I N D 847 reverse, in tlie way of shorteni ig or lengthening the prescribed duration of the period during which ecclesiastical penance was to be done, was always left to the discretion of the bishop. An early and explicit proof of this is found in the fifth canon of the council of Ancyra (314). 1 This discretionary leniency was sometimes, as appears from the writings of Cyprian, granted by the bisho > on the intercession of those who were witnessing for the truth in prison ; sometimes also at the instance of the civil magis trate. The episcopal power was occasionally exercised, not only in a shortening of the canonical duration of the penance, but in some mitigation of the nature of the penalty itself (Syn. Ancyr., can. 2). AVe find indications at a very early period that some of the minor ecclesiastical offences could be readily and canonically atoned for by almsgiving (Aug., De Fid. et. Op., c. 19); thus gradually arose, by steps which can readily be conjectured, a regular system of commutations (redemtiones, commutationes), set forth in "libri penitentiales," offering striking analogies to the provisions made by the various criminal codes by which the Theodosian was supplanted throughout Europe. In the Penitential of the Greek Theodore of Canterbury, for example (690), which is to be found in Migne s Patroloyia, a canonical fast of days, weeks, or years may be redeemed by saying a proportionable number of psalms, or by paying an adequate fins. For more than four centuries this work held a position of great authority all over Europe. At the time of the crusades, to go to Palestine and take part in the struggle against the infidel was held to be a work of such extraordinary merit as to render unnecessary any other penitential act on the part of the sinner who engaged in it. Thus at the council of Clermont, held under Urban II. (1095), it was decreed " iter illud pro omni poenitentia reputetur." The great schoolmen were the first to reduce to a theory the praxis which had gradually thus sprung up within the Western Church. That theory may b3 said to resolve itself into the two positions (1) that, after the remission of the eternal punishment due for sin, there remains due to the justice of God a certain amount of tamporal pain to be undergone, either before death in this world, or after death in purgatory ; (2) that this pain may be remitted by the application of the superabundant merits of Christ and of the saints out of the treasury of the church, the administration of which treasury is the prerogative of the hierarchy. A characteristically elaborate statement and defence of these theses will be found in the supplement to the Summa of Thomas Aquinas (p. 3, qu. 25) and in the Summa of Alexander Halesius (p. 4, qu. 23, art. 2, membr. 5). In their Tridentine form they occur in sess. 6, can. 30, and sess. 14, can. 12-14. With these passages must be compared the condemnation of the synod of Pistoia by Pius VI. in 1794. Indulgences are either general or particular, i.e., either open to the whole church or confined to particular localities. The most general of all is that which is proclaimed in the year of jubilee. Indulgences again are either plenary or non-plenary, the former being a total remission of all the temporal punishment which may have been incurred by the recipient. It must carefully be borne in mind that, in Roman Catholic orthodoxy, indulgence is never absolutely gratuitous, and that those only can in any circumstances validly receive it who are in full communion with the church, and have resorted to the sacrament of penance, in which alone, after due contrition and confession, provision is made for the remission of the graver penalty of sin. The doctrine of indulgences, however, is singularly open to misunderstanding; and in its practical applications it has too 1 See Binghani, Antt., xviii. 4 ; and Hefelc, Conoiliengesch., i. 226, &c. often been used to sanction the most flagrant immorality. The scandalous abuses connected with the " pardoner s " trade, and in particular the reckless conduct of the hawkers of the papal indulgence granted to those who should con tribute funds for the completion of St Peter s, Rome, were, as is well known, very prominent among the proximate causes of the Protestant Reformation. In the 14th article of the Church of England the doctrine of the " thesaurus meritorum " or " thesaurus supererogationis perfectorum " is by implication rejected ; and in art. 22 " the Romish doctrine concerning purgatory and pardons " is expressly condemned. It is hardly necessary to add that " the power of the keys " is inseparable from the idea of a church, and that in this power is plainly involved a certain discretion as to the time and manner in which discipline shall be administered. This discretion is claimed by every organized body of Christians. See Amort, DC Origine, Progrcssu, Valore, et Fructu Indul- gentiarum, Vienna 1735 ; and Hirscher, Die Lehre vom Ablass Tubingen, 1844. INDUS, one of the three greatest rivers of northern India, rises in unknown regions on the northern slopes of the sacred Kailas Mountain in the Himalayas. On the south of this same hill rises the Sutlej, the great feeder of the Indus, which unites with it after a separate course of about 1000 miles. The Indus rises in 32 N. lat. and 81 E, long., enters the Punjab in 34 25 N. lat. and 72 51 E. long., leaves the Punjab in 28 27 N. lat. and 69 47 E. long,, enters Sind in 28 26 N. lat. and 69 47 E. long., and finally falls into the Arabian Sea in 23 58 N. lat. and 67 30 E. long. The basin of the Indus is estimated at 372,700 square miles, and its total length at a little over 1800 miles. The first third of its course lies outside of British territory. It at first flows north-west for about 160 miles under the name of " Sinh-ka-bab," until it receives the Gar. Shortly after this junction it enters Kashmir. Near Iskardoh in Little Tibet is the wonderful gorge by which the river bursts through the western ranges of the Himalayas, said to be 14,000 feet in depth. For about 120 miles the river passes south-west through the wilds of Kohistan until it reaches the Punjab frontier near Derbend. A little way above Attock, in Rawal Pindi district, it receives the Cabul river, which brings down to it the waters from Afghanistan via Jaldlabdd and the Khyber Pass. The two rivers have about the same volume ; both are very swift, and are broken up with rocks. Their junction during floods is a scene of wild confusion of waters. At Attock the river has fallen from its elevation of 16,000 feet at its source in Tibet to under 2000 feet. After leaving Attock, the Indus flows almost due south down the western side of the Punjab, parallel to the Sulaiman hills. Just above Mithankot, in the south of the Dera Ghazi Khan district, the Indus receives the accumu lated waters of the Punjab. Between the Indus and the Jumna (Jamuna) flow the five great streams from which the Punjab (Panj-ab, literally " The land of the five rivers ") takes its name. These are the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Bids, and the Sutlej. After various junctions these rivers all unite to form the Panjnad, literally "The five rivers." The Panjnad marks for a short space the boundary between the Punjab and Bahawalpur, and unites with the Indus near Mithankot, about 490 miles from the sea. The breadth of the Indus above the confluence is about 600 yards, its velocity 5 miles an hour, its depth from 12 to 15 feet, and its estimated discharge 91,719 cubic feet per second. The breadth of the Panjnad above the point of junction is 1070 yards, with a depth of 12 to 15 feet, but a velocity of only 2 miles an hour. Its
estimated discharge is 68,955 cubic feet per second.
