The first thing you have to do is to pray heartily for grace and light to do this great work well: that God would give you a true light to know your sins and confess them plainly. Then examine your conscience with as much care as you would do in a matter of moment; thinking of those passions and failings that you are most subject to; reflecting on those places and company you have most frequented; looking into your state of life, and duties of it. In a word, consider wherein you have offended God, or wronged your neighbour, whether in thought, word, or deed, and how far you have been the occasion of another's sins. O better is it now to examine and judge yourself here, than to be examined and judged at the last day: terrible are, and will be then, the judgments of God! After this examin you must make acts of contrition, which must proceed from your heart: you must have a sorrow and detestation for your sins past, and a will or firm purpose to sin no more; without this you can never be forgiven, neither in this world nor the next. O let not only the shame of sin, or only the fear of hell, but chiefly the pure love of God, be the motive of your sorrow and repentance. Never fail to make some of these acts of contrition before you confess, as well for all the sins you remember, as for all others God knows you to be guilty of in his sight.Thus prepared, confess your sins to the priest, as if you were confessing them to God; with the same sincerity as you would desire to do it at the hour of death, or the day of judgment. Confess fully all mortal sins, and the number of them, with the circumstances that alter the nature of the sin. Confess humbly, without excusing yourself, or laying the fault on others. Confess clearly, that the priest may be a better judge of your spiritual leprosy, and give absolution effectually. Take the instruction, the admonition then given, and the penance enjoined, as from the mouth and hand of God. What you forget merely through a defect of memory, will not hinder the effect of absolution; but if knowingly, or out of shame you omit one mortal sin, you only add to your confusion, and can expect no pardon. Having made a full and entire confession, at the words of absolution

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renew your sorrow, and raise up your heart to the merey of God; take these words as from God, with the greatest gratitude, joy and comfort, I absolve you from your sins, &c. as if Christ pronounced them: think at the same time you hear him saying, Depart, and sin no more, lest some worse thing befal you. After confession, be careful to perform the penitential works, enjoined; defer it not, but with speed do worthy fruits of penance. O what is the most severe, to what your sins most deserve? What to those enjoined in the primitive church? What to the torments of hell or purgatory? Embrace then cheerfully this momentary satisfaction, that you may escape an eternal one.-Those who do penance after this manner may obtain an entire remission of all their sins, by the sacrament of penance: never doubt it; the power of Christ is infinite, and in an instant he can cure both soul and body.

SECT. III.

Of Indulgences.

? S there a power left by our Saviour to the Church, to release the temporal punishment or penance due to sin? A. There is; and it is implied in those words, Whatsoever you shall unbind on earth, shall be unbound in heaven, Matt. xviii. 18. Q. What is this called? A. An indulgence. Q. Did the apostles use this power? A. They did; St. Paul remitted a part of the penance he had enjoined the incestuous Corinthian, 2 Cor. ii. 10. Q. What is required to gain the benefit of an indulgence? A. We must be in the state of grace, and freed from all mortal sin, and perform the good works that are enjoined by those who grant the indulgence, as prayers, alms-deeds, fasting, &c.

INSTRUC. An indulgence, which word speaks its own meaning, is a relaxation or forgiveness of the penance or temporal punishment which remains due to sin, even after the sin is forgiven, as to the eternal punishment, by the sacrament of penance. We must distinguish between the guilt of sin, which makes us worthy of

eternal death, and the temporal punishment or penance due to it: God often forgives the guilt, or eternal punishment, but reserves the temporal punishment of sin. As in the Israelites, when he pardoned their sin of murmur against him, but yet debarred them the land of promise upon account of that sin, Num. xiv. 23. And in David, when he declared his sin forgiven, by the prophet, but yet denounced that the child born of the adultress should surely die; and heavy judgments followed. Now, as the good of souls frequently requires that the righteous penances which are due to sin, should be forgiven, which is called an indulgence, our saviour left such a power in his church, when he gave to St. Peter in the first place, and afterwards to all the apostles, the power to unbind as well as to bind. Hence an indulgence is granted by none but the higher powers of the church; as by the bishops, and the supreme head the pope, the successor of St. Peter, to whoin were granted the keys of the kingdom of heaven. An indulgence therefore does not release or forgive the natural punishments of sin, such as are the effects of original sin, as death, mortality, and other natural evils; nor does it release the penalties which the magistrates by law inflict upon criminals; but only the penances which the church inflicts, and which are due by divine justice on account of such sins as are already forgiven us by the sacrament of penance; from these an indulgence sets us free, even in the sight of God.

The apostles used this power of indulging penitents, when they saw their spiritual good required it, and that too great rigour was likely to prejudice their souls; as St. Paul indulged the Corinthian abovementioned; and the like indulgences were granted in the infancy of the church. Tertulian and St. Cyprian bear witness that the bishops frequently, at the intercession of the martyrs, gave indulgences to the public penitents, by virtue whereof they were released from the penances they were otherwise obliged to undergo: and when canonical penances were most in use, the councils that enjoined them still left it to the discretion of the bishops, in their respective districts, to abridge the time of those

penances, in favour of such as they saw repented fervently, or even to release them entirely, in a dangerous illness or persecution. And who will say the present church has not as much power as the ancient church in this respect? If adversaries object, that the indulgences of ancient times only released the canonical penances; the answer is, that there is no substantial difference between those indulgences and ours; those released penitents from penances already enjoined; these from penances that ought otherwise to be enjoined.

Nor is it to be thought that these indulgences release sinners only in the sight of the church, but not in the sight of God; for the penances that are enjoined by the church for sin, are due by divine justice; if therefore the indulgence of the church only acquitted us before men, and left our souls bound before God, instead of being beneficial to us, maxime salutares, it would be greatly prejudicial. Nevertheless, indulgences do not dispense with any christian, or exempt us from doing penance and good works in general; for these are enjoined to all by the law of God as essential to the life of a christian; and even baptism, which frees us from all sin and punishment, still leaves all christians under this obligation. From what then does an indulgence release us? From the obligation of doing certain works of penance on account of certain sins. If to this some will reply, that it is no benefit for any one to be freed from that obligation, and better for them to complete their penance, than to seek for an indulgence; we must answer, that this is a mistaken notion, to think that it is an advantage to any one to be under an obligation of doing penance for sin, or to be indebted to God on. that account, and obnoxious to his vengeance; but a great mercy it is, a great benefit, to be released from

it.

When our Saviour forgave both sin and punishment to St. Mary Magdalen and the good thief, did he do them an injury by that indulgence? Or is baptism prejudicial, because it frees us from the obligation of doing penance for our sins committed before baptism? To render an indulgence valid and effectuul, certain conditions are required, both on the part of the giver, and on the

part of the receiver. On the part of those who give it, there must be a sufficient authority, and a just cause: the authority is sufficient when it comes from those who succeed to St. Peter and the apostles, to whom the power to unbind was given the cause for granting it is good and just, if the end proposed by it be some great good, either to the souls of those it is granted to, as their conversion from heresey, suffering for their faith, and the like; or some great works, which conduce to the greater glory of God; and public benefit of the whole church; as is the propagation of the catholic faith amongst infidels, the peace of the church in time of a schism, the building of churches for divine, worship, &c. which we conceive to be more pleasing works to God, than if we were to do rigorous penances instead of them; and therefore indulgences granted to promote these great ends, are seasonably granted, and for a good cause. On the part of those who receive them, many things are required: 1. That they be freed from all mortal sin; for indulgences are granted to none but true penitents, who are truly contrite and confess; this being an eternal truth, that to be freed from the penance due to sin, we must be first released from the sin. 2. That they perform the good works enjoined, as prayers, alms-deeds, fasting, contributions for building churches, propagating the faith among infidels, &c. And although the good works which are done by every person singly, to obtain the indulgence, may seem little and inconsiderable, as to give an alms, to fast three days, or to pray for some short time; yet what is done by the whole body of the faithful upon such occasions, may be conceived to be something very great, and sufficient to obtain of God great blessings upon the world; besides the great good every one does to his own soul by repenting, confessing, and hastening out of the state of sin; which is a good work that indulgences promote in the first place, as all know that without it, the benefit of them is not applicable to their souls.-In a word, as to those who decry this doctrine, I only ask one question: Do not their bishops assume an authority to lessen, com