It may appear strange to some that I have even raised the question, for the language of sacred scripture is so plain and so often repeated, that those who are familiar with its pages will at once call to mind a host of passages, which place the matter beyond the range of controversy. “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; and though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.” If they are as white as snow, there is surely no stain left. “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” There is therefore no trace or recollection of its blot. “There is therefore now no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus.” There cannot therefore be a guilt or a condemnation left. “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;” _i.e._, that the righteousness of God might be imputed to us, just as our guilt was laid upon him; and if that is the case, can there be any vestige left, any remnant of the stain or curse? Surely guilt must be gone if we stand before the throne in the righteousness of Jesus. There is no stain on his garment, no defect in his love. It is perfect, spotless, and untainted for eternity; and the believer, who is clad in it, may cast to the winds all thought of punishment for bygone sin, and let his soul repose in the peaceful enjoyment of unimpeded love. But now contrast with this the teaching of the Church of Rome. The Council of Trent decreed, “If any man shall say that after the gift of justification has been received, sin is so remitted to any repentant sinner, and the debt of eternal punishment so blotted out, that there remains no debt of temporary punishment to be endured either in this world, or in the world to come, in purgatory, before a way can be opened into the kingdom of heaven, let him be anathema.” {15a} You observe, that the persons alluded to in the decree are justified believers, by whom the gift of justification has been already received, and whose sin is remitted; you observe also that the state of mind in which they are described is that of true repentance, for they are said to be “repentant sinners;” and yet the decree distinctly declares that there still hangs over them the remaining punishment of unforgiven sin. It is true that the punishment is described as temporary, but the fact that there is any punishment at all is a virtual denial of the completeness of the atonement, for there can be no punishment if there is no remaining charge of sin; and there can be no remaining charge, if all has been satisfied by the blood-shedding of the Lord.