340 Causes which contributed to a belief in Purgatory.

the other places spoken of, would, if properly authenticated, make more converts to their faith, than any mere arguments or expositions they could use. They profess an anxiety to make converts, and if it is so, it must appear very unaccountable their keeping secret what must produce immediate conviction in others. Their silence on this not only prevents Protestants joining in the belief, but furnishes them with good grounds for esteeming the whole theory got up for the temporal benefits of the church which cherishes it. They might, indeed, as well bid us credit, on their bare assertion, that they knew what was doing in the moon; and if they did, many would rather believe them than that they knew what is going on in a place so completely out of sight as Purgatory.

Among the legends of the Church of Rome, the necessity of a belief in spiritual couriers had not been entirely forgotten to be referred to, but there are none of a regular post. We are told, indeed, of extraordinary messengers now and then as having arrived in haste, but it generally was on their private business, being the souls of men themselves, who are said to have on emergencies come back on a short leave of absence, in visible forms like their former selves, or at least with audible voices, to demand the masses which were to shorten their purgation, or to bear witness to the efficacy of those which had been said towards expediting their progress to heaven !!

*

The doctrine of Purgatory was concocted and received at first into the church in an age of the blindest ignorance and superstition, which has been since the beginning of the Christian era. It continued to flourish unquestioned when mental darkness in a great degree overspread the earth, while the Scriptures, where it was pretended to be found, were sealed up from all but the clergy, who waived anathe

See some Monkish fables of this kind in Picart's Diss. on the Chris. Religion according to the principles of the Roman Catholics, (Vol. II. p. 98.) and such are still to be found in many Popish religious works in present circulation.

mas in one hand, with absolutions and passports to heaven in the other, as the infallible standards of their power: with torture at their command for the body while on earth, and imaginary fire under their control for the soul when it escaped them here, they were enabled to enforce a belief that they ruled in the unseen world of separate spirits as absolutely as they did in this sublunary sphere, knowing equally well (if their own words were to be taken) what is doing in both. In the hidden dungeons of the fearful Inquisition, there were unanswerable arguments shown and enforced upon trembling disbelievers, but not always so strongly as to convince when the light of day again shone upon these unfortunate victims of the most diabolical cruelty.*

Even a Pope could not help disbelieving in the Purgatory of his church, as we find from a Roman Catholic author, Du Pin, de Antiqua Ecclesiæ Disciplina Dissertationes Historice, where an account is given of Pope John XXII. as a great assertor of the doctrine of a middle state, yet not a purgatorial one. It is true, Du Pin calls it an error of his Holiness, and tells us that he retracted it at the solicitation of his friends, when he was dying, yet this author owns that the Pope was once well persuaded of the truth of his belief, that the middle state of souls was quite different from their being in such a place as Purgatory is described, and that he was once at great pains to propagate his own ideas of it, but

*To try and to execute a living man for heresy, real or pretended, was not held to be the extent of their powers; for they impiously assumed the office of the Divine Judge, and tried men after they were dead!! If found guilty, (no difficult matter, when none durst contradict the Holy Inquisition,) their effigies and their bones, if procurable, were burned, and (a very important part of the sentence) their property left behind was confiscated for the use of the Church, whose members were the accusers, judges, and sharers in the profits of conviction of those whose souls are probably in paradise! The force of human folly, or lawless rapacity and impiety could scarcely go farther. Shall we join a Church, then, which insists on such credulity and such doctrines, as she insidiously advises us to do? God forbid!

See Picart's Hist. Memoirs relating to the Inquisition.

no foundation whatever in truth and nature. The poor man must be understood to have been good, but there is nothing said of him in the parable, from which we can infer that he was singularly so: and he was no martyr. Yet when he died, he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom ! A Papist could show that this must have been a mistake, for that the soul of Lazarus must have been carried to Limbus, and only to have been liberated from thence on the resurrection of our Saviour; his being said to be taken to Abraham's bosom was evidently intended to represent the natural course of all good, or blessed souls after death, and where he was, there were Abraham's and all the spirits of the ancient Fathers-in the Paradise of the Middle State.

It is plain that the Apostles knew nothing of an intermediate state of purification to good men, but believed that no sooner were the spirits of the good absent from their bodies than they were present with the Lord,-that must be to say, (consistently with other passages,) would be then at all times conscious of the more immediate manifestations of his power, and see more clearly the scheme of redemption. His presence in these regions may also, at least, at times, cheer them, to calm their impatience for his open acknowledgment of them before an assembled world, when the trumpet shall proclaim the day of judgment,*

If St. John knew of Purgatory, we know not what to make of his declaration in the Book of Revelation in particular, when he says,-"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." And this, he tells us, he heard by a voice from heaven, saying unto him, "Write." But this declaration, in

According to the Book of Wisdom, (which is canonical at Rome,) "the souls of the faithful are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them." Whereas, on the contrary, the souls of the righteous, (as in that class, however low down they must be,) for which the Church of Rome prays, are in torment excruciating, suffering the fire of purgatory, from which their prayers and alms, &c. are intended to deliver them.

Bishop Jolly's Christian Sacrifice, p. 149. Note.

order to be reconcileable with the new doctrine which we have been considering, (for it is new in comparison with the Christian Scriptures,) should have run thus: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, but not from henceforth; for they shall not rest from their labours, nor shall their works follow them, till by suffering the pains of Purgatory for a time, they shall be purified, and thus fitted for dwelling with the sainted spirits who rest in peace and joy, and are represented as loudly expressing their happiness." If this be a just interpretation of the communication from heaven, it affords poor consolation indeed under the trials and sorrows of life to those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith in his Son.

A belief in Purgatory rests mainly upon a preceding judgment, which we have already considered, and shown to be without foundation. I call upon the Roman Clergy to show how they know or think that Christ is now sitting for the trials of departed souls, and how this is at all consistent with their admission, that instead of judging any as yet, He is continuing to intercede for us, as our High Priest, with the Father?

Neither Scripture, tradition, nor reason, can here bring a reconciliation between Christ being at one and the same time judging and mediating. Let the advocates for Purgatory answer this objection directly and unequivocally if they

can.

In Gallitzin's Exposition of the Creed-after quoting the words" He ascended into heaven; sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,"-it is said-" there his merits are continually pleading in our behalf, there he is our High Priest for ever"-" there he continually guides and protects his church, being with his ministers to the end of the world; protecting them against the spirit of error and darkness, according to his repeated promises”—“ FROM THENCE he shall come to judge the living and the dead”– "to give everlasting life”—“ and to punish," &c.†

* Matt. xxviii.-John xvi. 13, &c. + Defence of Catholic principles.

It is perfectly scriptural that our Saviour now mediates, and that he shall continue to do so until the time for universal trial, sentence, and execution. A previous judgment, therefore, is untrue, and so must Purgatory.

From what has now been said, it must be clear that whether a Middle State be admitted or not, there may be such a one as has been described, and still in nowise similar to the unfounded fancy of Purgatory. A belief in the one, therefore, does not imply a belief in the other, as they are quite different in the natures ascribed to them. The latter state has been here distinctly refuted on many grounds and considerations, some of which have never before been pointed out, and a true view of the controversy rendered distinct to every capacity.