Old Times in the Colonies & The Story of Liberty. Charles Carleton Coffin
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friends, and buy my pardons, buy my indulgences. You can release your friends from purgatory. Do you not hear them say, 'We are enduring horrible torments?" A small sum will deliver them."
The people shudder at the words. Their friends in purgatory! They will release them at once.
"The very instant the money chinks in the box their souls will fly toward heaven," says Tetzel.
But there are some who do not quite believe all that he says.
"I will excommunicate all who doubt this blessed grace," he cries.
To be excommunicated — cut off from the Church — would be terrible, and they must doubt no longer.
"Blessed, my friends, are the eyes which see what you see," and Tetzel holds up the cash-box. " Bring your money! Bring your money!" He drops a piece of silver into the box to set an example of benevolence.
A king, queen, and prince must pay fifty dollars for an indulgence; counts and barons, twenty dollars; poor people, five dollars; and if they are very poor, they can get one for a less amount. For particular sins there are specified prices. If a man has committed murder, he must pay a larger sum than he who has committed theft.
The people flock to the church, and all day long the money is dropping into the cash-box. The money not only of Germany, but of all Europe, is flowing toward Rome.
Tetzel travels from town to town, and after a while reaches the city of Leipsic. Little does he know of what is before him. A gentleman comes to buy an indulgence.
"Can you pardon a sin which a man intends to commit?" he asks.
"Certainly; the Pope has given me full power to do so."
"Very well. I should like to punish a man a little. I don't want to hurt him much — just a little. How much do you ask for an indulgence that will hold me harmless, so that I shall not be punished?"
"For such a sin I must have thirty dollars."
"That is too much. I will give ten."
"No, that is too little. I will let you have one for twenty-five."
"I can't pay that. I will give fifteen."
"That is not enough. I will let yon have it for twenty."
"Are you sure that it will protect me?"
"Certainly. I should like to know how any harm can come to yon. It is the Pope's dispensation; and no one may question my authority."
"Very well; here is the money."
The man takes the indulgence, and goes away; and Tetzel starts for the town of Jüterbogk. He comes to a forest, when suddenly a party of robbers spring from behind the trees. Some of them seize Tetzel and pound him, while others ransack the carriage, find the money-box, and all flee to the woods.
Who are the robbers? The leader of the band is the man who bought the indulgence, and this was the crime that he intended to commit. Tetzel hastens to Duke George, who is Governor of Saxony.
"I have been robbed."
"I will have the robbers hanged," says the governor, and sends the sheriff to arrest them.
The sheriff very soon brings them before the governor.
"You are accused of robbing," he says to the gentleman who bought the indulgence. "What have you to say for yourself?"
"Tetzel has already pardoned me. This is the crime I intended to commit. I paid him twenty dollars for the indulgence. Here it is."
The governor reads the paper.
"I don't see as you have any case, Mr. Tetzel."
The governor cannot send the robber to prison, nor compel him to give up the money. To do so would put an end to Mr. Tetzel's business, for it would show the people that the indulgences are worthless. Ah, Mr. Tetzel, it would have been better for you not to have taken the road to Jüterbogk, and it would be better for you not to go there to set up your fair; but go on, for out of your going will come liberty to the world!
Although so many years have passed since Doctor Wicklifs day, the people all through Europe are still in slavery. They are taxed by emperors and kings. Pope and priest. They are robbed systematically; they are ignorant and degraded. If a man commits a murder, he can flee to the shelter of a church; or if he can once get inside of a convent door, the sheriff cannot arrest him. The civil law, then, is powerless. The bishops and priests are, many of them, ready to burn a heretic to death; while emperors and kings are autocrats. They do as they please. There is no liberty as yet for the people.
John Tetzel sets up his great red cross in the Jüterbogk church, and begins the sale of his pardons. He is very sore over his loss. The people laugh at him, and say it was a good joke that the robber played. Juterbogk is only four miles from Wittenberg, where the boy who sung for his breakfast is preaching and hearing people confess their sins.
All-saints-day comes. The people from all the country round flock to Wittenberg to see the procession of the holy relics, for, on this 31st of October, the images of the saints and the relics are to be carried in procession through the streets.
The people come to Friar Martin to confess their sins.
"You must leave off sinning," he says to them.
"Leave off sinning?"
"Yes; I cannot grant absolution unless you do."
"But we have liberty to sin."
"Liberty to sin! Who gave you liberty to sin against God?"
"Doctor Tetzel, over in Jüterbogk. Here are the indulgences which we have purchased."
"I care nothing for your indulgences. Unless you repent, you will perish. I will not grant yon absolution. Unless you promise to leave off sinning."
The people are in despair. They have paid their money for their indulgences, and now their confessor will not absolve them. They hasten to Jüterbogk.
"Our confessor will not absolve us. He says that these indulgences are good for nothing."
" Good for nothing!" Doctor Tetzal will see about that He goes into the pulpit. He is the Pope's ambassador, and is endowed with authority. He curses the young priest at Wittenberg, who has thus taken it upon himself to say that these indulgences are worth no more than blank paper.
"I have orders from the Pope to burn every heretic who dares to oppose his most holy indulgences," shouts Tetzel; and he orders a fire to be kindled in the market-place, to let the people understand that ho means what he says.
Evening comes. In the market-place of Jüterbogk the fire which Doctor Tetzel has kindled is burning. Over in Wittenberg, at the same hour, the people see their young confessor nailing a paper upon the door of the church. They crowd around to see what sort of a notice it may be. They read:
"Those who truly repent of their sins have a full remission of guilt and penalty, and do not need an indulgence."
And this:
"He who gives to the poor and lends to the needy does better than he who buys an indulgence."
There are ninety-five paragraphs. The people read in amazement Here is war against Doctor Tetzel — a war between two doctors.
Doctor Luther goes back to his room in the convent, little knowing what will come of his nailing up that paper — that it is the beginning of a series of events which will go on while time shall last; that out of it will come a great division in the Church; that thrones will