pains, of the character of the ordeal, and of the duration of the sufferings, they know positively nothing.

2

Pope Gregory the Great, who first set up this bugbear of popish credulity in the sixth century,' affirms that some are purged by fire, and others in hot baths, and this upon the alleged authority of visions and revelations. Bellarmine says that Purgatory has been handed down upon the authority of unwritten tradition; having before quoted twenty passages of Scripture to prove it. He enumerates eight different opinions respecting it, but defines nothing exactly. At one time he says that the pains are "most excruciating ;" and at another, that they are mixed with "incredible consolation:" but whether they are external or internal he does not determine. Dr. Fisher, the popish bishop of Rochester, inferred from one passage of Scripture,' that Purgatory abounded with water: and Sir Thomas More declared, on the authority of another, that there was no water there at all. Again, Albertus and Dr. Fisher assert that the ministers

1 Greg. Dialog. vol. ii. lib. iv. cap. 40, 55.

2 De Purgat. lib. i. c. 3—8, 15, tom. ii. pp. 404, 405. Coloniæ, 1628.

' De Purgat. lib. ii. c. 6, tom. ii. p. 409. See Rhemish Annotators on Luke xvi. sect. 8.

* Pœnas Purgatorii esse atrocissimas. De Purg. lib. ii. c. 14, tom. ii. p. 413, D.

De Purgat. lib. ii. c. 4, tom. ii. p. 409, B.

See Dr. Milner, p. 376.

7 Ps. lxvi. 12.

8 Zech. ix. 11.

and executioners of purgatorial punishment are the holy angels: Sir Thomas More contends they are the devils. To crown the whole, in a work published by authority,' St. Patrick's Purgatory is described as containing "numbers of men which no arithmetic can reckon up, all lying on the ground, pierced through the body. They uttered hoarse cries of agony, their tongues cleaving to their jaws. They were buffeted by violent tempests, and shattered by repeated blows of devils. The devils drove them into another plain, horrible with exquisite tortures. Some, with iron chains about their necks and limbs, were suspended over the fires; others were burned with red hot cinders. Not a few were transfixed with spits and roasted, melting metals being poured into them. Alas, for those who do no penance in this world!"

There is in fact so much uncertainty among Romanists respecting this doctrine, that the more cautious of their writers have endeavoured to draw a line between so much of it as is to be received as an article of faith, and the rest, which resolves itself into mere matter of opinion. Natalis Alexander supposes that "faith has nothing to do with questions, respecting (1,) the locus of Purgatory, whether it be in this world and upon earth; or in the dark air where the devils abide; or in the hell of the damned;

1 O'Sullivan's Compendium of the Catholic History of Ireland, vol. i. lib. ii. cap. 3, p. 24. Cum facultate S. Inquisitionis et Regis.

or in some subterranean region: (2,) respecting the nature of the sensible pain which the souls detained in Purgatory undergo; whether it be real and material fire; or darkness and sorrow, or any other torment inflicted by the justice of God, inscrutably though certainly administered: and (3,) respecting the duration of these purgatorial pains. For though the opinion of Soto, that no soul remained in Purgatory above ten years, is rejected by divines, nevertheless it is a matter altogether uncertain in how many years their pains would end." These evasions, however, will never get rid of the positive declarations of the Catechism published by order of the Council of Trent, "That there is a Purgatory fire;" and of the Creed of Pope Pius IV., that a belief in this, as one of its articles, is essential to salvation. At the same time they afford satisfactory proof that the advocates of this iniquitous doctrine "know not what they say, nor whereof they affirm."

2

1 See Note FF, p. 232.

2 See Arts. vi. xv. xvi. pp. 4, 5; and Arts. vii. and xii. in Pope Pius's Creed.

223

NOTES TO CHAPTER V.

Note A, p. 179.

Si quis dixerit pro peccatis, quoad pœnam temporalem, minime Deo per Christi merita satisfieri pœnis, ab eo inflictis, et patienter toleratis, vel à sacerdote injunctis, sed neque sponte susceptis, ut jejuniis, orationibus, eleemosynis, vel aliis etiam pietatis operibus; atque ideo optimam pœnitentiam esse tantum novam vitam : Anathema sit. Concil. Trid. Sess. xiv. cap. 9, can. 13, p. 111. Romæ, 1564.

Si quis dixerit, satisfactiones, quibus pœnitentes per Christum Jesum peccata redimunt, non esse cultus Dei, sed traditiones hominum, doctrinam de gratia, et verum Dei cultum, atque ipsum beneficium mortis Christi obscurantes: Anathema sit. Concil. Trid. &c. Sess. xiv. cap. 9, can. 14, p. 111. Romæ,

1564.

"If any one shall say that the satisfactions, by which the penitent cancel their sins, through Jesus Christ, are not institutions of God, but traditions of men, obscuring the doctrine of grace, the true worship of God, and the very benefit of the death of Christ; let him be anathema."

Note B, p. 179.

Si quis dixerit, Claves Ecclesiæ esse datas tantum ad solvendum, non etiam ad ligandum; et propterea sacerdotes, dum imponunt pœnas confitentibus, agere contra finem clavium, et contra institutionem Christi; et fictionem esse, quod, virtute Clavium sublata poena æterna, pœna temporalis plerumque exsolvenda remaneat: Anathema sit. Concil. Trid. Sess. xiv. c. 9, can. 15, p. 111. Romæ, 1564.

Note C, p. 180.

Cum reconciliantur Deo peccatores, non dimittitur semper cum peccato tota pœna temporalis; et potest fieri, et sæpe fit, ut in tota vita aliquis non satisfecerit plene pro temporali illa pœna:

ergo necessario statui debet Purgatorium. Bellarm. de Purg. lib. i. c. 11, tom. ii. p. 401, A. Coloniæ, 1628.

Note D, p. 184.

Illi Deus irascitur, quem peccantem non flagellat. Nam cui verè propitius est, non solum donat peccata, ne noceant ad futurum seculum; sed etiam castigat, ne semper peccare delectet. August. in Psal. xcviii. sec. 11, tom. iv. col. 1067, D. Paris, 1691.

"God is angry with that man, whom he does not punish when he sins: but he is truly merciful to him, whose sins he not only pardons, that they may not injure him in the world to come; but chastises likewise, that he may not always delight to sin."

Note E, p. 184.

Quid non misericorditer præstatur hominibus à Domino Deo, à etiam tribulatio beneficium est? Nam res prospera donum quo est consolantis: res autem adversa donum est admonentis Dei. Augustin. Epist. 210, tom. ii. col. 781. See also Cont. Faust. Manich. lib. xxii. c. 67.

"What is not given to man in mercy by the Lord God, from whom even tribulation is sent as a blessing? Prosperity is the gift of a God who would comfort; but adversity, of a God who would admonish us."

Nullus hominum est tanta justitia præditus, cui non sit necessaria tentatio tribulationis, vel ad perficiendam, vel ad confirmandam, vel ad probandam virtutem. August. contra Faust. 1. xxii. c. 20, tom. vi. col. 399, C. Basil, 1569.

"There is no man so far advanced in righteousness, for whom the trial of affliction may not be needful, either to perfect, to confirm, or to prove his goodness."

Note F, p.
185.

Ac per hoc vel ad demonstrationem debitæ miseriæ, vel ad emendationem labilis vitæ, vel ad exercitationem necessariæ patientiæ, temporaliter hominem detinet pœna. August. Tract. in Johan. 124, tom. iii. col. 821. Paris, 1689.