venial; as many Christians do, who, either by sudden death, or otherwise, are taken out of this life before they have repented for these ordinary failings. 2dly, Such as having been formerly guilty of greater sins, have not made full satisfaction for them to divine justice.

“Q. Why do you say that those who die guilty of lesser sins go to purgatory?

"A. Because such as depart this life before they have repented of these venial frailties and imperfections, cannot be supposed to be condemned to the eternal torments of hell, since the sins of which they are guilty are but small, which even God's best servants are liable to. Nor can they go straight to heaven in this state, because the scriptures assure us, Rev. xxi. 27, there shall in no wise enter thither any thing that defileth. Now every sin, be it ever so small, certainly defileth the soul. Hence our Saviour assures us that we are to give an account for every idle word. Matt. xii. 36."

The above is a plain statement of the doctrine of purgatory, as laid down by authority of Pope Pius the Fourth. There is then an attempt to prove the doctrine from " scripture, tradition, and reason." I shall examine his holiness' scriptural proofs by and by; those from tradition are scarcely worth examining; and as the argument from reason is comprehended in the answer to one question, I shall give it here, and trust to the reason of every protestant reader to furnish a sufficient answer.

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Q. How do you ground the belief of purgatory upon reason?

A. Because reason clearly teaches those two things: 1st, That all and every sin, how small soever, deserves punishment: 2dly, That some sins are so small, either through the levity of the matter, or for want of full deliberation in the actor, as not to deserve eternal punishment. From whence it is plain, that besides the place of eternal punishment, which we call hell, there must be also a place of temporal punishment for such as die in little sins, and this we call purgatory."

Mr. Gother, who is an oracle among modern Papists, in his work entitled, "The Papist Misrepresented and Represented," writes thus of his true Papist, for it did not occur to him that this was a term of reproach, or that his sect had an exclusive right to the term " Catholic:" "His reason convinces him that there must be some third place, for, since the infinite goodness of God can admit nothing into heaven which is not clean, and pure from all sin, both great and small; and his infinite justice can permit none to receive the reward of bliss, who, as yet, are not out of debt, but have something in justice to suffer; there must of necessity be some place or state where souls departing this life, pardoned as to the eternal guilt or pain, yet obnoxious to some temporal penalty, or with the guilt of some venial faults, are purged and purified before their admittance into heaven. And this is what he is taught concerning purgatory; which, though he knows not where it is, of what nature the pains are, or how long each soul is detained there; yet he believes, that those that are in this place, being the living members of Jesus Christ, are relieved by the prayers of their fellow members here on earth, as also by alms and masses offered up to God for their souls. And as for such as have no relations or friends to pray for them, or give alms, or procure masses for their relief, they are not neglected by the church, which makes a general commemoration of all the faithful

departed in every mass, and in every one of the canonical hours of the divine office."

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So much for the oracle of our English Papists. Let us hear now what another great author says, namely, Alexander Natalis, (In Dissert. 4. Dissert. 41, p. 352.) He distinguishes what is of faith in this matter and what not, and thus resolves: That it does not at all belong to faith, 1st, Concerning the place, whether it be in this world, or upon earth, or in the dark air, where the devils are; or in the hell of the damned; or in some place underneath, nearer the earth, that the souls are purged. 2dly, Concerning the quality of those sensible pains which the souls held in purgatory undergo; whether it be true or corporeal fire, or whether darkness and sorrow, or any other torment and sorrow inflicted by the justice of God, punishing them after a wonderful and yet true manner. 3dly, Concerning the duration of these purgatory pains, how long the souls are detained there. For though Soro thought that no soul continued in purgatory above ten years, yet it is a matter altogether uncertain, how many years those pains shall last." See Preservative against Popery, Title viii. cap. vi. page 116.

Though the above learned writer does not pretend to say what sort of pains they are, which are suffered in purgatory, the catechism set out by order of the council of Trent, determines concerning the pains themselves, that they are caused by fire. There is," says Catechismus ad Parochos, "a purgatory fire, in which the souls of the faithful being tormented for a certain time, are expiated; that so a passage may be opened for them into the eternal country, into which no defiled thing can enter." Part i. Art. v. Sect. 5.

The holy and angelic doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, is yet more explicit. He tells us "not only that it is fire, in which the souls are tormented, but that it is the very same fire that torments the damned in hell, and the just in purgatory. And Bellarmine himself confesses, that almost all their divines teach, that the damned, and the souls in purgatory, are tormented in the same fire, and in the same place." Preservative, &c. as above, in which the works are referred to.

But I shall ascend as usual to the highest authority. I am so happy as to be in the possession of an authentic edition of the canons of the council of Trent, printed at Antwerp, 1677. As the work is in few hands, I shall give the very words of that high ecumenical council, with a literal translation, by which my readers will be made acquainted with the genuine infallible doctrine of the church of Rome, on this subject.

SESSIO XXV.

QUÆ EST NONA ET ULTIMA,

SUB PIO IV. PONT. MAX. CŒPTA DIE III. ABSOLUTA DIE IV. DECEM, M. D. LXIII.

Decretum de Purgatorio.

CUM Catholica Ecclesia, Spiritu Sancto edocta, ex sacris litteris, et antiqua Patrum traditione, in sacris Conciliis, et novissimè in hac œcumenica Synodo docuerit. (a) Purgatorium esse; animasque ibi detentas, fidelium suffragiis, potissimum verò acceptabili altaris sacrificio juvari præcipit sancta Synodus Episcopis, ut sanam de Purgatorio doc

(a) Sup. Sess. 6, Can. 30, et Sess. 22, cap. 2, et Can. 3.

trinam, (b) à sanctis Patribus (c) et sacris Conciliis traditam, â Christi fidelibus credi, teneri, doceri, et ubique prædicari diligenter studeant. Apud rudem verò plebem difficiliores ac subtiliores quæstiones, (d) quæque ad ædificationem non faciunt, et ex quibus plerumque nulla fit pietatis accessio, à popularibus concionibus secludantur. (e) Incerta item, vel quæ specie falsi laborant, evulgari ac tractari non permittant. Ea vero quæ ad curiositatem quamdam aut superstitionem spectant, vel turpe lucrum sapiunt, tamquam scandala et fidelium offendicula prohibeant. (f) Current autem Episcopi, ut fidelium vivorum suffragia, Missarum scilicet sacrificia, orationes, eleemosynæ, aliaque pietatis opera, quæ à fidelibus pro aliis fidelibus defunctis fieri consueverunt, secundùm Ecclesiæ instituta piè et devotè fiant; et quæ pro illis ex testatorum fundationibus, vel alia ratione debentur, non perfunctoriè, sed à sacerdotibus, et Ecclesiæ ministris, et aliis, qui hoc præstare tenentur diligenter et accuratè persolvantur."

COUNCIL OF TRENT, SESSION XXV.

Being the ninth and last under Pius IV. begun on the 3d, and ended on the 4th December, 1563.

DECREE CONCERNING PURGATORY.

"As the Catholic church, instructed by the Holy Spirit, from the sacred writings, and the ancient tradition of the fathers, hath taught in its sacred councils, and lastly, in this ecumenical synod, that there is a purgatory, and that the souls there confined are relieved by the suffrages of the faithful, but more especially by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar; the holy synod instructs the bishops, that they should pay attention, that the sound doctrine concerning purgatory, as delivered by the holy fathers and the sacred councils, be, by the faithful in Christ, believed, held, taught, and every where diligently preached. But that among uninformed people, the more difficult and subtle questions, which tend not to edification, and from which there is in general no increase of piety, be excluded from all popular addresses. Also, that they do not allow doubtful matters, or such as labour under the appearance of falsity, to be talked of and discussed. But that they prohibit those things which have reference only to a certain curiosity or superstition, or which savour of filthy lucre, as scandals and causes of some offence to the faithful. But let the bishops take care, that the suffrages of the faithful who are alive, namely, the sacrifices of the mass, orations, acts of charity, and other pious deeds, which it has been customary for the faithful to perform on behalf of the other faithful who are dead, should be piously and devoutly performed according to the institutions of the church; and that those (religious services) which may be owing on the behalf of such, to the legacies of testators, or on any other account, be, by the priests, ministers of the church, and others, whose duty it is to perform those matters not slightly, but diligently and accurately discharged."

I return now to my first authority above cited, to wit, the Douay Catechism; and I shall begin with some remarks on the passages of

(b) c. Qualis, et seq. Dist. 25. (c) Conc. Floren. Ses. ult. in fin. (d) 1 Tim. 1. (e) Concil. Later. Sub Leone X. (f) Infr. cap. 4, de ref.

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scripture, which are alleged in support of the doctrine of purgatory. The first is, Matt. xii. 32. There is a sin that will not be forgiven in this world, nor in the world to come. From this the grave doctors introduce St. Augustine, as arguing, that there must be some sins which are forgiven in the world to come, and as there is no forgiveness in heaven or hell, it must be in purgatory. Great men, we see, can draw great conclusions from very slight premises. Men of ordinary capacity could never find out, from the declaration, that there is one sin which shall not be forgiven in this world or the next; that there are many sins which shall be forgiven in the world to come; and that there is a place for the purpose, which belongs to neither this world nor the next; but, which hangs between the two, like Mahomet's coffin, between the earth and heaven.

Our Lord's words evidently mean no more, than that for the sin in question, there was no forgiveness, either here or hereafter. The words as recorded by Mark are, He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness," chap. iii. 29. According to Luke xii. 10, it is simply, he shall not be forgiven. What stronger expressions could be used, than shall not, shall never be forgiven? But this has no connexion with the subject of purgatory, unless it be taken as a general declaration, that sins which are not forgiven in this world, shall not be forgiven at all, and then it overthrows the doctrine of pur gatory altogether.

In Jewish phraseology, the expression, "world to come," signified the kingdom or reign of the Messiah. It is under this that we live. The church is under a very different sort of administration from that of the old covenant. The Jews expected a great change when the Messiah should come; but he told them that the sin against the Holy Ghost should not be forgiven under the future, any more than under the present, administration of his kingdom; which is, indeed, as much as to say, it shall not be forgiven for ever.

Want of room obliges to defer a farther exposure of the weakness of the proof of purgatory from scripture. The subject will come before us again.

CHAPTER LXXVI.

PURGATORY NOT A PLACE WHERE SINS ARE REMITTED, BUT WHERE THEY ARE PUNISHED. ANTIQUITY OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY. DERIVED FROM THE HEATHEN. HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. DOCTRINE OF CHRIST CONTRASTED WITH THE NOTION OF A PURGATORY.

SATURDAY, December 25th, 1819. My last number broke off in the middle of my reply to what the Douay doctors gave as scripture authority for their doctrine concerning purgatory. They argue, that there is one sin of which it is declared, it shall not be forgiven in the world to come; therefore, other sins shall be forgiven in the future world. I have already shown that the conclusion is not contained in the premises; but though it were, it would have nothing to do with purgatory, which is not a place of forgiveness, but a place of punishment. Sins which are forgiven are not punished; and sins which are punished are not forgiven. On this

subject I cannot express myself better than in the nervous language of Archbishop Wake:

"But what have we here to do with the remission of sins? Purgatory is a place, not where sins are remitted, but where they are punished with the greatest severity; nay, what is still more, punished after they are remitted; nay, what is still more extraordinary, therefore punished because they are remitted. For if the guilt were not remitted, the sinner could not go to purgatory, nor have the favour of being punished there. And therefore it is utterly impertinent, from the remission of some sins in the world to come, to conclude, that there is a place where all sins, even the least, are exacted; and that so rigidly, that there is no escaping thence, till, either by themselves or their friends, they have paid the very uttermost farthing." Preservative, &c. Tit. viii. page 120.

The next scripture authority which the Douay doctors bring forward in support of their purgatory, is 1 Cor. iii. 15. "Saved so as by fire." Let any man of ordinary understanding read the entire passage, and he will see that it does not contain the most distant allusion to a middle state between this world and the next. Besides, it is not said that a man shall be saved by fire; but so as by fire. The apostle had been speaking of metals. Fire is the instrument by which these are tried, and purified, and separated from things of a gross and more perishable nature. Now, if any Christian were to lose sight of the foundation of his hope, or so far forget the character of that foundation, as to build improper things upon it, God would, by some trying dispensation, destroy his work. He would suffer the loss of all his labour; and so, as by fire the dross is separated from the gold, he would be separated and saved from his errors and corruptions. Whether this will be considered a satisfactory view of a difficult passage, I cannot tell, but it seems very evident that it has nothing to do with purgatory.

These are all the passages of scripture which the Douay Catechism adduces in support of purgatory. In other popish books there are many other passages wrested from their true meaning, in order to prop up this profitable piece of imposition, some of which may come to be discussed before I have done with the subject.

Some of the errors of the church of Rome are mere novelties; others are of more ancient date. Transubstantiation belongs to the former, as it was not publicly acknowledged as a doctrine of the church, till some ages after the tenth century, which has been called the age of lead; but the doctrine of purgatory is of much greater antiquity: and it will not be difficult to show, that it is more ancient than Christianity itself, meaning, by Christianity, the New Testament dispensation; though, properly speaking, Christianity is as old as the creation, at least as old as the promise of God to Adam and Eve, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent.

Papists lay great stress upon the antiquity of their doctrines and practices; and we must allow that they have antiquity to plead on behalf of their purgatory. When captious Papists have asked us, "Where was your religion before Luther?" we have been accustomed to reply, In the New Testament;" and this is the truth: and when we ask of Papists, "Where was your purgatory before Gregory