Page 21 - 08 Luther Before the Diet

Reformers condemning sin and pointing to

Christ as the propitiation and deliverer.

In Germany the sale of indulgences had been

committed to the Dominican friars and was

conducted by the infamous Tetzel. In

Switzerland the traffic was put into the hands

of the Franciscans, under the control of

Samson, an Italian monk. Samson had already

done good service to the church, having

secured immense sums from Germany and

Switzerland to fill the papal treasury. Now he

traversed Switzerland, attracting great

crowds, despoiling the poor peasants of their

scanty earnings, and exacting rich gifts from

the wealthy classes. But the influence of the

reform already made itself felt in curtailing,

though it could not stop, the traffic. Zwingli

was still at Einsiedeln when Samson, soon

after entering Switzerland, arrived with his