long defence of the Acts of the Council, extending to particulars which occur in every one of the Acts separately, addressed to Charlemagne by the very Pope Adrian I., who by his Legates presided at it.

I have here done with Dr. Lingard; and am sorry that I have been obliged to detain you so long with this discussion respecting him ; a discussion which, I fear, not even the interest excited in you for the reputation of a friend, can have wholly prevented from being tedious. Perhaps, however, you will by this time understand, why I now attend " not to what Dr. Lingard may say, but to what he may prove:" and that to a history by that writer I do not attend at all.

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Let us pass to something else.

LETTER V.

Of Purgatory.-Doctrine of the Council of Trent.-" Trent Catechism.-Council of Florence.--Bellarmine. -Histories respecting Purgatory.

Or Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead you express your intention of saying little, because "you are not writing a work of controversy." You therefore content yourself with citing a part of the decree of the Council of Trent, "that there is a purgatory, and that the souls "detained in it are helped by the suffrages of "the faithful;" and what you are pleased to call an explanation of "the nature and extent "of these suffrages by Saint Augustine."*

Now, Sir, as you have undertaken to "state "the doctrine of your Church, though in the shortest manner possible, on these heads,"† I must profess my disappointment, that you consider yourself as having redeemed your pledge by the extremely brief information contained in the words quoted above. I am aware,

*Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 104.
† Page 99.

I

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that Dr. Milner says,* that "all which is necessary to be believed" by Roman-Catholics is contained in your statement,--that "there are only two points defined by your Church, "namely, that there is a middle state which you "call Purgatory," and that "the Souls detained "in it are helped by the prayers of the living "faithful." But whatever you and he may think necessary to be believed, I must take the liberty of saying, that much more is actually required by the Church of Rome; and this I shall proceed to prove from authorities, to which you have yourself referred.

I will begin with endeavouring to set in a clearer light the passage of the Council of Trent which is made the ground of your and Dr. Milner's statement. For you really have no right to say, (as you do by implication, and Dr. Milner in express terms,) that that passage contains all which your Church has defined on this subject. The words of that passage itself, faithfully quoted, will be found to look to other things. Its real purport is as follows; "since "the Catholic Church, instructed by Scripture, "and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, hath

* End of Controversy, p. 311 and 313.
+ Qualis et seq. Dist. xxv.

taught in sacred Councils, and most recently " in this general Council,* that there is a Purgatory, and that the Souls detained there are

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helped by the suffrages of the faithful, espe

cially by the sacrifice of the altar; the holy "Council enjoins the Bishops to take diligent "care that the sound doctrine on the subject of Purgatory taught by the holy Fathers and sacred "Councils be believed by the faithful, be held, taught, and every where preached.”‡

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Now what is "the sound doctrine" here alluded to," taught by the holy Fathers, and "sacred Councils"? In answering this question I will pursue the following method: I will state what is defined, first respecting Purgatory itself; secondly, respecting the persons detained in it; and thirdly, respecting the reasons for which they are detained. Having done this, I will look for confirmation of my statement and for more particular information to that divine, who is proclaimed by Dr. Milner to be " your great Controvertist," pre-eminent, even to a

+ Sess. vi. can. 30.

*Sess. xxii. cap. 2. and can. 3. + Sess. xxv. The more difficult and subtle questions, and those which lead not to edification, the uncertain points and those which are suspected of being false, are not to be published to the multitude, and those which savour of base lucre are to be altogether prohibited.

proverb, for the "depth of his learning, and "the strength of his argument," still more for his "preciseness;"* and who is accordingly quoted by him as authority for explaining the doctrines of your Church respecting Indulgences;-I mean, Cardinal Bellarmine. Το him I say, I shall refer, as an undeniable evidence of what was considered at Rome, in the very age in which the Council sate, and after it had passed its decree respecting Purgatory, to be the sound doctrine which the Council required to be taught on this subject.

First, then, Purgatory is declared by the Catechism of the Council of Trent, (and consequently by the Council itself,) to be a place, not merely a state, of suffering, not merely, therefore, of internal suffering, from the consciousness of having offended against the laws of God,―nor "pœna damni," as has been maintained by some,--but also of external inflictions. The same Catechism also tells us, that it is (what Dr. Milner nevertheless says your Church does not require to be believed§) a Fire, "ignis purgatorius," so called to distinguish it from the eternal Fire or Gehenna, the place of punish

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Cat. Rom. p. i. de art. vi. c. 6. 13.

§ At least not a "material fire." End of Controversy, p. 313.