to hear her in whatever way He knew for each; and so, that the prayers for deliverance from hell,

to the deacons, and to the whole clergy of Thy Holy Church, and to all the laity, both men and women, who have ended (their life) in the faith," (said privately, then aloud,) "with whom we beseech Thee to visit us also." Then "of the Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and of John Baptist, and of Stephen the first martyr, and of all the saints let there be remembrance in this holy oblation, we beseech Thee." Then, after full intercessions for the living, special mention of certain departed :-"Remember, O Lord, also the spirit of Thy servant N. N., and have mercy on him according to Thy great mercy, and on (the day of Thy) visitation give him rest in the light of Thy countenance," (but if he be living, save him from all snares of the soul and body"). "Remember, O Lord, also those who have recommended themselves to a mention of them in their prayers, both them that are in life, and them that rest in death; direct the intention [or "will"] of their requests unto Thee, and of our own to that which is right and that tends to salvation," &c. (Armenian Liturgy [Gregorian], translated by the Rev. C. Malan.) In the Jacobite Liturgy of the twelve apostles, the one prayer comprises all classes :-"Remember, O Lord, those also who pleased Thee from the beginning, especially the holy glorious Mother of God, Mary, John Baptist, &c. Remember also, Lord, all the faithful departed who have died of old and come to Thee. Receive these oblations which are offered for them to Thee this day, and make them rest in the blessed bosom of Abraham. With hope of Thy mercy, all the departed have received rest, and expect compassions of Thee, our adorable God. Grant that they may be found meet to hear that life-giving word, which shall call them and bring them, that they be invited to Thy kingdom." (Renaudot, ii. 173.) Alcuin has the like prayer in the offices which he framed, chiefly (it is related, Monit. Præv. Alcuini, Opp., t. ii. pt. i. p. 3, ed. Frob.) from the Sacramentaries of St. Gelasius and St. Gregory :--"We humbly pray Thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty Everlasting God, for the spirits of Thy servants and handmaidens, whom, from the beginning of this world, Thou hast commanded to be brought to Thyself, that Thou wouldest vouchsafe to give them a lightsome place, a place of refreshment and quiet; that it be allowed them to pass the gates of hell and the ways of darkness, and they may remain in the mansion of the saints and in the holy light which Thou

related to souls on whom the particular judgment was not yet passed; those for the saints were "for increase of their glory," as was expressed in words in a Gothic Missal, before the close of the eighth century; on which also Innocent III., at the beginning of the thirteenth, says, that "very many thought not

promisedst of old to Abraham and his seed. Let their souls receive no injury, but when that great day of resurrection and retribution shall come, Thou vouchsafe to raise them, O Lord, together with Thy saints and Thine elect, and efface their transgressions and sins 'to the uttermost farthing,' that they may obtain immortal life and an eternal kingdom with Thee." (Ibid., p. 82.) That of Dioscorus in like way prays God:-" Remember all who, from Adam until now, have had a conversation well-pleasing to Thee, who have departed unto Thee; especially those who have excellently ministered and served before Thee, faithful priests and deacons, who have purified their own souls and those of the people," &c. (Ibid., p. 293.)

t They occur chiefly on the day of the death or burial (see above, notes k, 1, m). Since some are dying at every moment, the more general prayers may perhaps relate to them, although not specified. Dieringer says of these prayers:-"To regard these formularies as prayers for those engaged in the death-struggle is, even on this ground, inadmissible; that this liturgy, in its central prayers, presupposes death as having already occurred; but the expressions are too strong to be applied to Purgatory.. But if one brings before one's mind the whole contents of the liturgies in question, that the Church in these prayers sets the departed before her, as they undergo the last agony, are placed before their Judge, pine in Purgatory, await the Resurrection and the Judgment of the world; all this, in time severed, is to the praying Church, directly present, since she may be certain that her intercessions and sacrifices, though as yet future, are taken account of by God at the time when their benefits can still avail to those who are the objects of them." (Lehrb. d. Kath. Dogm., § 142, p. 721, ed. 5.)

"For the glory of the martyrs and the rest of the departed.” (Missale Gothicum in Thomasius, "Codices Sacram. 900 annis vetustiores," p. 393, Rom. 1680.)

unworthy." The more common explanation was that they were thanksgivings, which suits the forms in which they were commemorated, yet does not fit in naturally with those in which they were prayed for. St. Epiphanius explains that these prayers were intended to mark the difference between the highest saints and God. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in explaining the Liturgy, apparently arranges the departed mentioned in it into three classes; 1. those who are commemorated and not prayed for—" patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, that at their prayers and intercessions God would receive our petition;" 2. the holy dead prayed for "then also in behalf of (UTÈρ)

"What is contained in a great many [plerisque], viz. 'let such an oblation profit [prosit vel proficiat], this or that saint to glory and honour,' ought to be understood, that it should profit to this end, that he should be more and more glorified on earth, or be honoured; although a great many [plerique] do not think it unworthy that the glory of the saint be augmented up to the judgment, and that therefore, meanwhile, the Church may wish for an increase of their glorifying." (Innocent III. Archiep. Lugdun. in Decretal. Greg. IX. 1. iii. tit. 41, vel de celebr. Miss. c. 6. Quum Martha, p. 614, ed. Ritter.)

▾ S. Aug. Enchirid., c. 109, in his Short Treatises, p. 151, Oxf. Tr., quoted by Innocent III., 1. c.

"The prayer for them [the departed] helpeth, although it cuts not off everything of accusation. We make mention of the just and for sinners. For the sinners, we entreat for the mercy of God. For the just, and fathers, and patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, and evangelists, and martyrs, and confessors, and bishops, and anchorites, and the whole Order, that we may separate the Lord Jesus Christ from the order of men through the honours to Him, and may render Him reverence; mindful that the Lord is not on a level with any among men, though any man be ten thousand fold or yet more in righteousness." (Hær. 75, n. 7, Opp. i. 911.)

the holy fathers and bishops;" and 3. of all universally who have fallen asleep among us, believing that it will be a very great advantage to the souls, in behalf of (vèp) whom the supplication is put up while the "holy and most awful sacrifice lieth there."

St. Cyril thus meets the difficulty, which was in the mouths of "many," "What is a soul benefited, which departed out of this world with sins or without sins, if it be remembered at the prayer?" He answers the question as to "sinners" by an illustration :-"Now, surely if a king had banished certain who had offended him, and their relations, having woven a crown, should offer it to him on behalf of those under his vengeance, would he not grant relaxation of the punishments? In the same way we also, offering up to Him supplications on behalf of those who are fallen asleep before us, even though they be sinners, entwine no crown, but offer Christ sacrificed for our sins, propitiating both on their behalf and our own, God, the lover of mankind a."

When we turn to individual writers in the early Church, we find various statements with regard to the conditions of the souls of the departed: and those not only in different writers, but in the very same; and yet some of these writers are ordinarily so consistent, that their sayings have to be reconciled. Then, too, as to other minds, a concurrent language has great weight as representing some common tone of thought or belief in their period. Now, on the one side, we have broad Cat. xxiii. Mystag. v. n. 9, 10.

statements, which assume that there are but two abodes in the intermediate state, the one for the saved, the other for the lost; and that the abode of the saved is one of rest and refreshment. They anticipate for

"I affirm that souls never perish, for this would be a godsend to the wicked. What, then, befalls them? The souls of the good are consigned to a better place, and those of the unjust and evil to a worse, there to await the Day of Judgment." (St. Justin M., Dial. c. Tryph., §. 5, p. 78, Oxf. Tr.)

"We will answer [Marcion], this very Scripture too [of Dives and Lazarus], which separates Abraham's bosom for the poor man from the inferi, refuting him. For the inferi are one place, I deem; Abraham's bosom, another. For he says that a great gulf intervenes between those regions, and forbids a passage on either side. Nor would the rich man have lifted up his eyes, and that from afar, unless unto an upper region. Whence it is clear to any wise man-that there is a certain bounded space called Abraham's bosom, for the reception of the souls of his sons-which shall yield meanwhile refreshment to the souls of the just, until the consummation of all things shall complete the fulness of reward at the resurrection of all; a temporary reception of the souls of the faithful, where an image of the future shall be delineated, and there be an anticipation of either judgment [of eternal death and salvation].” (Tert., adv. Marc. iv. 34.)

“Are all souls, then, in the inferi? sayest thou. Will you, nill you, thou hast there already both punishments and refreshments; the poor and the rich. For why shouldest thou not think that the soul is both punished and cherished in the inferi, under the expectation of either judgment, in a sort of anticipation of it ?" (De anima, n. 58.)

"Passing which gate [of Hades], those who are brought down by the angels set over souls, go not by one way; but the just, light-led to the right, and hymned by the angels presiding in their place, are led to a lightsome spot, where dwell the just from the beginning, not constrained by necessity, but ever enjoying the gaze of the things which they behold, and gladdened with the expectation of the things ever new, and thinking them better than these; to whom their abode brings no troubles; no burning heat, no frost are there; but the sight of the righteous fathers which they see ever smiles upon them,