Against the treasury: the saints’ suffrages are already assigned, and the clause in the bulls makes them superfluous

Third, because the blessed see continually in the Word those whom their merits will profit, just as God from eternity, of necessity, assignedlimitare; limites: to assign (an office); limits whom they will profit.¹ Now God does nothing superfluous or discordant; therefore he did not leave to his vicars power for distributing these suffragessuffragia: suffrages. I say "superfluous", because by the very fact that God ordains or assigns that a saint’s suffrage will profit this one or that one, by that very fact it will so profit and not otherwise, however the popepapa: pope may have decreed. Therefore it would be wholly superfluous to leave to the pope a distributive power of this kind; for it does not make sense that God’s eternal ordinanceordinacio; ordinancia: ordinance; of the sacrament, ordination, his beneficent regard or God’s just rewarding should depend on the decree of the pope 569in such things; so a power through whose office neither more nor less would come about would be superfluous.² Again, God for no magnificence of papal power prejudices his own justice; now this would come about if that power were granted; therefore it is not to be feigned. The minor is proved thus: the pope, like the whole church militantecclesia militans / triumphans / dormiens: the church militant / triumphant / sleeping, errs in many things that concern the divine judgment and the state of the church triumphant; now among other secrets of this kind this is one: who is worthy of how much ecclesiastical suffrage before God; therefore it may be that the pope commonly errs in such things.³ Therefore, then, one must grant either that, by the very fact that the pope grants someone so great an indulgenceindulgencie: indulgences, by that very fact he will have it so; or else that, notwithstanding the pope’s grantconcessio: grant, he will share precisely as much as he shall have been worthy with God; or else that the pope understands this condition generally in every grant of his, as he must.⁴ The first part is wholly impossible, implying that that pope cannot sin or err, and so the pope by himself would qualify and justify a subject before God; which it would be blasphemous to say. Therefore the second way and the third remain to be granted; but it is evident that there is no need to acquire such bulls at great cost, because, with them taken away, a man will share in merit precisely as much as he shall have been qualifiedhabilis / habilitas: qualified / qualification with God.⁵ And as to the clause placed in the bulls, that so much spiritual suffrage is given to those truly contrite and worthy before God, or that one is absolved of as much as the keys of the church, not erring, have permitted, it seems that any faithful man would have this privilegeprivilegium / privilegiare / privilegiacio: privilege / to privilege / privileging without a bull, and that any priestsacerdos / presbiter: priest / presbyter could absolve to that extent; and so the absolution from 570punishment and guilt, introduced into the opinion of the people, would be a seducer of the simple; and each conclusion would follow which the doctor left as an absurdityinconveniencia; inconveniens: CONTEXTUAL: an absurdity (in argument) · troubles, ill consequences (in affairs), namely that without any such indulgence one worthy before God would obtain remission proportionally, and that indulgences would commonly be made for the whole churchecclesia: church.⁶ For the pope ought first to aim at the profit of the whole church, and to leave the distribution of reward to the divine judgment, as he must. From which it seems that it is not, on either side, very meritorious to press the pope for the acquiring of indulgences of this kind; because either one must say that by reason of this occupation a man becomes worthier before God than he would be by omitting such urginginstancia; objectum: objection, or else that for having the desiredaffectare: to desire indulgence the papal grant or bull would be indifferent.⁷ The first will not be granted, for three reasons: first, because the apostles, whom the Holy Spirit taught all truth, would culpably have omitted so meritorious an occupation for obtainingimpetrare: obtain (by request) indulgences; secondly, because then the pope would prolong grants of this kind, so that the subject might continue longer in so meritorious a life; and thirdly, when all diligence had been done, it would avail the petitioner as much not to have the pope’s grant or bull as for the pope to grant or to bull [it]; and the third member would follow, which the many offices of the papal clerks would condemn. We can think out many such evidencesevidencia: evidence, through whose objections and solutions catholic truth may be declared.⁸