"If, then, through the sin of Adam, children have inherited primeval guilt, much more by Christ the Lord are they enabled to obtain grace and righteousness, in order that they may reign in [eternal] life. This indeed can in no wise be effected, except by baptism."

Pueris infantibus nulla alia salutis comparandæ ratio, nisi eis baptismus præbeatur. Catechismus ad Parochos, pp. 189, 191. Lugduni, 1579.

"No other means of salvation is supplied to infants, except baptism be administered to them."

Tertius est locus pro infantibus sine baptismo abeuntibus: pro pœna solius damni æterna, est limbus puerorum. Bellarm. de Purgat. 1. ii. cap. 6, tom. ii. p. 410, A. Coloniæ, 1628.

"There is a third place for infants who die without baptism. This Limbus Puerorum is for the eternal punishment of loss only:" that is, the loss of the presence of God.

Cum igitur infantes non sint rationis capaces, ac per hoc non imitentur peccata patrum, et tamen puniantur pœna omnium gravissima, quæ est mors temporalis et eterna; sequitur necessario ut habeant aliquod aliud peccatum, ob quod juste puniantur; et hoc est quod originale vocamus.

Quare dubitari non potest, quin infantes, quibus necessarium esse baptismum ex verbo Christi et apostolica traditione monstratum est, peccatum habeant, quod secum ex utero matris adduxerint. Bellarm. de Amiss. Gratiæ et Statu Peccati, lib. iv. c. 7, tom. iv. p. 61, G. 62, B.

Since, then, infants are without reason, so that they cannot imitate the sins of their fathers, and are nevertheless punished with the most severe of all punishments, that is to say, death temporal and eternal; it necessarily follows that they have some other sin, for which they are justly punished: and this is what we call original sin. It cannot, therefore, be doubted that infants (for whom it is shewn from the word of Christ and Apostolical tradition that Baptism is necessary,) have sin, which they bring with them from their mother's womb."

CHAPTER VIII.

MOTIVES FOR TEACHING PURGATORY AND PRAYER FOR

THE DEAD.

“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you." 2 PET. ii. 3.

HAVING now clearly shewn that neither Purgatory nor Prayer for the Dead can find any support in the sacred volume, and that the two doctrines are perfectly distinct as to their origin and early application; having also noticed the extreme anxiety evinced by the Papacy to prove that the practice of the one is coexistent with the belief of the other; it is not too much to infer that a separation, at the present day, would be fatal to both and it only remains to inquire into the motive, which actuates the Romanist in upholding the doctrines as inviolably true; and yet only true in their assumed combination. It is admitted that the practice of praying for the dead, though in a widely different sense from that in which it is employed by the Church of Rome, was long antecedent to the belief in Purgatory. The one, it may be, prevailed in the first or second century; the

other was not taught before the end of the sixth. Why, then, this anxiety for a forced and unscriptural union between them? After a patient investigation, and serious reflection, the only motive which suggests itself-and the utmost stretch of christian charity can assign no other-lies in the value of the cement which is indispensably necessary to bind them.

For prayers specially made, and for special sacrifices offered in behalf of a departed soul, a proportionate sum of money is received into the Romish treasury. If there were no purgatorial

flames from which the soul is to be rescued, there would, of course, be no prayers in aid of its deliverance; and, by consequence, no remuneration for an unnecessary service. The doctrine, therefore, which teaches that the soul must endure the cleansing flames of Purgatory to burn out its stains, and that the prayers and sacrifices of the faithful alone can effect a more speedy liberation than the sufferer could otherwise procure, can never be disunited without dealing a fatal deathblow to the sordid hopes of an encroaching priesthood.

In making this charge it will necessarily be expected that no Protestant prejudice should interpose, so as to invalidate the testimony adduced in its support. It will be requisite, therefore, to bring forward the most unquestionable proof for the allegation thus deliberately advanced.

of

Proceeding then at once to the highest authority of the Romish Church, it will be found that in the twenty-fifth session of the Council of Trent, Bishops are enjoined "to provide, that the suffrages of living believers, that is to say, the sacrifices masses, prayers, alms, and other works of piety, which have usually been performed by the faithful, for other deceased faithful persons, should be piously and devoutly performed, according to the institutions of the Church; and that whatever is due in their behalf, either from the bequests of testators, or from any other source, should be discharged, not as a matter of course, but diligently and accurately, by the priests and ministers of the Church, and by others who are bound to perform this office."

1

2

In the event, however, of these "bequests" and emoluments "from other sources," which are given in return for the services of the priests, not being regarded as sufficiently savoring of filthy lucre, it may be proper to turn to a work by which a late champion of the Romish Church has declared his willingness to be judged. Therein it is asserted, as a portion of the Papist's belief, "that those who are in Purgatory, being the living members of Jesus Christ, are relieved by the prayers of their fellow members here on earth; and that the charitable works performed upon their death-bed, and the alms 2 See Note AA, p. 27.

1 See Note A, p. 335.

disposed of in their last will, are very available afterwards, in order to their speedier release." 1

Surely from these "charitable works performed upon death-beds;" these "alms disposed of in last wills," so as to be " very available afterwards in order to the speedier release" of the souls of those faithful members of Jesus Christ who have not failed in their liberality to the Church; only one conclusion can be fairly drawn respecting the union of the two tenets in question, which for centuries has been so tenaciously maintained by the Church of Rome. The pecuniary benefit thence derived to the Priesthood, is the only rational means of accounting for the fact. "Each looks to his own way; every one for his gain from his quarter." 2 This was the moving cause, the exciting principle, which led to the introduction of the doctrine of Purgatory, and its connexion with Prayer for the Dead. And that the like special watchfulness over the "bequests of testators," "charitable works performed upon death-beds," and "alms disposed of in last wills," has ever been exercised by the Romish Church, will appear from her ancient Statutes and Constitutions, published long before the meeting of the so-called general Council of Trent, A.D. 1563.

In the Statutes of the diocese of Sodor, set forth in the year 1239, or nearly three centuries

1 A Papist Misrepresented and Represented. Art. xxiii. p. 60. Ed. 1685.

2 Isa. lvi. 11.