The Absolution of Sin, circa 1805
by Jimmy Hopper
I am currently reading a book called Memoirs of a Fighting Captain by Admiral Thomas Lord Cochran (hope I did that right!) He was a captain and later an admiral in the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars. Cochran served as the model for Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower in the two series of novels by Patrick O’Brien and C.S. Forester. You may remember that the Aubrey character was played by Russell Crowe in the Master and Commander movie. The quote below was on the occasion of Cochran examining the cargo of a Spanish ship captured on the way from Mexico to Spain about 1805 .
“Another curious circumstance must not be passed over. In one of the captured vessels was a number of bales marked ‘invendables’. Making sure of some rich prize, we opened the bales, which to our chagrin consisted of pope’s bulls, dispensations for eating meat on Fridays, and indulgences for peccadilloes of all kinds, with the price affixed. They had evidently formed a venture from Spain to the Mexican sin market, but the supply exceeding the demand, had been reconsigned to the manufacturers. We consigned them to the waves.”
I thought this was absolutely hilarious, especially the “Mexican sin market” quote. On another note, however, how could anyone ever dare conceive of the idea of selling God’s forgiveness of sin, already purchased through the death of His Son? And they call modern Americans mercenary!
Posted by Jimmy Hopper at February 10, 2007 11:05 AM