Purgatory, like all other doctrines, is marked by its beautiful harmony with God's other works and His divine perfections. It is a marvel of justice and regular law. Purgatory is the prison of the great King, and "thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing" (Matt. v. 26). Thus no one escapes the consequences of his evil deeds by a fortunately premature death. There is a continuity of cause and effect that is not broken by passing into the other world; the force of a man's misdeeds, so far from being checked by sudden interference, works itself out upon him to the last. So does God in the natural sequence of events render to every man exactly according to his deeds. The deliberate sinner, forgiven before his death, does not go scot free, rejoicing that he has outwitted divine justice, and that his life of self-indulgence has ended no otherwise than the life of the ascetic and the apostle and the martyr. How terrible will be that exact retribution when each will reap what he has sown! Be sure that every sin will one day find you out. "We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that do such things. And thinkest thou this, O man . . . that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?" (Rom. ii. 2, 3).
