PICTURES OF PURGATORY.

157

tion, the widow said if he was seen it must have been his ghost. However, to settle the dispute, the grave was opened, when it was discovered that the coffin was only filled with clay. His creditors, we understand, purpose to give him a clear receipt for his cleverness, and he threatens to prosecute the priest unless he gives up the offerings, his soul or body not being benefited by him.

16

MASSES FOR THE SOULS OF THE DEAD.-In the life of the great Frederick of Prussia, the following anecdote is related:The king, passing a few days at Cleves after the seven years' war, had a state of the province laid before him, and was surprised to find a considerable sum paid annually to the Cordeliers out of the receipts of the forests. Why all this sum to these monks ?' says the king to the president.—'Sire,' replied he, 'it is a legacy of the last dukes, for masses to the repose of their souls.' Is this contribution never to cease? Where is the convent? I would speak with the guardian.'' Sire, it is behind the park.'—'I will go there at three o'clock-let the monks be told of it.'

"At the appointed time the king repairs to the convent. The monks came to receive him in procession, and as soon as he appeared, struck up the canticle of Saint Ambrose. The king says to the guardian, on approaching him, 'Are you the superior of the convent? Yes, sire.' You receive, gentlemen, a large sum every year out of the revenue of the forests; what is the reason of that?'—' Sire, it is a legacy of the last dukes of Cleves, and we are obliged to say so many dead masses for them, to get their souls out of purgatory.'-'My good cousins! they stay a long time in purgatory-could not you tell me whether they will soon come out of it?'- Not precisely, sire, but the moment they do escape, I shall not fail to send an express to Potsdam, to inform your majesty.' The king burst into a fit of laughter; and turning to the president, said, 'There is nothing to be made out of this man; he has certainly studied among the Jesuits.""

PICTURES OF PURGATORY.-From Moore's View of Society and Manners in Italy.-"On the external walls of some convents, immediately above the box into which you are directed to put your money, views of purgatory are painted in the most flaming colors,

158

OBSCURITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

where people are seen all in the agonies of burning, raising their indignant eyes to those unmindful relations and acquaintances, who, rather than part with a little money, allow them to remain in those abodes of torment. One can hardly conceive how any mortal can pass such a picture without emptying his purse into the box, if, by so doing, he believed he could redeem, I will not say a human creature, but even a poor incorrigible dog, or vicious horse, from such a dreadful situation."

MIRACLES. The old impostures of liquifying the blood of St. Januarius, milking the colt, &c., &c., are not without predecent from Scripture, quite as authoritative as the example of the tormented rich man's prayer to Abraham is for prayers to saints. The tricks of the priests of Tamuz, mentioned in Ezekiel viii. 14, "There sat women weeping for Tamuz"-included that of filling the eyes with lead, which lead being melted by the flame of the fire under it, the image itself seemed to weep.

OBSCURITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.-The Romish priests ask, "If the Scriptures be so plain, why do protestants explain them? Why do you preach ?"

Here they bring forward the leading tenet of popery, namely, the Scriptures are so obscure that no man can explain or understand them, but the pope and his priests.

We beg to ask these priests this question.-"Do you, or do you not, believe that the Scriptures were given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost?" If you do not, you are deists! If you do, then you admit that the Holy One speaks to us in them. If he does, then you will admit that HE means to be understood. And yet they have the boldness to charge the Holy Spirit with intentional obscurity and darkness, so that his own subjects can not understand him! 66 Why do we preach them?" Why, to train up God's people by instruction, by prayer, and praise; and to make the authoritative offer of the gospel to sinners; and administer the sacraments to the faithful. May we not retort on them? Why do Romish priests preach, since they have a living, speaking, infallible rule, the pope? Will Dr. Hughes answer this?

THE MYS ERY OF JESUITISM.

159

THE MYSTERY OF JESUITISM.

A JESUITICAL creed, gathered out of the works of Johannes Baptista Posa, a Spanish Jesuit, by Franciscus Roales, Doctor at Salamanca, and Chaplain to his Catholic Majesty of Spain. It is to be found in Latin, in the appendix to the Relations of De Vargis, p. 333, printed in 1641, digested into twelve articles :—

I.

I believe in two Gods, whereof one is Son, Father and Mother, metaphorically, according to an eternal generation; the other metaphorically, Mother and Father according to a temporal generation; and what is consequent thereto, that the common term, Mother-Father, may be equally attributed to God and the B. Virgin, as if they were both Hermaphrodites.

II.

I believe in Jesus Christ, the only metaphorical Son of both, according to an eternal and temporal generation.

111.

I believe Jesus Christ as Man, was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, metaphorically, as of Father and Mother, by a paternal and maternal virtue.

IV.

I believe that he suffered, and was dead, not truly and really, because it was impossible he should die.

V.

I believe he was buried, though not truly and really dead.

VI.

I believe his Soul descended into Hell, metaphorically, whereas it was never separated from the Body.

VII.

I believe that he rose from the dead, by a metaphor suitable to that whereby I believe him dead.

VIII.

I believe he ascended into Heaven, that he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father, and that he will come to judge some alive, and some already dead.

IX.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, who spake by the prophets, though those were sometimes mistaken and deceived.

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A SPECIMEN OF ROMAN CATHOLIC LITERATURE.

X.

I believe the church to be, as to the better part of it, holy; and the communion of saints.

XI.

I believe the remission of sins, effected by a sudden collation of the Holy Ghost upon the wicked.

XII.

I believe the resurrection of the body, as to the better part of it, and Life everlasting, not without some fear of the contrary.

A SPECIMEN OF ROMAN CATHOLIC LITERATURE.

AN OLD DESCRIPTION OF AN OLD PLACE.

IN the "Universal Description of the Theatre of Heaven and Earth," written by "Joseph Rosacio, Cosmographer, and Doctor in Philosophy and Physic, printed at Venice, 1620," chapter ii., is the following curious account of the exact dimensions of hell, purgatory, limbus patrum, and Abraham's bosom :

"The sphere of Hell, or, to speak more properly, the circumference of Hell, is the lowest part of the earth, and the bigness of it is about 7,375 miles; the breadth of it, that is to say, the diameter, is the third part of the circumference or little less; and so are all spherical bodies. It is distant from us 3,758 miles and a quarAbove the sphere of Hell is that of Purgatory, 15,750 miles in circuit, and distant from us 2,505 miles and a half. Above the sphere of Purgatory is that of Limbus Patrum, which is 23,625 miles, and distant from us 1,252 miles. Above this is Abraham's Bosom, much about the same length and distance as the other.

ter.

66

'Some object against this, that we have placed Hell lowermost, and have made it less than the Earth, or any of the other places, whereas we ought to have made it larger, in regard of the vast number of people that have been crowding thither for these many thousands of years, and never return, and will be daily crowding thither till the world's end. To which we answer, that when the centre of the universe shall be removed out of the way, after the day of judgment, and the earth and that infinite heap of mountains and seas shall be confined to nothing, there will be space enough: besides that, the damned in chains and fetters must not expect to have so much liberty as the saints in heaven, who are unconfined."

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES IN PIEDMONT. 161

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES IN PIEDMONT.

HEN the Waldenses, to avoid the severe persecutions to which they were continually subjected in France, went and settled in the fertile valleys of Piedmont, they increased exceedingly, and flourished very much for a considerable time. Though they were harmless in their behavior, inoffensive in their conversation, and

paid tithes to the Romish clergy, yet the latter could not be contented, but wished to give them some disturbance: they accordingly complained to the archbishop of Turin, that the Waldenses of the valleys of Piedmont were heretics, for these reasons:

1. That they did not believe in the doctrines of the church of Rome;

2. That they made no offerings for prayers for the dead;

3. That they did not go to mass;

4. That they did not confess and receive absolution;

5. That they did not believe in purgatory, or pay money to get the souls of their friends out of it.

Upon these charges the archbishop ordered a persecution to be commenced, and thousands fell martyrs to the superstitious rage of the priests and monks.

At Turin, one of the reformed had his bowels torn out, and put into a basin before his face, where they remained, in his view, till he expired. At Revel, Catelin Girard being at the stake, desired the executioner to give him up a stone, which he refused, thinking that he meant to throw it at somebody; but Girard assuring him that he had no such design, the executioner complied; when Girard, looking earnestly at the stone, said: "When it is in the power of a man to eat and digest this solid stone, the religion for which I am about to suffer shall have an end, and not before." He then threw the stone on the ground, and submitted cheerfully to the flames. A great many more of the reformed were oppressed, or put to death by various means, till the patience of the Walden