postulent, unde et sibi mereri et aliis merita applicari possint." 1

The subjects which require consideration in explanation of the Article are these

1. The name "works of supererogation."

2. The history of the growth of the system of indulgences.

3. The theological defence offered for them, involving works of supererogation, and the teaching of Scripture on the subject.

I. The Name" Works of Supererogation."

The word supererogation comes directly from the Latin. Starting with the simple verb "rogare," we note that in classical writers it is used, sometimes with "legem " or " populum " after it, sometimes absolutely, in a technical sense, meaning "to ask the people about a law," and so simply to "propose a bill," or "introduce a law." Hence the compound verb "erogare" was used in connection with a money bill, and came to mean “to pay out money from the public treasury, after asking the consent of the people," and so more generally, beyond the sphere of public law, to "expend" or "disburse money."2 From this the double compound "supererogare" was formed with the meaning, to "pay over and above," equivalent to the Greek πрoodаπavâv. such its earliest occurrence is in the Latin versions of the New Testament, where it appears in S. Luke x. 35 in the parable of the Good Samaritan, "Whatsoever thou spendest more": Quodcunque supererogaveris. This rendering was current before the days of S. Jerome,

As

1 De Hæres. c. 8: "De perfectione justificatorum, et de operibus supererogationis."

2 Thus in the Latin of Codex Beza "erogasset" stands for daπavnoάvros in S. Luke xv. 14.

being found in the writings of S. Ambrose, as well as in some MSS. of the "Old Latin "; 2 but it was its adoption in the Vulgate that made it the common property of Western Christendom.3 From it in later times the substantive "supererogatio" was formed, and the phrase opera supererogationis" was adopted by ecclesiastical writers as the technical name for the "6 excess of merit" attributed to the saints, and for what the Article calls voluntary works besides, over and above God's commandments. In this sense it was used not infrequently by writers of the thirteenth century, such as Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas; but until this period it is doubtful whether the phrase is ever found, or whether the verb occurs except in direct connection with S. Luke x. 35.

II. The History of the Growth of the System of

Indulgences.

It was the open sale of indulgences, which was closely connected with the doctrine of works of supererogation, that first roused the indignation of Luther, and led to the revolt from the Papacy. But the doctrine and the practice only grew up very gradually, step by step, with no perception on the part of anyone of what the ultimate outcome of it all would be. The starting-point, in tracing out its history, may be found in very early days, 1 S. Ambrose, Hom. vii. in Lucam.

2 Sabatier gives it as found in Codd. Veron. and Brix. Cod. Vercellensis has "amplius erogaveris," which is the rendering found in Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. cxxv. 15, although in Quæst. Evangel. II. xix. he has super

erogare.

The "Rhemish New Testament" (1st ed. 1582) attempted to Anglicise the verb, and rendered S. Luke x. 35: "Whatsoever thou dost supererogate"; but it was found impossible to naturalise the clumsy Latinism, and it was withdrawn in the Douay version (1609), which is content with the natural rendering, "spend over and above."

in the regard for (1) martyrdom, and (2) virginity, felt by the primitive Church.

1. It was only natural that the memory of those who had laid down their lives for the faith of Christ should be held in the greatest honour, and that their intercessions should be regarded as especially efficacious, and should be eagerly sought after. And as there were many "Confessors" who had suffered mutilation or banishment for the same cause, without being called upon to seal their testimony with their lives, it was equally natural that the same feelings of regard and admiration should be extended to them also. From this sprang, during the persecution of Decius, what we can only call the first form of indulgences. During this persecution, which raged so fiercely at Carthage in the middle of the third century, while there were many noble instances of men confessing their faith bravely, and enduring whatever was inflicted upon them rather than deny their Master, yet there were also many cases of grievous apostasy. Some Christians under the stress of persecution went so far as to deny Christ altogether, and to sacrifice to the gods of the heathen (sacrificati); others offered incense (thurificati); others obtained tickets (libelli), declaring that they had thus cleared themselves from the crime of Christianity (libellatici). With these different cases the Church was called upon to deal; and under the wise guidance of S. Cyprian she determined that the peace of the Church might be granted to those who through weakness had lapsed, but that a time of penitential discipline must first be passed by them to test and prove their sorrow. Some, however, of the lapsed were impatient, and could ill brook the delay of communion. They therefore persuaded the Confessors to intercede for them, and ask for their readmission to the sacraments of the Church. It will easily be seen that it was difficult for the authorities to refuse the request

of these men who had suffered so much for the Church, and unfortunately some of the Confessors were not proof against the moral dangers to which these appeals to their kindness exposed them. Not content with inter

ceding for the lapsed, they claimed the right to restore them to the peace of the Church, and to grant sometimes to a lapsed person and his friends (cum suis) libelli pacis,1 or tickets to admit them to communion without having undergone the penitential discipline imposed upon them. Here, then, we meet with a form of “indulgence," i.e. a shortening or remission of canonical penance. But clearly there was in itself nothing beyond the power of the Church in granting this. The claim of the Confessors to grant it in their own right was steadily resisted by Cyprian; but the Church, which had imposed the penance, and to which the power of "binding and loosing" had been granted by Christ Himself,2 was within her rights in shortening the time, and readmitting to communion those of whose true repentance she was assured. The whole episode, however, required to be noticed here, because historically the "libelli pacis form a sort of precedent for the indulgences of the medieval Church, though, as will presently be shown, these claimed to be far wider reaching than anything which had ever entered the minds of the Confessors who granted the original "libelli."

2. The special reverence with which the early Church regarded virginity is well known. It is based on the teaching of S. Paul in 1 Cor. vii., in which, though he permits marriage, he certainly expresses a preference— under the then existing conditions-for the unmarried state. "Concerning virgins" he has "no commandment

1 S. Cyprian, Ep. xv. See on the whole subject Archbishop Benson's article "Libelli" in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 981.

2 S. Matt. xviii. 18.

(præceptum) of the Lord," but he gives his "judgment" (consilium),1 and advises that such remain single. From these words grew the distinction subsequently drawn between "precepts," which all were bound to obey, and counsels," which it was not necessary for a person to follow. From this it was only a step to teach that by following the "counsels" it was possible for a Christian to do more than was required of him by God, and hence the notion of a special "merit" attaching to the state of virginity and to other special states or conditions. This idea was greatly encouraged by the devotion to the monastic life which is so marked in the latter part of the fourth century; and from this time onward it is generally recognised that there are two kinds of life within the Church, the one for ordinary Christians mixing in the world, in which men are permitted to marry, and to engage in the ordinary business of life, though strictly bound to keep the "commandments" of God; the other, which is above the ordinary life of men, in which the "counsels of perfection" are carried out, those who are thus aiming at being "perfect" selling all their possessions (cf. S. Matt. xix. 21), abstaining from marriage, and devoting themselves entirely to the service of God.2

These facts require to be borne in mind, although their full significance and the use that might be made of them did not appear for several centuries. The system of a commutation of penance for money, which was introduced about the seventh century through the "Penitentials," cannot have failed to be seriously injurious to the moral sense of Christendom, however innocent may have been

1 Cf. also 2 Cor. viii. 8 and 10, where consilium occurs again. The distinction is recognised by S. Augustine, and is used by him to illustrate S. Luke x. 35; Quæst. Evangel. II. xix., and Enarr. in Ps. CXXV. 15.

2 Cf. Cheetham's Church History, p. 349.