repentance is absolutely required for the remission of the guilt; therefore, this sincere repentance must precede the remission of the punishment. Hence we may see how few there are, who gain the full effect of a Plenary Indulgence, as there are few, who have a sincere and efficacious repentance of every venial sin, and a sincere and firm resolution of avoiding every sm, great or small, with all the probable occasions of sin. Still, this ought not to hinder us from doing our best to gain a Plenary Indulgence, when occasion offers; because, though we should not gain the whole effect of it, the more endeavors we use, and the better we be disposed, the more ample benefit we reap from it: and whereas, we can never be certain how far we gain this benefit, and have but too much reason, from our own imperfect dispositions, to fear that we may have yet a great debt remaining unpaid; therefore, oar endeavoring to gain an Indulgence ought not to make us remiss in leading a truly penitential life, but rather encourage us to do bo the more exactly; because, the more we endeavor by works, worthy of penance, to satisfy the divine justice, the better we will be disposed, when the opportunity cornea, for gaining more abundant effects of Indulgences: for, when we think we have done our best, it is perhaps little to what we ought to have done; and what we gain by Indulgences makes up for the deficiencies of human infirmity: besides, the spirit of the Church is to grant Indulgences to those only, who, on their part, sincerely endeavor to satisfy the divine justice. Any other idea of an Indulgence would be a strange illusion. An Indulgence then never exempts any one from the necessity of doing penance: penance has been commanded to all without any exception; and we ought to imitate Jesus Christ, as did the Saints, whose lives were a continual penance.
VARIOUS INDULGENCES.
I.
They who recite devoutly the Trisagium and Doxology, may, every day, gain an Indulgence of one hundred days and on every Sunday, and during the octave of Holy Trinity they may, three times a day, gain the same Indulgence: and they who recite these prayers daily, may, once a month, on a day at option, gain a Plenary Indulgence.
The Trisagium is the canticle of the Seraphim, which
