Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines

by John Claudius Pitrat

3. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8. All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14. And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15. When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place; (whoso readeth, let him understand;) 16. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19. And wo unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day: 21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25. Behold, I have told you before. 26. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 80. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

32. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. 41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

42. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. 47. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49. And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Matthew, chapter 25.-31. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35. For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38. When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39. Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and come unto thee? 40. And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42. For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45. Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."

Luke, chapter 21.-25. "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26. Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory. 28. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."

Mark, chapter 13.-24. "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. 25. And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost parts of heaven."

Bergier, one of the most classical of the Roman Catholic theologians, says, in the first volume of his works, article Agnoetes, that, in the sixth century, the theologians answered the Agnoetes as follows: "In these texts, it is not a question of the day of the general judgment, but of the day when Jesus Christ was to come to punish the Jewish nation by the sword of the Romans." Then the Roman Catholic theologians did not understand these texts as meaning a general judgment.

Moreover, Bergier, writing against the Millenaries, says, article World:—"The disciples of Christ, sometime before his resurrection, spake to him of the structure of the temple of Jerusalem, Matthew, ch. 24, Mark, ch. 13, Luke, ch. 21. Jesus Christ told them that it shall be destroyed; and that not one of the stones will be left upon the other. The disciples, surprised, asked him when this shall take place; what will be the signs of his coming, and of the end of the century. Then there will be, he said, wars and seditions, earthquakes, pests, and famines; ye yourselves will be persecuted and put to death; Jerusalem will be surrounded with an army; the temple will be polluted; false prophets will appear; there will be signs in the heaven; the sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars will fall from the firmament. Then the Son of man will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and majesty; his angels will gather the elect from one end of the world to the other, etc. He announces all this as events to be witnessed by his apostles; and he adds: 'Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.'

"Is it a question of the end of the world in all this? Opinions are divided on this point. Some commentators think that, in these texts, Jesus Christ simply prophesied the ruin of the religion, republic, and nation of the Jews; and that all the circumstances were verified when the Romans took and destroyed the nation; that, however, a few expressions ought not to be taken literally, such as the fall of the stars, etc.; that Jesus Christ has used the same style, and the same images used by prophets, when they prophesied other events. Consequently these commentators say that these words of Jesus Christ, 'This generation shall not pass,' etc., signify, the Jews who now live will not all be dead when these events will take place. In fact, Jerusalem was taken and ruined less than forty years after. In this opinion it is not a question in these texts of the end of the world.

"Other commentators believe that Jesus Christ has joined the signs, which were to precede the devastation of Judea, to those which will appear at the end of the world, and before the general judgment; that when he says: 'This generation shall not pass,' etc., he means that the Jewish nation will not be entirely destroyed, but will subsist till the end of the world. It cannot be denied that the word generation is used several times in this sense in the Gospel."