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1. As to the existence of purgatory, for the belief of which the roman-catholics have been so often and so harshly reviled,-Do not all, who call themselves "rational protestants," think with us, that, (to use the language of doctor Johnson), "the generality of mankind are neither so obstinately wicked, as to deserve everlasting punishment; nor "so good, as to merit being admitted into the 'society of the blessed spirits; and that God is, "therefore, generously pleased to allow a middle "state, where they may be purified by a certain degree of suffering." With those who profess this doctrine, does not your own opinion accord?

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As to prayers for the dead. The council of Trent has decreed, "that there is a purgatory, "and that the souls detained in it are helped by the suffrages of the faithful."

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The nature and extent of these suffrages are thus explained by St. Augustine † : "When the "sacrifice of the altar, or alms, are offered for the "dead, then, in regard to those whose lives were very good, such sacrifices may be deemed acts of thanksgiving. In regard to the imperfect, they may be deemed acts of propitiation; though they bring no aid to the very bad, they may give some comfort to the living."

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Tradition, in favour of the catholic doctrine of purgatory, is so strong, that Calvin confesses explicitly, that "" during 1,300 years before his

* Sess. xxv. Decretum de Purgatione, p. 286.

Enchird, c. xc. tom. 2, p. 83.

"time, (1,600 before ours), it had been the practice "to pray for the dead, in the hope of procuring "them relief." You yourself will scarcely venture to assert, that there is any thing substantially wrong in this devotion, when you recollect, that archbishop Cranmer said a solemn mass for the soul of Henry II. of France; that bishop Ridley preached, and that eight other prelates assisted at it in their copes.

X. 3.

Auricular Confession-Indulgences.

IN respect to the auricular confession, I hope you will be convinced, that it does not deserve a bitter word, when you have perused the following testimonies in its favour.

"The Lutheran," says doctor Milner, in his End of Controversy, "who are the elder branch "of the reformation, in their confession of faith, "and apology for that confession, expressly teach, "that absolution is no less a sacrament than bap"tism and the Lord's Supper; that particular abso"lution is to be retained in confession; that, to reject it, is the error of the Novatian heretics; and

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that, by the power of the keys, (Matth. xvi. 19.), "sins are remitted, not only in the sight of the "church, but also in the sight of God *. Luther "himself, in his catechism, required that the peni

* Confess. August. art. XI. XII. XIII. Apol.

"tent, in confession, should expressly declare, that "he believes the forgiveness of the priest to be the forgiveness of God *. What can bishop Porteus, "and other modern protestants, say to all this,

except that Luther and his disciples were in"fected with popery? Let us then proceed to "inquire into the doctrine of the most distin

guished heads. In the order of the communion, "composed by Cranmer, and published by Ed"ward VI. the parson, vicar, or curate, is to proclaim this, among other things, If there be any of

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you, whose conscience is troubled and grieved at

any thing, lacking comfort or counsel, let him "come to me, or to some other learned priest, and "confess and open his sin and grief secretly, &c. "that of us, as a minister of God, and of the "church, he may receive comfort and absolution t.' "Conformably with this admonition, it is ordained "in the common Prayer Book, that when the . "minister visits any sick person, the latter should "be moved to make a special confession of his

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sins, if he feels his conscience troubled with any "weighty matter; after which confession, the priest should absolve him, if he humbly and heartily desire it, after this sort: Our Lord "Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church "to absolve all sinners, who truly repent and "believe in him, of his great mercy, forgive thee

* In Catech. Parv. See also Luther's Table Talk, c. xviii. on Auricular Confession.

+ Bishop Sparrow's Collect. p. 10.

thine offences; and by his authority, committed "to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the

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Holy Ghost. Amen *? I may add, that soon "after James I. became, at the same time, the "member and the head of the English church, he "desired his prelates to inform him, in the confer"ence at Hampton Court, what authority this "church claimed in the article of absolution from "sin. When archbishop Whitgift began to en"tertain him with an account of the general "confession and absolution, in the communion "service, with which the king not being satisfied, "Bancroft, at that time bishop of London, fell on "his knees, and said, 'It becomes us to deal plainly with your majesty. "book a more particular and "in the Visitation of the Sick. "fession of Augusta, (Augsburg), Bohemia and Saxony, retain and allow it, but also Mr. Calvin "doth approve both such a general and such a

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There is also in the

personal absolution

Not only the con

private confession and absolution.' To this the

king answered, I exceedingly well approve of "it, being an apostolical and godly ordinance, given, in the name of Christ, to one that desireth "it, upon the clearing of his conscience t.'"

* Order of the Visitation of the Sick. N. B. To encourage the secret confession of sins, the church of England has made a canon, requiring her ministers not to reveal the same. See Canones Eccles. A. D. 1693, n. 113.

+ Fuller's Ch. Hist. B. x. p. 9. See the defence of Bancroft's successor in the see of Canterbury, doctor Laud, who

I beg leave to add the words of the "immortal Chillingworth;" for by this epithet he is frequently distinguished by your writers.

"Can any man be so unreasonable as to imagine that, when our Saviour in so solemn a manner,having first breathed upon his disciples, thereby conveying and insinuating the Holy Ghost into "their hearts,-renewed unto them, or rather con"firmed that glorious commission, &c. whereby he delegated to them an authority of binding and loosing sins upon earth, &c.—can any one think, "I say, so unworthily of our Saviour, as to esteem "these words of his for no better than compliment? "Therefore, in obedience to his gracious will, and as "I am warranted and enjoined by my holy mother, "the church of England, I beseech you, that, by

your practice and use, you will not suffer that "commission, which Christ hath given to his minis"ters, to be a vain form of words, without any sense "under them. When you find yourselves charged "and oppressed, &c. have recourse to your spiritual physician, and freely disclose the nature and ma

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lignancy of your disease, &c. And come not to "him only with such mind as you would go to a "learned man; as one that can speak comfort"able things to you; but as to one that hath

endeavoured to enforce auricular confession, in Heylin's Life of Laud, part 2, p. 415. It appears, from this writer, that Laud was confessor to the duke of Buckingham; and, from Burnet, that bishop Morley was confessor to the duchess of York, when a protestant. Hist. of his own Times.