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tory; of the grounds on which the present examination is to be prosecuted, and a hasty defence of the divine inspiration of the books of Machabees, from which Catholics deduce a strong proof in favor of the propriety of praying for the dead. Feebly as I have sketched the outlines of the picture, you have seen it, you have no doubt seriously reflected upon it, and what may be the result of your consideration time alone can prove. I now propose to adduce such of the Scriptural proofs of this doctrine as the New Testament proposes to our consideration. Turn then, I pray you, to St. Matthew, chap. v, verses 25, 26. Here without attempting to give you any description of that prison, mentioned in the text, let me ask you, is it not evident to any reflecting mind, that the words, "while thou art in the way with him," signify while thou art in this life, before the awful "night of eternity cometh on in which no man worketh," when we can no longer make an agreement with our adversary, but when on the contrary, we must suffer in that prison, and there expiate the faults of our life, by paying the "last farthing," for all faults unexpiated on earth, where we were in the way with him? Now, if we make not this agreement, while we are in the way with the adversary, with God who is always the adversary of sin, while we are in this life, we will be cast into a prison, where we are to pay the last farthing and to satisfy the justice of God, before we are permitted to burst from our confinement and soar to heaven. Where is this prison of which our Saviour speaks? It cannot be the prison of the reprobate,-for in that gloomy prison, never will a ray of hope cheer the agonizing victim of God's anger; never there will anguish cease or sorrow fail, but the dark gloom, and horrid despair of the present will grow still more frightful, as succeeding ages seem but to rivet more strongly the chains which bind the reprobate in hell; they can never come out from thence," because out of hell there is no redemption; consequently the "last farthing" can never there be paid. Surely no one will say, that the prison of which our blessed Saviour speaks is heaven,-for

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heaven is no prison, and there is no "last farthing" to be paid, no suffering, no atoning for faults, as nothing that defileth can enter the portals of that celestial Jerusalem. (Rev. xxi, 27). Moreover, far from coming out from thence, the thrice blessed spirits there enthroned, are absorbed and inebriated in contemplating the eternal attributes of the Deity. Where then let me ask, is this prison? Is it not that place, where as the Catholic Church teaches, the temporal punishment due to sin previously pardoned, or venial sins here unatoned for, is undergone, and the soul after death is purified from its stains, or as the Scripture expresses it, "pays the last farthing," and is then borne triumphant to the abodes of the blessed? Let reason, let your own piety reply.

Turn now to the twelfth chapter of St. Matthew, verses 32, 36, 37; what means this distinction between a word or offence against the Son of man, and against the holy Spirit? One we are assured may be forgiven, but the other is unpardonable. "It shall not be forgiven either in this world, or in the world to come." Does it not therefore naturally follow, that some sins are forgiven in the world to come? Else why this distinction, this assurance, that one particular sin shall not be forgiven in the world to come? In the thirty-sixth verse, we find that even an idle word is pronounced a sin, and one too that must be accounted for at the day of judgment. Surely if those idle words are forgiven in this life, and are atoned for while yet" we are in the way," they will not be produced against us at that "great and bitter day when God shall come to judge the world by fire." The text refers therefore to those idle words which are not expiated in this life. But let me suppose a case which is far from being metaphysical. We are told in Holy Writ, that "the just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again." (Prov. xxiv, 16). Now evidently the faults into which the just man falleth so often, and is still called a just man, cannot be those fatal crimes which exclude the soul from heaven, and which are so frequently enumerated in the Epistles of the New Testament; as in

Ephesians, v, 3, 4, 5, and Rev. xxi, 8. They are then to be ranked under the head of venial sins, or if you will, idle words. May not this just man expire suddenly, after falling one of these seven times, without a moment to exclaim: Lord, have mercy on my soul? That sin or idle word must be accounted for, at the moment of death. If it must be accounted for, it is evidently a defilement or stain upon the soul; and we are told that nothing defiled, or that defileth can enter heaven. (Rev. xxi, 27). This defilement must therefore be washed away,it cannot be washed away in this world, because the man expires suddenly; it cannot be purified in hell, because there is no coming out "from thence," there is no washing away in that awful abode, and moreover, it is not one of those defilements or sins which consign to endless torments. It cannot be said that the soul is cleansed from its defilements by suffering the pang of death, for in the sudden and instantaneous death of which we so often hear, and which you perhaps, as well as I, have witnessed, is there any pang to suffer, any pain to endure? How often do we see the innocent babe of a few weeks or days expire in agony or writhing torture, while the grey-headed sinner dies in apparent peace, without a visible struggle? The soul thus leaving this world cannot atone for its sin, its "idle word" in heaven, for in heaven there is no suffering, as St. John so beautifully describes the ravishing scene, when from his lonely isle of Patmos, he beheld the New Jerusalem "coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her bridegroom." And the "great voice" from heaven cheered his agitated soul, as with the consoling assurance, that in that thrice blessed home of the just, God "shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pains." (Rev. xxi, 2, 3, 4). Yet before this soul can be admitted into this celestial Jerusalem, it must be cleansed from all defilement, and this cleansing from defilement, cannot be admitted to be affected by the all-atoning merits of Christ, independently of our own ex

ertions, for if we once admit this, we plunge into that fatal vortex of iniquity, that faith alone availeth to salvation, in direct contradiction to the express terms of St. James, (ii, 26), where we are told that faith alone, without good works, is dead, and besides, on the same principle, the fanatic in religion and the enthusiast may easily so form his conscience, that he would soon lull himself into the fatal lethargy, that the blood and merits of his Saviour will wash away all his defilements and sins. Hence, he would not fear and tremble in working out his salvation, as we are told in Philippians, (ii, 12). He would reverse the word of Scripture, and act as if he were sure of pardon and love. Where then again I ask you, where is this sin or idle word to be atoned for, or to be washed away? We have seen that it can neither be in heaven nor hell, nor in this world, as the case supposes,-where then? Wherever it may be, there is purgatory.

Again, consult 1 Cor. iii, 8, 12, 13, 14:* we read as plain and evident a proof of a middle state of souls as it is well possible to conceive; and it is a remarkable fact, that fifteen of the earliest fathers whose testimonies I have before me on this and other points, refer to these words in support of this doctrine, and these writers are of the second, third, fourth, and fifth centuries. Indeed so clearly do I consider these words demonstrative of purgatory, that I shall only remark that, as "every one is to receive his own reward according to his own labor," and as there are certain sins which exclude from heaven, (Romans i, 29, 30, 31; 1 Cor. vi, 9, 10; Eph. v, 5; Rev. xxi, 8, and in the Old Testament, Isaias v, Ezechiel xxiii), and others into which even the just man falls, and is still called just; and as even these faults are to be atoned for, and do not exclude from heaven, since God "rendereth to every man according to his works," it necessarily follows, that they

"Every man shall receive according to his own labor. . . . If any man build upon this foundation (Christ), gold, precious stones, &c. every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, &c. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."

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who die defiled with the guilt of venial or lesser sins only, can not be consigned to endless torments for those imperfections, because they are to receive "according to their own labor," both reward and punishment; and by the distinction of sins which exclude from heaven, and those which do not, as in the case of the just man, it evidently follows that all sins do not exclude from heaven eternally, and consequently any man who dies guilty of these latter sins is to receive "according to his own labor," and therefore there must be some place where he is to receive that punishment, which place can neither be heaven nor hell, nor in many cases this earth; and therefore there must exist a place we call purgatory. Verses 12, 13, 14, 15, in 1 Cor. iii, speak plainly for themselves.

We read in Psalm lxi, 12, God "rendereth to every man according to his works." The same is repeated by St. Matthew, xvi, 27, in Romans, ii, 6. Now, let us for a moment dwell upon these texts and compare them with each other. We are necessarily induced by these texts to conclude that God will reward the good, and punish the wicked; that as we read in Galatians, vi, 5, "every man must bear his own burden," and that when the dread accounting day shall come, and each man will be called to "render an account of his stewardship," by his own works he shall stand or fall. Transport yourself in spirit now to the throne of judgment, and contemplate a scene, for a moment which may happen, and does happen almost continually. Two individual souls are at the same moment ushered before the throne of God, to await their eternal doom. One is the soul, the trembling agitated soul, of a man long accustomed to the indulgence of every degrading passion, grown old perhaps in habits of intemperance, or polluted with the blood of a fellow-being, perhaps of his father, his brother, or his friend, whose tortured soul now cries in the horrid language of despair for revenge upon his murderer. Eye for eye! blood for blood! soul for soul! Perhaps it is the soul of one, who has seduced from the paths of virtue, many an unsuspecting youth, lured them on to

wickedness and crime, blasted the fair fame of an unsuspecting neighbor, and whose memory is execrated on earth as a moral monster. Checked by the hand of God, in the midst of his mad career, he is called from the earth which he had so long desecrated by his presence, and now trembling, despairing, and already self-condemned, behold him a guilty criminal, at the bar of divine justice! Can you doubt for a moment what will be his eternal fate?

Turn now to the little object at his side. It is the soul of a child twelve or fourteen years of age. In an unguarded moment, through fear of punishment the thoughtless youth gave utterance to a falsehood: perhaps he is guilty of disobedience to some parental mandate, or of an improper expression in a moment of excitement. That he is guilty, no one surely can deny, for he was endowed with reason, which taught the soul that it was wrong in the commission of either of these sins or faults. He falls suddenly dead, or by some sad accident he is hurried from time to eternity; and now the soul of that child stands side by side, with that of the grey-haired reprobate, to await its final doom. Can it be that an infinitely good and merciful God, will hurl the child's soul to eternal damnation, and consign to the same deep dungeon of never ending pain, the soul of the paracidal monster and that of the thoughtless child? Can he chain down in the endless flames of hell the soul of the latter, for so small a fault? Are they both to be damned, and damned forever? Is this then the infinite mercy or justice of our God? Is this to "render to every man according to his works?" Is this the only reward for which even the "just man" can hope, if he should die after he has fallen even once of his "seven times?" Is this the dark and gloomy prospect, which must be, like a lowering cloud, forever hanging over us, when in a moment of forgetfulness or passion we speak an idle word? Great God! who then is safe, or who can hope for pardon, if even the smallest fault is to be punished with everlasting damnation? Ah! away, away, with so unjust an idea of the mercy and justice of our infinitely good God. He

who called and forgave a wandering sinful David; He who cast an eye of compassion on the sinful unfaithful Peter, even when in the act of denying his Master; He who so sweetly whispered, "thy sins are forgiven. thee," when at his feet a sinful Magdalen "wept and was forgiven,"-He, in a word, who changed to a saint the repentant thief upon the cross, and made a vessel of election of a persecuting Saul; He will never thunder forth the dreadful decree of everlasting reprobation against the soul which appears before his throne stained with "an idle word" or venial offence; yet, since in his infinite decrees, nothing defiled or that defileth can enter heaven (Rev. xxi, 27), and the child of whom we are speaking is defiled with the guilt of some small faults, where are these faults to be expiated? Where are they to be washed away or atoned for? Not in hell, not in heaven, not on the earth, for the child is dead,-where then? Can you for a moment doubt, that an infinitely good and just God, will consign the soul to that prison of which our blessed Lord speaks in Matthew v, 25, where by some temporal punishment it may be washed from its faults and stains, and then be admitted to the fruition of its God? Is not this to render to every man according to his works? The wicked man, we all believe, will be cast into exterior darkness, where there is but weeping and gnashing of teeth, into unquenchable fire, (Matt. iii, 12), into everlasting punishment, (Matt. xxv, 46;

Mark ix, 43, 48; 2 Thes. i, 7, 8, 9; Jude 6, 7, and Revelations,-passim). This is a necessary act of retributive justice, which enters into the very essence and nature of the Deity. Consign them both to the endless flames of hell, and you make of our God a monster of cruelty, delighting to punish, not according to the works of every man, not according to the demerits of the case, but inhumanly, unreasonably, and in direct opposition to every assurance of the sacred Scripture, which in many places, as we have seen, tells us the reverse. Admit either of them immediately into heaven, and you falsify the same sacred volume, as we read, among other places, in Rev. xxi, 27. Now, let me again ask you candidly and sincerely, can you longer doubt of the necessary existence of a third place after death? That the expression "purgatory" is not found in the sacred volume, I admit; but is the expression "Sunday," or the still more essential term, embodying as it does the very existence and truth of Christianity, "Trinity," or even the term "Christianity” read in the Bible? But this objection is too purile to deserve further comment. It is a maxim of law and divinity, that we are to admit, not only all that the word of God evidently contains, but also all that is legitimately deduced from it; and if I have not here legitimately deduced the existence of purgatory, elaborated and explained to such fatiguing length as are the texts, then reason is of little avail, Scripture almost useless.

TO BE CONTINUED.

ON THE PROPOSAL TO ERECT A

MONUMENT TO BISHOP ENGLAND.

Spare many words: suffice it that the eye
Catch some brief record as it glanceth by :
When kindred hearts have treasured up his fame,
Why on his tomb write aught besides his name?

CATHOLIC MELODIES.

NO. VI.

PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD.

It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins.-2 Mach. xii, 46.

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