omnium peccatorum suorum Indulgentiam et remissionem, sicut in anno jubilæi visitantibus certas ecclesias intra et extra urbem prædictam concedi consuevit, tenore præsentium concedimus et elargimur. Clement. X. Bull. 5, sec. 1, A.D. 1670, apud eundem, tom. v. p. 493.

"To all and singular the faithful Christians of either sex, living in our fair city, who shall devoutly take part in the solemn procession, and on the Sunday immediately succeeding, or on some day within the same week, shall be refreshed by the most holy communion, and shall, as prescribed, bestow an alms upon the poor, We grant and give a plenary indulgence, and remission of all their sins," &c.

In full confirmation of the above, it is with feelings of no ordinary regret that we add another blot to the already sufficiently stained mitre of papal Rome.

"We grant in form of jubilee a plenary indulgence [and, of course, a remission of all their sins] to all faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who, duly purified by sacramental confession, and fed by the most blessed eucharist, shall assist at least thrice at the solemn prayers appointed by the command of each Ordinary."

From an apostolical letter of Pope Gregory XVI. commanding public prayers to be made on account of the sad state of religion in Spain, "Given at Rome, under the fisherman's seal, this 24th day of February, 1842, and in the twelfth of our pontificate."

"The undersigned Secretary of the Holy Council for the Propagation of the Christian Faith, having, in an audience, granted 28th August, 1842, laid before his Holiness Pope Gregory XVI., the numerous and splendid benefactions with which J. Hardman, Esq. has enriched the Catholic Church in the central district of England, the holy father has graciously imparted to him, and his relatives and connexions to the fourth degree inclusively, A PLENARY INDULGENCE at the hour of death, to be gained by devoutly invoking the most holy name of Jesus mentally, if they cannot orally. To Mr. Hardman also is imparted A PLENARY INDULGENCE, as often as he shall piously and devoutly receive the sacrament of penance and of the holy eucharist. His Holiness has also directed that the formal document of these privileges bestowed on Mr. Hardman, should be transmitted

to England, as a public testimonial of the peculiar good will and gratitude of the Holy See towards an individual of distinguished merit. Given at Rome, from the Office of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, May 31, 1842. "J. A. EDESSEN."

Notwithstanding the pope's positive assumption, in these bulls, of authority to pardon sin, Dr. Baines (Sermon on Faith, Hope, and Charity, p. 6,) affirms that "neither priest, bishop, nor pope, has power to forgive any sin whatever ;" and Dr. Milner (End of Religious Controversy, pp. 257, 355,) asserts that an indulgence does not include "the pardon of any sin at all, little or great, past, present, or to come:" and that "if the pardon of sin is mentioned in any indulgence, it means nothing more than the remission of the temporary punishment annexed to the sin." If this be true, it can only be said that their language is most deceptive, and most dishonest. But what are we to understand by the manifest distinction made between the pardon of sin and the relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline, as made in the bull of Clement VIII.? What, also, when the Pope talks, as in some bulls of indulgence, of relaxing a penance for a thousand years? Is man able to sin, or to do penance for that period?

In the two preceding documents issued by Pope Gregory XVI. the actual mention of the pardon of sin is most artfully concealed, or prudently smothered, in the word indulgence. But if his Holiness meant no more than to grant relaxation from ecclesiastical penance, why not say so, and remove the slur from their Church, as also her merited condemnation by every upright man, who is able and permitted to read his Bible? Let a solemn and authentic avowal of this fact be announced from the highest authority, and then Protestants may be inclined to relax their judgment as to this wicked assumption of the Romish hierarchy. See Note N, pp. 20-23.

Quare non solùm pro fidelium vivorum peccatis, pœnis, satisfactionibus, et aliis necessitatibus, sed et pro defunctis in Christo nondum ad plenum purgatis, rite juxta Apostolorum traditionem offertur. Concil. Trid. sess. xxii. cap. 2, p. 159; xxv. p. 238, init. Romæ, 1564.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SOUL AFTER DEATH.

"The spirit, when it is gone forth, returneth not; neither the soul received up, cometh again.”—WISDOM xvi. 14.

FROM the observations which have been hitherto advanced, it will be evident that there is no scriptural authority for believing that departed souls can receive any assistance from the prayers, or any benefit whatsoever from the services, however wellintentioned, which surviving friends may be ready and anxious to perform in their behalf. The inquiry, then, very naturally suggests itself to those who are daily seeking for that "rest which remaineth for the people of God," as to what becomes of the soul after death. What are its state, condition, and prospects? Does the righteous soul go straight to heaven, on its departure from the body; or does it remain in a separate state, or place, until its reunion with the body at the last day? Is it conscious or unconscious in the interval; and are its views of immortal happiness vivid or obscure? In short, does our Church profess, or

would she be right in professing, a belief in anything with reference to the state of the soul after death, which may by possibility be converted into an argument in favor of Purgatory, or Prayer for the Dead? These, doubtless, are questions of the highest interest to every man, who is desirous of obtaining definite views, as far as may be, respecting his soul's future destiny.

In the authorized translation of the Bible, the terms Heaven, Hell, Paradise, and Abraham's bosom, are severally employed to designate states, to which the souls of men, either good or bad, are consigned after their departure from the body. With respect to the two former, it is very plainly announced that the righteous are finally exalted to heaven, and the wicked cast down into hell. This is manifestly distinct from another sense in which the term Hell is applied. According to the Apostles' Creed, our Lord Jesus Christ, having been "crucified, dead, and buried, descended into Hell." And in this article of our faith, as well as in the scriptural passages upon which it is founded, the word Hades, so translated, does not signify the place

1 Acts ii. 27, 31.

Luke x. 15;

2 In the New Testament, two very different words are translated by the word hell :-(ädns) Hades, and (yéɛvva) Gehenna. The former, as stated in the text, signifies an unseen state. It is used in the following passages:-Matt. xi. 23; xvi. 18. xvi. 23; Acts ii. 27, 31. 1 Cor. xv. 55. Rev. i. 18; vi. 8; xx. 13, 14; and is translated in every instance, except that in the Corinthians, by the word hell. The latter,-which is formed from A A

of eternal torment. As to the two latter of the four places above mentioned, it is known that the soul of the penitent thief went into Paradise,' and that of Lazarus into Abraham's bosom:2 and, as Hades does not signify Hell, so neither do these latter expressions signify heaven; that is, the place of the immediate presence of God. That Hades cannot signify Hell, is manifest from the simple fact, that the soul of Christ remained there between his death and his resurrection; and, being spotless and pure, is it probable that it would have entered a place of misery and torture, reserved alone for wicked spirits and wicked men? As surely it does not signify heaven, inasmuch as the rich man in the parable, while there, is represented to have been in torment.

That Paradise will not admit of this interpretation

two Hebrew words, signifying "the valley of Hinnom," a place near Jerusalem, (2 Chron. xxxiii. 6,) in which children were cruelly sacrificed by fire to Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites,—is found twelve times, as a designation of the place of torment reserved for the wicked in the next world. This also is rendered by the word hell. Now the meaning of this term in English, like that of the words prevent, let, and worship, as they are used in different parts of our Prayer Book, has in the lapse of two hundred years undergone a change, being now restricted to the place of the damned. It is a word of Saxon origin, of which the root denotes, to cover, or to hide (Ps. lxxxix. 45, 46. Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19:) and in some parts of England, a thatcher or tiler is still called a hellier. Hence the primitive meaning of the word hell corresponds with that of Hades, and the verses above cited would be rendered more intelligible by the substitution of the latter term in lieu of the former.

1 Luke xxiii. 43.

2 Luke xvi. 22, 23.