Part 7 (2/2)
[John 20:15-17] Thus priests are to be encouraged against their own bishop, and their disobedience to divine law is to be protected!
Antichrist himself, I hope, will not dare to put God to such open shame! There you have your pope after your own heart! Why did he do this? Ah! if one church were reforht come! Therefore it were better that no priest should be let at peace with another, that kings and princes should be set at odds, as has been the custom heretofore, and the world filled with the blood of Christians, only so the concord of Christians should not trouble the Holy Ro an idea of how they deal with livings which become vacant But for tender-hearted Avarice the vacancies are too few, and so he brings his foresight to bear upon the benefices which are still occupied by their incuh they are not unfilled[69] And this he does in many ways, as follows:
[Sidenote: Coadjutorshi+ps]
_First_, He lies in wait for fat prebends or bishoprics which are held by an old or a sick ed disability To such an incuives a coadjutor, i e, an ”assistant,” or the coadjutor's benefit, because he is a ”papal servant,” or has paid for the position, or has earned it by sohts of the chapter or the rights of hi[70]all into the hands of Rome
[Sidenote: Commendations]
_Second_, There is a little word _co of a rich, fat monastery or church to a cardinal or to another of his people, just as though I were to give you a hundred gulden to keep This is not called the giving or bestowing of the monastery nor even its destruction, or the abolition of the worshi+p of God, but only ”giving it into keeping”; not that he to whom it is entrusted is to care or it, or build it up, but he is to drive out the incuoods and revenues, and to install soulden a year and sits in the church all day selling pictures and irims, so that henceforth neither prayers northe worshi+p of God, then the pope would have to be called a destroyer of Christendom and an abolisher of God's worshi+p, because this is his constant practice That would be a hard saying at Rome, and so we e” of the monastery The pope can every year le one of which ulden This is the way the Romans increase the worshi+p of God and preserve theto find it out
[Sidenote: Incorporation]
[Sidenote: Union]
_Third_, There are some benefices which they call _inco to the ordinances of the canon law, cannot be held by one man at the same time, as for instance, two parishes, two bishoprics and the like In these cases the Holy Rolosses,”[74] called _unio_ and _incorporatio_, i e, by ”incorporating” many _incompatibilia_, so that each becoether are looked upon as though they were one living They are then no longer ”incompatible,” and the holy canon law is satisfied, in that it is no longer binding, except upon those who do not buy these ”glosses”[75] fro,” is of the saether like a bundle of sticks, and by virtue of this bond they are all regarded as one benefice So there is at Rome one courtesan[77] who holds, for himself alone, 22 parishes, 7 priories and 44 canonries besides,--all by the help of that al What cardinals and other prelates have, everyone ine or himself In this way the Germans are to have their purses eased and their itch cured
[Sidenote: Adlosses” is the _administratio_, i e, a nity[78], and possess all the property which goes with it, only he has no other title than that of ”administrator”[79] For at Ros they stand for; as though I were to teach that a bawdy-house keeper should have the naomaster's wife,” and yet continue to ply her trade This kind of Roman rule St
Peter foretold when he said, in II Peter ii: ”There shall coned words, shall ains” [2 Pet 2:3]
[Sidenote: Regression]
Again, dear Ro livings to such advantage that the seller or disposer retains reversionary rights[80] upon them: to wit, if the incumbent dies, the benefice freely reverts to him who previously sold, bestowed or surrendered it In this way they have s hereditary property, so that henceforth no one can come into possession of the to dispose of thehts at death Besides, there are many who transfer to others the et the title derive not a _heller_ of incoive another man a benefice and to reserve a certain part out of the annual revenue[81] In olden tis there are so s more shaarments of Christ [Matt 27:35]
[Sidenote: Reservation in pectore]
Yet all that has hitherto been said is ancient history and an every-day occurrence at Ro more, which may, I hope, be his last morsel, and choke him The pope has a noble little device called _pectoralis reservatio_, i e, his ”mental reservation,” and _proprius oes like this When one otten a benefice at Roned and sealed, according to custos ation in some other way, of which ill not speak, and desires of the pope the saives it to the second[84] If it is said that this is unjust, then the Most Holy Fathersuch open violence to the law, and says that in his mind and heart he had reserved that benefice to hih he had never before in his whole life either thought or heard of it Thus he has now found a little ”gloss” by which he can, in his own person, lie and deceive, and make a fool and an ape of anybody--all this he does brazenly and openly, and yet he wishes to be the head of Christendoh with his open lies he lets the Evil Spirit rule hi ”reservation” of the pope creates in Ro, selling, bartering, trading, trafficking, lying, deceiving, robbing, stealing, luxury, harlotry, knavery, and every sort of contempt of God, and even the rule of Antichrist could not becompared to this fair which is held at Rome and the business which is done there, except that in those other places they still observe right and reason At Rooes as the devil wills, and out of this ocean like virtue flows into all the world Is it a wonder that such people fear a refors and princes at en about a council? Who could bear to have such knavery exposed if it were his own?
[Sidenote: The Dataria]
Finally, for all this noble commerce the pope has built a warehouse, namely, the house of the datarius[86], in Rome Thither all must cos Froet the power to practice such archknavery In forenerous, and then justice had either to be bought or else suppressed with money, but now she has becoreat suht If that is not a brothel above all the brothels one can iine, then I do not knohat brothel means
If you have s I have said; and not only these, but all sorts of usury[88] are here made honest, Phil 2:5 for a consideration, and the possession of all property acquired by theft or robbery is legalised Here vows are dissolved; here e is on sale to the clergy; here bastards can becoitimate; here all dishonor and shahted and ennobled; here is perrees or has so rules there!
It looks as though all the laws of the Church werebut so many money-snares, from which a man must extricate himself[90] if he would be a Christian Yea, here the devil becomes a saint, and a God to boot What heaven and earth cannot, that this house can do! They call them _compositiones_[91]!
”Compositions” indeed! rather ”confusions”! Oh, what a modest tax is the Rhine-toll[92], compared with the tribute taken by this holy house!
Let no one accuse eration! It is all so open that even at Roreater and more terrible than any one can say I have not yet stirred up the hell-broth of personal vices, nor do I intend to do so I speak of things which are common talk, and yet I have not words to tell them all The bishops, the priests and, above all, the doctors in the universities, who draw their salaries or this purpose, should have done their duty and with cos; but they have done the very opposite[93]
[Sidenote: The Fuggers]
There remains one last word, and I must say that too Since boundless Avarice has not been satisfied with all these treasures, which three great kings ins to transfer this trade and sell it to Fugger of Augsburg[94], so that the lending and trading and buying of bishoprics and benefices, and the driving of bargains in spiritual goods has now cooods have become one business And noould fain hear of a ine what this Roht yet be able to do and has not already done; unless Fugger were to transfer or sell this combination of two lines of business to somebody else I believe we have reached the limit
As for what they have stolen in all lands and still steal and extort, by ences, bulls, letters of confession[95], ”butter-letters”[96] and other _confessionalia_[97],--all this I consider le devilin little, for acould well support himself on their returns, but they are not to be compared with the strea at present of how this indulgence money has been applied Another time I shall inquire about that, for Campoflore[99] and Belvidere[100] and certain other places probably know so about it