March 14, 1519.
Translated from Latin.
Against Brother Luther (Lutter) and D. Eck will discuss these theses at the University of Leipzig on June 27, 1519.
1) Neither with the sayings of the Holy Scriptures, nor with the Holy Fathers, Augustine and others, is it true that when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says: Repent, he intended that the whole life of the faithful should be a repentance, therefore this word can be understood quite appropriately also of sacramental repentance.
(2) Although venial sins are daily, we deny that the righteous always sins in every good work, even though he may well die; just as we say that it is erroneous that the righteous, since righteousness remains, can sin mortally, or that in an infant after baptism the sin arising from a foreign will remains.
(3) One who says that repentance is not properly begun by detesting sins and by considering the greatness of the sin and the punishment 2c, and that this makes one even more of a sinner 2c, should not be heard, as we think, since he teaches contrary to the Gospel and the holy fathers.
4. to say that God, by remitting the guilt, also remits the punishment and does not turn it into a temporal sufficient punishment,
which is made known in part or in whole by the canons and by the imposition of the priest, we consider to be something contrary to sacred Scripture and the custom of the Church.
(5) That any priest (not excepting a prelate) may or must remit the penalties and the debt to his subordinate who asks him, so that the dignitary (praelatus) who does not completely absolve himself from the penalty and from the debt sins, we do not accept, as something contrary to the custom of the Holy Mother, the Church.
6. that the souls in purgatory do not do enough for the punishments of the sins of which they have absolved here, we consider erroneous, just as he is not without error who does not believe that God requires of a dying person a punishment other than that of death.
7. He is mistaken who denies that the free will of man is the master of man's actions, for the reason that he is active with respect to evil, but only suffering with respect to good; Just as he is not without error who, against the scholastics, holds that faith is destroyed (corrumpi) by every gross sin (crimine); and he is not without very great error who, without regard to repentance, boldly preaches that one is absolved by faith alone.
*In their first edition (Dec. 29, 1518), Eck's theses for the disputation in Leipzig were directed in name only against Carlstadt, but in substance almost exclusively against Luther. Luther reproached him for this in the open letter to Carlstadt, with which he introduced his 12 counter-theses against Eck (Feb. 7, 1519). In order to at least to some extent remove the reason for these accusations, Eck inserted the 7th thesis Wider Carlstadt, so that from then on there were 13, which he now also described in the heading given to them as being directed against Luther (in the first place) and Carlstadt. He published these 13 theses in placate form on March 14, 1519, together with the epigraph already mentioned in our introduction, under the title: visputatio st sxeusutio vorn in i ^otiunnis Dekli aUvsrsns orilninationss 1?.. Martini Inittsr orUinis ürsrnitarnrn. The letter is found in Walch's 15th volume, but (as in Löscher's) with the wrong title; it should read: To the Abbot Caspar of Wessobrunn and the Provost Johann of Polling. - Of this writing, which Wiedemann p. 494 describes as very rare, Löscher had two different editions (according to the incorrectness of the text in Löscher, reprints) (Ref.-Acta III, 563), both in quarto on one sheet. We have an old, most likely the original edition in folio, one sheet, printed on one side only. Printer and place of printing is not indicated, also the title is missing. It begins with the words: l)60 ^mantiss. krslatis l). tlasxari Urdati kontis Vusssonis st <1. loanni kollingas oto. According to this our translation is made. - Eck's 12 theses are found in the Basel collections of Luther's writings of March 1520 and July 1520, in the latter p. 187. The 13 theses are in the Acts of the Disputation at Leipzig, P 2d; in the Latin Wittenberg edition, Dom. I, col. 241; in the Latin Jena edition, Dom. I, col. 227; in Löscher, Reformations-Acta, vol. Ill, 210; in l). Hofmann's Reformation History of the City and University of Leipzig, p. 57; in the Erlangen edition OM. var. arZ. Vol. Ill, 9 ff.
(8) That from the imperfection of love or faith a horror and, as it were, despair arise in the soul of the dying, by which they are tormented in purgatory, and that they fall into this horror through the fear of death, by which they die, as it were, unwillingly, we do not accept, because it is contrary to truth and reason.
(9) That the souls in purgatory deserve greater grace, or that their rewards are diminished when they are freed by other merits, or that they are not certain of their blessedness, or that they do not want our help, we deny as contrary to our faith and all reason.
(10) That the merit of Christ's passion is not the treasure of the Church, from which indulgences are given, we deny, because it is contrary to the truth and the apostolic decrees, as we consider it a very great ignorance that the keys should be the treasure of the Church. We also devoutly believe that we are helped by the merits of the saints.
I I. To say that indulgences are of no use is a
Likewise, to say that indulgences are a kind of affliction for a work, making it less valuable, is a very serious error; therefore, we hold that even he who says he is guilty of rejecting indulgences is wrong, because the Lord says, "For my sake I blot out transgressions;" he does not say, "For the sake of money.
(12) That the pope cannot remit the punishment due for sin by means of indulgences is an error; indeed, it is erroneous that he cannot absolve the souls in purgatory from the punishments; but most of all we do not accept that the dying, the sick, the lawfully incapacitated, and those who do not have public gross sins should not need indulgences.
(13) That the Roman Church before the time of Sylvester was not higher than other churches, we deny; but he who had the chair and the faith of St. Peter, we have always acknowledged to be the successor of Peter and the governor of Christ.
Salvation of the Truth and the Apostolic See.
Glory to God alone.