Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-09-14
DIFFERENT HELLS.
WHERE THE RACES OF THE WORLD
coNsIcN THEIR WICKED DEAD.
All Sorts OF Ages and Races-fire' Ice, and
All the Wonderful Tormsnts
Conceived.
rponuIar Science Monthly.l

are TO continue only 1or tiine anu are 10
result in purifying the imprisoned souls and
fitting them for Heaven. Noidea OF penalty
WIS connected with tho classic hades.
II was simply an under world, where dweIt
all those who had the misfortune to be
dead irrespectiye of their conduct IN life.
The English word hell is derived from the
Teutonic base hal. whence also the Anglo
saxon helan, TO hide, so that the original
eense is the hidden or unseen place
(Skeat). 49,,
The conception of future existence which
laws claim to the greatest antiquity 10 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,
streightway, to live again in the form OF
vile animal. as some of the emblems ap-
pear TO denote: or plunged into the tor
lures of horrid hell of fire and devils be-
low, as numerous engravings set forth; or
driven into the atmosphere, to be yexel
and tossed by tempests,. violently whrieu
in blasts and clouds till ITS SINS
are explated, and another. probation
granted through a renewed existence
in human form" In his description OF the
Ritual of the Dead, Renouf mentions
chapters IN that book intended to secure
the soul against dangers in the other word,
such as having his head cut off, dying the
second death. suffering corruption, being
turned away from his house, going TO the
nern,nat IAN internal block for the execution
of the wicked. going headlong INTO I the
cberti-n,ttar. and eating or drinking NTH.
Various diyiuities are invoked to save the
soul from that god who feeds upon the ac-
cursed, from that god who seIzes upon
souls, Geyours hearts, and feeds upon car,
eases. These perils, which the good
escape. saws Renouf, sufficiently show the
fate which the wicked must expect.
TIE PAIsI BELIEF.
According to the Parsi belief the good
after death pass safely over the bridge
Chinevat. which stretches from Mt. AL
bori M To Garotman, tie blissful realm of
Ormuzd. while the wicked fall from the
bridre into the Gulf of Duzahk, which
vawns beneath, where they are tormented
by devas. At the end of the world a
comet will fall upon the earth, causing q
vast confiagration. by which the whole
earth will be melted, and the molten
stream will pour down into Duzahk. car
ryinp 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 d@yas,. and even the
arch fiend Ahrman. will have their EVIL
burned away and will also enter the abode
of light.
The Laws of Manu-. one of the early sa-
cred books of Brahminism, name twenty
one bells. Punishments for different sins
are to be reborn into one of these bells or
TO return to earth as a beggar, cripple. or
leper. or in the form of a rat, snake, or
louise. the penalty being IN each case ap,;
propriate TO the crime. Punishment need
not be endless for any one. as each sue
cessive life is o new probation, In Vhlch
righteousness wins admission to higher
stage of existence.
In Buddhism future punishment is pro-
vided for in a great hell, comprising sSs-
TEN of 1876 lesser bells.
AS for the two other religions OF emma,
ConfucIanism tells nothing whatever about
punishment after this life, while Iaouism
has theory of retribution like that OF
Brahminism.
no IDEA OF HE'LL.
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 10y
the prophets. The word she0l, which IS
translated by hell in the King James YER
sion of the Bible, meant simply the ABODE
of the dead, and corresponded TO the Greek
hndes. used in the New Testament and other
Greek writings. Gloomy and repulslve
ideas were associated with sheol. similar
to those we connect with death and the
grave. but il was the destination OF good
and bad alike and not a place OF PUNISH
ment The troubles which the wicked and
the enemies of the Jews were threatened
with by the prophets .pertalned to this
world. The idea OF sheol trst became
I Al. wit
place was divided into two parts, which
were separated only by the width Of
thread. One of these divisions was for
tho good awaiting resurrection and was
called Paradise: the other. setapart for the
wicked. was called Gehenna. The idea OF
Gehenna as place of future punishment
had appeared in rabbinical theology and be-
come quite detailed century or more De-
fore 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 10 have been
kindled on the evening OF the first Sab
bath and would never be e&tlngulshed.
A Talmudic writer quoted by Alger says:
There are in hell seven abodes, IN each
abode seven thousand cayerns, in eacn
cavern seven thousand clefts, IN each
cleft seven thousand scorpions; each
limb are seven thousand barrels OF gall.
There are also in hell seven rivers OF
poison, so deadly that if one touches 1t he
bursts"
VARIOUS THEORIES.
At the coming of Christ there were three
chief sects among tho Jews. The Phari-
sees, who were by far the most numerous.
believed that sinners were kept forever IN
q prison in the under world: the EsscneS
believed that the vicious suffered eternal
punishment in dark, cold place, and the
Sadduces thought that the soul died with
the body. The first threats OF hell III the
Scriptures occur in the teachings OF Jesus
The place of future punishment represent
ed in Christ's teachings 10 region OF hre:
"Whosoever shall say, Thou fool. shall be
in danger of the hell of fire (Matt. ", ~;
revised yersion) the fire is to be eternal and
unuuenchable. at is good for thee 10 enter
into life manned, rather than having thy
two hands TO 90 into hell, into the IN
quenchable fire, where their
worm dieth not and the fire is not 9uench-
ed" Mark tx, 434S see also Matthew
xviii, 81 In Revelation st. John informs
us what fuel IS to support the unquencha-
bic fire: "lf any man worshippeth the
beast and his image he shall be
tormented with fire and birthstone in the
presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of tho Lamb, and the smoke
of their torment goeth up fcl, yer and
ever. and they have TO rest lay and
night" Revelation XIV. SID. In an
other passage il is revealed concerning
various kinds of sinners that their part
shall be in the lake that burneth with fire
and brimstone; which is the second
DEATH" Revelation xxi, 81 This doctrine
was intended TO last unchanged for all
time, for we find in tho last chapter the
statement that If any man shall add to or
take from the words of this book he shall
suffer all the torments and lose all the re-
wards which are written in this prophecy.
Revelations xii, 1879 The Mohamme-
dan hell contains nothing but easily made
variations OF tho Gehenna of the Jews. To
the man that disobeys the Koran 1t ID pro-
missed that God shall cast him into hell
fire; he shall remain therein forever"
THE GREEK TARTARUs.
In the Greek mythology, which was
copied by the Romans, the place of future
punishment is called Tartarus. Hades was
diyed into Elysium, or the region of dawn,
which was the abode of tho good, and
Tartarus. the region of night, which was
the destination of the wicked. Virgil de-
scribes Tartarus in telling of the descent of
Eneas TO the under world to visit his
fafbar II ia in Tho form Of n y,riSop