TJie Revolt of Germany against tJie Papaey 587 nature of indulgences. The theses were promptly translated into Contents of German, printed, and scattered abroad throughout the land. In theses these Ninety-five Theses Luther declared that the indulgence was very unimportant and that the poor man would better spend his money for the needs of his household. The truly repentant, he argued, do not flee punishment, but bear it willingly in sign of their sorrow. Faith in God, not the procuring of pardons, brings forgiveness, and every Christian who feels true sorrow for his sins will receive full remission of the punishment as well as of the guilt/j Could the Pope know how his agents misled the people, he would rather have St. Peter's burn to ashes than build it up with money gained under false pretenses. Then, Luther adds, there is danger that the common man will ask awkward questions. For example, " If the Pope releases souls from purgatory for money, why not for charity's sake ? " or, " Since the Pope is rich as Croesus, why does he not build St. Peter's with his own money, instead of taking that of the poor man ? " Luther now began to read church history and reached the Luther conclusion that the influence of the popes had not been very suspicious of great until the times of Gregory VII (sections 75-76), and ^e papacy therefore that they had not enjoyed their supremacy over the Church for more than four hundred years before his own birth. He was mistaken in this conclusion, but he had hit upon a line of argument that has been urged by Protestants ever since. They assert that the power of the Medieval Church and of the papacy developed gradually, especially during the Middle Ages, and that the apostles knew nothing of masses, indulgences, pilgrimages, purgatory, or the headship of the bishop of Rome. The publication of Luther's theses brought him many sympa- wide diffu- thizers in Germany. Some were attracted by his protests against Luther's the ways in which the popes raised money, and others liked him ""^^^^^ for attacking Aristotle and the scholastic theologians. Erasmus' publisher at Basel agreed to publish Luther's books, of which he sent copies to Italy, France, England, and Spain, and in this
