2d. That all unbaptized adults, and all those who subsequently have lost the grace of baptism by mortal sin, and die unreconciled to the church, go immediately to hell.
3d. That those believers who have attained to a state of Chris- tian perfection go immediately to heaven.
438 STATE OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH.
4th. That the great mass of partially sanctified Christians dying in fellowship with the church, yet still encumbered with imper- fections, go to purgatory, where they suffer, more or less intensely, for a longer or shorter period, until their sins are both atoned for and purged out, when they are translated to heaven, during which intermediate period they may be efficiently assisted by the prayers and labors of their friends on earth.
5th. That Old Testament believers were gathered into a region called " limbus patrum" where they remained without the bea- tific vision of God, yet without suffering, until Christ, during the three days in which his body lay in the grave, came and released them, 1 Pet. iii., 19, 20. — Cat. Kom., Part I., Chapter VI., question 3 ; Council of Trent, Sess. XX Y de Purgatorio.
The Council of Trent settled only two points, 1st, that there is a purgatory ; 2d, that souls therein may be benefited by the prayers and mass of the church on earth.
It is generally held, however, that its pains are both negative and positive. That the instrument of its sufferings is material fire. That these are dreadful and indefinite in extent. That satisfaction may be rendered in this world on much easier terms. That while their souls can neither incur guilt nor merit any thing they can alone render satisfaction for their sins by means of pas- sive sufferings.
They confess that this doctrine is not taught directly in Scrip- ture, but maintain, 1st, that it follows necessarily from their gen- eral doctrine of the satisfaction for sins ; 2d, that Christ and the apostles taught it incidentally as they did infant baptism, etc. They refer to Matt, xii., 32 ; 1 Cor. iii., 15.
21. Sow may the Anti-Christian character of this doctrine be shown ?
1st. It confessedly has no direct, and obviously has true foun- dation in Scripture. This consideration alone suffices.
2d. It proceeds upon an entirely unchristian view of the method of satisfying divine justice for sins. (1.) That while Christ's merits are infinite, they atone only for original sins. (2.) That each believer must make satisfaction in his own person for sins which he commits after baptism, either in the pains of pen- ance or of purgatory. This is contrary to all the Scriptures teach,
STATE OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH.
439
as we have above shown under their respective heads, (1.) as to the satisfaction rendered to justice by Christ ; (2.) the nature of justification ; (3.) nature of sin ; (4.) relation of the sufferings and good works of the justified man to the law ; (5.) state of the souls of believers after death, etc., etc.
3d. It is a heathen doctrine derived from the Egyptians through the Greeks and Komans, and currently received through the Roman empire. — Virgil's Eneid, vi., 739, 43.
4th. Its .practical effects have always been, 1st, the abject sub- jection of the people to the priesthood; 2d, the gross demoralization of the people. The church is the self-appointed depository and dispenser of the superabundant merits of Christ, and the super- erogatory merits of her eminent saints. On this foundation she dispenses the pains of purgatory to those who pay for past sins, or sells indulgences to those who pay for the liberty to sin in the future. Thus the people sin and pay, and the priest takes the money and remits the penalty. The figment of a purgatory un- der the control of the priest is the main source of his hold upon the fears of the people.
C HAP T E R XXXV.
THE RESURRECTION.
1. What is the meaning of the phrase. " resurrection of the dead," and " from the dead" as used in Scripture ?
'Avdaraaig signifies etyniologicalry "a rising or raising up./' It is used in Scripture to designate the future general raising, by the power of God, of the bodies of all men from the sleep of death.
2. What Old Testament passages bear upon this subject ? Job xix., 25-27 ; Ps. xlix., 15 ; Is. xxvi., 19 ; Dan. xii., 1-3.
3. What are the principal passages bearing upon this subject in the New Testament f
Matt, v., 29 ; x., 28 ; xxvii., 52, 53 ; John v., 28, 29 : vi., 39 ; Acts ii, 25-34 : xiii., 34 ; Eom. viii, 11, 22, 23 ; Phil, iii., 20, 21 ; 1 Thess. iv., 13-17, and 15th chap, of 1 Cor.
4. What is the meaning of the phrases, o&fia ibvxiKov, natural body, and ow\ia -vey/ia-mov, spiritual body, as used by Paul, 1 Cor. xv., 44 ?