III. Present Doctrine ami Practice of Indulgence. — The following extracts show what has been, since the Council of Trent, and is now, the Romish doctrine of in- dulgence. The Council declared that " as the power of granting indidgences was given by Christ to the Church, and she has exercised it in the most ancient times, this holy synod teaches and commands that the use of them, as being greatly salutary to the Christian people, and approved by the authority of councils, shall be retained ; and she anathematizes those who say they are useless, or deny to the Church the power of granting them ; but in this grant the synod wishes that moderation, agreea- bly to the ancient and approved practice of the Church, be" exercised, lest by too great facility ecclesiastical dis- cipline be weakened" ( Cone. Trtil. Sess. xxv, L)e Indulg.). Pope Leo X, in his bull De Induhjrntiis, whose object he states to be '• that no one in future may allege ignorance of the doctrine of the Roman Church respecting indid- gences and their efficacy," declares "that the Roman pontiff, vicar of Christ on earth, can, for reasonable causes, by the powers of the keys, grant to the faithful, whether'in this life or in Purgatory, indulgences, out of the superabundance of the merits of Christ, and of the saints (expressly called a treasiure) ; and that those who have truly obtained these indulgences are released from so much of the temporal punishment due for their act-
INDULGENCES
566
INDULGENCES
ual sins to the divine justice as is equivalent to the in- dulgence granted and obtained" (Bulla Leon. X, adv. Lu- ther). Clement VI, in the bull Uimjenitus, explains this matter more fully : '• As a single drop of Christ's blood would have sufficed for the redemption of the whole hu- man race," so tlie rest was not lost, but " was a treasure which he acquired in the mihtant Church, to be used for the benefit of his sons; which treasure he would not suffer to be hid in a napkin, or buried in the ground, but committed it to be dispensed by St. Peter and his suc- cessors, his own vicars upon earth, for proper and rea- sonable causes, for the total or partial remission of the temporal punishment due to sin ; and for an augmenta- tion of his treasure, the merits of the blessed mother of God, and of all the elect, who are known to come in aid." Tlie reasonable causes, on account of which indulgences are given, are, where " the cause be pious, that is, not a work which is merely temporal, or vain, or in no respect appertaining to the divine glory, but for any work what- soever which tends to the honor of God or the service of the Church, an indulgence will be valid." We see, oc- casionally, thft very greatest indulgences given for the very lightest causes; as when a plenary indulgence is granted to all who stand before the gates of St. Peter, whilst the pope gives the solemn blessing to the people on Easter day; for " indulgences do not depend, for their efficacy, on consideration of the work enjoined, but on the infinite treasure of the merits of Christ and the saints, which is a consideration siurpassing and tran- scending everytliing that is granted by an indulgence." In some cases " the work enjoined must not only be pi- ous and usefid, but bear a certain proportion with the indulgence ; that is, the work enjoined must tend to an end more pleasing in the sight of God than the satisfac- tion remitted," "although it is not necessary that it be in itself very meritorious, or satisfactory, or difficult, and laborious (though these things ought to be regarded too), but that it be a means, apt and useful, towards ob- taining tlie end for which the indulgence is granted." So " the large resort of people," before the gates of St. Peter, when the pope gives his solemn blessing, " is a means, apt and useful, to set forth faith respecting the head of the Church, and to the honor of tlie ajiostolic see, which is the end of the indulgence" (Bellarmine, De Liduli/entiis, lib, i, can. 12). The first General Lateran Council granted '• remission of sin to whoever shall go to Jerusalem, and effectually help to oppose the infi- dels" (can. xi). The third and fourth Lateran Councils granted the same indulgence to those who set them- selves to destroy heretics, or who shall take up arms against them (see Labbe, x, 1523). Boniface VIII grant- ed not only a full and larger, but the most full pardon of all sins to all that visit Rome the first year in ever}' century. Clement V decreed that they who should, at the Jubilee, visit such and sucli churches, should obtain " a most full remission of all their sins ;" and he not only granted a " plenary absolution of all sins to all who died on the road to Komc," but " also commanded the angels of Parailise to carry the soul direct to heaven." " Sin- cere repentance," we are told, '• is always enjoined or implied in the grant of an indulgence, and is indispen- sably necessary for every grace" (Milner, End of Con- troversy, p. 304). But as the dead are removed from the possibility, so are they from the nccessitv of repent- ance; "as the pope," says Bellarmine, "ajjpiies tlie sat- isfactions of Christ and tlie saints to the dead, by means of werks enjoined on the living, they are applied, not in the way of judicial absolution, but in the way of pay- ment ('per modum solutionis'). For as when" a person gives alms, or fasts, or makes a pilgrimage on account of the dead, the effect is, not that he obtains absolution for them from their liability to punishment, but he pre- sents to (Jod that partieiUar satisfaction for them, in or- der that (iod, on receiving it, may liberate the dead from the tlebt of punishment which tlicy had to pay. In like manner, the pope does not absolve the deceased, but otters to God, out of the measure of satisfaction, as iiiuch