Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-17
IDEAS ABOUT HE'LL.
ANCIENT AND M0DERr. BELIErs AND
THEIR RELATIONSHIP.
Nearly All Rel .sions Have a Place Ap-
pointed for Punishment After
Death-Strange Ideas.

The idea of place for the punishment
after death of wicked men is found in
most, though not all, of the religions of
the present time and of antiquity, writes
Frederick A. Fernand in the Popular
Science Monthly. According to some be-
liefs, the punishment is to last forever; ae-
cording to others, the torments are to con-
tinue only for time, and are to result in
purifying the imprisoned souls and fitting
them for heaven. The Roman Catholic
religion has both purgatory, or place of
temporary torment, and hell, which is
everlasting. No idea of penalty was con-
nected with the classic hades-it was
simply an underworld where dwelt all
those who had the misfortune to be dead,
irrespective of their conduct in life.
The word comes from the Greek ad-
iective aides, meaning unseen. The Eng
fish word hell had also originally the
same meaning 1t is derived from the
Teutonic base hal, whence also the Anglo
Saxon helan, to hide, $50 that the original
sense is the hidden or unseen place"
(Skeat). The conception of future ex-
istence which lays claim TO the greatest
antiquity is that of the ancient Egyptians.
According to the Egyptian belief, if the
great Judgment resulted adversely, "the
condemned soul is either scourged back to
the earth straightway, to live again in the
form of vile animal, as some of the en-
blems appear to denote; or plunged into
the tortures of horrid hell of fire and
devils below, as numerous engravings set
forth; or driven into the atmosphere, to
be vexed and tossed by tempests, violently
| whirled in blasts and clouds, till its sins
are expiated, and another probation
granted through renewed existence in
| human form"
From Persia, also, we get religion of
great uity-Zoroastrianism-which,
| in modified form, is held to-day by the
small body of Parsis still to be found in
Persia and India. According to the
Parsi belief, the good after death pass
safely over the bridge Chinevat, which
stretches from Mount Alborj up to Carrot
man, the blissful realm of Ormuzd; while
the wicked fall from the bridge into the
Gulf of Duzahk, which yawns beneath,
| WQ6TG lueN are lOIuSltSO dsCN ~
the end of the world a comet will fall upon
the earth, causing a vast confagration, by
which the whole earth will be melted, and
the molten stream will pour down into
| Duzahk, carrying with it the sinners who
are on earth at the time Here they and
the earlier corners, except those already
redeemed by the prayers OF friends, will
burn for three days and nights, and then,
thus purified, will be received into heaven.
Afterward all the davas, and even the
arch-fend Ahriman, will have their evil
burned away, and will also enter the abode
of light.
The claws of Manu." one of the early
sacred books of Brahminism, names
twenty-one hells. Punishments for differ
ent sins are, to be reborn into one of these
bells, or to return to earth as beggar,
cripple or leper, or in the form of a rat a
snake or louise, the penalty being in each
case appropriate to the crime. Punish
ment need not be endless for any one, as
each successive life is new probation, in
which righteousness wins admission to a
higher stage of existence. In Buddhism,
which Is one of the religions of China, and
the state religion of Thibet and other
countries of Eastern Asia, future punish
ment is provided for in a great hell, COM
prising a system of 1876 lesser hells. The
| torments of these hells are depicted in
many Buddhist books and paintings with
much detail and vividness. As for the
two other religions of China, Confucian-
ism tells nothing whatever about punish
ment after this life, while Taouism has a
theory of retribution much like that of
| Brahminism.
The Jews in Old Testament times had
no idea of hell. There is no mention OF
punishment after death in the teachings OF
Moses, nor is this doctrine taught by the
prophets The word sheol, which is trans
lated by hell in the King James version OF
the Bible, meant simply the abode of the
dead, and correspondent to the Greek
hades, used in the New Testament and
other Greek writings. Gloomy and repul-
sive ideas were associated with sheol, SINH
lar to those we connect with death and
the grave, but it was the destination Of
good and bad alike, and not a place OF
punishment. The trouble which the
wicked and the enemies of the Jews were
threatened with by the prophets pertained
to this world. They were pain, disease,
loss of possessions and kindred, hostility OF
neighbors, death and indignities to the
dead body.
The idea of sheol first became modified
after the Persian captivity. The place
was divided into two parts, which were
separated only by the width of thread.
One of these divisions was for the good
awaiting resurrection, and was called
Paradise; the other, set apart for the
wicked, was called Gehenna. This latter
designation means "the valley of the son
of Hinnom," and was originally the name
of the gorge outside of Jerusalem in which
the Jews had practiced the fiery worship
of Moloch, and where afterward ofal from
the city and the bodies of criminals were
thrown, to be consumed by the fires always
kept burning there. The idea of Gehenna
as place of future punishment had APP
peared in rabbinical theology and become
quite detailed century or more before
Christ. He'll was represented as having
special apartments for different kinds Of
torment.
One place, from its darkness, was called
'Night of Horrors" The fire of Gehenna
was said to have been kindled on the even
ing of the first Sabbath, and would never
be extinguished. The religion of Islam is
characterized by lack of originality, and
the Mohammedan hell contains nothing
but easily made variations of the Gehenna
Of the Jews. To the man that disobeys
the precepts of the Koran it is promised
tina. "God shall cast him into hell fire;
he shall remain therein forever"
THAT tired feeling is entirely overcome
| by Hoods Sarsaparilla, which creates an
appetite, rouses the liver, cures headache
and gives renewed strength and yigor to
| the whole body. Be sure to get Hood 8
Sarsaparills, which is peculiar to itself.
Sold by all druggists.