The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 129

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 various sins, and
expecting absolution, not because they were penitent and wished to
reform, but on the ground of the indulgence. Luther refused them
absolution, and warned them that unless they should

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