Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines

by John Claudius Pitrat

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. Τἁρταρος, ου, dark and deep place: Τάρταρα γαίης, [in Hesiode,] abysses of the earth. The word Τἁρταρος has been adopted and kept in the Latin, though with the change of the final ος 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 Τἁρταρος 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.