Popery condemned by scripture and the fathers - End Time Deception

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POPERY COKDEMl^ED EY
true. But, as all her knowledge of it proceeds
from persons who knew^ as little about it as herself,
we have been disposed to judge her testimony
entirely apocryphal.
The R,, in speaking of purgatory, has prudently
classed it among those doctrines which
are known to the Church by oral tradition.
He
has, however, produced no proof, that it was
either taught by the apostles, or believed by
their immediate successors.
Yet there is certainly
no doctrine in the Popish creed, which has
greater need of confirmation. To show him
the necessity of paying a more particular
attention
to this part of his faith, I wdll mention some
of those reasons which have induced Protestants
to reject it as a fiction. But, before producing
these, it may not be amiss to take a short view
of the account given by Popish writers of its
nature and local situation.
Purgatory having been provided for the reception
of sinners, it is naturally understood to
be a place of punishment. As such it is accordingly
defined in the catechism published by order
of the Council of Trent :
" There is a
*'
purgatorial fire, in which the souls of thje
" faithful, being tormented for a certain time,
" are expiated ; that so a passage may be open-
" ed for them into their eternal country, where
" no unclean thing can enter *." It is not,
* Cat. ad Par. p. i. art. 5. sect. 5.
however,