abuse his church, he can remove it, and plant it amongst another people.

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No church was ever better founded, or more entitled to the promise of Jesus Christ, than the seven churches of Asia; and yet they were not infallible, for five of them were reproved, some of whom were severely threatened for their errors and apostacy. Our Lord said to the church of Ephesus,- Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do thy first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." And to the church of Pergamas he says, Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth." Rev. ii, 5-16. And so disagreeable did the church of Laodicea appear in his sight, that he said, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." Rev. iii, 16. Where is infallibility here? Not in the churches, for they went astray; and our Lord threatened to remove the candlestick out of his place, and plant his gospel amongst some other people, should they not repent.

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Now, if these churches which our Lord planted by his apostles were not infallible, how can the Church of Rome be so, which was neither founded nor guided by Jesus Christ, else she would never be deceived by the false pretence of being invested with the power of infallibility, which is the prerogative of God, and not of man.

On Purgatory.

AMONGST the variety of human inventions of which the system of popery is chiefly composed, that of purgatory is not the least notorious. At first sight, this strange garrison may appear, to some, difficult to storm, being fortified by the united efforts of many interested friends. In it are the priest's bank, and the layman's last refuge. But although it may appear almost impregnable, yet, in the name of our God, we will set up our banners, and level the artillery of the gospel at its tottering bulwarks.

And in a reconnoitre so important, it will be necessary, first, to examine its basis and superstructure, and the magnitude of its strength. Its advocates tell us, that it is built on the authority of God, and is a middle state, in which departed souls who, being not entirely purified from their sins here by penance and good works, are purified by some means appointed by God, but unknown to us, and then received into heaven, where nothing that is defiled can enter; for when souls depart this life, there are some so pure and perfect as to be translated immediately into heaven, Others die in their sins without repentance; these descend into hell. Others neither have lived so wickedly as to deserve hell, nor yet so perfectly pure as to be forthwith admitted to the state of bliss, but are to pass through a purging fire.* * See Council of Trent, Session 6.

Now, the question again recurs,-Where is Christ here? Every lover of him may say with Mary, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him;" for penance and purgatory have become his rivals in the plan of human redemption; the inventions of men are superadded to his blood, which alone "Cleanseth from all sin!"

It appears also, that those infallible advocates of purgatory were on very friendly terms with the carnal mind when they established, as a point of doctrine, that some in their natural state were not so wicked as to deserve hell, notwithstanding all that God has said of the entire depravity of the mind of man unrenewed by divine grace. Nothing but the power of God, by the influence of the Holy Ghost, through the virtue of Christ's atonement, can purify the depraved heart of man, and make it meet for heaven; hence it can never be made pure by baptism and penance. Baptism, we allow, is a sacred ordinance which Christ has commanded to be observed, yet he never intended us to lean on it as a Saviour, or to substitute it for "the renewing of the Holy Ghost," which alone prepares us for heaven. It is only "An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace;" and penance can never make atonement or satisfaction to God for our sins. Therefore, those who depend on baptism and penance for salvation, reject Christ, and are under the dominion of "the carnal mind, which is enmity against God;" are deceived by their unrenewed heart, which is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:"

and yet the judicious doctors of the Church of Rome tell us, that there are some of them not so wicked as to deserve hell! But these wise master builders differ very much from God, who, from his views of man's lost condition, saw nothing in all the regions of unlimited space in any degree adequate to effect man's redemption, and qualify him for heaven, but the meritorious sufferings, death, and resurrection of his own Son, to whom be for ever ascribed all the praise and glory for every blessing we receive, and not to pope or council, penance or good works. Let God be true, and every man a liar who opposes him.

The advocates of purgatory endeavour to prove that it is founded upon God's authority, but we cannot find a single passage in the inspired writings to sanction the idea of such a place, though much ingenuity has been tried to pervert the meaning of the sacred text to that purpose. The principal passages which they have pressed into their service, are the following:- -"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." Matt. v, 25. From these words they infer that our Lord meant purgatory, where some souls were sent after death, to purge away what sin remained unforgiven by the expiation of penance and good works. Now, on this supposition, if the souls in * See Christian Doctrine explained, page 266. G 3

purgatory must remain there until they by their sufferings have paid the last farthing of the debt of sin, why do the priests impose on the people by taking money for saying masses for them? The text says, they shall by no means come out thence till they have paid the uttermost farthing. Therefore, if it be used to prove purgatory, as it rejects all other means of coming out thence than the payment of the last farthing by personal suffering, this leaves nothing for the priest to do, and takes away the darling object of his pursuit,money. Hence this text completely destroys that which it is designed to support.

But, to every attentive and unprejudiced reader, it will be evident, that our Lord in this text had no reference to any thing like purgatory, but to the ordinary course of lawsuits; agreeably with which he warns the man who is culpable to compromise with his plaintiff before he comes to trial, in order to avoid the punishment of the law, whose rigorous demands must be satisfied even to the last farthing. And if this passage be taken in a spiritual sense, those who die in debt to the justice of God, shall remain so to all eternity; as the last farthing, or even one farthing, can never be paid by sufferings in another world, when the offered mercy of Jesus Christ was rejected in this. If Christ be rejected in this life, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin in any other: "Therefore it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," (Heb. x, 31.,) with the expectation of being reconciled to him after death, through the merits of suffering, when the atonement of