The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-11-07
PURGAToRY.

time before they can go to heaven.
These souls did not die in mortal sin
else they would have gone to hell.
They left the world with some stain
of venial sin or else under debt to
the justice of God on account of NOR
tai sin. They may be assisted by the
intercession of the faithful on earth
but chiefly by the acceptable sacrifice
of the altar.
Till the revolt Of the sixteenth cen
tury the doctrine of Purgatory and
the practice of praying for the dead
we're upheld at all times throughout
the Christian world. There is abso-
lutely overwhelming evidence to
prove this, as many Professionals adj
NIT nowadays. An eminent English
Protestant divine, the Rev. F. w. Far
rar, says that there is nothing in the
doctrine of Purgatory contrary to
Holy Scripture, while it is consistent
with a very ancient belief of the
Church, and with the all but universal
usage of prayers for the dead"
Thorndyke, one of the classic theo-
lOgians of English Professionalism says:
"The practice of the Church in inter
ceding for the dead at the celebration
of the Eucharist, is so general and so
ancient that it cannot be thought to
have come in by imposture, but that
the same aspersion will take hold OF
common Christianity" The Rev. DR..
Alexander, Protestant Bishop of Derry,
said in his hampton Lectures on the
witness of the Psalms" that he finds
"a large measure of truth in the
instinct which has led more than half
of Christendom to use the Psalm DE
Profundis' at funerals" He quotes
with approval the words of Bishop
Martensen, a great Lutheran divine:
''The dead are in a deep region :.
in a still land where life, which had
displayed it's leaves and it's branches
above, bares it's eternal roots
These words of Martensen betray
the obscurity which overhangs the
Protestant view of life beyond the
grave. Complaining Of that obscurity
DR.. Hase, one of the leading Prot
estant divines of Germany, says that
many men are too good for hell but at
the same time too bad for Heaven,
when they die. And DR.. Samuel John
son told Boswell that he saw no harm
in holding the opinion that there is
an intermediate state between Heaven
and He'll: for, as he said elsewhere,
the generality of mankind are neither
so obstinately wicked as to deserve
everlasting punishment nor so good
as to merit being admitted at once
into the society Of the blessed spirits.
Mere traditional prejudice makes
many non-Catholics object to the name
of Purgatory. But at the grave of one
they love they cannot resist the Cath
Ollie instinct in their own hearts which
bids them say-May God have mercy
on his soul!
Today there is a universal reaction
in the Protestant world against the
horrible distortions Of Christianity
which were due to the gloomy genius
of Calvin. Some who were reared in
that murky atmosphere become
atheists and agnostics. Others turn
in the direction of the old Faith which
had to be blackened by calumny before
the blasphemies of Calvin could win
a place in human souls. Among these
latter was Farrar whose words are
quoted above. Like many another,
Farrar went too far in his protest
against Calvinism and denied the
eternity of He'll in the book Eternal
Hope" from which we have quoted
The same is to be said of the follow
ing words of another on-Catholic,
Mr.. w. H. Mallock, although they
state plain matter of fact as well as
unproveable modern theory:
ut is becoming fast recognized on
all sides that Purgatory is the only
doctrine that can bring belief in
future rewards and punishments into
anything like accordance with our no.
tions of what is just and reasonable.
So far from it's being superfluous
superstition, it is seen to be just what
is demanded at once by reason and
morality; and belief in it to be not
an intellectual assent only, but par
tial harmonizing of the whole moral
IDEAL" els Life Worth Living?" CHI.
XI, D. 29O). The fact of the matter is
that up-to-date Professionals have
silently dropped the doctrine of eter-
nal punishment and as silently taken
up the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory
in all but the name. The change
though violent and extreme, is testi-
mony to the reasonableness of the old
Faith.
The Books of Maccabbees were torn
out of the Bible by the founders of
Professionalism for the simple reason
that they supported too clearly the
Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. Even
if we do not insist upon the inspira-
ton of these books, we may insist
upon their authority as true history;
and they tell us that the Jews three
centuries before the time of Christ
thought that it was holy and a
wholesome thought to pray for the
dead that they may be loosed from
their sins G. Mace. II, 43 ff.) In the
GOSPEL of st. Matthew, chap. II, verse
20. we find that our Lord said that he
who speaketh against the Holy Spirit
will not be forgiven in this world or
in the world to come. Therefore,
saw all the most learned and holy
Fathers and Doctors of the Church,
some sins are RENTED in the world