Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Indulgences and the Jubilee · Book II: Against the Adversaries of Indulgences
Chapter 15: The fifth argument of Catholics is defended
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VII, De Indulgentiis et Jubilaeo, Book II, a treatise of the Controversies. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The fifth argument for the treasury of indulgences Chemnitz says is taken from those words of the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 8: “In this present time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may supply your want.” From this place the same Chemnitz affirms that the argument is formed by Catholics thus: “The Corinthians abounded in money, but were poor in merits. On the contrary the saints of Jerusalem abounded in spiritual merits, but were badly provided with money. Paul therefore set up such an exchange between them, that the Corinthians should lend helping hands by contributing money generously, and for that money the saints of Jerusalem should sell from their works of supererogation a supplement for the want of the Corinthians, as regards satisfaction for sins.” But Chemnitz sins in two things, for he neither faithfully reports the argument of Catholics, nor solidly refutes it. For Catholics do not say that the Apostle set up that exchange so that the people of Jerusalem should sell merits of supererogation to the Corinthians; but they only gather from that place that there is such a sharing in the Church that some are accustomed to share their goods with others, and can offer one another not only bodily goods but spiritual ones also. From which it follows that one can also satisfy for another, and the sufferings of some can be applied to others. Nor yet did Chemnitz solidly refute the argument of Catholics even as it was proposed by himself; for he says in what follows that by the want of the Corinthians is understood not a want of merits, but a want of the preaching of the Word of God; and he proves it from two places of the same Apostle. For in Romans 15 the Apostle, writing of the same contribution of alms, says: if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they ought also in carnal things to minister to them. But what he understood by spiritual things he says in 1 Corinthians 9 in these words: “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things?” So he. But in the former place the Apostle speaks of spiritual gifts in general, and does not restrict his speech to preaching. For the Gentiles were truly made partakers of the spiritual gifts which were first poured out by God in Jerusalem, namely of faith, hope, charity, the sacraments, miracles, and so on. But in the latter place there is no speech of that sharing of goods of which we treat, but of the wage owed from justice to those who preach the gospel. But in this place, namely 2 Corinthians 8, the Apostle speaks in general of spiritual and temporal goods. Nor ought his words to be restricted to preaching. Which is plain, first, because the words are general: let their abundance supply your want. Second, because the Corinthians did not need preachers to be sent to them from Jerusalem, for they were already fully instructed. For in 1 Corinthians 1 we read of the Corinthians: you are made rich in Christ, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; and in this very chapter 8 of the second epistle: as, says Paul, you abound in all things, in faith, and word, and knowledge, and so on. Third, because the ancient Fathers do not expound this spiritual abundance of the people of Jerusalem of the preaching of the word, as Chemnitz would have it, but of merits and prayers. Chrysostom on this place says that the people of Jerusalem abounded in integrity of life, in freedom and confidence toward God, and that the Corinthians would be partakers of these goods if they sent to Jerusalem the alms of money in which they themselves then abounded. Nor do Theodoret and Theophylact and the other ancient Greeks expound it much otherwise. Saint Thomas expounds it of prayers, so that the sense is that the Corinthians would be partakers of the prayers which the people of Jerusalem pour out to God, if they made them partakers of their temporal goods. Haymo on this place adds fasting also among the spiritual works of the people of Jerusalem, of which the Corinthians would be partakers if they helped them with those alms; which explanation the Apostle seems to suggest at the end of the same chapter 8, when he says: “the administration of this office doth not only supply the want of the saints, but aboundeth also by many thanksgivings in the Lord, by the proof of this ministry, glorifying God for the obedience of your confession unto the gospel of Christ, and for the simplicity of your communicating unto them, and unto all; and in their praying for you.” But enough of these things, for the foundation of indulgences does not chiefly rest on this testimony.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XV. Defenditur , quintum argumentum Catholi¬ corum . Quintum argumentum pro thesauro in¬ dulgentiarum sumi dicit Kemnitius ab illis Apostoli verbis II Corint. vm. In praesenti tempore vestra abundantia illorum inopiam suppleat , ut et illorum abundantia vestrae ino¬ piae sit supplementum (1). Ex hoc loco ita for¬ mari argumentum a Catholicis, affirmat idem Kemnitius : « Corinthii abundabant pecunia, sed inopes erant meritorum. Con¬ tra vero sancti Hierosolymitani abundabant meritis spiritualibus, a pecunia vero male parati erant. Paulus igitur talem permuta¬ tionem inter eos instituit, ut Corinthii pra3- berent manus adjutrices conferendo large pecuniam : et pro illa pecunia sancti Hiero¬ solymitani ex operibus suis supererogationis supplementum inopiae Corinthiorum vende¬ rent, quod ad satisfactionem pro peccatis attinet ». Sed in duobus peccat Kemnitius, nam nec fideliter refert argumentum Catho¬ licorum, nec solide illud refellit. Catholici enim non dicunt Apostolum instituisse illam commutationem, ut Hierosolymitani vende¬ rent merita supererogationis Corinthiis : sed tantum ex eo loco colligunt, eam esse in Ecclesia communicationem, ut alii aliis bona sua communicare soleant : nec solum bona corporalia, sed etiam spiritualia invicem prEebere possint. Ex quo sequitur, ut etiam unus pro alio satisfacere, et aliorum passio¬ nes aliis applicari valeant. Nec tamen solide argumentum Catholicorum, etiam ut ab ipso propositum est, Kemnitius refutavit, dicit enim in sequentibus per inopiam Corinthio¬ rum non intelligi inopiam meritorum, sed inopiam praedicationis Verbi Dei ; et probat ex duobus locis ejusdem Apostoli. Nam Ro- man. xv. Apostolus scribens de eadem con¬ tributione eleemosynarum, ait, si spiritua¬ lium eorum participes facti sunt gentiles, debent et ipsi in carnalibus ministrare illis. Qui vero per spiritualia intellexit applicari ? dicit II Cor. ix. in illis verbis : Si spiritualia vobis seminavimus, 'quid magni est , si carnalia vestra metamus (2). Ilaec ille. Sed in priore loco Apostolus de spiritualibus donis gene- ratim loquitur, nec restringit sermonem ad prEedicationem. Vere enim gentiles facti sunt participes donorum spiritualium, quai in Hierusalem primum effusa sunt a Deo, vide¬ licet fidei, spei, charitatis, sacramentorum, miraculorum etc. In posteriore autem loco non est sermo de ista communicatione bo¬ norum, de qua nos agimus, sed de stipendio debito ex justitia iis, qui evangelizant. Hoc autem loco, videlicet II Cor. vm. Apostolus loquitur generatim de bonis spiritualibus et temporalibus. Nec debent ejus verba re¬ stringi ad praedicationem. Quod patet, pri¬ mo, quia verba sunt generalia, illorum abun¬ dantia vestram inopiam suppleat. Secundo, quia non egebant Corinthii, ut mitterentur eis prEedicatores ex Hierusalem, jam enim plene instituti erant. Nam I Cor. i. legimus de Corinthiis : Jam divites facti estis in Chri¬ sto , in omni verbo, et in omni scientia ; et in hoc ipso cap. vm Epistolfe secundae : sicut (1) Ii Cor. VIII, 14. - (2; I Cor. IX, 11. CAPUT 80 inquit, Paulus, in omnibus abundatis, fide, et sermone, et scientia eic. (1). Tertio, quia vete¬ res Patres non exponunt hanc abundantiam spiritualem Hierosolymitanorum, de praedi¬ catione verbi, ut vellet Ivemnitius, sed de meritis, et precibus. Ghrysostomus in hunc locum, dicit Hierosolymitanos abundasse integritate vitae, libertate, et fiducia ad Deum, et horum bonorum futuros participes Corinthios, si eleemosynam pecuniariam, qua ipsi tunc abundabant, Hierosolymam misissent. Nec multo aliter exponunt Theo- doretus, et Theophylactus, et alii veteres Graeci. S. Thomas exponit de precibus, ut sit sensus, Corinthios fore participes oratio¬ num, quas Hierosolymitani fundunt ad Deum, si eos bonorum suorum temporalium participes fecerint. Haymo in hunc locum addit etiam jejunium inter opera spiritualia Hierosolymitanorum, quorum participes erant futuri Corinthii, si eleemosynis illis adjuvissent : quam explicationem insinuare videtur Apostolus in eodem cap. vm. extre¬ mo, cum ait : « Ministerium hujus officii, non solum supplet ea, quae desunt sanctis ; sed etiam abundat per multas gratiarum ac¬ tiones in Domino, per probationem ministe¬ rii hujus glorificantes Deum in obedientia confessionis vestrae in evangelio Christi, et simplicitate communicationis vestrae in illos, et in omnes, et in ipsorum obsecratione pro vobis ». Sed de his satis, non enim in hoc testimonio fundamentum indulgentiarum praecipue consistit.