Rom. ii. v. 6. Rev. xxii. v. 12. Now this would not be true, if there were no such thing as purgatory; for how could God render to every one according to his works, if such as die in the guilt of any, even the least sin, which they have not taken care to blot out by repentance, would nevertheless go straight to heaven?" It is undoubtedly true, that "God will render to every man according to his works ;" and the church of Rome gives a pretty fair specimen of her impudence, by saying, "this would not be true, but for her purgatory." Such declarations of scripture have, in reality, nothing to do with purgatory. If men die in the guilt of any, even the least sin," the Bible tells us plainly, they must perish, and that for ever. God will render unto them according to their works;" that is, he will render indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil. Such go away into everlasting punishment. This is called the blackness of darkness for ever. But we have not the slightest hint, in the whole Bible, that such persons go into a place of temporary punishment, out of which they shall be released, sooner or later, as their friends on earth shall be pleased to pay money for their relief.

Those who die in Christ, do not "die in the guilt of any, even the least sin;" because in virtue of his atoning sacrifice, all their sins, without the exception of the very least, are taken away.

"God made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us," says one apostle, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v. 21. Christ's righteousness imputed to the believer of the gospel, constitutes him. righteous before God. Thus "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; "who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." Rom. iv. 3, 23—25. We learn from such declarations as these, that every real Christian is a justified person; that he has received a full acquittal and remission of all his sins; and the same apostle cites the psalmist, as describing the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. It is not said, the man who hath not committed sin, for there is no such man in the world, or ever shall be; but the man to whom sin shall not be imputed; who has it not charged against him for future reckoning; who shall not be punished as his sins deserve. The standing of such a man before God, is not in himself, but in Christ his Saviour; hence his blessedness and security. If his standing were in himself, he would most certainly fall, and incur not the temporary punishment of purgatory, but the pains of hell for ever.

Now, it is true also of such a man, that God will render to him according to his works. When the earth and the sea shall give up the dead which are in them, every man shall be judged according to his works. The judgment of the great day, like that of every well constituted human tribunal, will proceed according to evidence. A man's works are the evidence of his state before God. Those who have done nothing but evil, will have their evil deeds produced as evidence against them; shall be judged according to their works, and receive the condemnation which they deserve. Those who believe in Christ, are created anew to good works. They, and they only, really serve God

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in this world; their services, as well as their persons, are accepted for Christ's sake, not for any value in them; and according to these the judgment shall proceed. Not that there is such merit in their works as to deserve a reward; but because they evince a relation to Christ, who alone has merited eternal life, and who is the author of it to all them that obey him. There is a broad and intelligible distinction between the expressions according to works, and on account of works, just as there is between the evidence of a witness and the fact which it is brought to establish. The just sentence of any court will be according to evidence; but the evidence is not that on account of which, or for the sake of which, a man is rewarded or condemned. The wicked shall indeed be condemned and punished on account of their works; but not as viewed in the character of evidence, but as acts of rebellion against God. The reward of the righteous will be according to their works, but solely on account of Christ's perfect righteousness, in which they become interested by faith; and, but for which, they would never have had any good works to exhibit.

But, here I ask again, what have we to do with purgatory? The passages of scripture under consideration, speak of God rendering to men according to their works; but it is plainly avowed by Papists themselves, that the rendering to men in purgatory, is not according to their works, but according to their wealth; or, according to the wealth of their surviving friends. They speak with great solemnity, when they choose to be serious, of God requiring punishment for the guilt of the least sin; and yet they do most blasphemously represent him as relaxing such punishment, or remitting it altogether, on condition of certain sums of money being paid to the priests for masses. By the more grave and sensible of their doctors, the punishment of purgatory is represented to be salutary and necessary, in order to qualify persons for heaven; and yet they may be exempted from that salutary and purifying process, on payment of money by their friends. It is declared by all the Romish doctors who write on the subject, that without the purgatorian fire, men cannot go to heaven; yet money can purchase exemption from this fire, or mitigate its pains. What is this, but to teach that money can open the gate of heaven? or, that money can procure admittance for persons who have not undergone the necessary purgation? Now, suppose for a moment, that this has taken place. Suppose that a man who had led a most wicked life, had died without repentance; or, to use the words of my popish author, had "not taken care to blot out by repentance," the guilt of any, even the least sin,— suppose, I say, such a person to go to purgatory, in order to be purified, and made meet for heaven, would it not be a most cruel thing to interrupt the process of purification, and to force his passage through the fire, before it had produced its full effect upon him? This would be in reality to force the man into heaven before he was fit for it, and to such a man it would be no heaven, but a place of punishment, equal to all that Papists have fancied of their purgatory.

I know it will be answered, that God is pleased, in consideration of a certain number of masses, for which a sum of money must be paid, to mitigate the rigour of the punishment of souls in purgatory, and remit so much of the debt that is due. But what then becomes of his justice, which is declared to be so inflexible as not to remit the punish

ment of the least sin without satisfaction? It comes inevitably to this, that Papists consider God to be such a one as themselves, who will consent to any thing for money. The idea is so horribly impious, that I scarcely know how to write it; and yet it is inseparable from the doctrine of purgatory, and the remission of its pains, in consideration of money paid to the priests for masses, which masses are declared to have so much virtue, as to procure a remission or mitigation of those pains which the justice of God had imposed on account of sin.

His holiness, Pope Pius IV., adduces the following words, (Matt. v. 25, 26,) to prove his doctrine of purgatory: "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him: lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Which text, St. Cyprian, one of the ancient fathers, understands of the prison of purgatory. Epist. 52, ad Antonianum." But what if St. Cyprian was mistaken in his application of this passage? Why, then, this proof must fall to the ground, for there is no other authority produced in support of this view of its meaning. Suppose St. Cyprian to be right in his application of the words, they will be found most effectually to destroy the whole traffic of our purgatory priests. To a person who is in danger of being thrust into the prison, it is said expressly; "Verily, I say unto THEE, thou shalt BY NO MEANS come out thence, till THOυ hast paid the uttermost farthing." This admits of no commutation of punishment. The sinner must pay the whole debt in his own person. The priests promise deliverance by means of masses and money; but, No, says the text, he shall come out by no means, but by himself paying the uttermost farthing; that is, suffering the full measure of punishment in his own person. The Douay doctors were too wise to introduce this passage of scripture to prove the doctrine of purgatory, seeing no doubt that it would spoil their trade; and yet the infallible head of the church of Rome had not the sagacity to perceive, that if a soul would be delivered. from purgatory by no means, all the means of his appointment were vain.

It does not properly belong to my plan to give the true meaning of every passage of scripture which Papists pervert. It is enough for my purpose to show that a passage does not contain what they affect to find in it; but lest they should think themselves entitled to claim this passage as an unanswerable argument on their side, I shall endeavour, in as few words as possible, to show its real meaning; which, indeed, any reader of ordinary understanding may find out, if he will read with attention the whole passage from the twenty-first verse; and a person can scarcely be sure of the meaning of any passage, unless he read it entire, without regard to the breaks which are made by verses, and sometimes even by chapters. Christ was speaking of unjust anger, provoking speeches and quarrels, among brethren. He declares that for one rash expression, (thou fool,) a man should be in danger of hell fire. He says, "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." A man conscious of having given his VOL. I.-71

brother cause of offence, was not in a state of mind to offer an acceptable sacrifice. He is therefore commanded to take immediate steps for reconciliation: and it is in this connexion that our Lord adds, "agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him," &c.; meaning, that if this is not done, he may expect that his adversary will take summary and severe vengeance when he shall have it in his power. But I doubt not, the words are chiefly intended to convey spiritual instruction. An irreconcilable state of mind towards a brother whom one has offended, indicates a mind at enmity against God. Unless such a one shall become reconciled, and make this evident by becoming reconciled to his brother, he is in danger of eternal punishment, from which he shall not be delivered, but which he must suffer to the uttermost.

The same Pope Pius IV., the infallible head of what is improperly called the Catholic church, introduces his pretended ancestor, the Apostle Peter, as a believer in purgatory, and a teacher of the doctrine. He refers to his first epistle, iii. 18-20, “Where Christ is said by his Spirit to have gone and preached to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, &c. Which prison," says he, "could be no other than purgatory for as to the spirits that were in the prison of hell, Christ certainly did not go to preach to them." What his holiness thus declares, "certainly," is not very consistent with the explanation which other popish writers give of a clause in what they call the "apostles' creed;" namely, "He descended into hell;" for they suppose that Christ literally went into hell for the purpose of delivering souls out of it, or for some other purpose which they could not well define, but upon the supposition that he went to preach to the spirits which were there in prison.

But I request my readers to attend to the statement of the inspired apostle, in connexion with the narrative of the inspired historian, Genesis vi. and vii., and they will find that there is no more of purgatory in it, than in the other passages of scripture which have been adduced. God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and he declared his purpose to destroy the world by a flood. But he raised up Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness. During the long period of a hundred and twenty years, while the ark was building, Noah was employed in preaching the righteousness of the promised Saviour as the only ground of hope for sinners; and while he and his sons were building the ark, they were giving a visible evidence of the divine displeasure against the human race on account of sin; and at the same time preaching the evangelical truth, that there was no way of escape but that which God had appointed. It was the Spirit of Christ which spoke by all the prophets, (1 Pet. i. 11,) and by Enoch and Noah among the rest. It was therefore Christ who, by his Spirit, went and preached to the spirits in prison, (that is, who are now in prison,) and who were disobedient in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing. By the ministry of Noah, Christ, by his Spirit, preached to them the righteousness on the footing of which alone they could be saved; and he exhibited the ark then building, as a type of the security of all who should flee to him for refuge; but the great bulk of the people were disobedient; they did not believe the preaching; they did not flee for refuge to the hope set before them; therefore, they perished

in their sins, and were, at the time when the apostle wrote, shut up in the prison of hell, where they should ever remain.

But I must not overlook one great argument which Papists profess to derive from scripture in support of their doctrine of purgatory. It is from 2 Maccabees, chap. xii., in which we are told, "that money was sent to Jerusalem, that sacrifices might be offered for the slain; and it is recommended as a holy cogitation, to pray for the dead." Bellarmine ranks this in the front of his scripture proofs; and the great Mr. Gother, the oracle of English Papists, also gives it the first place in his true representation of the popish doctrine on this head, as a conclusive evidence; adding, that "these two books of Maccabees were certainly held in great veneration by all antiquity."

But in point of fact, the books called Maccabees have no more authority in religious matters than those of Bellarmine or Gother themselves. The books called Apocrypha, which are sometimes, very improperly, I think, bound up with our Bibles, were never received by the Jewish church as of divine authority. They formed no part of that volume to which Christ and his apostles so often referred, under the title of Moses and the prophets. There is scarcely a book, or a section of a book, in the Old Testament, which is not quoted or referred to in some passage of the New Testament. Christ has thus given the sanction of his authority to Moses, and the Psalms, and the prophets; that is, to the whole volume of scripture which the Jews had received from Moses and the prophets; which they most tenaciously maintained as canonical; and which is known by us under the title of the Old Testament. But there was not one of the apocryphal books so acknowledged by the Jews, or so referred to by Christ and his apostles. It was not till the time of the council of Trent, that these books were authoritatively declared to be of equal authority with the Old and New Testament; and it was not in the power of that holy, or, more properly, insolent assembly, to give a satisfactory reason for their investing, with divine authority those books which had not been received as canonical by the primitive churches,-whose authors did not profess to be divinely inspired; and who, in many instances, make it evident that they were fallible men. The writer of the book from which the learned cardinals, and the great representer, draw their front argument for purgatory, confesses, in the following words, that he wrote merely like other authors of works merely human. He makes an apology for his imperfections as an author, which no inspired writer ever did; and he bespeaks the good opinion of his readers on the plea that he had done his best. Here," says he, "will I make an end. And if I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto. For as it is hurtful to drink wine or water alone; and as wine mingled with water is pleasant, and delighteth the taste; even so speech finely framed delighteth the ears of them that read the story. And here shall be an end." 2 Maccab. xv. 37-39.

Besides the pedantic quaintness of this extract, it contains not a little absurdity. Who was ever hurt by drinking water alone, if he was in a temperate state of body? and what harm can result from drinking wine alone, if it be done with moderation? But the point which I wish to keep principally in view is, the explicit disavowal of divine inspira