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not one that would even get at the truth at all. Ido not
see how any man, unless he devoted the entire of a life, and
what can we who are so busy in the active pursuits of life do ?
—get at the nonillions interpretation of all the fathers. He
must go through and all over a multitude of volumes, digest
and collate them, then Compare and condense the whole, and
then draw forth their responses thus collated, and thus con-
densed, and thus drawn out. If a man is not to find the
pearl of great price, or to know the way to happiness till he
has obtained it by going through all the fathers, it would be

melancholy indeed. Than'
fathers but to the grandfather
we can go not to Father Augustine, or Chrysostom, or
Jerome, but to Father Paul, and Peter, and John. (Cheers.)
Yes, my friends, we do not call them father, for we call no
man father spiritually but one, who is God ; he is our father
and our Lord, and we leave the Church of Rome to call any
man her father ; therefore, papa the Pope, and the Popes,
and the brands of Anti-Christ upon earth. We do not, there-
fore, speak even of the apostles as fathers ; nor do we speak
of the early fathers in any other sense than simply as words
conventionally used, for we hold no one father but the ever-

may go not to the
) Thank God

Applaus

the Lor

ion high, who is the father of us
es, 1 have read
rlier than I in-

lasting fatht
all. But with regard tc
to you already (having quoted it s
tended) the opinion of a Roman C
to the testimony of the early fathi

lone bishop with regard
He admits, that until

irt very late period, in the church t

'ine of purgatory

was wholly unknown. I f

made out bysevel

ral of our disting

Faber and the present Bishop of Ex

s, especially Mr
that nearly at th,

close of the third century there is not the slightest intimation
or whisper in any one of the fathers about an intermediate
state of penalty and suffering between death and 'the resur-
rection for those who depart in the Lord. There are upon
the contrary a multitude of passages in their writings that
most distinctly and flatly contradict any such notions. But
I shall hold myself excused, and I dare say you will, from at
all entering into the views of the fathers upon this subject,
because if all the fathers from Ignatius down to Origen, yea,
down to the last father that wrote were, with one unanimous
voice to give testimony to purgatory, it would not weigh
against one single part of a sentence of the word of God more
than a feather against the world. I know of no comparison
by which I could fairly shadow forth the extent of difference
between the testimony of poor fallible worms and the deci-
sive voice of the spirit of the living God ; therefore I would
not allow, in my own mind, all the testimony of all the
fathers to weigh ought unless that testimony were endorsed
and authenticated by the word of God. As witnesses to
facts, as credible historians we respect and revere the fathers,
but as propounders of doctrine, as adding ought to revela-
tion, as sublimating as it were the records of God's word by
their own imaginations we do not receive them, and we say—
" Why shall the fathers act as Christ and the Apostles and
the Prophets ? The word of God is our sufficient rule, our
only rule ; and to that, by the help of God, we will stand to
our dying day."

But Whilst the Church of Rome has thus little or nothing to
appeal to' in the Apostolical Fathers, has not the shadow of
an appeal to the word of God, I grant that she has a powerful
appeal to the carnal reason and to the deceived heart of fallen
man. I know it, and therefore conceive it to be of great im-
portance, that, in proceeding as I shall to repudiate altogether
and disprove the doctrine, that this should be distinctly and
frequently shown, not only on account of its beating down
one of the strongest pillars of Popery, but on account of the
congruity of its erroneous doctrines to the fallen heart of
man. You will often have advocates for purgatory among
professing Protestants : they do not advocate it by name,
but they advocate it by insinuation. Those who are accus-
tomed (thank God, I have little been) to profane and foolish
jesting with men, will often have heard them say, " Well,
if we are not good enough to go to heaven, we are too good
to go to hell." What is this but an insinuation that there
may be some middle state for them ? The heart, therefore,
is prepared to wish for a middle state. The worldly man and
the wicked man, then, will be anxious to indulge their evil
passions yet with a quiet conscience; they will wish to have
their fill of earthly indulgence, yet to escape the penalty, for
they will continue to sin if conscience tells them that their
sin brings with it no punishment hereafter. To such men
what a harbour of refuge does purgatory present! If men
may by any measure of temporary punishment, by even thou-
sands of years of sore suffering, have the gratification of their
lusts and passions here, we know that man is so much crea-
ture of sense he will do so. Aye, the mere fiction of purga-
tory upon the lusts and passions of the carnal man, will ope-
rate in order to restrain and curb, but as flax before the
flames, when temptation rages and evil passions assail. The
fear of everlasting torment is feeble to deter guilty man from
eating of the fruit of death ; but when you transmute the
terrors of hell into the mere presence of purgatory, how fee-
ble will be its aim ! I will venture to say there is not a man
in this room, who speaks the honest sentiments of his mind,
who will not admit, if he followed his natural inclinations, he
would become an advocate for purgatory, and gladly hug the
fond idea to his heart. It is just what we want—the thing that
will allow us to follow the bent of our dispositions and passions
upon earth, and rescue us from the eternity of woe beyond.
It is not only thus in the darker passions of the human heart
that the fiction of purgatory finds an advocate : it finds an
advocate even in the finer affections and in the more refined
sentiments of the soul. Yes; indeed, Popery works often
with fearful power and efficacy in this way ; and 1 know not
how I can better illustrate my meaning than by giving you a
simple instance that came under my own observation. A lady
at one time connected with my own flock, possessed of consi-
derable Christian knowledge, and not without strong religi-
ous feeling, married a medical man who was careless and de-
voted to the world. What little better feeling she had was
much withered by such an unwarranted and unwise union.
Their lot was cast in a neighbourhood where resided a Romish
family of distinction, wealth, .and great benevolence. Her
husband attended as a medical man upon the family, and
they showed kindness and attention to the strangers, for they
were comparatively such in the neighbourhood. In process
of time it pleased God in his mysterious Providence that the
medical man, in riding out to visit his patients, was seized
with some sudden attack of disease, which terminated fatally
before his wife could arrive to catch his last breath. When
he was committed to the grave, and her mind awoke from
the torpor in which the blow had at first stunned her, her
former religious convictions and feelings rushed upon her
mind, and she felt a thrilling agony in the thought, " What
has become of my husband's soul ? " That one agonising
idea so occupied and possessed her soul, that all her personal
bereavement and sense of desolation upon earth was absorbed
in its intensity. Whilst in this state of mental anguish, she
was invited into the bosom of the Romish family : she was
treated there with the utmost tenderness, assiduity, and deli-
cacy, nor was the slightest attempt made to insinuate their
peculiarities into her mind. But they watched, and discerned
the state of her bruised spirit ; and they availed themselves
of an occasion when she remarked—" Oh, could I but be as-
sured it were well with my husband's spirit, I could how in
submission to the hand of God ! " They then gently and
kindly, smoothly and tenderly, insinuated How dreary, and
cheerless and dismal is your faith ! It offers you no
hope; it allows you no intercession on behalf of departed
friends ; but ours is more Christian and more consolatory.
Our creed teaches us that, though our friends may have died
in the midst of guilt and sin, yet we may reach them by our
prayers, and preserve them by our services, and nourish their
very souls by masses to be celebrated ; and we may thus abate
their torments, and expedite their admission into heaven."
It touched the chord that vibrated in her desolate breast,
and she listened with avidity to that which promised her
some light in the midst of her gloom. She caught at this
straw, and clutched it convulsively. The consequence was,
she admitted the visits of the priest, she was gradually drawn
into the toil, and she was on the very eve of conforming to
the Church of Rome, when, at this crisis, her friends, hear-
ing of the state of her mind, immediately insisted upon her
leaving the family and returning to them. I had several in-
terviews with her, and I found it no difficult task to disabuse
her mind; for she had too much of the light of Scripture,
and a too enlightened conscience, to be able to swallow the
absurdities of Popery when they were revealed to her in
their real nakedness. The priest had taken care to veil and
cloak them so that they did not startle her ; and when
shewed them to her in their own writings, and told her in
what they believed,—when she really found what was in the
back-ground, she started and said, " Oh ! they never told
me this." It was a simple saying ; and I said, " No, they
would never have told you that till you were prepared to
receive it ; they must first administer an opiate till they
have stunned the conscience and stunned the understanding,
then they would reveal to you the darker mysteries of their
creed; but they only give it to you drop by drop, as you are
capable of receiving the soporific draught." The conse-
quence was, she broke off from her connection with Roman-
ism, returned cordially to the bosom of the church, and is, I
trust, at this moment, a faithful and obedient servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I think that illustration will make
manifest to von the subtle appeals of Popery to the tenderer
feelings and the more exquisite sensibilities, more plainly
than any statement or argument of my own could have done.
You see, then, how Popery takes advantage of the doctrine
of purgatory, not only in the craft and deceits and passions
of the natural heart, but also in the dearer sensibilities and
the more exquisite affections of the soul. Hence it will not
be lost labour or a superfluous task, that I proceed to shew
you, by a few simple arguments, that the doctrine of the
Church of Rome touching purgatory is altogether and utterly
to be reprobated and rejected.
First of all, we reject the doctrine because it is founded
upon a most unscriptural distinction between sins venial and
mortal. If all sins were mortal, one of the principal reasons
for purgatory would be done away, because mortal sins,
unless expiated by the blood of Christ, and atoned for by
penance here, admit of no forgiveness hereafter; but venial
sins may be forgiven, either here by means of penance or
penalties, or hereafter by means of certain sufferings endured
in purgatory, and shortened by masses, in their satisfaction.
But where does the Church of Rome find, in the whole com-
pass of Scripture, anything about venial sins? Where does
she find any countenance thus to make nought of the law of
God ? Where does she find any authority for instructing us
that God ever ailows his holy law to be violated by trans-
gressors at small cost, and yet says with regard to the trans-
gression that it may be held as a venial sin in his sight ?
Upon the contrary, we are told that the thought of foolish-
ness is sin ; that for every idle word we utter, we must give
an account at the judgment ; that he who offends in one point
is guilty of the whole law, because he opposes the authority
that enforces the whole that he who offends in one point
thereby offends in all, because it is not inclination that keeps
him from offending in all, but circumstances, convenience,
or something else than simple submission to the authority of
God. Again, are we not taught that " all unrighteousness
is sin" ? Are we not taught that " God's anger is revealed
from heaven against all the unrighteousness of man " ? The
distinction of sins, therefore, into lesser and greater, into
venial and mortal, is a distinction not only unsanctioned by
Scripture, but, in the face of the inexorable and immutable
character of the law of God, has a direct tendency to bring
that law into dishonour and disrepute, leads men to take a
fearful licence and liberty with God's indefeasible command-
ments, and set up the standard of their own righteousness,
on one side of which is slavery, and on the other is the
grave, so that each man will alter the standard, as
may suit his convenience or his purpose. I have no
doubt there are thousands and tens of thousands of poor
ignorant dupes of the Church of Rome, who are to be
pitied for their ignorance rather than blamed for their
errors, who are led to indulge in sin under the fond notion
that their sin is venial Their guilt lies more at the door of
the Church of Rome, than at the door of their own conscience,
because they have been brought up in the dark delusion, and
still retain it till the iron of it has destroyed their very souls.
But we reject the doctrine of purgatory, not only upon the
score of its being founded thus on an unhallowed distinction,
but we reject it on the score and upon the ground of the re-
striction of temporal punishment even where temporal punish-
ment is removed. This we conceive must be acknowledged
to be a Scriptural doctrine. Does not the word of God every
where tell us that the divine being is a pardoning God, not
partially and by halves and by un-Christianizing, but pardon-
ing them freely, fully, and completely, when he pardons them
at all? This is beautifully described by the prophet—" Let
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrigteous man his
thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will
have mercy upon him, and to our God for he will abundantly
pardon." Again. "As far as the east is from the west, so
far bath he removed our transgressions from us." Again,
" Come now let us reason together saith the Lord : though
your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow ; though
they be red like crimson they shall be as wool." If whiter
than wool, if purer than snow, what room is there for further
punishment? What reason is there for temporal inflictions
from God or from man upon the sinner? My Christian
friends bow does Popery take away the abundant grace of
God, representing him as pardoning like man, and not like
himself, for it is in his pardoning grace especially he sets
himself forth, for be says, " As the heavens are higher than
the earth so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts." Man would pardon partially
and reserve punishment also ; but God, infinitely above man:
'
acts with no such partiality. He forgives freely. " Who,
exclaims the enraptured prophet, " is a God like unto thee, that