et stipula consumantur: alii vero sentiant, qui ejusmodi secum ædificia portaverunt, sive ibi tantum, sive et hic et ibi, sive ideo hic ut non ibi, et sæcularia, quamvis a damnatione venialia, concremantem ignem transitoriæ tribulationis inveniant, non redarguo, quia forsitan verum est: Domine, ne in indignatione arguas me, neque in ira tua emendes me." (Ven. Bed. Opp. V. 291. S. Augustini De Civitate Dei, lib. XXI. cap. 26. ed. Benedict. tom. VII. col. 649.)

Cardinal Bellarmine (Controv. II. 244.) cites the passage from the Psalms, in which Bede pretty plainly asserts the doctrine of purgatory, but he does not add that the venerable commentator, in the passage extracted above, has nullified the former passage by speaking of its purport as a speculation perhaps founded in truth.

13 "Ignis probabit, &c. Hic a me fortassis quæratur de ipsa Pauli Apostoli sententia quid ego sentiam, et quonam modo intelligendam putem ? Fateor malle me hinc audire intelligentiores atque doctiores." Ven. Bed. Opp. V. 286. S. Augustini Ep. de Octo Dulcitii Quæstionibus, cap. 6. Opp.

ed. Benedic. tom. VI. col. 124.

14 66

Ignis, enim, de quo eo loco locutus est Apostolus, talis esse debet intelligi, ut ambo per eum transeant, id est, qui ædificat super hoc fundamentum aurum, argentum, lapides pretiosos, et qui ædificat ligna, fœnum, et stipulam. Cum enim dixisset, adjunxit, Uniuscujus opus quale sit, ignis probabit. Si enim opus manserit, quod superædificavit, mercedem accipiet. Si cujus opus exustum fuerit, damnum patietur. Ipse autem salvus erit, sic tamen quasi per ignem. Non ergo unius eorum,

sed utriusque opus ignis probabit. Est quidem ignis tentatio tribulationis, de quo aperte alio loco scriptum est, Vasa figuli probat fornax; et homines justos tentatio tribulationis. Iste ignis in hac interim vita facit quod Apostolus dixit, si accidat duobus fidelibus, uni, scilicet, cogitanti quæ sunt Dei, quomodo placeat Deo; hoc est ædificanti suChristi fundamentum, aurum, argentum, lapiper des pretiosos; alteri autem cogitanti ea quæ sunt mundi, quomodo placeat uxori, id est, ædificanti super idem fundamentum, ligna, fœnum stipulam. Illius enim opus non exuritur, quia non ea dilexit quorum amissione crucietur: exuritur autem hujus, quoniam sine dolore non pereunt quæ cum amore possessa sunt. Sed quoniam, alterutra conditione proposita, eis potius mavult carere quam Christo, nec timore amittendi talia deserit Christum, quamvis doleat cum amittit: salvus erit quidem, sic tamen quasi per ignem ; quia urit eum dolor rerum dilexerat amissarum, sed non subvertit neque quas consumit fundamenti stabilitate atque incorruptione munitum. Tale etiam aliquid post hanc vitam fieri incredibili non est, et utrum ita sit quæri potest, et aut inveniri aut latere, nonnullos fidelium per ignem quendam purgatorium, quanto magis minusve bona pereuntia dilexerunt, tanto tardius, citiusve transituros, salvari: non tamen tales de quibus dictum est, quod regnum Dei non possidebunt, nisi convenienter pœnitentibus eadem crimina remittantur. Convenienter autem dixi, ut steriles in eleemosynis non sint, quibus tantum tribuit Scriptura divina, ut earum tantummodo fructum se imputaturum pronunciet Dominus dexteris, et earum tantummodo sterilitatem sinistris, quando

iis dicturus est, Venite benedicti, percipite regnum : Illis autem, Ite in ignem æternum." Ven. Bed. Opp. V. 288.

15" Tribus itaque modis peccata mortalium vindicantur, duobus in hac vita, tertio vero in futura vita. De duobus ita Apostolus inquit, Si nosmetipsos judicaverimus, a Domino non judicabimur. Hæc est vindicta, quem, inspirante Deo, omnis peccator pro suis admissis pœnitendo in seipso vindicat. Quod autem prosequutus idem Apostolus infert; Cum judicamur autem, a Domino corripimur, ut non cum hoc mundo damnemur. Hæc est vindicta quam omnipotens Deus misericorditer ресcatori irrogat; juxta illud, Deus quem amat corripit, flagellat autem omnem filium quem recipit. Tertia autem extat valde pertimescenda atque terribilis, quæ non in hoc, sed in futuro justissimo Dei judicio fiet sæculo, quando justus judex dicturus est, Discedite a me maledicti in ignem æternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis ejus." (Conc. Aquisgran. II. ad Pippinum R. Labb. et Coss. VII. 1729.)

The first clause in this section of the council's remonstrance may be seen in the seventh note upon the last sermon.

Perhaps it may be allowable to introduce here, as an additional illustration of the state of the purgatorial question, in ancient England, the following passage from a sermon by archbishop Anselm. That prelate, undoubtedly, lived after the time with which the present undertaking is particularly concerned, but his day was so very near it, that his opinions are not undeserving of attention from those who would understand its theology. "Duas enim

beatitudines, et item miserias duas, majorem videlicet, atque minorem esse novimus. Majorem beatitudinem, regnum Dei, minorem dicimus esse, in quo Adam primo positus fuerat, gaudium paradisi. Item majorem miseriam, æternum ignem gehenæ, minorem fatemur, quas incessanter patimur, ærumnas præsentis vitæ." Sermo Anselmi archiepiscopi de æterna Beatitudine, in Cluniacensi capitulo ad Conventum habitus: ad calcem S. Pachomii Regul. utrumque nunquam antea, nunc autem ab Achille Statio Lusitano primum editum. Rom. 1575.

16 Domer-dæg þu scealt rymle gepencan⚫ helle J pitu þu þe scealt á ondɲædan· þær ecan lifer du scealt mid ealɲe geoɲnfulnesre gynnan ælce dæze þu þe rcealt deader penan. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Tiberius, A. 3. f. 52.) Of doom's-day thou shalt also think, and hell-punishment thou shalt ever dread, and eternal life thou shalt with great earnestness earn, and every day thou shalt ween (consider) of death. These words are found in the Capitulars of Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans.

re

17 Ne mæz se nærɲe peran clæne re pe nýle hir sýnna gespican ær his ende-dæz. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii 85.) He can never be clean, who will not cease from his sins, ere his ending-day.

18 Witoblice ne by nane mænn dædbote alerd æfter þÿssen life· ac hærð æizhýle an spa spa he her zeearned spa zod· spa ýfel. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Vespasian, D. 14.) Truly penance is allowed to no men after this life, but every one hath even as he here earned, whether good or evil.

19 On þýrrene poɲulde pe biddað uɲe sýnna foɲzifennýrrena on þæɲe topeɲdan. Se man þe nele hýr rýnna behɲeorian on hýr life ne bezÿt

he nane forgÿfennýrre on þam topeɲdan. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Vitellius, C. 5.) In this world we pray the forgiveness of our sins, and not in that to come. The man who will not repent of his sins in his life, he gets no forgiveness in that to come.

20 Thus the following passage from a threnodia, on the death of Edward the Confessor, printed and translated by the present learned President of Trinity College, Oxford, (Sax. Chr. p. 256.) represents, in the following words, the king's soul as transferred immediately into the light of heaven: "Until suddenly came The bitter death,

And this king so dear

Snatched from the earth.

Angels carried

His soul sincere

Into the light of heaven."

21 Witodlice pesten & † feoperti zeara fæc is ure andbiddung on mirtlicum cortnunzum æfter uɲum fulluhte of Sæt pe becomon þuɲh zehealdrumnýrre goder beboda to pam uplican edele on pa de pe ecelice eandian rceolon. (Bibl. Publ. Cant. MSS. Ii. 4-6. p. 173.) Truly the wilderness, and the space of forty years are our abiding in various temptations after our baptism, until we come, through the keeping of God's commandments, to the exalted country in which we shall dwell for ever.

22 Danne bid dær halzan manner raul pitodlice panne heo of pam lichaman zanzed reofon riðum heo bid beophtne panne runne⋅ 7 þa halzan zoder ænglar hie lædað to paradisum. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii 85.) Then truly is the holy man's soul, when

t