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Matt. iii. 10; Eccles. ix. 10, xi. 3; Rev. xxi. 11.) It is the fact that man's eternal destiny is suspended upon his conduct here, that all the solemu injunctions of Christ are urged upon us to be constantly ready for that uncertain hour when he shall summon us away. "Be ye therefore ready also, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." But by the doctrine of purgatory all these solemn warnings, admonitions and exhortations are neutralized, for the awful truths on which they are based are undermined. Purgatory flatters the sinner with the false hope of another world for purity of heart-another state of being where men by personal suffering may correct the errors and sins of the present life, and secure that heaven for which they are unfitted on leaving this world. The doctrine of purgatory, and the solemn declarations of Scripture respecting the eternal destiny of man, are totally at variance one with another; and if the one be true the other must be false.

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7. The Scriptures uniformly represent the sufferings and trials of all believers as terminating at death, beyond which is a state of unmingled and everlasting joy. If we suffer, we shall also reign with bim." Be ye also patient, stablish your heart, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit; that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." 66 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Tim. ii. 12; James v. 7; Rev. xiv. 13; 2 Cor. iv. 17.) Now the doctrine of purgatory flatly contradicts these statements, for it teaches that instead of our sufferings terminating at death, their intense severity only begins at that period; instead of our afflictions being light, they are destined hereafter to be awfully heavy ; and instead of being for a "moment," they may endure for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years. Is it possible for anything under the name of Christianity to be devised by man more completely repugnant to the word of God?

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8. Christians in general are described as expecting their spirits to be received into glory immediately on the dissolution of the body, and to be rejoicing in the prospect thereof. Paul says, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." (Philip. ii. 21, 22.) But how could it be better for the Christian to die if at death his soul was to be plunged into the fiery gulf of purgatory? This joyful hope of entering heaven at death was not the experience of Paul alone, but of Christians generally; for it is written, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God eternal in the heavens." (Rom. v. 2; 2 Cor. iv. 18.) Immediate admission to heaven at death is the blessed lot of the weakest Christian or the very babe in Christ; for the dying thief on the cross, who found mercy at the eleventh hour even amid the agonies of death, received this answer to his expiring petition: "This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." In opposition to these blessed hopes and divine assurances of heaven, Popery maintains that the majority of Christians, even truly pious souls, are destined to pass through the doleful shades and frightful tortures of purgatory, it may be for an endurance of many ages, before they can enter heaven.

9. The descriptions we have of glorified spirits in heaven present them as having passed direct from earth to the throne of God, and as having obtained their meetness for heaven, not by purgatorial fires or sufferings, but by the blood of Christ. "After this I beheld, and lo! a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb! And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white

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robes? and whence come they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest." Now, what was the answer given by the elder? Was it that they had come from purgatory, and had been fully and finally cleansed by its flames? No. This was the answer-" And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. vii. 9-14.) They had passed at once from their sufferings on earth to their glorious reward, and had obtained their purity of faith in the blood of the Lamb.

There is not a single aspect in which we can contemplate man's salvation, the period of his probation, and his destiny for and condition in the eternal world, but the theory of the Popish purgatory contradicts the word of God. It dishonours the Author of our salvation, by making the Lord Jesus only a partial Saviour; it detracts from the efficacy of his atoning death, and the influence of the Holy Spirit; it changes the conditions of man's salvation, and curtails its blessings here that it may provide for purgatorial suffering hereafter; it flatters the sinner with hopes of opportunities beyond the bounds which God has assigned to them, and prolongs the believer's sufferings indefinitely beyond the period when God shall have wiped away all tears from his eyes. It insults God, deceives and ruins man, and corrupts and perverts the Sacred Scriptures.

THE HEATHEN ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.

Since it is proved that purgatory is repugnant to the Scriptures, it follows that it must have been a human device. Like many other sentiments which Popery has incorporated with Christian truth, it was derived from heathenism. Long before the Christian era, the philosophers dreamt and poets sang of a middle state, where souls underwent a process of purification to fit them for admission to a state of happiness. Plato speaks of the dead under three classes, and three states corresponding to their character. The truly good were admitted to Elysian fields, regions of tranquillity and enjoyment; the bad or incurably wicked were doomed to Tartarus or hell; and another class, neither so holy as to be fit for an Elysium, nor so totally corrupt as to be doomed for ever to the gloomy regions of Pluto, were destined to suffer for a while, and then to be transported to the regions of happiness. Take one example from Virgil, translated by Dryden :—

For this are various penances enjoined;

And some are hung to bleach upon the wind,
Some plunged in waters, others purged in fires,

Till all the dregs are drained, and all the rust expires.

All have their Manes, and those Manes bear:

The few, so cleansed, to these abodes repair,

And breathe, in ample fields, the soft Elysian air.

There are they happy; when by length of time

The scurf is worn away of each committed crime;
No speck is left of their habitual stains;

But the pure ether of the soul remains.*

Thus, the notion of purgatory can boast of an antiquity far higher than the Roman Church; but it was a notion of heathenism, and from thence, like many other superstitions, it was gradually introduced into the Church. In the early ages of Christianity we find no traces of the doctrine; but when pagan philosophers, attracted by the majesty, benignity and purity of the Christian system, embraced it, they brought with them various heathen notions, and this among the rest. Yet its prevalence was slow and fluctuating. It was received by some and rejected by others, and at times was almost lost sight of, until Pope Gregory adopted it and gave it the sanction of his official authority; and afterwards it was established as an article of faith by the Council of Florence in the fifteenth century.

* Dryden, Æn. 6.

The concessions of Roman Catholic writers are important on this subject. John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, in his eighteenth article against Luther, says, "He that pleases, let him read the commentaries of the old Greeks, and, as I suppose, he shall find none or very rare mention of purgatory. But neither did the Latins at one time, but by little and little, conceive the truth of this thing." Polydore Virgil, another Romanist writer, remarks, "As it regards the origin of this matter, as far as I can ascertain, after inquiry, I do not find it before St. Gregory presented it in his stations." It is worthy of notice, too, that Gregory himself seems not to have held the doctrine at one time, but afterwards he embraced it, and wrote in his Dialogues sentiments which are contradicted in his Annotations. In order to give the dogma a general reception, stories of visions, dreams and miracles the most preposterous and disgusting, the most degrading to the intellect of man, and the most revolting to Christianity, were fabricated and published. Thus it originated with fiction, was nurtured by superstition, and matured by hypocrisy and extortion.

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES, ANECDOTES, &c.

PUBLIC WORSHIP.

"O COME, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Happy indeed would Christian congregations be when assembled in the sanctuary of God, and most pleasing the results, were but each individual influenced by such a spirit as actuated the Psalmist. What emotions of the heart he experienced when he exclaimed, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts; a day in thy courts is better than a thousand." But, alas! such is not the case; the fact is too palpable to be successfully controverted. How varied is the manner in which we see this devotional exercise performed in our chapels, even by professors and recognised members of our Churches, notwithstanding there is but one God, the Maker of all, one Lord, the Saviour of all, and one Spirit, the Sanctifier of all! In viewing the subject of worship, and the lasting benefits it affords to all who are truly sincere, and the mode according to the requirements of Holy Scripture, how preposterous to think or expect the Most High to impart a blessing sought contrary to the simple way laid down in his own infallible word! Saviour says, "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth;" for the Father seeketh such to worship him. If, then, the God of Heaven will have

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no other service at the hands of his

creatures, how can that part of our congregation who content themselves with offering a cold and formal sacrifice Sabbath after Sabbath, expect to be otherwise than cold and dead, having neither lot nor part in the matter? Yes, reader, dead in trespasses and sins, consequently exposed to wrath. Then take care that thou art not numbered amongst such in that day when all secrets shall be made known, and the cry shall be heard, "Lord, Lord, open unto us!" and instead of a speedy reception into heaven, the voice will be heard in tones the most thrilling to those who then shall be outside, "Depart from me; I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity." Yes, then there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. What mind can

conceive or tongue describe the terrors of that day! Thoughts will flash as lightning through each mind! Men will remember once their position in a Christian Church, how often they had listened to the gospel sound, and will be ready to exclaim, Once I might have been saved, but would not; now I would, but cannot! Then take heed in time, and be like the wise virgins, fully ready when the Bridegroom cometh.

In further consideration of this subject, how painful to every sincere and devout minister to behold in his congregation some, during prayer,

taking sweet repose as those who have had a sleepless night, others reading their Bibles or their hymnbooks, while others are sitting at ease, gratifying the organs of sight by approving or condemning the fashions of the day; while the comparatively few humble followers are fervently engaged pleading with the Lord of Hosts, and endeavouring, by divine aid, to hold up and strengthen the hands of their beloved pastor, who, like Aaron, when standing between the living and the dead, is faithfully and zealously intreating the Almighty God to save souls from going down to the pit.

What mercies are lost! what blessings are sacrificed! and what graces of the Spirit are slighted by all such unprofitable worshippers, besides the injury done to the cause of the blessed Redeemer! No wonder sinners are not converted, although appeals the most powerful and telling are made from the pulpit, from time to time, by the ambassadors of Christ. No wonder con gregations do not increase, when those who ought to be the brightest examples are decidedly enemies to the cause they profess to love. No marvel to see such little fruit, when one can scarcely perceive the line of

distinction between professors and the people of the world. Such things ought not to be.

Again, how often do we see with feelings the most painful, in our prayer-meetings held after a faithful sermon, those who remain are mere idle spectators, although members of the Church? When a good brother is offering prayer, they are (as before stated) sitting and gazing about as though at a place of amusement, and in too many instances prove a lindrance instead of a blessing to those who are labouring under penitential grief on account of sin. Alas! how fatal does this prove to poor perishing sinners, when thus biassed by the inconsistency of professors! O my dear reader! let us take these things to heart and exercise ourselves at a throne of grace, beseeching Him who alone knows the hearts and doings of all men, praying with all supplication that he would be pleased to awaken these careless and barren worshippers to a sense of their danger, and that he would change their hearts and renew a right spirit within them; so that this long and prevailing evil may be removed from our sanctuary, and each may prove a true worshipper of God.

Hunslet.

NEVER GET ANGRY.

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SOME sins have a seeming compensation or apology—a present gratification of some sort, but anger has none. A man feels no better for it, it is really a torment; and when the storm of passion has cleared away, it leaves one to see that he has been a fool, and he has made himself a fool in the eyes of others, too. thinks well of an ill-natured man, who has to be approached in the most guarded and cautious way? Who wishes him for a neighbour or a partner in business? He keeps all about him in the same state of mind as if they were living next to a hornet's nest or a rabid animal; and as to prosperity in business, one gets along no better for getting angry.

There is a little anecdote on record of the first discoverer of the

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grand science of "gravitation," Sir I. Newton, worthy of observation. He had a faithful little dog, called Diamond, one which was a great favourite. He was engaged one evening in his study amidst the manuscripts which cost him some previous years' toil to accumulate. A servant came and said his presence was required in another apartment. He unthinkingly left his study; the candle was burning at the same time, and Diamond was there also. When Sir Isaac had disappeared, Diamond hastened to follow, and in attempting to do so he upset the candle; the result of which was that his papers took fire, and, in spite of all his endeavours to suppress the flames, his manuscripts were totally consumed.

Now, what did he do? Did he rage? did he blaspheme? did he birch his little favourite dog? No, reader. He, Christian-like, mildly said, "Diamond! Diamond! little thou knowest what injury thou hast done!"

What a noble expression! If all men with whom we have to do were to act such a part, what happiness it would be the means of perpetuating in the different circles of the community! What if business is perplexing, and everything "goes by contraries," will a fit of passion make the wheels more propitious, the grounds more productive, or the markets more favourable? Will a bad temper draw customers, pay notes, and make creditors better natured? An angry man adds nothing to the good of society. Since, then, anger is useless, and worse than use

less-sinful, needless, disgraceful, without the least apology, and found only in the bosoms of fools, why should it be indulged at all? A wise man fears God and hates sin, and thus he avoids the occasion and appearances of evil, and is careful and thankful for caution and direction. But the foolish are self-confident and regardless of the consequences, they are vehement in their course, and enraged at those who would give them warning and advice; thus they rush forward to the brink of the precipice, and at length fall headlong into the pit of destruction. May the reader and the writer be none of the latter-named kind, but be of the number who take for their portion that guide which our Lord has left with his humble, meek, and faithful followers-the Bible! Amen.

PITCHING TOWARDS SODOM.

WE often meet with individuals whose conduct leads us to say within ourselves, they are pitching their tents toward Sodom.

The man who in any way sacrifices moral good and spiritual ends for physical and temporal advantages, is pitching his tent toward Sodom.

The man of family who leaves a religious community and Christian privileges carries his family, merely for purposes of gain, into a country where there are no Sabbaths, nor sanctuaries, where the influences are against religion, where his children will have the children of profane men as their only companions, and will of course marry ungodly husbands and wives-will find after awhile that he has pitched his tent towards Sodom.

The Christian man who sacrifices principle to interest, and who makes the law of the Lord a variable thing, is pitching his tent towards Sodom. A gentleman, an elder of the Presbyterian Church, some years since opened an hotel in a country village. He did it to support his family, and it was right; but then to secure custom he departed from Christian principles, and kept an open bar. In a few years he died, leaving a widow

and seven sons. The hotel was kept up, and his sons attended at the bar. The sons of that man all became drunkards; they squandered his property, and his widow is now sustained by the benevolence of the Church, He was a good man; but he pitched his tent towards Sodom.

The young man who commences the indulgence of bad habits is pitching his tent towards Sodom. He may love a social glass. He may prefer the society of the vicious. He may indulge in an occasional game of cards. He máy go to the house of her whose steps take hold on hell. In all this he may see no great evil. But after a little while, unless arrested by God's providence and grace, he finds himself bound in the strong chains of habit, vexed by evil passions-a suitable subject to have dwelt in ancient Sodom, and ere long to take up his abode in those regions of which Sodom and Gomorrah are but an emblem.

Finally, every impenitent sinner has pitched his tent towards Sodom; because he chooses to dwell in the cities of the plain; because he is travelling to a place over which the storms of God's wrath are gathering:

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