natural Religion must convince every rational being, that God himself cannot give leave to commit sin. The idea of such a license takes away that of his sanctity, and, of course, that of his very being. II. No Catholic ever believed it to be a pardon for future sins, as Mrs. Hannah More, and a great part of other Protestant writers, represents the matter. This lady describes the Catholics as 'procuring idemnity for future gratifications by temporary abstractions and indulgences, purchased at the Court of Rome (5).' Some of her fraternity, indeed, have blasphemously written: 'Believers ought not 'to mourn for sin, because it was pardoned before "it was committed (6);' but every Catholic knows, that Christ himself could not pardon sin before it was committed, because this would imply, that he forgave the sinner without repentance. III. An Indulgence, according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, is not, and does not include, the pardon of any sin at all, little or great, past, present, or to come, or the eternal punishment due to it, as all Protestants suppose. Hence if the pardon of sin is mentioned in any indulgence, this means nothing more than the remission of the temporary punishments annexed to such sin. IV. We do not believe an indulgence to imply any exemption from repentance, as B. Porteus slanders us; for this is always enjoyed or implied in the grant of it, and is indispensably necessary for the effect of every grace (7); nor from the works of penance, or other good works; because our Church teaches, that the life

(5) Strictures on Female Education, vol. ii. p. 239.

(6) Eaton's Honeycomb of Salvation. See also Sir Richard Hill's Letters.

(7) Concil. Trid. Sess. vi. c. 4, c. 13. &c.

of a Christian ought to be a perpetual penance (8), and that to enter into life, we must keep God's commandments (9), and must abound in every good work (1). Whether an obligation of all this can be reconciled with the articles of being justified by faith only (2), and that works done before grace partake of the nature of sin (3),' I do not here inquire. V. It is inconsistent with our doctrine of Inherent Justification (4), to believe, as the same Prelate charges us, that the effect of an indulgence is to transfer the overplus of the goodness,' or justification of the Saints, by the ministry of the Pope, to us Catholics on earth. Such an absurdity may be more easily reconciled with the system of Luther and other Protestants concerning Imputed Justification; which, being like a clean, neat cloak, thrown over a filthy leper("),' may be conceiv ed transferable from one person to another. Lastly, Whereas the Council of Trent calls Indulgences Heavenly Treasures (6), we hold that it would be a sacrilegious crime in any person whomsoever, to be concerned in buying or selling them. I am far, however, Rev. Sir, from denying that Indulgences

(9) Sess. vi. can. 19.

(8) Sess. vi. De Extr. Unc. (1) Sess. vi. cop. 16.-N. B. There are eight Indulgences goanted to the Catholics of England, at the chief festivals in every year; the conditions of which are, confession with sineere repentance, the H. Communion, alms to the poor, (without distinction of their religion) prayers for the Church and strayed souls, the peace of Christendom, and the blessing of God on this nation; finallý a disposition to hear the word of God, and to assist the sick. See Laity's Directory, the Gar den of the Soul, and other Catholic Books of Prayer. London: Keating and Brown, Printers to the R. R. the Vic. Ap. (2) Art. XI. of 32 Art. (4) Trid. Sess. vi. can. 11. (6) Sess. xvi. c. 9.

(3) Art. XIII.

(5) Becanus de Justif.

have ever been sold (7):-alas! what is so sacred that the avarice of man has not put up to sale!-Christ himself was sold, and that by an Apostle, for thirty pieces of silver. I do not retort upon you the advertisements I frequently see in the newspapers, about buying and selling benefices, with the cure of souls annexed to them, in your Church; but this I contend for, that the Catholic Church, so far from sanctioning this detestable simony, has used her utmost pains, particularly in the General Councils of Lateran, Lyons, Vienne, and Trent, to prevent it.

To explain, now, in a clear and regular manner, what an Indulgence is; I suppose, first, that no one will deny, that a Sovereign Prince, in shewing mercy to a capital convict, may either grant him a remission of all punishment, or may leave him subject to some lighter punishment; of course he will allow that the Almighty may act in either of these ways, with respect to sinners. II. I equally suppose, that no person who is versed in the Bible, will deny, that many instances occur there of God's remitting the essential guilt of sin, and the eternal pnnishment due to it, and yet leaving a temporary punishment to be endured by the penitent sinner. Thus, for example, the sentence of spiritual death and everlasting torments, was remitted to our first father, upon his repentance; but not that of corporal death. Thus, also, when God reversed his severe sentence against the idolatrous Israelites, he

(7) The Bishop tells us that he is in possession of an Indul gence, lately granted at Rome for a small sum of money; but he does not say who granted it. In like manner he may buy forged bank notes and counterfeit coin in London very cheap, if he pleases.

added, Nevertheless, in the day, when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. Exod. xxxii. 34. Thus, again, when the inspired Nathan said to the model of penitents, David: The Lord hath put away thy sin, he added, nevertheless the child that is born unto thee shall die. 2 Kings, alias Sam. xii. 14. Finally, when David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people, the Lord, in pardoning him, offered him by his Prophet, Gad, the choice of three temporal punishments, war, famine, and pestilence. Ibid. xxiv. III. The Catholic Church teaches, that the same is still the common course of God's mercy and wisdom, in the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism; since she has formally condemned the proposition, that every penitent sinner, who after the grace of justification, obtains the remission of his guilt and eternal punishment, obtains also the remission of all temporal punishment (8).' The essential guilt and eternal punishment of sin, she declares, can only be expiated by the precious merits of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ; but a certain temporal punishment God reserves for the penitent himself to endure, 'lest the easiness of his pardon should make him careless about falling back into sin (9).' Hence satisfaction for this temporal punishment, has been instituted by Christ, as a part of the Sacrament of penance; and hence a Christian life,' as the council has said above, ought to be a penitential life.' This council, at the same time, declares, that this very satisfaction for temporal punishment is only efficacious through Jesus Christ (1). Nevertheless, as the promise of Christ to the Apostles, to St.

(8) Conc. Trid. Sess. vi. can. 30.
(9) Sees. vi. cap. 7. 14. Sess. xiv. cap. 8.

(1) Ibid.

Peter in particular, and to the successors of the Apostles, is unlimited: WHATSOEVER you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven, Mat. xviii. 18,—xvi. 19.-hence the Church believes and teaches, that her jurisdiction extends to this very satisfaction, so as to be able to remit it wholly or partially, in certain circumstances, by what is called an INDULGENCE (1). St. Paul exercised this power in behalf of the incestuous Corinthian, on his conversion, and at the prayers of the faithful, 2 Cor. ii. 10: and the church has claimed and exercised the same power ever since the time of the Apostles down to the present (2). V. Still this power, like that of absolution, is not arbitrary; there must be a just cause for the exercise of it; namely, the greater good of the penitent, or of the faithful, or of christendom in general: and there must be a certain proportion between the punishment remitted and the good work performed (3). Hence, no one can ever be sure that he has gained the entire benefit of an indulgence, though he has performed all the conditions appointed for this end (4); and hence, of course, the pastors of the church will have to answer for it, if thy take upon them-' selves to grant indulgences for unworthy or insufficient purposes. VI. Lastly, it is the received doctrine of the church, that an indulgence, when truly gained, is not barely a relaxation of the canonical penance enjoined by the church, but also an actual remission by God himself, of the whole or part of the temporal punishment due to it in his sight. The

(1) Trid. Sess. xxv. De Indulg.

(2) Tertul. in Lib. ad Martyr. c. i. St. Cypr. 1. 3. Epist. Concil. i. Nic. Ancyr. &c.

(3) Bellarm. Lib. i. De Indulg. c. 12.

F

(4) Ibid.