The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 77

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

774

The Sale of Indulgences.

-In our picture you see a man crying out some-
thing for sale. ‘The man’s name is John Tetzel.
He lived at the time of Luther. The papers which
he is selling are called letters of indulgence. “An
indulgence is a written certificate which promises
to the holder, who has paid in money the price
asked for it, the forgiveness of sins and freedom
from punishment in this life and in purgatory.”
Such indulgences are sold in the Romish
church, and the sale brings in much money.

Leo X, who became pope in 1513, needed
large sums of money, and in order to get the
money from the people, he ordered the sale
of indulgences. His most successful sales-
man in Germany was John Tetzel, a bold,
reckless, and vicious fellow, who, for the
crime of adultery, had come near being put
to death by drowning. As a peddler of in-
dulgences he could not find his match. He
passed through Germany from country to
country with the air of an ambassador from
heaven. Whenever he drew near the town
the priests and the town council would go
forth to meet him; bells were rung, the
organ was played, and Tetzel was taken into
the church, in the middle of which a high
red cross was set up bearing the pope’s coat
of arms. There Tetzel would stand day after
day, praising and selling his wares like an
auctioneer. He told the people that repent-
ance is not necessary if a letter of indulgence
is bought, and that the greatest favor they
could do their departed relatives and friends
in purgatory was to buy for them letters of
indulgence; “for,” he said, “as soon as the
money falls into the box, so soon does the
soul leap out of the flames of purgatory into
heaven.” People traveled many miles to
attend the sale, and poor widows often brought their
last piece of money for indulgences.

In the autumn of 1517, Tetzel came into the
neighborhood of Wittenberg, where Luther taught
and preached. People from Wittenberg went out
to hear Tetzel and to buy. indulgences.

Luther soon heard of what was going on. As a
faithful pastor he warned his people against the
false, soul-destroying doctrines of Tetzel and against
trusting in letters of indulgence. He told them that
he who repents receives forgiveness of sins, which
Christ procured for all sinners by His own suffer-

ings and death, and which is offered in the Gospel
freely and without money. But Luther with horror
found out the terrible consequences. of that indul-
gence business. Many of his people refused to re-
pent and to forsake their sins. They showed him
their letters of indulgence, and running off to Tetzel
complained against Luther. Tetzel raved and
threatened vengeance. But Luther feared nothing.
Seeing that the poor, ignorant people were cheated,
not only out of their money, but also out of their

soul’s salvation, he considered it his duty to raise
his voice against that soul-destroying business car-
ried on by Tetzel. On the 31st of October, 1517, he
nailed 95 theses or propositions against the abuse of
indulgences to the church-door of the Castle Church
at Wittenberg. ‘That was the beginning of the Ref-
ormation, and therefore the Lutheran church cele-
brates Reformation Day on the 31st of October.
Well may we on this day thank God for restoring
to His Church the pure Gospel through Dr. Luther;
for “the true treasure of the Church is the most holy.
Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.” (Thes. 62.)