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قراءة كتاب Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes (Volume I)

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Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes (Volume I)

Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes (Volume I)

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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consider is what "our Lord and Master Jesus Christ means," when He says, "Repent." [32] Without denying the pope's right to the power of the keys, Luther wishes to come into the clear about the extent of the pope's jurisdiction, which does not reach as far as purgatory. He believes that the pope has the right to remit "penalties," but these penalties are of the same sort as those which were imposed in the early Church as a condition precedent to the absolution; they are ecclesiastical penalties merely, and do not extend beyond the grave; the true penalty of sin is hatred of self, which continues until entrance into the kingdom of heaven.[33]

The Theses are formulated with continual reference to the statements of the indulgence-preachers, and of the Instruction to the Commissaries issued under the name of the Archbishop of Mainz. [34] For this reason there is little logical sequence in the arrangement of the Theses, and none of the attempts to discover a plan or scheme underlying them has been successful.[35] In a general way it may be said that for the positive views of Luther on the subjects discussed, Theses 30-37 and 41-51 are the most vital, while Theses 92-95 are sufficient evidence of the motive which led Luther to make his protest.

5. Conclusion—The editors of this Translation present herewith a new translation of the Theses, together with three letters, which will help the reader to understand the mind of Luther at the time of their composition and his motive in preparing them. The first of these letters is that which was sent, with a copy of the Theses, to Albrecht of Mainz. The second and third are addressed respectively to Staupitz and Leo X., and were written to accompany the "Resolutions," [36] an exhaustive explanation and defense of the Theses, published in 1518, after the controversy had become bitter.

6. Literature—(a) Sources. The source material for history of indulgences is naturally widely scattered. The most convenient collection is found in Koehler, Dokumente zum Ablassstreit, Tübingen, 1900. For the indulgences against which Luther protested, see, beside the Editions of Luther's Works, Kapp, Schauplatz des Tetselischen Ablass-Krams, Leipzig, 1720; Sammlung einiger zum päbstlichen Ablass gehörigen Schriften, Leipzig, 1721; Kleine Nachlese zur Erläuterung der Reformationsgeschicte, Leipzig, 1730 and 1733; also Loescher, Vollständige Reformationsacta, I, Leipzig, 1720

(b) Secondary Works. Beside the general works in Church History and History of Doctrine, see the Lives of Luther, in German especially those of Köstlin-Kawerau, Kolde, Berger and Hausrath; in English those of Beard, Jacobs, Lindsay, Smith and McGiffert; also Boehmer, Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung, ad ed., Leipzig, 1910.

On the indulgences in their relation to the Sacrament of Penance, H, C. Lea, History of Confession and Indulgence, especially Vol. III, Philadelphia, 1896; Brieger, Das Wesen des Ablasses am Ausgang des Mittelalters, Leizig, 1897, and Article Indulgenzen in PRE.3 IX, pp. 76 ff. (Eng. in Schaff-Herzog v., pp. 485-88); Gottlob, Kreuzablass und Almosenablass, Stuttgart, 1906 (especially valuable for the origin of indulgences).

On the indulgences and the XCV Theses, Koestlin, Luther's
Theologie
, Leipzig, 1883 (Eng. Trans, by Hay, The Theology of
Luther, Philadelphia, 1897); Bratke, Luther's XCV Thesen und
ihre dogmengeschictlichen Voraussetzungen
, Göttingen, 1884;
Dieckboff, Der Ablassstreit dogmengeschichtlich dargestellt,
Gotha, 1886; Lindsay, History of the Reformation, I, New York,
1906; Tschackert, Entstehung der lutherischen und reformierten
Kirchenlehre
, Göttingen, 1910.

On the financial aspects of the indulgence-traffic, Schulte, Die
Fugger in Rom
, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1904.

    CHARLES M. JACOBS.
    Allentown, PA.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Disputato pro declaratione virutis indulgentiarum.

[2] Luther says, Apud nostros et propter nostros editae aunt. Weimar Ed., I. 528. On the whole subject see Letters to Staupitz and the Pope, below.

[3] Cf. Weimar Ed., I, 229.

[4] The Church of All Saints at Wittenberg was the repository of the great collection of relics which Frederick the Wise had gathered. A catalogue of the collection, with illustrations by Lucas Cranach, was published in 1509. The collection contained 5005 sacred objects, including a bit of the crown of thorns and some of the Virgin Mother's milk. Adoration of these relics on All Saints' Day (Nov. 1st) was rewarded with indulgence for more than 500,000 years. So, Vol Bezold, Die deutsche Reformation (1890), p. 100; see also Barge, Karlstadt, I, 39ff.

[5] Luther had preached a sermon warning against the danger of indulgences on the Eve of All Saints (1516). See below.

[6] See below, Letter to Leo X.

[7] Weimar Ed., I, 230.

[8] The Address to the Christian Nobility and the Babylonian Captivity of the Church.

[9] Introduction to the Complete Works (1545); above p.10.

[10] See Letter to Staupitz, below.

[11] See Letter to Leo X, below.

[12] Cf. Gottlob, Kreuzablass und Almosenblass, p. I.

[13] See Theses 5, 8, 85.

[14] Non solam plenam et largiorem, imo plenissimam omnium suorum concedemus et concedimus veniam peccatorum. Mirbt, Quellen, 2d ed., No. 243.

[15] This custom of putting the Jubilee-indulgences on sale seems to date from the year 1390. Cf. Lea, Hist. of Conf. and Indulg., III, 206.

No mention is here made of the indulgences attached to adoration of the relics, etc. On the development of this form of indulgence see Lea, Hist. of Conf. and Indulg., III, 131-194, 234-195, and Gottlog, Kreuzablass und Almosenablass, pp. 195-254.

[16] See Thesis 12.

[17] See Theses 4-6, Note 2.

[18] For Luther's opinion of this distinction, see the Discourse Concerning Confession elsewhere in the present volume.

[19] "Not even the poorest part of the penance which is called 'satisfaction,' but the remission of the poorest part of penance." Letter to Staupitz, below.

[20] There is ample proof that in practice the indulgences were preached as sufficient to secure the purchaser the entire remission of sin, and the form a culpa et poena was officially employed in many cases (Cf. Brieger, Das Wesen des Abiases am Ausgang des M A. and PRE3 IX. 83 ff., and Lea, History of Confession, etc., III, 54 ff.). "It is difficult to withstand the conclution that even in theory indulgences had been declared to be efficacious for the removal of the guilt of sin in the presence of God," Lindsay, History of the Reformation, I, 226.

[21] It is the basis of this theory that Roman Catholic writers on indulgences declare them to be "extra-sacramental," i. e., outside the Sacrament of Penance. So, e.g., Kent, in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Art. Indulgence.

[22] See Theses 56-58.

[23] The doctrine of the "Treasury of the Church" grew up as a result of the indulgences. It was an attempt to answer the question, How can a "satisfaction," which God demands, be waived? The answer is, By the application of merits earned by Christ and by the Saints who did more than God requires. These merits form the Treasury of the Church. Cf. Seeberg, PRE3 XV, 417; Lea, Hist. of Confession, etc., III, 14-28.

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