s work of what sort it is. If any man's
work abide," that is, if his works are holy, "he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work burn," that is, if his works are faulty and imperfect,
"he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by
fire."(284) His soul will be ultimately saved, but he shall suffer, for a
temporary duration, in the purifying flames of Purgatory.

This interpretation is not mine. It is the unanimous voice of the Fathers
of Christendom. And who are they that have removed the time-honored
landmarks of Christian faith by rejecting the doctrine of purgatory? They
are discontented churchmen impatient of the religious yoke, men who
appeared on the stage sixteen hundred years after the foundation of
Christianity. Judge you, reader, whom you ought to follow. If you want to
know the true import of a vital question in the Constitution, would you
not follow the decision of a Story, a Jefferson, a Marshall, a Taney,
jurists and statesmen, who were the recognized expounders of the
Constitution? Would you not prefer their opinion to that of political
demagogues, who have neither learning, nor authority, nor history to
support them, but some selfish end to further? Now, the same motive which
you have for rejecting the opinion of an ignorant politician and embracing
that of eminent jurists, on a constitutional question, impels you to cast
aside the novelties of religious innovators and to follow the unanimous
sentiments of the Fathers in reference to the subject of purgatory.

Third--I would wish to place before you extended extracts from the writings
of the early Fathers of the Church bearing upon this subject; but I must
content myself with quoting a few of the most prominent lights of
primitive Christianity.

Tertullian, who lived in the second century, says that "the faithful wife
will pray for the soul of her deceased husband, particularly on the
anniversary day of his falling asleep (death). And if she fail to do so
she hath repudiated her husband as far as in her lies."(285)

Eusebius, the historian (fourth century), describing the funeral of
Constantine the Great, says that the body of the blessed prince was placed
on a lofty bier, and the ministers of God and the multitude of the people,
with tears and much lamentation, offered up prayers and sacrifice for the
repose of his soul. He adds that this was done in accordance with the
desires of that religious monarch, who had erected in Constan