The Theses

[Nicky]

The following book titled 'The Theses' has been recently widely published by Rufus Octavius. Copies have been published in Calradian, Old Calradic and Common.

These Theses stand to condemn the impurity and corruption of the Church as it stands today, in accordance with the word of God that no man or Bishop may rightfully strip a Man of God of his right to preach the Word of God, and to falsely deny Saint Augustine's word of peace is blasphemy.

The Theses are to be discussed and debated, to consider the need for Divusism as a whole to be reformed as God requires.

Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, I intend to defend the following statements and to dispute on them. Therefore I ask that those who cannot be present and dispute with me orally shall do so in their absence by letter. In the name of our Lord Saint Augustine, Amen.

• When our Lord and Master Augustine said, ``Repent'' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
• Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.
• The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
• The Bishop neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
• The Bishop cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded, the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.
• God remits guilt to no one unless at the same time he humbles him in all things and makes him submissive to the Bishop.
• The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to the canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.
• Therefore the Holy Spirit through the Bishop is kind to us insofar as the Bishop in his decrees always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity.
• Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.
• Those tares of changing the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory were evidently sown while the holy men slept.
• In former times canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before absolution, as tests of true contrition.
• The dying are freed by death from all penalties, are already dead as far as the canon laws are concerned, and have a right to be released from them.
• Imperfect piety or love on the part of the dying person necessarily brings with it great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater the fear.
• This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, to say nothing of other things, to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair.
• Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ the same as despair, fear, and assurance of salvation.
• It seems as though for the souls in purgatory fear should necessarily decrease and love increase.
• Furthermore, it does not seem proved, either by reason or by Scripture, that souls in purgatory are outside the state of merit, that is, unable to grow in love.
• Nor does it seem proved that souls in purgatory, at least not all of them, are certain and assured of their own salvation, even if we ourselves may be entirely certain of it.
• Therefore the Bishop, when he uses the words ``plenary remission of all penalties,'' does not actually mean ``all penalties,'' but only those imposed by himself.
• Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by Church indulgences.
• As a matter of fact, the Bishop remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life.
• If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very few.
• For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.
• That power which the Bishop has in general over purgatory corresponds to the power which any Abbot or curate has in a particular way in his own diocese and parish.
• The Bishop does very well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory, not by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way of intercession for them.
• They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.
• It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone.
• Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed, since we have exceptions in Saint Chadius and Saint Brinnius, as related in a legend.
• No one is sure of the integrity of his own contrition, much less of having received plenary remission.
• The man who actually buys indulgences is as rare as he who is really penitent; indeed, he is exceedingly rare.
• Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.
• Men must especially be on guard against those who say that the Bishop's pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to him.
• For the graces of indulgences are concerned only with the penalties of sacramental satisfaction established by man.
• They who teach that contrition is not necessary on the part of those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges preach unchristian doctrine.
• Any truly repentant Divusist has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters.
• Any true Divusist, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Augustine and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.
• Nevertheless, Church remission and blessing are by no means to be disregarded, for they are the proclamation of the divine remission.
• It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, at one and the same time to commend to the people the bounty of indulgences and the need of true contrition.
• A Divusist who is truly contrite seeks and loves to pay penalties for his sins; the bounty of indulgences, however, relaxes penalties and causes men to hate them -- at least it furnishes occasion for hating them.
• Church indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love.
• Divusists are to be taught that the Bishop does not intend that the buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works of mercy.
• Divusists are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences.
• Because love grows by works of love, man thereby becomes better. Man does not, however, become better by means of indulgences but is merely freed from penalties.
• Divusists are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy Church indulgences but God's wrath.
• Divusists are to be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means squander it on indulgences.
• Divusists are to be taught that they buying of indulgences is a matter of free choice, not commanded.
• Divusists are to be taught that the Bishop, in granting indulgences, needs and thus desires their devout prayer more than their money.
• Divusists are to be taught that Church indulgences are useful only if they do not put their trust in them, but very harmful if they lose their fear of God because of them.
• Divusists are to be taught that if the Bishop knew the exactions of the indulgence preachers, he would rather that the basilica of Saint Petus were burned to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.
• Divusists are to be taught that the Bishop would and should wish to give of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of Saint Petus, to many of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole money.
• It is vain to trust in salvation by indulgence letters, even though the indulgence commissary, or even the Bishop, were to offer his soul as security.
• They are the enemies of Augustine and the Bishop who forbid altogether the preaching of the Word of God in some churches in order that indulgences may be preached in others.
• Injury is done to the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or larger amount of time is devoted to indulgences than to the Word.
• It is certainly the Bishop's sentiment that if indulgences, which are a very insignificant thing, are celebrated with one bell, one procession, and one ceremony, then the gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.
• The true treasures of the church, out of which the Bishop distributes indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the people of Saint Augustine.
• That indulgences are not temporal treasures is certainly clear, for many indulgence sellers do not distribute them freely but only gather them.
• Nor are they the merits of Augustine and the saints, for, even without the Bishop, the latter always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outer man.
• Saint Laurencius said that the poor of the church were the treasures of the church, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time.
• Without want of consideration we say that the keys of the church, given by the merits of Augustine, are that treasure.
• For it is clear that the Bishop's power is of itself sufficient for the remission of penalties and cases reserved by himself.
• The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.
• But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last.
• On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.
• Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets with which one formerly fished for men of wealth.
• The treasures of indulgences are nets with which one now fishes for the wealth of men.
• The indulgences which the demagogues acclaim as the greatest graces are actually understood to be such only insofar as they promote gain.
• They are nevertheless in truth the most insignificant graces when compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross.
• Abbots and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of Church indulgences with all reverence.
• But they are much more bound to strain their eyes and ears lest these men preach their own dreams instead of what the Bishop has commissioned.
• Let him who speaks against the truth concerning Church indulgences be anathema and accursed.
• But let him who guards against the lust and license of the indulgence preachers be blessed.
• Just as the Bishop justly thunders against those who by any means whatever contrive harm to the sale of indulgences.
• Much more does he intend to thunder against those who use indulgences as a pretext to contrive harm to holy love and truth.
• To consider Church indulgences so great that they could absolve a man even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother of God is madness.
• We say on the contrary that Church indulgences cannot remove the very least of venial sins as far as guilt is concerned.
• To say that even Saint Petus if he were now Bishop, could not grant greater graces is blasphemy against Saint Petus and the Bishop.
• We say on the contrary that even the present Bishop, or any Bishop whatsoever, has greater graces at his disposal, that is, the gospel, spiritual powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written.
• To say that the cross emblazoned with the Church coat of arms, and set up by the indulgence preachers is equal in worth to the cross of Augustine is blasphemy.
• The Abbots, curates, and theologians who permit such talk to be spread among the people will have to answer for this.
• This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it difficult even for learned men to rescue the reverence which is due the Bishop from slander or from the shrewd questions of the laity.
• Such as: ``Why does not the Bishop empty purgatory for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church?'' The former reason would be most just; the latter is most trivial.
• Again, ``Why are funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continued and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded for them, since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?''
• Again, ``What is this new piety of God and the Bishop that for a consideration of money they permit a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God and do not rather, beca use of the need of that pious and beloved soul, free it for pure love's sake?''
• Again, ``Why are the penitential canons, long since abrogated and dead in actual fact and through disuse, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences as though they were still alive and in force?''
• Again, ``Why does not the Bishop, whose wealth is today greater than the wealth of the richest Calradius, build this one basilica of Saint Petus with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?''
• Again, ``What does the Bishop remit or grant to those who by perfect contrition already have a right to full remission and blessings?''
• Again, ``What greater blessing could come to the church than if the Bishop were to bestow these remissions and blessings on every believer a hundred times a day, as he now does but once?''
• ``Since the Bishop seeks the salvation of souls rather than money by his indulgences, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons previously granted when they have equal efficacy?''
  

• To repress these very sharp arguments of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the church and the Bishop to the ridicule of their enemies and to make Divusists unhappy.
• If, therefore, indulgences were preached according to the spirit and intention of the Bishop, all these doubts would be readily resolved. Indeed, they would not exist.
• Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Augustine, ``Peace, peace,'' and there is no peace!
• Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Augustine, ``Cross, cross,'' and there is no cross!
• Divusists should be exhorted to be diligent in following Augustine, their Head, through penalties, death and hell.
• And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace.
  

[mr47]

I refuse to read a single word of that, but I approve wholeheartedly.

[Cheeky]

Read through it.

Where do I donate to the Church?

[Gamble]

Nicolas Beaumont approves, a donation awaits in his tomb.

[alfavita]

Martin Luther's 95 Theses

most of these seem identical, as much as I like a church reformer your character would end up with a worse of fate than Jan Hus (burned at the stake for attempting to reform the church)

unlike Martin Luther he was not able to print off pamphlets and bibles and everything he needed, nor would your character

though I doubt he has such a following Jan Hus had

Jan Hus did do a lot but he did preach for many many years around many different places, and he did cause the Hussite Wars, after he died

[Fuchs]

If this was to be nailed to every church it would be in the posters and rumours section, so please make a ticket and remove that false claim. But I guess the "Reformation" will be 500 years early on MBRP.

[JustYoko]

ambitious

[Kunta]

im irish so i refuse to read that many english words before we get another famine.....