Luther’s Separation from Rome
105
The official appointed to conduct the sale of indulgences in
Germany—Tetzel by name—had been convicted of the basest offenses
against society and against the law of God; but having escaped the
punishment due to his crimes, he was employed to further the mer-
cenary and unscrupulous projects of the pope. With great effrontery
he repeated the most glaring falsehoods, and related marvelous tales
to deceive an ignorant, credulous, and superstitious people. Had they
possessed the Word of God, they would not have been thus deceived.
It was to keep them under the control of the papacy, in order to swell
the power and wealth of her ambitious leaders, that the Bible had been
withheld from them.
As Tetzel entered a town, a messenger went before him, announc-
ing, “The grace of God and of the holy father is at your gates.” And
the people welcomed the blasphemous pretender as if he were God
himself come down from Heaven to them. The infamous traffic was set
up in the church, and Tetzel, ascending the pulpit, extolled indulgences
as the most precious gift of God. He declared that by virtue of his
certificates of pardon, all the sins which the purchaser should afterward
desire to commit would be forgiven him, and that “even repentance
was not indispensable.” More than this, he assured his hearers that the
[128]
indulgences had power to save not only the living but the dead; that
the very moment the money should clink against the bottom of his
chest, the soul in whose behalf it had been paid would escape from
purgatory and make its way to Heaven.
When Simon Magus offered to purchase of the apostles the power
to work miracles, Peter answered him, “Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased
with money.” [
Acts 8:20
.] But Tetzel’s offer was grasped by eager
thousands. Gold and silver flowed into his treasury. A salvation that
could be bought with money was more easily obtained than that which
requires repentance, faith, and diligent effort to resist and overcome
sin.
The doctrine of indulgences had been opposed by men of learning
and piety in the Romish Church, and there were many who had no faith
in pretensions so contrary to both reason and revelation. No prelate
dared lift his voice against this iniquitous traffic, but the minds of men
were becoming disturbed and uneasy, and many eagerly inquired if