There is a remarkable instance recorded in the annals of the Reformation
which strikingly illustrates the operations of the indulgence-venders.
This record deserves not to be forgotten. Gustav Freitag, the famous
writer of German history, has embodied it in his sketch "Doktor Luther."

Frederic Mecum, in Latin Myconius, had become a monk in the Franciscan
order. He had had an experience with Tetzel which caused him to turn to
Luther with joy and wonder when the latter had published his Theses. Few
of the writings of Myconius, who afterwards became the evangelical
pastor of the city of Gotha, have been preserved. In the ducal library
at Gotha Freitag found [tr. note: sic] an account in Latin of the
incident to which we have referred. It is as follows: "John Tetzel, of
Pirna in Meissen, a Dominican friar, was a powerful peddler of
indulgences or the remission of sins by the Roman Pope. He tarried with
this purpose of his for two years in the city of Annaberg, new at that
time, and deceived the people so much that they all believed there was
no other way of obtaining the forgiveness of sins and eternal life
except to make amends with our works; concerning this making of amends,
however, he said that it was impossible. But a single way was still
left, that is, if we purchased the same for money from the Roman Pope,
bought for ourselves, therefore, the Pope's indulgence, which he called
the forgiveness of sins and a certain entrance into eternal life. Here I
might tell wonders upon wonders and incredible things, what kind of
sermons I heard Tetzel preach these two years in Annaberg, for I heard
him preach quite diligently, and he preached every day; I could repeat
his sermons to others, too, with all the gestures and intonations; not
that I made him an object of ridicule, but I was entirely in earnest.
For I considered everything as oracles and divine words, which one had
to believe, and what came from the Pope I regarded as if coming from
Christ Himself.