7. Luther ' s Separation From Rome. 129
wealth of her ambitious leaders, that the Bible had been withheld from them. 169
As Tetzel entered a town, a messenger went before him, announcing,“ The grace of God and of the holy father is at your gates.” 170 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. [ 128 ] 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“ not even repentance is necessary.” 171 More than this, he assured his hearers that the 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. 172
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.” 173 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. 174
The doctrine of indulgences had been opposed by men of learning and piety in the Roman 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
169 See Gieseler,“ Ecclesiastical History,” Period IV, sec. 1, par. 5. 170 D ' Aubigné, b. 3, ch. 1. 171 D ' Aubigné, b. 3, ch. 1. 172 See Hagenbach,“ History of the Reformation,” Vol. I, p. 96.
173 Acts 8:20. 174 See Appendix.