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Letters
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General SummaryMARTIN LUTHER, despite his busy life as professor, preacher, translator of the Bible, and leader of the Reformation, was so voluminous a correspondent that the complete collection of those of his letters which have been preserved fills no less than ten volumes. He could never have imagined that his private letters would sometime see the light of day, else we should not have had in them so frank a revelation of his personality. Luther’s correspondence mirrors the man — his faults and petty weaknesses, as well as his fine spiritual nature, his intrepid will, and his devotion to truth as he saw the truth. Luther had many friends, among them John Lang and George Spalatin, who had been his fellow-students in the University of Erfurt, and Philip Melanchthon. Some of his letters to these men, together with the letters which he addressed to the archbishop of Mayence, Pope Leo X, and the emperor Charles V, present a fascinating account of the early days of the Reformation.
230. To Albrecht, Archbishop of Mayence2
. . . . With your Electoral Highness’s consent, the papal indulgence for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s in Rome is being carried through the land. I do not complain so much of the loud cry of the preacher of indulgences, which I have not heard, but regret the false meaning which the simple folk attach to them, the poor souls believing that when they have purchased such letters they have secured their salvation; that the moment the money tinkles in the box souls are delivered from Purgatory, and that all sins will be forgiven through a letter of indulgence, even the sin of reviling the blessed Mother of God, were anyone blasphemous enough to do so. And, lastly, they believe that through these indulgences a man is freed from all penalties! Ah, dear God! Thus are those souls which have been committed to your care, dear father, being led in the paths of death, and for them you will be required to render an account. . . . Therefore, I could be silent no longer.
How then can you, through false promises of indulgences, which do not promote the salvation or sanctification of their souls, lead the people into carnal security, by declaring them free from the painful consequences of their wrongdoing, with which the Church was wont to punish their sins?
Deeds of piety and love are infinitely better than indulgences, and yet the bishops do not preach these so earnestly, although it is their principal duty to proclaim the love of Christ to their people. Christ has nowhere commanded indulgences to be preached, but the Gospel. So to what danger does a bishop expose himself, who, instead of having the Gospel proclaimed among the people, dooms it to silence, while the cry of indulgences resounds through the land? Will Christ not say to them, "Ye strained at a gnat, and swallowed a camel?"
In addition, reverend father, it has gone abroad under your name, but doubtless without your knowledge, that this indulgence is the priceless gift of God, whereby the man may be reconciled to God and escape the fires of Purgatory, and that those who purchase the indulgences have no need of repentance.
What else can I do, right reverend father, than beg your Serene Highness carefully to look into this matter, and do away with this little book of instructions. If you do not command those preachers to adopt another style of preaching, another may arise and refute them, by writing another book in answer to the previous one, to the confusion of your Serene Highness, the very idea of which alarms me greatly. I hope that your Serene Highness may graciously deign to accept the faithful service which your insignificant servant, with true devotion, would render you. . . .
If agreeable to your Grace, perhaps you will glance at my inclosed theses, that you may see that the opinion on the indulgences is a very varied one, while those who proclaim them fancy they cannot be disputed.1
2 Currie, , No. xvi.
1 Written from Wittenberg, October 31, 1517.
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Chicago: Currie, ed., "To Albrecht, Archbishop of Mayence," Letters in Readings in Early European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1926), 496. Original Sources, accessed May 1, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1KZXT1GN4TFKG4K.
MLA: . "To Albrecht, Archbishop of Mayence." Letters, edited by Currie, Vol. xvi, in Readings in Early European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1926, page 496. Original Sources. 1 May. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1KZXT1GN4TFKG4K.
Harvard: (ed.), 'To Albrecht, Archbishop of Mayence' in Letters. cited in 1926, Readings in Early European History, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.496. Original Sources, retrieved 1 May 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1KZXT1GN4TFKG4K.
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