�(I?,. XIII.] mmn. om?ss. 4,? Thus the greatest criminals received pardon ?om the pope sad his clergy, and indulgences too for thousands of yea?. But a reference to fac?s will establish the declaration, that indu]- gences serve ?s a license to commit sin. Speaking of the notoriously depraved mate of morals in Italy, Mr. Eusiace, a keen-sighted son of the Church of Rome, asks: "May it not be ascribed to the corruptions of the national religion, to the facility ? absolution, sad to the easy purchase of indulgences?"? Pacts furnish the best answer to these questions. "At Trivoli," says a modern t?veller, "a man was pointed out to us who had stabbed his brother, who died iu agonies within an hour. The murderer weut to Rome, purchased his pardon from the church, and received a written protection from a cardinal, in conse- quence of which he was walking about unconcernedly, a second Cain, whose life was sacred."t Again: "Those that have interest with the pope may obtain an absolution in full from his holiness for all the sins they ever have committed, or may choose to commit." "I have seen one of these edifying documents, issued by the present pope to a friend of miue. It was most unequivocally worded."? See Cramp, p. 345, where these quotations are to be found�But examine the originals. The tax-book of the Roman chancery fixes a price for the absolution of such crimes as the sovereign pontiff' only can forgive. Mr. Butler? attempts to show that this tax is only' a fee of office for the docum,m? of the pope, which gives the power of absolution to the priest. But the fact is, that the absolution of those sins which are reserved for the pope's pardon is to be had for money. The tax-book has been fre- quently published, much to the annoyance of the priests and popes.! 7. Iudulgences are employed in the Church of Rome for the purpose of obtaining money. It matters not what the variety or ? of prices may be. 'l?ne following lines of one of the sons of Rome are enough: "Vem?&z Te?ph, ,?'dot?, alt?ri? ,? coro?u?, Bapt. Manman. ds calam. "Temples, priests, altars, sacred things, crowns, fires, frankincense, prayers, are sold with us: heaven is sold, and even God himself.** Were we to enumerate a small portion of the instances of sacrile- gious sales practised by the Church of Rome, we would fill many pages with the recital. The foregoing is their own picture of the enormity, and need not here be extended.� The Council of Trent, however, decrees, "that all w{cteal ga/as ac- cruing from indulgences shall be wholly abolished.** But then the council provides no e?ectual remedy for the monstrous practices con- nected with the distribution and sale of indulgences. And though ,?gcied gains are forbidden, what priest or pope would ever confess �Classical Tour, vol. iii, p. 151. t Orshera's Three Months* REsidence in the Mountains Ea?t of }Lomb, p. 34. 1: Rome in the Nineteenth Century, vol. ii, p. ?71. ?' Book of the Church, p. 98. II See a curious account of the Taxm Csncellarim Apostolicre, et Taxm Sactin Peni- tentisrise, in Brownlee's Letters on the Roman Catholic Controversy, p. 353. �r readers may find several specimens of the vemu'/? practised in the article of indulgences in Cramp, pp. 341-34,3; Rome in the Nineteenth Century, vol. ii, pp. ?67-t70; Prsoti? and lntero?l Evidence? sg?inet C?mlicim? by B!an?.o White, p, 1
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