70. But they are still more bound to see to it with all their eyes, and take heed with all their ears, that these men do not preach their own dreams in place of the Pope's commission.

71. He who speaks against the truth of apostolical pardons, let him be anathema and accursed.

72. But he, on the other hand, who exerts himself against the wantonness and license of speech of the preachers of pardons, let him be blessed.

73. As the Pope justly thunders against those who use any kind of contrivance to the injury of the traffic in pardons,

74. Much more is it his intention to thunder against those who, under the pretext of pardons, use contrivances to the injury of holy charity and of truth.

75. To think that the Papal pardons have such power that they could absolve a man even if-by an impossibility-he had violated the Mother of God, is madness.

76. We affirm on the contrary that Papal pardons cannot take away even the least of venial sins, as regards its guilt.

77. The saying that, even if St. Peter were now Pope, he could grant no greater graces, is blasphemy against St. Peter and the Pope.

78. We affirm on the contrary that both he and any other Pope has greater graces to grant, namely, the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc. (1 Cor. xii.)

79. To say that the cross set up among the insignia of the Papal arms is of equal power with the cross of Christ, is blasphemy.

80. Those bishops, priests and theologians who allow such discourses to have currency among the people will have to render an

account.

81. This license in the preaching of pardons makes it no easy thing, even for learned men, to protect the reverence due to the Pope against the calumnies, or, at all events, the keen questionings of the laity.

82. As for instance: Why does not the Pope empty purgatory for the sake of most holy charity and of the supreme necessity of souls -this being the most just of all reasons-if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of that most fatal thing, money, to be spent on building a basilica-this being a very slight reason?

83. Again; why do funeral masses and anniversary masses for the deceased continue, and why does not the Pope return, or permit the withdrawal of, the funds bequeathed for this purpose, since it is a wrong to pray for those who are already redeemed?

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84. Again; what is this new kindness of God and the Pope, in that, for money's sake, they permit an impious man and an enemy of God to redeem a pious soul which loves God, and yet do not redeem that same pious and beloved soul out of free charity on account of its own need?

85. Again; why is it that the penitential canons, long since abrogated and dead in themselves, in very fact and not only by usage, are yet still redeemed with money, through the granting of indulgences, as if they were full of life?

86. Again; why does not the Pope, whose riches are at this day more ample than those of the wealthiest of the wealthy, build the single Basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with that of poor believers?

87. Again; what does the Pope remit or impart to those who through perfect contrition have a right to plenary remission and participation?

88. Again; what greater good could the Church receive than if the Pope, instead of once, as he does now, were to bestow these remissions and participations a hundred times a day on any one of the faithful?

89. Since it is the salvation of souls, rather than money, that the Pope seeks by his pardons, why does he suspend the letters and pardons granted long ago, since they are equally efficacious?

90. To repress these scruples and arguments 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 Christian men unhappy.

91. If then pardons were preached according to the spirit and mind of the Pope, all these questions would be resolved with ease; nay, 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: "The cross, the cross," and there is no cross.

94. Christians should be exhorted to strive to follow Christ their

head through pains, deaths, and hells.

95. And thus trust to enter heaven through many tribulations, rather than in the security of peace.

XVII

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO THE ELECTOR OF SAXONY, 1520.

In September, 1520, Ulrich von Hutten, fearing an attack upon his life or liberty, accepted the invitation of his friend Franz von Sickingen, and repaired to the castle of Ebernburg. From this retreat, between the time of his arrival and the 28th of the same month, he sent forth four letters of political import, which contain the substance of his effort to rally the elements of German strength against the power of Rome. Of these letters the first was addressed to Charles V., then upon his way to assume the imperial honors; another to the Elector Albert, Cardinal Archbishop of Mainz; a third to the Elector Frederick of Saxony, and a fourth to Germans of all Estates.

The letter to Frederick is of greatest interest, and its description of the economic forces then at work in Germany may profitably be compared with Luther's treatment of the same matters in his Address to the German Nobility.

From the Latin and contemporaneous German version in the Epistolæ Ulrichi Hutteni, Edited by Böcking. Vol. I., pp. 393 ff.

*** We see that there is no gold and almost no silver in our German land. What little may perhaps be left is drawn away daily by the new schemes invented by the council of the most holy members of the Roman curia. What is thus squeezed out of us is put to the most shameful uses. Would you know, dear Germans, what employment I have myself seen that they make at Rome of our money? It does not lie idle! Leo the Tenth gives a part to nephews and relatives (these are so numerous that there is a proverb at Rome, "As thick as Leo's relations"). A portion is consumed by so many most reverend cardinals (of which the holy father created no less than one and thirty in a single day), as well as to support innumerable referendaries, auditors, prothonotaries, abbreviators, apostolic secretaries, chamberlains and a variety of officials forming the élite of the great head church. These in turn draw after them, at untold expense, copyists, beadles, messengers, servants, scullions, mule drivers, grooms, and an innumerable army of prostitutes and of the most degraded followers. They maintain dogs, horses, monkeys, long-tailed apes, and many more such creatures for their pleasure. They construct houses all of marble. They have precious stones, are clothed in purple and fine linen, and dine sumptuously,

frivolously indulging themselves in every species of luxury. In short, a vast number of the worst of men are supported in Rome in idle indulgence by means of our money. Does not Your Grace perceive how many bold robbers, how many cunning hypocrites commit repeatedly the greatest crimes under the monk's cowl, and how many crafty hawks feign the simplicity of doves, and how many ravening wolves simulate the innocence of lambs? And although there be a few truly pious among them, even they cling to superstition, and pervert the law of life which Christ laid down for us.

Now, if all these who devastate Germany, and continue to devour everything, might once be driven out, and an end made of their unbridled plundering, swindling and deception, with which the Romans have overwhelmed us, we should again have gold and silver in sufficient quantities, and should be able to keep it. And then this money, in such supply and value as it may be present, might be put to better uses, for example: to put on foot great armaments and extend the boundaries of the Empire; also that the Turks may be conquered, if this seems desirable; that many who, because of poverty, steal and rob may honestly earn their living once more, and that those who otherwise must starve may receive from the state contributions to mitigate their need; that scholars may be helped, and the study of the arts and sciences and of good literature be advanced; above all that every virtue may receive its reward; want be relieved at home; indolence banished, and deceit killed.

Then, too, the Bohemians, when they come to know this, will make common cause with us, for it was material obstacles alone that kept them back, in earlier times, from dealing with the avarice of their priests. The Greeks would do the same, who, unable to bear the Romish tyranny, have been for a long time, at the instigation of the Popes, regarded as heretics. The Russians would also become Christians and join us, they who, when recently they proposed to embrace Christianity, were repelled by the demand of His Holiness for a yearly tribute to be levied upon them of 400,000 ducats. Even the Turks would thereby hate us less; and no heathen, as formerly, would have occasion to molest us. For up to the present day the shameful lives of the heads of the Church have made the name of Christian hateful to all strangers. Ebernburg, September 11, 1520.

ERASMUS TO RICHARD PACE

The Bull of Leo X., which excommunicated Luther and ordered that his works should be burned, alarmed Erasmus and he felt the necessity of disclaiming, in a series of letters to his influential friends, all connection with the Lutheran movement. The partisans of Rome, however, and most particularly the monks, who had additional reason for hating Erasmus as leader of the Humanists, were not so easily silenced; but were loud in their denunciation of Erasmus as having furnished the literary basis for the anti-Roman movement; or as they expressed it: "Erasmus laid the egg and Luther has hatched it."

The letter to Richard Pace, a figure of some prominence in the English Church, and successor to Colet as Dean of St. Paul's, has been selected as seeming to show an interesting conflict of motives which may have possessed Erasmus at this period. From the Latin: Translation in Drummond's Erasmus, Vol. II, p. 77.

BRUSSELS, July 5, 1521.

I fear the Dominicans and some of the divines will use their victory intemperately, especially those of Louvain, who have some private grudge against me, and have found in Jerome Aleander an instrument most admirably adapted to this purpose. This man is mad enough naturally, without any one to instigate him; but, as it is, he has instigators who might drive even the most moderate to madness. The most virulent pamphlets are flying about on all sides, and Aleander ascribes them all to me, though I was ignorant of the existence of many of them before I heard of them from him. Luther has acknowledged his own books in the presence of the Emperor, and yet the 'Babylonian Captivity,' which is one of them, is ascribed to me. A prolific author indeed I must be, seeing that I was able to write so many pamphlets, while meantime I was emending the text of the New Testament with the utmost labor, and editing the works of Augustine, not to speak of other studies. May I be lost if in all Luther's works there is a single syllable of mine, or if any calumnious book was ever published of which I was the author; on the contrary, I do all I can to deter others. Now, however, they are adopting a new course, and asserting that Luther has borrowed some of his doctrines from my works, as if he had not borrowed more from Paul's Epistles. I now, at last, see clearly that it was the policy of the Germans to implicate me whether I would or not in Luther's business; a most impolitic piece of policy indeed, for nothing would sooner have alienated me from them. Or what aid could I have given to Luther if I had associated myself with him in his danger? The only result would have been that two must perish