unishment remained. Other examples could be cited, but this is
sufficient to show that there is a twofold kind of punishment--eternal
and temporal. In confession the guilt and eternal punishment are taken
away, but not always the temporal punishment. This temporal punishment
is what is taken away in whole by a plenary and in part by a partial
indulgence.

In a similar manner we have a twofold punishment attached to crime in
this world. A man commits a crime. He is sentenced to a term in the
penitentiary. After spending his time of punishment he comes back to
society, but finds he has another punishment to undergo in being avoided
by his friends and others.

The practice of granting indulgences was founded on many passages of
Scripture, both of the Old and New Testament. In the 12th chapter of the
book of Numbers we learn that Mary, the sister of Moses, was forgiven a
sin which she had committed. But God inflicted upon her the penalty of
leprosy. This was a temporal punishment. By the prayer of Moses an
indulgence was granted; for God took away the temporal punishment.

Our divine Lord left with His Church the power of granting indulgences,
as we learn from His words taken from St. Matthew: "Whatsoever you shall
loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven." This promise implies
the power of loosing not only from sin and its eternal punishment, but
also the power of releasing the bond of temporal punishment, of freeing
from everything that would prevent the soul from entering the kingdom of
heaven. St. Paul granted an indulgence to the incestuous Corinthian, as
we learn from the 2d chapter of his Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
By the power and authority which he received from Christ, he granted the
Corinthian pardon from performing a certain penance. This penance was a
temporal punishment. The apostle took away the temporal punishment. That
is an indulgence.

Non-Catholics grant a kind of plenary indulgence to every one by saying
that works of penance are unnecessary. The practice of the Catholic
Church of granting an indulgence only to the deserving is certainly more
conformable to Scripture as well as more reasonable.

Experience teaches us the utility of indulgences. They encourage the
faithful to frequent the sacraments, to repent, to do acts of penance,
and perform works of piety, charity, and devotion.

A practice productive of such beneficial results is reasonable; it is
also reasonable because it is