praying for the dead. From these examples, it is plain, that prayers for the dead, as used in the primitive Church, are totally irreconcileable with the doctrine of purgatory. Here it may be objected to us, that we have departed from the practice of the primitive Church in praying for the dead. We do not deny it, and we justify this departure on the following grounds 1. It was the practice of the early Christians to give the Eucharist to infants. This practice is now laid aside, as well by Roman Catholics as by us: yet no objection is made to us on this account. 2. God has commanded us to pray for one another while on earth, but has not commanded us to pray for those who have departed. The only Scriptural proof is taken from 2 Tim. i. 18, where St. Paul prays that "Onesimus may find mercy of the Lord in that day;" but it is not certain that Onesimus was dead when this passage was written. 3. The fathers allude to these prayers as a custom of their Church, but advance no argument for them from Scripture. Since, therefore, this practice has been so grossly abused, we have no hesitation in rejecting a groundless precedent, though existing in ages which we highly reverence. Lastly, we shall consider the methods proposed for redeeming sinners out of purgatory; the chief of which was the saying masses for 66 66 departed souls. In this practice, however, there was a plain departure from the original institution of the Lord's Supper. We are desired to "take, eat, and drink,” (Matt. xxvi. 26, 27,) that thus we may show forth the Lord's death till he come." 1. Cor. xi. 26. These commands have no relation to the applying this communion to those who are departed. The practice, too, is equally opposed to the customs of the primitive Church. In the early ages the communion was celebrated on every occasion of publie worship. Immediately preceding this part of the service, there was a roll read, in which the names of the eminent characters of all the Churches were registered. When the orthodoxy of any person's faith was doubted, his name was omitted, and according as that doubt was confirmed or removed, his name was inserted or expunged.1 This omission of the name, however, was considered merely as a blot upon the individual's memory, but not as in any degree affecting the weal of his soul. This is evident from the following circumstance: in. St. Cyprian's time, a priest had, before his death, left the guardianship of his children to another priest, with whom he had lived on terms of friendship. Cyprian, considering that it was a bad precedent to im a See Gibson's Preserv. ag. Popery, tit. vi. c. ii. p. 84. pose secular cares on the clergy, ordered that person's name not to be read in the daily sacrifice. Whence it appears, (unless we accuse Cyprian of the most unreasonable cruelty), that he considered the punishment as merely prejudicing his memory, without injuring his soul. After this roll was read, then the prayer followed for the souls of the departed, and the service terminated in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. It is manifest, that this practice is quite different from that of a priest saying a solitary mass, to deliver a soul from Purgatory. The abuses that attended this doctrine were of the grossest kind. It was pretended, that being a part of the communion of the Lord's Supper, God was pleased by the frequent repetition of it, and by the provisions made for those who were constantly employed in it. Men were taught that by virtue of so many masses, souls were redeemed out of purgatory, and visions and apparitions of the tormented sinners were published in all quarters to confirm this belief. Hence arose those vast endowments to the clergy, which, if they had not been restrained by the statutes of mortmain, would, in the end, a a The statutes of mortmain rendered it illegal for any testator to confer a grant of lands as a legacy on an ecclesiastical body. The origin of the term seems to be, that the devise of lands being to ecclesiastical bodies, who by profession are considered as dead in law, the lands held by them were said to be held in manu mortuâ.-See Coke's Inst. 1. 1. p. 2. Ed. Lond. 1789. have subjected the temporalty altogether to the spiritualty. And when the princes of Christendom discovered these impostures, they were perfectly justified in voiding those endowments, or restoring them to the families to whom they had originally belonged, on the same ground, that private persons are obliged to give back what they have obtained from others on false pretences, and by base practices. 2nd. The Article condemns the Romish doctrine concerning pardons. a This doctrine is founded on the distinction between the eternal and temporal punishment of sin. The pardon is granted for the latter by the Pope, and the power by which he thus acts is derived from the words, "feed my sheep," (John, xxi. 16,) and, " to thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xvi. 19.) This power is transmitted to the bishops and deacons, who are thus enabled to commute penance, but the power of indulgences is confined to the Pope alone. The latter consists in applying the treasure of the Church to redeem souls from purgatory, or to remit temporal punishment on such terms as he pleases. This remission extends to a thousand, and sometimes to ten hundred thousand years, and depends on an attendance at a particular 2 See Bp. J. Taylor's Dissuasive from Popery, par, i. c. i. sec. iii. a Church, or is granted for particular days and seasons. The doctrine now mentioned has been held in the Roman Church since the twelfth century, and was confirmed by the council of Trent, which, at the conclusion of its last session, approved of the practice of the Church on this point, merely objecting to some abuses, as for instance, the sale of indulgences; the correction of which, however, was left to the discretion of the Popes, who had been the authors of, and were the gainers by them. Some writers however assert, that indulgences are no more than exemptions from canonical penance, and excuse the doctrine on this ground. But this evasion is unsatisfactory. The power of commuting penance and that of indulgences are quite distinct, and designed for different ends. The one is instituted for the outward discipline of the Church; the other for the internal quiet of consciences, and regards the future state. The one is lodged in a Ninety thousand years of pardon for deadly sin are granted for saying three prayers before the chapel of the Holy Cross of the Seven Romans, in Hor. B. Vir. Mar. quoted by Bishop Taylor in Diss. p. i. c. ii. sec. iii. Numerous instances of this kind may be found in Stillingfleet's Works, v. 5. p. 190. The first indulgence was granted by Pope Gregory VII. to those who would engage in his favour, in the quarrel with Henry IV. at the latter end of the 11th century.—See Baron. A. D. 1084. n. 15. See Conc. Trid. sess. 25. dec. de Indulg. d Gregory de Valencià says "this opinion does not differ from the heretics." de Indulg. c. 2. |