alms, and masses, which have power not only to relieve but to shorten the pain.

5. The nature of the Punishment.

Here the Roman Church has defined nothing; its catechism, as we have seen, and its theologians in accordance, consider it to be material fire, but in the Council of Florence, the Greeks would not do more than subscribe to the existence of Purgatory; they denied that the punishment was fire; the question accordingly remains open, that is, it is not determined either way de fide. The difficulty, how elementary fire, or any thing of a similar nature, can affect the disembodied soul, is paralleled by St. Austin by the mystery of the union of soul and body.

The pains of Purgatory are considered to be horrible, and far exceeding any in this life; "Panas Purgatorii esse atrocissimas; et cum illis nullas pœnas hujus vitæ comparandas, docent constanter Patres," says Bellarmine (ii. 14), and proceeds to refer to Austin, Pope Gregory, Bede, Anselm, and Bernard. Yet on this point theologians differ. Some consider the chief misery to consist in the pœna damni, or absence of God's presence, which to holy souls, understanding and desiring it, would be as intolerable as extreme thirst or hunger to the body; and in this way seem to put all purgatorial pain on a level, or rather assign the greater pain to the more spiritually-minded. Others consider the pœna damni to be alleviated by the certainty of heaven and of the continually lessening term of their punishment. With them then the pœna sensús, or the fire, is the chief source of torment, which admits of degrees according to the will of God.

6. The efficacy of the suffrages of the Church.

By suffrages are meant co-operations of the living with the dead; prayers, masses, and works, such as alms, pilgrimages, fastings, &c. These aids, which individuals can supply, alms, prayers, &c., only avail when offered by good persons; for he

who is not accepted himself, cannot do acceptable service for another. Moreover these aids may be directed either to the benefit of all souls in Purgatory indiscriminately, or specially to the benefit of a certain soul in particular.

There is one other means of escaping the penalties due to sin in Purgatory, which may briefly be mentioned, viz. by the grant of indulgences; these are dispensed on the following theory. Granting that a certain fixed temporal penalty attached to every act of sin, in such case, it would be conceivable that, as the multitude of Christians did not discharge their total debt in this life, so some extraordinary holy men might more than discharge it. Such are the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Ascetics, and the like, who have committed few sins, and have undergone extreme labours and sufferings, voluntary or involuntary. This being supposed, the question rises, what becomes of the overplus; and then there seems a fitness that what is not needed for themselves, should avail for their brethren who are still debtors. It is accordingly stored, together with CHRIST's merits, in a kind of treasure-house, to be dispensed according to the occasion, and that at the discretion of the Church. The application of this treasure is called an Indulgence, which stands instead of a certain time of penance in this life, or for the period, whatever it be, to which that time is commuted in Purgatory. In this way, the supererogatory works of the Saints are supposed to go in payment of the debts of ordinary Christians.

14

§ 2. PROOF OF THE ROMAN DOCTRINE CONCERNING PURGATORY. 1. Proofs from supernatural appearances.

THE argumentative ground, on which the belief in Purgatory was actually introduced, would seem to lie in the popular stories of apparitions witnessing to it. Not that it rose in consequence of them historically, or that morally it was founded in them; only that when persons came to ask themselves why they received it, this was the ultimate ground of evidence on which the mind fell back; viz. the evidence of miracles, not of Scripture, or of the Fathers.

ments.

Bellarmine enumerates it as one of the confirmatory arguWith this view he refers in particular to some relations of Gregory of Tours, A.D. 573; of Pope Gregory, A.D. 600; of Bede, A.D. 700; of Peter Damiani, A.D. 1057; of St. Bernard, A.D. 1100; and of St. Anselm, A.D. 1100. The dates are worth noticing, if it be true, as is here assumed, that such supernatural accounts as then were put forth, are really the argument on which the doctrine was and is received; for it would thence appear, first, that the doctrine was not taught as divine before the end of the sixth century; next, that when it was put forth, it was grounded on the authority of an (alleged) new revelation. This indeed is confessed in the Dialogues of Pope Gregory, in which after he has related to his friend Peter the Deacon, an instance of a soul which was seen in the Purgatorial fire, Peter remarks, "How is this, that in these last times so many things come to light about souls, which before were hidden ?" lib. iv. 40. But the passage will hereafter come before us in another connection. The following miraculous narratives are found in a Protestant Selection from Roman writers, published in 1688, and entitled "Purgatory proved by Miracles."

"St. Gregory the Great writes, that the soul of Paschasius appeared to St. Germanus, and testified to him, that he was freed from the pains of Purgatory for his prayers.

"When the same St. Gregory was abbot of his Monastery, a monk of his, called Justus, now dead, appeared to another monk, called Copiosus, and advertized him, that he had been freed from the torments of Purgatory, by

thirty Masses, which Pretiosus, Prefect of the Monastery, by the order of St. Gregory, had said for his soul, as is recounted in his life.

"St. Gregory of Tours writes of a holy damsel, called Vitaliana, that she appeared to St. Martin, and told him she had been in Purgatory for a venial sin which she had committed, and that she had been delivered by the prayers of the Saint.

"Peter Damiani writes, that St. Severin appeared to a clergyman, and told him that he had been in Purgatory, for not having said the Divine Service at due hours, and that afterwards GOD had delivered him, and carried him to the company of the blessed.

"St. Bernard writes, that St. Malachy freed his sister from the pains of Purgatory by his prayers; and that the same sister had appeared unto him, begging of him that relief and favour.

"And St. Bernard himself by his intercession freed another, who had suffered a whole year the pains of Purgatory; as William Abbot writes in his life."-Flowers of the Lives of the Saints, p. 830.

These instances among others are adduced by Bellarmine; and he adds, "plura similia legi possunt apud, &c. . . . . . sed attulimus, sunt magis authentica."-1. 11.

2. Proofs from the Old and New Testaments.

quæ

Bellarmine adduces the following texts from the Old and New Testaments; in doing which he must not be supposed to mean that each of them contains in itself the evidence of its relevancy and availableness, or could be understood without some authoritative interpretation; only, if it is asked, "is Purgatory the doctrine of Holy Scripture, and where?" he would answer, that in matter of fact it is taught in the following passages, according to the explanations of them found in various writers of consideration.

1. 2 Mac. xii. 42–45. “Besides that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that come to pass for the sins of those that were slain. And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem, to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the Resurrection; for if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the

dead. And also, in that he perceived that there was great favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin."

2. Tob. iv. 17. "Pour out thy bread on the burial of the just, but give nothing to the wicked;" that is, at the burial of the just, give alms; which were given to gain for them the prayers of the poor.

3. 1 Sam. xxxi. 13. "And they took their bones," [of Saul and his sons,]"and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days." Vid. also 2 Sam. i. 12; iii. 35. This fasting was an offering for their souls.

4. Ps. xxxviii. 1. "O LORD, rebuke me not in Thy wrath; neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure." By wrath is meant Hell; by hot displeasure Purgatory.

5. Ps. lxvi. 12. "We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place" (refrigerium). Water is Baptism; fire is Purgatory.

6. Is. iv. 4. "When the LORD shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning."

7. Is. ix. 18. "Wickedness burneth as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns."

8. Mic. vii. 8, 9. "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against Him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness."

9. Zech. ix. 11. "As for Thee also, by the blood of Thy covenant, I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water." This text is otherwise taken to refer to the Limbus Patrum.

10. Mal. iii. 3. "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver," &c.