Ca&v. XII.] !,aso?vo?,r. 389 of the divines //m/? elijah, ? for that it is thought to have been the higher part or brim of e places of punlabs/eat being far lower than the same, which therefore he called infernum ?ell. Where this mansion of the lashers stood, or wttether it be any part of hell, Augustine doubteth: but that there was such a place he nor no Catholic man ever doubted: as all the fathers make it most cer- tain, that our Saylout descending to hell, went thither specially, and delivered the said fathers out of that mansion." They say this place is now empty, as purgatory will be hereafter. The i/sd?s, i.e., &e,-de?' or dejmm'tmen/for infants, is the abode of tht: spir/ts of infants who died without baptism, and who endure the eternal !mnishraent of loss, though not of sense. Of course, u no unbaptized children can go to heaven, this place will never be evacuated. Purgatory is generally represented to be one of the departments in the infernal re?ions, just above hell, and under limb?.? inf?m?m. Bel- larmine, in proof of the locality of purgatory," adduces silly tales of visions and apparitions of souls in the eruptions of Mount Hecla, from ?vhich he infers that the craters of volcanoes are entrances into hell. Others, as Thomas Aquinas and Pope Gregorv the Great, supposed that souls might have their purgatory in other ?laces than that which goes by this name, as in baths, &c. The following, from the orthodox Roman Catholic Dens, will show that this is no Protestant interpreta- tion: "Where is purgatory ! Ans. The ordinary place of purgatory, which preper]y and commonly is unde?tood by that name, is under the earth, and adjoining to hell. But St. Thomas Aquinas thinks that souls are, in extraordinary cases, purged out of this place. 'Some,' say? he, ' are punished in different places, either for the instruction of the living or the benefit of the dead, that their punishment being known to the living may be mitigated by the sufi?ges of the church.' And thus Pope Gregory (lib. iv of his Dialogues, c. 40) produces an example or' the soul o� Paschasius, which was purged in the baths.'"? 3. Their divines differ respecting the i'/,?d and e?av-ee of punishment. Some say that the fire is mater/d, others say not; yet the greater num- ber go for material fire. Dens says that the punishment of purga- tory is twofold--that of lo.?.? and of ?e?e, or what they lose and what they suffer or feel; and that the Latins maintain that the punish- ment is of fire. As to the quantum or degree of punishment, Aquinas supposes it to exceed any punishment in this life. Bonaventure and Bellarmine teach, that the greatest punishment of purgatory is heav/er than the greatest punishment in this life; but that the least punishment of purgatory is not greater than the greatest in this life.$ 4. As it, respects the i/urn/on of time in which souls are to be de- tained in purgatory, it is difficult to say what is the opinion of Romm? Catholics. Some suppose souls are detained there for many years others, that the time is very short. lndeed, the time seems to have been lengthened or shortened by the clergy to that extent which would best answer their purpose of filling their coffers. As a specimen, we give the following, which was posted on the door of a cathedral in 1738. as given in Wesley's Journal, under Aug. 30th, 1738.
- De Pu?., 1?. ii, c. 6.
$ ? e?t ?pt?r?tor/#m ? R. OrdinM'iu8 plfi'gutorii lOOn, etC. X?., De Purge, No. 27, vol. vb', p. 400. t Den?, u above. 1
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