with Christ's coming or the Day of Judgment (see Psa. i, 3; Isa. iv, 4; Dan. vii, 9; Zech. xii, 9; Mai. iii, 2, 3; iv, 1). Many of the Church fathers are cited in sup- port of the belief that Christians must pass through the fire on the Day of Judgment, though all will not be injured by it— the highest saints passing through un- hurt, and others suffering a punishment proportioned to their sins, till "the wood, hay, straw, and stubble" built on the true foundation be consumed. Among the fathers of the Western Church, St. Hilary thus speaks of the severity of the Judgment-day purgation by fire, through which all, even the Virgin Mary, must pass {Luc. ii, 35; Tract, in Psalm, cxviii, lib. iii, § 12) ; and St. Ambrose says : " We must all pass through the fire, whether it be John the Evangelist, whom the Lord so loved that he said to Peter, ' If I will that he remain, what is that to thee ; follow thou me.' Of his death some have doubt- ed, of his passing through the fire we cannot doubt; for he is in paradise, and not separated from Christ" (Jerome, in Psalm, cxviii, serm. xx, § 12, et vid. § 15). St. Jerome likewise compares the ten revolted tribes of Israel to heretics, and the other two " to the Church, and to sinners [members] of the Church, who confess the true faith, but on account of the defilement of vice [vi- tiorum sordes~\ have need of the purging fires" (Jerome, Comment, in Amos, lib. iii, c. 7). Again he says, "As we believe that the torments of the devil, and of all infidel [negatorum] and wicked men who have said in their hearts ' There is no God,' are eternal, so of sinners, although Christians [the common reading is "sic pecca- torum atque impiorum et tamen Christianorum." "In vetustiori Ambrosiano MS, 'sic peccatorum et tamen Christianorum,' verius opinor ad Ilieronymi mentem" (Note, Migne ed.)], whose works are to be tried and purged by fire [in igne~\, we believe that the sentence of the Judge will be lenient [inoderatani], and tem- pered with mercy." "Let me not be among those," says St. Augustine, " to whom thou wilt hereafter say, Go into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure, so that thou mayest cleanse me in this life, and make me such that I may after that stand in no need of the cleans- ing fire for those who are to be saved so as by fire. Why? Why, but because they build upon the foun- dation wood, stubble, and hay. Now, they should build on it gold, silver, and precious stones, and should have nothing to fear from either fire ; not only that which is to consume the ungodly forever, but also that which is to purge those who are to escape through [per'] the fire. For it is said, he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. And because it is said he shall be saved, that fire is thought lightly of. For all that, though we shall be saved by fire, yet will that fire be more grievous than anything that man can suffer in this life whatsoever" (Augustine on the Psalms [Oxf. transl.], ii, 71). Again, "But if he shall have built on the foundation wood, hay. stubble, that is, have built worldly attachments on the foundation of his faith; yet if Christ be in the foun- dation, so that he have the first place in the heart, and nothing absolutely is preferred to him, even such are borne, even such are tolerated. The furnace shall come; it shall burn the wood, the hay. t lie stubble: but 'himself, he saith, shall be saved, yet so as by fire.' This shall the furnace do ; some it shall sever to the left, others it shall in a manner melt out to the right" ( ibid, v, 105). To illustrate the doctrine of the Eastern Church, a passage may first, be quoted from Clement of Alex- andria: "We say that fire sanctifies not flesh, but sin- ful souls, speaking of that fire which is not all-devour- ing, such as is used by artisans (iraiKpayov Kal jidvav- trov), but of that which is discriminative ((ppoi'tpor), pervading the soul which passes through the fire" (Clem. Alex. Stromata, lib. v, c. 6). Origen often speaks of the Judgment-day fire : thus he says that though Peter and Paul must pass through the fire, they shall hear the words, "When thou passest through the tire, the flame shall not harm thee" (Orig. Homil. iii, in Psalm.
PURGATORY
798
PURGATORY
xxxvi; rid. Homil. vi, in Kxod.). St. Basil, in his Com- mentary on Isaiah (iv, i), says that baptism may be understood in three senses — in the one, of regeneration by the J 1< »1>- Spirit; in another, of the punishment of sin in the present life; and in a third, " of the trial of judgment by fire." They who have committed deadly sins after they have received the knowledge of the truth, need the judgment which is by fire (rrjc iv tc.j Kaifian Kpiaeutg) (Basil. Opera, t. i. ad loc. Gaume). In his work on the Holy Spirit, illustrating the passage ••lie- BhaU baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire," he calls the trial of judgment a "baptism of tire;" as the apostle says. " the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" ( ibid, iii, p. 40). Gregory of Na/ian- zum, speaking of the Novatians, says: "Perchance in the future world they shall be baptized with tire, the last baptism more severe and long continued, which devours as grass the Stubble, and consumes every vestige of wickedness" (Sairava waanq Kaxiaq koi<ih>t))tci) (<Jreg. Naz. Opera, i. ii. c. 358, Migne). Also in one of his poems he speaks of standing in tear of the fiery river of judgment (jikoOQ (ftojiwv 'tarijKu 7Ti'pa>7ror«/(oi') {ibid. t. iii, c. 1423 I. < hregory of Nyssa says, speaking of in- fants who die unbaptized: "How shall we judge of those who thus died? Shall that soul behold its Judge, and shall it be placed with others before his tribunal? Shall its past life be judged, and will it receive a de- served recompense, purified by fire according to the teaching (ipiorur) of the Gospel, or refreshed by the dew of benediction?" (Greg. Nyss. t. iii. c. 161). So he teaches, in another oration, that "we must either be purified in this present life by prayer and the love of wisdom 'tpikoGocpicu;), or after our departure hence in the furnace of the purging lire" (ibid. t. iii, c. 498). See Willet. Xi/m>]).<is I'li/iimiti ; Bull, On the Trinity; Haag, HisUdes Dogmes; Elliott, Delineation of Romanism, ch. xii; Cramp, Text-book of Popery ; Knapp. Theology, p. 52 : Xeander. Hist, of Dogmas, p. tils sq. ; Doddridge, Lectures, lect. 270; Barnett, On the XXXIX Articles, art. 22 ; Edgar. Yiiriatimig <>/' I'oprry, eh. xiv ; Falter, Difficulties of Romanism, p. 157-192, 448-471, 2d ed.; and especially Hale. Doctrine of Purgatory and the Practice of Prayer for the ])<<i<l l-'..nnnin<d (Loud. 1843); Alger, Hist, of the Doctrm of a Future Life; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines, ii. 126 sq., 130 sq., 326 sq. : Tracts for the Times, No. 79 and No. 90 ; Wetstein, h, VanitaU Purgatorii; Allen, Defend of Purgatory; Marshall, Doctrim of Purgatory, Patriarchal, Papistic cal,and Rational; Valverde, Ignis Purgatorius Asser- tus; Bellarmine, De Controversiis Fidei; Usher, An- swer i" a Jesuit's Challenge; Hall. Doctrine of Purga- tory; Kitto, Journ. of Sacred Literature, i. 289 sq. ; vol \\ Wesleyan Mag. 1843, p. 832 sip See also the literature quoted in the art. Hades; Intermediate State. (J.H.W.)