Popery condemned by scripture and the fathers - End Time Deception

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CHAP. VIII.
ON PURGATORY, AND PRAYERS FOR THE
DEAD.
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J HE Church of Rome has judiciously perceived,
that, on account of the vast variety of
character and conduct which appears in the
world, it must be difficult to draw a line
of distinction between the righteous and the
wicked. Among men, there may be a number
whose vices counterbalance their virtues, and
show them very ill prepared for happiness
while, at the same time, it might be too hard a
lot to consign them to misery. Influenced,
therefore, by that charity to which heretics can
bear the most ample testimony, she has provided
a receptacle for the scabby part of the flock, ia
which all their diseases may be cured by one
general purgation ; and to this place she has
naturally given the name of Purgatory. Though
the existence of such a place be not once mentioned
in scripture, had the Romish Church
ever been there herself, Protestants might perhaps
have allowed her the privilege of romancing
a little, hke other great travellers, and yet
believed her report concerning it to be radically
N 3
true.