in the matter, he would have said that if the people chose to be such
fools, it was not for him to find fault with them. And thus, under
plea of raising funds to finish St. Peter's, he instituted a grand
trade in indulgences, and thereby laid the capstone of hierarchical
iniquity which crushed the whole fabric to its base.

The right to sell these wares in Germany was awarded to Albert, the
gay young prince-archbishop of Mayence. He was over head and ears in
debt to the pope for his pallium, and Leo gave him this chance to get
out.[6] Half the proceeds of the trade in his territory were to go to
his credit. But the work of proclaiming and distributing the pardons
was committed to _John Tetzel_, a Dominican prior who had long
experience in the business, and who achieved "a forlorn notoriety in
European history" by his zeal in prosecuting it.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] In the famous Bull of Gregory IX., published in 1234, that pope
exhorts and commands all good Christians to take up the cross and join
the expedition to recover the Holy Land. The language is: "The service
to which mankind are now invited is an effectual atonement for the
miscarriages of a negligent life. The discipline of a regular penance
would have discouraged many offenders so much that they would have had
no heart to venture upon it; but the holy war is a compendious method
of discharging men from guilt and restoring them to the divine favor.
Even if they die on their march, the intention will be taken for the
deed, and many in this way may be crowned without fighting."--Given in
Collier's _Eccl._, vol. i.

[5] The Roman Chancery once put forth a book, which went through many