already “in heaven or among the number of the rejected,” the prayers, “though no longer useful to them, can do them no harm;” (9) “if the church prays for all who have died in repentance, and its prayers are very strong before God and beneficial to them, then all will be saved, and no one shall be deprived of bliss? To that we shall say, ‘Let it be so, and oh, if it were so!’” (p. 606.)
259. (c) Remarks about purgatory. Controversy with the Catholics about purgatory, and proofs that they are in the wrong.
260. The moral application of the dogma about the private judgment and retribution naturally is to be afraid of the judgment and have recourse to the relics and images and pay money to the hierarchy that it may pray for the departed.
Section II. On the general judgment. 261. Connection with what precedes; the day of the general judgment; the uncertainty of that day, and signs of its approach, especially the appearance of the antichrist.
“The private judgment, to which every man is subjected after his death, is not the complete and final judgment, and so naturally makes us wait for another, the full and decisive judgment. At the private judgment the soul receives its award without any participation of the body, although the body has shared with it its good and bad works. After the private judgment, the righteous in heaven and the sinners in hell have opened unto them only an anticipation of that happiness or torment, which they have deserved. Finally, after the private judgment a few sinners still have a chance to alleviate their fate and even to free themselves from the bonds of hell, if not through their own deserts, at least through the prayers of the church. But the day, the last day, will certainly come for the whole human race (John vi. 39-40).” (p. 613.)
The day will come when the body will receive accord-
