Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/62

 50 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE debt ? Not mortal sin, for that must be forgiven before an indulgence can be obtained. Not the eternal punish- ment of sin, for in hell there is no forgiveness. ... It is the temporal punishment due after the eternal has, through repentance and confession, been forgiven.' ' Know,' says ' The Soul's Guide,' ' that an indulgence does not forgive sin, but only the temporal punish- ment still due it. Know that you cannot obtain an indulgence while you are in sin and before you have repented, confessed, and resolved sincerely to amend. God is merciful, and has given His Church the power to forgive sin, as also a treasury of graces, but not for those who have only a superficial sorrow, fancying that they can gain heaven by outward acts.' The ' Summa Johannis ' of 1482 teaches also as fol- lows : ' Only those who are truly contrite merit an indul- gence. Moreover, indulgences are not gained at once even by the true penitents, but according as they qualify themselves for them by sincerity, good works, and alms- giving in proportion to their means.' In answer to those who accuse the Church of venality in selling indulgences, the ' Explanation of the Articles of the Church ' says : ' The Church does not wish to amass riches, but to work for the honour of God and the salvation of souls. Not all those who help to build churches gain indulgences ; only those who, being free from mortal sin and having a firm confidence in the mercy of God, give alms in the spirit of faith and veneration of the saints, in whose honour the churches are built.' * 1 See Die Liebe Gottes, mitsammt dem Spiegel der Kranken, a book on the doctrine of indulgences published in Augsburg, 1494. Also Geiler of Kaisersberg's Collected Sermons (Augsburg, 1504). Never was so much written on the doctrine of indulgences as in the fifteenth centurj'.