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1. Our Lord
and Master Jesus Christ, when He said poenitentiam igite, willed that the
whole life of believers should be repentance.
2. This word
cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance, i.e., confession
and satisfaction, which is administered by the priests.
3. Yet it
means not inward repentance only; nay, there is no inward repentance which
does not outwardly work divers mortifications of the flesh.
4. The penalty
[of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self continues; for
this is the true inward repentance, and continues until our entrance into
the kingdom of heaven.
5. The pope
does not intend to remit, and cannot remit any penalties other than those
which he has imposed either by his own authority or by that of the Canons.
6. The pope
cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring that it has been remitted by
God and by assenting to God's remission; though, to be sure, he may grant
remission in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission
in such cases were
despised,
the guilt would remain entirely unforgiven.
7. God remits
guilt to no one whom He does not, at the same time, humble in all things
and bring into subjection to His vicar, the priest.
8. The penitential
canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to them, nothing
should be imposed on the dying.
9. Therefore
the Holy Spirit in the pope is kind to us, because in his decrees he always
makes exception of the article of death and of necessity.
10. Ignorant
and wicked are the doings of those priests who, in the case of the dying,
reserve canonical penances for purgatory.
11. This changing
of the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory is quite evidently
one of the tares that were sown while
the bishops
slept.
12. In former
times the canonical penalties were imposed not after, but before absolution,
as tests of true contrition.
13. The dying
are freed by death from all penalties; they are already dead to canonical
rules, and have a right to be released from them.
14. The imperfect
health [of soul], that is to say, the imperfect love, of the dying brings
with it, of necessity, great fear; and the smaller the love, the
greater is the fear.
15. This fear
and horror is sufficient of itself alone (to say nothing of other things)
to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror
of despair.
16. Hell,
purgatory, and heaven seem to differ as do despair, almost- despair, and
the assurance of safety.
17. With souls
in purgatory it seems necessary that horror should grow less and love increase.
18. It seems
unproved, either by reason or Scripture, that they are outside the state
of merit, that is to say, of increasing love.
19. Again,
it seems unproved that they, or at least that all of them, are certain
or assured of their own blessedness, though we may be quite certain of
it.
20. Therefore
by "full remission of all penalties" the pope means not actually "of all,"
but only of those imposed by himself.
21. Therefore
those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope's
indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;
22. Whereas
he remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to the canons,
they would have had to pay in this life.
23. If it
is at all possible to grant to any one the remission of all penalties whatsoever,
it is certain that this remission can be granted only to the most perfect,
that is, to the very fewest.
24. It must
needs be, therefore, that the greater part of the people are deceived by
that indiscriminate and highsounding promise of release from penalty.
25. The power
which the pope has, in a general way, over purgatory, is just like the
power which any bishop or curate has, in a special way, within his own
diocese or parish.
26. The pope
does well when he grants remission to souls [in purgatory], not by the
power of the keys (which he does not
possess),
but by way of intercession.
27. They preach
man who say that so soon as the penny jingles into the money-box, the soul
flies out [of purgatory].
28. It is
certain that when the penny jingles into the money-box, gain and avarice
can be increased, but the result of the intercession of the Church is in
the power of God alone.
29. Who knows
whether all the souls in purgatory wish to be bought out of it, as in the
legend of Sts. Severinus and Paschal.
30. No one
is sure that his own contrition is sincere; much less that he has attained
full remission.
31. Rare as
is the man that is truly penitent, so rare is also the man who truly buys
indulgences, i.e., such men are most rare.
32. They will
be condemned eternally, together with their teachers, who believe themselves
sure of their salvation because they have letters of pardon.
33. Men must
be on their guard against those who say that the pope's pardons are that
inestimable gift of God by which man is
reconciled
to Him;
34. For these
"graces of pardon" concern only the penalties of sacramental satisfaction,
and these are appointed by man.
35. They preach
no Christian doctrine who teach that contrition is not necessary in those
who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessionalia.
36. Every
truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and
guilt, even without letters of pardon.
37. Every
true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of
Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters
of pardon.
38. Nevertheless,
the remission and participation [in the blessings of the Church] which
are granted by the pope are in no way to be despised, for they are, as
I have said, the declaration of divine remission.
39. It is
most difficult, even for the very keenest theologians, at one and the same
time to commend to the people the abundance of pardons and [the need of]
true contrition.
40. True contrition
seeks and loves penalties, but liberal pardons only relax penalties and
cause them to be hated, or at least, furnish an occasion [for hating them].
41. Apostolic
pardons are to be preached with caution, lest the people may falsely think
them preferable to other good works of love.
42. Christians
are to be taught that the pope does not intend the buying of pardons to
be compared in any way to works of mercy.
43. Christians
are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does
a better work than buying pardons;
44. Because
love grows by works of love, and man becomes better; but by pardons man
does not grow better, only more free from penalty.
45. Christians
are to be taught that he who sees a man in need, and passes him by, and
gives [his money] for pardons, purchases not the indulgences of the pope,
but the indignation of God.
46. Christians
are to be taught that unless they have more than they need, they are bound
to keep back what is necessary for their own families, and by no means
to squander it on pardons.
47. Christians
are to be taught that the buying of pardons is a matter of free will, and
not of commandment.
48. Christians
are to be taught that the pope, in granting pardons, needs, and therefore
desires, their devout prayer for him more than the money they bring.
49. Christians
are to be taught that the pope's pardons are useful, if they do not put
their trust in them; but altogether harmful, if
through them
they lose their fear of God.
50. Christians
are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the pardon-preachers,
he would rather that St. Peter's church should go to ashes, than that it
should be built up with the skin, flesh and bones of his sheep.
51. Christians
are to be taught that it would be the pope's wish, as it is his duty, to
give of his own money to very many of those from whom certain hawkers of
pardons cajole money, even though the church of St. Peter might have to
be sold.
52. The assurance
of salvation by letters of pardon is vain, even though the commissary,
nay, even though the pope himself, were to stake his soul upon it.
53. They are
enemies of Christ and of the pope, who bid the Word of God be altogether
silent in some Churches, in order that pardons may be preached in others.
54. Injury
is done the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or a longer
time is spent on pardons than on this Word.
55. It must
be the intention of the pope that if pardons, which are a very small thing,
are celebrated with one bell, with single
processions
and ceremonies, then the Gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should
be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.
56. The "treasures
of the Church," out of which the pope grants indulgences, are not sufficiently
named or known among the people of Christ.
57. That they
are not temporal treasures is certainly evident, for many of the vendors
do not pour out such treasures so easily, but only gather them.
58. Nor are
they the merits of Christ and the Saints, for even without the pope, these
always work grace for the inner man, and
the cross,
death, and hell for the outward man.
59. St. Lawrence
said that the treasures of the Church were the Church's poor, but he spoke
according to the usage of the word in his own time.
60. Without
rashness we say that the keys of the Church, given by Christ's merit, are
that treasure;
61. For it
is clear that for the remission of penalties and of reserved cases, the
power of the pope is of itself sufficient.
62. The true
treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace
of God.
63. But this
treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last.
64. On the
other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for
it makes the last to be first.
65. Therefore
the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which they formerly were wont
to fish for men of riches.
66. The treasures
of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the riches of
men.
67. The indulgences
which the preachers cry as the "greatest graces" are known to be
truly such, in so far as they promote gain.
68. Yet they
are in truth the very smallest graces compared with the grace of God and
the piety of the Cross.
69. Bishops
and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of apostolic pardons, with
all reverence.
70. But still
more are they bound to strain all their eyes and attend with all their
ears, lest these men preach their own dreams instead of the commission
of the pope.
71 . He who
speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons, let him be anathema and
accursed!
72. But he
who guards against the lust and license of the pardon-preachers, let him
be blessed!
73. The pope
justly thunders against those who, by any art, contrive the injury of the
traffic in pardons.
74. But much
more does he intend to thunder against those who use the pretext of pardons
to contrive the injury of holy love and truth.
75. To think
the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man even if he had
committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God -- this is madness.
76. We say,
on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not able to remove the very
least of venial sins, so far as its guilt is concerned.
77. It is
said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope, could not bestow greater
graces; this is blasphemy against St. Peter and
against the
pope.
78. We say,
on the contrary, that even the present pope, and any pope at all, has greater
graces at his disposal; to wit, the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc.,
as it is written in I. Corinthians xii.
79. To say
that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set up [by the
preachers of indulgences], is of equal worth with the Cross of Christ,
is blasphemy.
80. The bishops,
curates and theologians who allow such talk to be spread among the people,
will have an account to render.
81. This unbridled
preaching of pardons makes it no easy matter, even for learned men, to
rescue the reverence due to the pope from slander, or even from the shrewd
questionings of the laity.
82. To wit:
-- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and
of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite
number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church?
The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial."
83. Again:
-- "Why are mortuary and anniversary masses for the dead continued, and
why does he not return or permit the
withdrawal
of the endowments founded on their behalf, since it is wrong to pray for
the redeemed?"
84. Again:
-- "What is this new piety of God and the pope, that for money they allow
a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious
soul of a friend of God, and do not rather, because of that pious and beloved
soul's own need, free it for pure love's sake?"
85. Again:
-- "Why are the penitential canons long since in actual fact and through
disuse abrogated and dead, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences,
as though they were still alive and in force?"
86. Again:
-- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches
of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money,
rather than with the money of poor believers?"
87. Again:
-- "What is it that the pope remits, and what participation does he grant
to those who, by perfect contrition, have
a right to
full remission and participation?"
88. Again:
-- "What greater blessing could come to the Church than if the pope were
to do a hundred times a day what he now does once, and bestow on every
believer these remissions and participations?"
89. "Since
the pope, by his pardons, seeks the salvation of souls rather than money,
why does he suspend the indulgences and
pardons granted
heretofore, since these have equal efficacy?"
90. To repress
these arguments and scruples of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve
them by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and the pope to the ridicule
of their enemies, and to make Christians unhappy.
91. If, therefore,
pardons were preached according to the spirit and mind of the pope, all
these oubts would be readily resolved; nay, they would not exist.
92. Away,
then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Peace,
peace," and there is no peace!
93. Blessed
be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Cross, cross,"
and there is no cross!
94. Christians
are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head,
through penalties, deaths, and hell;
95. And thus
be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations,
than through the assurance of peace.