INDULGENCES, in the Roman Catholic church, are a remission of the punishment due to sins, granted by the church, and supposed to save the sinner from purgatory.

According to the doctrine which was once maintained by this church, all the good works of the saints, over and above those which were necessary towards their own justification, are deposited, together with the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, in one inexhaustible treasury, the keys of which were committed to St Peter, and to his successors the popes, who might open it at pleasure, and by transferring a portion of this superabundant merit to any particular person, for a sum of money, convey to him either the pardon of his own sins, or a release for any one in whom he felt interested, from the pains of purgatory. Such indulgences were first invented in the eleventh century, by Urban II., as a recompense for those who went in person upon the glorious enterprize of conquering the Holy Land. They were afterwards granted to those who hired a soldier for that purpose; and in process of time were bestowed on such as gave money for accomplishing any pious work enjoined by the pope.

The power of granting indulgences has been greatly abused in the church of Rome. Leo X., in order to carry on the magnificent structure of St Peter’s at Rome, published indulgences, and a plenary remission, to all such as should contribute money towards it. Finding the project take, he granted to Albert, elector of Mentz and archbishop of Magdeburg, the benefit of the indulgences of Saxony and the neighbouring parts, and farmed out those of other countries to the highest bidders, who, in order to make the most of their bargain, procured the ablest preachers to cry up the value of the commodity. The form of these indulgences was as follows: “May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thec, and absolve thec 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; then from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever these 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 the retailers of indulgences described their benefits and the necessity of purchasing them, were so extravagant, that they appear almost incredible. If any man, said they, shall purchase letters of indulgence, his soul may rest secure with respect to its salvation. The souls confined in purgatory, for whose redemption indulgences were purchased, as soon as the money tinkled in the chest, instantly escaped from that place of torment, and ascended into heaven. They maintained that the efficacy of indulgences was so great, that the most heinous sins would be remitted and expiated by them, and the person freed from both guilt and punishment; that this was the unspeakable gift of God, in order to reconcile man to himself; and that the cross erected by the preachers of indulgences was equally efficacious with the cross of Christ itself.

It was this great abuse of indulgences which mainly contributed to the reformation of religion in Germany, where Martin Luther began to declaim first against the preachers of indulgences, and afterwards against indulgences themselves; but since that time the popes have become much more sparing in the exercise of this power.