ant and more heinous crimes," If public, have to do with a
wider circle than the members of a particular parish, the
reparation for the offence should be as extensive as the scandal
which it has created. In the Apology, Melanchthon claims that
such reservation should be limited to the ecclesiastical
penalties to be inflicted, but that it had not been Intended to
comprise also the guilt involved; it was a _reservatio poenae_,
but not a _reservatio culpae_.[14] Luther suggests the same here,
but with more than usual caution.

In the same spirit as in his Treatise on Baptism, he protests
against the numerous vows, the binding force of which was a
constant subject of treatment in pastoral dealing with souls. The
multiplication of vows had caused a depredation of the one
all-embracing vow of baptism. Nevertheless the pope's right to
give a dispensation he regards as limited entirely to such
matters as those concerning which God's Word has given no
command. With matters which concern only the relation of the
individual to God, the Pope's authority is of no avail.

Literature.--Chemnitz, Martin, _Examin Concilii Tridentini_, 1578
(Preuss edition), 441-456. Steitz, G. E., _Die Privatbeichte und
Privatabsolution d. luth. Kirche aus d. Quellen des XVI. Jahrh._,
1854. Pfeisterrer, G. F. _Luthers Lehre von der Beichte_, 1857.
Klieftoth, Th. _Lit. Abhandlungen, 2: Die Beichte und
Absolution_, 1856. Fischer, E., _Zur Geschichte der evangelischen
Beichte_, 2 vols., 1902-1903. Rietschel, G., _Lehrbuch der
Liturgik_, vol 2, particularly secs. 44, 45, _Luthers Affassung
der Beichte_ and _Luthers Auffassung von der Absolution_.
Koestlin, Julius, _Luther's Theology_ (English Translation),
I:357, 360, 400. See also _Smalcald Articles_, _Book of Concord_
(English Translation), 326, 899.

Henry E. Jacobs.
Mount Airy, Philadelphia.

FOOTNOTES

[1] 1. _Decem Praecepta Wittebergenai praedicata populo_, 1518,
_Erl. Ed., op. ex. lat._, I, 218. A series of sermons entering
into almost minute analyses of sins.

2. _Die zehen Gebote Gottes mit einer kurzen Auslegung ihre
Erfullung und Uebertretung_, _Weimar Ed._, I, 247 ff; _Erl. Ed._,
XXXVI, 145-154. Reduces contents of the sermons to a few pages. A
brief handbook for use in the confessional first printed in
tabular form, giving a very condensed exposition of each
commandment, followed by a catalogue of sins prohibited and
virtues enjoined. Written a month before the publication o