Martin 1483-1546 Luther

The vicar-general, Staupitz, during his sojourn at Wittenberg in 1508-09, as well as his preceptor and his confessor in the Erfurt monastery, did their best to help him, and to them he owed at least a relative appeasement of his spiritual distress. He owed something, too, to the sermons of St. Bernard, to which an old monk directed him, and to the writings of Gerson. But his full deliverance came to him only in the winter of 1512-13, when, as the result of long and intense meditation on Romans i. 16-17 he grasped the truth that the righteousness of God in this passage is not to be understood of his retributive justice (justitia activa), by which he judges the sinner according to his merits, but in the sense of the righteousness which he mercifully gives or imputes to the sinner (justitia passiva), and which the sinner receives by faith, and is thereby justified in His sight and made capable of entering into a filial relation to Him, living the divine life in active obedience to the will of a merciful God. Justification is thus due solely to the mercy or grace of God and the merit of Christ appropriated by faith, not to human works or merits which, being vitiated by sin, can in no way avail to avert the retributive justice of God, or bring the soul into a feasible and assured relation to Him.

This conception is already reflected in his lectures on the Psalms (1513-15), and is elaborated in those on the Epistle to the Romans (1515-16) in which the influence of Augustine and also the mystic teaching of Tauler and the "German Theology" (Theologia Deutsch) on the one hand, and the reaction from the scholastic theology are alike apparent, though he still makes use of the scholastic method and terminology. As the result of this elabora tion of his new religious conception on the basis of this funda mental doctrine, he could justly claim to be the exponent of a "new theology," though he was still unconscious of any material divergence from the received teaching of the Church, whilst boldly attacking the philosophy of Aristotle and the scholastic theology which was based on it (98 Theses against the scholastic theology, Sept. 1517, which one of his students defended in a public disputation for the degree of biblical bachelor).

The 95 Theses.

In the lectures on Romans he already appears as the practical reformer, and in the year 1517 he emerged in this capacity from the academic sphere with his epoch-making chal lenge to the work of reformation in his 95 Theses against the abuse of indulgence, which he posted up on Oct. 31, in the door of the Castle church at Wittenberg. The practice of indulgence had grown out of the penitential system of the ancient Church, which punished grave sins by temporary exclusion from the fellow ship of the Christian community. In course of time it became customary to mitigate this discipline by permitting the delinquent to make satisfaction, in part at least, in the form of a money contribution. In the later middle age it was extended by the popes

as a means of inciting the faithful to participate in the crusades against the infidel (the Cross Indulgence). Those taking part in the holy war or contributing for this purpose were thereby guar anteed the relaxation of penance due for their sins, or even the plenary remission of sin. The practice brought large sums into the papal treasury. With the decline of the crusading spirit, it was extended by Pope Boniface VIII. in connection with the celebrations of the jubilee year 1300. The revenue brought in by this jubilee indulgence was increased by the subsequent expedient of reducing the jubilee years from ioo to 50, or even 25 years and thereby establishing more frequent jubilee celebrations. Indul gences were also issued in connection with other projects such as the rebuilding of St. Peter's at Rome, and by the beginning of the 16th century, the practice had become a regular financial expe dient for increasing the papal revenue. In 1447 the efficacy of indulgence was extended by Pope Calixtus III. to souls in purga tory.

The practice was based on the doctrine of the "Treasure of the Church," consisting of the infinite merits of Christ and the superfluous merits of the saints, which was elaborated by Thomas Aquinas and officially sanctioned by Pope Clement VI. in According to this doctrine, the pope could draw on this inex haustible source for the benefit of the faithful, whose own merits were insufficient. Theoretically confession and contrition were incumbent on those desiring the benefit of an indulgence. It was further assumed that it could not take away the guilt and eternal punishment of sin, which was only obtainable in the sacrament of penance through the absolution of the priest. It could only ensure the remission of the temporal punishment of actual sins to which the sinner was still liable in this life and in purgatory, and the attainment of this benefit pre-supposed contrition and confession for these sins on the part of the applicant. In the case of the buying of an indulgence in behalf of souls in purgatory, however, contrition and confession on the part of the purchaser were not deemed essential. The practice was liable to great abuse, inas much as the indulgence preachers, in their striving to raise as much money as possible for the specific object of any given indulgence, did not always make the conditions and limitations underlying it clear to their hearers. There was besides difference of opinion among the doctors of the Church on both the doctrine and the practice, especially on the question of the application of indulgence to souls in purgatory, as well as widespread dissatis faction over its abuse.