Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/99

 the laity, Martin LutJier and his Revolt against the Church 6 1 81. This license in the preaching of pardons makes it no Keen ques easy thing, even for learned men, to protect the reverence ^° n j"^ of due to the pope against the calumnies, or, at all events, the keen questionings of the laity. 82. As, for instance : Why does not the pope empty pur- gatory for the sake of his most holy charity and of the supreme necessity of souls, — this being the most just of all reasons, — if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of that most fatal thing, money, to be spent on build- ing a basilica, — this being a very slight reason ? 86. Again : Why does not the pope, whose riches are at this day more ample than those of Croesus, build the basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with that of poor believers ? 88. Again : What greater good could the Church receive than if the pope were to bestow these remissions and partici- pations a hundred times a day, instead of once, as he does now, on any one of the faithful ? 90. To repress these scruples and arguments of the laity by force alone, and not to solve them by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and to make Christian men unhappy. 91. If then pardons were preached according to the spirit and wish of the pope, all these questions would be solved with ease ; nay, would not exist. III. Letter of Warning to Luther from one of Erasmus' Friends The great Erasmus and his friends took some inter- est in Luther at first, although many of them were later alienated by his rashness and by certain of his doctrines. 1 The following letter from a distinguished 1 For the attitude of Erasmus toward Luther three years later, see below, p. 89.