CHAPTER VII.

PAGAN ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF ENDLESS HELL.

ARTICLE I.

_Metempsychosis, or Transmigration of the Souls._

THE rulers of nations, and the authors of the initiations, had a

profound knowledge of the human nature, and of the genius of the people.

From the fact that an ox, unaware of his strength, yields to the leading

hand of a child, so they knew that would they let the masses ignore

their power, they could easily control them, mould their opinions,

habits, and morals. Also aware of the terror that death impressed upon

their minds, and knowing that it is an infirmity of man's nature, when

uncultivated by philosophy, to fear more a distant and indefinite, but

unavoidable misery beyond the grave, than the most excruciating tortures

on earth, they found in those prejudices of the people a sure means to

lead and rule them. Therefore they endeavored to make them believe that

those who would transgress the laws, or would commit some other crimes,

should be punished by the gods immortal in the future life.

They had to invent the nature of that punishment, and as there were many

degrees of wickedness, they had to admit, also, various degrees in the

punishment. To more easily and more surely make the people believe their

invention, they thought it was wise to make the punishment, and its

degrees, coincide with the then universally established religion, which

was but one, though there were many systems of theology. That religion

was the one we have examined in the first chapter of this work, and

which consisted in the belief that nature was an uncreated but animated

being, whose vast body comprised the earth, the sun, the planets, and

the stars, to which one great soul impressed motion and life; and that

those principal parts, or members, of the body of the universe were

animated by emanations or irradiations of the great soul of the

universe, or nature.

This pantheistic doctrine was materialist; for it supposed that the

great soul of the universe was the purest substance of the fire ether,

and thereby man's soul was of the same nature. It was the belief even of

the famous philosopher Pythagoras, and of his disciples. All animals,

according to Servius, the commentator of Virgil, draw their flesh from

the earth, their humors from water, their breath from the air, and their

soul from the breath of the Deity. Thus the bees have a small portion of

the Deity. Our soul is like a drop of water which is not annihilated,

whether it evaporates in the air, or condenses and falls again in rain,

or rolls into the sea to add its littleness to the massy waters. When we

die our life melts, reenters into the great soul of the universe, and

the remains of our body mix again with the elements of the air.

Virgil believed that our death is not annihilation, but that it is a

separation of two sorts of matters, the one thereof remains here below,

and the other reunites to the sacred fire of the stars, as soon as the

matter of which our soul is composed has reacquired all the purity of

the subtle matter, from which it had emanated, _auræ simplicis ignem_.

Nothing, Servius says, is lost in the great whole, and in the pure fire

which constitutes the substance of the soul. Virgil says of the souls:

_igneus est ollis vigor, et coelestis origo_; that they are formed of

the active fire that shines in the heaven, and that they return thither

when they are separated from the body by death.

The same doctrine we find in the dream of Scipio: "It is from there," he

says, speaking of the regions of the fixed stars, "that the souls

descended, thereto they shall return; they were emanated from those

eternal fires we name stars. What ye call death is but a return to true

life; the body is but a prison, in which the soul is momentarily

chained. Death breaks her ties, and restores her to liberty, and to her

true state of existence."

From this pantheistic doctrine, it followed that man's soul is immortal

though material.

Upon this sort of immortality of our soul, the rulers built a system of

punishment, called Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the souls. This

system was so much the better adapted to the then received religion,

that all the souls being simply different emanations from the same fire

ether, the consequence was that all the souls were homogeneous, and

differed only in appearance, and by the nature of the bodies to which

the fire-principle, which composed their substance, united. Virgil said

that the souls of all animals are an emanation of the fire ether, and

that the difference of their operations on earth is to be ascribed only

to the difference of vases, or organized bodies, which receive this

substance; or, according to the words of Servius, the lesser or greater

perfection of their operations is in ratio of the nature of the bodies.

The Indians, among whom, even in our days, the system of Metempsychosis

prevails, think that man's soul is absolutely of the same nature as that

of other animals. They say that man is superior to them, not in his soul

but in his body, whose organization is more perfect and more apt to

receive the action of the great Being, viz., of the universe, than

theirs are. They ground their opinion on the example of children and of

old men, whose organs being too weak yet, or having been weakened, do

not permit their senses to have the same activity which is displayed in

a mature age.

The soul, in the exercise of her operations, being necessarily in

submission to the body which she animates; and all souls flowing from

the immense reservoir called universal soul, it follows that the portion

of the fire ether which animates a man, might as well animate an ox, a

lion, an eagle, a whale, or any other beast. Fate caused that she would

animate a man, and such a man; but when the soul will be disengaged from

this first body, and will return to her source, she will be able to pass

into the body of another animal; and her activity will be lesser or

greater, in ratio of the organization of the new body into which she

will pass.

All the great work of nature being reduced to successive organizations

and destructions, in which the same matter is ten thousand times used

under ten thousand forms, the subtle matter of the soul, carried in that

current, brings life to all the moulds which open to receive her. Thus

the same water flown from a same reservoir, enters the various pipes

which are opened, rolls on and empties either as a fountain, or as a

cascade, according to the forms of the orifices of the pipes; then it

congregates, evaporates, and forms clouds which brings it back down to

the earth, to experience again an infinity of modifications. It is the

same of the fluid of the soul spread in the various canals of the animal

organization, flowing from the bright mass of which the ethereal

substance is composed; thence being carried to the earth by the

generating force distributed among the animals, continually ascending

and descending in the universe, and circulating within new bodies

diversely organized.

Such was the basis of Metempsychosis, which became one of the most

powerful political engines in the hands of the ancient rulers,

legislators and mystagogues. Pythagoras brought this doctrine from the

Orient to Greece, and to Italy. This philosopher, and Empedocles after

him, taught that the souls of the criminals, when death separated them

from the bodies they animated, passed into the bodies of beasts in order

to suffer, under those divers forms the punishment of their wickedness,

until they might recover, by expiation, their native purity. So this

transmigration of the souls was a punishment of the gods. The Stoicians

held this doctrine; and the emperor Marcus-Aurelius, in the ninth book

of his Works, said: "The spiritus, or breath, which animates us, passes

from one body into another."

To give the reader a general idea of what was the belief of the

ancients, and of their philosophers, in regard to Metempsychosis, we

take from the tenth and last book of the Republic of Plato the following

lengthy but instructive extract:--

"It is not the narration of Alcinoüs (namely, a false story, such as the

one of Ulysse to the Pheacians,) that I will tell you; but that of a

noble man, of Her, the Armenian, a native of Pamphily. He had been

killed in a battle; but when, ten days after, the dead bodies were taken

away for inhumation, his, instead of being in putrefaction like the

others, was found natural and entire. It was carried to his house, and,

on the twelfth day, when laid on the wood-pile, he came again to life;

and he related to the assistants what he had seen in the other world.

"'As soon,' he says, 'as my soul left my body, I arrived, in company

with a great number of souls, at a mysterious place, where were seen two

openings near each other, and two others corresponding in the sky.

Between these two regions were judges sitting: when they had pronounced

their sentence they ordered the righteous to take the right hand side

route through one of the openings of the sky, after having previously

placed on their breast a mark containing the judgment rendered in their

favor; also they ordered the wicked to take the left hand side route

through one of the openings of the earth, carrying on their back a mark

containing all their evil actions. When I was presented to the judges,

they decided that I should return to the earth to inform men of what was

done in the other world; and they bade me listen and observe all I was

to witness.

"'First I saw the souls of those who had been judged, the ones ascending

to the heavens, and the others descending below the earth through the

two corresponding openings. Withal I saw, through the other opening of

the earth, many souls coming out, covered with filthiness and dust; and

also, through the other opening in the sky, I saw souls pure and

spotless descending: they seemed to return from a long voyage, and to

stop with pleasure in the meadow, as if in a place of reunion. Those who

knew each other mutually inquired what they had seen in the heaven, and

in the earth. The ones related their adventures with groans and tears,

caused by the recollection of the sufferings they had endured, or seen

others endure, during their voyage below the earth, whose duration was

of a thousand years. The others, who returned from the heaven, related

the rapturous pleasures they had enjoyed, and the marvellous things they

had seen.'

"It would be too long, my dear Glaucon, to relate the whole discourse of

Her on this subject. It might be summed up in saying that the souls were

punished ten times for each injustice they had committed while on earth;

that the duration of each punishment was of one hundred years, natural

length of man's life, in order that the punishment be ever tenfold for

each crime. Thus those who had contaminated themselves with murder; who

had betrayed States and armies, and reduced them to servitude; or who

had committed similar crimes, were punished tenfold for each one of

those crimes. Whereas those who had done good to their fellow men, who

had been holy and virtuous, received in the same proportion the reward

of their good deeds. In regard to children who die immediately, or a

short time after they are born, Her gave details which it is useless to

relate. According to his narration there were great recompenses for

those who had honored the gods, and had respected their parents; and

also there were extraordinary tortures for the parricides, and for

impious men.

"'I was present,' said he, 'when a soul asked another where was the

great Ardiee. This Ardiee had tyrannized over a city of Pamphily a

thousand years before; he had killed his father, who was an old man, and

he was guilty, it was said, of many other atrocious crimes. He does not

come, the soul answered, and he will never come here. We all have

witnessed, in relation to him, the most dreadful spectacle. When we were

about leaving the subterraneous abyss after our pains ended, we saw

Ardiee, and a great number of others, the most of whom had been tyrants

like himself; there were also others, who, though in a private

condition, had been great criminals.

"'When those souls were about going out, the opening was closed; and

whenever one of those wretched souls, whose crimes were irremissible,

tried to get out of the abyss, she howled. Thereupon hideous and

firelike beings came. They violently wrested away several of those

criminals; then they seized Ardiee and others, tied their feet, their

hands and their heads; and after throwing them on the ground and

torturing them with lashes, they dragged them through bleeding thorns,

telling the shadows which they met on their route the reason why they

treated so those souls, and adding that they were going to throw them

into the Tartarus. Those souls added, that of the various fears they

had on the route none was so horrible as that of hearing that howl; and

that it had been an inexpressible pleasure for them not to have heard it

when they were released from the abyss.

"'Behold what took place in regard to the judgments, tortures, and

rewards. After each one of those souls had spent seven days in the

meadow they left on the eighth, and arrived, after a march of four days,

at a designated spot, wherefrom was seen a light crossing the heaven and

the earth, as straight as a column, and similar to the rainbow, but

brighter and purer. They reached this light in one day's march. There

they saw that the extremities of the heaven meet at the middle of this

light, which united them fast, and which embraced all the circumference

of the heaven, in nearly the same manner as the beams which girdle the

sides of galleys, and which bear their frame. At the extremities the

spindle of Necessity hung, and determined the revolutions of the

celestial spheres.'"

Here Her describes the spindle. This description we omit, for it does

not relate to our subject.

Her continues:--

"'Near the spindle, and at equal distances, sat on thrones the three

Parques, daughters of Necessity, Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos, dressed

in white, and their heads crowned with a bandelet. They united their

chant to that of the Sirenes; Lachesis sung the past, Clotho the

present, and Atropos the future. Clotho, now and then, touched the

spindle with her right hand, and made it revolve externally. Atropos,

with her left hand, impressed motion to each one of the interior whirls,

and Lachesis, with both hands, touched now the spindle, and then the

interior whirls. When the souls arrived they appeared before Lachesis.

First a Hierophant assigned a rank to each one; then taking from the lap

of Lachesis the fates and the various conditions of human life, he

mounted on a high stand, and spake thus:--

"'This is what the virgin Lachesis, daughter of Necessity, says:

Voyaging souls you are to commence another career, and return into a

mortal body. The genius will not choose for you: each one of you shall

choose hers. The first one that fate will designate shall choose first,

and her choice shall be irrevocable. Virtue has no master; she clings to

him who honors her, and flies from him who despises her. The error of

the choice shall fall on you. God is innocent.

"'Thereupon the Hierophant casting the fates, each soul picked up the

one that fell before her, except myself who had been forbidden it. Each

one knew then in which rank she had to choose. Then the same Hierophant

placed before them callings of all kinds, whose number was greater than

that of the souls who were to choose; for all the conditions of men and

beasts were assembled therein. There were tyrannies, the ones were to

last till death; and the others were to be suddenly interrupted, and

were to end by exile, poverty and indigence. Also there were seen

conditions of illustrious men, the ones for beauty, for strength, for

fame in the combats; and the others by their nobleness, and the great

qualities of their ancestors; there were seen also obscure conditions.

There were destinies of women of the same variety. But there was no

regulation for the rank of the souls, because each one was necessarily

to change of nature according to her choice. Besides, wealth, poverty,

and diseases, were found in all conditions: here without any mixture,

there in a just proportion of advantages and disadvantages.'

"But this is evidently, my dear Glaucon, the redoubtable trial for

mankind.... The Hierophant added: he who chooses the last, provided he

be judicious, and then be consistent in his conduct, may hope to be

blessed in life. Therefore let him who is to have the first choice, be

not presumptuous; and let him who has the last choice, despair not. When

the Hierophant had thus spoken, he to whom the first fate had been

devolved, hastily advanced, and took, without any deliberation, the

greatest tyranny; but when he had considered it, and seen that his

destiny was to eat his own children, and to commit other enormous

crimes, he lamented; and, forgetting the recommendation of the

Hierophant, charged upon the fortune and the gods, with the wretchedness

of his fate. This soul was one of those who came from heaven; she had

previously lived in a well governed state, and had been virtuous more

from temper and habit, than from philosophy.

"On the contrary, the souls who had sojourned in the subterranean

region, and who had both the experience of their own sufferings, and the

knowledge of the misfortunes of others, were cautious in their choice.

This experience on one side, and that inexperience on the other,

together with the fate which decided the rank for the choice, were the

cause that the most of the souls exchanged a good condition for a bad

one, and a bad one for a good one. He also said, that it was a strange

spectacle to see in what manner each soul made her choice, nothing was

more extraordinary, nor more pitiful; the most of them were guided in

their choice by the habits they had contracted in their previous life.

He had seen the soul of Orpheus choosing the condition of a swan, from

hatred to women who had killed him, and from whom he did not wish to

receive birth. He saw the soul of Thamyris choosing the condition of

nightingale; likewise he saw a swan and several other birds choosing the

human condition.

"Another soul had chosen the condition of a lion; it was that of Ajax,

son of Telamon, who, remembering the offense she had received in the

judgments rendered about the arms of Achilles, refused to take again a

human body. Then came the soul of Agamemnon, who, from antipathy against

mankind on account of her past sufferings, chose the condition of an

eagle. The soul of Atalante, desirous of the athletic honors, chose to

be a champion. The soul of Epee, son of Panope, preferred the condition

of a woman skillful in handiworks. The soul of the buffoon Thersite came

one of the last, and entered the body of a monkey. There were, Her

added, souls of animals which exchanged their condition against ours,

and human souls which passed into bodies of beasts. The souls

indistinctly passed from the bodies of animals into human bodies, and

from human bodies into bodies of animals; those of the righteous into

species of a higher order.

"When all the souls had chosen their new condition of existence,

according to the rank determined by fate, they came to Lachesis in the

same order. She gave to each one the genius of her choice, and this

genius was to be her guardian during her mortal life, and was to aid her

in the accomplishment of her destiny. This genius first led her to

Clotho, who, with her hand, and with a revolution of the spindle

confirmed the chosen destiny. When the soul had touched the spindle, the

genius took her to Atropos, who rolled the thread in her fingers, to

render irrevocable what had been already spun by Clotho. After that, the

soul proceeded to the throne of Necessity, under which the soul and her

genius, or demon, passed together. When all had passed, they went to the

plain of the Lethe river, where they were oppressed by an intense heat;

for there was in this plain, neither tree nor shrub. The evening came

and they spent the night near the river Ameles, whose water can be

contained in no vessel. Every soul was obliged to drink some of its

water. They fell asleep; but at about midnight the thunder roared, and

all the souls suddenly waking up were dispersed, like shooting stars,

towards the various places where they were to commence their new life.

"As to Her, he had been forbidden to drink of the water of the Lethe

river; nevertheless, he knew not in what manner his soul had returned

into his body, but having opened his eyes in the morning, he had seen

that he was laying on a wood-pile.

"This tradition, my dear Glaucon, has been handed down to us; and if we

believe it, it is very apt to save us; we will safely cross the Lethe

river, and we will preserve our soul free from stain."

The reader has undoubtedly remarked the last sentence of this extract,

which proves the antiquity of the doctrine of the transmigration of the

souls. Burnet wrote, that it was so ancient and so universally spread in

Egypt, Persia, India, and other countries of the Orient, that it seemed

it had descended from heaven, and been believed by the first inhabitants

of the earth. Herodote found it established in Egypt in the remotest

ages. It was the basis of the theology of the Indians, and the subject

of the celebrated Metamorphosis and incarnations of their legends.

Metempsychosis has been immemorially believed in Japan, where the

people, even in our days, according to Koempsfer, abstain from meat, and

live exclusively upon fruits and vegetables. In Siam, where the

Talapoins or monks hold it as a sacred dogma; in China by the Tao-See;

also among the Kalbouls and the Mongols, and among the Thibetans, who

admit that the souls pass even into the plants, into the trees, and even

into the roots. However, the Thibetans believe that it is only by

uniting to human bodies, that the souls can, after successive changes,

be restored to their former purity.

The aim of the doctrine of Metempsychosis was to accustom man to detach

himself from the gross matter, to which he is tied here below, and to

excite in him the desire of promptly returning there, wherefrom he had

formerly descended. The rulers of the people frightened them with the

pictures of humiliating transformations of their souls, as the Catholic

priests and the Partialist preachers do among us, with their teaching of

an endless hell. The people, amazed and terrified, for the masses were

ignorant, believed all those politico-religious fables. They firmly

believed that the souls of the wicked passed into vile bodies; that they

were punished with cruel and loathesome diseases; that those who did not

reform after a certain number of transmigrations were delivered up to

the Furies and to the evil spirits (or devils) to be tortured; and that,

after that, they were sent again to the earth, as in a new school, and

were obliged to run a new race. Thus we see that the whole system of

Metempsychosis rested on the false supposition, that it was necessary,

in order to govern the people here below, to frighten them with absurd

and visionary tales of atrocious tortures beyond the grave, which were

the more terrifying for the very reason of their absurdity and

atrociousness.

Timee of Locre, one of the disciples of Socrates, wrote, that among the

various means of governing those who are not able to reach the truth of

the principles, on which nature has established justice and morals,

Metempsychosis is an efficacious one. He said: "Let them be taught those

dogmas which inform us that the souls of effeminate and pusillanimous

men transmigrate into female bodies; those of murderers into bodies of

wild beasts; those of licentious men into bodies of wild boars and hogs;

those of fickle and inconstant men into bodies of birds; those of idle,

ignorant and silly men into bodies of fishes. The just Nemesis regulates

those pains in the future life conjointly with the gods of the earth,

avengers of the crimes they have witnessed. The supreme God has

entrusted them with the government of this inferior world. Let them be

frightened, even, by the religious terrors conveyed to the soul by those

discourses which describe the vengeance of the celestial gods, and the

unavoidable torments reserved to the criminals in the Tartarus; and also

by the other fictions which Homer has found in the ancient sacred

opinions. Sometimes the body is cured by poisonous substances; so the

souls can be ruled by fables when they cannot be governed by truth."

This philosopher plainly gives us his secret, which has been, and still

is, the secret of all legislators and priests. True, the belief of these

fables has restrained many from vice and crime; nevertheless we firmly

believe that men ought to be led to justice by the bright light of the

truth, and not by the dismal light of error, and of superstition: the

one elevates man, but the other keeps him in an eternal infancy and

ignorance. How sad it is to see, even now-a-days, in free and

enlightened America, priests, and Protestant ministers themselves,

keeping down in intellectual, moral and religious bondage, millions of

Christians, who, from fear of endless curse, kiss the very chains which

heavily they drag through life; who believe that God will endlessly

roast men--his children--in an undying fire! More surely, and more

easily, could those purely minded, but unfortunate Christians, be guided

to love God, if they knew that he is not worse than a tiger; that, on

the contrary, he is truly good and loving; more virtuous they would be

if they were taught that virtue is the source, and the only true source,

of happiness. Truer fraternity would reign in our communities, if

priests and pretended Protestants, who tyrannize over the souls of their

misled victims, and, like the Pharisees of old, lay upon their shoulders

a burden they would not be willing to touch with their own

fingers--yea, they lay upon their mind and heart the leaden weight of

the dogma of endless misery, which they, at least the leaders of the

leaders, reject--truer fraternity would exist, we say, for there would

not be in our communities, a class of Christians, believing that they

are the elect of God for righteousness and eternal bliss, while all the

others shall be endlessly damned. Hence their indifference, or rather

aversion for them; hence a spirit of Pharisaism: hence a spirit of

religious aristocracy, which unfortunately ramifies into a social

aristocracy!

ARTICLE II.

_Tartarus._

When legislators, priests and philosophers had invented the doctrine of

Metempsychosis, the mystagogues and the poets took hold of it, and

endeavored to spread it among the people, in consecrating it, the ones

in their chants, and the others in the celebration of their mysteries.

They clothed it with the charms of poetry, and presented it with magical

illusions. All united to deceive the people, under the specious pretext

of bettering and governing them with a surer hand. The widest field was

opened to fictions; and the genius of the poets, as well as the cunning

of the priests, were inexhaustible in portraying the bliss of the

righteous hereafter, and the horror of the horrible prisons wherein

crime was to be punished.

Each one portrayed them according to his own fancy, and added new scenes

and views to the descriptions of those unknown lands; of that world of

new creation, which the imagination of poets peopled with shadows,

chimeras and phantoms, for the purpose of frightening the people: for

rulers wrongly thought that their minds could not rise up to the

abstract notions of metaphysics and morals. The Elysium and the Tartarus

were more pleasing and more vividly striking to the imagination of the

people: therefore darkness and light were successively presented to the

gaze of those initiated to the mysteries. To the darkest night, and to

frightful spectres, succeeded a bright day, whose light shone around the

statue of the Deity: one could not help feeling a mysterious terror,

when entering that sanctuary, where all was disposed to represent the

Tartarus and the Elysium. It was in this sanctuary that the one

initiated, being finally introduced, saw the picture of charming

meadows, lighted by a pure sky: there he heard harmonious voices, and

the majestic chants of sacred choirs. It was then that, entirely free,

and rid of all evils, he joined the multitude of those initiated; and

that, a crown of flowers on his head, he celebrated the holy orgies.

Thus the ancients represented here below, in their initiations, what

was, they said, to happen hereafter to the souls, when they would be

disengaged from their bodies; and would be liberated from the obscure

prison, wherein fate had chained them by uniting them to terrestrial

matter. In the mysteries of Isis, of which we hold the details from

Apuleo, the candidate passed through the dark region of the empire of

the dead; thence into a vast enclosure, which represented the elements;

and then he was admitted into the bright region, where the brightest sun

succeeded to the darkness of the night, namely, in the three worlds, the

terrestrial, the elementary, and the celestial. He who had been

initiated said: "I have approached the boundaries of death in treading

the thresh hold of Proserpine; therefrom I have returned through the

elements. Then I saw a bright light, and I found myself in the presence

of the gods." This was the autopsy.

What mystagogy exhibited in the sanctuaries, poets, and even

philosophers, in their fictions, publicly taught to the people: hence

the descriptions of the Elysium and of the Tartarus found in Homer,

Virgil and Plato, and all those given us by many systems of theology. We

never had a description of the earth and of its inhabitants, a

description as complete as that transmitted to us, by the ancients,

about those countries of new creation, known under the names of Hell,

Tartarus, and Elysium. Those men, whose geographical knowledge was so

limited, have given us the minutest details of the abode of the souls

beyond the grave; of the government of each one of the two empires,

which form the domain of the shadows; of their habits; of their diet; of

their pains and pleasures; and even of the costume of the inhabitants

of these two regions. The same poetical imagination which had invented

that new world, arbitrarily traced out its plan and distribution.

Socrates, in the Phædo of Plato, a work intended to prove the

immortality of our soul, and the necessity of practicing virtue, speaks

of the place where the souls go after death. He imagines a sort of

ethereal land, superior to the one we inhabit, and situated in a sunnier

region. There is nothing on our earth that can compare to the beauties

of this wonderful abode. There colors are brighter, the vegetation

richer; the trees, flowers and fruits are infinitely superior to those

of our earth. There precious stones are so bright that those of our

earth are but their shadow. This ethereal land is strewed with pearls of

the purest crystal; everywhere gold and silver are dazzling. There

beasts are more beautiful, and more perfectly organized than ours. There

the air is the sea, and ether is the air. There seasons are so

harmoniously combined, that the fortunate inhabitants are not subject to

infirmities and to diseases. There the temples are inhabited by the gods

themselves, who familiarly converse with men. The inmates of this

delightful mansion are the only ones who see the sun, the moon, and the

stars, as they truly are.

To this Socrates adds, that men, who, here below, distinguish themselves

for their piety and exactitude in discharging their social duties, will

be admitted in this abode of happiness when death destroys their mortal

form. There all those whom philosophy has led to wisdom will dwell.

Socrates concludes thus:

Then it is for us a strong inducement to study wisdom, and to practice

virtue, while we are on earth. These expectations are high enough for us

to risk the chances of this opinion, and not to break its charms.

This is a plain avowal of the motive of the fiction: such is the secret

of nearly all legislators, and the deceitfulness of the most renowned

philosophers.

The second part of the land of the dead, called Tartarus, the leaders of

the people also minutely described. According to their description, this

abode of the wicked presents the horrid view of precipices, caverns, and

abysses, more frightful than those we see on earth. Those caverns

communicate to each other in the profundities of the earth, through the

medium of sinuosities vast and dark, and of subterraneous canals, in

which waters flow; the ones cold, and the others warm: also in several

of those canals flow torrents of fire, and in others the filthiest mire.

The vastest of those caverns is in the center; and into it four main

rivers ebb, to spring out again. The first is the Acheron, which forms

beneath the earth a shoreless marsh, wherein the souls assemble. The

second is the Pyriphlegeton, which rolls torrents of burning sulphur.

The third is the Cocyte; and the fourth is the Styx.

In this horrible abode divine justice tortures the criminals. At the

gate of the Tartarus the frightful Tisiphon, whose gown is reeking with

blood, watches day and night. The gate is also defended by a strong

tower, backed by three walls, which are surrounded by the burning waves

of the Phlegeton river, that rolls huge stones on fire. There are

incessantly heard the rattle of chains dragged by wretched victims;

their groans; and the strokes of lashes that tear their flesh. There is

seen an hydra with a hundred heads, whose mouths are ever gaping for new

victims to be devoured. There a vulture is constantly feeding on the

ever re-growing entrails of a criminal. Other victims carry a heavy rock

to the summit of a mountain, where they must set it; but, vain are their

efforts, it rolls down to the bottom of the valley. Other criminals,

tied to a wheel, relentlessly revolving, are not permitted the slightest

rest in their torture. Others, placed near refreshing waters, and near

trees loaded with fruit, are ever devoured with unquenchable thirst and

hunger. If they stoop to drink the water flies from their mouth, and a

stinking mire sticks to their lips. If they lower a limb to cull a

fruit, the limb slips from their hand.

Farther, fifty female victims are forced to fill up with water a cask,

whose bottom is riddled. Indeed, there is no sort of torment that was

not invented by legislators, mystagogues, poets, and philosophers, to

frighten the people, under the false assumption of making them better;

but the truth is that it was rather to keep them down in subjection.

Those terrifying pictures were painted on the walls of the temple of

Delphos. Those fables were repeated to infants by nurses and mothers.

Thus their souls grew weak and pusillanimous, for strong and durable are

the first impressions, and more especially, when the general opinion,

the example of the credulity of others, the authority of philosophers,

of poets, of learned Hierophants, and the sight of pompous rites, and

ceremonies in the overpowering sacredness of sanctuaries; when the

monuments of arts, music, statues, and pictures, in short, when all

tends to insinuate in the soul, through the senses stricken with hope

and terror, a great error presented as a sacred truth revealed by the

gods themselves for man's bliss.

Such was the general teaching and belief of the Pagans in regard to

future punishment, before the coming of Jesus Christ, and the preaching

of his Gospel.

As to the Jewish nation, not the slightest vestiges of any kind of

belief regarding future punishment, can be traced out, neither in the

Old Testament, nor in Josephus, nor in the writings of other historians,

at least before the captivity of Babylon, which took place in the year

598 before the Christian era. Afterwards the Jews divided into four

sects, the Essenes, the Sadducees, the Samaritans, who denied the

existence of any future punishment, and the Pharisees, who, according to

the testimony of Josephus, adopted the belief of Metempsychosis, or

transmigration of the souls.

ARTICLE III.

_Did the Christians of the First Centuries believe in Endless Hell?_

We emphatically answer, no. If the Christian Fathers of the first

centuries, have neither taught the dogma of endless hell, nor mentioned,

in their writings, that their fellow-Christians knew or believed it, and

if the same is proved by the testimony of the then existing Christian

sects or denominations, it is evident that the first Christians did not

believe in endless hell. But the Christian Fathers of the first

centuries have neither taught the dogma of endless hell, nor mentioned,

in their writings, that their fellow-Christians knew or believed it; and

the same is proved by the testimony of the then existing Christian

sects. These two members of the proposition we are to successively

prove: 1st _member_: In the first century the four Gospels, and other

books of the New Testament were written by the apostles, but history

does not inform us of any other Christian writing, or author, in that

age, except perhaps Clement, bishop of Rome, who, it is said, has left a

letter to the Corinthians: critics call it Apocryphal. We have not read

it. Therefore in order to know whether the first Christians believed in

endless hell or not, we must recur to the works of the Christian Fathers

who lived and wrote in the following centuries, and particularly to

those who lived and wrote during the second.

St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom at Rome, in the

year 107, was the first apostolic Father of the second century. There

are in the collection of the works of the holy Fathers, six letters

ascribed to him by some authors; some others, Saumaise, Blondel, Daillé,

etc., say that they are apocryphal. Mosheim, in his Histor. Christ.,

says, that it is doubtful whether they are of Ignatius or not. We have

read those six letters, of which five are addressed to different

Churches, and one to Polycarpus. Although they treat of the most

important points of the Christian faith and duties, they are silent upon

the question of endless hell. In the year 131, St. Quadratus presented

to the emperor Adrian an apology of the Christian religion, which

contained the principal Christian doctrines. Adrian was so pleased with

this apology, that, if we must believe what Lampride says in his Life of

Alexander Severus, he designed to rear a temple to Jesus Christ, and to

place him among the gods of the empire. A fragment of this apology can

be found in the works of Eusebe; but not a word is said about the dogma

of endless hell.

St. Justin, a Platonician philosopher, was born at Naplouse, Palestine,

in 103. He was converted to Christianity in 133. He wrote the following

works: Exhortation to Gentiles; two Apologies of the Christian religion,

the one to the emperor Antonine, and the other to the emperor

Marcus-Aurelius; a Dialogue with the Jew Triphon; a treatise on

Monarchy, or Unity of God; and an Epistle to Diognet, in which he states

the reasons why Christians left the worship of the gods, and did not

adopt that of the Jews. He composed other works, but they exist no more.

The main editions of his works are those of Robert Etienne in 1551 and

1771, in Greek and Latin; that of Commelin in 1593, in Greek and Latin;

that of Morel in 1656, and that of Don Marand in 1742, in folio. All

these editions, and afterwards that of Migne, we have compared in the

voluminous library of the theological seminary of Brou, France, where we

have been ordained a priest. Although there were alterations of the

text, we did not find any passage referring to the dogma of endless

hell. True, addressing the Romans, he says: "Come, O Romans, to find

instruction! Formerly I was like you, now be what I am. The power of the

Christian religion has enlightened me, and freed me from servitude to my

senses and passions: it has afforded me peace and serenity. The soul

thus free is sure to reunite to her Creator, because it is right that

she return to him from whom she emanated." But this passage neither

explicitly nor implicitly supposes that he believed, or that the first

Christians believed, in endless hell; it is simply a Platonician and

Christian doctrine, in regard to the purity of our soul which is worthy

of God only when unstained. However Bailly, a Catholic theologian, says

that on page 74 of the first Apology there is a passage proving his

belief in endless hell. We did not find it.

Meliton, bishop of Sardes, Lybia, under the reign of Marcus-Aurelius,

presented to this emperor an Apology of the Christian religion, in 171.

Eusebe and several other authors praise it. Only a few fragments of it

are found in the Bibliotheca Patrum; in none of them is a question of

the dogma of endless hell.

Athenagoras, a Platonician philosopher, was converted to the Christian

religion, and presented, in 177, an Apology of the Christian doctrines

to the emperors Marcus-Aurelius and Lucius-Aurelius-Commode. He

justified the Christians, who were charged by the Pagans with atheism:

with sacrificing and eating a child in their assemblies; and with

indulging to impudicity. In this Apology he ascribed to God but a

general providence; and he expressed the Platonician opinion, that

angels, or spirits, had the government of this world. He admitted that

there were pains and rewards in the future life. Let us not infer from

this that he referred to the dogma of endless hell. No; he merely meant,

by those pains and rewards, the Platonician doctrine about

Metempsychosis.

Ireneus was born in Greece, in 140. He became bishop of Lyons, Gaul. He

wrote several theological works in the Greek language. He believed in a

general judgment, and in the millenium, namely, in a temporal kingdom of

Jesus Christ on earth, which was to last one thousand years immediately

before the general judgment. During this reign of Jesus Christ, the

Christians were to enjoy a happiness which was to be a foretaste of the

happiness they should enjoy after the general judgment. Not only this

Father did not teach the dogma of endless hell, but according to the

ultramontane Bergier, he has been charged by the pretended Orthodox

divines with having expressed himself in an heterodox manner upon the

divinity of the Word; upon the spirituality of the angels and of the

human soul; upon free agency and the necessity of grace; and upon the

state of the souls after death. He seemed to be inclined to believe

Metempsychosis--this, however, is our private opinion, resting on his

general views on the state of the souls after death. The Catholics

invoke but one passage of his writings against this opinion. Grabe, a

Protestant, published at Oxford, in 1702, an edition of his works; it is

quite different from the Catholic editions.

Theophile was promoted to the episcopal see of Antioch, in 168. We have

from his pen but three Books to Autolic; they have been edited by Don

Prudent Marand. He is the first Father who used the word Trinity. His

works are a refutation of Paganism, and an apology of Christianism. We

could not find in them the dogma of endless hell; he only vaguely

speaks of rewards and pains hereafter.

We have seen that the above Fathers, who compose the complete list of

the Fathers of the second century, neither taught the dogma of endless

hell, nor have recorded that the first Christians held such a dogma.

Therefore we may draw the conclusion that the first Christians did not

believe the doctrine of endless hell.

We pass to the Fathers of the third century. Titus Flavius Clement, of

Alexandria, a Platonician philosopher, became a Christian, and succeeded

to Pantenus, a professor of the school of Alexandria, in 190; and he

died in 217. Alexander of Jerusalem and the celebrated Origen were his

disciples. He wrote many works, the principal thereof are: Exhortations

to Pagans; his Pedagogue; his Hypotyposes; and his Stromatas, which are

divided into eight books. It is said that the best edition of his works

is that of Potter, published at Oxford, in 1715, in two vols. folio. I

read only the Paris edition, published in 1696. In his Exhortations to

Pagans, he pointed out the absurdity of idolatry, and of the fables of

Paganism. In his Stromatas he compared the doctrines of the philosophers

with those of Jesus Christ. In the treatise headed, Which rich man will

be saved? he shows that he who will use his riches properly will obtain

salvation: he does not say salvation from endless hell. His Pedagogue is

a treatise of morals in which he relates how the first Christians

righteously lived and fervently served the Lord. In all these works it

is not a question of the dogma of endless hell, either taught to the

Christians or believed by them.

According to Le Clerc, Beausobre, d'Argens, Barbeyrac, Scultet, Daillé,

Mosheim, Brucker, Semler, etc., this Father did not believe the

spirituality of God and of man's soul.... It is a fact that, in his

Stromatas, he says that God is composed of a body and of a soul, and

that so is our soul. He believed in the Pagan fable that the angels had

sexual intercourse with human females, and had begotten giants; he

refers probably to the Giants who had fought against the Titans. All the

Catholic theologians themselves admit the above, and say, that, though a

Christian, he was too much of a Platonician philosopher. This is the

reason why the Pope, Benedict XIV., opposed his worship, as a saint, in

the Romish Church. These statements show how far this Father was from

holding the dogma of endless hell.

Tertullian was one of the Fathers who wrote at the end of the second

century; however, as he died in 216, we class him among the Fathers of

the beginning of the third century. His works are on Prayer, on Baptism;

also he wrote Exhortation to Patience; two Books to his Wife; Testimony

of the Soul; treatises on Spectacles and Idolatry; treatise on

Prescription; two books against the Gentiles; one against the Jews; one

against Hermogenes; one against the Valentinians; one against the

Gnostics; one on the Crown; one to Scapula; books against Praxeas; books

on Pudicity, on Persecutions, on Fast, against the Physics, on Monogamy.

These works we had not the advantage to read; but we have studied the

following in our theological school: his treatise on Penance; his five

books against Marcion; his treatise on the Flesh of Jesus Christ; his

book on the Resurrection of the Flesh; and his Apology of the Christian

Religion.

In these works which, let this be cursorily said, were written in Latin,

for Tertullian was the first Father who wrote in this language, we read

several times the word _infernus_, synonimous to _Tartarus_, and the

words _ignem eternum_, used in speaking of pains, which will be

inflicted upon the wicked after the general judgment; but nothing

positive in regard to the duration of the punishment, for he might have

used the adjective _æternum_ hyperbolically; nor anything in regard to

the belief of the first Christians in regard to it, nor even of his

contemporaneous Christians. If the dogma of endless hell had been

generally believed by the Christians, he would have certainly mentioned

it in his Apology of the Christian Religion; for one of the main charges

of the Pagans against them was that they were Atheists; and thereby

denied the Elysium and the Tartarus. However, in no one of the fifty

arguments which compose the Apology does he say a word about endless

hell, even about any punishment beyond the grave. He only, in the

forty-eighth argument, says, that there will be a resurrection of the

flesh.

Sextus Julius Africanus, a Christian historian, who wrote in the

beginning of the third century, is altogether silent about the dogma of

endless hell, at least in the fragments of his works which have been

preserved by Eusebe.

Origen was born at Alexandria, in 185. He has been one of the most

talented and learned among the Fathers. He wrote the following works:

Exhortation to Martyrdom; Commentaries on the Holy Scriptures. He

undertook an edition of the Bible in six columns, and headed it

Hexaples. The first column contained the Hebrew text in hebraic letters;

the second, the same text in Greek letters; the third contained the

version of Aquila; the fourth column, the version of Symmaque; the

fifth, that of the Septuagint; and the sixth, that of Theodotion. He

considered the version of the Septuagint as the most authentical. The

Octaples contained, also, two Greek versions, which had been recently

found, and whose authors were unknown. He wrote more than one thousand

sermons; he wrote his celebrated work about Principles, and a treatise

against Celse.

All the above works have not been transmitted to us entire, though the

most of them are, as can be seen in the Bibliotheca Sanctorum Patrum,

published in Paris, in 1826. This Catholic edition, we positively know,

is not as impartial as it ought to be. So much has been written, for

centuries, against Origen and for his justification, that a mere

summary of those writings would fill volumes. Besides, would we make

this summary we might perhaps be suspected of partiality, because

Origen's doctrines are favorable to the bearing of this work; therefore

we shall extract from the works of Feller, a Romish priest and a Jesuit,

what we have to write about his accusation and justification, and about

the summary of his doctrines.

Feller says, Article Origen: "In the fourth century, the Arians invoked

his authority to prove that Jesus Christ was not God. St. Athanase, St.

Basile, and St. Gregory of Nazianze, defended him. Hilaire, Tite de

Bostres, Didyme, Ambrosius, Eusebe of Verceil, and Gregory of Nysse have

laudably spoken of his works; whereas, Theodor of Mopsueste, Apollinary,

and Cesary, have disparagingly written of them. Origen was condemned in

the fifth general council, held at Constantinople, in 553. The pope

Vigil condemned him anew. St. Epiphane, Anastase the Sinaïte, St. John

Climaque, Leonce of Byzantium, Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, and

Antipater, bishop of Bostres, violently denounced his writings; the pope

Pelage II. said that heretical works were not worse than Origen's

writings. There are, in the acts of the sixth council, an edict of the

emperor Constantine Pogonat, and a letter of the pope Leon II., in which

he is counted with Didyme and Evagrius among the Theomaques, or enemies

of God.

"The pope St. Martin I., anathematized him in the first council of

Latran, in 649. St. Augustine, St. John of Damas, and St. Jerome, wrote

against the Origenists, namely, the sect of Christians who believed the

doctrines of Origen. In the same century, when a dispute arose about the

orthodoxy of Origen, John of Jerusalem, and Rufin made his apology, and

St. John Chrysostomus did the same. St. Pamphyle also took his part.

Theotime of Tomi refused to condemn him, and Didyme tried to give an

orthodox meaning to his doctrine on Trinity; others in condemning the

errors contained in his books pretended that they had been added by the

heretics. Theophile of Alexandria accused the monks of Nitria of

Origenism, and condemned them in a council held at Alexandria; the pope

Anastasius ratified the sentence. In the seventh century, the emperor

Justinian declared himself hostile to the memory of Origen; wrote a

letter to Memnas against his doctrine; issued an edict against him, in

640; and obtained his condemnation in a council held the same year at

Constantinople, whose acts were added to those of the fifth general

council."

We read in the acts of the fifth general council of Constantinople, held

in 553, that Origen was condemned by the council for having taught the

following doctrines: 1st, That in the dogma of Trinity the Father is

greater than the Son, and the Son greater than the Holy Spirit. 2d, That

human souls have been created before the bodies, to which they have

been chained as a punishment for sins, which they had committed in an

anterior state of existence. 3d, That the soul of Jesus Christ had been

united to the Word before his incarnation. 4th, That the planets and

stars are animated, and contain a soul intelligent and endowed with

reason. 5th, That, after the resurrection, all bodies will have a

spheroidal shape. 6th, _That the punishment of the wicked in a future

life will not be endless_; and that Jesus Christ, who has been crucified

to save the world, will be crucified once more to save the devils.

According to this testimony of the Romish Church--which carries

fanaticism farther than any other sect, in regard to the dogma of

endless hell, for it holds as an article of faith even that the

reprobates are tortured in hell, in their bodies and in their souls,

though their bodies are in the grave, and though a material fire cannot

burn an immortal soul--according to the above testimony of the Romish

Church, we say, it is an established, an undeniable fact, that Origen

taught the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the souls;

and also the doctrine that the punishment of the wicked in a future life

would not be endless.

From this testimony we draw the following argument, which we invite the

reader to attentively examine, and to carefully weigh, for this

argument, _alone_, would unanswerably prove that the Christians of the

first, of the second, of the third, and even of the fourth, and of the

fifth centuries, did not generally believe the dogma of endless hell.

Argument: In the beginning of the third century, Origen (he was born in

185) taught the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the

souls, and the doctrine that the punishment of the wicked in a future

life would not be endless; these two doctrines were condemned only in

the sixth century by the fifth general council held at Constantinople,

in 553, and composed of 151 bishops. But if the Christians of the first,

of the second, of the third, and even of the fourth, and of the fifth

centuries, had generally believed the dogma of endless hell, the above

two doctrines would have certainly been condemned before the sixth

century. This minor proposition we prove:

By the orders of the bishop of Rome, Sylvester, and of the emperor

Constantine I., an oecumenical council, composed of 381 bishops, was

held at Nice, in 325, to frame a symbol of faith, and to condemn Arius.

In 381, a second general council, composed of 150 bishops, was held at

Constantinople, to condemn Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the

Holy Spirit; and to alter the symbol of Nice, (striking inconsistency of

the Romish Church which holds as an article of faith that a general

council is infallible in its decisions.)

In 431, the bishop of Rome, Celestine I., assembled a general council at

Ephesus, to obtain the condemnation of Nestorius, who denied that Mary

was, strictly speaking, the mother of God.

In 451, a general council was held at Chalcedony, Asia Minor, for the

condemnation of Eutyches, and of Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, who

held the doctrine that there was in Jesus Christ but one nature.

From the beginning of the second century, the time when Origen taught

the above two doctrines, up to the year 553, several thousand synods and

principal councils were held.

Thereupon we say: The doctrine of Metempsychosis, or transmigration of

the souls; and the doctrine that the punishment of the wicked in a

future life will not be endless, were as important as the most of the

doctrines discussed in those councils; and Origen had a weightier

influence upon the Christian communities by his talents, learning,

virtue, and fame, and by the diffusion of his works, than Arius,

Macedonius, Nestorius, Eutiches, Dioscorus and others put together.

Therefore, if the dogma of endless hell had been generally believed by

the Christians of the first, of the second, of the third, of the fourth,

and of the fifth centuries, the doctrine of Metempsychosis, and the

doctrine that the punishment of the wicked in a future life will not be

endless, held and taught by Origen, would have been called up,

discussed, and condemned in the above councils. But they were called up,

discussed, and condemned, _only_ in the fifth general council, held at

Constantinople, in 553. Therefore, it is an irrefutable fact that the

Christians of the first, of the second, of the third, of the fourth, and

of the fifth centuries, did not generally believe the dogma of endless

hell.

Gregory of Neocesaree, was a disciple of Origen, and was promoted to the

episcopal see of Neocesaree, in 240. He wrote the following works:

Thanks to Origen, Profession of Faith on the Dogma of Trinity, Canonical

Epistle, and Paraphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes. In these works the

spirit of the doctrines of Origen is seen at every page; and the dogma

of endless hell is neither taught, nor declared to have been the belief

of the first Christians, nor of the Christians of the third century. St.

Cyprian, made bishop of Carthage in 248, is silent about the dogma of

endless hell.

We pass to the Fathers of the fourth century.

Pamphile Eusebe obtained the bishopric of Cesarea in 313. He wrote the

Panegyric, and the Life of Constantine; a Chronicle, viz: a compilation

of Pagan authors, and several other works, whose fragments have

remained. His principal work is his Ecclesiastical History, which we

have studied in our theological school. If the dogma of endless hell had

been the belief of the first Christians, and had been generally believed

in his age, he would have certainly mentioned it therein: however, he

has not. Therefore, the first Christians, and those of his age, did not

hold the dogma of endless hell.

Athanase succeeded to Alexander on the episcopal see of Alexandria, in

326. His works are: Defense of Trinity and of Incarnation; apologies;

letters; and treatises against the Arians, the Melecians, the

Apollinarists, and the Macedonians. In these works there is not a word

concerning the dogma of endless hell being believed by the first

Christians, or by his contemporaries. The famous symbol which is headed

symbol of Athanase, which the Romish priests read every Sunday in the

Psalms-Breviary, is not from his composition nor from his pen; every one

of the Catholic theologians and authors confesses it.

Basile, bishop of Cesarea, was born in 329. He has left several letters,

homilies, treatises of morals, and sermons on the six days of the

creation. We have examined the Latin edition of his works, or rather of

the fragments of his works, for they are not entire, by Don Gamier and

Don Prudent; but though in many passages he speaks of salvation, of

eternal bliss, and of the punishment of the wicked hereafter, he does

not positively declare that the punishment will be endless; and he does

not say that the first Christians believed it, nor that it was a dogma

of the Church in his age. Theodor of Mopsueste, who wrote in the fifth

century, is charged by the Catholic writers to have taught that future

punishment will not be endless.

Since that time, down to the sixth century, the question of the eternal

duration of the punishment of the wicked in a place called hell, was

discussed by the ecclesiastical writers, who, nevertheless, did not

assert that it was the belief of the first Christians. Ambrosius

supposed that it would be infinite in duration; so Augustine, his

disciple, wrote in his work, De Civitate Dei, book 21; St. Fulgence; the

pope Gregorius, etc. The opinion of those leading doctors was preached,

and, little by little, it became the belief of a large number of

Christians. They even designated the place where hell was: some thought

it was in the profundities of the earth; Augustine opposed them; then he

recanted himself, and agreed that it was there. Finally, in 553, a

general council was held in Constantinople, and it was decided that the

dogma of endless hell shall be henceforth an article of faith. It was

only many years after that this council was considered oecumenical.

We have proved by the testimony of the Fathers themselves, that the

Christians of the first, of the second, of the third, of the fourth, and

of the fifth centuries, did not believe the dogma of endless hell; we

shall now prove it by the various Christian sects, which existed, and

were organized religious denominations, in those centuries.

Lest we might be suspected of partiality in the exposition of the belief

of those Christian sects in regard to future punishment, we will

_exclusively_ make our extracts from the works of Bergier, Feller, and

other Catholic theologians and historians.

The Cerinthians did not believe the doctrine of endless hell. The

Basilidians believed in Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the souls.

In consequence they did not hold the dogma of endless hell. Eusebe

informs us, in his Ecclesiastical History, that Basilide had written on

the four Gospels twenty-four books; and that his sect was numerous. It

flourished till the fourth century.

The Millenaries, who existed mainly in the second and third centuries,

believed that Jesus Christ would soon come from heaven, to reign one

thousand years over the righteous; that this reign would be temporal;

and that it would be followed by a general judgment: but they did not

hold that future punishment would be endless, for they were silent about

its nature.

The Marcionites believed in a good principle, God, and in a bad one, the

Devil; the latter had created our body. Jesus Christ had but an apparent

flesh. Our body should not come again to life; they believed like

Pythagoras, of whom Marcion was a follower, in the doctrine of

Metempsychosis: such was their belief. They made so many proselytes,

that, even in the fifth century, their sect was numerous in Italy, in

Egypt, in Palestine, in Syria, in Arabia, in Persia, and in other

oriental countries.

The Valentinians held that Jesus Christ was not God; that he had

redeemed the world only from sin, by freeing men of the empire of evil

Eons, or geniuses, who had the government of the universe. They believed

in the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the souls. In

consequence, they neither knew nor believed the dogma of endless hell.

Valentin had an immense number of disciples, and his sect spread in

Asia, and in Africa; in Europe it extended as far as Gaul, where,

according to the testimony of Ireneus, bishop of Lyons, the Valentinians

were very numerous.

The Marcosians formed a numerous religious body towards the end of the

second century. Their sect spread as far as Gaul. They believed the

doctrine of Metempsychosis.

The Theodotians and the Artemonians, in the second century, professed

that Jesus Christ was not God, and believed in Metempsychosis.

The Carpocratians believed in the pre-existence of the souls, and taught

that they had sinned in an anterior state of existence; that, as a

punishment for those crimes, they had been condemned to animate other

bodies, and would pass into other bodies as long as they would not have

been sufficiently purified by this expiation. They denied the divinity

of Jesus Christ, and the belief of the resurrection of the body.

Carpocrate, of Alexandria, founded this sect in the second century.

The Docetes professed the same belief as the Carpocratians, with the

difference that they did not admit that Jesus Christ had a natural body.

They had exactly the same belief in regard to Metempsychosis. This sect

existed in the second century. The Patripassians, the Noetians, the

Praxeans, and the Sabellians have been silent on the dogma of endless

hell.

Tatian, one of the most prominent ecclesiastical writers of the second

century, established the sect of the Tatianists, who believed that Jesus

Christ had not really suffered, and that he had not redeemed the world

by his blood. They also held the doctrine of Metempsychosis. Of the many

works of Tatian we have only his Discourse against the Pagans, and his

Diatessaron.

Apelles established a sect of his name, in 145. The Apellites denied the

resurrection of the body; believed in Metempsychosis; and also that God

had entrusted a spirit of fire to create the world.

In the second century, Montan, a native of Ardaban, in Mysia,

established the sect of the Montanists, which split and ramified into

the Artotyrites, the Ascites, Ascodrutes, etc. They all believed the

doctrine of Metempsychosis.

The Ophites, a sect of the second century, professed that the world had

been created, and was governed by evil Eons or geniuses, and that God

had sent Jesus Christ, his Son, to oppose the evil geniuses. They held

the doctrine of Metempsychosis.

In the second century the sect of the Cainites denied the resurrection

of the body, and believed in Metempsychosis.

The above sects compose the large body of Christians in the second

century; and yet we do not find in their doctrines anything like the

dogma of endless hell. They all, except perhaps the Millenaries,

believed in the doctrine of Metempsychosis. And as those extracts are

from Roman Catholic authors, who had the greatest interest in disguising

the true doctrines of those sects, it follows that it is an undeniable

fact, that the Christians of the second century neither did believe nor

knew any thing about such a dogma as endless hell.

_Corollary._ Since the Christians of the second century neither believed

the dogma of endless hell, nor knew anything about it, therefore the

Christians of the first century neither believed this dogma, nor knew

anything about it; for had they believed it, or known any thing about

it, the Christians of the second century would have preserved that

belief, or at least would have mentioned it. Consequently, it is an

undeniable fact that the Christians of the first century were not taught

by the apostles the dogma of endless hell.

Let us examine, now, the doctrines of the various Christian sects, which

sprung up in the third century.

Tertullian, one of the Fathers of whom we have spoken above, had joined

the Montanist sect; but afterwards he disagreed with them, and he

founded, at about the fifth year of the third century, another sect,

called Tertullianists. This sect lived several centuries, for in the

time of St. Augustine, towards the end of the fourth century, they had a

denominational organization at Carthage, Africa. Probably they held the

same belief as Tertullian, in regard to the dogma of endless hell.

The Hermogenians believed that the earth and the whole universe have

been uncreated, and are eternal. Hermogene said: "God has either taken

evil from himself, or from nothing, or from a pre-existing matter. He

could not take evil from himself, for he is indivisible; and, besides,

evil could not abide in a being infinitely perfect. He could not take

evil from nothing, for in this case it would have been in his power not

to produce it; therefore, evil is derived from a matter pre-existing,

co-eternal to God, and the defects of which God could not amend." The

Hermogenians believed in Metempsychosis. Their sect spread more

particularly in Galatia.

Berylle, bishop of Ostres, in Arabia, established, in 207, the sect of

the Arabics. They believed that the soul was born and died with the

body, and that both would come again to life. Origen wrote against this

belief, and converted the most of them to his opinions. As Origen

thought and taught that the punishment of the wicked would not be

endless, and that the souls transmigrated, we may safely conclude that

the Arabics embraced his opinions.

The Novatians were organized into a sect by Novat and Novatian, priests

of the Church of Carthage. We have perused the treatises on Trinity and

on the Viands, written by Novatian, whose fragments are found in the

works of Tertullian; but we have found no opinion expressed in regard to

the dogma of endless hell. We heard since that there is a complete

edition of his works, published in 1728, by Jackson, at London: we have

not been able to obtain it.

According to the testimony of Epiphane, the Valesians held many of the

doctrines of the Gnostics. From this we may safely infer that they

believed in Metempsychosis. Tillemont, in his Memoirs for the

Ecclesiastical History, tome 3d, says that the Valesians sprung up in

240. St. Epiphane and Tillemont are the only authors who have referred

to them in their writings.

The Samosatians, whose chief was Paul of Samosate, Patriarch of Antioch,

professed that the three persons of the Trinity were not three Gods, but

three attributes, under which God has manifested himself to men; that

Jesus Christ was not a God, but a man to whom wisdom had been

extraordinarily given. We did not find any thing in the Ecclesiastical

History in regard to their doctrines about future punishment. However,

as they considered Jesus Christ only as an extraordinary man, it is most

probable that they kept the immemorially, and, even then, generally

believed doctrine of Metempsychosis. This sect was established in 260.

The famous Zenobia, who then reigned in Syria, and believed the Jewish

religion, was converted to this sect.

Manes was born in Persia, in 240. He was the father of the sect of the

Manicheans. We shall give a summary of their doctrines, and as their

sect has been one of the most numerous, one of the most widely spread,

and one whose denominational organization seems to have outlived nearly

all those of the first centuries, we will add a summary of their

history. We will find in their doctrines, and in their history, a

weighty proof that the dogma of endless hell was not generally believed

by the Christians of the first five centuries, to say the least.

To remove the least shadow of doubt about our impartiality, we continue,

as done before, to take our extracts from Roman Catholic authors, who

had an interest to make it appear that the dogma of endless hell was

co-eval to the apostles.

We extract from Cotelier, a Roman Catholic author, tome 1, of the

Apostolic Fathers, page 543, and following, these doctrines of the

Manicheans:

In their opinion, the souls, or spirits, are an emanation from the good

spirit, whom they considered as an uncreated light; and all bodies have

been formed by the bad principle, whom they called Satan, and the power

of darkness. They held that there are portions of light enclosed within

all the bodies of the universe, and that they give them motion and life,

wherefore those souls cannot reunite to the good principle, except when

they have been purified by the means of various transmigrations from one

body into another. They denied the future resurrection of the body.

It is therefore evident that the Manicheans either knew nothing about

the dogma of endless hell, or did not believe it.

From the year 285 to the year 491, the Manicheans were persecuted. The

emperors of Orient confiscated their property, and decreed the penalty

of death against them. Thousands of them died in the most cruel

tortures, rather than to give up their faith; we read even in our days,

in the Theodosian code, the laws enacted against them. Despite those

persecutions they rapidly and widely spread. In the fourth century St.

Augustine was converted to their sect, but he afterwards left them, and

became their most powerful opponent. They formed a large body in Africa.

In 491, the mother of the emperor Anastase, who was a Manichean,

obtained the suspension of the laws enacted against them. They were

allowed, during twenty-seven years, to have churches, and to freely

worship; but during the reign of Justin, and under his successors, they

were again forbidden it. Towards the end of the seventh century, the

famous Gallinice, who was a Manichean, brought up her two sons, Paul and

John, in her belief, and sent them to Armenia as missionaries. Paul made

so many proselytes that the new converts took the name of Paulicians.

In the beginning of the ninth century the Paulicians split; but soon

after they reunited, at the persuasion of one of their most influential

members, named Theodote. The aversion of the Manicheans for the worship

of the virgin Mary, of the cross, of the saints, and of images, pleased

the Saracens, who made frequent irruptions in the empire: through their

influence they obtained more credit among their opponents.

In the year 841, the empress Theodora, who had declared herself in favor

of the worship of the virgin Mary, of the cross, of the saints, and of

images, went so far in her fanatical zeal for this doctrine, that she

resolved to exterminate the Manicheans, and their religion. By her

orders more than one hundred thousand of them were arrested and put to

death; nearly all expired in the most cruel tortures. Then the

Manicheans sought a refuge among the Saracens; they retired in fortified

towns, repelled the repeated assaults of the imperial armies, and

maintained themselves during about forty years; but having been defeated

in a great battle they were forced to disperse.

Some went to Bulgaria, and since took the name of Bulgarians; others

went to Italy, and mainly settled in Lombardy, wherefrom they sent

missionaries to France, to Germany, and to other countries. In the year

1022, under the king Robert, several canons of Orleans, who had joined

the Manicheans, were burnt alive. Although the penalty of death had been

decreed against the Manicheans, they established a large number of

convents all over France, and particularly in the provinces of Provence,

of Languedoc, and, more especially, in the diocese of Albi, where they

took the name of Albigenses.

Alanus, monk of Cîteaux, and Peter, monk of Vaux-Cernay, who wrote

against them, accused them, 1st, of admitting two principles or

creators, the one good and the other bad; the first, creator of

invisible and spiritual things, and the second, creator of bodies. 2d,

Of denying the resurrection of the body. 3d, Of denying the Purgatory.

4th, Of denying the utility of prayers for the dead. 5th, Of denying the

pains of hell. 6th, Of believing the transmigration of the souls into

other bodies of men, or of animals, according to the degree of their

guilt in an anterior state of existence, until by successive expiatory

transmigrations they become purified. 7th, Of disbelieving the seven

sacraments. 8th, Of rejecting the worship of the virgin Mary, of the

cross, of the saints, and of images, etc.

In 1176, the council of Albi, which some authors call council of Lombez,

was held against the Manicheans, who, as said above, were called

Albigenses. In this council they were condemned under the calling of

Good Men. Fleury, who, in the seventy-second book of his Ecclesiastical

History, quotes the acts of the council, ascribes to them the above

doctrines; so does the historian Rainerius; and Bossuet, in the ninth

book of his History of Variations, cites other authors who confirm all

these accusations. The condemnation of the Manicheans, or Albigenses,

was confirmed by the general council of Latran, in 1179. A crusade was

ordered against them by the Pope, Innocent III., and a strict

inquisition was organized. Simon, count of Montford, was appointed, by

the Pope, general-in-chief of the crusaders; then the slaughter

commenced. It lasted eighteen years: the Albigenses, or Manicheans, were

exterminated, a few only secretly found their way to the Alps, where

they concealed themselves, and afterwards united to the Valdenses.

Several hundred thousands were either burnt alive, or tortured on racks,

or put to the sword; all were slain: men, old men, young men, women,

children, and infants; and during those horrible ceremonies of death,

the soldiers of the Pope sung the Veni Creator Spiritus, etc., a hymn of

invocation to the Holy Spirit.

From the doctrines and history of the Manicheans we draw the following

argument:

According to the unanimous testimony of the Roman Catholic authors

themselves, from about the middle of the third century to the

thirteenth, the Manicheans composed a numerous body of Christians, and

did not believe the dogma of endless hell. So constant were they in this

disbelief, that they persisted in it till nearly every one of them was

exterminated; therefore it is an undeniable historical fact that this

large denomination of Christians did not hold the dogma of hell, in the

third, fourth, fifth, etc., centuries.

Let us examine the doctrine of the Christian sects, which sprung up in

the fourth century, in regard to endless hell. We continue to take our

extracts from Roman Catholic authors.

Priscillian, a Spaniard, was the founder of the Christian sect of

Priscillianists, in the year 380. This denomination of Christians

believed in the doctrine of Metempsychosis. They held that the souls

passed into the bodies of other men, until they were purified, by their

transmigrations, of the sins they had committed in an anterior life.

They denied the resurrection of human bodies. Priscillian was condemned

to death, and the penalty of death was decreed against the

Priscillianists. The emperor Maxime, and the pope Leon, used fire,

racks, and swords against them; they slew thousands of them,

nevertheless they increased so that they were numerous yet in the sixth

century in Spain and in Italy. Tillemont, in his Ecclesiastical Memoir,

tome 8, refers to Sulpice-Sevère, to Ambrosius, and to St. Augustine,

for the confirmation of the above, said concerning the doctrines of the

Priscillianists.

The other principal sects of the fourth century were the Donatists, the

Photinians, the Macedonians, the Apollinarists, the Jovinians, the

Collyridians, and the Pelagians. The Nestorians, the Eutichians, and the

Monothelites, sprang up in the fifth century. We have not found in their

writings any passages referring to the dogma of endless hell. However we

must state that we had the opportunity of perusing only about two-thirds

of the numerous and voluminous, we would add tedious, works composed pro

and con concerning their respective tenets.

_Remark._--Let the reader bear in mind that the most of the Christian

sects, whose disbelief of the dogma of endless hell we have traced out

above, composed the majority of the Christian body; and also that they

have existed, at least, till the middle of the sixth century, the epoch

when the fifth council of Constantinople condemned the doctrine held by

Origen--that of the transmigration of the souls, and of their temporary

punishment.

_Conclusion._ Therefore the dogma of endless hell was not generally

believed by the Christians of the third, of the fourth, and of the fifth

centuries.

General conclusion of this third article:

1. We have proved, by the testimony of the Fathers of the second

century, and by the doctrines of the numerous Christian sects of the

same century, that the dogma of endless hell was even unknown to the

Christians of the first and of the second centuries. Then we must

conclude that not only the first Christians, namely, the Christians of

the first and of the second centuries did not believe in endless hell,

but even that they knew nothing about such a dogma.

2. We have proved, by the testimony of the Fathers of the third, of the

fourth, and of the fifth centuries, and also by the many Christian sects

which existed in the third, in the fourth, and in the fifth centuries,

that the Christians did not generally believe, in the said centuries,

the dogma of endless hell. Therefore the Christians of the third, of the

fourth, and of the fifth centuries, did not _generally_ believe in

endless hell.

Therefore the proposition we were to prove in the present article, _that

the first Christians did not believe in the doctrine of endless hell_,

remains peremptorily established.

_Objection._--Since the fourth century the Church of Rome obtained the

condemnation of the above Christian sects in five general councils. But

if the above sects had composed the majority of the body of Christians,

the Church of Rome would not have obtained their condemnation.

Consequently the above sects did not compose the majority of the body of

Christians during the third, the fourth, and the fifth centuries.

_Answer._--We deny the minor proposition of this syllogism, which is:

But if the above sects had composed the majority of the body of

Christians, the Church of Rome would not have obtained their

condemnation--and we prove our denegation as follows:--

Supposing that the United States be constituted into an empire--God

forbid!--that the emperor would have the control of Church property,

would side, say with the Presbyterian Church, or any other, claiming

supremacy over the other Christian denominations; and that the emperor

would assemble councils conjointly with that Church, would attend and

even be vice-president of those councils, would enforce them with civil

and military force, and also the execution of their acts condemning

another sect arrayed before those councils, without permitting the other

sects to vote in those councils, would it follow from this that all the

other Christian sects do not compose the body of Christians in the

United States? Certainly not.

But the case was the same with the Church of Rome. Since the end of the

second century the bishop of Rome (we do not say the Pope, for it was

only centuries after that he had the boldness, or rather impudence, to

call himself exclusively Pope,) commenced to claim a personal supremacy

over the other bishops, and also a supremacy of his church over the

other Christian churches. Vain were his efforts until the beginning of

the fourth century, when Sylvestre, bishop of Rome, obtained for himself

and for his church the favors and protection of the emperor Constantine

I., who afterwards joined it, (we will state in the last chapter of this

work the reasons why this tyrant took these steps.) In behalf of the

Church of Rome, he convoked the council of Arles, and the general

council of Nice, and defrayed the expenses of the bishops out of his own

treasure. His protection to the Church of Rome the most of his

successors on the imperial throne continued; and thus the power and

supremacy of this church grew in ratio of the persecutions directed

against the other Christian denominations, which were debarred from

voting in the councils; whose church property was oftentimes

confiscated; and which many of them were prohibited to publicly worship.

In consequence, it is not true to say that, if the various Christian

sects spoken of before had composed the majority of the body of

Christians, the Church of Rome would not have obtained their

condemnation. Therefore the various sects spoken of before composed the

majority of the body of Christians during the third, the fourth and the

fifth centuries.

APPENDIX

_To the proofs that the first Christians did not believe in endless

hell._

From the second to the fourth centuries many Apocryphal Gospels had been

written. Some of them have been transmitted down to us, at least their

fragments; and others have not been preserved except their titles.

Among those gospels are: 1st, the Gospel according to the Hebrews; 2d,

according to the Nazareans; 3d, according to the Twelve Apostles; 4th,

according to St. Peter. It is supposed that these four Gospels were that

of Matthew, altered by the Hebrews. This circumstance has led the

critics to believe, that the Hebrew or Syriac text of Matthew had been

abandoned, lest it might be altered; and that the Greek version had been

preserved.

5th, The Gospel according to the Egyptians; 6th, that of the birth of

the virgin Mary: we have read it in Latin; 7th, the Protogospel of

James, written in Greek and in Latin; 8th, the Gospel of the Infancy, in

Greek and in Arabic; 9th, that of St. Thomas; 10th, the Gospel of

Nicodemus, in Latin; 11th, the Gospel Eternal; 12th, that of Andrew;

13th, that of Bartholomew; 14th, that of Apelles; 15th, that of

Basilides; 16th, that of Cerinthus; 17th, that of the Ebionites--perhaps

it was the same as that of the Hebrews; 18th, that of Tatian; 19th, that

of Eve; 20th, that of the Gnostics; 21st, that of Marcion; 22d, that of

St. Paul; 23d, the Gospel of the small and great interrogations of Mary;

24th, that of the birth of Jesus: probably the same as the Protogospel

of James; 25th, that of John, or of the death of the virgin Mary; 26th,

that of Matthias; 27th, that of Perfection; 28th, that of the Simonians;

29th, that of the Syrians; 30th, that of the Encratites: probably the

same as that of Tatian; 31st, the Gospel of Thadeus, or of Jude; 32d,

that of Valentine; 33d, that of Life, or of the Living God; 34th, that

of Philip; 35th, that of Barnabeus; 36th, that of James, the major;

37th, that of Judas; 38th, of the Truth: probably the same as that of

Valentine; 39th, the Gospels of Leucius, of Seleucus, of Lucianus, and

of Hesychius.

For a more extensive information concerning the Apocryphal Gospels, we

refer the reader to the Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti Collectus,

Castigatus, published at Hamburg, in 3 vols. octavo, in 1719. The author

was John Albert Fabricius, one of the most learned antiquarians of the

17th century.

We had the opportunity of reading, in the rich library of the

theological school of Brou, France, several of these Apocryphal

Gospels, that of the birth of the virgin Mary, the Protogospel of James;

that of the death of the virgin Mary, and that of the Twelve Apostles;

but we do not recollect to have seen in these gospels anything, in

regard to endless hell, more positive than what is found in the Gospel

concerning the ruin of Jerusalem.

Of course this proof, drawn from the Apocryphal Gospels, has not the

same weight as if it was drawn from authentical authors, (it is for this

reason that we have not inserted it in the body of proofs,) however as

it is certain that they have been written from the second to the fourth

centuries, they at least show that their authors, and the many

Christians who used them, did not believe in endless hell.

ARTICLE IV.

_How the Church of Rome borrowed the doctrine of Endless Hell from the

Pagans; and how, afterwards, the self-called Orthodox Protestant

Churches borrowed it from the Church of Rome._

It has been proved in the foregoing article, and, we think, to

demonstration, that the Christians of the first and of the second

centuries, neither knew nor believed the dogma of endless hell;

wherefore we may logically make this argument:

The Christians of the first and of the second centuries neither knew nor

believed the dogma of endless hell: But if the dogma of endless hell

had been taught in the New Testament, the Christians of the first and

of the second centuries would have known and believed it. This we prove:

Those of the apostles who wrote the New Testament certainly knew

whether, in the New Testament they wrote, they had taught the dogma of

endless hell. If they had known that, in the New Testament they wrote,

they had taught the dogma of endless hell, they would have certainly

informed the Christians of the first century, in their oral

predications, that, in the New Testament they wrote, they had taught the

dogma of endless hell, for it was one of the most important points of

doctrine. If they had informed the Christians of the first century, in

their oral predications, that they had taught, in the New Testament they

wrote, the dogma of endless hell, the Christians of the first century

would have certainly believed that they had taught, in the New Testament

they wrote, the dogma of endless hell. If the Christians of the first

century had believed that they had taught, in the New Testament they

wrote, the dogma of endless hell, they would have certainly believed in

endless hell. If the Christians of the first century had believed in

endless hell, those of the beginning of the second century would have

also believed it; for the apostle and evangelist John was still living

at the end of the year 100; (even many authors say that he died only in

104,) and therefore if any discussion had arisen in regard to the dogma

of endless hell, he would have declared whether it was taught in the

New Testament or not. If the Christians of the beginning of the second

century had also believed the dogma of endless hell, those who would

have lived in the middle and at the end of the second century would have

believed it also; because learning, from the lips, or from the writings,

of those who were co-eval to some of the apostles, the dogma of endless

hell, no traditional alteration might have taken place towards this

dogma; so much so that it would have been generally spread and believed

among Christians, owing to its importance.

Therefore the minor proposition of our argument is true: _But if the

dogma of endless hell had been taught in the New Testament, the

Christians of the first and of the second centuries would have known and

believed it._ Wherefore we draw this logical conclusion: Then the dogma

of endless hell is not taught in the New Testament.

Moreover, if the Christians of the third, of the fourth, and of the

fifth centuries, had thought that the dogma of endless hell was taught

in the New Testament they would have at least _generally_ believed it.

But they did not _generally_ believe it, as it has been proved, to

demonstration, in the foregoing Article: consequently the dogma of

endless hell is not taught in the New Testament.

From the fact that, according to the Christians of the first and of the

second centuries themselves, the dogma of endless hell is not taught in

the New Testament, we draw the conclusion that the Church of Rome,

which first, and successively, introduced in the body of Christians the

dogma of hell and of endless hell, did not originate it from the New

Testament; because there would have been a general protestation against

it from all the other churches.

It has been proved, in the second Article of this chapter, that the Jews

did not believe the dogma of endless hell. Therefore the Church of Rome

did not originate the dogma of endless hell from the Jews, or from their

Holy Writs.

Wherefrom, then, did the Church of Rome originate the dogma of endless

hell?

From Paganism:--

The Church of Rome established mysteries towards the beginning of the

third century. They were an imitation of the Pagan mysteries.

We refer the reader for the proofs of this proposition to the last pages

of the second chapter of this work.

Thereupon we continue. It was only successively, and to make more

proselytes, that the Church of Rome had established those ceremonies,

rites and doctrines, to the reading thereof we have invited the reader,

and which were not only unspoken of in the Scriptures, but which were a

pure imitation of those of the mysteries of the Pagans. We say, _to make

more proselytes_; for the aim of the Church of Rome was evidently to

diminish the abruptness of the transition between Paganism and

Christianity; to throw a bridge, if we may thus illustrate our idea,

over the steep, wide, and deep abyss that lies between Paganism and

Christianity.

Now let us compare the hell of the Church of Rome with the Tartarus of

the Pagans. The Pagans called the place where the wicked were punished,

Tartarus, or Infernus; the Church of Rome called, and still calls, the

same place, Tartarus, or Infernus. The Pagans believed that the Tartarus

was in the profundities of the earth; the Church of Rome held, and still

holds, that the Tartarus, called in English, Hell, is in the

profundities of the earth.

_Remark._--Before proceeding further, let us give the native

signification of the words Tartarus, Infernus and Hell. [Greek:

Tartaros, ou], dark and deep place: [Greek: Tartara gains], [in

Hesiode,] abysses of the earth. The word [Greek: Tartaros] has been

adopted and kept in the Latin, though with the change of the final

[Greek: os] into _us_, Tartarus, and its native meaning preserved. The

Latin word Infernus derives from the word inferior, which signifies a

place under, below an other, a cavity, a profundity. The words Tartarus,

Infernus, have been kept in French, Tartare, Enfer; in Spanish, Tartaro,

Infierno; and also in the other languages derived from the Latin. The

English word _hell_ is the genitive case of the Anglo-Saxon word _hole_,

[See Webster's Dictionary,] which means a cavity, a profundity. The word

Tartarus has been kept from the Latin, with its native signification. In

Greek [Greek: Tartaros] has a plural, as seen before. In Latin

_Tartarus_ has a plural, _Tartari_; so _Infernus_, _Inferi_. In French

_Tartare_ has a plural, _Tartares_; so, _Enfer_, _Enfers_. In Spanish

_Tartaro_ has a plural, _Tartaros_; so, _Infierno_, _Infiernos_.

Now we continue the comparison that we have commenced between the

Infernus of the Pagans and the Infernus, or Hell, of the Church of Rome.

We will use the word Hell, to express the Tartarus, or Infernus, of both

the Pagans and the Church of Rome.

The Pagans believed that there was a gate to their hell; so the Church

of Rome believes that there is a gate to the hell of the Christians. The

Pagans believed that the frightful Tisiphon watched day and night at the

gate of their hell; so the Church of Rome believes that Lucifer holds

the keys of the gate of hell, as St. Peter holds the keys of Paradise.

The Pagans believed that the deepest darkness reigned in their hell; so

the Church of Rome believes that the deepest darkness reigns in the hell

of the Christians.

The Pagans believed that, in their hell, the Phlegeton river rolled huge

stones on fire, burning the wicked without consuming them; so the Church

of Rome believed, and still believes, [even now it is an article of

faith which must be believed under the penalty of excommunication, of

being a heretic, and thereby of infallibly going to hell,] that, in the

hell of the Christians, the wicked are plunged into a corporeal, or

material, fire of sulphur, and of brimstone. St. Augustine, in his work

De Civitate Dei, Liber 21, Capitulum 10, writes: "_Gehenna illa, quod

etiam stagnum ignis et sulphuris dictum est, corporeus ignis erit._"

[Translation.--"That Gehenna, which is said to be a marsh of fire and of

sulphur, will be a corporeal fire."]

The Pagans believed that, in their hell, the wicked were tortured in

their bodies and in their souls, although their bodies were in the

grave; so the Church of Rome believed, and still believes that, in the

hell of the Christians, the wicked are tortured in their bodies and in

their souls, although their bodies are in the grave.

The Pagans believed that, in their hell, hideous furies were armed with

whips and other instruments of torture; so the Church of Rome believed,

and still believes, that, in the hell of the Christians, the devils are

hideous and armed with whips, tridents, harpoons, and other instruments

of torture. We invite the reader to go to Catholic stores of images, and

to see the representation of devils with tails, horns, and armed with

instruments of torture.

The Pagans believed that, in their hell, the wicked were whipped and

tortured in various cruel manners by the furies, though their bodies

were in the grave; so the Church of Rome believed, and still believes,

that, in the hell of the Christians, the wicked are whipped and

tortured in various cruel manners by the devils, though their bodies

are in the grave. The Pagans believed that, in their hell, the wicked

dragged heavy chains; so the Church of Rome believed, and still

believes, that, in the hell of the Christians, the wicked drag heavy

chains. The Pagans believed that, in their hell, there were two

principal abodes, the one expiatory, in which the common wicked were

detained and tortured, until they had expiated their faults, and been

purified enough to be admitted in the Elysium; and the other, the

vastest, the darkest, and the deepest cavern, where great criminals were

burnt and excruciated endlessly, and without any hope of cessation or

relief in their torments; so the Church of Rome believed, and still

believes, that in the hell of the Christians, there are two principal

abodes, the one, Purgatory, where the common wicked, namely, those

guilty of venial sins, are tortured and burnt in a material fire, until

they have expiated their faults, and been purified enough to be

permitted to crave St. Peter to open to them the gate of Paradise, and

the other the vastest, the darkest, and the deepest profundity, where

the heretics, the schismatics, those who eat meat on Friday, do not pay

the tithe to the priests, or who disobey kindred laws of the Church, are

plunged, bodies and souls, (though their bodies are in the grave,) into

a devouring fire, and where they are excruciated endlessly, without any

hope of cessation or relief in their torments.

The Pagans believed that, in the expiatory abode of their hell, there

were many different degrees of tortures; so the Church of Rome believed,

and still believes, that, in the Purgatory of the hell of the

Christians, there are many different degrees of tortures. The Pagans

believed that supplications could relieve and free from their tortures,

the common wicked detained in the expiatory abode of their hell; so the

Church of Rome believed, and still believes, that, in the Purgatory of

the hell of the Christians, the common wicked, namely, those guilty of

venial sins, can be relieved in their torments, and be freed from them

by supplications; hence the incalculable sums of money paid to the

priests, to say masses for the deliverance of those wicked; hence the

countless splendid churches, the vast number of monasteries, convents,

nunneries, abbeys, and other costly edifices, founded in behalf of those

wicked.

The Pagans believed that there were an innumerable quantity of different

degrees of tortures in the second principal abode of their hell; so the

Church of Rome believed, and still believes, that, in the second

principal abode of the hell of the Christians, there is an innumerable

quantity of different degrees of tortures. The Pagans believed that, in

their hell, the wicked condemned to endless misery, would, mingle with

their yells of anguish, torment, and despair, vociferations,

maledictions, and curses, against the gods, and against themselves; so

the Church of Rome believed, and still believes, that, in the hell of

the Christians, the wicked, condemned to endless misery, will mingle

with their yells of anguish, torment, and despair, vociferations,

maledictions, and curses against God, and against themselves; that they

will exclaim, _Montes cadite super nos!_--Mountains fall upon us! The

Pagans believed that, in their hell, the wicked condemned to endless

misery will vainly endeavor to kill and annihilate themselves; so the

Church of Rome believed, and still believes, that the wicked condemned

to endless misery, will vainly attempt to put an end to their miserable

existence.

Therefore there is a most striking similarity, or rather identity,

between the hell of the Pagans, and the hell of the Church of Rome.

Therefore, since as proved above,

1st, The Church of Rome was the first Church which introduced the dogma

of endless hell in the body of Christians;

2d, Since, as proved above, the Church of Rome did not originate the

dogma of endless hell from the New Testament;

3d, Since, as proved above, the Church of Rome did not borrow from the

Jews, or from their Holy Writs, the dogma of endless hell;

4th, Since, as proved above, the Church of Rome, at the imitation of the

Pagans, established, towards the beginning of the third century,

mysteries, many of the ceremonies, rites and doctrines thereof were

alike to those ceremonies, rites and doctrines, of the mysteries of the

Pagans;

5th, Since, as proved above, there is a most striking similarity, or

rather identity, between the hell of the Pagans, and the hell of the

Church of Rome,

We legitimately draw this important conclusion:

Therefore the Church of Rome borrowed from the Pagans the dogma of

endless hell.

When the Protestants, now self-called Orthodox Churches, left the Church

of Rome, in the sixteenth century, they cut off many of the appendices

and concomitant particularities of the dogma of endless hell; but they

preserved, and even in our days profess to believe, the main features of

this dogma, namely, that in hell there is sulphur, brimstone, and fire;

that in hell there are devils; that in hell there are many degrees of

torments; that in hell the wicked are constantly burning in fire without

consuming, and are constantly tortured by the devils without any relief;

that hell shall exist forever and evermore, as long as endless eternity

shall endure; and that the torments of the wicked in hell shall no more

end than hell itself.

That the Protestants, now self-called Orthodox Christian Churches,

borrowed from the Church of Rome, in the sixteenth century, the dogma of

endless hell; and that they preserved the above belief in regard to

endless hell, is proved by the unanimous testimony of modern historians

and of chroniclers. That they, now-a-days, profess the above belief in

regard to endless hell, is a fact which we can daily, and particularly

every Sunday, in all cities, towns, and villages of this country, and of

all Protestant countries, verify with our own eyes in their writings,

and with our own ears in their temples.

Now we draw our general conclusions:

1st, Therefore the Church of Rome borrowed from the Pagans the dogma of

endless hell.

2d, Therefore the now self-called Orthodox Protestant, or Christian

Churches, borrowed from the Church of Rome the dogma of endless hell.

Conclusion of the chapter:

_Therefore the Partialist doctrine of endless hell is of Pagan origin._