Purgatory

PURGATORY. This Word is not to be found in Scripture, neither in the Old or New Testament. But the sacred Authors of both the Covenants believed the thing intended by this Word, and have express’d it in equivalent Terms, upon more Occasions than one. We mean therefore by the Word Purgatory, that State of those Souls, which having departed out of this Life without expiating certain Impurities that deserve not eternal Damnation, or which not having undergone the Punishments due to their Sins, expiate them by such Punishments as God inflicts on them, before they enjoy his Presence.

2 Mac. xii. 43, &c.‘Tis said in the Maccabees, that when Judas had stripp’d his Soldiers who had been slain in Battle, he found hid under their Cloaths Things that had been consecrated to Idols, which the Law forbad to Deut. vii. 25, 26.take away. Non inferes quicquam ex Idolo in domum tuam. ‘Tis added, Then every Man saw that this was the Cause wherefore they were slain. All Men therefore praising the Lord the righteous Judge, who had opened the Things that were hid, betook themselves unto Prayer, and besought him, that the Sin committed might wholly be put out of Remembrance. And when he had made a Gathering throughout the Company, to the Sum of two thousand Drachms of Silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a Sin-offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the Resurrection. For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the Dead. And also in that he perceived that there was great Favour laid up for those that died godly. It was an holy and good Thought. Whereupon he made a Reconciliation for the Dead, that they might be delivered from Sin. This Passage fully declares the Sentiments of the Jews before the Time of our Saviour.

Matth. xii. 32.As to the New Testament, Christ in the Gospel says, that there are certain Sins that shall not be forgiven, neither in this World, nor in the World to come. Consequently he allows, that there are some Sins that may be forgiven in the other World. St. 2 Tim. i. 18.Paul prays for Onesiphorus then departed, The Lord grant unto him that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that Day. But if Prayers may be made for the Dead, then there is a Purgatory, and a State wherein they may be benefited by our Prayers.

The Jews acknowledge a kind of Purgatory, which continues for one whole Year after the Person is departed. During these first twelve Months, the Soul is at Liberty to come upon Earth, to visit its Body, and to frequent those Places and Persons, to which it had a particular Relation during its Life here. They pray for the Repose of the Dead for all this Time, and are persuaded, that they administer much Consolation to them by their Prayers, that they procure Rest for them, and Pardon of their Sins.

The Place wherein the Prevaricators of Israel are punished after their Death, or such Jews as are one Day to be deliver’d out of their Pains; this Place is the same as Hell, where the Impious are kept, or such whose Calamity is without Resource and without Hope. But there is a great deal of Difference between these two Sorts of Sufferers; first, as to the Pain, which is much more tolerable as to the former than the latter; and secondly, as to the Duration of it, since that of the Prevaricators of Israel will one Day have an End, and may be much shorten’d and abated by the Prayers and Offerings of the Living; whereas the Torments of the Wicked are to endure for ever.

We read some Stories in the Books of the Rabbins, which prove, that Purgatory is a popular Opinion among them. The Vide Cod Chagigeah Bartolocci t. 2.p.152Rabbi Elisha Son of Abia fell into the Error of the two Principles, from which he was converted towards the End of his Life. However, his Salvation was doubted of. One of his Friends, call’d Meir, undertook to cause Smoke to proceed out of his Tomb, as a Token that he was in Purgatory. Another Rabbi named Jehonan took upon himself to cause this Smoke to cease, as a Token that he was deliver’d out of Purgatory. They both accomplish’d what they had propos’d, and then it was no longer doubted but that Elisha was saved.

Rab. Tanchan. Parasch. Toledoth Noah.The Rabbi Akiba saw once in a Churchyard, a Man that had been departed a good while, walking in great Haste with a Burthen of Wood upon his Shoulders. Akiba ask’d him if he had Occasion for any Assistance. The dead Man told him, that in his Life-time he had been a Receiver of Customs, and to expiate the Extortions he had committed in this Employment, he was condemned to perform the Office of carrying Wood in this manner. He desir’d him to inform his Widow and Son of the State he was in. Akiba found out the Wife and Son, and taught him to say, Blessed be the Lord, and let him be blessed. And no sooner had he pronounced these Words, but his Father was deliver’d out of Purgatory, and appear’d to Akiba to thank him. We have as much Contempt for this kind of Stories as they deserve; but they may serve as a Proof, that the Jews believe a Purgatory.

They call Purgatory, Abraham’s Bosom, the Treasury of the Living, the Garden of Eden, and Upper Gehenna. Hell they call the Lower Gehenna. They believe that all the Israelites have a Portion in the World to come, or the State of Happiness, either immediately after Death, or after they have attoned for their Sins in Purgatory. There are but a very small Number of their Nation, who are great Profligates, that are for ever excluded out of Heaven. a As for the rest, they hold that they continue not above a Year in Purgatory. The Sabbath-day is a Day of Remission for the Souls in Purgatory; they do not burn upon that Day. The Jews offer up a great many Prayers, and Works of Satisfaction, on the Day of solemn Expiation, for the Comfort of such Souls as are in the Upper Gehenna.

The Mussulmen, whose false Religion is a Composition of Judaism, Christianity, and Deism, have, doubtless, borrow’d from the Jews and Christians the Notions they have of Purgatory. They acknowledge at least two of ‘em. The first is what D’Herbelot Bibl. Orient. p. 57.they call Adhabalcabor, the Penalty of the Sepulchre. No sooner is a Man buried, but two Angels call’d Moukir and Nekir examine the dead Man, and condemn him to expiate the Crimes he has committed in that same Place: But at the Day of Judgment they are deliver’d from them by their Submission to the Justice of God, and by the Intercession of their false Prophet. In this first Judgment of the Sepulchre, it is allow’d every one to speak in his own Justification; but at the last Judgment Men must not dare to say any thing, nor presume to bring any Extenuation or Excuse. The Turks call’d Motazals do not admit of this first Purgatory of the Sepulchre; but it is the general Belief of the other Mahometans.

Idem, p. 121, 122.The second Purgatory, according to many of the Mussulmen, is the Place call’d Araf, lying between Paradise and Hell. What divides them is only a Vale, according to some, or a thick Wall, according to others. They are not agreed who they are that inhabit this Araf. Some place the Patriarchs and Prophets there, others the Martyrs, and the most eminent for Sanctity among the Faithful. But several Doctors dispose of such Mussulmen there, whose good and bad Actions approach so near to an Equality, that they had not Merit enough to deserve Paradise, nor Demerit enough to be condemned to the Pains of Hell. From thence they see the Happiness of the Blessed; but they do not partake of it; and this Privation gives them their greatest Torment. But at the great Day of Judgment, those that are kept in¹ this Place will prostrate themselves before the Throne of the great Judge, will acknowledge and adore his Power, and by those Acts of Adoration their good Actions will so far exceed their bad ones, that they will be admitted into Happiness.

Besides these two Purgatories now mention’d, they have still a third call’d Barzak. D’Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. p. 191.By this Name the Mahometans call that Space of Time which is to pass between Death and the Resurrection. They think there is neither Paradise nor Hell for Men during this Interval. This seems to have been taken from the Opinion of some of the Fathers, not well understood, who have thought that the State of Souls was not fix’d and determin’d, ‘till after the Day of Judgment.

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