Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/251

Rh our life here on earth becomes when we comprehend its relationship, not merely with the future, but also with departed generations.

It is likewise a requirement of a sense of justice and sound reason, that an intermediate state, and an intermediate time should be afforded for the millions of imperfect souls, who leave this earth before their final dwellings are decided as a consequence of their actions here. The most ancient dogmas of the human race have accepted this belief, and Christianity has not contradicted this or other doctrines, which proceed from time immemorial out of the depths of human consciousness. Christianity has taught us to know God, the imperishable life of our own being, and the inability of death to destroy it. On this we needed enlightenment, and that is enough.

The doctrine of Indulgences, on which I found an inexplicable chaos of opinions—amongst which Catholics themselves hold the most opposite—may have truth for its basis, in so far that the eternal, universal church—but which is not the Pontifical!—has the right to deliver the repentant sinner from punishment, the right to give him power also to effect the deliverance of others. This also is a spiritual law of nature because it is a law of justice and love. The Roman Catholic church, however, has changed this doctrine of spirit and truth to a dead mechanism, an arbitrary system of pardon wholly unconnected with moral and spiritual order. Nor is this to be wondered at, when even its idea of the church has become a petrification. For, according to this idea, it is not they who are living in the spirit of Christ who