a young monk."
(Preserved Smith, p. 86 ff.)
Luther had ample reason to dread the demoralizing effect of the
indulgence-venders' activity upon the common people. In the sermons of
Tetzel the church where he happened to do business was raised to equal
dignity with St. Peter's at Rome. Instead of confessing to an ordinary
priest, he told the masses they had now the rare privilege of confessing
to an Apostolical Vicar, specially detailed for this work. With
consummate skill he worked on the tender feelings of parents, of
mothers, who were mourning the loss of children, or of children who had
lost their parents. He impersonated the departed in their agonies in
purgatory, he made the people hear the pitiful moaning of the victims in
the purgatorial fires, and transmitted their heartrending appeals for
speedy help to the living. He clinched the argument by playing on the
people's covetousness: for the fourth part of a gulden they could
transfer a suffering soul safely to the home of the eternal paradise.
Had they ever had a greater bargain offered to them? Never would they
have this indispensable means of salvation brought within easier reach.
Now was the time, now or never! "0 ye murderers, ye usurers, ye robbers,
ye slaves of vice," he cried out, "now is the time for you to hear the
voice of God, who does not desire the death of the sinner, but would
have the sinner repent and live. Turn, then, O Jerusalem, to the Lord,
thy God!" He declared that the red cross of the indulgence-venders, with
the papal arms, raised in a church, possessed the same virtue as the
cross of Christ. If Peter were present in person, he would not possess
greater authority, nor could he dispense grace more effectually than he.
Yea, he would not trade his glory as an indulgence-seller with Peter's
glory; for he had saved more souls by selling the indulgences than Peter
by preaching. Every time a coin clinked in his money chest a liberated
soul was soaring to heaven.
Catholic writers declare that the people were told that they must repent
in order to obtain forgiveness. So they were, in the manner aforestated.
Repenting meant buying a letter of pardon from the Pope. That is the
reason why Luther worded the first two of his Ninety-five Theses as he
did: "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ in saying: _Poenitentiam agite!_
meant that the whole life of the faithful should be repentance. And
these words cannot refer to penance--that is, confession and
satisfaction." The Latin phrase "poenitentiam agere" has a double
meaning: it may mean "repent" and "do penance." Our Lord used the phrase
in the first, the indulgence-sellers in the second sense. Since the
people had been raised in the belief that the Church had the authority
from God to impose church fines on them for their trespasses, by which
they were to remove the temporal punishment of their sins, this was
called "doing penance,"--they were actually led to believe that the
were obeying a command of Christ in buying a letter of indulgence. And
not only did the people believe that they were purchasing release from
temporal punishment, but from the guilt of sin and all its effects. The
common man from the fields and the streets did not make the fine
distinction of the hair-splitting theologians: his bargain meant to him
that hell was closed and heaven open for him.
Another favorite defense of modern Catholic writers is, that the money
paid for an indulgence was not meant to purchase anything, but was to be
viewed as a thank-offering which the grateful hearts of the pardoned
prompted them to make to the Church who had brought them the pardon
free, gratis, and for nothing. This is Cardinal Gibbons's argument. He
points triumphantly to the fact that the letters of indulgence were
never handed the applicants at the same desk at which the
"thank-offerings" were received. He does not say which desk the
applicant approached first. But, supposing he obtained the letter first
and then, with a heart bounding with joy and gratitude, hurried to the
other desk, we have an interesting psychological problem confronting us.
The two acts, the delivery of the letter of indulgence and the
surrendering of the thank-offering, we are told, are independent the one
of the other. Both are free acts, the one the free forgiveness of the
Church, the other the free giving of the pardoned. The Church's grant of
pardon has nothing to do with the payment of indulgence-money, and the
indulgence-money is not related to the letter of indulgence. Now, then,
the purchaser of an indulgence performs this remarkable feat: when he
stands at the desk where the letter is handed to him, he does not think
of any cost that he incurs. He views the letter as a pure gift. Then,
obeying a sudden impulse of gratitude, he turns to the other desk and
hands the official some money. He manages to think that he is not paying
for anything, that would be utterly improper. How could a person pay for
a donation, especially such a donation of spiritual and heavenly
treasures? One disturbing element, however, remains: the amount of the
thank-offering was fixed beforehand for particular sins, probably to
regulate the recipient's gratitude and make it adequate. The writer has
resolved to test the psychology of this process on himself the next time
the Boston Symphony Company comes to town. He will try and think of the
great singers as true benefactors of mankind, who go about the country
bestowing favors on the public, and when he comes to the ticket-window
he will merely make a thank-offering for the pleasure he is receiving.
The scheme ought to work as well in this instance as in the other.