therefore, needed no purgation after their decease, all their sins having been forgiven them for Christ's sake, as it is written, "Forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." As John also testified, saying, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation (ilasmos atonement, a propitiatory sacrifice) for our sins. I write unto you, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake." See 1 John ii, 1, 2, 12; iii, 4, 5; iv, 9, 10; v. 13. Those who so believe, will not be looking for purgation after death, by fire or any other means. The blood of Jesus Christ hath cleansed them from all their sins; he, by the shedding of his blood, having given his soul an offering unto God for their sins when nailed to the cross. See Isaiah liii; 1 Peter ii, 24. To him therefore give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, all believing on him have received the forgiveness of their sins, as Acts x, 43, reads in the Greek. Nor will they have any intercessor but him who, as their high priest, and only mediator, now ever liveth to intercede for all that come unto God by him. See 1 Tim. ii, 5, 6; Heb. ii. 17, 18; vii, 25, 26.

Those who so believe will not believe the Romish doctrine of purgatory, nor believe in the intercession of the Virgin Mary, nor think they could be saved by the prayers of others. Jesus Christ is their all in all. And they count all things of no value, compared with the excellency of the knowledge of his gospel, revealing unto them a righteousness, fitting them for admission into heaven the instant the soul leaves its earthly tabernacle, clothed upon with immortality, making them like unto Christ and the angels. See 2 Cor. v, 1—4 ; Phil. iii.

In the Douay Bible there is a note to Genesis xxxvii, 35, which disproves the doctrine of purgatory, by representing all that died in the faith, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, as being at rest in sheol or hades,* waiting for the coming of Christ to take them to heaven. For in the Douay version of the Hebrew scriptures, sheol is rendered hell. And as by hell is now generally supposed to signify the place for the punishment of the wicked after the general judgment—

* If at rest from the beginning of the world till the coming of Christ, they were not in a state of suffering unto purification of sin.

whereas originally, as the rendering of sheol or hades it signified a hollow covered over place below in the earth, as does sheol in the Hebrewc sriptures, irrespective of the state of those that were there in that note the word hell is explained as it occurs in reference to Jacob, who refused to be comforted for the supposed death of his son Joseph, and said, "I will go down to my son into hell, mourning."

Note. "Into hell. That is, into limbo, the place where the souls of the just were received before the death of our Redeemer. For allowing that the word hell sometimes is taken for the grave, it cannot be so taken in this place; since Jacob did not believe his son to be in the grave (whom he supposed to be devoured by a wild beast), and therefore could not mean to go down to him thither: but certainly meant the place of rest, where he believed his soul to be."

That place is afterwards called sheol or hades, in a note on Genesis xliv, 31, commenting on the words, "with sorrow unto hell," speaking of Jacob, thus

"With sorrow unto hell: the Hebrew word for hell is here sheol, the Greek hades: it is not taken for the hell of the damned; but for the place of souls below where the servants of God were kept before the coming of Christ."

In Luke xvi, all the dead, both of the just and of the unjust, are spoken of as being in hades (en tô hadee in hades, in the English and the Douay versions in hell); Lazarus comforted, and the rich man tormented; and between them a great gulph over which none could pass; at the time that Christ was on the earth, before his death, and resurrection from hades. See Acts ii, 22-32, "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, not leaving his soul in hades" (eis hadou in hades, in the English and the Douay versions in hell). Until after the resurrection of Christ, in both the old and the new testament, all the dead are spoken of as being in sheol or hades, the righteous apart from the wicked. The righteous, till Christ would be raised, then to be taken to live with him in heaven; and the unrighteous reserved there for the pit in the day of judgment, when death and hades shall deliver up the dead which are in them to be judged, and sent to gehenna, the real hell, in the present acceptation of that word. Rev. xx, 13, 14; xxi, 7, 8.

And besides those two places in hades, there was not a third place, for purification. For the righteous did not need it, Christ having purged them from all their sins before they died. See Heb. i, 1-3. And the unrighteous were past redemption, as spake David, saying, "They that trust in their wealth, and boast of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, that he should live for ever, and not see destruction: for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever." Ps. xlix, 6—9. And therefore Jesus said to the Jews, "If ye believe not on me, ye shall die in your sins; and if ye die in your sins, where I am, ye cannot come." John viii, 21-24. The Romish doctrine of purgatory, which is of heathen origin, is therefore a cunningly devised fable, that can deceive only those that do not know the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, not understanding the scriptures.

Those who believe the Romish doctrine of purgatory do also believe, that except they literally eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood, they cannot be saved; and that if they literally eat and drink thereof they will be saved; they believing that to be the meaning of the words of Jesus, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John vi, 53, 54.

But there is a scripture which shows that those words of Jesus were not to be understood literally, as when eating animal food. For in Mat. xiii, 34, it is written, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them."

By John, it is expressly stated that it was to the multitude those words were spoken by Jesus, saying, "After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, and a great multitude followed him. And he said unto them, Ye seek me, because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Verily I say unto you, except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." That having been said to the multitude, it was therefore a parable (parabolee a comparison, a similitude, a symbolical

Lord, thy words were found,
As John also spake, saying,

speech, as when Jeremiah said, "O and I did eat them." Jer. xv, 16. "And I took the little book out of the hand of the angel, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter." Rev. x, 10. And as the angel spake of the woman that sat on the beast, drunken with the blood of the saints, and of the martyrs of Jesus, saying, "The ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." Rev. xvii, 16. All these were to be understood figuratively. If the last was to be understood literally, "They shall eat her flesh," as some think the saying of Jesus, in John vi, 53, should be understood, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you;" the Roman Catholics should eat their own church with their teeth. For by the harlot was meant the Papal church, which for 1260 years slew the Protestants throughout Europe by thousands, because "they kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus Christ, and tormented them with the word of their testimony," as Daniel and John foretol... But that which they were not to do literally, they have been doing in the figurative signification of the words of the angel since the revolution began in Italy in 1859, by taking from the Pope the revenue of the States of the church of which he is the head, and therewith feeding themselves. And soon they will burn her with fire, the time being come for her destruction by a revolution throughout Europe, similar to that whereby the tenth part of Babylon was thrown down by violence in France in 1793, foretold in Rev. xi; as the author has shown in his previous publication,* by a newly discovered scripture data, when explaining coming events.

That the saying of Jesus, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you;" was not to be understood literally, sufficient proof is given in the scriptures.

In John x, Jesus says, "He that entereth into the sheepfold by the door, shall be saved: I am the door." Did he mean a

* To be had of the Publishers of this treatise, price One Shilling, or sent free by post for thirteen postage stamps.

literal door? No, for it is written, "This parable spake he unto them; but they understood it not." It being a parable, it was therefore not to be understood literally. See John x, 1—6.

Nor is that to be understood literally, which is written in John vi-"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day: for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." For it was to the multitude that was spoken, as mentioned in verse 2. And Matthew says, "Without a parable spake he not to the multitude." Consequently, it was not to be understood literally. And therefore Jesus also said, "Every one that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day," verse 40. And when some turned away, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" supposing Jesus to have meant the flesh upon his bones; and some of his disciples had said, "This is an hard saying, who can hear it? Jesus said to his disciples, Doth this offend you? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, are spirit and life. Then said he unto the twelve, Will ye also go away ? Then Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

In Mat. iv, 4, it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God." Therefore whosoever in spirit eateth the words of God, communicated unto the inhabitants of this nether world by him who was made flesh, and dwelt among us, making known to us the way of salvation-as did Jeremiah eat the words of God in the law, the prophets, and the psalms; and as John did eat the little book of the revelations of God, making known the things that were to come to pass-spiritually feedeth on Christ, and shall thereby live, believing the record which God hath given of him as the Saviour of the world. And therefore Jesus also said, "Verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." John V, 24. If those who think they cannot be saved, except they literally eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood, knew what that meaneth, they would not believe what Dr. Wiseman says in his published lectures on transubstantiation-that "Christ