Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines

by John Claudius Pitrat

PAGAN ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF A GENERAL JUDGMENT AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

The Church of Rome and the other Partialist Christian Churches profess to believe that, at the end of the world, a general judgment of all the then living, and of all the dead, shall take place. When, in the sixteenth century, the great Protestant scission took place, the new Churches formed preserved this doctrine of the Church of Rome, with only accessory modifications; and since that time they have professed it; even now-a-days they cling to it. We shall prove in this chapter that the origin of this doctrine is Pagan.

The origin of the doctrine of a general judgment of all the then living and of all the dead, which shall take place at the end of the world, is Pagan, 1st, If the Pagans held the doctrine of a general judgment of all the then living and of all the dead, which shall take place at the end of the world; 2d, If there is a striking similarity between the particulars of the doctrine of a general judgment, as held by the Pagans, and the doctrine of a general judgment, as held by the Church of Rome, and by the other Partialist Christian Churches; 3d, If the Church of Rome did not hold the doctrine of a general judgment from the apostles of Jesus Christ; and, 4th, If the Church of Rome did not hold this doctrine from the Jews.

But, 1st, The Pagans held the doctrine of a general judgment of all the then living and of all the dead, which shall take place at the end of the world; 2d, There is a striking similarity between the particularities of the doctrine of a general judgment, as held by the Pagans, and the doctrine of a general judgment, as held by the Church of Rome; 3d, The Church of Rome did not hold the doctrine of a general judgment from the apostles of Jesus Christ; and, 4th, The Church of Rome did not hold this doctrine from the Jews.

These four heads of questions we are to successively prove.

1st, We prove that the Pagans held the doctrine of a general judgment of all the then living and of all the dead, which shall take place at the end of the world.

Plato, and other philosophers and writers of the Pagans, taught that a solemn general judgment of the dead was to decide their fate. Minos sat on a throne, and shook the fatal urn. By his side were the avenging furies, and a host of evil spirits, executioners of the sentences of Minos. Eacus, Rhadamante, and Triptolem, were his assistant judges.

Even now the Indians believe that Zomo will judge the world; so the Japanese. The Lamas ascribe this power to Erlik-kan.

At the sound of a trumpet the earth was to deliver up her dead to be judged. It was to be destroyed by fire after a great commotion of the celestial spheres, and fears of the then living mortals.