Pardoner

Definition and stakes

Portrait of Stephen Charnock Stephen Charnock,  The Existence and Attributes of God…

“ Nothing is so capable of setting the soul in a heavenly tune, as the consideration of God as a pardoner and as a healer.
5. Where sin is pardoned, the punishment is remitted (ver. 3, 4) : “Who forgives all thy iniquities, and redeems thy life from destruction.” A malefactor’s pardon puts an end to his chains, frees him from the stench of the dungeon, and fear of the gibbet. Pardon is nothing else but the remitting of guilt, and guilt is nothing else but an obligation to punishment as a penal debt for sin. A creditor’s tearing a bond frees the debtor from payment and rigor.
”
Source: Gutenberg

A Select Collection of Old English Plays…

“ Had as much pardon there assuredly,
As ye can promise me here doubtfully.
Howbeit, I think ye do but scoff: [373]
But if ye had all the pardon ye speak [374] of,
And no whit of pardon granted
In any place where I have haunted:
Yet of my labour I nothing repent;
God hath respect how each time is spent;
And as in his knowledge all is regarded,
So by his goodness all is rewarded.
PARDONER. By the [375] first part of this last tale,
It seemeth ye came of late [376] from the ale.
For reason on your side so far doth fail,
That ye leave reasoning, [377] and begin to rail.
”
Source: Gutenberg

Portrait of Henry Charles Lea Henry Charles Lea,  A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages…

“ A more demoralizing system of indulgences was that of sending out “quaestuarii,” or pardoners, sometimes furnished with relics, by a church or hospital in need of money, and sometimes merely carrying papal or episcopal letters, by which they were authorized to issue pardons for sin in return for contributions. Though these letters were cautiously framed, yet they were ambiguous enough to enable the pardoners to promise, not only the salvation of the living, but the liberation of the damned from hell for a few small coins. ”
Source: Gutenberg

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature