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 PURCHAS PURPLE in a public discussion with the freethinker Vickers. Previously, in 1837, he had a seven days' discussion with the Rev. Alexander Campbell, which excited great interest, and an account of which was afterward printed in a volume. Archbishop Purcell has published a volume of "Lectures and Pastoral Letters," and edited Kenelm Digby's " Ages of Faith " and Donald Macleod's " History of the Devo- tion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in North America " (New York, 1866). PURCHAS, Samuel, an English author, born at Thaxted, Essex, in 1577, died about 1628. He was educated at St. John's college, Cambridge, and in 1604 became vicar of Eastwood in Es- sex. Removing to London, he received the rectory of St. Martin's, Ludgate, and became chaplain to Archbishop Abbot. He compiled from more than 1,300 authorities a work en- titled " Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World, and the Religions observed in all Ages, and Places discovered, from the Crea- tion unto this present" (fol., 1613); and a col- lection of voyages under the title, " Purchas his Pilgrimmes " (4 vols. fol., 1625). The third and fourth volumes relate to America. He also wrote " Microcosmus, or the History of Man" (1619), and "The King's Tower, and Triumphant Arch of London" (1623). PURGATORY (Lat. purgatorium, a place for cleansing), in the belief of the Roman Catholic and the eastern churches, a state of temporary suffering in the next world, where the souls of the just expiate the offences committed in this life. The liturgies of the Latin church and of all the eastern churches, without exception, contain prayers for the repose of departed souls. According to Catholic theologians, every sin, no matter how slight, deserves and will receive punishment either before or after death. The absolution of a priest in the sac- rament of penance washes away the guilt of sin and remits the eternal punishment due for grave offences, but not the temporal penalty which has to be undergone as a satisfaction to God's justice. Baptism alone removes both the guilt and the penalty ; and as few or no adult persons depart this life without having committed sins after baptism, there must be some middle state for such as do not deserve hell and are yet not pure enough to enter heaven. The Catholic church has not defined the nature and duration of the punishment of purgatory, or declared that it is situated in any particular place. She believes that the suffer- ings of souls in the middle state may be abridged' by indulgences, masses, and the prayers of their friends on earth ; and one day in the year (All Souls' day, Nov. 2) is specially devoted to ser- vices and prayers for their benefit. Roman Catholic theologians commonly teach that the purification of departed souls is effected by fire, while the Greeks regard the soul after death as being purified " through tribulation." This point was left open by the council of Florence in 1439, as was the question concerning the duration of purgatorial suffering. The Wal- denses and other sects in the middle ages pro- tested against the belief in purgatory and the practices it involved. The reformed churches also rejected them. See Bellarmin, De Igne- Purgatorio ; Leo Allatius, De utriusque Eech- sice in Dogmate de Purgatorio perpetua Con- sentione ; Wiseman, "Lectures on the Doc- trines and Practices of the Catholic Church" (2 vols., Baltimore, 1852); and Hodge, "Dog- matic Theology," vol. iii. (New York, 1874). PURGSTALL, Hammer. See HAMMER-PURG- STAI.L. PURITAN, an epithet first applied in 1564 to English nonconformists, which continued to designate them during the reigns of Elizabeth and the first two Stuarts. During the reign of Mary the stricter nonconformist element of the church was driven out of the country, and a number of exiles at Frankfort resolved to use in public worship the Genevan service book, in preference to the book of King Edward VI. They were resisted in this by other exiles and failed, but renewed the struggle on their return to England after the accession of Elizabeth. There were different degrees of puritanism, some seeking a moderate reform of the English liturgy and discipline, others wishing to abol- ish episcopacy, and some declaring against any church authority whatever. Representatives from these three classes formed the bulk of the settlers of New England, and the union of them in the English civil wars effected the overthrow of royalty and the establishment of the commonwealth. At the time of the restora- tion the name became one of reproach. Since the relaxation in 1690 of the acts against the nonconformists, it has ceased to designate any particular sect. See Neal, " The History of the Puritans " (revised ed. by Joshua Toulmin, 5 vols. 8vo, Bath, 1798-'7; American ed., with notes by John O. Choules, 2 vols. 8vo, New York, 1844), and Bacon, " The Genesis of the New England Churches " (New York, 1874). PURPLE (Gr. nop^AfM ; Lat. purpura), a color produced by the union of red and blue, and of various shades as one or the other of these predominates. The ancients esteemed it more highly than any other color, sometimes making it a distinctive badge of royalty, and again ap- propriating it to religious uses, as the decora- tions of the temple and of the garments of the priests. In the Old Testament it is frequently referred to in Exodus and other books. But it is supposed by some that the purple of the Israelites was a scarlet, or even that the term was used generally for any color in which red predominated. Tyrian purple, the purple of the Greeks and Romans, was obtained from the murex, a genus of gasteropod mollusks found in the Mediterranean. (See MUREX.) The use of this color passed away with the decline of the Roman empire, and a simple purple color, that is, one not made by using two separate dyes, was not known until a Floren- tine, Orchillini, discovered the dyeing proper-