dulgences, to raise a sum of money to complete the building of St. Peter's, at Rome; this event is of importance from its connexion with the Reformation. Tetzel, a Dominican, was entrusted with the execution of the bull of indulgences in Germany. To recommend the article he had to vend, he employed the most extravagant terms to set forth the value and efficacy of papal indulgences. The following is the form of absolution used by Tetzel :May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thee, and absolve thee by the merits of his most holy passion. And I, by his authority, that of his blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and of the most holy pope, granted and committed to me in these parts, do absolve thee, first, from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner they have been incurred, and then from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be, even from such as are reserved for the cognizance of the holy see, and as far as the keys of the holy church extend, I remit to you all punishment which you deserve in purgatory on their account, and I restore you to the holy sacraments of the church, to the unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and purity which you possessed at baptism, so that when you die the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of delight shall be opened, and if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full force when

you are at the point of death. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The terms in which this form of absolution, used by Tetzel, are expressed, are not less extravagant and profane than those which he employed in addressing the people - "If any man," said Tetzel and his associates, "purchase letters of indulgence, his soul may rest secure with respect to his salvation. The souls confined in purgatory, for whose redemption indulgences are purchased, as soon as the money tinkles in the chest, instantly escape from that place of torment and ascend into heaven!" They asserted also that the efficacy of indulgences was so great that it secured the pardon of the vilest offences, and that it was not less efficacious than the cross of Christ itself!†

The facts which have been adverted to are sufficient to prove that the church of Rome taught that indulgences were efficacious to obtain the remission of sins, and release from the penal consequences of sins as endured in purgatory, and not merely, as now pretended, to release from acts of penance or church censures. That this opinion of the efficacy of indulgences, to obtain remission of sins, was not peculiar to the dark ages, is placed beyond doubt, by the language of a Papal bull, which bears date so late as the year 1824 or 1825. Leo, the pope at that time, by his bull, ordained a jubilee for the year 1825, from which bull the following extracts * Seckend. Comment. lib. i. p. 14. + Chemnitius.

T

will suffice :-" During which year of the jubilee, we mercifully give and grant in the Lord a plenary indulgence, remission, and pardon of all their sins, to all the faithful of Christ, of both sexes, truly penitent and confessing their sins, and receiving the holy communion, who shall devoutly visit the churches of blessed Peter and Paul, as also of St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major, of this city, (Rome,) for thirty successive, or uninterrupted, (whether natural or ecclesiastical,) days, to be counted, to wit, from the first vespers of one day, until the evening twilight of the day following, provided they be Romans or inhabitants of this city; but if they be pilgrims, or otherwise strangers, if they shall do the same for fifteen days, and shall pour forth their pious prayers to God, for the exaltation of the holy church, the extirpation of here. sies, concord of Catholic princes, and the safety and tranquillity of Christian people." Pope Leo, in the same bull, calls on all patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops, to rouse their people to the meritorious undertaking; adding-" To you it belongs to explain with perspicuity the power of indulgences; what is their efficacy, not only in the remission of the canonical penance, but also of the temporal punishment due to the divine justice for past sin; and what succour is afforded out of this heavenly treasure, from the merits of Christ and his saints, to such as have departed real penitents in God's love, yet before they had duly satisfied by

fruits worthy of penance for sin of commission and omission, and are now purifying in the fire of purgatory, that an entrance may be opened unto them into the eternal country, where nothing defiled is admitted."

It is not necessary to pursue this subject further. On reading the language of this and other similar papal bulls, it may well be asked-"Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Luke v. 21.) The church of England not only protests against the Popish doctrine of merit, as set forth in this chapter, in the Articles given above, but pronounces, in her 22nd Article, that "The Romish doctrine, concerning purgatory, pardons, &c., is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of God."

THE Redeemer of mankind, in that glorious revelation which he made of himself to St. John, in Patmos, proclaimed his supreme authority in the following words :-" I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore; and have the keys of hell (hades) and of death!” (Rev. i. 18.) This power belongs only to Christ; he has never delegated it to any one, whether man or angel; for any, therefore, to arrogate to themselves this power is an act of the grossest impiety, and an usurpation of the authority and glory of the Son of God. Of such impiety the pope is guilty when, representing himself as the vicar of Christ, he claims to be acknowledged as head of the universal church, and thereby arrogates to himself a distinction and an authority, which belongs only to