rasalem, who says : " Deinde et pro defunctis Sanctis patribus et episcopis, et omnibus generatim, qui inter nos vita functi sunt, oramus, maximum hoc credentes adjumentum illis animabus fore' pro quibus oratio defertur, dum sancta et tremenda coram jacet victima ; " 1 that is, " Then we pray for the holy fathers and the bishops that are dead ; and, in short, for all those who are de- parted this life in our communion ; believing that the souls of those for whom the prayers are offered, receive very great relief while this holy and tremendous victim lies upon the altar ; " Gregory of Nyssa,2 who says that in this life the sinner may " be renovated by prayers and by the pursuit of wisdom ; " but when he has quitted his body, " he cannot be admitted to approach the Divin- ity till the purging fire shall have expiated the stains with which his soul was infected ; " Ambrose,3 who thus comments upon 1 Corinthians iii. 15, "He ... . shall be saved, yet so as by fire." The Apostle says, " ' Yet so as by fire,' in order that his salvation be not understood to be without pain. He shows that he shall be saved indeed, but he shall undergo the pain of fire, and be thus purified ; not like the unbelieving and wicked man, who shall be punished in everlasting fire ;" Jerome,4 who says : " As we be- lieve the torments of the devil, and of those wicked men, who said in their hearts, « There is no God,' to be eternal ; so, in regard to those sinners, impious men and even Christians, whose works will be proved and purged by fire, we conclude that the sentence of the judge will be tempered by mercy ; " and Augustine,6 who says : " The prayers of the Church, or of good persons, are heard
1 Catechesis Mystagogica, v. 9 ; Opera, Venice, 1763, p. 328, a, b.
2 Oratio de Mortuis ; Works, Paris, 1615, vol. ii. pp. 1066-1068.
8 "Dixit: 'Sic tamen quasi per ignem,' ut salus hsec non sine poena sit: .... ostendit salvum ilium quidem futurum ; sed pcenas ignis passurum, ut per ignem purgatus fiat salvus, et non sicut perfidi aeterno igne in perpetuum torqueatur." Works, edit. Paris, 1661, vol. iii. p. 351, a.
* Comment, in c. Ixv. lsai., Opera, Paris, 1579, tome iv. p. 502, d, e.
6 " Nam pro defunctis quibusdam, vel ipsius Ecclesiae, vel quorumdam piorum exauditur oratio : sed pro his quorum in Chnsto regeneratorum nee usque adeo vita in corpore male gesta est ut tali misericordia judicentur digni non esse, nee usque adeo bene, ut talem mis- ericordiam reperiantur necessariam non habere. Sicut etiam facta resurrectione mortuorum non deerunt quibus post poenas, quas patiuntur spiritus mortuorum, impertiatur misericor- dia, ut in ignem non mittantur aeternum. Neque enim de quibusdam veraciter diceretur, quod non eis remittatur neque in hoc saeculo, neque in futuro, nisi essent quibus, etsi non in isto, tamen remittetur in futuro." De Civitate Dei, xxi. xxiv. 2; Works, 2d Benedic- tine edition, Paris, 1838, vol. vii. p. 1028, c, d. "^Edificarent autem aurum, argentum, lapides pretiosos, et de utroque igne securi essent ; non solum de illo aeterno qui in aeternum
cruciaturus est impios, sed etiam de illo qui emendabit eos qui per ignem salvi erunt
Et quia dicitar, 'salvus exit,' contemnitur ille ignis Gravior tamen erit Hie ignii
quam quidqnid potest homo pati in hac vita." Enarratio in Psalmum xxxvii. 2, 8; Works, vol. iv. pp. 418, d, 419, a.
75$ PART IV. Ch. L — STATE OF SOUL AFTER DEATH.
in favour of those Christians who departed this life not so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to be entitled to immediate happiness. So, also, at the resurrection of the dead, there will some be found to whom mercy will be imparted, hav- ing gone through those pains to which the spirits of the dead are liable. Otherwise it would not have been said of some with truth, that their sin • shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come,' unless some sins were remitted in the next world." And again : " If they had built ; gold and silver, and precious stones,' they would be secure from both fires ; not only from that in which the wicked shall be punished forever, but like- wise from that fire that purifies those who shall be saved by fire. But because it is said * shall be saved,' that fire is thought lightly of ; though the suffering will be more grievous than anything man can undergo in this life." " These passages," says Cardinal Wise- man, " contain precisely the same doctrine as the Catholic Church teaches ;" they may be found in great abundance in all the stand- ard works of Catholic theologians.
With regard to this argument from the fathers, it may be re- marked, (1.) That if any one should quote Dollinger, Dupan- loup, Wiseman, and Manning in favour of any Christian doctrine, it would have more weight with Protestants than the same num- ber of these early writers ; not only because they are, speaking generally, men of far more ability and higher culture, but because they are in more favourable circumstances to learn the truth. The fathers looked at everything through an atmosphere filled with the forms of pagan traditions and ideas. The modern leaders of the Church of Rome are surrounded by the light of Protestant Christianity. (2.) All the ancient writers, quoted in support of the doctrine of purgatory, held doctrines which no Romanist is now willing to avow. If they discard the authority of the fathers when teaching a Jewish millennium, or sovereign predestination, once the doctrine of the universal Church, they cannot reasonably expect Protestants to bow to that authority when urged in favour of the pagan idea of a purification by fire. (3.) The witnesses cited in support of the doctrine of purgatory come very far short of proving the universal and constant belief of the doctrine in question. And, according to Romanists themselves, no doctrine can plead the support of tradition that cannot stand the crucial test, " quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus." (4.) That purgatory is, what Dr. Pusey calls it, " a modern invention," has been demonstrated by tracing historically its origin, rise, and de- velopment in the Church.