But let us refer to one other extract. In the Catechism of Trent an explanation is given of the doctrines defined in the decrees, and there we find the same distinction between eternal and temporal punishments; we find also a distinction between God’s mercy and his justice, and it says of God, that “through his mercy he forgives sins, and the eternal punishments due to them; through his justice he punishes the man with punishments of limited duration.” {15b} The justice, therefore, of God is described as still in exercise against the believer. The Scriptures teach us that, being satisfied, it is enlisted on our behalf, for “if we confess our sins,” he is not merely merciful, but “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” How, I would ask, can it be just to forgive, because of the merit of a finished expiation, and at the same time just to demand a fresh expiation from this forgiven sinner for his forgiven sin? and what has become of the completeness of that satisfaction which the Lord wrought out for us as our substitute, if the justice, after all, be not fully satisfied, but the wrath of God still hangs over the accepted soul? These extracts, however, merely explain the general theory, and we shall probably be able to understand it better if we examine an instance of its practical application. We shall find just such an instance in the case of purgatory. The Catechism of Trent declares of it, “Besides (hell) there is a fire of purgatory, in which the souls of the pious, being tormented for a define time, expiate their sin, that so an entrance may be opened to them into the eternal country, into which nothing defiled can enter.” You observe that according to these words, the persons in purgatory are pious believers, heirs of the kingdom, blessed spirits, who are about to reign with Christ. You observe, in the next place, that they are in the torture of fire, not gently and sweetly spiritualised, but burnt up and tortured; and you observe, in the third place, that the purpose of it is to make expiation for their sin. It is not to purify or refine, to chasten, that so they may be partakers of God’s holiness; but it is to expiate, to make atonement, to satisfy that unsatisfied justice, of which we read in the preceding extract. They are said to make an expiation by torture, in addition to that which the Saviour has already made for them by his blood. His expiation is represented as not enough to introduce them to the kingdom, but is said to leave them with so much of sin’s defilement, that their own burning is required to complete the work.