support and clothing of a certain number of poor men and women, whose chief occupation and duty it was to attend divine service twice daily, and to pray constantly for the repose of their benefactor's soul.* They were called "beadsmen" or "beadswomen,"† because it was sometimes enjoined that they were to recite every day the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin or Rosary, and to take a formal part in the annual Year's mind. Here, before this part of the subject is brought to a close, it should be noted that what riches enabled the wealthy to obtain for themselves and their relations, the church of our fathers anxiously and lovingly provided for the poorest and the most friendless like A. viii. fol. 44, 45; Herbert's "Livery Companies," vol. ii. p. 605; "Wills of the Northern Counties," pp. 20, 47, 50, 52, 105, 111, 112; Dugdale's 'History of St. Paul's Cathedral," pp. 19, 21, 335; "Antiquities of Durham," p. 21; Lupton's "History of Thame," p. 78, with regard to the Quartermayne Chantry. "Testamenta Vetusta" (Nicolas), vol. i. p. 428; Ibid., vol. ii. 508-610, 611; Stow's "History of London," vol. iii. p. 4; Swinden's "History of Great Yarmouth," p. 823. It may here be noted that so thoroughly was the idea ingrained into the mind of our pre-Reformation forefathers that it was a duty to pray for the departed, that when any inferior asked a favour of a superior, he very frequently signed himself, "Your poor beadsman," indicating that both during life and after death he would remember him in his prayers. The following, much older in substance than the date of the book from which it is taken, entitled, "A Praier to God for them that be departed, having none to praie for them," illustrates this point abundantly : "Have mercie, we beseche thee, Lord God, through the precious wise. Anciently, as is commonly allowed, the bonds that bound together rich and poor were many, and strong and efficient. The marked and dangerous divisions between class and class which now exist were comparatively unknown. were then so isolated as now. Neither rich nor poor Whenever a mass was said for any particular person, therefore, whether noble or prelate, the celebrant prayed always for all the faithful. This was specially enjoined in the majestic rite of St. Osmund.* Every Sunday and high festival, on the return of All Souls' Day, when individual anniversaries came round, the faithful departed were borne in mind both generally and specially. The Church in her simplest manuals for the poor and for children taught that no one should ever pass through a churchyard without remembering the souls of those whose bodies had found a restingplace there, and beseeching for them Almighty God's infinite mercy and pity. The inscriptions on tombs passion of thy only begotten sonne, Our Lorde Iesue Christe, have mercie on those soules that have no intercessors to thee to have them in remembrance. Deliver them from the torments of their paines, and bring them unto the companie of the celestial citizens, through thine exceeding great mercies."-The Primer in Latine and Englysh, after Salisburie Use. Caley, 1556. "Portiforium seu Breviarium ad inignis Sarisburiensis Ecclesie usum," pars hyemalis (Parisiis, 1529), folio 6. "Hore Beatissime Virginis Marie ad legitimum Sarisburiensis Ecclesie ritum" (Parisiis, 1526), fol. cxliv. and monuments likewise expressed this conviction, calling on the living to do their duty, in every form * and shape. In such legends the Blessed Trinity was asked to succour and defend the dead. Each Person of the same was implored to have mercy on those whose time of probation had for ever passed away. The saints, more especially the Blessed Mother of God, were invoked for their prayers. There were no vulgar and pompous inscriptions, as radically false in their laudatory statements as they are out of place in the house of God, such as now disfigure almost every cathedral and parish. church of this land, but simple and humble prayers for mercy from the Almighty and most pitiful Creator, and for charity and succour from those left behind. The faith on this subject which had been brought hither by St. Augustine certainly took root downward and bore fruit upward for many long centuries. "O Lord, be mindful of Thy servants who have gone before us with the sign of faith, and now rest in the sleep of peace," was the appointed daily utterance of the pastors of our beloved church, as they stood at God's earthly altar. And they fittingly closed See the introductory part to Appendix No. XI. their solemn devotions day by day, and week by week, as did the faithful likewise, with the unbroken petition of undying charity-"May the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen." CHAPTER IX. THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY. ISTORY is abundantly clear that various concep tions of a purgatory or place of future cleansing were current amongst Christian writers and fathers of the early church. Some ideas were definite, others were vague. Occasionally the same writer broached different conceptions of the doctrine at various periods. Under what circumstances these conceptions obtained form, currency, and acceptance; whether certain of them had been taught by the Apostle St. Paul, and received as part of the faith from the earliest times of Christianity; how far they were accepted generally, or became the subject of dispute-are details on which much may be said on several sides.* Here, however, * Vide "Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent," sess. xxv.; "Creed of Pope Pius IV. ;" Bossuet's "Exposition," etc.; Dr. Deacon, the Nonjuror, "On Purgatory," in |