tween the sufferings of good men in this life, and their temporal punishment in the next, since the one are reserved in the offers of mercy made in the Gospel, whereas the other is not. that there is a state in which after we shall be cast into prison, we are paying off our debts. But this argument may be turned against themselves, for as the scope of the parable is to show the severe punishment of those who hate implacably a sin certainly deserving hell, and not purgatory; and from the signification of the word, in parables of a similar kind, it is evident, that prison is used to express hell. Hence, it would follow, that the damned are clearing their debts, and that they shall be delivered, when all is paid off. The meaning of the phrase, therefore, is, that, as the debt is too great ever to be dissolved, they shall continue in that state for ever. (3.) Our Saviour's words concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost, that "it is neither forgiven in this life, nor in that which is to come," (Matt. xii. 32,) are urged to prove that some sins are pardoned in the next world, which are not pardoned in this. On this text it may be observed, 1. their interpretation of it would disprove the eternity of hell torments. For the persons who are said to go to purgatory, are those who are justified, and whose sins are therefore forgiven in this life; but the sins of the damned alone are not pardoned, and therefore none but these can be remitted hereafter. 2. The phrase may be considered as a general expression to exclude all hopes of pardon, and implying, that God's judgments will pursue such blasphemers, both in this world and in the next. Or it may be thus explained: "this life" may mean the dispensation of the law, and " that which is to come," the dispensation of the Messias; this being a common mode of expression among the Jews, as in the Epistle to the Hebrews," he hath not put in subjection to angels the world to 66 66 come." (c. ii. 5.) Now, in the Mosaical law, sacrifices were only received, and pardon offered for sins of a less heinous nature, but those which were more heinous, were punished with "cutting off" without mercy; whereas, in the Gospel, a full pardon of all sins was promulgated. The meaning, therefore, of Christ's words is, that the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was a sin, not only beyond the pardon offered in the law of Moses, (which was the age then passing,) but that it was a sin beyond the pardon which was a This is evidently the meaning of the phrase, from the manner in which the same idea is expressed in the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke; he hath never forgiveness," (Mark, iii. 29,) and it shall not be forgiven." (Luke, xii, 10.)—See Whitby in loe. to be offered by the Messias in the " age to come," that is, in the kingdom of heaven, that was then approaching. 2. The doctrine of purgatory may be refuted by observing, that no such intermediate state is asserted in Scripture. The Scriptures speak of two states after this life, of happiness and misery, the one the lot of righteous believers, and the other, of the unrighteous and unbelievers. Now if there had been a great deal to be suffered after death, and that there were many effectual ways to avoid, or at least lessen the duration of these sufferings, and if the Apostles were aware of this, and yet were totally silent about it, then they were guilty of a great treachery in the discharge of their functions to the souls of men, not to warn them of their danger, nor direct them to the proper means of avoiding it. Thus, they tell their converts, that " through "much tribulation they must enter into the 66 kingdom of heaven." (Acts, xiv. 22.) They assured them that "the sufferings of the pre"sent time were not worthy to be compared "with the glory which should be revealed to "them;" (Rom. viii. 18.;) and that " those light "afflictions which are for a moment, wrought "for them a far more exceeding and eternal 66 weight of glory." (2 Cor. iv. 17.) Here, if they knew any thing of purgatory, a powerful consideration was passed over in silence, that by such afflictions they should be delivered from those torments. But we can argue on a more decisive ground than the mere silence of Scripture. It always speaks, as if the state of happiness to which Christians were transferred, immediately succeeded the miseries of the present life. Thus, our Saviour represents the rich man's soul as presently carried to a state of " torment," while that of Lazarus was in a state of "comfort." (Luke xvi. 25.) He promised also to the repentant thief, "to-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (Luke xxiii. 43.) St. Paul comforts himself in the apprehension of his approaching dissolution, with the prospect of a crown of 66 righteousness that should be given him after "death;" (2 Tim. iv. 8;) and connects these two states as immediate consequents one of another, to depart and to be with Christ ;" (Phil. i. 23;) "to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord." (2 Cor. v. 8.) And that this is no peculiar privilege attached to himself, but one belonging to all Christians, is evident from this general expression: "We know, that if our and, 66 earthly house of this tabernacle were dis"solved, we have a building of God, an house "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Cor. v. 1.) And even under the Old Dispensation, in which the manifestations of another life were more imperfect than in the New, the R righteous are represented as "looking for that city, whose builder and maker is God." (Heb. xi. 10.) Finally, St. John heard a voice, commanding him to write "Blessed are the dead who die "in the Lord; from henceforth (or immediately), yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from "their labours, and their works follow them.” (Rev. xiv. 13.) From these texts it is evident, that we cannot acknowledge the sincerity and inspiration of the Apostles, and believe at the same time in the existence of an intermediate state, in which dreadful sufferings were to be endured, before Christians arrived at their final resting-place. It is true, that the Scriptures speak of a "full reward," (2 Jo. 8,) and of different degrees of glory, as one star differeth from another.” (1 Cor. xvi. 41.) They also seem to refer to the day of judgment upon the resurrection of the body, as conferring the full possession of blessedness. Such passages may infer, that the blessed, though admitted to happiness immediately after death, yet were not so completely happy as they shall be after the resurrection. Accordingly, a diversity of opinions prevailed on this subject. Some thought, that the souls of the good were happy, but that they did not see God till the resurrection. Others thought that Christ was to de a See Dr. J. Burnet de Statu Mortuorum, |