The Roman Catholic Church makes slaves of her people upon earth—
and after death makes merchandise of their souls.

CATHOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. – John 8:36

The strong public sentiment that is everywhere found against obtaining money under false pretenses should apply to the Roman Catholic priests who extort money from deceived relatives for masses which they pretend will better the conditions of the dead. This is an imposition that should be earnestly condemned. The priest who tells a suffering husband or mother that his dead wife or her daughter is in a place called purgatory, and that his prayers, to be paid for with cash in hand, are necessary for the release of the soul of such a dead person from this man-made purgatory, is surely an imposter, and ought to be counted with those who obtain money under false pretenses. The Church that maintains this species of dishonesty should be held in disrepute by all honest people regardless of their religious differences.
 

There is no system of gambling, no species of fraud, more brazen or barefaced than this priestly game of playing upon the love and tender memories of bereaved people to cheat them out of their ofttimes hard-earned and scanty wages. Yet these nefarious operations are sanctioned by the Romish Church, and are practiced daily in every part of the world where this church exists; and the wounds of sorrowing and heartbroken relatives are made to bleed afresh by the constant demands of the Church for masses to insure rest for their beloved dead.
 

A Catholic has the fear of hell brought before him all his life by the priests, the terrors of which he is taught can only be avoided by good works and the payment of money; and after he dies his relatives are levied upon for years for funds to employ a priest who pretends to pray him out of purgatory. A dead Roman Catholic is never forgotten by the priest while his relatives have a penny that can be extorted from them. If they have no money, or will not pay for masses the soul of the dead may, so far as the priests are concerned, suffer in purgatory, or be cast into hell forthwith.
 

How well the Saviour’s words in Matthew 23:14 describe the Roman Catholic priests, bishops and popes, “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.” A woman in Mexico who had lost her only son, was robbed of $5000, practically all she had, by a priest who was engaged to deliver his soul from purgatory. After the priest had obtained the money, he was asked whether the son was now in heaven, but he only said that he was some better off, and left the heart of the poor mother to her grief.
 

No species of swindling ever invented by villainous man can compare in cold-blooded atrocity and cruelty with this priestly scheme. The Catholic believer is followed by the priests through all his life, and after his death relatives are pursued for money to pay impostors for benefits they pretend to dispense, or withhold.
 

The priest, in order to get more money out of his deceived people, has two masses—high mass and low mass. The high mass costs from ten to one thousand dollars or more, according to the display of flowers, candles and the number of priests taking part, and it is sung in a loud tone of voice. The low mass costs about five dollars. Only six candles are used, and it is said in a low voice.
 

The essence of the low fraud is of course equal to the essence of the high. One is as good as the other, but the laity are made to believe that the high mass is far superior to the low, and in nine cases out of ten the poor as well as the rich will in some way gather together money for a high mass, believing it will help the suffering soul through purgatory more quickly than a low mass. It is high money, high mass, low money, low mass, no money, no mass.
 

Death does not end all with the Roman Catholic Church. A member cannot avoid his church dues by dying. His estate or friends have to pay on and pay forever. Even the tax collector gives up a dead man, but the Romish Church never. It retains its grip on its followers long after their bodies are reduced to ashes. The priestly threat of sending the soul from purgatory into hell will bring the last dollar from the pocket of the sorrowing mother, whose only daughter sleeps in her dark and narrow cell. She scrapes together her scanty means, denies herself every comfort in order to purchase prayers for the supposed repose or promotion of the souls of her dead darling. And these sums stolen from the pockets of thousands of superstitious, religious slaves every day, and almost every hour, throughout these United States are hoarded to enrich the Romish Church, and tell us with no uncertain sound that all true religious liberty shall cease as soon as this Church obtains a numerical majority of the voting population.
 

Purgatory is a downright, naked, bare-faced falsehood; an invention of man inspired by Satan for the destruction of souls. The Word of God states with all authority: We are “Not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold; but with the new birth, states our Lord in the Gospel of St. John, chapter 3, that is, by being born spiritually, from above. Purgatory is one of the most gigantic and stupendous frauds and delusions of the ages.
 

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. – John 14:6

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