may convey to him either pardon for his own
sins, or a release for any one, for whom he feels an interest, from the
pains of purgatory. Such indulgences were offered as a recompense for
those who engaged in the wars of the crusades against the Infidels. Since
those times, the power of granting indulgences has been greatly abused in
the church of Rome. Pope Leo X., finding that the sale of indulgences was
likely to be lucrative, granted to Albert, elector of Mentz and archbishop
of Magdeburg, the benefit of the indulgences of Saxony, and the
neighboring parts, and farmed out those of other countries to the highest
bidders; who, to make the best 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
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 may
have been incurred; 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, Son, and the
Holy Ghost."

According to a book, called the "Tax of the Sacred Roman Chancery," in
which are the exact sums to be levied for the pardon of each particular
sin, some of the fees are thus stated:--For simony, 10_s._ 6_d._; for
sacrilege, 10_s._ 6_d._; for taking a false oath, 9_s._; for robbing,
12_s._; for burning a neighbor's house, 12_s._; for defiling a virgin,
9_s._; for murdering a layman, 7_s._ 6_d._; for keeping a concubine,
10_s._ 6_d._; for laying violent hands on a clergyman, 10_s._ 6_d._

The terms in which the retailers of these abominable licenses described
their advantages to the purchasers, and t