To support the expenses of a luxuri ous court, Leo X. had availed himself of an ancient custom in the church to raise money by the sale of indulgences, by which the purchasers were allowed the practice of several sins, and a deliver ance from the pains of purgatory. To defend these indulgences, it was urged, that as one drop of Christ's blood is suffi cient to atone for the sins of the whole world, the remainder of blood shed by the death of the Saviour belonged to the church, and that its efficacy might be sold out to the people. It was supposed also, that to the church belonged all the good works of the saints, beyond what were employed in their own justification. These superabundant merits were ac cordingly sold to the unthinking multi. tude at various prices, according to the nature of the offence for which they were to atone. The form of these indulgen ces not being very generally known, we will give an exact copy of one of these most extraordinary instruments.
" May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thee, and absolve thee by the merits of his most holy passion. And I, by his authority, that of his, blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and of the most holy Pope, granted and commit ted to me in these parts, do absolve thee, first from all ecclesiastical cen sures, in whatever manner they have been incurred ; and then, from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be, even from such as are reserved for the cog nizance of the holy see ; and as fiar as the keys of the holy church extend, I remit you all punishment you deserve in pur gatory on their account ; and I restore you to the holy sacraments of the church, to the unity of the ficithful, and to that innocence and purity you pos sessed at baptism ; so that when you die, the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of life shall be opened ; and if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the point of death. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." This is the form of absolution sold by the azents of Leo X. in various parts of the Christian world ; an instrument so ab surd, that were it not well authenticated, and had we not even in our day a similar instance of imposture on the one hand, and credulity on the other, in the seals disposed of by Johanna Southcott, one might be tempted to doubt the truth of its existence.
The promulgation of these indulgences in Germany, together with a share aris. ing from the profits in the sale of them, was assigned to Albert, Elector of Mentz, and Archbishop of Magdeburg, who, as his chief agent for retailing them, em ployed one Tetzel, a Dominican Friar, of licentious morals, but of a bold and active spirit. Tetzel, assisted by the monks of
his order, executed this ignoble commis. sion with great zeal and success ; but with the most shameless indecency and indis cretion; at the same time magnifying the benefits of these indulgences in the most extravagant manner. To such enormities did Tetzel proceed in describing the effi cacy of these pretended dispensations, that he even said, "if any one had ravish. ed the mother of God, he (Tetzel) had wherewithal to efface his guilt." He also boasted, that "he hail saved more souls from hell by these indulgences, than St. Peter had converted to Christianity his preaching." These enormous blas. phemies and abuses roused the indigna tion of Martin Luther, a monk of the Augustinian Eremites, and professor of divinity in the academy at Wittenberg, to such a pitch of fervour, that he began to declaim with boldness against these scandals of the Christian name. In ninety-five propositions, maintained pub licly at Wittemberg, on the 30th of Sep tember, 1517, he censured the extrava gant extortions of the questors, and plainly pointed out the Roman Pontiff as a partaker of their guilt, since he suffer ed the people to be seduced by such de lusions, from placing their principal con fidence in Christ, the only proper object of their trust. So daring an opposition from an obscure monk, in a corner of Germany, excited the surprise and aclmi tion of all the world, except Rome itself, which seemed most likely to have been first alarmed. Luther had no sooner pub. lished his propositions than multitudes flocked to his standard, and joined him in the outcry against the shameful abomina. tions of the Church of Rome. It was, however, some time before an irruption took place ; or that the friends of reform declared open war against the decrees and authority of the Church. Tetzel and others vainly attempted to defend the in dulgences, but were continually repulsed, and put to shame by the arguments and intrepidity of Luther. The history of the various disputes which called forth the energies of this Reformer, and ex posed the nakedness of the Church, is both interesting and curious : we must neverthelss pass over this portion of the history of the reformation in Germany ; observing, that Luther and his adherents soon found most powerful auxiliaries in the University of Wittemberg, and the protection of Frederick, Elector of Saxony.