ven him, and that "not even repentance is necessary."(171) More than
this, he assured his hearers that the indulgences had power to save not
only the living but the dead; that the very moment the money should clink
against the bottom of his chest, the soul in whose behalf it had been paid
would escape from purgatory and make its way to heaven.(172)

When Simon Magus offered to purchase of the apostles the power to work
miracles, Peter answered him, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou
hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."(173) But
Tetzel's offer was grasped by eager thousands. Gold and silver flowed into
his treasury. A salvation that could be bought with money was more easily
obtained than that which requires repentance, faith, and diligent effort
to resist and overcome sin.(174)

The doctrine of indulgences had been opposed by men of learning and piety
in the Roman Church, and there were many who had no faith in pretensions
so contrary to both reason and revelation. No prelate dared lift his voice
against this iniquitous traffic; but the minds of men were becoming
disturbed and uneasy, and many eagerly inquired if God would not work
through some instrumentality for the purification of His church.

Luther, though still a papist of the straitest sort, was filled with
horror at the blasphemous assumptions of the indulgence mongers. Many of
his own congregation had purchased certificates of pardon, and they soon
began to come to their pastor, confessing their various sins, and
expecting absolution, not because they were penitent and wished to reform,
but on the ground of the indulgence. Luther refused them absolution, and
warned them that unless they should repent and reform their lives, they
must perish in their sins. In great perplexity they repaired to Tetzel
with the complaint that their confessor had refused his certificates; and
some boldly demanded that their money be returned to them. The friar was
filled with rage. He uttered the most terrible curses, caused fires to be
lighted in the public squares, and declared that he "had received an order
from the pope to burn all heretics who presumed to oppose his most holy
indulgences."(175)

Luther now entered boldly upon his work as a champion of the truth. His
voice was heard from the pulpit in earnest, solemn warning. He set before
the people the offensive character of sin, and taught them that it is
impossible for man, by his own work