abstinence reduced me so much that I was unable to attend to what was called the duties of the altar. At length I resolved, if possible, to find out what I had been guilty of; for my knees were too sore to allow me to kneel any more without severe pain. At the end of three weeks I took courage, and humbly asked my ghostly father, What is the crime for which I was thus punished? To which he replied, You have been guilty of speaking irreverently to Father O'Gorman, and the penance was to humble you, and keep you on your right course of duty.'

6

As

"Now my great crime of irreverence committed against the priest, Michael O'Gorman, was this: That priest forcibly took away my Bible, and cast it into the fire, with the notes on the Douay Testament. I was much displeased and grieved at his burning my Bible, I told him of it, and said, 'I do not thank you for such treatment.' That was my sin against the popish priest, and that was my terrible punishment.

"T. HOGAN."

For voluntary drunkenness, without scandal, Dens recommends the following penance: "That he would read for two days the psalm Miserere, on his knees; that he would fast twice in the week; and that he would distribute to the poor twice as much as he hath spent in drink. But if he be a poor man and a labourer, he is to recite, for three successive days, on his knees, five paters and aves; for two days, not to drink any thing before noon, and in the evening to eat only half a meal; on the two next Sundays not to enter the church; but after midday he may go to preaching or to praises."* Our author seems to have no idea of teaching his penitent to turn from his sin and avoid the occasion of it, as well as to look up to God for grace to enable him to do so. He directs him to have recourse to expedients, which are nothing more, in the way in which such things are used, than charms, or spells, or incantations; because the guilty person is not pointed to the right way to get rid of drunkenness, nor to the right source for aid, but he is directed to paters, aves, and other such things, very much like the charmers or spellers who had certain amulets to apply in the place of true remedies. The plan of reformation recommended by Dens is, therefore, more like the incantations of a magician than the sound doctrines of the gospel.

18. Let us examine the testimony of the fathers on this subject. It must be owned that Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, and Augustine, speak of our making satisfaction to God by the temporal pains which we endure. To this we answer, that if they use the term satisfaction in the Roman Catholic sense, we affirm that their grossly unscriptural language merely shows how soon and how easily a specious and flattering corruption crept into the church. But it is doubted whether this is their meaning. It is certain that in the idioms of both Greek and Latin the same phrase signifies indifferently, to give satisfaction, and to suffer punishment. This seems to be the true key to the phraseology employed by certain fathers. When they speak of men's making satisfaction to God for their sins, they mean, not that their pains were meritorious, but that sin will be attended by merited punishment.

Be this as it may, if we are to be guided by the fathers, we must

* Ut legat duobus diebus psalmum Miserere, &c.-Theol. de Satisfac., No. 179, vol. vi, p. 266.

prefer the authority of the apostolic fathers. The testimony, therefore, of Paul's fellow-labourer, the Roman Clement, is of far more weight than the later evidence of Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, or Augustine. "All," says Clement, " are glorified and magnified, not through themselves, or through their own works, or through the righteous deeds which they have done, but through the will of God. We, therefore, being called through his will in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves, or through our own wisdom, or intellect, or piety, or the works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but through faith, by which the Almighty God hath justified all from everlasting. To him be glory and honour through all ages. What then shall we do, brethren? Shall we be slothful from good deeds, and shall we desert the faith? The Lord forbid such to be our case! Rather let us hasten, with all vehemence and alacrity, to accomplish every good work."* It is difficult to believe that the man who wrote thus could hold to meritorious satisfaction to be made to God, either by holy deeds or sufferings. In the days of Clement, such satisfactions as are taught by the Church of Rome were unknown in the Catholic Church.

St. Jerome, in his commentary on Matt. xvi, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth," &c., says: "Some priests and bishops of the new law, understanding not the sense of these words, do imitate the pride of the Pharisees, by ascribing to themselves a power to condemn the innocent and to absolve the guilty. But God doth not so much consider the sentence of the priest as the life of the penitent. And as the Levites did not cleanse the lepers, but only separated those that were cleansed from those that were not, by the knowledge which they had of the leprosy; even so the bishop or the priest doth not bind those that are innocent and loose the guilty; but, having heard the difference of sins, he knows whom to bind and whom to loose, in the discharge of his ministry."

Isodore defines satisfaction to be "an exclusion of the causes and occasions of sinning, and a cessation from sinning." This is nearly the same with Augustine's definition, who says: "Satisfaction is to cut off the causes of sins, and to allow no entrance to their suggestions."† St. Ambrose saith: "Of tears I read; to make satisfaction I read not." Such declarations as these do not well correspond with the doctrine of satisfaction as held by the Church of Rome.

In the second Council of Chalons, held in the year 813, the following canon (33d) was passed, which goes to prove that in the commencement of the ninth century the sacrament of penance did not exist: "Some say that we ought to confess our sins to God alone; others affirm that they ought to be confessed to priests. Both are done with great benefit in the holy church, so that we confess our sins to God, who does forgive them; and according to the apostles' institution, we confess them to each other, and pray for each other, that we may be saved. So the confession which is made to God purges from sins; and that which is made to the priest informs us how we ought to be purged from them: for God is the author of our salvation, and grants it

Clem. Rom. Epist ad Corinth. i, sec. 32, 33.

+"Satisfactio est peccatorum causas excindere, et eorum suggestionibus, nullum aditum indulgere."-Aug. de Dog. Eccl., c. 54. + Ambr. in Luc., Ser. 46.

us, sometimes in an invisible manner, by his omnipotence, and sometimes by the operation of physicians.'

Indeed, many enlightened and candid, nay, even bigoted Roman Catholics, are forced to acknowledge that penances in the Church of Rome are very different from those enjoined in the primitive church, and those mentioned by many of the ancient fathers. M. Du Pin, speaking of the age of Charlemagne, which was toward the end of the eighth century, says: "Public penance was in use yet, but not with the same rigour as in the former ages. They never denied the communion to dying persons. Secret confessions were frequent." According to him, secret confession was not general, and public penance was yet in use; from which it appears that the sacrament of penance had not yet been established. The same excellent author, in his Observations on the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the tenth Century, declares: "Public penance was still in use, but very rarely practised, and the canonical discipline was enervated by the redemption of penances, which was then introduced." Thus the ancient canonical penance was changed in the tenth century, to a great extent, to penances, which were then introduced. Indeed, auricular confession and the other component parts of the sacrament of penance, so called, did not exist in the first ages of Christianity, and can date no higher authority than the Lateran Council under innocent III., anno 1215, or the Council of Trent, which is of much later date. Dens acknowledges that "the rigour of ecclesiastical discipline had ceased."

*See Du Pin on this council, Ecc. Hist., vol. ii, p. 106.

Ecc. Hist., Life of Charlemagne, vol. ii, p. 46.

Ecc. Hist., vol. ii, p. 192.

De Satisf., No. 179, vol. vi, p. 267.

"Deinde ista," &c.

1

CHAPTER XII.

PURGATORY.

I. STATEMENT OF THEIR DOCTRINE. 1. Introductory remark: 2. Their authors cited. Creed of Pius IV. Dens. Council of Trent. The Roman Catechism. The Douay Catechism. Caution of the Roman Catechism: 3. Enumeration of the points embraced in the foregoing quotations.-II. PURGATORY IS WITHOUT FOUNDATION IN SCRIPTURE. 1. Some Roman Catholics allow it is not supported by Scripture: 2. Not proved by Isa. xxii, 14: 3. Nor Matt. v, 25, 26: 4. Nor Matt. xii, 32: 5. Nor by Psa. xii, 12; Matt. xvi, 27, &c.: 6. Nor 1 Cor. iii, 12-15: 7. Nor 1 Pet. iii, 18, 19, 20. -III. THE ARGUMENTS BROUGHT TO PROVE IT CONSIDERED. 1. Bishop Hay's argument answered: 2. Their arguments are dubious at best: 3. Dr. A. Clarke cited. 4. Argument from the heathen poets considered.-IV. SCRIPTURE IS AGAINST THE DOCTRINE. 1. Only two characters are mentioned: 2. The thief on the cross: 3. Case of the rich man and Lazarus: 4. Rev. xiv. 13: 5. Many texts inconsistent with it: 6. It is inconsistent with justification by faith: 7. Is contrary to the complete redemption of Christ: 8. Is derogatory to the office of the Spirit.-V. TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS. 1. Some general remarks. The earlier fathers did not teach it: (1.) None or few of the Greek fathers mention it; (2.) Though the fathers often pray for the dead, they never pray for their deliverance out of purgatory; (3.) In what sense they mention fire as connected with futurity; (4.) Their sentiment subversive of it; (5.) The sentiment was never avowed as an article of faith, or of apostolical tradition. Three reasons for this: 2. Their testimony examined. Polycarp omits it. Ignatius. Irenæus. Justin Martyr. Cyprian. Chrysostom. Tertullian. Epiphanius. Gregory Nazianzen. Ambrose. Ephræm, the Syrian. Augustine. Origen: 3. Many Romanists allow that the doctrine of purgatory did not exist in the primitive church: 4. Sentiments of the Greek Church considered.-VI. PRAYING FOR THE DEAD, AS CONNECTED WITH PURGATORY.-VII. ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND ESTABLISHMENT. 1. The Roman Catholic boast is vain concerning the antiquity of their religion: 2. Plato's division of men into three classes: 3. They follow the errors of the heathen in this point: 4. But the early Christians did not receive the doctrine: 5. State of the question in the twelfth century.-VIII. ITS ABSURDITIES AND BAD CONSEQUENCES. 1. It is chiefly supported by apparitions and false miracles: 2. The place where situated, and its various departments: 3. The kind and degree of punishment: 4. Duration of the punishment. Copy of a release: 5. They teach that souls in purgatory are aided by the suffrages of the living. Suffrages defined. They consider this an article of faith. Not proved by 1 Cor xii, 26. Nor 1 John v, 16. Praying for the dead unauthorized. Absurdity of their doctrine instanced in a quotation from Dens: 6. Who they are who go to purgatory: 7. It is an article of faith: 8. It is supremely superstitious. Council of Trent cited in proof. Instances in burials. Difference between the poor and rich. Dens cited. Instance of this at Blairsville, Pa. Case of Dr. Young's daughter, in Spain: 9. The doctrine is a source of profit to the Romish clergy. This is attested by history. Gother's plea considered. Decision of Trent does not counteract this. Three reasons proving this. Purgatorian societies. Canting the corpse: 10. Purgatory makes merchandise of souls. Instance in Westmoreland county, Pa. Traffic in Spain. These are not abuses of the doctrine 11. It is a powerful engine to work on the fears of an ignorant and superstitious people: 12. It is a gross and grievous falsehood: 13. It is pernicious to the souls of men: 14. It connects itself with the corrupt state of the Church of Rome, both in faith and morals.

I. Their doctrine stated.

1. The Romish doctrine of justification being fundamentally erroneous and defective, it must of necessity follow that the sinner is constrained to seek for other helps to salvation. To the errors on this point we may trace almost all the corruptions of popery; such as the merit of works, intercessions of the saints, pilgrimages, penances, indulgences, masses for the dead, and purgatory. The Scriptures proclaim salvation by Christ alone, through faith producing every good word and work, and forsaking of all sin. But the Romish doctrine of justifica

tion sets forth this way as deficient: faith will not suffice, according to them; and good works, penance, and suffering on the part of the sinner must make up that which is wanting, or purgatory will be the lot of those whose meritorious works are insufficient to atone for and blot out the guilt and punishment of their venial sins, and the temporal punishment due to mortal sins already pardoned by the priest.

2. We will have recourse to their own standards in order to exhibit this doctrine as they hold it.

The creed of Pope Pius IV. thus briefly teaches respecting purgatory: "I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful."

Dens, in his Theology,* defines it thus: "It is a place in which the souls of the pious dead, obnoxious to temporal punishment, make satisfaction."

The Council of Trent, in its haste, perhaps, to finish its labours, published in its twenty-fifth session only a short decree, the former part of which is as follows: "Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Spirit from the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the fathers, hath taught in holy councils, and lastly in this œcumenical council, that there is a purgatory; and that the souls detained there are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, but especially by the acceptable sacrifice of the mass; this holy council commands all bishops diligently to endeavour that the WHOLESOME DOCTRINE concerning purgatory, delivered to us by venerable fathers and sacred councils, be believed, held, taught, and everywhere preached by Christ's faithful."+

In the sixth session, the thirtieth canon passed reads as follows: "If any one shall say that after the reception of the grace of justification the guilt is so remitted to the penitent sinner, and the penalty of eternal punishment destroyed, that no penalty of temporal punishment remains to be paid, either in this world, or in the future in purgatory, before the access to the kingdom of heaven can lie open; let him be anathema."‡

In the twenty-second session it is declared: "Wherefore it (the sacrifice of the mass) is properly offered, according to apostolical tradition, not only for the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities of living believers, but also for the dead in Christ, who are not yet thoroughly purified."Ş

In the same session it is said: "If any one shall affirm that the

* De Purg., No. 25.

+"Cum Catholica Ecclesia, Spiritu Sancto edocta, ex sacris literis, et antiquâ pa. trum traditione, in sacris conciliis, et novissimè in hâc ecumenicâ synodo docuerit, purgatorium esse; animasque ibi detentas, fidelium suffragiis, potissimùm vero acceptabili altaris sacrificio juvari; præcipit sancta synodus episcopis, et sanam de purgatorio doctrinam à sanctis patribus, et sacris conciliis traditam, a Christi fidelibus credi, teneri, doceri, et ubique prædicari diligenter studeant."-Conc. Trident., sess. xxv, Decretum de Purgatorio.

+ "Si quis, post acceptam justificationis gratiam, cuilibet peccatori pœnitenti ita culpam remitti, et reatum æternæ pœnæ deleri dixerit, ut nullus remaneat reatus pœnæ temporalis exsolvendæ vel in hoc seculo, vel in futuro, in purgatorio, antequam ad regna cœlorum aditus patere possit; anathema sit."-Conc. Trident., sess. vi, can. 30. "Quare non solum (sacrificium missæ) pro fidelium vivorum peccatis, pœnis, satisfactionibus, et aliis necessitatibus, sed et pro defunctis in Christo nondum ad plenum purgatis, rite, juxta apostolorum traditionem, offertur."-Conc. Trident., sess. xxii, caput ii.