of the happy Paradise shall be opened; and if your death shall be
delayed, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the
point of death_."

The sums required for these passports to glory varied according to the
rank and wealth of the applicant. For ordinary indulgence a king,
queen, or bishop was to pay twenty-five ducats (a ducat being about a
dollar of our money); abbots, counts, barons, and the like were
charged ten ducats; other nobles and all who enjoyed annual incomes of
five hundred florins were charged six ducats; and so down to half a
florin, or twenty-five cents.

But the commissioner also had a special scale for taxes on particular
sins. Sodomy was charged twelve ducats; sacrilege and perjury, nine;
murder, seven or eight; witchcraft and polygamy, from two to six;
taking the life of a parent, brother, sister, or an infant, from one
to six.


LUTHER ON INDULGENCES.

Luther was on a tour of inspection as district vicar of the
Augustinians when he first heard of these shameful doings. As yet he
understood but little of the system, and could not believe it possible
that the fathers at Rome could countenance, much less appoint and
commission, such iniquities. Boiling with indignation for the honor of
the Church, he threatened to make a hole in Tetzel's drum, and wrote
to the authorities to refuse passports to the hucksters of these
shameful deceptions.