mDuLor(r.s. I1. Christ could expiate it. He knows not the holiness of God, nor lib jealousy, and has no concern for his honour. He who purchases indulgence knows not the love of Christ, hi8 fulnes8, his suitablenes? as a Saviour to his wants as a sinner. He who purchases an indul- gence knows not the power and feets not the influences of the Holy Spirit to enlighten, renovate, and purify. He knows not that in build- ing on human merits of the Virgin and saints, he builds on the sand, and his foundation shall deceive him. , 5. That the sale or conferring of indulgences operates as an encou- ragement, and even as a permission, to commit sin, appears from the very nature of the indulgence, and the doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome concerning indulgences and penance. A person guilty of the greatest crimes receives the sacrament of penance on the usual terms. He must indeed make a form of confession before a priest; he must profess contrition; he must promise amendment: but all this is mere form and words. His heart remains as it was; he is as much in lovb with sin as ever. When the sacrament of penance is over, he is told that he must do some good work, or suffer some pun/sh- ment, for all his great sins which he has confessed; but that he may have an indulgence, that is, he may be released from the suffering, for a certain sum, which he cheerfully pays. Hence he sets out to pursue a new course of sin, or continues his former one, like the profligate seductress in the seventh of Proverbs: "I have peace-of'erings with me; this day have I paid my vows. Come, let us take our fill of pleasures." Independently of history and experience, an accurate knowledge of human nature would infer this result from the doctrine in question. Wicked men are mostly superstitious. There is a tribunal in their breasts which condemns them. They know not well what it is, but they are taught to believe that it is something from which a priest can deliver them. Such a one, whether to gratify revenge, avarice, or lust, enters on the commission of sin on every opportunity, with all his heart, knowing beforehand that the priest can pardon his guilt, and if satisfaction be required, the purchase of an indulgence can accomplish that. The tribunal of the righteous Judge is concealed from his view. He seeks no pardon but that which the priest can give, and he is not taught to believe that any other is necessary. Such a doctrine must al.way. s operate on corrupt human nature as an encouragement to corn- mtt sin. 6. That the doctrine of indulgences serves as a l/cen?e to commit sin, innumerable iistoricalfacts testify. The following quotation from Bellarmine, the great champion of the popish cause, is worth many facts, because it is an acknowledgment of the actual state of things in lhe church, as known to himself, and he speaks of it as known to nll: "We cannot deny but that some are bound by the penitential canons to some thousands of years penance, as to some three, to some seven, &c.: then he that hath accustomed himself to perjury and blasphemy almost every moment, and most frequently commits murders, thefts, sacrileges, and adulteries, without doubt the popes had respect to such as these when they gave indulgences for ten or twenty thousand years."*
- B?llsrm/ne de lndulg., lib./, c. 9, p. ?,5, as quoted in M'Gavin's Protestant, vol. i,
p. 1?8, and Morning Exercise, p. 491. 1
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