Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/27

 of Augsburg, writes as follows to the printer Ratdolt in 1487: 'It would be difficult to estimate how deeply all classes of society are indebted to the art of printing, which, through the mercy of God, has arisen in our time; and more especially is this the case with the Catholic Church, the bride of Christ, which through it receives additional glory, and meets her Bridegroom with the new adornment of the many books of heavenly wisdom with which it has furnished her.'

All the nobler minds of the age were anxious that this new art should not be regarded merely as an instrument for furthering personal profit, but as a fresh means of Christian evangelisation, so that, above all, good should accrue to the Church's faith, and true wisdom and culture be advanced. Thus 'The Brothers of the Social Life' at Rostock, in one of their first publications, in the year 1476, speak of it as 'the teacher of all arts for the glory of the Church'; and they designated themselves, in view of their labour as printers, 'priests who preached not by the spoken, but by the written word.' It was this same feeling which actuated bishops, such as Rudolph von Scherenberg and Lorenz von Bibra, to distribute indulgences for the purchase and spread of books.