The official appointed to conduct the sale of indulgences in Germany--Tetzel by name- -had been convicted of the basest offenses against society and against the law of God ; but having escaped the punishment due for his crimes , he was employed to further the mercenary and unscrupulous projects of the pope . With great effrontery he repeated the most glaring falsehoods and related marvelous tales to deceive an ignorant , credulous , and superstitious people . Had they possessed the word of God they would not have been thus deceived . It was to keep them under the control of the papacy , in order to swell the power and wealth of her ambitious leaders , that the Bible had been withheld from them . ( See John C . L . Gieseler , A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History , per . 4 , sec . 1 , par . 5 .)
As Tetzel entered a town , a messenger went before him , announcing : " The grace of God and of the holy father is at your gates ." --D' Aubigne , b . 3 , ch . 1 . 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 the indulgences as the most precious gift of God . 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 ." -- Ibid ., b . 3 , ch . 1 . 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 . ( See K . R . Hagenbach , History of the Reformation , vol . 1 , p . 96 .)
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 ." Acts 8:20 . 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 . ( See Appendix note for page 59 .) 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 traffic ; but the minds of men were becoming disturbed and uneasy , and many eagerly inquired if God would not work through some instrumentality for the purification of His church .
Luther , though still a papist of the straitest sort , was filled with horror at the blasphemous assumptions of the indulgence mongers . Many of his own congregation had purchased certificates of pardon , and they soon began to come to their pastor , confessing their
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