B., believe and profess with a firm faith all and every one of the things which are contained in the symbol of faith which is used in the holy Roman Church. It is subscribed to by all grades of Papal teachers and ecclesiastics, and by all converts from Protestantism. The “Creed of Pope Pius IV” contains a summary of the doctrines taught in the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, and was promulgated in a bull by Pope Pius IV., A. Now what is a relic? Let me read from the final decrees of Trent: In his castle, he had collected almost 30,000 relics. The Incredible Relics of the Middle Agesĭo you see what so deeply offended Martin Luther? In Martin Luther’s time, if you would go through the elector of Wittenberg’s Castle you would hasten your entrance to Heaven by upwards of several million years! The Elector was a political leader in Germany in the late 1400’s and early 1500’s. A popular jingle of the time phrased the promise well:Īs soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs. The archbishop of Mainz, the primate of Germany, having borrowed the money to buy his office, was allowed to issue indulgences to recoup his expenses.Īn indulgences promised the complete and perfect remission of all sins to those (or their dead relatives or friends) who subscribed to the building of Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Rome (though only one half the money went for this purpose, the rest repaying the archbishop’s loan). He paid them back by selling the offices of the church to whomever could pay well for the privilege. Leo came to the papal chair by great price to his family who bought him the position. The most talked about power was to reduce a person’s years in Purgatory.Īdd to this the fact that in Luther’s day, the Roman church was enduring a playboy pope, Leo X of the house of Medici. These relics are said to possess wonderful powers. These are items found during the Crusades in the Holy Land. Then to town comes a stream of ancient objects called relics. So life was even more hopeless, it was bad here and bad there. The souls of the sinful were burned in great painfulness until the price of their sins was finally paid and they were purged. The Roman Catholic Church condemned all but a few saints to an endless labyrinth of fire called purgatory. Most of the peasant, farm working men drank to drunkenness and lived a rough life. Now you have a picture of Germany in the early days of the 1500’s (the 16th century) when Martin Luther was in his late teens and early twenties. Into this world add a total spiritual darkness, a complete void of truth, add in the unbridled lusts of the flesh.

Down in bermuda labyrinth island relics