since, by reason of the manifold corruptions in the places and provinces where the said abuses are committed, they cannot conveniently be specially prohibited ; it commands all bishops diligently to collect all abuses of this nature, and report them in the first provincial synod," etc.1

On the adoration of images and relics it says that due honour and veneration is to be awarded to the images of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints, "not that any virtue or divinity is believed to be in them, on account of which they are to be worshipped; or that anything is to be asked of them; or that confidence is to be reposed in images, as was done of old by the heathen, who placed their hope in idols; but because the honour which is shown to them is referred to the prototypes which they represent; so that by the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover the head and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ, and venerate the saints whose similitude they bear. . . . And if any abuses have crept in amongst these holy and salutary observances, the holy

1 "Cum potestas conferendi Indulgentias a Christo ecclesiæ concessa sit, atque hujusmodi potestate, divinitus sibi tradita, antiquissimis etiam temporibus illa usa fuerit; sacrosancta Synodus indulgentiarum usum, Christiano populo maxime salutarem et sacrorum Conciliorum auctoritate probatum, in ecclesia retinendum esse docet, et præcipit, eosque anathemate damnat, qui aut inutiles esse asserunt, vel eas concedendi in ecclesia potestatem esse negant. In his tamen concedendis moderationem juxta veterem et probatam in ecclesia consuetudinem adhiberi cupit; ne nimia facilitate ecclesiastica disciplina enervetur. Abusus vero, qui in his irrepserunt, quorum occasione insigne hoc Indulgentiarum nomen ab hæreticis blasphematur, emendatos et correctos cupiens, præsenti decreto generaliter statuit pravos quæstus omnes pro his consequendis, unde plurima in Christiano populo abusuum causa fluxit, omnino obolendos esse. Cæteros vero, qui ex superstitione, ignorantia, irreverentia, aut aliunde quomodocumque provenerunt, cum ob multiplices locorum et provinciarum, apud quas hi committuntur, corruptelas commode nequeant specialiter prohiberi ; mandat omnibus Episcopis, ut diligenter quisque hujusmodi abusus ecclesiæ suæ colligat, eosque in prima synodo provinciali referat," etc.-Con tinuatio Sessionis xxv., Decretum de Indulgentiis.

Synod earnestly desires that they be utterly abolished; in such wise that no images conducive to false doctrine, and furnishing occasion of dangerous error to the uneducated, be set up. . . . Moreover, in the invocation of saints, the veneration of relics, and the sacred use of images, every superstition shall be removed, all filthy lucre be abolished, finally all lasciviousness be avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a wantonness of beauty, nor shall men pervert the celebration of the saints and the visitation of relics into revellings and drunkenness; as if festivals were celebrated to the honour of saints by luxury and wantonness." 1

So on the subject of invocation of saints the Council enjoins that the people be taught "that the saints reigning with Christ offer their prayers for men to God, and that it is good and useful to invoke them as suppliants, and to resort to their prayers, aid, and help for obtaining benefits from God through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is our Redeemer and Saviour; and that

1 "Imaginibus Christi, Deiparæ Virginis, et aliorum sanctorum in templis præsertim habendas et retinendas, eisque debitum honorem et venerationem impertiendam, non quod credatur inesse aliqua in iis Divinitas, vel virtus, propter quam sint colenda; vel quod ab eis sit aliquid petendum; vel quod fiducia in imaginibus sit figenda, veluti olim fiebat a gentibus, quæ in idolis spem suam collocabant; sed quoniam honos qui eis exhibetur, refertur ad prototypa, quæ illæ repræsentant: ita ut per imagines quæ osculamur, et coram quibus caput aperimus et procumbimus, Christum adoremus, et sanctos, quorum illæ similitudinem gerunt veneremur. . . . In has autem sanctas et salutares observationes, si qui abusus irrepserint, eos prorsus aboleri sancta Synodus vehementer cupit, ita ut nullæ falsi dogmatis imagines, et rudibus periculosi erroris occasionem præbentes, statuantur. . . . Omnis porro superstitio in sanctorum invocatione, Reliquiarum veneratione, et imaginum sacro usu tollatur, omnis turpis quæstus eliminetur, omnis denique lascivia vitetur, ita ut procaci venustate imagines non pingantur, nec ornentur, et sanctorum celebratione, et reliquiarum visitatione homines ad comessationes atque ebrietates non abutantur, quasi festi dies in honorem sanctorum per luxum, ac lasciviam agantur."-Sess. xxv. De Invocatione, etc.

they think impiously who deny that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invoked; or who assert either that they do not pray for men, or that the invocation of them to pray for each of us in particular is idolatry; or that it is repugnant to the word of God, and is opposed to the honour of the one Mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus; or that it is a fond thing to supplicate orally or inwardly those who reign in heaven."1

It is impossible to read these extracts without feeling how gross must have been the abuses which called forth such language, and it would be unfair to neglect to take into account the fact that our own Article was drawn up prior to these definitions and the practical reforms which the Council of Trent endeavoured to bring about. We proceed now to the consideration of the "Romish doctrines" condemned in the Article. Four of them are specified.

1. Purgatory.

2. Pardons,

3. Adoration of images and relics.

4. Invocation of saints.

I. Purgatory.

The Romish doctrine of Purgatory . . . is a

1... "Docentes eos, sanctos una cum Christo regnantes, orationes suas pro hominibus Deo offerre: bonum atque utile esse suppliciter eos invocare, et ob beneficia impetranda a Deo per filium ejus Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, qui solus noster Redemptor, et Salvator est, ad eorum orationes, opem, auxiliumque confugere: illos vero, qui negant sanctos, æterna felicitate in cœlo fruentes, invocandos esse; aut qui asserunt, vel illos pro hominibus non orare, vel eorum, ut pro nobis etiam singulis orent, invocationem esse idolatriam, vel pugnare cum verbo Dei, adversarique honori unius mediatoris Dei et hominum Jesu Christi ; vel stultum esse, in cœlo regnantibus voce vel mente supplicare, impie sentire," etc.-Ib.

fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of God. It will be convenient to consider this subject under the two following heads: (a) the history of the doctrine; (b) the scriptural arguments on the subject.

(a) The History of the Doctrine.-During the first three centuries there are only to be found a few traces of a belief in anything like a purgatory between death and judgment. Three indications of such a belief are all that can fairly be claimed during this period, two of which come to us from the same quarter and from a Montanistic source.

Tertullian in his treatise De Anima, written after he had joined the Montanists, says that in Hades (penes inferos) there are rewards and punishments, as may be learnt from the parable of Dives and Lazarus; and as he interprets the words, "Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing," to mean that "small offences must be expiated by delay of resurrection," it is probable that he looked on the punishments as, at any rate, to some extent purgatorial.1

To the same period belong the Acts of the martyr Perpetua and her companions, and in one of Perpetua's visions we have what is generally taken to be an indication of a belief in something like a purgatory. Perpetua in her vision sees her brother Dinocrates, who had died early from a gangrene in the face, in a dark place, hot and thirsty, dirty and pale, with the wound still in his face. He is trying in vain to get at the

1 De Anima, c. lviii.: "In summa, cum carcerem illum, quem evangelium demonstrat, inferos intellegimus, et novissimum quadrantem modicum quoque delictum mora resurrectionis illic luendum interpretamur, nemo dubitabit animam aliquid pensare penes inferos salva resurrectionis plenitudine per carnem quoque." Cf. c. xxxv.

water in a "piscina," the rim of which is above his head Perpetua, grieving for her brother, prays much for him, and in a subsequent vision she sees him cleansed, well clothed, and refreshed. Only the scar remains where the wound was. The rim of the piscina is lowered to his waist; he drinks out of a golden goblet that never fails, and departs to play after the manner of children with glee. Then," she adds, "I understood that he was released from punishment." 1

This certainly looks very much like a belief in a purgatory, and it is so understood by Augustine.2 But this interpretation of the vision is not unquestioned, as some take it to mean that Dinocrates had died unbaptized, and was therefore in a place of torment. If, however, we admit the view that it does refer to a purgatory, a vision such as this must be allowed to be a very precarious ground on which to base the doctrine.

The third passage is in the writings of Clement of Alexandria (200), where, in speaking of Hades, he says that "the punishments of God are saving and reformatory, and lead to repentance."

Beyond these it is thought that no passage can fairly be quoted as implying a belief in a purgatory between death and judgment till we come to the fourth century. For though Origen undoubtedly believed in temporary chastisements after death, and in a cleansing by fire, yet this does not seem to have been placed by him before the judgment. Rather, it is the judgment, through which all men have to pass, and by which those in need of 1 Passio S. Perpetuæ, cs. vii. viii. 2 De Anima ad Renatum, I. x.

3 It is so taken by Prof. J. Armitage Robinson, Texts and Studies, I. p. 29; cf. Dr. Mason's Lectures on Purgatory, The State of the Faithful Departed, Invocation of Saints (1901), p. 23.

4 Stromateis, VI. c. vi. § 46 : ἐπεὶ σωτήριοι καὶ παιδευτικαὶ αἱ κολάσεις τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς ἐπιστροφὴν ἄγουσαι. See, further, Mason (op. cit.), p. 3 seq.