In order to produce to the satisfaction of the reader, a rational and real ground for admitting the doctrine of indulgences, we have to establish three propositions; the first is, that God, after forgiving sin, usually apportions a certain share of temporal punishment to be borne by the sinner; the second is, that Christ has left in the church a power to remit this punishment; and the third is, that this remission of the temporal pains, or the use of indulgences, has been constantly practised in the church. Nothing will be found clearer than the grounds, by which these three propositions are usually established.

Of the first proposition, that God, on forgiving sin, usually reserves to the sinner a certain portion of temporal pain, the slightest knowledge of the Scripture supplies the most abundant proof. It is known to those who have any knowledge of religion, that we are all born with the original stain of the transgression of him, in whom all have sinned', and that sin has entailed on all the children of Adam every species of temporal evil. This original sin, however, has been removed in various ways, in the law of nature, the law of Moses, and the law of grace; and yet the attendant pains of death, and the evils of suffering humanity, still remain. In the history of the Israelites, we find that stiff-necked

Rom. v. 12.

1

people offending God by their violent murmurs 1; the Almighty expresses his displeasure with a solemn menace of disinheritance and destruction; Moses interposes, and obtains their pardon3; yet the temporal punishment of dying in the wilderness, and the consequent exclusion from the land of promise, are not removed. When God proclaimed pardon to David, by his prophet Nathan, for the enormous crimes of murder and adultery, he still made severe denunciations of temporal sufferings; all which threats were carried into full effects. Various other examples might be produced from Scripture, which invincibly prove, that God, on forgiving sin, usually reserves a certain portion of temporal punishment to be endured by the sinner.

The next proposition to be established is, that Christ has left in his church a power to remit the temporal punishment, which has been proved to exist after the remission of sin. For this purpose, the reader has only to open his Scripture, and see the extensive and unbounded power which our Redeemer bequeathed to the apostles and their legitimate successors. To Peter, he says: I will give unto thee the KEYS of the kingdom of HEAVEN; and WHATSOEVER thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

1 Num. xiv. 2.

4 lbid. 22, 23.

And

2 Ibid. 11, 12. 3 Ibid. 13-20. 5 See and compare 2 Kings, al. • Matt. xvi. 19.

2 Sam. xii. 13, et seq ch. xiv. ch. xviii.

N

again, to the other apostles: VERILY I say unto you, WHATSOEVER ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and wHATSOEVER ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven'. Here, the intelligent reader may remark, is promised by our Redeemer to his apostles, and, in their persons, to their successors, a clear, ample, broad, uncontrolled power, of removing every possible obstacle which can, by any construction, impede the ingress of the soul into the kingdom of heaven; consequently the license of dispensing with the temporal punishment to be endured after the remission of sin, must necessarily be included. Here is no distinction, no modification, no reserve expressed, not even insinuated. All is clear and intelligible to the meanest capacity; and we have only to establish the third proposition, that the church has ever exercised the power thus granted.

Here we may ask, Who ever understood the spirit of Christ better than St. Paul? Who was ever more qualified to ascertain the extent of that power which our Lord left to his church? Now we find the great apostle actually exercising the power of granting an indulgence, constantly and invariably claimed by the Catholic church. One of the early converts to the Christian religion falls into an enormous crime; he is removed from

'Matt. xviii. 18.

the assemblies of the faithful by excommunication, and placed under a tremendous course of penance; he gives unequivocal signs of repentance, and his sufferings are abridged by an indulgence, pronounced in the name of Christ'. This is precisely the conduct and discipline followed by the church at various periods. To satisfy the divine justice, to devise a salutary check on the sinner, and to obviate the facility of a relapse into great crimes, temporal chastisements are inflicted, which must either be endured in this life, or the debt will remain to be cancelled in another. The penitent shows extraordinary signs of repentance; and the church, in imitation of St. Paul, and by virtue of the power left by Christ, for grave reasons interposes, and grants either a partial or a plenary indulgence, according to the circumstances of the

case.

Of the exercise of this power, innumerable examples occur in the faithful records of Christian antiquity: the earliest fathers are witnesses of the practice of the church in this particular; and from the twelfth century even the catechist entertains no doubt on the subject. Tertullian, in his celebrated address to the Martyrs, evidently refers to it as a practice established in the church

and St. Cyprian describes the effects of

1 See and compare 1 Cor. v. 4, 5, with 2 Cor. ii. 6, et seq. 2 Vide Tertull. ad Martyr. circ. init.

such an indulgence, not only as operating on the immediate release of the sinner from the canonical penance, but as removing the debt due to the divine justice1. This, with various other evidence to be found in the works of St. Cyprian, is of so satisfactory a nature, as to the practice of the church in the purest ages, that we forbear farther quotations. But let us hear the catechist.

I. He is pleased to say, that this doctrine of indulgences is built on false foundations, namely, on purgatory, the supererogation of the saints, imperfect forgiveness, and the necessity of satisfaction to the divine justice. As to the doctrine of purgatory, we have already given full information on that subject. With respect to what is alleged, concerning the share borne by the saints in this concern, we have to state with the utmost certainty, that independently of the grace and merit of our Redeemer, nothing can be achieved; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. If, therefore, we connect the merit and suffrages of the saints with the satisfaction of our Redeemer, we barely consider them as his friends, owing every thing to his merits, acting under the influence of his grace, and co-operating with his designs. As to the imperfect remission of sin,

See this celebrated and satisfactory testimony, St. Cypr. Epist. 13, 14, edit. Pamel., Epist. 18, 19, edit. Oxon. 2 Acts, iv. 12.