heaven. The soul with the taint of sin on it, however slight, cannot see the face of God. It must be purified first, and there is nothing like suffering patiently borne to purify a soul. This we cannot help seeing, even in this world.

Now, purgatory means a state of purification or purging from sin by suffering; it is, then, entirely reasonable that the soul not as yet thoroughly purified in this world should be in purgatory for a time, till this purification is accomplished.

But in order that this doctrine may be more thoroughly understood, I must explain to you the Catholic teaching about satisfaction for sin. I shall begin a little way back, and come gradually to it.

Perhaps you imagine-I think most Protestants do that we Catholics believe that we can atone or satisfy for sin simply by doing some good works, such as almsgiving, or by punishing ourselves for it, as by fasting or abstinence from meat. I have, however, already told you that this is not the case; that we believe, just as much as any Protestant does, that Christ's Passion and Death is the only thing that can satisfy for our sins. We have faith in Christ as our Redeemer, and our sole Redeemer, just as much as any Protestant has; and what is more, every Catholic that has an atom of the instruction which we endeavor to give to all, knows

and understands this fully from his childhood. We do not, then, believe that we are saved by our own good works, but by the merits of Christ; but we also believe that we cannot avail ourselves of those merits of Christ unless we have besides faith, also what St. Paul, and the Church after him, call charity.

Now, what is this charity of which St. Paul speaks, and of which he says most distinctly that it is greater than even faith itself? Now there remain," he says (1 Cor. xiii. 13), "faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greater of these is charity."

It evidently is not almsgiving simply and by itself, which is what we generally understand in English by charity; for he says in this chapter (v. 3): "If I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."

There is no real doubt about the meaning of this word. The Latin word caritas,' " from which charity comes, means simply what we may call for the moment dearness; that is to say the virtue by which God and our neighbor become dear to us; or, in other words, the love of God and of our neighbor, which is enjoined on us by Christ Himself as the sum and substance of the whole law. We read (Luke x. 27) that the young man in answer to Christ's question, "What is written in the law?"

answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself"; and we read immediately afterward that Christ told him he had answered right.

Faith, then, without charity, or the love of God, from which the love of our neighbor necessarily follows-for St. John says (I. iv. 20): "If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar "-is, according to the plain teaching of St. Paul as given above, unprofitable, or insufficient for salvation. The same doctrine is taught most clearly by St. James (ii. 17): "So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself"; or as the Protestant version has it, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." No wonder that Luther objected to this epistle of St. James, and called it an "epistle of straw"; but St. Paul, you see, teaches just the same thing. St. James, however, develops it more fully (ii. 14-26).

It is, then, most certain that faith alone will not save us; we must also have the love of God, and this love of God, unless it show itself by good works, is false. St. John says (I. iii. 16-18, and I quote your own version): "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down

our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”

Now, the question arises: Are these good works which must necessarily show themselves in our lives, if we have the love of God in us which is needed for salvation, of any use to us? Is the Christian who abounds in them any more pleasing to God than he who has only a few?

It would seem that there can be only one answer to this. If our love for God pleases Him, and is needed that we may see His face in heaven, the more of it we have the more we shall please Him; and each good work that we do under the influence of it will please Him; and will obtain for itself a special reward. He Himself teaches this most clearly: "Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."

After this, it hardly seems necessary to multiply texts. All our good works done with faith and the love of God, are each and individually to receive a reward from Him; and it is perfectly well understood that our claim to this reward rests primarily on the merits of Christ.

But now still another question comes, which is the real one with which we are specially concerned just now. And that is, do our good works, besides receiving a reward in heaven, and perhaps even also here, avail in any way to undo the effect of our sins? Do they offer, in other words, any satisfaction for them?

Of course it is plain from what I have said that they cannot thus avail, according to our doctrine, in themselves, except so far as they may incline God, and indeed do certainly incline Him, to bring us to Christ by faith, so that His Precious Blood, shed on the cross, may wash our souls from original and actual sin, and implant at the same time in our hearts. a supernatural love of Him, founded on this faith. Thus we read (Acts x. 30-32) "Corne lius said: Four days ago, unto this hour, I was praying in my house, at the ninth hour, and behold a man stood before me in white apparel, and said: Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thy alms are had in remembrance, in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, who is surnamed Peter.''' And Peter coming, instructed Cornelius in the Christian faith, and baptized him.

But do our good works afterward, when we are united with Christ, help in any way, or join in with His in satisfying for our sin? Now we get at the real point.