οὗ παρέλθῃ ἡ ὀργὴ καὶ θυμός μου. Καὶ μνησθήσομαι ἡμέρας ἀγαθῆς, καὶ ἀναστήσω ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν σηκῶν ὑμῶν. Clement. ad Cor. 1 Ep. p. 176, c. 50. Coteler. vol. i. Amstel. 1724. Note NN, p. 257. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ζῶντες τοῦτο γοῦν ἐπίστανται, ὅτι τεθνήξονται· οἱ δὲ νεκροὶ, οὐδ ̓ ὁτιοῦν γινώσκουσιν, ἀμοιβαὶ δὲ οὐδενὸς προκεῖνται μετὰ Tò ảñoñλnpwσai Tò Xpewv. Greg. Thaum. Metaphr. in Eccles. ἀποπληρῶσαι τὸ χρεών. ix. 5, p. 91, C. Paris, 1622. Note OO, p. 257. Contestarer assiduè, et publicè prædicarem, fratres nostros non esse lugendos accersitione Dominica de seculo liberatos, cum sciamus non eos amitti,' sed præmitti; recedentes præcedere, ut proficiscentes, ut navigantes solent; desiderari eos debere, non plangi: nec accipiendas esse hic atras vestes, quando illi ibi indumenta alba jam sumserint. Cyprian. de Mortalitate, p. 163. Oxon. 1682. Note PP, p. 257. Obscurè licet docemur per hanc sententiolam novum dogma, quod latitat: dum in præsenti sæculo sumus, sive orationibus, sive consiliis invicem posse nos coadjuvari; cum autem ante tribunal Christi venerimus, non Job, non Daniel, nec Noe rogare posse pro quoquam, sed unumquemque portare onus suum. Hieron. lib. iii. Comment. in Galat. cap. 6, tom. iv. col. 311. Paris, 1706. Note QQ, p. 258. Religiosorum omnium corpora, qui divina vocatione ab hac vita recedunt, cum psalmis tantummodo, psallentium vocibus debere ad sepulcra deferri. Nam funebre carmen quod vulgo defunctis cantari solet, vel pectoribus se proximos aut familias cædere, omnino prohibemus. Sufficiat autem quod in spe resurrectionis, Christianorum corporibus famulatus divinorum impenditur canticorum. Prohibet enim nos apostolus lugere defunctos. Concil. Toletan. iii. ch. 22, A.D. 589, apud Labbe, tom. v. col. 1014. Paris, 1671. It is observable that the paronomasia in the original cannot be preserved in the translation. CHAPTER VII. PRAYER FOR THE DEAD FURTHER EXAMINED. "How forcible are right words! But what doth your arguing reprove?"-Joв vi. 25. By way of supplementary argument, and as a practical illustration of the advantage of Praying for the Dead, it is urged that the Funeral Service of the Romish Church, when compared with that which is used in the English Church by their "mistaken Protestant brethren," is "highly consoling to humanity," teaching the mourners that "death itself cannot break that happy communion of saints, which exists among the members of their Church, insomuch that they can often render greater service to their friends after their death, in praying, and giving alms for them, than they can in any other way during their life time." The Service of the Church of England is, on the other hand, said to be "a cold and disconsolate ceremony, in which the survivors cannot otherwise shew their regard for their departed friends than by costly 1 Dr. Milner, pp. 374-381. Dr. Wiseman, vol. ii. p. 67, 68. FUNERAL SERvice of the ENGLISH CHURCH. 277 pomp and feathered pageantry." Hence it is maintained, that if the survivors of departed friends will but supply the means, in the form of "alms," for their deliverance from Purgatory, the priesthood can "more effectually help them in the other world than by any temporary benefits that might be conferred in this." With respect to this assertion, which rests entirely and solely upon the authority of those who make it, enough has been said in the course of the present inquiry, to prove that it is utterly void of any solid foundation; and that it is, by consequence, calculated to engender hopes which can never be realized. The Funeral Service of the English Church ventures not, indeed, beyond the limit prescribed by Scripture, but its consolations are solid in proportion to their certainty. It encourages all the charitable hopes which God has authorized, but deludes not with the phantasies or falsehoods of earthly invention. It thrusts none into the gates of hell-it forces none into the portals of heaven. Its charity hopeth all things; but its wisdom, ere it imposes articles of faith, first " proves all things," and then "holds fast only that which is good." To assert that man can "more effectually help the dead" than the living; or that he can even help them at all, after they have once passed the boundary line of their trial upon earth, seems to be a direct violation of the authority of Holy writ. Not only is it impossible to render any assistance upon to the saints departed, but the Scriptures seem to indicate, and we have reason to think, that they are perfectly unconscious of any thing that is done earth. "The dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Job, speaking of one dead, observes," His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, and he perceiveth it not of them." Elijah, previous to his rapture into heaven, begged Elisha "to ask what he should do for him, before he was taken away from him.” 3 Of good king Josiah it was said, "Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace; neither shalt thine eye see the evil I will bring upon this place." Moreover, as the Scripture affirms that God only knows the hearts of men, therefore "to him alone must all flesh come.' 995 2 " 4 In accordance with these texts, Augustine is of opinion that the dead know nothing whatever of our proceedings upon earth. "If,” says he, “the souls of the dead were interested in the affairs of the living, and really conversed with us, when we see them in our dreams, my affectionate mother, not to mention others, would not leave me for a DEATH THE TERMINATION OF MUTUAL OFFICES. 279 single night; even as, during life, she traversed sea and land to live with me. And if our parents be not with us, what other mortals shall be cognizant of what we do, and what we suffer? The spirits of the dead, therefore, are removed beyond the power of seeing what is done by men, or what befals them in this life.” 1 1 Now, if the dead are utterly unconscious of what is passing in the world which they have left; and if the man of God could not benefit his successor, after his separation from him, it is surely a reasonable inference that the living are equally unable to serve the departed. Such, indeed, is indisputably the case. The die is cast on this side of Jordan; and, when we have once passed the valley of the shadow of death, the means of averting ill, or procuring good, are past and gone for ever. "The soul of man, passing out of the body, goeth straightways either to heaven or to hell; whereof the one needeth no prayer, the other is without redemption." Is there, then, no communion between the saints on earth and those who have quitted their earthly tabernacle? There is and at every recital of the Apostles' Creed we profess our belief in it. In what, then, does this communion consist; and by what invisible links is the chain connected? The saints in heaven and the saints on earth form one mystical body, of which Christ is the head.3 We are said to 2 p. 307. 1 See Note A, Homily concerning Prayer, part iii. |