Consequently, the practices required by the Church of Rome, to obtain the forgiveness of sins, and to be exempted from the punishment of those sins, were not instituted among Christians in the first two centuries.
We draw the general conclusions of this chapter:
It has been proved that there is a striking similarity between the practices required by the Church of Rome to obtain the forgiveness of sins, and to be exempted from the punishment of those sins, and those which were, and still now are, required in the Pagan religion for the same purpose; and that those practices were not instituted among Christians in the first two centuries.
Therefore the Church of Rome borrowed from the Pagans the doctrine of Vicarious Atonement, namely, that a small number of privileged Christians obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and are exempted from the punishment of their sins, through the medium of a substitute.
Since, though the other Partialist Christian Churches rejected the most of the practices used by the Church of Rome to obtain the forgiveness of sins, and the exemption from the punishment of those sins, they preserved the substance of the doctrine, namely, that Jesus Christ had washed away, or, in other words, atoned for all the sins of those who would feel the descent of the Holy Spirit in their souls; who would experience a supernatural change of heart, or, as they commonly term it, would get religion; and also that through his atonement they were exempted from the punishment of their sins—the doctrine which they hold is nothing but the very doctrine, though modified in its circumstances, of the Church of Rome. Therefore its origin is the same. But it has been proved that the Church of Rome borrowed from the Pagans, the doctrine that a small number of privileged Christians obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and are exempted from the punishment of those sins, through the medium of a substitute—as she holds it. Therefore it is thereby proved, that the other Partialist Christian Churches truly borrowed, from the Pagans, though through the medium of the Church of Rome, the doctrine that a small number of privileged Christians obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and are exempted from the punishment of those sins, through the medium of a substitute—as she holds it.
Therefore the doctrine that a small number of privileged Christians obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and are exempted from the punishment of those sins, through the medium of a substitute, is of Pagan origin. And as, on another hand, it has been proved, in four other chapters of this work, that the doctrine of a Personal Devil, the doctrine of Original Sin, the doctrine of Trinity, and the doctrine of the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ, are of Pagan origin—then we logically draw the conclusion that all the characteristics of the doctrine of Vicarious Atonement are of Pagan origin. Since all the characteristics of the doctrine of Vicarious Atonement are of Pagan origin, then the body itself of the doctrine of Vicarious Atonement is of Pagan origin.
Therefore the doctrine of Vicarious Atonement is of Pagan origin.
CONCLUSION OF ALL THE CHAPTERS.
Therefore Partialist Doctrines are of Pagan Origin.