The doctrine of purgatory does not, then lore, involve the idea of the future redemption of the impenitent. •• The sonls who go to purgatory are only such as die in the state of grace, united to Jesus Christ. It i- their imperfect works for which they are condemned to that place of .suffering, and which must all be there con- sumed, and their stains purged away from them before they can go to heaven." The Council of Trent decides thus: "If any one say that after the grace of JUStifica-
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tion received the fault is so pardoned to every penitent sinner, and the guilt of temporal punishment is so blot- ted out that there remains no guilt of temporal punish- ment to be done away in this world, or that which is to come in purgatory, before the passage can be opened into heaven, let him be accursed." Elsewhere it is said, " There is a purgatory, and the souls detained there are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the sacrifices of the acceptable altar" — a statement obviously vague and indefinite. It leaves the most im- portant inquiry undetermined — viz. whether the souls in purgatory are in a state of happiness or misery : they are "detained," but nothing more as defide is stated. By referring, however, to the Catechism of the Council of Trent, drawn up by order of the fathers there assem- bled, we get a clearer and more explicit definition : "There is a purgatorial fire, where the souls of the righteous are purified by a temporary punishment [ad definition te.mpus cruciatce expiantur], that entrance may be given them into their eternal home, where nothing that is defiled can have a place. And of the truth of this doctrine, which holy councils declare to be confirmed by the testimony of Scripture and of apostolic tradition, the pastor will have to declare more diligent- ly and frequently, because we are fallen on times in which men will not endure sound doctrine" (Cone. Tri- dent, sess. vi, can. 30 ; sess. xxv, § 1 ; Catech. Trident. c. vi, qu. 3). Thus a definite meaning is given to the vague teaching of the council : there is a purgatorial fire, and the souls of the faithful are punished for a de- fined period till their sins are expiated. The almost universal belief prevailing among Roman Catholics — though they do not consider torment by fire as being de- fide, but only the most probable opinion — is that purga- tory is a place of suffering or punishment for imperfect Christians. Thus Dr. Vilmer, though he says that "in the Council of Trent all is contained that is necessary to be believed on this subject," yet afterwards defines pur- gatory "as a place of temporary punishment" which is not asserted by, and goes beyond, the decree of the coun- cil (End of Controversy, p. 173. 174). Bellarmine says, "Purgatory is a certain place in which, as in a prison, the souls are purged after this life which were not fully purged in this life — to wit, so that they may be able to enter into heaven, where no unclean thing can enter;" and elsewhere, " that the fathers unanimously [sic] teach that the pains of purgatory are most severe or terrible" (De Purgatorio, ii, 14).
The arguments advanced for purgatory are these: 1. Every sin, how slight soever, though no more than an idle word, as it is an offence to God, deserves punish- ment from him, and will be punished by him hereafter, if not cancelled by repentance here. 2. Such small sins do not deserve eternal punishment. 3. Few depart this life so pure as to be totally exempt from spots of this nature, and from every kind of debt due to God's jus- tice. 4. Therefore, few will escape without suffering something from his justice for such debts as they have carried with them out of this world, according to the rule of divine justice, by which he treats every soul hereafter according to his works, and according to the state in which he finds it in death. From these posi- tions, which the advocates of the doctrine of purgatory consider as so many self-evident truths, they infer that there must be some third place of punishment; for since the infinite holiness of God can admit nothing into heaven that is not clean and pure from all sin, both great and small, and his infinite justice can permit none to receive the reward of bliss who as yet are not out of debt, but have something in justice to suffer, there must, of necessity, he some place or state where souls depart- ing this life, pardoned as to the eternal guilt of sin, yet obnoxious to some temporal penalty, or with the guilt of some mortal sins (peeaita mortalia), or some venial faults (peccata venalia), are purged and purified before their admittance into heaven. Those in purgatory are relieved by the prayers of their fellow-members here on
earth, also by alms and masses offered up to God for their souls. Such as have no relations or friends to pray for them, or give alms to procure masses for their relief, are remembered by the Church, which makes a general commemoration of all the faithful departed in every mass and in every one of the canonical hours of the divine office. Besides the above arguments, the following Bible passages are alleged by them in support of these views: 2 Mace, xii, 43-4G (on which they rely, on the supposition of its being inspired) ; Matt, v, 25 (the " prison" therein referred to being interpreted by them to mean purgatory) ; xii, 32; 1 Cor. iii, 11-15; xv, 29 ; Rev. xxi, 27 ; as well as on certain less decisive indications contained in the language of some of the Psalms, as xxxvii (in the A. V. xxxviii), 1; lxv, 12; Isa. iv, 4; xxii, 14; Mai. iii, 3. Respecting all these passages as containing the doctrine of a purgatory, ar- guments are drawn not alone from the words themselves, but from the interpretation of them by the fathers.