The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1893-04-19
SUNDAY IN HE'LL.
THE ORIGIN or THE BELIEF IN A DAY
OF RESPITE FOR LOST SOULS.

the end of the Sabbath it is customary to
prolong the recitation of certain pray
ers. in order to lengthen the respite
granted on that day to the damned, for
as long as the faithful have not terminal
ed the evening service the wicked are
not obliged to return to Gehenna, in Or
der to take up again the course of their
punishments.
The first casuist who mentions the rite
is Rab Amram in the ninth century, who
speaks of it as a popular usage. The
casuists themselves have never taken as
seriously as might be believed the motive
alleged for this religious usage, for they
slave never tried TO abolish the rule
which prescribes the suppression OF
these prayers in certain cases, as, for
instance, when a festival occurs in the
week which begins at the end of the
Sabbath, thus running the risk of con-
demning sinners TO return sooner to &C.
henna.
Tt can be shown, however, that the be-
@AAS
is much older than the right which eX-
presses it, and this belief, it is nearly
certain. widely spread in the third cen
fury of our era.
What were the objects OF establishing
this rite? From a desire to soften the
dogma of endless punishment? Dogma
is word unknown in the Talmudic
theology, especially in archaeological
questions. The Mschna does declare
that those who deny the resurrection of
the dead will be excluded from the fu-
ture world, but it takes care not to be
precise in regard to whas it means by
the future world" The collection of
Talmudic doctrines in regard to life be-
y0nd the tomb is veritable chaos, the
most dlssimilar conceptions beng adj
1nitted. The belief in the Immortality of
the soul does not exclude faith in an ex-
distence half terrestrial, half spiritual,
for those who are no more. The Talmud,
or, to speak more correctly, the editors
of that collection, record, without hest
tation, anecdotes which take us back to
nearly prehis !oric times, when the corpse,
at the moment of being consigned to the
grave, received objects of value which
were carried by TIE dead to the subterra
mean world for the use of themselves or
their companions
The only possible hypothesis of the
e l,l 7 on, iC n off
it flows naturally from the sanctity with
which she insti tuition or the Sabbath was
Invested. If God allotted to mortals
one day of repose every week. He could
}aot refuse that to the damned, whoever
they might be- The sabbath is too holy
to be restricted to the terrestrial world:
the whole universe, visible and invisible,
shares therein.
Our labbis of the middle ages would
bave been not a little astonished that a
like belief exists among Christians, with
this difference, naturally, that Sunday is
substituted for Saturday. Not that the
church has officially sanctioned this be-
S 1ief-the theologians have always treated
at as heresay-but all the efforts of the
fathers have not prevented the belief
becoming popular. Long would be q
list OF the writings in which this belief is
mentioned without objection The
most ancient witnesses of its existence
is St. Augustine aud Prudentius, that is,
the fourth century of our era,
1t is admitted without contradiction
shat the notion Of Sunday respite for
the damned entered the Christian litera-
ture by the circulation of a little work
entitled, Apocalypse; or Vision of St
Paul This writing has come down to
MS under different forms, in Greek, in
7SyIiac and in Latin. Neither Of these
versions represents the original, which
seems to have been composed in Arabiac.
However, by collat' 10 them, and supple
menting one for anothe, it is easy to re-
construct the first edition of the work,
which has been done with great success
by Mi. Herman Brandes, in a book pub
1ished at Halle in 1885,
According to this 'Vision,'' St. Paul,
.eccon panied by the archangel Michael,
visits first the abode of the blessed and
contemplates their felicity, and then re-
fpairs to he'll to witness the to,ments of
Hle damned. He hears the lamentations
of these unfortunate creatures, whose
suffering never stops and, moved by pity
lie duplicates his Lord co grant them at