incessant repetition of the same thing; and those who can suppose that such a service was acceptable to God, or available for the happiness of the deceased sovereign, had they lived in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, must have joined with the worshippers of Baal, in calling upon the idol from morning to night, in the same words, O Baal, hear us. Hoc est corpus meum, are the grand mysterious words which are used in every mass, and which produce the miraculous effects for which the mass is celebrated. The continual saying of masses is therefore little more than an incessant repetition of these words; which, though they be a translation of the words which Christ used, in instituting the ordinance of the supper, being thus prostituted to an idolatrous and superstitious use, are no better than a mere heathenish incantation; and the priest who can deliberately impose upon the credulity of kings and queens, or of persons of any rank, by making them believe that by such means they can do good to the souls of those who are dead, must be regarded as the most depraved agents of the prince of darkness. Theirs is not only a service which God has not required; but it is absolutely incompatible with that reasonable and spiritual worship which is ordained in the New Testament; and inconsistent with all that is there revealed of the way by which a sinner is saved, and by which he draws near to God with the hope of being accepted.

The grand point to which every thing in the system of popery tends, is to get money, insomuch, that one is led to imagine that the pope is no other than an incarnation of the ancient idol, Mammon, and that the priests are his tax-gatherers. The following abstract of a sermon on purgatory shows how little account is made by the priests of what, even by their own statement, should appear the most important branches of the doctrine, and how naturally they run on to expatiate upon that branch that brings in the money.

verse;

"I went once to hear an old friar, who had the name of an excellent preacher, upon the subject of the souls in purgatory, and he took his text out of the twenty-first chapter of the Apocalypse, twenty-seventh And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth," &c.; by which he settled the belief of purgatory, proving by some romantic authority, that such a passage ought to be understood of purgatory, and his chief authority was, because a famous interpreter renders the text thus: There shall not enter into it (meaning heaven) any thing which is not proved by the fire, as silver is purified by it. When he had proved his text, he came to divide it, which he did in these three heads. First, That the souls suffer in purgatory three sorts of torments, of which the first was fire, and that greater than that of hell. Secondly, To be deprived of the face of God. And thirdly, Which was the greatest of all the torments, to see their relations and friends here on earth diverting themselves, and taking so little care to relieve them out of these terrible pains. The preacher spoke very little of the two first points, but he insisted upon the third a long hour, taxing the people of ingratitude and inhumanity; and that if it was possible for any of the living to experience only for a moment, that devouring flame of purgatory, certainly he would come again, and sell whatever he had in the world, and give it for masses: and what pity it is, said he, to know that there are the souls of many of my hearers'

relations there, and none of them endeavour to relieve them out of that place. He went on, and said, I have a catalogue of the souls, which by revelation and apparition, we are sure are in purgatory; for, in the first place, the soul of such a one, (meaning a rich merchant's father,) did appear the other night to a godly person, in a figure of a pig, and the devout person knowing that the door of his chamber was locked up, began to sprinkle the pig with holy water, and conjuring him, bade him speak, and tell what he wanted? And the pig said, I am the soul of such a one, and I have been in purgatory these ten years for want of help. When I left the world, I forgot to tell my confessor where I left one thousand pistoles, which I had reserved for masses. My son found them out, and he is such an unnatural child that he doth not remember my pitiful condition; and now, by the permission of heaven, I come to you, and command you to discover this case to the first preacher you meet, that he may publish it, and tell my son, that if he doth not give that money for masses for my relief, I shall be for ever in purgatory, and his soul shall certainly go to hell.

"The sottish merchant, terrified with this story, got up before all the people and went into the vestry, and when the friar had finished, he begged of him to go with him to his house, where he should receive the money, which he did accordingly, for fear of second thought; and the merchant freely gave the thousand pistoles, for fear that his father should be kept in purgatory, and he himself go to hell." Master Key, vol. i. pp. 173–175. Mr. Gavin does not tell us how the friar came to know the fact that the young man had found a sum of money which had been secreted by his father; but there will appear to have been no need of a supernatural revelation, when it is recollected that every father confessor has access to know all the secrets of all his spiritual children; and these fathers can easily make known to one another, any secret which they think will serve the common cause.

It is a common thing, at this very day, for Papists in Ireland to leave large sums of money, to be applied, after their death, for the relief of their souls. It had been found that great abuses existed with regard to the management of charitable bequests in general, in that kingdom. On which account, an act was passed in the third year, and another in the fortieth year of his present majesty, by which "every executor of a will is bound, under a penalty of 501., to give notice in the Dublin Gazette, within three months after obtaining probate, of every charitable bequest contained in the will of the deceased, whether he was of the Protestant or Roman Catholic religion, in order that money left for charitable purposes may not be concealed and embezzled." The commissioners, under this act, are the highest dignitaries of both church and state in Ireland; and in their records the following items appear:

"1801.-The Rev. Matt. Lennon, titular bishop of Dromore, bequeathed 500l. to purchase six government debentures, for the purpose of establishing a daily mass for his soul, in the chapel of Newry, in perpetuance." "1803.-The Rev. Edanus Murphy, a parish priest, in the county of Wexford, bequeathed all his books and household furniture, and what stock he might have at the time of his decease, to his nephew, the Rev. William Stafford, to be laid out for suffraces for his soul." Same year, "Patrick Darcy, of Bishop street, Dublin, left an

annuity of 31. 8s. 3d. per annum, to the clergymen of Francis street chapel, for saying soul masses, for the space of thirty-five years.""In the same year, Mrs. French left a sum of money to say masses for her soul, and the souls of her two husbands." 1805. "The Rev. W. Lonergan, parish priest of Carrickbeg, county of Wexford, left in this year, 10l. to the chapel of Carrickbeg, and 5l. to Ballindesart chapel, and 100l. to his burial months mind, and masses, the masses at one shilling and sevenpence per mass.' See a Refutation of the statement of the penal laws, which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland, Dublin, 1812. This work contains many other such instances of superstition; but the above, I think, are enough for a sample.

This author informs us, that although, since the days of Lord Coke, money left to say masses for a soul, has been declared to be an unlawful and superstitious bequest, yet the commissioners have never molested the Rev. Matthew Lennon's executors, nor even prosecuted them for not advertising his bequests." The fact is, that the utmost tenderness, and the most liberal indulgence, is shown to Papists in all these matters; so that they have no reason whatever to complain of any hardship being imposed upon them; and yet, if we were to take the word of their political writers, they are suffering more cruel persecution than the children of Israel did in Egypt.

The editor of the Antijacobin Review and Protestant Advocate has done me the honour of inserting in his number for last month, my tenth number entire, that is, the sixteenth of the Dublin edition. He introduces it with a paragraph, in which he says, "Whilst Glasgow has produced a layman to vindicate Christianity from its worst foes, and Ireland can boast of many, even martyrs, as well as defenders of her church, not a single publication against popery, from the Lancashire press, is known to the world." The editor has not seen the excellent volume of the Rev. Mr. Fletcher of Blackburn, which was printed in Manchester, in 1817, and is, I am informed, now reprinting in London. It is entitled Lectures on the Principles and Institutions of the Roman Catholic Religion." I take this opportunity of respectfully recommending it to the PROTESTANT ADVOCATE," and to all my readers. The worst fault of it is, it is too good for the persons the author has to deal with. He concedes too much in the way of liberality and politeness; these being qualities which Papists can neither appreciate nor imitate, when engaged in controversy about their religion.

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CHAPTER LXXIX.

THE SUBJECT OF PURGATORY MORE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED. THE SCRIPTURES ADDUCED BY PAPISTS IN SUPPORT OF the doctrine, ARE ALTOGETHER IRRELEVANT. APOCRYPHAL TESTIMONY.

SATURDAY, January 15th, 1820. It is now time to discuss the subject of purgatory more seriously than I have yet done. The thing, indeed, is connected with so many ludicrous associations, that it is not easy to treat it seriously; but when we consider that it is one of the chief instruments by which the people

are deceived, and by which the church of Rome has her wealth, it will appear proper and necessary that the imposition be exposed, and the truth of the gospel maintained.

There is nothing declared more plainly in the Bible, than that Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is declared with equal plainness," He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life, and shall never come into condemnation; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii. 36. He that believes in Christ is a justified person, and when he dies he is received immediately into heaven. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1. The apostle speaks in language of strong defiance: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect," ver. 33. This is as much as to say, that nothing whatever stands against them. The salvation which they have in Christ, is a complete salvation: it is a forgiveness of all trespasses, absolutely and for ever. The Bible does not contain the slightest hint, that there are some trespasses not forgiven to a genuine Christian, and for which he must make satisfaction in his own person, in this world, or in the world to come, or in a state between the one and the other.

Besides, we learn from the word of God, that it is in this life only that men become interested in the salvation of Christ. The state in which death finds a man, will be his state for ever. If he be in a state of peace with God at the moment of his death, he enters into peace; he rests from his labours and from his sufferings. Dying in the Lord, as every believer does, is to die in a state of acceptance and favour, which is quite inconsistent with the idea of undergoing ages, or even years of punishment. The greatest sinners, believing in Christ, are declared to be washed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, 1 Cor. vi. 11. This renders all other purification unnecessary; and the idea of a purgatorian fire for purifying the souls of Christians, cannot be entertained, without contemning, as insufficient, the blood of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. This contempt is, indeed, inseparable from the doctrine of purgatory. He that teaches that a man must make satisfaction for his own sins, in whole or in part, declares the insufficiency of the satisfaction which Christ has made; and he who expects to be purified in the fire of purgatory, is guilty of despising the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost.

The council of Trent do not profess to adduce any higher authority than their own for this doctrine. They had not the presumption, great as their presumption was, to father such an absurdity upon the Bible. With Papists, indeed, their authority will be held as good as that of the word of God; but with Protestants it has no more weight than the reveries of Mahomet,-I might satisfy myself with merely asserting, that there is no such place. As, however, some popish writers of great name have attempted to prove the doctrine from scripture, I shall now proceed to examine more particularly their scripture proofs.

In the grounds of the Catholic doctrine, contained in the profession of faith, published by Pope Pius IV.," we have what is meant for an argument from scripture, on behalf of purgatory, as follows:The scripture in many places assures us, that God will render to every man according to his works,' Ps. xii. v. 12. Mat. xvi. v. 27.

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.

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God made

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. 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