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Page 49
"'When in this chest the money rings,
The soul straight up to heaven springs.'"
Yet the boldness and audacity of his general language was quite in
accordance: 'Indulgences,' said he, 'are the most precious of God's
gifts. I would not exchange my privileges for those of St. Peter in
heaven; for I have saved more souls with my indulgences than he with
all his sermons. There is no sin so great that the indulgence will not
remit it. Even repentance is not necessary. Indulgences save the dead;
for the very moment the money chinks against the bottom of this chest,
the soul escapes from purgatory, and flies to heaven,'
"Yet this inquisitor was high in favor with Pope Leo X. You will
say, Florry, that the abuse of a doctrine should be no test of its
soundness; and I admit that had he received the punishment he so
richly merited it would not; yet this is only one instance among
many. We have conversed on the doctrines of the Romish faith merely as
theories, should we not now look at the practise? We need not go very
far. When Aunt Fanny expressed surprise on seeing our Mexican shepherd
eat meat last Friday, did he not reply in extenuation, 'I have paid
the priest and can eat meat'? Now if it was necessary for him to
abstain previously, could the small sum paid to the Padre exempt him
from the duty? Again we see the working of the system: was not Herrara
scrupulously exact on the same point? yet he rose from the table and
told a most positive lie. With regard to indulgences, there is not
a Papist who will admit that they are a license to sin. The voice of
history declares that 'a regular scale for absolution was graded,' and
the fact is authenticated by a recent traveler, who asserts that
in the chancel of Santa Croce, at Rome, is hung a catalogue of the
indulgences granted to all who worship in that church. Yet your
priests will tell you they are the remission of sins already
committed. Did not Herrara say, 'I have paid the Padre and can eat
meat'? Now I ask you if this is not a license to commit what would
otherwise be considered a heinous offense by all devout Papists?"
"Relying implicitly on what the Padre asserted, Mary, I have never
investigated these subjects as I should have done, before giving my
credence and support; but of the doctrine in question I can henceforth
entertain but one opinion--a detestable and infamous method of filling
the papal coffers; for since you have led me to think on this subject,
I clearly remember that a large portion of the enormous expense
incurred by the building, ornamenting, and repairing of St. Peter's,
was defrayed by money obtained through the sale of indulgences.
Oh, Mary, how could I have been so deluded--allowed myself to be so
deceived!" She took from her pocket the rosary and crucifix which had
been given to her father, and threw them impatiently into the river
gurgling at her feet.
"The perfect harmony with which the entire system works is
unparalleled in the civil, religious, or political annals of the
world. A complete espionage is exercised in papal countries, from the
Adriatic to the Californian gulf. And the greater portion of this is
accomplished by means of the confessional. The Superior at Rome
can become, at pleasure, as perfectly conversant with your domestic
arrangements, and the thousand incidents which daily occur, as you or
I, who are cognizant of them. To what is all this tending? Ah,
Florry, look at the blood-stained records of the past. The voices of
slaughtered thousands, borne to us across the waste of centuries, bid
us remember the Duke of Alva, the Albigensian crusade, the massacre of
St. Bartholomew, and the blazes of Smithfield. Ignatius Loyola! happy
would it have been for millions lost, and millions yet to be, hadst
thou perished at the siege of Pampeluna. Florry, contrast Italy and
Germany, Spain and Scotland, and look at Portugal, and South America,
and Mexico, and oh, look at this benighted town! A fairer spot by
nature the face of earth cannot boast; yet mark the sloth, the penury,
the degradation of its people, the misery that prevails. And why?
Because they languish under the iron rule of the papal see--iron,
because it admits of no modification. Entire supremacy over both body
and soul, or total annihilation of their power. May the time speedily
come when they shall spurn their oppressors, and trample their yoke
in the dust, as their transatlantic brethren will ultimately do. Oh,
Florry, does not your heart yearn toward benighted Italy? Italy, once
so beautiful and noble--once the acknowledged mistress of the world,
as she sat in royal magnificence enthroned on her seven hills; now a
miserable waste, divided between petty sovereigns, and a by-word for
guilt and degradation! The glorious image lies a ruin at our feet: for
the spirit that gave beauty and strength, and shed a halo of splendor
round its immortal name, has fled afar, perhaps forever; banished
by the perfidious system of Papacy--that sworn foe to liberty,
ecclesiastical or political.
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