390 ?q;a?.vom,?. ['Boo? IL
- & FULL RBLBASB FOB, THB Peon SOUL8 IN'PURO&TOR?.
"His Papal Holiness, Clement the XIIth, hath this year, 1738, 0? the ?th of Augnst, most graciously privileged the cathedral church of St. Christopher, in Mentz; so [hat every priest, as well secular a? re- ?dar, who will read mss8 at an altar for the soul of a Christ/an de- parted, on any holyday, or on any day within the octave thereof, or on two extraordinary days, tO be appointed by the ordinary, of any week in the year, may each time deliver a soul out of the/ire of purgatory.*' Multitudes of such �?L?-As,?s could be produced, were it necessao'. 5. They teach that souls in purgatory are assisted by the suffrages of the living. By suffrages they mean: 1. Mas?es said for the demi; and procured, i.e., paid for by the living friends of the deceased. Indulgences. 3. Prayers, alms, and any good works done from chariv)'. And these three, rnas#?, imtulgerwe?, and ab? to the church, have been the great sources of wealth to the Romish clergy, and the causes of poverty, ignorance, servility, and corrup? morals among the people. There are, however, some arguments and some passages of $crilaufe which they adduce in fayour of these 8Vl, FaAOSS, embracing prayers for the dead, aims to the church, good works, procuring of masses and indulgences; which we will first notice, before we develop what lies concealed under this part of their doctrine. Dens, in maintaining that souls in purgatory are aided by the suffrages of the living, affirms "that it is an AaTWLS OF FAX?H, defined in the Councils of Florence and Trent, seas. 22, c. 2, and canon 3, and also seas. 25, in the beginning of the decree concerning purgatory? To this we answer, that the decrees of these councils are of modern date, and have ?aught this doctrine in contradiction to Scripture, and without countenance from previous and primitive councils; and therefore their decisions in this point are of no weight, and cannot establish this doctrine. The same author says, in the same No. a8 quoted above, "that this doctrine is proved from the constant, perpetual, and nniversal prac- Lice of the church."--" Idem pater ex constanti, perpetua et universsli ecclosiee praxi." All the answer that need be given to this assertion is, that it is utterly unfounded, az we have already seen. The primi- tive Christians had no such practice, Scripture condemns it, and the soundest portions of God's church have all along opposed it. Our author, as quoted above, says it is provedfrora tl? commusi? of sai?, and quotes for this purpose the following text: "And whe- ther one member suffer, all the members suffer with it: or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it," 1 Cot. xii, 26. From this it is inferred, that such fellow-suffering and assistance, as the doc- trine here contended for supposes, may be deduced from this text of Scripture. .That this pas8age cannot support the Roman Catholic hy- pothesis we affirm. 1. Though the church of God in heaven and earth ms,he but one family, yet it i8 evident the apostle, in this place, apesks of that part of the church which is on earth; for he speaks of the dis- tinction of offices, such as apostles, prophets, teachers, &c., (yet. 28,) which belong only to the militant church of Chr/st on earth. 2. The
- De Pu?., No.
�
