“Of Reverence in Prayer”

When we make application to men in high positions, we do not presume to do so without reverence and humility; how much more, then, are we bound to entreat God, the Lord of all, with all humility and devout purity of heart.  And, we must recognize that we are heard not for our much speaking, but for our purity of heart and tears of contrition.  Therefore, our prayer must be brief and pure – unless it chance to  be prolonged with the inspirations of God’s grace.  When we assemble together, let the prayer be quite brief; and let us all rise together, when the Prior gives the signal.

From: “The Rule of Saint Benedict” (early 6th century), section XX, in Documents of the Christian Church, edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 163.  This is the first edition of this much-used collection.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 10

91.  Now, if pardons were preached according to the spirit and mind of the pope, all these questions would easily be disposed of; nay, they would not arise.

92.  And so, let all those prophets depart who say to Christ’s people, “Peace, peace,” and there is no peace.

93.  And farewell to all those prophets who say to Christ’s people, “The cross, the cross,” and there is no cross.

94.  Christians are to be exhorted to endeavor to follow Christ, their head, through pains, deaths, and hells.

95.  And so, let them trust to enter heaven rather through many tribulations than through the false confidence of peace.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 268.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 9

81.  This wanton preaching of pardons makes it hard even for learned men to defend the honor of the pope against calumny or, at least, against the shrewd questions of the laity.

82.  They ask: “Why does not the pope empty purgatory on account of most holy charity and the great need of souls, the most righteous of causes, seeing that he redeems an infinite number of souls on account of sordid money, given for the erection of a basilica, which is a most trivial cause?”

83.  “Why do requiems and anniversaries of the departed continue, and why does he not return the benefactions offered on their behalf or suffer them to be taken back, since it is now wrong to pray for the redeemed?”

84.  “What is this piety of God and the pope in allowing the impious and hostile to secure, on payment of money, a pious soul, in friendship with God, while they do not redeem, of free charity, a soul that is, of itself, pious and beloved, on account of its need?”

85.  “The penitential canons have long been repealed and are dead, in effect and by disuse.  Why, then, are dispensations from them still conceded by indulgences, for payment, as if they were still in full force?”

86.  “The pope’s riches, at this day, far exceed the wealth of the richest millionaires (cuius opes sunt opulentissimis Crassis crassiores).  Cannot he, therefore, build one single basilica of St. Peter out of his own money rather than out of the money of the faithful poor?”

87.  “Why does the pope remit or dispense to those who, through perfect contrition, have the right to plenary remission and dispensation?”

88.  “What greater good would be gained by the Church if the pope were to do, a hundred times a day, what he does once a day, i.e., distribute these remissions and dispensations to any of the faithful?”

89.  “If the pope, by means of his pardons, now seeks the salvation of souls rather than payment, why does he suspend letters and pardons formerly granted, since they are equally efficacious?”

90.  To suppress these careful arguments of the laity merely by papal authority, instead of clearing them up by a reasoned reply, is to expose the Church and the pope to the ridicule of the enemy and to render Christians unhappy.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), pp. 266-268.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 8

71.  If anyone speaks against the truth of the apostolic pardons, let him be anathema and accursed.

72.  But, blessed be he that strives against the wanton and disorderly preaching of the sellers of pardons.

73.  As the pope, justly, inveighs against those who, by any device, contrive the detriment of the business of pardons,

74.  So much the more he intends to inveigh against those who use the pretext of pardons to contrive the detriment of holy charity and truth.

75.  To hold that papal pardons are of such power that they could absolve even a man who (to assume the impossible) had violated the mother of God is to rave like a lunatic.

76.  We say, on the contrary, that papal pardons cannot take away the least of venial sins, as regards guilt.

77.  To say that not even if St. Peter were pope could he give greater graces is a blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.

78.  We say, as against this, that any pope, even St. Peter, has greater graces than these, to wit, the Gospel, virtues, graces of administration [or of healings], etc., as in 1 Corinthians 12.

79.  It is blasphemy to say that the cross, adorned with the papal arms, is as effectual as the cross of Christ.

80.  Bishops, curates, and theologians who allow such teaching to be preached to the people will have to render an account.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 266.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 7

61.  For it is clear that, for the remission of penalties and the absolution of (special) cases, the power of the pope, alone, suffices.

62.  The true treasure of the Church is the sacrosanct Gospel of the glory and grace of God.

63.  But this is, deservedly, most hated, since it makes the first last,

64.  Whereas the treasure of indulgences is, deservedly, most popular, since it makes the last first.

65.  Thus, the Gospel treasures are nets with which, of old, they fished for men of riches.

66.  The treasures of indulgences are nets with which they, now, fish for the riches of men.

67.  Indulgences, according to the declarations of those who preach them, are the greatest graces, but “greatest” is to be understood to refer to them as producers of revenue.

68.  They are, in fact, of little account, as compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross.

69.  Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of the apostolic pardons with all reverence.

70.  But, still more, are they bound to apply their eyes and ears to the task of making sure that they do not preach the figments of their own imaginations instead of the pope’s commission.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), pp. 265-266.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 6

51.  Christians are to be taught that the pope (as is his duty) would desire to give of his own substance to those poor men from many of whom certain sellers of pardons are extracting money; that, to this end, he would even, if need be, sell the basilica of St. Peter.

52.  Confidence in salvation through letters of indulgence is vain; and that even if the commissary, nay, even if the pope, himself, should pledge his soul as a guarantee.

53.  They are the enemies of Christ and of the people who, on account of the preaching of indulgences, bid the Word of God be silent in other churches.

54.  A wrong is done to the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or a longer time is devoted to indulgences than to God’s Word.

55.  This must needs be the intention of the pope that, if the granting of pardons, which is an affair of little importance, is celebrated with a single bell, with single processions and ceremonies, then the Gospel, which is the most important thing, should be preached with the accompaniment of a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.

56.  The treasures of the church, whence the pope gives indulgences, are neither sufficiently designated nor known among the people of Christ.

57.  It is, at least, clear that they are not temporal treasures, for they are not scattered abroad, but only collected by these numerous sellers of indulgences.

58.  Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, for these, without the pope’s aid, work the grace of the inner man and the crucifixion, death, and descent to hell of the outer man.

59.  St. Lawrence said that the poor were the treasures of the Church but, in speaking thus, he was using the language of his own time.

60.  Without rashness, we say that the keys of the Church, given by the merit of Christ, are that treasure.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), pp. 264-265.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 5

41.  Apostolic pardons are to be preached with caution lest the people should suppose that they are more important than other works of charity.

42.  Christians must be taught that it is not the intention of the pope that the buying of pardons is to be regarded as comparable with works of mercy.

43.  Christians are to be taught that to give to the poor or to lend to the needy is a better work than the purchase of pardons,

44.  And that, because, through a work of charity, charity is increased and a man advances in goodness, whereas, through pardons, there is no advance in goodness but merely an increased freedom from penalty.

45.  Christians are to be taught that a man who sees a brother in need and passes him buy to give his money for the purchase of a pardon wins for himself not the indulgences of the pope but the indignation of God.

46.  Christians are to be taught that, unless they have an abundant superfluity of means, they are bound to keep back what is needful for their own households and, in no wise, to squander their substance on the purchase of pardons.

47.  Christians are to be taught that the purchase of pardons is a matter of free choice, not of commandment.

48.  Christians are to be taught that, in dispensing pardons, the pope has more desire (as he has more need) for devout prayer on his behalf than of ready money.

49.  Christians are to be taught that the pope’s pardons are useful if they do not put their trust in them, but most harmful if, through them, they lose the fear of God.

50.  Christians must be taught that, if the pope knew the exactions of the preachers of indulgences, he would rather have St. Peter’s basilica reduced to ashes than built with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), pp. 263-264..

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 4

31.  A man who truly buys his indulgences is as rare as a true penitent – that is, very rare.

32.  Those who think themselves sure of salvation through their letters of pardon will be damned forever, along with their teachers.

33.  We must, especially, be aware of those who say that those pardons of the pope are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to God.

34.  For these gifts of pardon apply only to the penances of sacramental satisfaction which have been established by man.

35.  Those who teach that contrition is not needed to procure redemption or indulgence are preaching doctrines inconsistent with Christianity.

36.  Every Christian who is truly contrite has plenary remission both of penance and of guilt as his due, even without a letter of pardon.

37.  Any true Christian, living or dead, partakes of all the benefits of Christ and the Church, which is the gift of God, even without letters of pardon.

38.  Still, the pope’s distribution and pardon is not to be despised, since it is, as I have said, a declaration of divine remission.

39.  It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, to emphasize, in their public preaching, the bounty of indulgences and, at the same time, the need for true contrition.

40.  True contrition asks for penance and accepts it with love, but the bounty of indulgences relaxes the penalty and induces hatred of it.  Such, at least, is its tendency.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 263.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 3

21.  Therefore, those preachers of indulgences are in error who allege that, through the indulgences of the pope, a man is freed from every penalty.

22.  For he remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which they had been bound, according to the canons, to pay in this life.

23.  If any complete remission of penalties can be given to anyone, it is sure that it can be given only to the most perfect; that is, to very few:

24.  And, therefore, it follows that the greater part of the people is deceived by this indiscriminate and liberal promising of freedom from penalty.

25.  The same power over purgatory which the pope has, in general, is possessed by every bishop and curate in his particular diocese and parish.

26.  The pope does well in giving remission to souls, not by the power of the keys (he has no such power), but through intercession.

27.  Those who assert that a soul straightway flies out (of purgatory), as a coin tinkles in the collection box, are preaching an invention of man (hominem praedicant).

28.  It is sure that, when a coin tinkles, greed and avarice are increased; but the intercession (suffragium) of the church is in the will of God alone.

29.  Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed?  (Remember the story told of St. Severinus and St. Paschal).

30.  No one is sure of the truth of his contrition, much less about the consequence of plenary remission.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics series 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 262.

 

The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther – 2

11.  That tares concerning the changing of canonical penance into penance in purgatory seems surely to have been sown when the bishops were asleep.

12.  Canonical penances were, of old, imposed not after absolution but before, as evidence of true contrition.

13.  The dying pay all their dues by their death, and are already dead to the laws of the canons, having relaxation from their jurisdiction.

14.  Any deficiency in spiritual health or in charity on the part of a dying man must needs bring with it fear, and the greater the deficiency, the greater the fear.

15.  This fear and dread is enough, of itself (to pass over all else), to effect the penance of purgatory, since it is but little removed from the dread of despair.

16.  In fact, the difference between Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven seems to be the same as that between despair, almost despair, and confidence.

17.  It seems certain that, for souls in purgatory, charity is increased in proportion as dread is diminished.

18.  It does not seem to be proved, either by any arguments or from Scripture, that such souls are debarred from earning merit or from increasing in charity.

19.  Nor does this seem to be proved: that they are sure and confident of their own blessedness, or, at least that all are so, though we may be quite sure of it.

20.  The pope, by his plenary remission of all penalties, does not understand the remission of all penalties absolutely, but only of those imposed by himself.

From: Documents of the Christian Church edited by Henry Bettenson; The World’s Classics 495 (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), pp. 261-262.