Consequently the particulars of the first judgment, believed in by the Partialist Christian Churches, present a striking similarity with the particulars of the first judgment, believed in by the Pagans.
3d. It can be proved that the Church of Rome, which, in the sixteenth century, transmitted to the now self-called Orthodox Christian Churches the doctrine of a first judgment, which they accepted full and entire, did not hold it from the apostles of Jesus Christ, nor from the Jews:—
The Church of Rome does not hold the doctrine of a first judgment from the apostles of Jesus Christ, for this doctrine implies a blasphemy—whether Jesus Christ be considered as being God himself—and all the Partialist Christian Churches hold that he is God himself—and whether Jesus Christ be considered as being only the Son of God. But the doctrine of a first judgment implies a blasphemy, whether Jesus Christ be considered as being God himself, and whether he be considered as being only the Son of God.
First, it implies a blasphemy, if Jesus Christ is considered as being God himself. Jesus Christ, being God himself, would necessarily know all the good and bad actions done by the souls, while they animate their respective bodies on earth, in consequence it is an insult to his attribute of wisdom, and thereby a blasphemy, to say that the guardian angels of the souls, as they bring them to his tribunal, inform him of their good and bad actions, which they have recorded. Even in the case of those of the Partialist Christian Churches, which reject the circumstance of the guardian angels, the doctrine of a first judgment implies an insult to the wisdom of Jesus Christ, (in their opinion God himself), and thereby a blasphemy; for a judgment supposes a trial; a trial supposes an investigation; an investigation supposes the ignorance of the deeds to be pronounced upon, and the supposition that God has not a perfect knowledge of those deeds, is an insult to his wisdom, and thereby is a blasphemy.
Second, The doctrine of a first judgment implies a blasphemy, if Jesus Christ is considered as being only the Son of God. If God had vested Jesus Christ with the power of discerning rewards and punishments to the souls after death, he would have given him a knowledge of the good and bad actions of the souls. But the doctrine of a first judgment supposes that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would come to this knowledge only through the means of a trial, which supposition is an insult to the wisdom of God, and thereby a blasphemy.
Then the doctrine of a first judgment implies a blasphemy, whether Jesus Christ be considered as being God himself, and whether Jesus Christ be considered as being only the Son of God.
Therefore the Church of Rome does not hold the doctrine of a first judgment from the apostles of Jesus Christ.
General conclusions:—
It has been proved in this chapter, 1st, That the Pagans believed in a first judgment, by a god, immediately after the separation of the soul from the body; 2d, That the particulars of this first judgment, believed in by the Partialist Christian Churches, present a striking similarity with the particulars of the first judgment, believed in by the Pagans; and, 3d, That the Church of Rome, which, in the sixteenth century, transmitted to the now self-called Orthodox Christian Churches this doctrine of a first judgment, which they accepted full and entire, did not hold it from the apostles of Jesus Christ; neither did she hold it from the Jews; for not a single passage can be traced out in the Old Testament, or in Josephus, referring to a first judgment.
Therefore the origin of the doctrine of a first judgment, by Jesus Christ, immediately after the separation of the soul from the body, is Pagan.