Gregory the Great, towards the end of the sixth. century, being asked, "Doceri vellum si post mortem purgatorius ignis esse credendus est?" answered, "De quibusdam levibus culpis esse ante judicium purgatorius ignis credendus est." He is supposed

to have been the first to establish it as an authorised article of faith, and probably his missionaries, Augustine and Mellitus, first imported it into this country, as the early British Church was evidently unacquainted with the doctrine.

The Council of Florence held A.D. 1438, declares thus on the subject: "The souls of true penitents dying in the love of God, before they have brought forth fruits worthy of the repentance of their sins are purified after their deaths by the pains of purgatory; and that they are delivered from these pains by the suffrages of the faithful that are living, such as holy sacrifices, prayers, alms, and other works of piety which the faithful do for the other faithful, according to the orders of the Church."

Finally, the Council of Trent enacted in its decrees: "Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Spirit out of the sacred writings, and the ancient traditions of the Fathers, hath taught in Holy Councils, and lastly by this Ecumenical Synod, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained there are aided by the suffrages of the faithful, but most of all by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar; this Holy Synod enjoins all bishops diligently to endeavour that the wholesome doctrine

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of purgatory, handed down by Holy Fathers and Sacred Councils, be believed by Christ's faithful, held, taught, and everywhere preached. . . . Let bishops take care that the suffrages of the living faithful, viz., sacrifices of masses, prayers, alms, and other works of piety which have been customarily performed by the faithful for other faithful persons departed, be piously and religiously performed according to the institutions of the Church, and let them take care that the services which are due on behalf of the departed, by the foundations of testators, or in any other manner be performed, not in a perfunctory way, but diligently and exactly by the priests and ministers of the Church, and others who are under obligation to perform this duty."

Errors always advance, one leading on to another, hence we find the doctrine of pardons arising from that of purgatory. This led to the practice, universal during the Middle Ages, of those who possessed any property building and endowing a chantry, chapel, or altar for the maintenance of a priest who should there say Mass daily for the repose of the soul of the founder and his family, and their deliverance from the pains of purgatory; this office was called the Missa pro defunctis.

Another description of "pardons" prevalent in the Romish Church and ours during our connection with her, was that where remission of a stated number of sins was granted to those who, however dissipated their lives had been, should in their

dying hour put on, and be buried in a friar's cowl or habit. Clement V. who occupied St. Peter's Chair from 1305 to 1314, promised to all who should be buried in a friar's habit, remission of the fourth part of their sins.

Becon in "Acts of Christ and of Anti-Christ" published in 1577, says; "Anti-Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins and our justification, sendeth us to his pardons and bulls, to his years of jubilee, and masses of Scala Cali; yea, he sendeth us to a grey friar's cowl and willeth us to be buried in that; promising us by that means remission of sins and everlasting life."

Pardon for, and remission of particular sins, could also be purchased from the Pope, and were seldom refused-for an adequate consideration.

Next stand enumerated, worship and adoration of images and relics.

Image worship was practised before the seventh century, but the exact date of its introduction is not certain. In 598, we find it condemned by Gregory the Great, though he approved the retention of images in Churches "as incentives to devotion, and vehicles of instruction," After his death, image worship prevailed to a great extent in the Western Church till the year 726, when the Emperor Leo III. prohibited it by edict. At the Council of Constantinople in 754, "the religious use of images" was condemned, but thirty years later in 784, the Church of Rome again espoused

the cause, and at the seventh Council of Nice, held A.D. 787, the practice was once more authorised and established. Charlemagne protested against the veneration of images in the eighth century, professing the same views on the subject as Gregory had held, and the Council of Frankfort, in 794, decided in favour of his opinions. In 815, at the Council of Constantinople, image veneration was once more formally abolished, and the Emperor Theophilius in 830 issued an edict for the removal of images from all Churches.

Finally, the decree of the Council of Constantinople held in 842, confirmed that of the seventh. Council of Nice, and images with their worship, were again restored to the Church. The practice was introduced into England about the end of the ninth century, when it became universal. By the provincial Council of Cashel it was enjoined that every Church should contain three images; of the Virgin, the Crucifix, and patron Saint of the Church. The following was among the Articles drawn up by the Bishops for Latimer to subscribe to, in 1531. "That it is laudable and profitable that the venerable images of the Crucifix, and other saints should be had in the Churches as a remembrance, and to the honour and worship of Jesus Christ and His Saints. That it is laudable and profitable to deck and to clothe those images, and to set up burning lights before them, to the honour of the said Saints."

The adoration of relics grew out of the worship and invocation of Saints.

In the Letter of the Church at Smyrna on the martyrdom of Polycarp in the early part of the second century, is written of that occasion: "So we having taken his bones . . out of the fire, laid them to rest in a suitable place. There, as far as possible, assembling with exultation and joy, we shall by God's permission keep the birthday of his martyrdom, both for the memory of those who have already fought the fight, and for the training and preparation of those who are to come." It was the general custom in the early Church for the congregation to meet at the tombs of the martyrs, as in the catacombs at Rome, for divine worship; and this custom led to the practice in after days, when churches were erected in other lands, for some bones, blood, or other relic of saint or martyr to be preserved within the altar of every church in imitation of those first tombs of the martyred Saints.

The Provincial Constitutions of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1207, direct that relics be provided for the consecration of every altar, but should an altar be consecrated without any, the consecration, though irregular, would be legal. In the Form of Consecrating such altars, the officiating priest after having placed the relics within, is directed to say, "Arise, ye saints of God from your dwellings; sanctify these places; bless the people; and keep us sinners in peace."