Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines

by John Claudius Pitrat

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 œcumenical 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 œcumenical.

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.