LENTEN PASTORAL OF THE BISHOP OF CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 44, 1 March 1895, Page 4

LENTEN PASTORAL OF THE BISHOP OF CHRISTCHURCH.

John Joseph, by the Grace of God and favoub op the Apostolic See, Bishop of Chbistchubch. to the clergy, seculab akd regtjlab and faithful of the said diocese health and benediction in the lobd. Dearly Beloved Brethren and Children in Jesus Chbist :— One of the most touching and consoling characteristics of our Holy Church is embodied and shown forth in the beautiful dogma which is the outcome of the Jcommunion of saints. Soaring beyond this world of sense, we are, thanks *o this sublime doctrine, enabled to hold familiar converse with our fellow members of that mystical body whereof Christ Jesus is the supreme head. Our relations with the Church Triumphant consist in blessing and praising God for their earthly triumphs and heavenly crowns, and in imploring their powerful help to follow in their footsteps, winning like victories here below, and securing like immortal crown; hereafter. Of those who depart this life in a state which excludes them from tee via'on of God, some bear on their brow the indelible stamp of mortal ein ; others, though not stript of grace are either sullied with some slight stain, or tave not yet fully atoned for those the eternal guilt whereof baa been already remitted. With the former we have nought to do. They have died at enmity with their Creator. They have heard the awful sentence of , condemnation pronounced against them, and, objects of the wrath ot an outraged God, are now, alas, lost, hopelessly lost in the flames of hell I But with the latter we have the most intimate relations of duty and affection. At the approach of the holy season of Lent which, this year, begirs on Ash Wednesday, February the 27th, and ends on Holy Saturday, the 13th of April, it were well for na to dwell upon much that is implied in these most intimate relations. With the Bible before us, sound theology, the writings of the Fathers and well known ascetical writers as our guide, let us implore the help of oar dearest Lady, of the great St Joseph, and of the whole Church Triumphant, whilst we strive to increase our faith, our love, and sympathy in behalf of the poor suffering souls in Purgatory. Tbus shall we practically realise with the inspired penman, that " It is therefore a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that tliey may be loosed from sins " Let us first consider some of the grounds of our belief in this consoling doctrine. We may then mediiate on the terrible nature of the sufferings endured by the souls in Purgatory, and oo the claims they have upon our charity. These claims, which are so many motives, too, impelling us to devotion for the dead, arise from their dignity and merit in the sight of God, as well as from their relationship with us. Ever docile to the voice of holy Mother Church, the divinely appointed witness and guardian and teacher of all truth, the devout Catholic finds no difficulty in admitting the consoling doctrine of Purgatory. He readily believes in a middle state of souls who depart this life in God's grace, yet not without some slight stains which retard their entrance into the kingdom of heaven, whilst consigning them to a temporary place of punishment. He believes that while thus detained, they still rpmain members of that mystical body of which Jesua Christ is the invisible head, and are, consequently helped by tbe prayers and good woikß of their fellow members of the Church upon earth. The light of reason no less than that of faith leads him to this belief. Is it not written " Nothing defiled shall enter into flic kingdom of heaven 1 " (Apoc. xxi. 27) " none but the clean of heart shall see Godl " (Mat. v. 8) and, deapite the heroism of their lives, are not the very just declared to " fall seven timesi " (Prov xii 17). Now we know that the least sin is a defilement, a stain on tLat purity required to enter upon the Beatific vision. We see the Almighty obviously alluding to the cleansing flames of Purgatory, when he declares that they " shall not go out from, thence till tJiey pay the last farthing " (Matt v 26). So, too, the Apostle asserting, that " some shall be saved, yet so as by fire "(1 Cor iii 15). We know that God is infinitely juat and infinitely holy " the searcher of hearts and reins" (Ps vii 10). Where we see the moat dazz'ing perfection He nny behold nought but blemishes. For, He mill judge justices" He will not, He cannot suffer the least taint or imperfection to abide with Him in heaven. We know, too, that His goodness is infinite, that Hia mercy hath no limits, and that He is too just and bountiful to doom the upright with the wicked ; to punish alike slight faults and grievous transgressions ; to treat alike true penitents and wilfully obstinate reprobates. Bearing all thiß in mind, what shall we think of the thousands who daily go forth from the land of the living to the valley of the dead, passing from time to eternity ? Shall we place them all in the realms of the blessed ? Have we not often been witnesses, aye, forsooth partners of their guilt? H,w many wilful omissions, faults or imperfections in their very exercises of piety, in the fulfilling of tbe ordinary duties of their state? How many breaches of charity, slight backbit ings or untruthfulnes9 ? Now we must never forget that the least defilement or

imperfection debars one from entering the kingdom of heaven. Yet death, it may be, mowed down many a Garistiaa suddenly, without a moment wherein to expiate their faults. Kven though they died after a lingering illness, this rery illness may have been io Ibetu a fresh cause of offsnea. Fh^ro was a la^k of pauencj to the end, a want of self-deniil, of generous d^tauhin ul from creature^, of submisaioa to God's adorable will B^Ues well-known faulty how many secret ei-ia unknown to man ; nay m re, even lost sight of by guilty self? But, it may be urged, they confessed them in the Bacred tribunal of penance. True, bat even then, have they fully satisfied the justice of God ? David fell grievously, and he repented of his crime. God forgave him the guilt thereof, yet had he not long to expiate it by the greatest of sufferings ? How, then shall we expect such souls to be admitted to God'a kingdom immediately after death ? What shall be their lot ? Shall we condemn them to hell ? Is not the bare thought hateful to us and repugnant to the infinite mercy and justice of G>d ? Mereover, is it not written '\Out of liell there is no redemption ? " We may have witnessed their faults, but have we not often witnessed their heartfelt sarrow and humility too? D )es not the Royal Psalmist proclaim this consoling f «ct : " A contrite and humile heart, 0 God, Thou wilt not despise ?" (Pa , 50-18). Is it not then more in harmoay with our thoughts of God's justice and mercy that there thonld be a middle state for such boulb? H<ve not all peoples belitvtd in such a state, and ia the efficacy of prayer offered in behalf of those condemned for a time to suffer therein. Yon, too, dearly beloved brethren and c l idr»nin Christ, glory ia believing, with tbe inspired writer, that "it is a holy and a ivholcsome thought +o pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins " (li Macb. xii, 46). Ami if, at times, it SHems strange that a God of infinite goodness suffer these holy souls to linger 83 long amid such fearful torments, marvel not, but recall to mind the tnaoy and striking examples recorded ia the sacred pages of the chastisements inflicted by tbe Almighty on what we call venial sin. His just anger spares neither Moses nor David. Nadab, Abiu, an \ others fail in the observance of mere ceremonial rites under the Old Law, ia mutters,

too, of Beeroingly little import, and in circumstances which should apparently excuse them. Yet God's dread ire fell heavily upon them. Ozia thoughtlessly stretches forth bis hand to uphold the tottering Ark, when, lo! he is immediately strnck dt'ail in the sight and to the great consternation of the whole people 1 Why all this severity ? Because the awful parity of God's majesty so deeply abhors the le >st b'emish, th it, were we able to cloa^ for evtr the drea I gates of bell, save all who are burning therein, free Purgatwry and secure 'he salTation of all maakind by telling one littU>, tie least he. it were unlawful t) do so. For, whatever accidental glory the Almigh'y might receWe from the salvation of so ma y m)na<ie, it would not adequately atone for the outrage inflicted upju the Gjdhend by ibis single violation of troth. Let us hasten to consider other grounds of our belief in the beautiful demotion for the daad. Frjm tie reouteat tim^s till the fa*al schism of the sixteenth century, the dogma of Purgatory was believed and cherished everywhere tbrougaout the Christian world. Oourchts and cloisters were every whira rearei, rich foundations were made vividly to remini the survivors o: their ob igation to pray for the departed, Covetous men gloated over the sight of the spoils which would fall to their lot if the dogma of Purgatory ; could be denied. Hence the wicked assertion that it was an mnovaI tion, a new-fangled doctrine due to the wiles of a crafty and > designing priesthood, and the ignorant simphci'y of a superstitious : and priest-ridden people. Hence the cry which was at once taken up j and repeated to our own days : " Purgatory has neither Scriptural j nor historical grounds to warrant our belief therein," The dogma of of Purgatory an innovation? Prayers for tbe dead a new-fangled doctrine! Far from this. We fearlessly proclaim that they aie older than Christianity itself. The dogma of Purgatory and piayers for the dead are clearly taught in the Old and obviounly implied in the New Testament. They are to ba fou'id in the writings of the Cii'f Fathers and Dodors of the Cbun-h Embodied in all the ancient Liturgies of the East and the West, they are taught in all the religious systems <f old, whilst the doctrine is one of the mobt reasonable and consoling to the human beart. We have said that the

dogma ia older th-.ii Christianity, that it ia unmistakably taught in the Old Testament. Open the inspirod pages for the proof of onr assertion. Do we not read in 12th chapter of the second book of Machabp.c 0 , verges 39 'o 46, that one hundred nod fifty years before the light of the Gospel dawned on the *old, after a long and glorious victory, the first care of Judas Machab°us was to pray to the Lord in behalf of thoso of his brethren who died «mid the triumph of war 1 Was he n< t hf raid lest, though they fell fighting for God and their country, some pini they m»y have committed rendered them displeasing to the Almighty ? Hear the very woHs of Holy Writ! 'J he day following Judas came . , to take a y vay the bodies of them that were slain and to bury then . . and making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins #/ 'the dead thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection. For if he had not hoped that tlwse that were slain should tise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead tiiat they may be loosed from sins." Does not the inspired penman here praise Judas | Machabeus for bis act of piety towards tbe dead ? Does he not present him as a model to future ages ? Are not these striking words of Holy Writ strong Scriptural grounds warranting onr belief in PurgAtojy? Do they not amply prove its existence? The dead lor whom the Innpired Wntur declares it a hoy and a wholesome thought to pray are not m heaven. The criz*nsof heaven are confirmed in grace, hence they c^n netd no prayers. It cannot be for the dead who are banished to bell. For, confirmed in woe, the inmates of hell are beyond all hope of salvation. Wherefore, prayers for either are useless, Again, the sins to be forgiven the dead by the prayers of the living are not mortal. One single mortal sin were enough to hurl the offender into the depths of hell. The demons were damned for one single sin of pride. If the sins from which the dead are delivered through the prayers uf the living are not mortal then they must be venial sins. If venial, they are enough to prevent those dying with such stains on th^tr soul from entering into the kingdom

of heaven. For it is of faith that "There shall not enter into it anything defiled" (Apoc.xxi, 27). Yet such faults and defilement must be expiated and atoned for. The dead cannot expiate them in this world, They must do bo iq the next, in the place of expiation, which we call Purgatory. If we pray for them, we hasten their deliverance and do " a holy and a wholesome thine;." What have the 80-called reformers dore to enatch this and other ni less glorious monuments of our fmth fiotn the C tholic Church ? Finding it impossible to weaken the force of the foregoing passage, like an unscrupulous ciiminal io presence of an adverse witness, they boldly denied the books of the Maebabeea to be canonical. Ydt we know that these very books have the same authority as the holy Gospels or any other part of the Bible. On what other authority gave that of the Catholic Church rests the Canon of Holy Writ 1 Long centuries before the sad schism of the sixteenth century snatched so many children from the bosom of i he true Church, long before there was any dispute about Purgatory or prayers for the dead, was not the Catholic CLuich everywhere recognised asthesole depository, thefaithful guardian of the Word of God contained in the sacred pages of Holy Writ? Was it cot through her judgment alone that the world knew what was canonical or not? What right had anyone to reject the authority of books which for sixteen hnndred years Christ's Infallible Church had pronounced to be inspired? What right save the fact that theee inspired books condemned their opinions which were the offspring of tr.eir arrogant piide, and the cause of their unnatural ievolt? But waiving for the moment ibe question of their inspiration, who wculd dare deny their truthfulness as grand historical monumen's, proving to a dt monstraiion, that to pray and offer Bncrifice for the dead was the prevailing practice amocg the Jews? Furthermore we kn< w that our b'essed Lord came '• not to destroy but to ptrfect ihe law." He would purify the Jewish Church from all false traditic lie condemns the Pharisees for prohibiting woiks of chanty ou the Sabbath day. He rebukes them for their many innovations in doctrine and discipline, as we may see in the 25th chapter of the Goßpel according to 8t Matthew. But nowhere does He ever rebuke the Jews for their belief in a middle atate or in

praying for the dead, though Ho well knew this practice to prevail amongst them. Far from this, more than once, does He use words which obviously imply the doctrine of Purgatory. Turn to the New Testament, open the Gospel of St Matthew. | Do we not hear Eternal Truth dtclaring in the 12th chapter and the 2<Ub verse, " Whosoever shall speak a word against tJw Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him ; but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor i)i the rvorldto come" What is the obvious meaning of these divine words ? la it not that there are some sh'r fur^ivi nin the nrxt life ? Now H cannot be in beavt n, since '' nothing dt filed can enter therein " It cannot be in hell where the blood of J<.sus Christ, says St Bernaid, is not applied, and out of which there n no retemp'ion. It must, then, be in a middle state between he.yen and hell, that is to say, in Purgatory, out of which our dear Lord hffi ms ihU one shall i>ot go nntil the last farthing be paid. Listen to Re entire text. "Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes whilst thou art in the way tvith him, lest, perhaps the adversary ihlioer tiwe to the judge, and the judge deliver ilwe to the officers, and thou be ea^t into prison. Amen, I say to thee thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing " (St Matt v 25-2(3;. 'lbese are tne woids of God, Eternal Truth Himself. In hia fust epistle to the Corinthians, 3, v 15, following bis divine master, the apostle of tbe Gentiles, declares the same doctrine in these memorable words, '• Other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid ; which is Christ Jesus JVow if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, pri'dous stones, wood, hay, tiubble : Every man's work skall be manxitU, for the (lay of the Lord shall declare it, because it shill be revealed in fire ; and the fire sliall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's ivork abide which he hath built thereupon : he shall receive a reward. If any man's work bwn, he shall svffer loss; but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire." Now ibis cannot be the fiie of earth, nor of heaven, nor of hell, it must re in the purifying flames of Purgator) . This in erpre'stion is the unanimous voioe of Chnetendom, made known to us by the Fatten and Djctors of the Church, fr^m the cradle of her exis ence down to our own times. Ani, a-k-i the illußtrous Cardinal Gibbons, ia his admirable wo.k. "Tbe Faith if ouj Fitber*," shall we submit to have the dme-ho oured m<*iks of Christian faith ruthlessly rem vtd by dii-contenUd men, wlo imp Uieat of religious yoke rejfct the doctrine of Purgatory euteen hundred years alter tbe birth of ChrifatiaLity, when aLne tht y appeared on the Btage ? Whom anould we follow? To know the meaning of come legal point would you not think n moie ier>Bonab c to follow the decision of our beßt jurists than that of some political demagogue or rebellious criminal who could bring neither learning, nor

authoriiy, nor history to support his obviously wicked purpose? Should not a Lke motive wtach urges us to reject the opinions of ignorant politicians or depraved criminals, and embrace that of learned jurists ou a constitutional quißtion impel us to cast aside novelties of religious innovators, aod follow tho unanimous teaching of the Fatht rs of primitive Christianity on the great subject of Purgatory 1 Let us go back to the earliest ages and ask what was the Catholic belief and practice on this dogma of Purgatory. Tertulliau, who dad about the year 240. says, " The faithful will pray for the soul of her departtd husband, p-irucularly on the anuivtrsary day of his falling asleep, ar.d if she fail to do b> she hath repudiated her husband pa far as in hrr lies " In at v.jra! of Lis writings, 0 igenunrtiisthk lbly proves the teachings of the early Church on the docirine of Purga'ory. He tells us th-it they believed it to la a temporary sate :n which certain Bonls are detained until ihey art- thoroughly puuliei and fitted for heaven. " Let the third day of tl c departed," hays ht Hippolytus, " be observe 1 in peaims and prayers, on account of Him Who rose again in the fpace of tiue ilajs ; and the ninth for a memorial of the living and the dend ; aid the fortieth, accor iing to the ancient pattern, for thus ihe pc >ple bewailed Mos-es ; and the anniversary day in memo-y of the dead." Describing the funeral of Constantine the Great, Eu9ebiuc, the his'oruin, says, in the fourth centurj , that the body of the prince was laid on a lofty bier, and the minihttrs of God, and the multitude of the tnople, with tears and much lamentation, < ffered up prayers and sacrifices for the repose of his soul. He adds that this was done according to the di sirt-e cf this pious monarch, who had erected in CoQHtan H'Ople the great churjh in honour of tbe Apostles, so that after bis diaih the faithful migt t ri member him therein. In the same cen'ury St Ojnl, of Jeru'atm, writes; ''We commemorate the holy Fathers, Bist ops, and all who have fallen asleep amongst us, believing that the supplicauons which we present, will be of great ansihtance to their souls 1 " To those who might be tempted to dt übc tbe ifficacy cf prayer foi tbe dead, be says : " If a kmg bad banished certmn p;raoi-s wbo had offended him, and their 1 relations having wovm a crown sbould eff^r it to him in behalf of thubo under his venyeanc\ wou'd be not grant a respite to their ! punishment 1 So we, in i if-ring up a crown of prayers in behalf of those wijo have fallen aMeep, will obtain for them forgiveness through the merits of Jesus Chnsi " In the same century Si Ephrem Bays: " I corijuie jou, my breibreu and fiunis, in the name of that God : Who commando me to leave you, to remember me when you assemble to pr.'y. Do not bury mo wuh perfumes. Give them not to me but to Gjd, Me conceived in sorrows, bury with lamentations, and

insrease of perfumes, assist me with your prayers. For the dead are benefitted by the prayers of the living saints." In nearly ona hundred of his funeral pangyrirs, tne same holy Father speaks of the Christian duty of praying for the dead. In his sermon on the dta'h of the Emperors Gratian and Valentinian, St Ambrose says : " Blessed b .all both of you be if my prayeis can aught avail. Wo day shall pass you over in silence. No prayer of mine shall omit to honour you. No night shall hurry by without bestowing on you a mention in my prayers. In every one of the Oblation 9 will I remember you." Cn the death of Theodobius he thus ends a beautiful prayer for his boul . "I loved him, and therefore will I follow him to the L.nd of the living. Nor will I leave him till, by tears and prayers, 1 shall lead him nnto the holy mount of the Lord, where life is undying, where corruption iB not, nor sighs nor mourning." St Chrysoßtom says: ''It was not without good reason, nay, ordaioed by the Apostles, that mention should be made of the dead, in the tremendous Mysteries, for they well knew that these would derive great benefit therefrom," In the ninth book of bis Confessions, St Augustine tells us that his mother was at the point of death when she made him this last n quest : " Lay this body anywhere. Let not the care of it in any way disturb you. This only I beg of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you be." Listen, dearly beloved in Christ, to the impassioned words in which this great Doctor, one of the loftiest geniuses the world ever Baw, prays for his dear departed mother. " 0 God of my heart, I now beseech Thee for the bins of my mother. Hear me through the merits of the wounds that hung upon the woods of the Cross. May she then be ia peace with her husband. And do thou, O Lord, inspire Thy servants, my brethren, whom with voice and heart and pen I serve, that as many as sball read these lines may remember at thy altar Monica, thy servant." '• The souls of the dead," says the gentle St Bernard, '• dwell in three different abides, according to the difference of their merits, hell, Purgatory, and Paradise- In Purgatory they undergo expiatory sufferings which dispose to redemption." With tbe light of civilization and Christianity StAu^ustine, who was Bent into Etiglaad by St Gregory the Great, taught our Bux >ti forefathers the honour and iivocition of saints unJ devo'ioa to the dead. St Patrick did the same ia faithful Ireland. la thnae. far away lands at home splendid architectural piles, churches and chantries, monasteries and convents were built and endowed by their founders for the especial purpose that prayers aad Masses should be offered in them for ever in behalf of the donors when departed This is more than enough to show tbat far from beiug a new fangled view, the doctrine of Purgaiory an<ii prayer for the dea 1 were enforced in the earliest and what are cillad the parest ages of the Church. The most illustrious Fathers aad Djctors of the Cnu^ch treated this beautiful doctrine not as a purely theoretic il principle, but as an imperative duty, an act of daily piety, whi^h should be, as, in fact, it was in tbe early a^ee of faitb, embcdied in the daily exercises of devotion The dear departed were piavei for miming and night in the Divine 081 ;e, in the Holy S icrifice at which our Catholic forefathers made it a duty to assist every day of th'ir liveH. On Sundays they did what we do to-day, they a*ked the prayers of the congregation for the souls of the faithful departed. In excavating the Roman catacombs many most interesting inscriptions bave been brought to light. Many most touching in their pious simplicity, implore peace and rest, and prayers for those over whosa sepulchre the inscriptions had been placed. They are speaking meraonalu proclaiming tbat the Church of God, at the very craile of her t xistence, taught her children, as she teachts them to-day, to offer up fervent prayers in behalf of tbe dead. The beautiful doctrine of Purgatory, logether with the practice of praying for the dead is embodied in all the most ancient Liturgies of the world. In the 4ih and Bib cc .tunes the heri si irehs Anu», Nestoriuß, and Butyches, snatchud countli-83 bourn from the centre of unity which had hitherto and hippily united the churches in the East and in the West. The sects founded by these wretched apostates have since formed many distitci commuoiti s, etparatirjg lrom the one and only Catholic Church in the E .at, as the Protestant Churches, with tbeir hosts of offerings, have separa'ei from her in the Wes', The Greek schismatic Church, of which the present KubsoGieek Church is the offshoo', severed her connection with thi? Apostolic See in the 9th century under the unhappy Pho ius. Now in all these Liturgies, that is to say in the established formu.ary of public worship containing the aulhou«ed form uf prayers in the several sees, we find formularies of prayers for tna dead, almost ldunucal with those to be found in our authorised Liturgical formulary, 'he Homan Missal. Listen to this: " Remember, O Lord, Thy servants who are gone before us, with the sign of faith, and sleep in peace. To these, O Lord, and to all who rest in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light and peace, through the same Christ Jesus our Lord." During the Vatican Council the illustrious Cardioal Gibbons called upon the Oriental Patriarchs and Bishnps, belonging to Armenian, Onsldaic and Coptic, Maromte and Rites. They all assured him that the sruismatic Cbustians uf tie

Eaat »>niong whom thpy live, have, without exception, prayers and sacrifices for the dead. Njw how couli all these sects who huve bo long bean sepnrated from the Church, have adopted the C*tnolio practice of praj ing for the dead, unless they knew that it had come down from the Apostles T It may not be ont of place to remark that the Jews, who, two thou°and years ago, offered up prayers for the dead, still retain that pioas practice in their Liturgy. la justice to our separa'ed brethren, we must add that many, better than their religion, are returning to tho faith of their forefathers sis to the belief of Purgatory. Of l.te several English Protestant works have been published all bearing on the subject of Purgatory. They all coutain prayers fur the dea i, and provt from Oatholic grounds the existence of a middle state after daatb, and the duty of praying for the departed brethren. So true is this doctrine of Purgatory that some in our own days go so far as to deny that hell is eternal. Mow a hell which is not eternal must be Purgatory, Lather and Calvin declare their belief that the Apostles themselves approved of prayers for the dead. Treating of the text of the beloved Disciple, St John, ■' He that knoweth his brother to sin a sin which is not death let him ask and life Bhall be given him who sinneth not to death." Luther says : " I believe that there is a Purgatory. lam certain of this truth, I believe that the souls imprisoned there are helped and relieved by the prayers of the living. la face of such strong scriptural and historical warrant for oar belief in purgatory, it will doubtless occur to some amongit you to wonder bow the contrary opinion has gained ground among nonCatholics? How England, though for some time after she bad thrown off her allegiance to the true Church of the Bible and held the Catholic dcctrine, so soon caused this astounding assertion to be inserted in her Thirty-nine Articles. '* The Romish dootrine concerning purgatory, pardons ... is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warranty of scripture, bat rather repugnant to the Word of God." From whom did this lying article emanate! Was it not from the apostit-) Crinm^r ? Is it not a stern, stubborn, historical fact that this perjured priest, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, wuuld fiia pin ler to the passions of the Protector Seymour, who had obtaiaed from a servile Parliament an Act, in vinue of which he might seizi upon the rich foundations male by out Ca'bo ie ancestors for M^ges tor the dead 1 la not the Catholic doctrine of purgatory must reasonable, one m jst consoling to the human heart? Is it doc a com'ort to know tnat with the fu'ier 1 lltes all i* not over between us and thjse who ware oace so near and dear to us on e>rth? How dreary the religion which would Bel up impassible barriers between the living and the dend 1 Do not the very instincts of our heart urge us to follow our dead beyond the cold grav« T Do not they tell us that in praying for our dear departed ones we are acting with the strongest scriptural and historical grounds — with the voice of the whole Church from the very dawn of her exis'ence 1 Is it not a consolation to feel that if, 1 ke Augustino, we f> ndly watch over the couch of a dying mother or father, we may, too, like Augustine, follow those beloved ones even beyond the tomb by praying for the repose cf their souls? Oh ! what a comfort for the gnef-strlcken soul to know tbat the golden bond of <he communion of saints still unites us to those who fill aslerp in the Lord, and that, thinks to this holy communion, we may still bold fonii converse with our dear departed, and help them by our prayers and indulfiencts. Oar late Laureate Fe ms to have grasped this Catholic feeling, when he makns his hero Arthur, in his last momcn'a thus addieia his comrade in arms, Sir Bedivere : "If thou shouldst uever s> c my face again, Fray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voicj R se like a fountain for me Dight and day. For wba< are men better than ahepp andgoa's Tbat nourish a blind life within ihd brain, If, knowing God, they lift not han Is of prayer B it h for thembelves and those who c »11 them fr cad ? For so the whole round earth is every way X unrt by gold chains nbout the feet of God. But now, farewell. lam going a long way. * * • • * Where I will heal ma of my grievous wound." This it is, dearest iti Christ, wh'ch roba death of iti bitterest sting and enables uq to bear up under the sad separa ion of thosa who were once more to us thin all the wir.d b-side. To sum up what we ham hitherto said on the d ctrlne of Pargv tory and devotion for the dta'i : — This doctrine and devotion are grounded on the authon'y and teaching of the Bible. Enforced in the Church of the O'ri Law, it is tqidlly so in the S.,n<goeue of tod i_v. Coming down fr >m 'he Ap lailep, is h*9 be in taught by the FatbiM-t of the C'iuic i in eve<y ag; *n 1 clim< j , whi.st tha E ist an 1 the West have incorporated it in tbeir Liturgies, It is proclaimed and practise by tb* schismatic i hnstians scattered over differ* nt pirts of the East It was the cher shed belief of every nation, civilised add pa^an, Greek and Roman, Bri ish, Celt, or Saxon. It is a oevotion firmly beli vtd and fondiy treasured by the three hundred million') of the children of the Calhol'c Ctiurch, as well as by nit a few of the children of the Cbuich of England. What but pride or presumption could prefer a private opinion to this lmtnenHe weight, cirr\intr with it, as it dons, the greatest learning, h lliness, and authority ? W.re v not a proof of impiety to hold back with sile t lip* while the Catholic world is unceasingly sending up to the throne of God an •' Eternal r j st give to them, O Lord " for our dear departed ? Were it not cruelly cold, heartlessly cold, to refune a fervent player for your dear departed father or mother, sister or brother, wife or hupbanJ, out of a mere, pn judice, »g<ut.s cv.rj Scrip ural, uistorical, . n 1 logical Huthoi ity 1 (7o be concluded )