The Hunters of the Hills by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler
page 25 of 346 (07%)
page 25 of 346 (07%)
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"The other ninety-nine go after death to _Hanegoategeh_, the land of perpetual darkness, where they suffer in proportion to the crimes they committed on earth, but _Hawenneyu_, the Divine Being, takes pity on them and gives them another chance. When they have suffered long enough in _Hanegoategeh_ to be purified he calls them before him and looks into their souls. Nothing can be hidden from him. He sees the evil thought, Lennox, as you or I would see a leaf upon the water, and then he judges. And he is merciful. He does not condemn and send to everlasting torture, because evil may yet be left in the soul, but if the good outweighs the bad the good shall prevail and the suffering soul is sent to _Hawenneyugeh_, the home of the just, where it suffers no more. But if the bad still outweighs the good then its chance is lost and it is sent to _Hanishaonogeh_, the home of the wicked, where it is condemned to torture forever." "A reasonable religion, Tayoga. Your _Hanegoategeh_ is like the purgatory, in which the Catholic church believes. Your God like ours is merciful, and the more I learn about your religion the more similar it seems to ours." "I think your God and our Manitou are the same, Lennox, we only see him through different glasses, but our religion is old, old, very old, perhaps older than yours." Although Tayoga did not raise his voice or change the inflection Robert knew that he spoke with great pride. The young Onondaga did not believe his religion resembled the white man's but that the white man's resembled his. Robert respected him though, and knowing the reasons for his pride, said nothing in contradiction. |
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