The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

CONDEMNED BY SCRIPTURE. 551VirgiPs Elysium; and there souls were purified by their ownsufferings and the sacrifices of their friends on earth, beforeentering the habitation of joy. From this source did theRoman Catholic Cliurch borrow her purgatory.But we have a sure word of prophecy. The world beyondthe grave has been made known to us, so far as we are ableto receive it, by One who knew it better than either popesor fathers, because He came from it. When he lifts theveil, we discover only two classes and two abodes. Andwhile we meet with nothing in the New Testament thatcountenances the doctrine of purgatory, we meet with muchthat expressly contradicts and confutes it. All the statementsof the Word of God respecting the nature of sin, andthe death and satisfaction of Christ, are condemnatory ofpurgatory, and conclusively establish that there neither isnor can be any such place. The Scripture authorizes nosuch distinction as Papists make between venial and mortalsins. It teaches that all sin is mortal, and, unless blottedout by the blood of Christ, will issue in the sinner"'s eternalruin. It teaches, that after death there is neither changeof character nor of state ;that God does not sell his grace,but bestows it freely ; that we are not redeemed with corruptiblethings, as silver and gold ; that no man can redeemhis brother, whether by prayers or by offerings ; that thelaw of God demands of every man, every moment of his being,the highest obedience of which his nature and his facultiesare capable, and that sincethe foundation of the worlda single work of supererogation has never been performedby any of the sons of men ; and that therefore the sourcewhence this imaginary fund of merit is supplied has no existence,and is, like the fund itself, a delusion and a fable ;it teaches, in fine,andthat God pardons men only on the footingof the satisfaction of his Son, which is complete and sufficient,and needs not to be supplemented by works of humanmerit; and that when he pardons, he pardons all sin, and forever.But the grand criterion by which Rome tests all her doc-