For years, Milton also wanted to produce a wide-ranging discussion of Christian life and doctrine. Despite having become totally blind by 1652, he labored on this project with the help of secretaries until his death in 1674. Milton entitled this final work A Treatise on Christian Doctrine Compiled From the Holy Scriptures Alone. In its preface, he wrote: “Most authors who have dealt with this subject . . . have relegated to the margin, with brief reference to chapter and verse, the scriptural texts upon which all that they teach is utterly dependent. I, on the other hand, have striven to cram my pages even to overflowing, with quotations drawn from all parts of the Bible.” True to Milton’s word, On Christian Doctrine alludes to or quotes the Scriptures over 9,000 times.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  September 15, 2007 p. 12

 

On Christian Doctrine 1825 edition

As to purgatory, the book Orpheus—A General History of Religions states: “St. Augustine had held that there was an intermediate state of probation between future felicity and damnation, that of the purification of souls by fire. This is the Orphic [pagan Greek] and Virgilian [pagan Roman] doctrine of Purgatory: there is not a word about it in the Gospels. . . . The doctrine of Purgatory . . . was formulated in the sixth century, and proclaimed a dogma of the Church by the Council of Florence (1439).”

 

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  October 1, 1989 p. 6

 

Orpheus—A General History of Religions