es of the preachers, which I
have not heard, so much as I grieve over the wholly false
impressions which the people have conceived from them; to
wit,--the unhappy souls believe that if they have purchased
letters of indulgence they are sure of their salvation;[2] again,
that so soon as they cast their contributions into the money-box,
souls fly out of purgatory;[3] furthermore, that these graces
[i. e., the graces conferred in the indulgences] are so great that
there is no sin too great to be absolved, even, as they
say--though the thing is impossible--if one had violated the
Mother of God;[4] again, that a man is free, through these
indulgences, from all penalty and guilt.[5]

O God, most good! Thus souls committed to your care, good Father,
are taught to their death, and the strict account, which you must
render for all such, grows and increases. For this reason I have
no longer been able to keep quiet about this matter, for it is by
no gift of a bishop that man becomes sure of salvation, since he
gains this certainty not even by the "inpoured grace" [6] of God,
but the Apostle bids us always "work out our own salvation in
fear and trembling," [Phil. 2:12] and Peter says, "the righteous
scarcely shall be saved." [1 Pet. 4:18, Matt] Finally, so narrow
is the way that leads to life, that the Lord, through the
prophets Amos and Zechariah, calls those who shall be saved
"brands plucked from the burning," [Amos 4:11, Zech. 3:2] and
everywhere declares the difficulty of salvation.

Why, then, do the preachers of pardons, by these false fables and
promises, make the people careless and fearless? Whereas
indulgences confer on us no good gift, either for salvation or
for sanctity, but only take away the external penalty, which it
was formerly the custom to impose according to the canons.[7]

Finally, works of piety and love are infinitely better than
indulgences,[8] and yet these are not preached with such ceremony
or such zeal; nay, for the sake of preaching the indulgences they
are kept quiet, though it is the first and the sole duty of all
bishops that the people should learn the Gospel and the love of
Christ, for Christ never taught that indulgences should be
preached. How great then is the horror, how great the peril of a
bishop, if he permits the Gospel to be kept quiet, and nothing
but the noise of indulgences to be spread among his people![9]
Will not Christ say to them, "straining at a gnat and swallowing
a came