A History of the Reformation in the 16th
Century
Book 3 - The Indulgences and the
Theses (1517-May, 1518)
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 1
Indulgences were sweeping across the land, and John Diezel, or
Tetzel, led the banner for the Roman Church.
He had entered the Dominican order, taken the degree of Bachelor
in 1487, and received numerous honors for his work by the Roman Church.
He was one of the chief abusers of the indulgence, and saw them
as God’s precious gifts on earth.
Tetzel had a patter that he followed whenever entering a town in
order to sell indulgences. He
played upon the hearts of the people, as well as their superstitions and
ignorance. It was visual as
well as speech oriented. He promised four graces to those who would buy an indulgence
for the building of St. Peter’s Basillica: 1) full pardon of every
sin, 2) the right of choosing a confessor when they were near to death
and needed one, 3) a participating in all the blessings and works of the
Catholic Church, and 4) the redemption of the souls that were in
purgatory.
Those buying the indulgence dropped the coin into the chest.
No one was allowed to take the money, lest the hand of the
receiver would prove unfaithful. The
buyer was handed a letter of absolution, and they went on their way
“forgiven.” Some
historians record that those managing the chest of money often spent it
in taverns, gambling houses and places of “ill fame.”
But the security of the moneybox was divided between three men
who had three keys, Tetzel being one of them.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 2
The abuses of Tetzel’s indulgences were readily apparent.
He was a con-man in priestly garbs.
For instance, he refused to absolve a rich lady unless she would
pay one hundred florins in advance.
He was overbearing, rude, authoritative, boastful, and
“rarely” found anyone who could stand up to him.
Though Luther would be the stalwart champion against indulgences
soon enough, many of the common towns people were aware of the
inconsistencies that could be perceived around indulgences.
One case (my favorite) is of the shoemaker.
His wife had died and he was asked if he had a mass for her.
The shoemaker replied he had not because he bought an indulgence
that freed her from such. His
witty reply to the court was that if mass was still necessary, then the
Pope would be deemed a deceiver based on the indulgence, and if she had
not gone straight to heaven upon her death, then it is the priest that
had deceived him.
Tetzel set in motion that Reformation, in that he was the
gasoline that set ablaze the torch of Luther.
By his unashamed exploitation of the indulgences, he cleared the
way for sound doctrine to advance and stomp out the nonsense of merited
salvation. One nobleman who
had heard Tetzel was upset with his preaching, conned him out of an
indulgence for any sin he committed, then had Tetzel beaten for abusing
his office.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 3
Pope Leo X succeeded Pope Julian, but lived an extravagate
lifestyle in the same manner that Julian had previously.
In some ways he exceeded him in desiring to build St. Peter’s
Basilica. He spent money he
did not have on advancing the Renaissance, and relied on the capital
coming in from the Indulgence to continue to fund his lavish reign.
During this time, a young prince named Albert rose up in the
Catholic ranks to become a cardinal.
He was also an abuser of money and went into great debt, whereas
he decided to utilize the Indulgence as a means of gain as well.
Yet, according to Wolfgang Capito, he was responsive to good
preaching and used his power to keep the monks off Luther’s back as
the Reformation advanced. However, his disrespectful attitude would keep him from being
useful to the Reformation to any length.
Under Albert the framing and propagation of indulgences passed
between the Franciscans and Dominicans.
They were torn as to who should do the “duty” since Tetzel
had already made a profitable enterprise of it.
It ultimately wound up in the hands of the Dominicans because of
their previous reputation in the trade surrounding the selling of
indulgences in Prussia, and Livonia.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 4
Luther
had heard of Tetzel for the first time when he visited the churches on
the request of Frederick. Luther
desired, even at that time, to “make a hole” in his drum, and stop
him at the abuses he was entreating upon the people.
His position towards Tetzel enflamed when, during the confessions
of the towns people, they came confessing their sins, but with their
indulgences in hand. The Townsfolk reported back to Tetzel that Luther would not
forgive them if they were relying on an indulgence to save them.
Tetzel preached against Luther and scared the people into
believing their indulgences were genuine and helpful.
After the townspeople had reported Luther to Tetzel, Luther
preached against the abuses of Tetzel and the indulgences formally.
The sermon he gave was printed up and Tetzel responded to it in
writing.
Duke
Frederick had a dream that startled him.
He was in his palace at Schweinitz with his brother Duke John.
He had dreamed that God sent him a monk that was a true son of
Paul the Apostle. He wrote
something on paper and asked if he could hang it on the door of
Wittenberg. Frederick
complied. He saw the monk
writing in huge letters and with a long pen that reached Rome.
It startled Frederick until he understood that it was only a
dream.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 5
Though Luther had preached and written against Tetzel, there was
no stopping the Dominican from making his rounds and selling salvation.
Luther could not allow this monk to continue profaning the
Gospel, the Church and the Pope. Luther
decided to post a Theses with ninety-five propositions upon it
demonstrating the need to reform the indulgence.
It was October 31, 1517 at high noon that he posted the document
in order to have the people read it the next day on All Saint’s Day.
His desire was to set forth the light of truth and make it as
plain the noon-day sun. Though
the document was not as bold as the current form of Reformed Theology
today, it did house the basic essentials of truth and what the
Reformation would turn into in the days to come.
Luther was bolder than Wycliffe and Hus, attacking not only their
immoral lifestyles, but the doctrines they represented and conveyed as
well. He used the axe of
justification by faith alone as his foundation – which is the Gospel
– and he believed every word he wrote.
Later in his life, in looking back upon the moment of pounding
those nails into the door and displaying the 95 Theses, Luther
cannot imagine how he did it in light of all that came from it. Certainly he was somewhat aware that his propositions would
reach Rome, and ultimately point to the neglect of the Pope in leading
the church purely. But the
Gospel cannot stay hidden once it is unleashed in the heart of the
Christian. Luther, as bold
as he was, acted upon the need to reform the church by the power of
Christ. He was compelled to see the church return to the truths it
had lost and twisted, and desired to see the people of the church cling
to Jesus Christ.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 6
When the Theses was posted and read, it was taken down and
printed into German and Latin. The
common people as well as the scholars would read Luther’s rebel cause.
Reuchlin was happy to receive them seeing that God raised up a
thinker. Erasmus, in his
usual sarcasm said Luther had committed two unpardonable crimes: he has
attacked the Pope’s crown and the monk’s bellies.
The Episcopal see of Wurzburg was filled by Lorenzo de Bibra who
also exclaimed with joy that God has raised someone up at last to show
the “monks a trick or two.” The
Emperor Maximillian read and admired the Theses, and foresaw that Luther
would become, one day, a powerful adversary against Rome.
When the Theses reached the Vatican, the outcome, upon first
glance by Pope Leo, was not as bad as one would expect.
Pope Leo did not seem to care about the doctrines they purported.
Instead, he saw the genius of Luther shining through even in
response to Sylvester Pierio who counseled the Pope that Luther was a
heretic.
Though
Luther would have liked to see unity come from his work, the result was
ultimately the opposite. Luther
hoped that the leaders of the church and scholars of the day would unite
with him in endeavoring to overthrow impurity of doctrine.
Instead, assaults came to him from every corner.
The ideals he hoped for were soon crushed.
Even his own Augustinian order came against him with
condemnation.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 7
Luther
wrote against the replies to Tetzel in order to vigorously contend for
the truth that Tetzel was abusing.
Luther certainly has a great zeal for Christians to perform good
works, but not good works that would overshadow the justification given
to them by God through faith. Though
Luther desired to silence Tetzel, at the same time he was a bit
discouraged at the response of his own friends to the truth, except that
of Spalatin.
Spalatin
demonstrated his friendship to Luther by his support.
He used his influence in the royal courts to Luther’s
advantage. Often he inquired of Luther’s expertise in theological and
doctrinal matters.
Luther
also conferred in the friendship of two others: Christopher Scheurl, a
layman in the city of Nuremberg, and Albert Durer, the painter.
Scheurl was secretary for Nuremberg, and wondered why Luther did
not send him a personal copy of the Theses when they were
published. Luther responded to him explaining that it was not his
intention to publicly distribute them, but to keep them in close
proximity in order to reform the church through debate and theological
precision with those in authority.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 8
Tetzel and the Dominican monks wrote a Theses against the
attacks of Luther upon their abuses.
They believed that to attack the indulgence they were
distributing was as bad as attacking the Pope himself.
However, Tetzel felt overwhelmed by Luther’s intellectual
terrorism and left the Wittenberg area. He attained the help of Conrad Wimpina, a renowned theologian
in Frankfort-on-the-Oder. Wimpina
wrote two lists of antitheses against Luther.
However, with Tetzel’s help, not only did they attack Luther,
but the Elector Frederick as well bringing reproach on anyone even
aiding the reformer. Tetzel held a public disputation without inviting anyone from
the Protestant side to attend simply to black face the reformed movement
under Luther’s pen. However,
a student by the name of John Knipstrow silence Tetzel in debate and
took up arguments against Wimpina as well.
Tetzel then wrote a second Theses which moved the arena
into the halls of the Vatican instead of simply against him and selling
indulgences. His theses
was meant to herald the loyal Catholics together for battle against
Luther. When Luther heard
of the theses, he called a student meeting outside the university to
burn the theses. The news
of this act spread through all Germany.
In all this, Tetzel and Wimpina simply widened the breach already
present and aggravated the circumstances that surrounded the unity of
the church. As a result,
those of higher rank in the Catholic Church disdained Luther all the
more.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 9
When Sylvester Mazzolini of Prierio (or Prierias for short) read
the ninety-five Theses of Luther, was commissioned by Pope Leo X
to write against it. This was an official commission and censure against Luther.
The issue now at stake was “What is the authority of the
Church: the Bible or the Pope?” Prierias contended that the Scriptures could only be
understood as they are interpreted by the Pope, and Luther contended
that the Scriptures are the rule by which the Pope himself should be
ruled. The papacy has no
right to stand over the Word of God, but in subjection to it.
This is the heart and crux of every debate within apologetically
dealing with Rome.
While Luther debated Prierias, another monk by the name of John
Hochstraten, an inquisitor in Cologne, the one who opposed Reuchlin, now
attempted to oppose Luther. However, Hochstraten would not be as nearly as formidable as
Dr. John Eck of Ingolstadt. Eck
wrote against the 95 Theses saying that he found it to be strewn
with error. His reply to
Luther’s Theses was called the Obelisks.
Eck was an old friend of Luther, and as a result of his malicious
attacks in the document, Luther was saddened.
However, Eck wrote a letter to Carlstadt apologizing for the
document reaching Luther, which was not his intention.
Luther replied to Eck’s Obelisks with his own Asterisks.
This was not circulated publicly until long afterward, but was
given to his friends to peruse. The
disagreement between these two great theologians made headline news all
through Germany. Scheurl
tried to have these two men reconcile, but Eck would not respond to his
gracious letters. It seemed
as though the time for reconciliation was over.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 10
Luther’s early struggles were to be expected with such a great
rift between his Protestantism and the Roman see.
Yet, even in the midst of the struggles, he was constant to write
and preach that the Scriptures would edify the people of God, the
student and laymen of the church. He
did this through his expositions of the Lord’s Prayer and the
continued plea for people to rest on the forgiveness of sin only found
in Christ, and not in “good works.”
His sermons were attended with greater intent as he continued to
preach. More and more
people came to hear the great doctor of the church who was creating a
stir, not only in the schoolmen of the day, but in the hearts of the
people. One of his most
famous sermons was surrounding repentance, of which still surrounds the
foundation of what Protestants believe today concerning the doctrine.
Repentance and remission of sin is twofold: remission of the
penalty, and remission of the sin itself.
The first reconciles men in the visible church, and the second
reconciles men to God. Nothing
else will be able to help a man to heaven unless these two have been
experienced first. The
power of this remission rests solely on the Word of God and on Jesus
Christ. These words of
forgiveness were those which the people of God were unfamiliar, but were
being made more familiar as Luther continued his service to the church.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 3, Chapter 11
In 1518 Luther’s Augustinian order summoned him to Heidelberg.
He took with him a friend named Urban who accompanied him until
they reached Wurtzburg. Frederick
had given him a letter to give to Count Palatine Wolfgang, Duke of
Bavaria where he resided at his castle for a time.
Here he had a very friendly reception.
While Luther was here, he wrote down a series of theses that he
called his Paradoxes. These
were public disputations to challenge the university at Heidelberg
towards reformation, where he traveled to be received by the Augustinian
monks. His presence
attracted all sorts of people, and five doctors of divinity present
attacked the theses. One
went blow by blow with Luther, named George Niger, but did not have the
skill to overcome Luther, nor the understanding of the Word of God to
overthrow his arguments.
Three men that would later prove useful attended the debate –
Martin Bucer, John Brentz, and a young man named Snepf.
Bucer took time to talk with Luther, and it seems, from
Luther’s debate and use of the Word of God that Bucer was won over to
Christ and the cause of the Protestant Reformation.
These three men, though, became shining lights of the church
later, strengthening the Protestant cause in which they were called.
Luther returned to Wittenberg with the help of the Augustinians
who favored him with a carriage. Upon
his reception and return, he rested to continue his work and the toils
that would become more intense as time went on.
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