1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said
Poenitentiam agite, 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. 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 doubts
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.