is inferred from the fact of their being repeated year by year continually; and it is laid down as an incontrovertible principle, that a sacrifice which is truly and properly expiatory, is not offered again after the atonement has been once made. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto those that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation," Heb. ix. 2. From these last words, it is clear that Paul knew nothing about the Mass. Had the apostles said Mass, he could not truly assert that Christ had been offered only once, for he would have been offered daily. Neither could he have called his coming to judgment his appearing the "second time;" for, in that case, he must have appeared on the altar a thousand times, living, and visible, and tangible. For when the priest holds up the wafer, he says to the adoring congregation, "Ecce Agnus Dei"

"Behold the Lamb of God!" Not only would he have thus appeared many times, but by myriads his flesh and bones would have been drank in a little consecrated wine; and his blood would have been eaten in a white transparent wafer! If there be a solecism, in the last sentence, it is not my fault; for, I can assure you, that the language is theologically correct; the body and blood of Christ being received, accord

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ing to the Council of Trent, whole and entire under either species.

But to return from this digression. Does not the Church of Rome seem to acquiesce in the reasoning of St. Paul; and by offering up the Mass so often for the same soul in Purgatory, plainly confess, that, as a sacrifice, it possesses no atoning virtue whatever?

Against the existence of a middle place in the next world, the testimony of Scripture is clear and decisive. It is in vain that we advance our reasonings on this subject: we can know nothing of the state of the soul after death, but what is revealed to us in the Word of God. Roman Catholics argue, that, as the slightest defilement would exclude the soul from heaven, and as it would be unjust to banish it to hell for venial offences, therefore there must be a third place of purgation, where the faithful are made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

It is here assumed that some transgressions of God's law are trifling and do not merit perdition; and that the blood of Jesus does not cleanse from all unrighteousness, does not remove all the believer's stains-assumptions which I have already shown to be utterly groundless. But But how stands the question of fact as stated in the "Scriptures of Truth ?" We shall see. I

shall place in juxta-position the testimony of the Bible and that of the Roman Church on this point, that the true state of the question may be perceived at a glance.

Word of God. Isa. lvii. 1, 2, "None considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace."

Church of Rome. "The righteous is taken away to the fires of Purgatory. He enters into torment."

Phil. i. 21. 23, "For me to live is CHRIST, and to die is gain. Having a desire to depart and to be with CHRIST, which is far better."

Church of Rome. "To die in the Lord is not to gain happiness, but to be plunged into unutterable misery. To depart in the faith is not to be with Christ, but in the doleful prison of Purgatory."

2 Cor. v. 8, "We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

Church of Rome. "To be absent from the body is not to be present with the Lord; but to endure the agony of a temporary hell."

Rev. xiv. 13, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

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Church of Rome. " No, but their works go before them to earn heaven; and if not of sufficient value, instead of resting from their labours, they enter on a course of suffering to which nothing comparable has ever been inflicted in the present world."

1 Thess. iv. 13, "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope."

Church of Rome. "Alas! there is much cause for sorrow; for, if there be hope, it is hope deferred which maketh the heart sick." And if believers are asleep in Christ, it is a sleep troubled with dreams full of agony and horror! There is room for sorrow and sympathy; for, behold! your departed friends are lifting up their eyes and hands in the midst of intolerable stench,* and smoke, and flames, most mournfully exclaiming," Have pity on us, have pity on us, at least, ye, our friends, have pity on us!"

I might fill many pages with this instructive parallel; but enough has been advanced to show that the HOLY SPIRIT and the Roman Catholic Church are directly at issue as to the state of believers after death.

* See Life of St. Theresa.

There is scarcely any doctrine of the Church of Rome more manifestly at variance with Holy Scripture than this. Two states after death, and two alone, are set forth constantly in the living oracles-the place of torment, and the place of glory-eternal death, or life everlasting. There are a few texts, however, that have been pressed into the service by the advocates of Romanism, which it may be well to examine. The first of these is

Matt. v. 25, 26, "Be at agreement with the adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him, lest, perhaps, the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen, I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing." This prison is said to be Purgatory. But St. Augustine and St. Jerome were of a different opinion. These ancient saints, so highly renowned by your church, understood the prison to be hell, and the punishment everlasting. The learned and venerable Bede represents the word until, in this passage, as signifying endless duration; and this is clearly the meaning of the term.

In Psalm cx. 1, we read the following words: "The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot