fourth. Far different, my friends, are your feelings of veneration. You are taught to imitate her humility, to admire the simplicity and acquiescence of her faith, and to rejoice in the high dignity conferred upon her, in the mysterious arrangements of providence: and you exclaim—

“Let every nation call her bless'd,

"And endless years prolong her fame ; "But God alone must be adored,

"Holy and reverend is his name."

The "communion of saints" is one of the articles of our creed; and is generally cited by the advocates of invocation in support of the practice. It is asserted that our communion with the saints in heaven, consists in addressing to them our prayers and supplications. But this is purely gratuitous and assumed. The "whole family in heaven and earth," is composed of all the redeemed and sanctified and glorified; and though part of the family is in the heavenly world, and the remaining part, "pilgrims and strangers upon earth," they are still ONE FAMILY. Their communion consists in their common relation to the Saviour who is their HEAD, the source of their enjoyments and the object of their supreme affection; and in their mutual relation to each other, as brethren, "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ." Hence the equality of their privileges, and the similarity of their character. They are all "one in Christ Jesus," and "Christ is all and in all." It is your privilege, my Christian friends, to cherish with affectionate regard the memories of the faithful, who are departed. Be "followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises;" but let this be the limit of your veneration. They are not omnipresent and almighty; they are not the objects of supplication

and prayer; they have no claim on your worship; they are only your "fellow-servants," advanced to a higher station, and engaged in nobler service than that which occupies your attention. They rejoice in the same Saviour; and He who is the sole and exclusive medium of your approaches to the Father, is the source of their supreme and eternal felicity. "HIM THE FATHER HEARETH ALWAYS." You need no other advocate. His intercession is all-sufficient, and you are encouraged to rely upon its efficacy, without the intervention of any other medium. By him, there"fore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God "continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving "thanks to his name." "It pleased the Father "that in him should all fulness dwell."

66

"Where

"fore he is able to save them to the uttermost

THAT COME UNTO GOD BY HIM, SEEING HE "EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR "THEM." (Heb. xiii. 15. Col. i. 19. Heb. vii. 25.)

LECTURE VII.

ON PURGATORY, AND THE DOCTRINE OF MERIT.

66

THE Scriptures are the only sources of certain information respecting a future and invisible world. A thousand vague and absurd conjectures on this awfully and interesting subject, were floating in the speculations and fancies of men, before "Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light by "the gospel;" and since that period, an unhallowed curiosity has often led presumptuous inquirers to "intrude into the things that are not yet seen." Revelation itself has its limits. Its discoveries are sufficient for all the purposes of" life and godliness," and furnish the basis of that hope which maketh not ashamed;" but it is dangerous to pass beyond those limits; to overstep the boundaries which are placed around the sacred mount and attempt, to explore the unrevealed regions of futurity. Unless the silence as well as the voice of Scripture be regarded, we shall be continually liable to error and misconception.

The fact of a future state of existence, is known only by revelation. Philosophers have reasoned from analogy, and appealed to the ever restless activity of the human mind. They have argued from the wishes and fears and hopes of man; but no evidence has established their speculations, and

no certainty has been attained by their inquiries. The very knowledge they actually possessed, might be traced to the wandering streams of traditionary information, derived from the source of revelation, which, as they became remote from their origin, either by distance of time or place, were contaminated by the inventions and reasonings of men. It is written revelation, which alone imparts any degree of certain and satisfactory knowledge respecting a future state; and the moment we desert that guide, we are abandoned to all the capricious and monstrous delusions of the human imagination.

As revelation alone supplies us with the certain knowledge of the fact of a future and unseen world, its sacred records alone can inform us respecting the misery or the happiness of that world. It is clear, that apart from revelation, we have no data by which to conduct our reasonings. Our sole object, therefore, is to ascertain what saith the Scripture. Its notices and assurances constitute our only source of information.

From this inspired volume, we learn that man is a compound being, possessing a body, composed of organised matter, and an immaterial and immortal spirit-that death is the dissolution of the body that the soul or spirit exists in a state of consciousness, separate from the bodythat those who die "in the Lord," are immediately happy in being "present with the Lordthat the wicked are immediately miserable—that the state intervening between the period of death and the resurrection, is not the final state of the righteous and the wicked-and that the happiness of the one and the misery of the other, will not be complete, till those who are in their graves hear "the voice of the Son of God, and come forth; "they who have done good to the resurrection of

"life; and they who have done evil to the resur"rection of damnation." On all that is said of the state of intervening between death and the resurrection, and of the final decisions of the last day, we do not meet with a single passage, which directly or by implication conveys the idea of temporary punishment, by which some, who are not wicked enough to be damned, are yet not righteous enough to be saved. We read of no purgatorial process, by means of future punishment, for preparing sinners for the enjoyment of heaven; but on the contrary, the whole scope and tenor of revelation confirm the assertion, that though there are degrees of happiness and of misery corresponding with the diversified characters of men in the present state, there are only two states in the future world, and that the righteous and the wicked, the friends and the enemies of God, comprise all intelligent beings under the divine government.

The doctrine of the Roman Church, concerning Purgatory and Prayers for the dead, may be ascertained from the following propositions, extracted from "the Faith of Catholics."

"Catholics hold there is a purgatory, that is "to say, a place or state, where souls departing "this life, with remission of their sins as to the guilt, or eternal pain, but yet liable to some

66

66

temporal punishment still remaining due; or "not perfectly freed from the blemish of some "defects, which we call venial sins—are purged "before their admittance into heaven, where no

66

thing that is defiled can enter. We also believe "that such souls, so detained in purgatory, being "the living members of Christ Jesus, are relieved "by the prayers and suffrages of their fellow "members here on earth. But where this place "be; of what nature or quality the pains be;