Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring
it to light, the following propositions will be
discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the
Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and of
Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same
at that place. Wherefore he requests that those who
are unable to be present and debate orally with us,
may do so by letter.
In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1.
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said
Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of
believers should be repentance.
2.
This word cannot be understood to mean sacramental
penance, i.e., confession and satisfaction, which is
administered by the priests.
3.
Yet it means not inward repentance only; nay, there
is no inward repentance which does not outwardly work
divers mortifications of the flesh.
4.
The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as
hatred of self continues; for this is the true inward
repentance, and continues until our entrance into the
kingdom of heaven.
5.
The pope does not intend to remit, and cannot remit
any penalties other than those which he has imposed
either by his own authority or by that of the
Canons.
6.
The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring
that it has been remitted by God and by assenting to
God's remission; though, to be sure, he may grant
remission in cases reserved to his judgment. If his
right to grant remission in such cases were despised,
the guilt would remain entirely unforgiven.
7.
God remits guilt to no one whom He does not, at the
same time, humble in all things and bring into
subjection to His vicar, the priest.
8.
The penitential canons are imposed only on the
living, and, according to them, nothing should be
imposed on the dying.
9.
Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is kind to us,
because in his decrees he always makes exception of
the article of death and of necessity.
10.
Ignorant and wicked are the doings of those priests
who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical
penances for purgatory.
11.
This changing of the canonical penalty to the
penalty of purgatory is quite evidently one of the
tares that were sown while the bishops slept.
12.
In former times the canonical penalties were imposed
not after, but before absolution, as tests of true
contrition.
13.
The dying are freed by death from all penalties;
they are already dead to canonical rules, and have a
right to be released from them.
14.
The imperfect health [of soul], that is to say, the
imperfect love, of the dying brings with it, of
necessity, great fear; and the smaller the love, the
greater is the fear.
15.
This fear and horror is sufficient of itself alone
(to say nothing of other things) to constitute the
penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the
horror of despair.
16.
Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ as do
despair, almost-despair, and the assurance of
safety.
17.
With souls in purgatory it seems necessary that
horror should grow less and love increase.
18.
It seems unproved, either by reason or Scripture,
that they are outside the state of merit, that is to
say, of increasing love.
19.
Again, it seems unproved that they, or at least that
all of them, are certain or assured of their own
blessedness, though we may be quite certain of
it.
20.
Therefore by "full remission of all penalties" the
pope means not actually "of all," but only of those
imposed by himself.
21.
Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in
error, who say that by the pope's indulgences a man
is freed from every penalty, and saved;
22.
Whereas he remits to souls in purgatory no penalty
which, according to the canons, they would have had
to pay in this life.
23.
If it is at all possible to grant to any one the
remission of all penalties whatsoever, it is certain
that this remission can be granted only to the most
perfect, that is, to the very fewest.
24.
It must needs be, therefore, that the greater part
of the people are deceived by that indiscriminate and
highsounding promise of release from penalty.
25.
The power which the pope has, in a general way, over
purgatory, is just like the power which any bishop or
curate has, in a special way, within his own diocese
or parish.
26.
The pope does well when he grants remission to souls
[in purgatory], not by the power of the keys (which
he does not possess), but by way of intercession.
27.
They preach man who say that so soon as the penny
jingles into the money-box, the soul flies out [of
purgatory].
28.
It is certain that when the penny jingles into the
money-box, gain and avarice can be increased, but the
result of the intercession of the Church is in the
power of God alone.
29.
Who knows whether all the souls in purgatory wish to
be bought out of it, as in the legend of Sts.
Severinus and Paschal.
30.
No one is sure that his own contrition is sincere;
much less that he has attained full remission.
31.
Rare as is the man that is truly penitent, so rare
is also the man who truly buys indulgences, i.e.,
such men are most rare.
32.
They will be condemned eternally, together with their
teachers, who believe themselves sure of their
salvation because they have letters of pardon.
33.
Men must be on their guard against those who say
that the pope's pardons are that inestimable gift of
God by which man is reconciled to Him;
34.
For these "graces of pardon" concern only the
penalties of sacramental satisfaction, and these are
appointed by man.
35.
They preach no Christian doctrine who teach that
contrition is not necessary in those who intend to
buy souls out of purgatory or to buy
confessionalia.
36.
Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full
remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters
of pardon.
37.
Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has
part in all the blessings of Christ and the Church;
and this is granted him by God, even without letters
of pardon.
38.
Nevertheless, the remission and participation [in the
blessings of the Church] which are granted by the
pope are in no way to be despised, for they are, as I
have said, the declaration of divine remission.
39.
It is most difficult, even for the very keenest
theologians, at one and the same time to commend to
the people the abundance of pardons and [the need of]
true contrition.
40.
True contrition seeks and loves penalties, but
liberal pardons only relax penalties and cause them
to be hated, or at least, furnish an occasion [for
hating them].
41.
Apostolic pardons are to be preached with caution,
lest the people may falsely think them preferable to
other good works of love.
42.
Christians are to be taught that the pope does not
intend the buying of pardons to be compared in any
way to works of mercy.
43.
Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the
poor or lends to the needy does a better work than
buying pardons;
44.
Because love grows by works of love, and man becomes
better; but by pardons man does not grow better, only
more free from penalty.
45.
Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in
need, and passes him by, and gives [his money] for
pardons, purchases not the indulgences of the pope,
but the indignation of God.
46.
Christians are to be taught that unless they have
more than they need, they are bound to keep back what
is necessary for their own families, and by no means
to squander it on pardons.
47.
Christians are to be taught that the buying of
pardons is a matter of free will, and not of
commandment.
48.
Christians are to be taught that the pope, in
granting pardons, needs, and therefore desires, their
devout prayer for him more than the money they
bring.
49.
Christians are to be taught that the pope's pardons
are useful, if they do not put their trust in them;
but altogether harmful, if through them they lose
their fear of God.
50.
Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the
exactions of the pardon-preachers, he would rather
that St. Peter's church should go to ashes, than that
it should be built up with the skin, flesh and bones
of his sheep.
51.
Christians are to be taught that it would be the
pope's wish, as it is his duty, to give of his own
money to very many of those from whom certain hawkers
of pardons cajole money, even though the church of
St. Peter might have to be sold.
52.
The assurance of salvation by letters of pardon is
vain, even though the commissary, nay, even though
the pope himself, were to stake his soul upon it.
53.
They are enemies of Christ and of the pope, who bid
the Word of God be altogether silent in some
Churches, in order that pardons may be preached in
others.
54.
Injury is done the Word of God when, in the same
sermon, an equal or a longer time is spent on pardons
than on this Word.
55.
It must be the intention of the pope that if pardons,
which are a very small thing, are celebrated with one
bell, with single processions and ceremonies, then
the Gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should
be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred
processions, a hundred ceremonies.
56.
The "treasures of the Church," out of which the pope
grants indulgences, are not sufficiently named or
known among the people of Christ.
57.
That they are not temporal treasures is certainly
evident, for many of the vendors do not pour out such
treasures so easily, but only gather them.
58.
Nor are they the merits of Christ and the Saints,
for even without the pope, these always work grace
for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for
the outward man.
59.
St. Lawrence said that the treasures of the Church
were the Church's poor, but he spoke according to the
usage of the word in his own time.
60.
Without rashness we say that the keys of the Church,
given by Christ's merit, are that treasure;
61.
For it is clear that for the remission of penalties
and of reserved cases, the power of the pope is of
itself sufficient.
62.
The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy
Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
63.
But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it
makes the first to be last.
64.
On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is
naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to
be first.
65.
Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with
which they formerly were wont to fish for men of
riches.
66.
The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which
they now fish for the riches of men.
67.
The indulgences which the preachers cry as the
"greatest graces" are known to be truly such, in so
far as they promote gain.
68.
Yet they are in truth the very smallest graces
compared with the grace of God and the piety of the
Cross.
69.
Bishops and curates are bound to admit the
commissaries of apostolic pardons, with all
reverence.
70.
But still more are they bound to strain all their
eyes and attend with all their ears, lest these men
preach their own dreams instead of the commission of
the pope.
71.
He who speaks against the truth of apostolic
pardons, let him be anathema and accursed!
72.
But he who guards against the lust and license of the
pardon-preachers, let him be blessed!
73.
The pope justly thunders against those who, by any
art, contrive the injury of the traffic in
pardons.
74.
But much more does he intend to thunder against
those who use the pretext of pardons to contrive the
injury of holy love and truth.
75.
To think the papal pardons so great that they could
absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible
sin and violated the Mother of God -- this is
madness.
76.
We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are
not able to remove the very least of venial sins, so
far as its guilt is concerned.
77.
It is said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope,
could not bestow greater graces; this is blasphemy
against St. Peter and against the pope.
78.
We say, on the contrary, that even the present pope,
and any pope at all, has greater graces at his
disposal; to wit, the Gospel, powers, gifts of
healing, etc., as it is written in I. Corinthians
xii.
79.
To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal
arms, which is set up [by the preachers of
indulgences], is of equal worth with the Cross of
Christ, is blasphemy.
80.
The bishops, curates and theologians who allow such
talk to be spread among the people, will have an
account to render.
81.
This unbridled preaching of pardons makes it no easy
matter, even for learned men, to rescue the reverence
due to the pope from slander, or even from the shrewd
questionings of the laity.
82.
To wit: -- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory,
for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the
souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite
number of souls for the sake of miserable money with
which to build a Church? The former reasons would be
most just; the latter is most trivial."
83.
Again: -- "Why are mortuary and anniversary masses
for the dead continued, and why does he not return or
permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded on
their behalf, since it is wrong to pray for the
redeemed?"
84.
Again: -- "What is this new piety of God and the
pope, that for money they allow a man who is impious
and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious
soul of a friend of God, and do not rather, because
of that pious and beloved soul's own need, free it
for pure love's sake?"
85.
Again: -- "Why are the penitential canons long
since in actual fact and through disuse abrogated and
dead, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences,
as though they were still alive and in force?"
86.
Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is
to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build
just this one church of St. Peter with his own money,
rather than with the money of poor believers?"
87.
Again: -- "What is it that the pope remits, and what
participation does he grant to those who, by perfect
contrition, have a right to full remission and
participation?"
88.
Again: -- "What greater blessing could come to the
Church than if the pope were to do a hundred times a
day what he now does once, and bestow on every
believer these remissions and participations?"
89.
"Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks the
salvation of souls rather than money, why does he
suspend the indulgences and pardons granted
heretofore, since these have equal efficacy?"
90.
To repress these arguments and scruples of the
laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by
giving reasons, is to expose the Church and the pope
to the ridicule of their enemies, and to make
Christians unhappy.
91.
If, therefore, pardons were preached according to
the spirit and mind of the pope, all these doubts
would be readily resolved; nay, they would not
exist.
92.
Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the
people of Christ, "Peace, peace," and there is no
peace!
93.
Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people
of Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no cross!
94.
Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent
in following Christ, their Head, through penalties,
deaths, and hell;
95.
And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather
through many tribulations, than through the assurance
of peace.