The real character, however, of the whole invention, is well described by this unexceptionable witness, in the following words :'However, the doctrine constantly preached by the priests and friars is, that the poor souls in purgatory are enveloped in flame, and suffer, like Dives, the most excruciating torture; and that to relieve them from this calamity, masses, for which money is paid, are most efficacious. This is not only to make the doctrine of purgatory an article of faith, but also an article of merchandize; and, contrary to the admonition of St. Paul, to teach that which is unseemly, for the sake of filthy lucre.'*

Such is the candid admission of one of the Romish priesthood! Nothing, however, can throw such a strong light on this fraudful system, as a circumstance adverted to by Mr. Nolan, who also was lately a priest of that church, though now escaped from its snares. Hes

e says,

"The Rev. Mr. Curran, lately Parish Priest of Killucan, Westmeath, with whom I was personally acquainted, bequeathed to the Rev. Dr. Cantwell, of Mullingar, £300. to be expended on masses (at 2s. 6d. each) for such intentions as he (Mr. Curran) had neglected to discharge. From this it appears by arithmetical computation, that the Rev. Mr. Curran died owing two thousand four hundred masses, most of which (as must necessarily be presumed,) were to be offered for the souls in Purgatory. Now, gentle reader, allow me to tell you, that had the Rev. Mr. Curran survived, he would require more than twenty years to discharge the last of his intentions; for as Priests are allowed to offer only two masses on each Sunday and holiday, and but one on weekdays, and as the masses offered by the Parish Priests on

those festival-days must be offered for the general benefit of the congregation, and as the masses at stations (which engross a great portion of the priest's services throughout the year) must be offered for the particular benefit of the family, at whose house the stations are held; it would therefore follow, that the Rev. Mr. Curran would require a period of at least twenty years to discharge his debt of masses. Oh, abominable notion, to suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ would institute a doctrine whose rigour or relaxation of punishment to a soul, was to depend upon the whim or caprice of the Rev. Pat. Curran ! ! *

Is there anything in the most senseless follies of the darkest heathenism, to exceed the absurdity and delusion of such hopes as these? A widow carries her little mite to a priest, hoping and believing, that by the power of the intercessions of this holy man, her departed husband may be released from his doleful prison in purgatory, and translated at once into the joys of paradise. But if she had the ill luck to select a priest who has much business in this way, her money may be taken, but the prayers may not be said for some twenty or thirty years. And all this time the poor soul is said to be immersed in boiling oil, or freezing in prisons of ice, in that dreadful place!

What a picture does this present, of the God of the Popish system. "If I ascend up into heaven, says the Psalmist," thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there also.” Surely this is a truth which even a Papist will not venture to deny. But will he seriously assure us, that Christ, who, in his omnipresence, must pervade Purgatory as well as all other places, will yet calmly witness hundreds or thousands of souls whom he has re*Rev. L. J. Nolan's Third Letter, p.39.

deemed, and who are left to be tortured in that frightful place for scores of years, merely because certain priests on earth, who have been paid, to say some Latin prayers for their release, have not yet found time to repeat them?

But if this blasphemous doctrine dishonours God, it may also fairly be asked, in what sort of light does it place the priesthood?

"They believe, or at least they teach, that the friends of their flock are lying weltering in a lake of fire, from which they could deliver them, by saying masses for them, and recommending them to the prayers of the congregation; and yet they will not say these masses, nor so recommend them, unless they be regularly paid for it. How can a man represent himself as such a monster, and yet hold up his head in civilized society? What! shall I believe that a single soul is suffering torments so dreadful; that it may continue to suffer them for ages; that I have the means in my power of relieving it; and yet shall I coolly wait till I be paid, before I use these means? By what process of reasoning can men be brought to believe that this is the religion given to us for our salvation, by our kind and merciful father in heaven? By what arguments can the poor be convinced that a system of extortion, which gives so manifest a preference to the rich, can be that gospel which was to be preached peculiarly to the poor?"

"Survey the whole transaction. A self-elected incorporated body declare, that they alone are commissioned by God, to teach what he chooses should be known, respecting eternity and the world of spirits; and that the truth of what they teach, nay, and the reality of their commission, are not to be examined, further than they themselves think fit to submit them to examination. Among many other doctrines equally profitable to

themselves, they teach that the souls, even of those who listen to them implicitly, must go to a place of torment for a time, to be purified, before they enter on the infinite rewards of their implicit faith and obedience: that they, by performing certain mystical ceremonies and incantations, which they call Mass, can shorten this torturing purgation, or release the soul from it altogether; that they are warranted, nay, for aught I know, commanded by God, to exact money for performing these masses, which money is to be appropriated to their own use; and they countenance their people in forming societies to raise money for the purpose of purchasing masses from the most necessitous among themselves. I appeal to any man of common discernment, if he ever met with a transaction, that bore fraud and imposture so legibly written on the face of it, as this does!"

But does not the " Holy Father," as he is impiously called, himself occupy rather an unenviable eminence in this matter?

The proclamation of the indulgence granted at the Jubilee of 1825, commences thus:

66

'Leo, bishop, servant of the• servants of God, To all the faithful of Christ who shall see these presents, health and apostolical benediction.

We have resolved, in virtue of the authority given to us by heaven, fully to unlock that sacred treasure, composed of the merits, sufferings and virtues of Christ, our Lord, and of his virgin-mother, and of all the saints, which the author of human salvation has intrusted to our dispensation...

We proclaim that the year of atonement and pardon, of redemption and grace, of remission and indulgences is arrived. . . during which year of the jubilee, we mercifully give and grant in the Lord a plenary indulgence."

Thus does this potentate boldly assume the entire power to open, or to keep closed, the prison-doors of purgatory. It is at his behest alone, (or at least it is assumed to be altogether in his power to grant release,) that so many thousands or millions of wretched beings are there suffering excruciating torments, which one word from him would terminate. Is this a distinction which a good man would covet? Is it not a responsibility from which any man, knowing his own sinfulness, would revolt with horror?

But the word of God at once sweeps away all those refuges of lies. "No man can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him." Psalm xlix. 7. The salvation proclaimed in the scriptures is not a scheme devised

for the special use and relief of the prosperous and the wealthy. On the contrary, it is again and again offered, and in the most explicit terms, to the poor and the needy. "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price.' Isaiah lv. 1. Is it possible for words to be devised more decidedly condemnatory of the Romish system ? "To the POOR the gospel is preached." But Rome offers no gospel, for, to the poor she has nothing to say. The old proverb which described her rule in her most palmy days, describes her practice still," No PENNY, NO PATERNOSTER."

I remain, dear Sir,
Your's &c.

EVERY friend of our Establishment must rejoice at the rapid increase of Churches and Chapels throughout our land; and we therefore gladly proceed to fulfil the intention we have already expressed of commencing a series of Views of New Churches lately erected, or now erecting, with a view both of gratifying the taste, and also of assisting the plans of such of our readers, as may be concerned in similar undertakings.

The new church of ST. THOMAS, in Arbour Square, in the parish of STEPNEY, is one of the most respectable of the productions of the committee of the Metropolitan Metropolitan Churches' Fund. It was commenced in June 1837, and consecrated on the 31st of October, 1838. It contains eleven hundred sittings, of

which about one third are free. The contract was taken at between £4600. and £4700.

The style is that of the body of Salisbury Cathedral, and that is of the date of about the thirteenth century.

The architects were Messrs. Smith and Barnes, of Frederick's Place, Old Jewry, and the builder was Mr. Clarke of Pimlico.

The ground was presented by the Mercers' Company, and the expence of the building wholly defrayed by the Metropolitan Churches' Fund.

We need hardly add, what our selection of it as our first example will sufficiently indicate, that we consider this church to confer much credit on all the parties concerned in its erection.