Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-02

THE STATE OF THE BLESSED DEAD.
 The late general convention of the Episcopal church gave much time to the proposed changes in their liturgy, the one of the greatest importance consider ed being the effort to introduce prayers for the dead. The Anglo-Catholic party has ren growing rapidly in numbers anN =, influence since the passing of a canon in 1874, designed to put quietus on ritualism, which then was quite novelty, which canon has signally be- come a..dead letter so. Stormy has this ele- ment become in the church that a majority of the clerical delegates voted for the innovation and it was supported by large minority of the lay delegates. The motion of the Rev Dr Mann for such 8 prayer was defeated by only five votes. The bishops, whose sessions are secret, also defeated the motion, but it is we'll known that many of the bishops, especially those of the newer dioceses in the west and those lately elected to the succession in older dioceses, are strongly Anglo-Catholic in their sentiments.
 These discussions, widely noticed in the press of the whole country, have given special prominence to the ritualis- tic tendency which many have igno- rantly termed "Romish tendencies ,, and which has led many Protestants to think that the Episcopal church is being fast Romanized. The fact that the 1or If tIoco ole ,ho hor given up their Professionalism to become Catholics were Episcopalians has given color to this impression.
 The first English Episcopal prayer book, of '549, contained prayers for the dead. These were eliminated by the revision of 1552 and not returned by that of 1861, the date of the last change in the English prayer book, which is the model on which the American Epis- copalians framed theirs a century ago. The Anglo-Catholics claim the prayer book of 1549 to contain the principles on which the reformation in England was based and that only they are loyal to the same, Protestantism being a word they ignore.
 Notwithstanding the general impress sion strengthened by these facts, the truth is that there is vast difference between the Anglo-Catholic view of the state of the blessed dead and that held by the Catholic church.
 The view of the former is that none of the dead enter heaven or he'll until the general resurrection shall have been fol lowed by the division of the sheep and the goats at the command of the Divine Judge. Until then the dead are in a state of happiness or misery, those in the former being aided in spiritual progres- sion by the prayers of the living, just as they believe the angels by their minis. trations aid the living. The Catho. lie doctrine is that. at death each one's future is determined by the state in which he died, the finally impenitent going immediately to hell, while of the blessed dead, those who at death have atoned for all their sins are immediate. ly admitted to heaven, and those who have not been sufficiently punished fo, 6AA1o Pcdl oO1Co AuuoG ulAuc1RO puulSuluoul for time, during which time they are in purgatory. This time may be short. ened by the suffrages and good works ot the living. Hence prayers for the dead implies an effort to release the souls in purgatory and provide for their admis. sion into heaven, which cannot be till they have"paid the uttermost farthina' , That this can be done by the application of the merits of others is the Catholic doctrine.
 From this concise statement, it will appear that the popular interpretation of the phrase, prayers for the dead, is based on ignorance On All Saints day the Catholics remember those in heaven, they commemorate those in purgatory to-day, All Souls day, which is not known in the Episcopal calendar.
 DR E. A. TOwNE, "A Bank street.