(b) Secondary Works. Beside the general works in Church History and History of Doctrine, see the Lives of Luther, in German especially those of Köstlin-Kawerau, Kolde, Berger and Hausrath; in English those of Beard, Jacobs, Lindsay, Smith and McGiffert; also Boehmer, Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung, ad ed., Leipzig, 1910.

On the indulgences in their relation to the Sacrament of Penance, H, C. Lea, History of Confession and Indulgence, especially Vol. III, Philadelphia, 1896; Brieger, Das Wesen des Ablasses am Ausgang des Mittelalters, Leizig, 1897, and Article Indulgenzen in PRE.3 IX, pp. 76 ff. (Eng. in Schaff-Herzog v., pp. 485-88); Gottlob, Kreuzablass und Almosenablass, Stuttgart, 1906 (especially valuable for the origin of indulgences).

On the indulgences and the XCV Theses, Koestlin, Luther's

Theologie, Leipzig, 1883 (Eng. Trans, by Hay, The Theology of

Luther, Philadelphia, 1897); Bratke, Luther's XCV Thesen und

ihre dogmengeschictlichen Voraussetzungen, Göttingen, 1884;

Dieckboff, Der Ablassstreit dogmengeschichtlich dargestellt,

Gotha, 1886; Lindsay, History of the Reformation, I, New York,

1906; Tschackert, Entstehung der lutherischen und reformierten

Kirchenlehre, Göttingen, 1910.

On the financial aspects of the indulgence-traffic, Schulte, Die

Fugger in Rom, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1904.

CHARLES M. JACOBS.

Allentown, PA.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Disputato pro declaratione virutis indulgentiarum.

[2] Luther says, Apud nostros et propter nostros editae aunt. Weimar Ed., I. 528. On the whole subject see Letters to Staupitz and the Pope, below.

[3] Cf. Weimar Ed., I, 229.

[4] The Church of All Saints at Wittenberg was the repository of the great collection of relics which Frederick the Wise had gathered. A catalogue of the collection, with illustrations by Lucas Cranach, was published in 1509. The collection contained 5005 sacred objects, including a bit of the crown of thorns and some of the Virgin Mother's milk. Adoration of these relics on All Saints' Day (Nov. 1st) was rewarded with indulgence for more than 500,000 years. So, Vol Bezold, Die deutsche Reformation (1890), p. 100; see also Barge, Karlstadt, I, 39ff.

[5] Luther had preached a sermon warning against the danger of indulgences on the Eve of All Saints (1516). See below.

[6] See below, Letter to Leo X.

[7] Weimar Ed., I, 230.

[8] The Address to the Christian Nobility and the Babylonian Captivity of the Church.

[9] Introduction to the Complete Works (1545); above p.10.

[10] See Letter to Staupitz, below.

[11] See Letter to Leo X, below.

[12] Cf. Gottlob, Kreuzablass und Almosenblass, p. I.

[13] See Theses 5, 8, 85.

[14] Non solam plenam et largiorem, imo plenissimam omnium suorum concedemus et concedimus veniam peccatorum. Mirbt, Quellen, 2d ed., No. 243.

[15] This custom of putting the Jubilee-indulgences on sale seems to date from the year 1390. Cf. Lea, Hist. of Conf. and Indulg., III, 206.

No mention is here made of the indulgences attached to adoration of the relics, etc. On the development of this form of indulgence see Lea, Hist. of Conf. and Indulg., III, 131-194, 234-195, and Gottlog, Kreuzablass und Almosenablass, pp. 195-254.

[16] See Thesis 12.

[17] See Theses 4-6, Note 2.

[18] For Luther's opinion of this distinction, see the Discourse Concerning Confession elsewhere in the present volume.

[19] "Not even the poorest part of the penance which is called 'satisfaction,' but the remission of the poorest part of penance." Letter to Staupitz, below.

[20] There is ample proof that in practice the indulgences were preached as sufficient to secure the purchaser the entire remission of sin, and the form a culpa et poena was officially employed in many cases (Cf. Brieger, Das Wesen des Abiases am Ausgang des M A. and PRE3 IX. 83 ff., and Lea, History of Confession, etc., III, 54 ff.). "It is difficult to withstand the conclution that even in theory indulgences had been declared to be efficacious for the removal of the guilt of sin in the presence of God," Lindsay, History of the Reformation, I, 226.

[21] It is the basis of this theory that Roman Catholic writers on indulgences declare them to be "extra-sacramental," i. e., outside the Sacrament of Penance. So, e.g., Kent, in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Art. Indulgence.

[22] See Theses 56-58.

[23] The doctrine of the "Treasury of the Church" grew up as a result of the indulgences. It was an attempt to answer the question, How can a "satisfaction," which God demands, be waived? The answer is, By the application of merits earned by Christ and by the Saints who did more than God requires. These merits form the Treasury of the Church. Cf. Seeberg, PRE3 XV, 417; Lea, Hist. of Confession, etc., III, 14-28.

[24] See Theses 26.

[25] i. e. A plenary indulgence similar to those granted for pilgrimage to Rome in Jubilee-years. See above, p.18.

[26] See Theses 53-55.

[27] See Thesis 75.

[28] See Thesis 35.

[29] See Thesis 27.

[30] Weimar Ed., I, 63 ff.; Erl. Ed., I, 101 ff.

[31] Weimar Ed., I, 94 ff,; Erl. Ed., I, 171 ff., 177 ff.

[32] See Thesis 1.

[33] See Thesis 4.

[34] See Letter to Archbishop, below. The text of this Instruction in Kapp, Sammlung, etc. (1721), pp. 117-206. Tschackert has surmised that even the number of the Theses was determined by the number of the paragraphs in this Instruction. There were 94 of these paragraphs, and of the Theses 94 + 1. Enstehung d. luth. u. ref. Kirchenlehre (1910), p. 16, note 1.

[35] The following, based on an unpublished manuscript of Th.

Brieger, is an interesting analysis of the contents and subject

matter of the Theses. For the sake of brevity the minor

subdivisions are omitted:

Introduction. The ideas fundamentally involved in the concept

of poenitentia (Th. 1-7).

I. Indulgences for souls in purgatory (Th. 8-29).

1. Canonical Penalties and the pains of purgatory (Th. 8-19).

2. The relation of the Pope to purgatory (Th. 8-19).

II. Indulgences for the living (Th. 30-80).

1. The content and nature of the preaching of indulgences

(Th. 30-55).

2. The treasury of the Church (Th. 56-66).

3. The duty of the regular church-authorities on the

matter (Th. 67-80).

Conclusion (Th. 81-95).

1. The objections of the laity of the indulgence-traffic

(Th. 81-91).

2. The evil motive of the traffic in indulgences, with

special references to the statements of Th. 1-4 (Th.

91-95). H. Hermelink in Krüger's Handbuch der

Kirchengeschicte (1911), III, 66.

[36] Weimar Ed., I, pp. 525 ff.

I

LETTER TO THE ARCHBISHOP ALBRECHT OF MAINZ

OCTOBER 31, 1517

To the Most Reverend Father in Christ and Most Illustrious Lord,

Albrecht of Magdeburg and Mainz, Archbishop and Primate of the

Church, Margrave of Brandenburg, etc., his own lord and pastor in

Christ, worthy of reverence and fear, and most gracious.

JESUS[1]

The grace of God be with you in all its fulness and power! Spare me. Most Reverend Father in Christ and Most Illustrious Prince, that I, the dregs of humanity, have so much boldness that I have dared to think of a letter to the height of your Sublimity. The Lord Jesus is my witness that, conscious of my smallness and baseness, I have long deferred what I am now shameless enough to do,—moved thereto most of all by the duty of fidelity which I acknowledge that I owe to your most Reverend Fatherhood in Christ. Meanwhile, therefore, may your Highness deign to cast an eye upon one speck of dust, and for the sake of your pontifical clemency to heed my prayer.

Papal indulgences for the building of St. Peter's are circulating under your most distinguished name, and as regards them, I do not bring accusation against the outcries of the preachers, which I have not heard, so much as I grieve over the wholly false impressions which the people have conceived from them; to wit,—the unhappy souls believe that if they have purchased letters of indulgence they are sure of their salvation;[2] again, that so soon as they cast their contributions into the money-box, souls fly out of purgatory;[3] furthermore, that these graces [i. e., the graces conferred in the indulgences] are so great that there is no sin too great to be absolved, even, as they say—though the thing is impossible—if one had violated the Mother of God;[4] again, that a man is free, through these indulgences, from all penalty and guilt.[5]

O God, most good! Thus souls committed to your care, good Father, are taught to their death, and the strict account, which you must render for all such, grows and increases. For this reason I have no longer been able to keep quiet about this matter, for it is by no gift of a bishop that man becomes sure of salvation, since he gains this certainty not even by the "inpoured grace" [6] of God, but the Apostle bids us always "work out our own salvation in fear and trembling," [Phil. 2:12] and Peter says, "the righteous scarcely shall be saved." [1 Pet. 4:18, Matt] Finally, so narrow is the way that leads to life, that the Lord, through the prophets Amos and Zechariah, calls those who shall be saved "brands plucked from the burning," [Amos 4:11, Zech. 3:2] and everywhere declares the difficulty of salvation.

Why, then, do the preachers of pardons, by these false fables and promises, make the people careless and fearless? Whereas indulgences confer on us no good gift, either for salvation or for sanctity, but only take away the external penalty, which it was formerly the custom to impose according to the canons.[7]

Finally, works of piety and love are infinitely better than indulgences,[8] and yet these are not preached with such ceremony or such zeal; nay, for the sake of preaching the indulgences they are kept quiet, though it is the first and the sole duty of all bishops that the people should learn the Gospel and the love of Christ, for Christ never taught that indulgences should be preached. How great then is the horror, how great the peril of a bishop, if he permits the Gospel to be kept quiet, and nothing but the noise of indulgences to be spread among his people![9] Will not Christ say to them, "straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel"? [Matt. 23:34][10]

In addition to this, Most Reverend Father in the Lord, it is said in the Instruction to the Commissaries[11] which is issued under your name, Most Reverend Father (doubtless without your knowledge and consent), that one of the chief graces of indulgence is that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to God, and all the penalties of purgatory are destroyed.[12] Again, it is said that contrition is not necessary in those who purchase souls [out of purgatory] or buy confessionalia.[13]